I have 3 of these knives. First of all, the blades are razor sharp out of the packages. Ive caped and quartered easily over 30-40 critters using this knife system. One blade is good for 1 deer. start to finish. and this is where the headache starts... the release button and the slot in the tang where the blades slide in and out, gets easily gunked up with fat, hair and blood. It regularly requires a set of pliers and a screw driver to remove the old blades. ive soaked them over night in dawn with no better luck. Ive tried to keep them as clean as possible to facillitate easier removal... doesnt seem to help. any amount of debris getting into that groove, or into the retention system is going to hinder replacement. i love the knife, however they need to rethink the blade retention system.