Attention Ask Ontario

Mr. Billy the Hungry- Thanks for your offer of tacos, I'm particularly fond of fish tacos. Unfortunately I don't travel much anymore, do they deliver takeout to upstate NY?

Steel for the knife? Personally I would vote for a steel which exhibits high levels of toughness for a survival knife such as 1075 or 5160 but I'm still in the Iron Age. I am trying to get up to date on some of the more modern steels which combine toughness with corrosion resistance, edge holding, etc and will continue to research the new materials and try to enter the 21st century.

Mr. LG&M- Once again I absolutely agree with you but I am not in control of Ontario's direction (which is probably a good thing since my sense of what sells and marketing is abysmal, I'm a technical person). Your idea and reasoning regarding an outdoor knife based on the AF survival is solid and I will certainly keep it in mind and let you know if there is any movement in that direction.
 
Dan Maragni said:
Mr. Billy the Hungry- Thanks for your offer of tacos, I'm particularly fond of fish tacos. Unfortunately I don't travel much anymore, do they deliver takeout to upstate NY?

Steel for the knife? Personally I would vote for a steel which exhibits high levels of toughness for a survival knife such as 1075 or 5160 but I'm still in the Iron Age. I am trying to get up to date on some of the more modern steels which combine toughness with corrosion resistance, edge holding, etc and will continue to research the new materials and try to enter the 21st century.

Mr. LG&M- Once again I absolutely agree with you but I am not in control of Ontario's direction (which is probably a good thing since my sense of what sells and marketing is abysmal, I'm a technical person). Your idea and reasoning regarding an outdoor knife based on the AF survival is solid and I will certainly keep it in mind and let you know if there is any movement in that direction.
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Hey Mr Dan, one last question and I'll leave you alone!

So I did order the assisted opening Rat 1 because I wanted the G10 scales. I'm reading one bad thing after another about the safety. I don't like safety switches anyway, so if nothing else I plan on gluing it permanently off.
My question is, can I just remove the "safety" mechanism altogether?

Thank you Sir!

Edit: Also meant to ask, does the knife have a detent? So if the spring breaks, will the knife still be usable like a manual Rat?
 
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Mr. Billy The Hungry- Regarding the safety on the assisted opening RAT 1- I have no idea about whether there is a problem with the safety and if you can remove it. I would imagine removing the safety will violate the warrantee and would result in a knife I would not want to carry in a front pants pocket (I am not a real fan of assisted openers). I will inquire about this and the detent. Unfortunately I am no longer on site so I can't just go into stock and investigate this inquiry myself so I have to depend on my over worked friends at Ontario to respond which may take some time. Don't worry about asking too many questions, that's what I am here for.
 
Dan Maragni said:
Mr. Billy The Hungry- Regarding the safety on the assisted opening RAT 1- I have no idea about whether there is a problem with the safety and if you can remove it. I would imagine removing the safety will violate the warrantee and would result in a knife I would not want to carry in a front pants pocket (I am not a real fan of assisted openers). I will inquire about this and the detent. Unfortunately I am no longer on site so I can't just go into stock and investigate this inquiry myself so I have to depend on my over worked friends at Ontario to respond which may take some time. Don't worry about asking too many questions, that's what I am here for.
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Thanks a ton, I appreciate it!

I don't like assists either. I just wanted the G10.
Side note, the knife came in yesterday. It's a perfect specimen. Definitely love the G10 upgrade. I just do not understand why OKC does not offer a regular Rat in G10, without the dumb assist.
 
This is the first time I have ever seen this knife. It is the Cold Steel Stag Trailmaster with an Ontario logo and must have been made after Cold Steel moved it's US manufacturing to Camillus Cutlery Company in 1996.

The stag is beautiful, we used to get it hand selected from Masecraft in Connecticut and every piece was perfect (I used to inspect every piece prior to assembly).
 
Dan Maragni said:
Mr. Billy The Hungry- Regarding the safety on the assisted opening RAT 1- I have no idea about whether there is a problem with the safety and if you can remove it. I would imagine removing the safety will violate the warrantee and would result in a knife I would not want to carry in a front pants pocket (I am not a real fan of assisted openers). I will inquire about this and the detent. Unfortunately I am no longer on site so I can't just go into stock and investigate this inquiry myself so I have to depend on my over worked friends at Ontario to respond which may take some time. Don't worry about asking too many questions, that's what I am here for.
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Hey Mr Dan, just for your own knowledge in case anyone else asks, the Rat 1A can easily be made manual by filing down this nipp part. Took five minutes once the scale was off.

My Rat is now perfect. Haha

 
Sorry about the delay in answering these questions, I was waiting to hear back from Ontario.

Mr. Billy the Hungry- Ontario does not recommend removing the safety mechanism from the RAT-1 assisted opener. The knife does have a detent and will work like a manual RAT if the spring is inoperative but the action will be stiffer than the manual RAT. Thank you for your suggestion to offer a regular RAT with G-10 scales and I have passed on your idea to the appropriate people.

