new line of swamp rat's

[Willieboy]

Hey Ricky. Welcome to BladeForums. I always wondered about that blade format as well. Like you, I couldn't understand how it could be very useful. Anyway, I raised the question and was told the Warncliff design was originally used by seamen. Its virtue was that a sailor working on a pitching and swaying deck was less likely to hurt himself or someone else with the less pointed end should he lose his balance.

The new Swamp Rate line sure looks good. I've copied the pic's of a couple of them to my desktop so i'll remember to watch for them.

 

[Rat Finkenstein]

The new line (not to scale)

The only one missing is the Howling Rat, which is coming up next.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

So what I gather is that its a steel that's good for chopping but can't hold an edge too well?

The steel in the Scrap Yard knives is based on S7, a known tool steel. This is a shock steel, air hardening, with moderate heat resistance. It is designed for applications which tend to require high impact toughness and are not critically dependent on wear resistance. It will hold an edge relatively well on heavy work because that just requires a high hardness and impact toughness but not so well on really light work because there you tend to want more wear resistance and close to maximal higher hardness. It is a solid steel choice for heavy use blades or for people who want a steel with a low grindability and relatively high edge stability.

-Cliff