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Esse 6 vs Swamp Rat Rodent 6
- Thread starter FFK
- Start date
- Joined
- May 10, 2012
- Messages
- 1,812
The Rodent would be the winner. I've watched a guy chop a 7 into the edge of a machete, and while the machete was cut apart like plastic, the 7 didn't even have any sign of wear on the blade. SR101 is insanely tough steel. A Kill Devil tomahawk made from it was used to chop a car in half; body, frame, interior, completely in half.
The grind on the Esee being thinner might be a selling point for some, but Swamp Rat will do customs whereas Esee, as far as I know, does not.
The grind on the Esee being thinner might be a selling point for some, but Swamp Rat will do customs whereas Esee, as far as I know, does not.
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2013
- Messages
- 764
As awesome as the Rodent-6 is I have to say, as always it depends on what it will be used for. The ESEE-6 is a great 'bushcraft' blade capable of any small tasks but still able to chop as well as any knife in it's weight class. It is a refined cutter, great for wood work and it excels in the kitchen as well. That said the Rodent 6 is a tank that you will never break or damage, even if you try. A big part of that is because of the thickness, at 1/4 compared to the ESEE's actual BLADE thickness of 5/32 It's no competition which one is tougher. Unfortunately because of that thickness and ruggedness, the Rodent-6 might fall short in the small chores department meanwhile the ESEE 6 will excel.
In short if you are looking for a good companion knife that won't be doing a lot of abusive tasks the ESEE is the way to go; If you want to get a ultra-heavy duty fighting/survival knife for your B.O.B. then you should get the Rodent 6
In short if you are looking for a good companion knife that won't be doing a lot of abusive tasks the ESEE is the way to go; If you want to get a ultra-heavy duty fighting/survival knife for your B.O.B. then you should get the Rodent 6
- Joined
- May 14, 2014
- Messages
- 27
ESEE 6
The ESEE will be much better at carving & slicing. The Rodent is over a quarter inch thick. That's just a sharp prybar IMO.
The Rodent has a double guard, which I find only useful on fighting knives. If that's what you want, then there's a point for the Rodent. Otherwise, I'd give it to the ESEE.
Don't forget to take into consideration that the ESEE is readily available. The Rodent will take weeks to months to arrive.
You still get a great warranty with the ESEE, and if you need a new knife, that availability comes into play again.
Also, the prices aren't that similar. The ESEE can be had for around $100-$115, if you shop around.
The ESEE will be much better at carving & slicing. The Rodent is over a quarter inch thick. That's just a sharp prybar IMO.
The Rodent has a double guard, which I find only useful on fighting knives. If that's what you want, then there's a point for the Rodent. Otherwise, I'd give it to the ESEE.
Don't forget to take into consideration that the ESEE is readily available. The Rodent will take weeks to months to arrive.
You still get a great warranty with the ESEE, and if you need a new knife, that availability comes into play again.
Also, the prices aren't that similar. The ESEE can be had for around $100-$115, if you shop around.
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2010
- Messages
- 734
Rodent 6. SR101 over 1095 any day in my opinion. You can thin out the edge on the Rodent 6 and it will work great. I would grab a Ratmandu over a Rodent 6 though.
On "the Google", and it appears that 52100 with Swamp proprietary HT is SR-101. But you all new that. Anyway S5 or Caldie could give similar cutting performance with triple
the toughness and no secret HT........idk. While we are at it, L6 is very tough/readily available and keeps an edge as well.
the toughness and no secret HT........idk. While we are at it, L6 is very tough/readily available and keeps an edge as well.
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2012
- Messages
- 8,759
SR101 is tough as hell. Very dissimilar knives, though. The Esee 5 might be a better comparison for you against the R6 as a hell-and-back knife.
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I'm one of those guys, I have all the newer knives made by Swamp Rat, and I really find the Lightning Bolt Handle to be very comfortable, until I bought my Rodent 6 the Ratmandu was one of my Fav's and it still is always thinking why Swamp Rat never made a 6" Ratmandu, one day on this Forum I read where somebody customized his Rodent 6 so I called Trissy and she said their Custom Shop could do that, the Rodent 6 was just too tactical for me I would of settled for the thickness but I didnt like the top gaurd so I asked Trissy if they could thin it also and she said yes, when I got my modified Rodent 6 it looked more like a Ratmandu instead of the tactical Rodent 6, fantastic, I had the top gaurd taken off and I had it thinned down, now I get very good curls, sure not as good as my Skookum Bush Tool but it's not as thin either, it's much stronger knife very robust and the area where they took the top gaurd off it actually aids in the chopping ability, for a 6" (6 3/8")blade it's a great chopper it really surprised me, infact it's my Fav 6" blade and I have a nice stable of 6" knives, including the A-1, Njord, Vox Rold, S.R.K. in CarbonV and a few more, as a all around field camp hunting knife it's great especially in its chopping ability, and with the saber vex grind I put on it with the Custom Shop's help it's very good making firefeathers and batoning, I would recommend this any day and twice on sunday, it came out better than I expected.
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2012
- Messages
- 1,949
I love knives from both companies. My choice between those two would be based more on where I would be at than anything else. Urban environment I would take the R6 since its really a sharp pry bar in the woods I would take the ESEE 6 because the over all grind and geometry lend that knife much better to actually cutting things. I would take an RMD over them both in both urban and in the woods.