customized Rodent 6

dogboye

dogboye

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Nov 23, 1999
Messages
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So, I'm considering ordering a Rodent 6 and having some customization done. What I WANT to do is get desert sage, tan micarta, and a full flat grind. I've done a couple searches on here, and it seems the Rodent 6 is not that popular a blade, and I certainly haven't seen a lot of variations on it. Now I'm just starting to get into Swamp Rats, so I wouldn't know, but is the Rodent 6 that new a blade? Or is it just not very popular?

Does anyone have any experience with it in a full flat grind? Or is its main strength the fact that it is over a quarter-inch thick, AND saber ground? I'm just thinking that at that thickness, for my uses, a saber grind is just not needed, and I think it would cut better if it had a full flat grind.

I also don't see many color variations for the Rodent 6. I don't think I've seen a single one that isn't the standard black, and I've only seen a couple variations in scales. Well, actually, only one. Black and green G10 on a black blade.

Maybe my search-fu is just weak...
 
I think the slightly smaller Ratmandu is a bit more popular, but I do like the R6. That may have been my black on green/black that you mentioned...my next purchase will be grey on blue/black (to match my other Ratmandu). I will say that, while I love the handle shape, I would like it to be a little thicker. I'm a bug about how knives feel in hand, though.
 
The rodent series is normally only offered as shown on the site but if you want a different handle/blade color you can email Trissy.

My handle on my customized R6 is thicker and VERY comfy. The R6 is already thicker steel, plus i added some handle liners, so if you want a little thicker liners is a good option.

You can get the R6 as a FFG, but thats also something that must be dont thru the custom shop, simply emailing Trissy.

Drop point R6, top guard removed, handle liners added and changed blade coating to tanker grey.




With the drop point RMD and chopweiler.



Next to RMD CG



 
So that Rodent 6 is not full flat grind, is it? If not, it looks like the standard grind is pretty high to start with.

That tanker gray and black micarta (is it?) is a nice combination.

I emailed, or submitted the custom form, and asked about the mods above, and already got and answer back. By the time all is said and done, the price is getting beyond what I am comfortable spending. So, now I'm trying to figure out what I want to nix to bring the price down. Mind you, I'm not saying it is unreasonable. Just that it turns out more than I'm comfortable with. I really like the desert sage and tan micarta on my Ratmandu, and would like to get the Rodent 6 like that. If the grind is pretty high already, it might not be worth worrying about a full flat grind. The custom flat grind alone is about the cost of both changing the blade coating and the scales to tan.
 
Yea mine is saber ground with tanker and black canvas.

I got this R6 as a regular stock version R6. But then i seen Elof's that looks similar to the above and sent mine in to be modded. It came out a little bit more expensive in the long run, but i didnt have to worry about shelling all the money out at once.

You can always send a knife in to be modded later.
 
worldwood said:
Yea mine is saber ground with tanker and black canvas.

I got this R6 as a regular stock version R6. But then i seen Elof's that looks similar to the above and sent mine in to be modded. It came out a little bit more expensive in the long run, but i didnt have to worry about shelling all the money out at once.

You can always send a knife in to be modded later.
Click to expand...

Thanks Worldwood. I think I've narrowed: desert sage and micarta (still in the air on tan vs. black, probably tan), regular grind. I'm one of those guys that likes clip points, or whatever the standard shape is, and I specifically want the upper guard. The desert sage seems to wear well on wood on my Ratmandu, and this will be a user.

If I decide the grind is too steep, I'll do like you say and send it in for a regrind. But I've looked at a lot of pictures now (brute force searches) and just about every pic I see of the Rodent 6 looks like the grind goes much higher on it than the Ratmandu, relative to blade width. Haven't see a lot of USER Rodent 6's though.
 
No problem bud,

And mine is a user :D See the top pic, its the newest picture!!

I started liking my drop point R6 more than the RMD, I know blasphemy, But the thicker grip, heavier weight, and nice drop point makes it top the RMD in my opinion, for my uses anyway.

I have the nice custom drop point RMD, or Dropmandu (DMD) that is FFG and thinned out and makes a great slicer but its such a nice looking knife i dont beat on it. I have another DMD on the way with green and black G10, muddy coating, and a saber grind. That one will be a user.
 
Excellent knife and under rated imo. The double guard turns a lot of folks off but I've always liked the way they look and the top guard on the R6 is so well done it doesn't get in my way. Thicker handles is all it needs to be perfected for me.
 
worldwood said:
And mine is a user :D See the top pic, its the newest picture!!
Click to expand...

