New to the swamp rat knives but just can't resist anymore. Seems like everyone is very satisfied with the quality of their knives and the prices are amazing. Looking at getting a howling rat. Don't even know what I will use it for but can't stop thinking about it since I saw it for the first time. Also, a sheath from buy brown( good or bad)I want to be able to carry it sometimes. I already know everyone will say buy it but how is the size for carry in a brown kydex sheath and overall usefullness. Thanks in advance and hopefully soon I will be a rat as well!
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
howling rat
- Thread starter laxbum
- Start date
Cutshaw
Moderator
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 7,274
I love my Howling Rat with BB sheath. It goes everywhere in my EDC man-bag but I also carry it around during camping trips and yard days at home in the horizontal back carry position.
For what it's worth, if you buy a new one it will have a larger choil. Mine is a first-generation HR.
Good luck!
For what it's worth, if you buy a new one it will have a larger choil. Mine is a first-generation HR.
Good luck!
Greg45
Gold Member
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2004
- Messages
- 2,420
Howlers rock! They're a great first Rat. They also come with a very useable leather sheath, although a good kydex version that really locks it in may be more secure in extreme situations.
Don't worry about what to use it for - after a while, you'll wonder what you ever did without it!
Don't worry about what to use it for - after a while, you'll wonder what you ever did without it!
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2005
- Messages
- 4,978
I totally agree with everything said --great choice of blade and sheath!
I obsessed about getting my first Howler for way too long. It was a huge relieve when I got it though. :thumbup:
Welcome to the forum laxbum! I hope you stick around and share your adventures with your new RAT!!
I obsessed about getting my first Howler for way too long. It was a huge relieve when I got it though. :thumbup:
Welcome to the forum laxbum! I hope you stick around and share your adventures with your new RAT!!
Cutshaw
Moderator
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 7,274
I'm not sure I can accurately describe the Tek-Lok without it becoming more wordy and confusing than necessary. 
I'll try and look up a description. Suffice it to say that, with the holes on both sides of the sheath, this one can be left or right handed, positioned vertically, handle up or down, or horizontal to either side. Make sense? Probably not, my bad.
How does it hold? Like they were born together! Nice and tight without "sticking" like my Becker Necker kydex did... Geez, you had to really rip that thing out making the lil necker a dangerous projectile!
I'll try and look up a description. Suffice it to say that, with the holes on both sides of the sheath, this one can be left or right handed, positioned vertically, handle up or down, or horizontal to either side. Make sense? Probably not, my bad.How does it hold? Like they were born together! Nice and tight without "sticking" like my Becker Necker kydex did... Geez, you had to really rip that thing out making the lil necker a dangerous projectile!
Cutshaw
Moderator
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 7,274
From the Blade-Tech site:
"A Tek-Lok is a innovative versatile attaching & locking device than can be locked stationary by two retaining locking tabs. The Tek-Lok can be locked in placed permanatly by a perma-clip. The Tek-Lok can be easily removed from a belt by pressing both locking tabs together. A Tek-Lok will accomodate belts from 2.25" down to 1.25"
A Tek-Lok includes, (2) 3/8 posts, (2) 1/2 screws and (2) 1/4 spacers."
"A Tek-Lok is a innovative versatile attaching & locking device than can be locked stationary by two retaining locking tabs. The Tek-Lok can be locked in placed permanatly by a perma-clip. The Tek-Lok can be easily removed from a belt by pressing both locking tabs together. A Tek-Lok will accomodate belts from 2.25" down to 1.25"
A Tek-Lok includes, (2) 3/8 posts, (2) 1/2 screws and (2) 1/4 spacers."
Greg45
Gold Member
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2004
- Messages
- 2,420
Generally, a kydex sheath fits the blade it was made for, but that is not what holds it. Some feature of the knife is used to mold the kydex around or into, such as a hole in the blade/handle or a bolster/guard/choil, etc. This causes the blade to enter the sheath smoothly, then "snap" into place. The hold created can be very tight or more relaxed, depending on how it's designed. This can usually even be adjusted by the buyer by heating the kydex at some strategic point (don't over-do it!) and either relaxing the fit or molding it more firmly to the knife. Cool stuff, kydex. 
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2003
- Messages
- 5,789
I can't wait to get mine. I know, I've said that before, but I really am dying to take it out (on my jaunts into the Oregon Coastal Range) and see what it can do..
RokJok
Gold Member
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2000
- Messages
- 4,194
Here are Tek-Lok pics that will hopefully explain some of how it works.
First up is a picture of a Tek-Lok mounted on an Okuden sheath. How the holes/eyelets on a sheath are arranged dictate whether or not the Tek-Lok will mount on the sheath and how many mounting variations can be accomplished. Okuden sheaths are designed with the Tek-Lok in mind, so they allow lots of mounting flexibility.
