Modified RAT-7

Gossman Knives

Gossman Knives

Edged Toolmaker
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Apr 9, 2004
Messages
9,438
I had a customer contact me about redoing his RAT-7. He wanted the edge convexed and the coating removed. This is the end result. Convexed edge, scotchbrite/satin finish.
Scott

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BTW, if anyone had doubts about how well Ontario's heat treat is with the D2 RAT-7, no worries, they are on the money. This knife is wicked sharp.:D
 
Scott,
I looked on the website and didnt see anything about this service...Prolly be some quick $$$ if ya put up a price list with pics..<~~shameless attempt at a discount!!!

Feel me?? :)
 
Scott, my R.A.T.s are to be shipped monday, can't wait till they get that oh so good convex sharpness =), Kyle.
 
Very nice work. I have always loved the feel of this blade, but have never gotten around to getting one.
 
Ghost93 said:
Scott, my R.A.T.s are to be shipped monday, can't wait till they get that oh so good convex sharpness =), Kyle.
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I'll keep an eye out for them Kyle.;)
Scott
 
Scott,

Glad to hear you make a positive comment about the heat treat on the RAT in D2. I have put off buying one because of comments I've read about the heat treat (wonder who could have made those comments? :o )

I'm glad to see your work. Great job!

I need to talk with you one of these days about some of your pieces.

:)
 
Thanks plowboy. The problem with the Ontario HT was with the 1095 blades. I just wanted to set the record straight with the D2 blades. I checked it as I do my own. This one is great.
Scott
 
How exactly did you check it? How would checking one blade anyway "set the record straight". If you found it was off what would that lead you to conclude?

-Cliff
 
I guess it would be right up there w/ testing small samples of particular knives for function? You would be extrapolating to the line - not avery powerful study, but probably useful to some people.
 
Flotsam said:
I guess it would be right up there w/ testing small samples of particular knives for function? You would be extrapolating to the line - not avery powerful study, but probably useful to some people.
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I can't speak for every knife Ontario has made but this one did well. Maybe I'm assuming the others were done just as well. Jeff Randall oversees his product line so I have enough confidence to feel all is well with his knives.
Scott
 
Flotsam said:
I guess it would be right up there w/ testing small samples of particular knives for function?
Click to expand...

You are always on fairly shaky ground trying to infer population statistics unless you have a decently large sample and know that it is well representative of the population which itself isn't trivial. Individual reviews should generally be looked at as a starting point of discussion about performance issues rather than definate bounded performance estimates for a knife/steel. One of the main benefits for other users is the ability to ask makers/manufactures specific questions "Can your knives actually do that?". Once a user has worked with repeated samples of steels/geometries then a more definate statement can be made of course, see Talmadge/Harvey's work with liner locks for example.

Judging the individual QC however is a different matter, especially when you are working with hand picked samples which are not going to be population representative. You are usually looking at polling user feedback which is influenced by maker/manufacturer bias. Note as well the best you can do is something like "There is only a 5% chance that this decision isn't valid". Of course this means 1/20 times it is invalid. Plus not seeing a problem and extrapolating to one not being there is different than finding one and saying it exists for fairly obvious reasons.

The vast majority of Spyderco blades I have measured for example show well above average sharpness, however a few were average or below. It would not be unreasonable for someone to have just got those (though unlikely) and thus they would have a misrepresentation of the population. That is of course where customer service / warrenty support comes into the issue and again the public nature of the internet and the ability to request *public* statements from the makers/manufacturers. You can also reduce this probability of misleading conclusions by checking results with known materials data and other users to make sure you are seeing the expected results.

The main reason I noted the above is because there is no way to do any kind of reasonable QC check on a users blade without damaging it. At a minimum you would be looking at sharpening/edge retention, edge impacts, flexing, corrosion soaking etc. . Was any of this actually done to a customer's knife? A knife can easily sharpen fine and still have severe problems, it can also HRC test at the exact "right" hardness and have problems as well. Of course if either of those comes out problematic you know you have an issue.

-Cliff
 
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