New RD9's, need info

lagarto

lagarto

Joined
Oct 26, 2001
Messages
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Okay, technically this question probably belongs over in general but I was trying to avoid some of the trolls over there. I was wondering what people think of the new Ranger RD 9's and specifically what the wait time is on them. I ordered one from Brigade Quartermasters last week along with a firesteel. When I got home from work friday here was this dinky little package which I thought was too tiny to contain the knife. Ah ha says I, they've totally fubared my ordered. But no, on close inspection of the shipping invoice they do know I ordered the knife, but had no stock so it's been back-ordered.

To sum up, I love my older RD 7 with the spearpoint style blade, what do folks think of the new clip style RD 9's, and how long do you think the wait is for one?

Thanks in advance. Sorry for the long post.

Lagarto
 
I just ordered a custom RD5 from Justin. I ordered it on the 20th and he will be shipping it Monday or Tuesday. He has the blade done but is waiting on sheathes. So for me it is less than 9 days to complete the blade plus transit time. Shall we say 2 weeks?

Justin can make any style blade you want. If you ask for the old style I'm sure he can do it. His customer service is impeccable and his prices on customs are not much higher than his regular prices.

My next blade from him will be a RD9 recurve with less of a clip, more like a Becker Brute.
 
lilbruche, thanks for the info. I ordered mine through one of his authorized dealers, so I guess they have to wait until they get a batch in, which might take a little longer. As an aside do you think he could do a sawback. I'd love an old style RD 7 with a full sawback.

Lagarto
 
I'm sure he can do pretty much whatever you want.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=485448

Check this thread to see Jgarths customs with sawbacks.

Personally I'd cancel the order and get ahold of Justin directly, you'd probably get it faster. You can get whatever scales you want, with or without liners, satin or black finish, etc. etc. etc.

My RD5 is more of a drop point with a smooth pommel, satin finish, deeper choil with black/green G10 scales and white liners.
 
ilbruche, thanks those sawbacked babies are just the sort of thing I'd be looking for.

Lagarto.
 
I have the RD6, RD7 (older style) and the RD9 and the RD9 is the newer style and it's worked great for me on the several camping trips that I’ve used it on. I prefer the thumb ramp (for a lack of a better term) on the newer style and I think that the elongated lanyard hole looks nicer on the newer version. I haven’t noticed any drawbacks to the new blade shape and it does give you a sharper point to use for stabbing if needed.

Anytime I've been ready to place an order I've just called Justin directly and he has always taken care of my order in a very, very timely manner. Justin (as many will tell you) is a great guy to do business with and I think that his knives are one of the better deals out there.

Take care and good luck.
 
lagarto said:
To sum up, I love my older RD 7 with the spearpoint style blade, what do folks think of the new clip style RD 9's?
Click to expand...

I prefer the older style drop point on my RD7. It works better using the baton technique as there's more straight spine area to pound on. I wanted to get a RD9 in the same configuration but that would be considered custom work and the price quote I received was a little steep so I added a few pennies and went for Steel Heart instead.
 
I have the older style RD6 and prefer it over the latest style. I'm not doing any precision cutting or stabbing with this monster, the stout tip works fine. The lanyard hole is more than adequate.
 
Well my RD-9 from Brigade Quartermasters got back-ordered but it finally arrived a few days ago. I got home from work today, and there it was. This is one hefty knife for the money. I took a few pics, sorry for the poor quality. One of the first things I noticed is that compared to my 2005 RD7 these handles feel a lot thicker and this is indeed the case. It's a little difficult to tell, but they are great in the hand. I'm not a huge fan of the new clip points, but that's just a stylistic issue. I prefer the older spearpoints. It came razor sharp and I'm sure can handle any chopping chore you throw at it. I threw the FBM into the first photo just for size comparison. As you can see the RD 9 is much narrower, but is about the same length, and I think would perform only marginally less well for heavy chopping/batoning tasks.

Lagarto
 

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