Funky RC-4 Recurve

Horn Dog

Horn Dog

Joined
Sep 9, 2005
Messages
4,363
When I ordered my RAT Cutlery RC-4, only the partially serrated ones were in stock. When I got it, I just didn't care for the serrations so I ground them off. But they were deep and it created a sort of ugly recurve. I had blunted the point, too. So today, I finished grinding out the serrations, put a new drop point on it, stripped and buffed it with a Scotchbrite wheel. Then I sanded the spine and smoothed out the contours a bit and gave it a convex edge. I can live with it, now.
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looks excellent. I've got an Ontario RAT that I've been planing on doing the same too, did you grind out the serrations while maintaining the bevel, or did you just do them flat then sharpen it up once the shape was good?
 
sketchbag said:
looks excellent. I've got an Ontario RAT that I've been planing on doing the same too, did you grind out the serrations while maintaining the bevel, or did you just do them flat then sharpen it up once the shape was good?
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I maintained a convex "bevel" and just kept at it until the serrations went away.
 
Looks nice. Gotta say, I wish they sold the RAT knives with bead-blasted or satin finish blades, instead of the tacky spray job they have.
 
Sweet! It looks good! I think that you should keep it that way IMO. It might be a pain to sharpen but being convex it should be easy.
 
looks like a sweet mod.

you could have probably found a plain edge second hand, but oh well.

looks well done, i'm not surprised based on what i've seen of your sharpening and mods in the past.
 
I'm not normally fond of recurves but I like that. You've improved the poke factor over the original too, cool.

I was minded to try a similar thing on one of the RAT folders. I can cope happily enough with a good implementation of 8A, and Bill Siegle has flagged a liking for his up a few times. The Knife Collectors Guild had them with the serrations at half the price of the plain edge ones. Looked like a gift for a mod to me. Heinnie is now doing both at the low price though so I've lost the incentive.
 
Thank you, gentlemen. It was just sitting there, a victim of one of my failed projects. But I feel that I redeemed it today. The whole shape is pointier and I am pleased with it. It is very sharp. This is some good 1095 steel. I used the new edge leading grinding technique that Mike Stewart recommended and was able to have much better contol, especially in reshaping the point. I feel like I have a new knife now.
 
looks sick, been meaning to join the RAT familly for a long time, you may have given me that xtra kick in the arse to get me one.
 
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