ESEE / RAT Cutlery Question

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gunslinger226

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Aug 15, 2011
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I have a couple of questions regarding ESEE/RAT knives. Some may have been asked before:

1. How good is the 1095 carbon steel as compared to other top survival knives?

2. Bit of a weird question, but I am thinking about getting the ESEE-6/RC-6 for camping survival and the ESEE-5/RC-5 for my collection. The quetsion is, in terms of future value should I get the newer ESEE-5 branded knife or the older RC-5 branded knife? I'm thinking that since the name change I might go with the RC-5 as they won't be made anymore?

Any comments would be appreciated.
 
gunslinger226 said:
I have a couple of questions regarding ESEE/RAT knives. Some may have been asked before:

1. How good is the 1095 carbon steel as compared to other top survival knives?

2. Bit of a weird question, but I am thinking about getting the ESEE-6/RC-6 for camping survival and the ESEE-5/RC-5 for my collection. The quetsion is, in terms of future value should I get the newer ESEE-5 branded knife or the older RC-5 branded knife? I'm thinking that since the name change I might go with the RC-5 as they won't be made anymore?

Any comments would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

To answer the second question... they are the exact same knife, with a different name put on them since the change over last year. I doubt it will be worth more.. if that's what you're going for.
 
1095 is a pretty standard steel for outdoor blades. Tried tested and true you can't really go wrong with it.

I don't think ESEE normal production knives will ever increase in value, in case that's what you were thinking.
 
IMHO, ESEE/Rat Cutlery knives are made to be used and most likely will never reach collectable status.... 1095 steel is a carbon steel that performs exceptional well as a tough knife steel. Other than 1095 not being stainless and can be prone to rust, I can't think of any negatives.


YMMV,
/dusty
 
i dont know whether esees are collectable or not thats up to the person collecting. if someone were to collect esee knives i can see how the old logo would be more rare , therefore a little more valuable. all knives are users, why buy a tool and not use it. 1095 is a good blade steel if you are looking for toughness over stainless, its not the toughest of all the high carbon steals but rowen heat treat makes it a bit tougher without sacrificing its 57 rc hardness. meaning edge retention with some flexibility as well. esee\rowen 1095 is the best production 1095 out there. and i wont buy 1095 blades anywhere else because it is difficult to heat treat, example being all the broken ontario and becker pics out there. not not an esee fanboy i actually prefer 5160 for large blades but my junglas has even proven itself to be tougher than my 5160 blades by ontario, there is slight damage on both my junglas and ontario edges from accidental impacts against hard objects and while my junglas minor mash for lak of better term my ontario sp gen two has miner chip. btw give randell his name back ontario and stop trying to him out of business you scumbags at the top
 
Esee's 1095 is some good stuff.
like others have said RC5/Esee5 are identical, were would you even get a RC5?

anyways they are sweet knives, I have alot of esee products and the quality and customer service is excellent.

SAM_3727.jpg
 
Gentlemen, everything is collectible.

That being said, in 20 years, how many RATs will there be and how many ESEE will there be.

If they are the same and there are fewer RATs, they will likely be worth more, by what amount the value would increase would depend on the market.
 
It's impossible to predict which items serious collectors will seek out in the future. But quite often the highest-demand knives are those that were made for using, not those specifically marketed towards collectors. Why? It's the "using" knives that are the most well-known, the knives that people remember from their past, or the knives that their parents or grandparents used.
 
one of the reasons older using knives are more collectable is because since they were used, there are fewer examples. Compared to some special collectable knife that never gets used...There are close to the same amount of those now that there will be 20 years from now only because they are considered a collectable by the person selling it.
 
I don't think either would be a true "collectible". However, I wouldn't have pegged the nutnfancy tenacious to sell on eBay for over $200, either. 1095? Tough as nails and can get damned near lightsabre sharp!
 
krausshauss said:
i dont know whether esees are collectable or not thats up to the person collecting. if someone were to collect esee knives i can see how the old logo would be more rare , therefore a little more valuable. all knives are users, why buy a tool and not use it. 1095 is a good blade steel if you are looking for toughness over stainless, its not the toughest of all the high carbon steals but rowen heat treat makes it a bit tougher without sacrificing its 57 rc hardness. meaning edge retention with some flexibility as well. esee\rowen 1095 is the best production 1095 out there. and i wont buy 1095 blades anywhere else because it is difficult to heat treat, example being all the broken ontario and becker pics out there. not not an esee fanboy i actually prefer 5160 for large blades but my junglas has even proven itself to be tougher than my 5160 blades by ontario, there is slight damage on both my junglas and ontario edges from accidental impacts against hard objects and while my junglas minor mash for lak of better term my ontario sp gen two has miner chip. btw give randell his name back ontario and stop trying to him out of business you scumbags at the top
Click to expand...

You can't compare Ontario's 5160 to anything else, because they aren't doing the right HT IMO. I have a forged blade that is far superior for toughness and edge retention over my Ontario's.
I've seen pics of plenty of broken ESEE knives, stupid people can break anything. So, I'm saying that any steel can be broken, just depends on who/what/why was wrong. I own several ESEE and Beckers, they both do a great heat treat, and that is just as(if not more) important than what steel a knife is made from.

Anyway, you can trust the HT and even edge grind of the ESEE's and Rowen. There are better knives to collect, if you want to have a knife to look at as it gains more value. I own the ESEE5, and although made well, it's still made for downed airmen to escape the plane and survive whatever else. It's not the best at bushcraft, camping, slicing, only not breaking. Other thinner knives can do normal knife duties without breaking, and do them better, ie. ESEE 4&6.
 
not disagreeing, what is wrong with the heat treat? do you have gen 2 maragni blade or ranger series?
 
I have the RD-4 and Afghan in 5160. They just don't take a great edge, and both knives loose that edge somewhat quickly. They are tough, but compared to my Culberson Bolok, it's as if they are different steels.
Bruce Culberson makes great forged blades, whatever HT he does for his small blades and larger choppers may be different, but are top notch. I can chop with my Bolok on hard woods for hours and see little to no degration of the edge. Hours being over days, with no touch ups. The Ontario's HT of my 5160 blades can't hold their edge for any amount of time, in my experience.
I like Justin's designs, but I think that Ontario want to keep their prices down. I have other Ontario products that do better, the survival machete, and the RD Hawk are tough and hold their edges, what those tools need to do.
 
Thanks for the opinions. I decided to go with a Fallkniven S1 instead!!! Love that knife!
Might see if I can pick up an RC-5 in the future to add to my collection. Doubt I'd use it as my Fallkniven F1 for EDC/camping, S1 for bushcraft/camping, Becker BK-7 for camping/fire prep combo seems to do the job.
 
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