Ontario
Who are they? What do they do? Ontario are an US based knife company, producing knives for all manners, from Kitchen cutlery, to agricultural and industrial products, and finally tactical and survival knives. Their main focus is producing high performance products, with great quality, that are great value for money which are affordable to most. I can stand by these words and say that their products are of exceptional quality while still keeping to prices that arent too heavy on the wallet. Ontarios RAT series of knives: The RAT in the names of these knives stand for Randalls Adventure and Training, but youre all probably thinking whats that?. Well, since 1997, RAT have designed many tactical and field knives, designed purely for military, or law enforcement, or just pure survival. But since 2010, RAT have changed name to ESEE knives who design and manufacture their own knives. Specifically with OKC, they have 2 lines of RAT products, the RAT folding knives, and the RAT fixed blade knives. The RAT series of knives by OKC were only designed by RAT, they are manufactured by OKC. Within the RAT folding series of knives by OKC, you have the RAT I, and the RAT II. Both very similar knives, same kind of design, same attributes, but different sizes. Size is the only difference between these 2 knives. The RAT I is the big brother, being the bigger blade. Within the Fixed blade line of knives you have the following knives; RAT-3, RAT-5, RAT-7. RTAK II, TAK-I. The RAT-3/5/7 are very similar in design just varying in sizes, while the RTAK II is more of a chopping workhorse than a smaller every-day fixed blade. The TAK-I sits between the RAT 3 and 5 in terms of sizes. OKC RAT Model II (RAT II) review: Part 1 Background details of this knife: Right, enough intro to their wide selection of knives, lets get on with the review of the RAT II which fits into their folding series of knives. As mentioned earlier, the RAT II is the baby brother to the RAT I. Im guessing that before you came across this review you have some background knowledge of these knives such as basic specifications and general dimensions. In case you dont, here are a few numbers about the RAT II to get you thinking:
Overall length of knife is 7 inches/17.8cm
The blade measures 3 inches/7.6cm long, with a thickness of 0.095 inches/0.2cm
The blade is made out of AUS-8 steel, more details about that in a bit
The handle is manufactured from some form of plastic, but dont let it put you off, its of a high, rugged quality that keeps its grip even during those rainy days.
It weighs in at s reassuring weight of 2.5oz/0.79kg, which is light enough to be carried as an EDC, while still shouting out quality.
The lock on this knife is of a linear type, which is near the best at its price point. More details on that later.
Part 2 The 3 Fs Fit, Finish, and feel: After hearing that this knife is the smaller brother, dont be worried that its too small. It can do as much, as its older, big brother just maybe not as well in some tasks. But, in other tasks, this knife will out-perform the RAT I. As said earlier, OKC focus, on creating high performance, high quality pieces of craftsmanship, and this knife lives up to that, no doubt about it. All pieces of this knife fit together perfectly, with everything lining up as it should, especially the blade which is perfectly centered which just adds to the quality that this knife brings. The handles, made of a high quality form of plastic gives a reassuring grip that you know wont let you down, even in the wildest weather. I have fairly large hands, but feel this knife as a perfect size for an EDC. The plastic handles are a downside to this knife, G10 scales would be a better, more ergonomic fit, but at least the plastic has some quality to it, and sits perfectly onto the frame of this knife. Also you cant have everything on a Knife that retails between $35-$40 (£30-£35). The knife has some jimping on the rear of the blade that I can describe as aggressive to say the least. Yes, it does give a good grip when doing finer work, but if you decide to do this work for more than 10 minutes or so, you will start to feel the jimping dig into the softest part of your thumb, and you will want a slight break. This knife comes with a very simple, but sturdy and ergonomically pleasing pocket clip. It can be easily removed with a torx key, and then remounted on whichever corner of the knife you prefer, a total of 4 possible fix-points Great work OKC on giving that added versatility for all users. Next, the deployment of the blade. OKC really have done well with this knife here. An ambidextrous thumb-stud really does make opening this blade a joy. Very easily opened one handed, which is great for those survival situations where the other hand might be terribly injured for example. The blade flies open and then gives a satisfying click as the linear lock slides into place. You know that the blade wont close unexpectedly on you after hearing that click, and the click is too loud to miss, so alls great there again OKC. Part 3 Blade and locking mechanism As mentioned earlier, the blade came perfectly centered, and is made of AUS-8 steel which is yet to give me any bad points to write about. Yes, there are tens of better steels out there, but for the price you pay for this knife, its a very good steel, corrosion and rust resistant, which just adds to the life span of this blade in day to day life (even though you can easily keep carbon steel blades like new by drying and oiling after use). This just makes this knife very easy to maintain for the average knife user, while still being a good steel for those knifeaholics. It also has a good hardness of 55-56 HRC on the Rockwell hardness scale which results in the blade being less prone to chipping and picking up indentations due to daily use. The full flat grind on the blade works superbly in conjunction with the relatively thin blade to make this knife an outstanding slicer, even out of the box it was shaving sharp and sliced many materials with ease. The blade has a slight drop point design, giving it a nice pointy tip for the finer work such as whittling out some spoons and so forth. Laser-etched into the blade is a logo for OKC/RAT, as well as the words AUS-8, and Model I or Model II depending on which model you own. Now, the locking mechanism, very close to being the best Ive experienced on a knife of this price. Blade locks in place with a very satisfying click, and no blade play at all in any direction. Once its locked, it will NOT move until you release the linear lock, thats for certain. It will only disengage when you actually make it to, and that should only be when you actually need it to. Part 4 Final Verdict of the RAT II, and should you buy? Should you buy? Short answer yes Long answer The RAT series of folders has always been near the top of peoples list when looking for an EDC knife, and it looks like it will remain to be that way. Outstanding knife for the price. Great blade. Second to none build quality. Fit and finish is perfect. Lock is one of the best out there. The full flat grind slices like no other. This knife is full of pros with only one or two cons, and those cons are arguable from one person to another. All comes down to personal preference. The possible cons of this knife are as follows: 1) The handle Yes it could be better, for example made of G10, but its a sub-$40 knife, and OKC have built great handles from the plastic they used 2) The jimping on blade It offers a good grip for close, detailed and fine work, but can be a bit too aggressive for some. Some will love it, some wont love it so much, sadly I aint too pleased with it. Yes, OKC have cut a few corners with this knife, but it still delivered more than I expected from a knife at this price point. Great purchase and Im very glad I did buy it. Looking forward to owning more and more OKC knives in the years to come, certainly worth their prices, and that price is cheap compared to other brands. P.S. You can NOT have a SINGLE perfect knife. You need 5+ knives to fulfill all the needs on a campout or survival situation. You will either end up with 1 of 2 type of knife: 1) A do it all knife, but a master of none! This knife can do a bit of everything, but there are better tools out there for each specific job 2) A master of a specific role or niche, but cant do other jobs. If you own knives by this case, you will have multiple knives, a set type for each job. More expensive, yes, but youll end up doing a better job by the end of it.