Looks like the tanker gray doesn't wear too bad. The thing I dislike about my darker colored blades (few Beckers, a couple others) is how worn they look so quickly. Yeah, I like to see blades that have been used, but when it is a dark coating and gets used hard (like batonning hardwood), the coating is gone withing a couple of episodes, but only over portions, and there is a high contrast. Some people like that, but I can't say that I do. So I tend to go for lighter colored coatings. Thus desert sage.

I can't come off of TDC on the micarta, though. I've seen several examples of black micarta on sage blades, and that looks downright good, too.
 
The coating the swamp uses is more durable than the coating on Beckers. Even the black on my chopweiler is wearing excellently and i have battoned that thing thru hundreds of pieces of wood.

Tanker is awesome on a user. The RMD CG up there is tanker as well and its coating is holding up great. I have been using that one for the last year and have chopped and split wood with it plenty. They clean up well after use.

But of course any coating will eventually wear off with constant use.
 
worldwood said:
The coating the swamp uses is more durable than the coating on Beckers. Even the black on my chopweiler is wearing excellently and i have battoned that thing thru hundreds of pieces of wood.

Tanker is awesome on a user. The RMD CG up there is tanker as well and its coating is holding up great. I have been using that one for the last year and have chopped and split wood with it plenty. They clean up well after use.

But of course any coating will eventually wear off with constant use.
Click to expand...

I must be doing something wrong, then. I was just looking at my RMD this morning, and there are a couple very small spots where the coating has already worn down to the metal, it appears. And I've only used it about a week. But I swear, I've only been using it on wood. Red-oak, but still, just wood. Not the softest out there, but certainly not the hardest.

Every knife I've used so far with a coating, the coating hasn't lasted more than a couple sessions. And this is just batonning small peices off already split wood, in order to get kindling to start a fire. TOPS, Becker, ESEE, Ontario Ranger, and now SRKW, all have had the coating worn through after only a couple fires built. Like I said, I must be doing something wrong.

I'm not criticizing any of the coatings. Some are worse, some are better. I will admit the SRKW might be the best so far. But like you said, it all wears - which I kinda like. I just like the wear to be a little more subtle.

I don't suppose you have a picture of the face/side of your Rodent 6 now that it has some wear on it, do you?
 
No i dont have a face pic on hand but i can grab one later, But the RMD CG up there shows the wear nicely. I have battoned and chopped through hardwood with it. Same with the Chopweiler but some of the coating worn off of it a bit more.

Do you lube your knives up? I think that "could" have something to do with my blades keeping their coating longer than other's. I always use a generous amount of mineral oil or WD40 before i use my blades hard... I find it makes it way easier on the cleanup later and seems to helps with the blade binding in the wood too..... But could help with the coating as well.... reducing friction and wear on the coating seems like it could help keep it on longer.... But im just thinking out loud here now...

I dont do it for the coating of course... I dont mind it all the coating wears off really... I cant wait to see that heat treat line on the choppy once more of its coating is gone.
 
You know, I DON'T lube them up, and that seems such an obvious answer, I think I just had a "DUH!" moment! I had never thought of that. And, like you, I'm not too concerned with LOSING the coating, I just don't like the high contrast. BUT, I bet the lube DOES make the cleanup easier. I DO hate how the wood fibers get stuck IN the coating, and are so hard to clean off. I'm going to try the lube next time.

I've just about talked myself into black micarta now. Especially after I saw a couple RMD's with black on sage. Also, I realized most of my knives are tan micarta, whether on black, tan, gray, or otherwise. I think I need to do black micarta scales. But I still need to decide between sage or gray. Leaning strongly toward sage, but looking at the wear on the gray RMD... I might change my mind before I order... Good thing I don't really need to hurry...
 
yup & yup :D

And the original cs drop point that started the drop point craze... :cool:
 
RS, your perception of RMD's coating holding better is by design!
See, the crinkle coating, by design, soothes out first before wearing out. Compared to Becker/Kabar the coating will last longer, and perform better at batonning just because it is 'thicker' *(but really textured) than other coated blades. Also, Busse/kin have often an 'undercoat' of sorts between blade and coating (so called decarb) that would exted the life of the coating.
 
Well if we are showing off some R6's....

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Nice pics!
Yours, elof_alv, especially shows well how high up the grind is on the blade. Not full flat, but it IS ground pretty high, it appears.

Hopefully even more people will throw pics in here. Kind-of a single thread with pics. Although, maybe there was already one thread like that...

I've pretty much settled on black micarta on sage. But I'm set on double-guards, standard blade shape.
 
Give us a review when you get it, especially about the guards. They don't seem intrusive, but...
 
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