In the picture, the hinge of the Tek-Lok is at the left (toward the bottom of the sheath). Most folks mount the Tek-Lok in the opposite orientation (i.e. with the hinge at the top and the Tek-Lok opening facing the bottom of the sheath, thus approximating the "belt loop" hooks used on non-Tek-Lok sheaths). Putting the Tek-Lok opening down (toward the tip of the sheath) makes mounting the sheath with the knife inserted awkward. The handle, being tilted inward toward your body, tends to poke you in the midriff. I did this too, until Brian Wagner (Mr Okuden) told me to put the Tek-Lok opening toward the top (mouth) of the sheath. If you mount the Tek-Lok as shown in the pictures, the midriff poking doesn't happen. (Unless you've got serious overhang at the belt line. )
Here's a pic of the Tek-Lok profile as it is mounted on the sheath. Note the rubber spacer washers between the sheath body and the Tek-Lok. Besides holding the Tek-Lok away from the sheath body, those washers snub against the Chicago screw posts to hold them in place as you tighten the screws.
Here is the other side of the sheath, showing the mounting screws that pass through the rubber washers and hold the Tek-Lok on the sheath.
To open the Tek-Lok squeeze the flexible prong "ears" in the direction of the arrows, then swing the rotable piece up away from the base.
Flexible prongs pinched in ....
.... and the latch partially opened.
Below is a picture of the latch fully opened. By mounting the Tek-Lok via various combinations of the screw holes, you can mount it left/right, horizontal/vertical, 45-degree cant to left/right, upside down, etc.
Note the bar with the screwhole in the middle of it on the left-side piece. That bar can be slid up and down in the slot (then tightened with the screw) to adjust the Tek-Lok for different width belts.
First up is a picture of a Tek-Lok mounted on an Okuden sheath. How the holes/eyelets on a sheath are arranged dictate whether or not the Tek-Lok will mount on the sheath and how many mounting variations can be accomplished. Okuden sheaths are designed with the Tek-Lok in mind, so they allow lots of mounting flexibility.
In the picture, the hinge of the Tek-Lok is at the left (toward the bottom of the sheath). Most folks mount the Tek-Lok in the opposite orientation (i.e. with the hinge at the top and the Tek-Lok opening facing the bottom of the sheath, thus approximating the "belt loop" hooks used on non-Tek-Lok sheaths). Putting the Tek-Lok opening down (toward the tip of the sheath) makes mounting the sheath with the knife inserted awkward. The handle, being tilted inward toward your body, tends to poke you in the midriff. I did this too, until Brian Wagner (Mr Okuden) told me to put the Tek-Lok opening toward the top (mouth) of the sheath. If you mount the Tek-Lok as shown in the pictures, the midriff poking doesn't happen. (Unless you've got serious overhang at the belt line.
)
Here's a pic of the Tek-Lok profile as it is mounted on the sheath. Note the rubber spacer washers between the sheath body and the Tek-Lok. Besides holding the Tek-Lok away from the sheath body, those washers snub against the Chicago screw posts to hold them in place as you tighten the screws.
Here is the other side of the sheath, showing the mounting screws that pass through the rubber washers and hold the Tek-Lok on the sheath.
To open the Tek-Lok squeeze the flexible prong "ears" in the direction of the arrows, then swing the rotable piece up away from the base.
Flexible prongs pinched in ....
.... and the latch partially opened.
Below is a picture of the latch fully opened. By mounting the Tek-Lok via various combinations of the screw holes, you can mount it left/right, horizontal/vertical, 45-degree cant to left/right, upside down, etc.
Note the bar with the screwhole in the middle of it on the left-side piece. That bar can be slid up and down in the slot (then tightened with the screw) to adjust the Tek-Lok for different width belts.
RokJok
Gold Member
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2000
- Messages
- 4,194
You're welcome, amigo. Glad I could help. Below is one more picture, showing the latch-up mechanism of the Tek-Lok. When you squeeze the flexible prongs of the Tek-Lok, you disengage the hooks which allows the rotable piece to open.
Blade-Tech also sells the Perma-Klip accessory (see link below) for the Tek-Lok. The P-K is a U-shaped piece of plastic that inserts into the channels forming the flexible prongs. With the P-K inserted, it prevents the prongs from inadvertantly opening at inopportune moments, which could lead to the loss of the gear the Tek-Lok is holding on your body. However, those Tek-Lok prongs are pretty strong and I've never experienced them opening under their own power. But the folks at Blade-Tech are a like the Busse/Rat crew in that they over-build their products to cover remotely possible contingency circumstances, not just the easy day-to-day usual scenarios.
http://www.blade-tech.com/product.php?productid=829&cat=251&page=1
Blade-Tech also sells the Perma-Klip accessory (see link below) for the Tek-Lok. The P-K is a U-shaped piece of plastic that inserts into the channels forming the flexible prongs. With the P-K inserted, it prevents the prongs from inadvertantly opening at inopportune moments, which could lead to the loss of the gear the Tek-Lok is holding on your body. However, those Tek-Lok prongs are pretty strong and I've never experienced them opening under their own power. But the folks at Blade-Tech are a like the Busse/Rat crew in that they over-build their products to cover remotely possible contingency circumstances, not just the easy day-to-day usual scenarios.
http://www.blade-tech.com/product.php?productid=829&cat=251&page=1