Mr. zannussi01- All OKC3S bayonets are now laser etched and I'm not sure when Ontario began to laser etch their blades but it was soon after I started there in 2007. The bayonets had stamped imprints prior to Ontario getting laser etching capabilities and Ontario never used the imprints on the blades to distinguish between military or commercial models. Whether the imprint was stamped or etched would be specified in the government contract. All bayonets made by Ontario are made to military specifications including the commercial version. Commercial versions are packaged in boxes and the military versions are packaged according to the contract.
 
Dan Maragni said:
Sorry about the delay in answering these questions, I was waiting to hear back from Ontario.

Mr. Billy the Hungry- Ontario does not recommend removing the safety mechanism from the RAT-1 assisted opener. The knife does have a detent and will work like a manual RAT if the spring is inoperative but the action will be stiffer than the manual RAT. Thank you for your suggestion to offer a regular RAT with G-10 scales and I have passed on your idea to the appropriate people.

Mr. zannussi01- All OKC3S bayonets are now laser etched and I'm not sure when Ontario began to laser etch their blades but it was soon after I started there in 2007. The bayonets had stamped imprints prior to Ontario getting laser etching capabilities and Ontario never used the imprints on the blades to distinguish between military or commercial models. Whether the imprint was stamped or etched would be specified in the government contract. All bayonets made by Ontario are made to military specifications including the commercial version. Commercial versions are packaged in boxes and the military versions are packaged according to the contract.
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Sir,

As posted above I did indeed deassist my Rat. The safety never worked anyway, straight out of the box. My knife is actually more smooth than my manual one, haha.

Thank you for the feedback and for passing on my suggestion. We appreciate you!
 
Dan Maragni said:
Sorry about the delay in answering these questions, I was waiting to hear back from Ontario.

Mr. Billy the Hungry- Ontario does not recommend removing the safety mechanism from the RAT-1 assisted opener. The knife does have a detent and will work like a manual RAT if the spring is inoperative but the action will be stiffer than the manual RAT. Thank you for your suggestion to offer a regular RAT with G-10 scales and I have passed on your idea to the appropriate people.

Mr. zannussi01- All OKC3S bayonets are now laser etched and I'm not sure when Ontario began to laser etch their blades but it was soon after I started there in 2007. The bayonets had stamped imprints prior to Ontario getting laser etching capabilities and Ontario never used the imprints on the blades to distinguish between military or commercial models. Whether the imprint was stamped or etched would be specified in the government contract. All bayonets made by Ontario are made to military specifications including the commercial version. Commercial versions are packaged in boxes and the military versions are packaged according to the contract.
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Mr Maragni, Thankyou very much for the above information,greatly appreciated.:thumbsup:
 
This is a great thread.

Any chance Ontario could offer a run of the Old Hickory Butchers Knife (in all lengths) with epoxied scales or instead of rivets, Chicago screws?

I love the OH line, but the scales often work loose, and it would be nice to be able to oil the tang to slow corrosion.
 
Mr. Maragi, any idea when/what year the RD6 and other RDs went to 1075? I'd like to know so I can sort out my RD6s from super ridiculous toughness, to just good plain olde toughness jobs.

Side note, I still perfer an RD6 in 1075 over the more fragile Rat 7. The RD6 pattern just seems to be made for a stronger more robust knife over the thinner Rat 7. Still a 5160 RD knife is still my prefered RD knife steel.
 
Mr. Rouger- I have no idea when the transition to 1075 took place. Ontario stopped using 5160 about 3-4 years ago so the RDs would have transitioned to either 1075 or 1095 at that time. As I mentioned in a response to a comment on my article on the Ontario website the transition from 1095 to 1075 took place over time depending on the model of knife and inventory of 1095 steel. There wasn't a distinct transition across the board for all models we manufacture.

Mr. Charlie Fox- If a series has been discontinued it is usually due to insufficient sales so it is unlikely that the Utilitac series will be coming back.

Mr. MolokaiRider- I have mentioned your idea/query to Ontario and am waiting to hear back.
 
Dan Maragni said:
Mr. Rouger- I have no idea when the transition to 1075 took place. Ontario stopped using 5160 about 3-4 years ago so the RDs would have transitioned to either 1075 or 1095 at that time. As I mentioned in a response to a comment on my article on the Ontario website the transition from 1095 to 1075 took place over time depending on the model of knife and inventory of 1095 steel. There wasn't a distinct transition across the board for all models we manufacture.

Mr. Charlie Fox- If a series has been discontinued it is usually due to insufficient sales so it is unlikely that the Utilitac series will be coming back.

Mr. MolokaiRider- I have mentioned your idea/query to Ontario and am waiting to hear back.
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I figured as much, but had to ask;)
 
Hello Dan, I’m hoping you can help me. I’ve tried contacting OKC through email and Instagram and I received no response.

I have an Ontario RD 6 and while doing some maintenance I lost the screws that held the scales on. I’d like to purchase replacement hardware/screws.
 
Why is the micarta Rat 1 made in China, whereas all other RAT models are made in Taiwan? Considering the difficulty of getting AUS-8 to China, I am wondering, what parts of the Micarta Rat 1 are made in China? Is it heat-treated by different folks and all?

Please never discontinue Taiwan RATs, love you Ontario.
 
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