Muskrat fighter

kamagong

kamagong

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In the movie "Young Guns II" there was a fight between Lou Diamond Philips and Christian Slater. Christian Slater used a Bowie knife but Lou Diamond Philips' character wielded a double bladed weapon that I had never seen before or have seen since. In one of the old blade discussion archives Jim March calls it a Muskrat Fighter. Where can I find out about these MFs? Are there any makers that make them? Where? Thanks in advance for the help.
 
Muskrats are a traditional pattern with to identical long thin turkish clip blades at each end. Case made at one time a double locking large muskrat called Saddlehorn or Saddleback or a very similair name. Muskrats would not be the fastest opener I can think of but Hollywood could make a thimble look deadly with all the special effects.
Bob
 
I remember an article in Knife World (I think) a ways back which described large muskrat pattern folders as being the tactical knife of the South. I suppose with both blades extended on either side of the handle it would appear to be a formidible weapon. Of course, it might just cut your fingers off at the same time that you were trying to damage the other guy.

I think these can be modified or adjusted to allow quick one handed opening by grasping the large blade and flicking.

I have not seen the movie, but the use of that knife as a fighter makes some sense to me. Not much, but a little
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Paracelsus
 
So muskrat fighters are folders? The ones in the movies did not look like a folder, but rather a fixed blade. It was deployed so fast that I didn't think it was a folder, especially since the movie was set in the 19th century.

Does anyone else make them anymore?

Thanks for the help guys.
 
Boker,BullDog,KissingCrane and most German Cutlery Co's make this pattern.
Bob
 
Kamagong,

You are correct. The knife in the movie was NOT a folder. It was a fixed blade.

------------------
Louis Buccellato
http://www.themartialway.com
Knives, Weapons and equipment. Best prices anywhere.
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"only the paranoid will survive"
 
Does anybody know where I can get a fixed blade Muskrat, production and custom?
 
At the time I saw YG2, a Muscrat pattern folding fighter was in my daily carry lineup as a backup. It was a Case Texas Lockhorn, and I miss it dearly. Once Parker bought out Case, they continued producing these under the "Parker/Imai" label.

They had identical 3.45" clip-point lockback blades. The proper opening stroke is a hard "double snap", up and down. VERY impressive when done right, and for the blade length these are hideously effective fighters. You're doing "forward and reverse grips" at once and can transition from one to the other in a heartbeat. You can fake a movement typical of forward, and then shift into something in reverse in mid-stroke.

I feel that a modern-production double-3.9" Muscrat using modern lockworks could unseat the Sifu as "king of the fighting folders"...and it would be legal for street carry in far more jurisdictions.

A Megafolder Muscrat is a bad idea because the grip would be too long; the whole idea of a Muscrat is that you go from forward to reverse without any grip shift; which one you're doing need only be known by you. You can appear to be doing one, while plotting something else entirely...the opponent is supposed to go down puzzled to the very end.

I think the Muscrat in YG2 was a folder, or was meant to be a folder but the propmaster did it up fixed because an original wasn't available or was unsafe to use at high speed. As shown opened up, it was typical of a 19th century double-folder Muscrat.

A few historical Muscrats were made up as fixed-blade on one end, folder on the other. If any makers are listening, don't do it that way; there's too many legal restrictions on fixed blades across the country.

Benchmade isn't radical enough to do this. REKAT has a whole buncha new product in the works and is a small company; only SOG has all the elements: a good lockwork, current 4" class products that could be a good blade-shape platform as-is, and a "radical" enough view to produce one. They built the PE2, but in my view a SOG Muscrat would be a far better piece.

Jim
Equal Rights for CCW Home Page
http://www.ninehundred.com/~equalccw
 
I've been agitating for one blade fixed, but one of the coolest things about the traditional muskrat is it's just an ordinary pocketknife and doesn't look scary at all (until you do that double-opening). Let's harrass the manufacturers some more....

For custom-makers, it occurs to me it shouldn't be too hard to make a picklock muskrat with a single backspring for both blades. A picklock wouldn't have enough mass-market appeal for a big factory, but for those of us who want a muskrat for a fighter a picklock design would be ideal -- no worries about unlocking that by gripping it wrong!


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-Cougar :{)
Use of Weapons
 
Now picture a double-OTF auto Muskrat
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The intimidation factor in a knife like that would be enough to scare off any attacker. It'd be perfect for hollywood too.

I guess it would be an OTF&OTB auto
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