- Joined
- Aug 7, 2003
- Messages
- 3,330
The story of my last five years of fixed bladed knife ownership is really a tale of finding a tough enough cutter.
To that end, I abandoned choppers in favor of situational axe and saw use. I became a puukko fan first and foremost, but they could not be trusted to not break or have the handle come off in extreme use situations.
Then came the RAT knives from Ontario. I fell first for the RAT-3, but it was too small. Then I had the RAT-7, but it was too big. The RAT-5 was just right, but it had that pointy pommel. Even had a first run RTAK, but the original handle slabs sucked.
Then Ontario tried to screw Mike and Jeff and made themselves irrelevant to me.
So I got first an RC-4 and then an RC-6, knowing better than to get an RC-3 and a pointy pommel RC-5. The RC-6 was still too big. The RC-4 was a dream.
But in February of 2007 I ordered a Skookum Bush Tool Mk. 1. A year and a half later, the swamped and suddenly popular maker got me mine. That's when I realized the RC-4 had been something like my desired "tough puukko" but with the wrong grind.
The balance between the blade length and the handle length was almost perfect on the RC-4, being just a skosh short handled. That and the thin micarta slabs made for great flat carry, but were not ideal in the hand compared to a more oval cross section on the handle.
Now I have perfection. As I have bored you all by now, onto the pics:
Ambidextrous beeswax impregnated leather sheath with the capability of being hung on a length of leather strap.
TIG welded steel hammering pommel which also serves as the blade's only markings. Mine denotes a blade made of CPM3V.
To that end, I abandoned choppers in favor of situational axe and saw use. I became a puukko fan first and foremost, but they could not be trusted to not break or have the handle come off in extreme use situations.
Then came the RAT knives from Ontario. I fell first for the RAT-3, but it was too small. Then I had the RAT-7, but it was too big. The RAT-5 was just right, but it had that pointy pommel. Even had a first run RTAK, but the original handle slabs sucked.
Then Ontario tried to screw Mike and Jeff and made themselves irrelevant to me.
So I got first an RC-4 and then an RC-6, knowing better than to get an RC-3 and a pointy pommel RC-5. The RC-6 was still too big. The RC-4 was a dream.
But in February of 2007 I ordered a Skookum Bush Tool Mk. 1. A year and a half later, the swamped and suddenly popular maker got me mine. That's when I realized the RC-4 had been something like my desired "tough puukko" but with the wrong grind.
The balance between the blade length and the handle length was almost perfect on the RC-4, being just a skosh short handled. That and the thin micarta slabs made for great flat carry, but were not ideal in the hand compared to a more oval cross section on the handle.
Now I have perfection. As I have bored you all by now, onto the pics:
Ambidextrous beeswax impregnated leather sheath with the capability of being hung on a length of leather strap.
TIG welded steel hammering pommel which also serves as the blade's only markings. Mine denotes a blade made of CPM3V.
) to fill orders, it'd be neat to see an RC with some of these updated Scandinavian influences in it.
