After Action Report!
It was a very exhausting week but I learned a lot. Basically our day started at 0630, breakfast at 0700 and then classes started at 0800 ... and went until 2200-2300 at night! We got a few breaks and 30-60 mins for lunch/dinner but basically it was go, go, go! Probably the most exhausting vacation I've had in a while.
Anyhoo, onto the RAT5. I got my Lansky diamond set and took it with me to the class. It took me about 2.0-2.5 hours to get the bevels fixed with the Lansky extra coarse diamond stone. I ended up with a 25 degree secondary bevel and it seemed like it worked well for the class. Final polish with the Lansky fine diamond stone did not result in a razor sharp edge, but a very sharp one in any event!
Once the edge was fixed, the knife performed very well. Here is a list of the things we did with our knives, which were basically used almost every day of the week:
- Making a bowdrill set from a single block of cedar wood. The only "help" came in the form of an axe which was used to split the block of wood into the three other chunks to create the primary components -- fireboard, spindle and handblock. The bow was provided to us so we didn't have to make it.
- Making a fireboard for a hand drill set, again from a block of cedar wood. The hand drill didn't require any work because it was basically cut from a dead dogbane reed.
- Creating a figure-four deadfall from loose branches. My deadfall was a bit beefy than most, being constructed from sticks about 0.5" in diameter.
- De-scaling a grouper fish for dinner ... we were given kitchen knives to make the initial cut for gutting the fish but after that we used our knives for de-scaling. I used the back of the blade so I don't think this was a particularly intense use for the RAT ... but I must say the thumb grooves on the back of the blade helped in the process.
Splitting/batoning the cedar blocks with the RAT5 was easy enough. The cedar blocks were maybe 8-12" thick so it wasn't light work. I am now much more appreciative of the flat spine of the RAT5's blade ... I can't imagine batoning with my Randall #14 would have been an easy task with a sharpened top edge.
Also, bonus points for the choil and the thumb grooves. These allowed very precise cuts for some of the more precision whittling that we had to do. A great example is the notch in the fireboard ... it's important to have a sharp, clean notch free from fuzz on the sides of the notch. I was able to manuever the RAT5 with enough precision to get several clean notches (note: each fireboard had 2+ burn-in points so it's not just one notch per fireboard!).
Probably the only "negative" (in addition to the initial bevel problem) was the pommel. The RAT5 has a pointed pommel, presumably for combat use. I would have preferred a flatter one so I could use it for hammering. Not a big deal; I was able to use the side of the handle for a decent hammer (holding the knife by the handle, of course -- not the blade).
Incidentally, mine was not the only Ontario at the class. Out of 140 students (yours truly included) I also saw a guy with an Ontario TAK.
The vast majority of the students used either the school-brand knives or a more economical fixed blade by Frost Cutlery. One guy had a custom knife from a maker that I did not recognize (Tapp? He said he got it from his base PX). A few Ka-Bars in attendance as well.
Last, the class featured one short session on survival knives, entitled "Knives 101". To condense their recommendation, it was a fixed blade knife, blade 3-5", flat ground, high-carbon steel, single hilt, full tang and with a clip/drop point. The RAT5 fit basically all those requirements and performed well.
So in conclusion I'll say that while the knife wasn't exactly 100% from the factory, a little bit of elbow grease with a diamond stone set was all that was required to get the knife in tip-top shape. I'd certainly buy another Ontario RAT.
Sheath by Kevin Winter (Alaska).
