A grail baby! Rat Hunter!

R

rpn

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Mar 17, 2008
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I gave up on finding one of these a ways back!



Yep, an old school Rat Hunter. Popped up on the exchange on the other side of the world and it came yesturday. Haven't even cut paper with it yet. It's an interesting blade and grind.



With it's other old school cousin...



Both sporting fine Amoral sheaths....



I was curious to see the #3 on this and wondered if it meant something?



Big thanks to Sesh/Talon for the great blade and shipping...:thumbup::thumbup:
 
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Lucky rat!

She's a looker, for sure! She's one I've lusted after for some time.

CongRATulations!
 
I'd love to see that handle make a return on a few different models. It seems to be quite popular.
 
Ooooh! Numbers, yes! That is the Third Rat Hunter sheath made! :D I honestly dont remember how many were numbered but it was in the first shipment to Eric. All custom made, hand stitched, and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in those. Congrats!!!!

Actually that may be the fourth, I think the King Rat Eric has one marked Proto.

The old days, I do miss them.

I will NEVER let mine go, its my favorite Rat ever. None other have make me quiver like this one. :D

EDIT: more history, this sheath was the first of the round top Radall style pouches, they've morphed a bit since but all have the roots back to this one. I still prefer this style.
 
Awesome- Congrats.

When it comes to the handles; quite similar to some of the old school Busses, like this EU-17 of mine:

D1GTcEdl.jpg
 
leatherman said:
Ooooh! Numbers, yes! That is the Third Rat Hunter sheath made! :D I honestly dont remember how many were numbered but it was in the first shipment to Eric. All custom made, hand stitched, and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in those. Congrats!!!!

Actually that may be the fourth, I think the King Rat Eric has one marked Proto.

The old days, I do miss them.

I will NEVER let mine go, its my favorite Rat ever. None other have make me quiver like this one. :D

EDIT: more history, this sheath was the first of the round top Radall style pouches, they've morphed a bit since but all have the roots back to this one. I still prefer this style.
Click to expand...

I'll tell you Dwayne, it is one great, quality sheath. It may have years on it, but it clearly has many, many years ahead for it. Retention is fantastic and it goes on the belt easy schmeezy.

Cool history there! :thumbup:

Hope Eric stops by this thread.
 
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Thank you for the kind words. :)

Memories of those early days have been streaming back, it was an exiting time. :D

Now I am reliving those HOSS sheaths, the beginning of an icon in our line of sheaths. The Swamp started so many of my specialties. Fun stuff!
 
leatherman said:
Ooooh! Numbers, yes! That is the Third Rat Hunter sheath made! :D I honestly dont remember how many were numbered but it was in the first shipment to Eric. All custom made, hand stitched, and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in those. Congrats!!!!

Actually that may be the fourth, I think the King Rat Eric has one marked Proto.

The old days, I do miss them.

I will NEVER let mine go, its my favorite Rat ever. None other have make me quiver like this one. :D

EDIT: more history, this sheath was the first of the round top Radall style pouches, they've morphed a bit since but all have the roots back to this one. I still prefer this style.
Click to expand...

I think the proto sheath has made it to the other side of the world a while ago :D :

 
Great pics and I'm glad you found a Rat Hunter with one of Leatherman's great sheaths. What a great combo.
A combo like that is not only a tough find but those were instant classics.

One of the first few models that Swamp Rat produced and I teamed up with Dwayne to have him make some sheaths for me and sell through the Company Store.

Unfortunately I sold mine and the proto sheath years ago. Early on when I was running the Company Store I made a decision that I couldn't collect Swamp Rat stuff and run a good small business. All of my profits would be eaten up in collecting all of the cool merchandise I got my hands on. So I made an effort to only collect Busse stuff and I either had users of the Swamp Rat stuff or I sold it. I knew I couldn't keep it and stay in business as I would be feeding it all the time.
So I have a couple of users and sold all of the early pieces. (Users are Satin Battle Rat and first run HR with an awesome Leatherman sheath)

While I do have some regrets when I see this thread I knew I had to make a choice at the time. A financial guy I used to listen to on the radio used to say "Never fall in love with anything that can't Love you back" Good advice and while I'm not always successful at that I do try to keep things in perspective with that saying.

Here are a few early Swamp Rat models to keep looking for if you don't have them
Dog Skinner (mix between the Bog Dog and the Safari skinner)
Safari Skinner
Original D2 Bog Dog
Satin Battle Rat with black handle (very hard to find)
Battle Guard
D2 Vex (not as hard of a find but an incredible design)

So glad to see this thread and bring back some great memories. (wish I could actually remember more of this stuff ;) )

Here's an interesting story about a few of the Rat Hunters that came through my hands.
One of my old High School buddies contacted me when they first came out, I hadn't talked to him in quite a few years but he knew I was in the knife business and he needed some knives for a Pheasants Forever banquet. They bought six of the Rat Hunters with sheaths and I think they were either door prizes at the Banquet or they were auction items. All I know is I received an email from one of the guys that got one of them and he was complaining about it. Can't remember the exact nature of the complaint only that it wasn't designed as a good hunting knife. I did my best to explain the design, the materials and craftsmanship that went into it and ended with saying that these were extremely popular knives (when they first hit the market they sold-out immediately) and if he really didn't like it he could easily sell it for a profit. I often wonder if any of those guys still have those knives and if they have any idea what they are now worth
:D:D

:D:D
 
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Boy, there is some great history in this thread. Thanks much for sharing!

What kind of sheath you have for your Howler Eric?

I appreciate the combo you kept.... :D

 
This Tread has convinced me into gettin`a Leatherman sheath for my Rat Hunter, too.
Has just send an email to Dwayne with details.

DZqaFUCl.jpg
 
Sooeeet! I look forward to the nostalgia! It was a good time in my life that I wish could happen again. :)

Wow! That proto doesn't even have my makers mark yet, it really helps me pin down the time I got that thing, talk about one of a kind!

Eric, good to hear from you again, those were indeed good times. I really enjoyed our back and fourths on the sheaths we collaborated with, especially the HOSS, that was a hoot! :D
 
rpn said:
Boy, there is some great history in this thread. Thanks much for sharing!

What kind of sheath you have for your Howler Eric?

I appreciate the combo you kept.... :D
Click to expand...

Here's the Howler and Leatherman Howler sheath, bottom of pic.
From that pic I have the Rat Trap, SBR, Howler and Busse Holy Terror left. The others have moved to new homes.

 
Hi all,

I too miss the the old Rat Days. I still have most of mine, except for a few that I bought two of. Big hello to Eric and Dwayne.

Some old Rat pictures. :D

Picture007.jpg


RatTail.jpg


RatFamily.jpg
 
Been great reading this stuff from the early days. :thumbup:

Once I invent my time machine on the list of things to do will be (in no particular order): invest in Microsoft, Amazon and Apple and buy all the early releases from the Swamp! :D

Here's a pic showing the spine of the HR with the Rat Hunter.

 
Love this thread. Some of these predate my time hear at the shop. Love seeing the old stuff.
 
Ian Allomes said:
Hi all,

I too miss the the old Rat Days. I still have most of mine, except for a few that I bought two of. Big hello to Eric and Dwayne.

Some old Rat pictures. :D

Picture007.jpg


RatTail.jpg


RatFamily.jpg
Click to expand...

Ian your pictures never get old. I love the pic of your buddy wearing one as a necker. One of these days I will find a way back into the Swamp so I can comment on your pics more often.
 
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