EDC XIII Which knife or knives are you carrying today?

a9PMOFw.jpeg
 
sharp image said:
What kiser model is that ?
Click to expand...

It's the Sheepdog XL. It's silly fun to thwack out that big rectangle of steel from the flipper tab. Ergonomics are good too. It's discontinued but there are still a few unadvertised Amazon exclusives in 14C28N available. Besides the steel change, they also added handle and blade jimping.
 
knarfeng said:
It feels to me like they ran the D2 on the soft side. I saw that Ontario ran the D2 on the Shikra at a nominal 56HRC, and I think that's the same rhardness they used for the D2 RAT1. It feels like it when sharpening.

But the D2 is a still a step up in edge retention from the AUS8, which they also ran soft. (2023 Catalog claims a hardness of 56 for the AUS8. AUS 8 at a hardness of 59 is usually preferable, but according to their metallurgist, they were aiming for toughness with the original RATs because they were originally intended as outdoor knives, rather than EDC. )
I run both the D2 and AUS 8 versions with a 20 DPS primary bevel, and they're good to go.

Both RAT 1 & RAT 2 S35VN knives and the Magnacut RAT 1.5 are a step up from the D2. They feel much crisper on the sharpening stones.
Their 2023 catalog claims a nominal hardness of 59 for the S35VN, and that seems accurate to me. I've not seen a hardness for the 1.5, but it feels very crisp.
I run a primary bevel of 15 DPS on the S35VN and the Magnacut versions, and they shine in everyday use.

Of the three models, I still like the RAT 1 best. I wish they'd do a Magnacut version on that one.
Click to expand...
And also ChazzyP ChazzyP . You guys got me curious, so I checked out to see if there was any data on hardness testing of the RAT knives. We have a HRC test of a RAT 1.5 here of 63.7. Very impressive if I do say so myself!

docs.google.com

Rockwell Hardness Testing Results

docs.google.com docs.google.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top