- Joined
- Jul 20, 2006
- Messages
- 3,808
Well as promised, im bring some pics of my first rats.
I got the rc 4 and izula:
Single pics:
Group shots:
Now that the pre use pictures were out of the way. It was time to put these guys to the test. I live in the city and dont have huge forests near by so I had to find some stuff collected from the beach and elsewhere. Luckily I had a couple walking stick that hae been hardening for about a year now. I decided this would be a great oppurtunity to test grip comfort as well as edge retention
The Stick:
After carving it up:
Tool group shot:
I took turns using the izula and the rc 4. Both had very comfortable grip. However, by the end, my hand was developing a hot spot in the middle of my little finger. Nothing terrible, but can be attributed to the small size of the izula. The torque of carving would hit my little finger and cause the increase in pressure.
The izula was more easy to control and I was able to take off small bits easily. The rc 4 took a little more time to get used to but after a sec, it was carving the stick well. The stick also had some large stubs from branches. I chopped these off easily with the rc 4. I did one with the izula as well, and as you may have guessed, it aint much of a chopper
Edge retention was incredible on both knives. Both were still shaving sharp after carving the stick. The only noticeable change was a bit of smoothing on the coat, which is basically nothing imo.
After finishing the walking stick, I thought it was time to test the rc4 a little more. Im accustomed to my bravo 1 which is amazing at batoning and I wanted to see if the rc 4 could compete.
I found an old hard log from the garden and batoned it into kindling. The knife perfored very well. It was a very hard piece with several large knots but it pulled through in the end. It wasnt quite as good at it as the bravo 1--probably due to the added thickness of the bravo 1 and the full convex edge--but still did great. Sharpness was still shaving, but I did notice a slight bit of rolling on the belly of the blade. Nothing huge at all. After a quick hit on 1000 grit and then over to 2000 it was back to new. I through it on the strop and had her sharper than new.
So overall I think my two little rats performed very well. I see a rat filled future for me. As a last point, i wanted to say the sheaths for both knives are great. Best kydex i have seen on the rc 4. Also love the molded sheath on the Izula. At first i wasnt so sure, but once actually in the hands I would give it a 10/10.
Great job RAT team. Thanks for some great knives. Keep it up. Enjoy the pics
I got the rc 4 and izula:
Single pics:
Group shots:
Now that the pre use pictures were out of the way. It was time to put these guys to the test. I live in the city and dont have huge forests near by so I had to find some stuff collected from the beach and elsewhere. Luckily I had a couple walking stick that hae been hardening for about a year now. I decided this would be a great oppurtunity to test grip comfort as well as edge retention
The Stick:
After carving it up:
Tool group shot:
I took turns using the izula and the rc 4. Both had very comfortable grip. However, by the end, my hand was developing a hot spot in the middle of my little finger. Nothing terrible, but can be attributed to the small size of the izula. The torque of carving would hit my little finger and cause the increase in pressure.
The izula was more easy to control and I was able to take off small bits easily. The rc 4 took a little more time to get used to but after a sec, it was carving the stick well. The stick also had some large stubs from branches. I chopped these off easily with the rc 4. I did one with the izula as well, and as you may have guessed, it aint much of a chopper
Edge retention was incredible on both knives. Both were still shaving sharp after carving the stick. The only noticeable change was a bit of smoothing on the coat, which is basically nothing imo.
After finishing the walking stick, I thought it was time to test the rc4 a little more. Im accustomed to my bravo 1 which is amazing at batoning and I wanted to see if the rc 4 could compete.
I found an old hard log from the garden and batoned it into kindling. The knife perfored very well. It was a very hard piece with several large knots but it pulled through in the end. It wasnt quite as good at it as the bravo 1--probably due to the added thickness of the bravo 1 and the full convex edge--but still did great. Sharpness was still shaving, but I did notice a slight bit of rolling on the belly of the blade. Nothing huge at all. After a quick hit on 1000 grit and then over to 2000 it was back to new. I through it on the strop and had her sharper than new.
So overall I think my two little rats performed very well. I see a rat filled future for me. As a last point, i wanted to say the sheaths for both knives are great. Best kydex i have seen on the rc 4. Also love the molded sheath on the Izula. At first i wasnt so sure, but once actually in the hands I would give it a 10/10.
Great job RAT team. Thanks for some great knives. Keep it up. Enjoy the pics
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