Battle Rat uses?

W

W.T. Beck

Joined
Jul 9, 2001
Messages
1,411
Awhile back, after hearing so much praise for the Swamp Rat line, I decided I had to order a Swamp Rat knife. I picked the biggest and baddest - the Battle Rat.

When the knife arrived, I immediately noticed a big difference between it and the large bowie knives I own. The Battle Rat is very blade heavy, and seems to be designed strictly for chopping. While I am sure it could inflict serious harm on an attacker, it does not have the balance or clip point like my Cold Steel Trailmaster, which are features of a fighting knife.

It seems to me the Battle Rat was intended to be used strictly as a chopper. The military sounding name seems particularly unsuitable, as the knife does not have the design features of a fighter.

Other than chopping, are there any other uses for the Battle Rat?
 
Cutting, digging, prying--anything you use a big knife for. The name is actually quite apt, since it can survive heavy use dependably and with ease, and fighting is the last thing you'll find yourself doing with a knife in a battle. All movies and romantic thoughts aside, knife fighting is incredibly rare in the military, and is not part of standard training. In fact, many units do not allow soldiers to carry large fixed blades; exactly because they are not trained in their use and it's one more thing they can hurt themselves with--sounds overprotective? Yep, but it's reality. Even what little of knife combat is taught within the armed forces, it's heavily harped on that it's what you engage in when absolutely every other option is gone--including running.
 
I took a look at that thread on the Swamp Rat forum. One member said he used the Battle Rat to clean fish. I don't doubt that he did it, but I sure don't think I could clean a fish with a knife that heavy.

I hadn't thought about digging and prying. This would definitely make the Battle Rat more versatile than a hatchet.
 
I don't think I could do it very well either, but I think that's true of all big knives. Big knives are limited in their utility. The Battle Rat is ideal for chopping (as far as knives go), limbing, and general heavy use. For overall use, I much prefer the size of the Camp Tramp, but that is obviously a subjective thing.
 
I have used a Battle Mistress for cleaning trout and other similar tasks. Yes it is heavy, but we are only talking about a pound or so. It isn't the most efficient knife to do these kinds of tasks with, but providing it is very sharp it will readily do it, as long as you are not the sort who likes very flexible blades.

There are some problems with food preperation though like try to peel enough potatoes for a half a dozen hungry guys with such a large knife and you will soon be very tempted to throw the potatoes into the pot, dirt and all. Of course there are other Swamp Rat blades which are more suitable for such tasks.

I like a long and stiff blade like that mainly for limbing, not enough wood for an axe, but more than a machete can handle comfortable so you want something parang like.

-Cliff
 
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