ontario opinions?

cbach8tw

cbach8tw

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Jan 9, 2006
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I know this is playing with fire, but I want some honest opinions about Ontarios quality control and customer service, especially regarding the RAT line. I know all about the controversy about RAT and Ontario battles, and I agree it is enough to boycott Ontario. However, I want only the nuts and bolts about their heat treat, grinding quality,edge holding and overall quality about the knives and customer service. I have always liked the RAT line, and I know if ever did get one (RAT 4 is favorite now), it will be with RAT Cutlery, but I wanted your honest opinions about Ontario's products. I do like the original TAK in 1095. I do not want this to become a free for all about how they did Randall wrong, like the old Cold Steel discussion, love em or hate em.
 
I've owned one TAKD2, two RAT3's, one in 1095 and one in D2, and one RAT7 in 1095. I wish I would have held onto all of them, they were great knives. Not a big fan of the coatings, but that can be removed. I have owned a few of their Spec Ops branded knives, and while they weren't bad, I didn't care for the designs. I have seen their PSK knives, not bad, better than the few Camillus I have owned.

I did own a RC4 from Rat, and that was a great little knife. Better than the Ontario RAT3's? Didn't have both to compare at the same time.

If you can get a good price on Ontario RAT knives, I would pick one up. I always wanted a RAT5. If you absolutely positively have to pay full price, I would hold out for a RC.
 
I picked up two D2 Rat-3 knives as factory seconds from their shop in New York. They told me that they were seconds because the "Ontario USA" etching by the choil was misaligned and the USA was part way hidden by the handle scale. It wasn't all that sharp out of the box and the grind was a bit obtuse. One had some minor chips on the coating so I stripped it. I also spent a considerable amount of time working the bevel angle down and they are really nice users. From the amount of time I had to spend re-profiling the edges I'd say that their heat treat was good and they hold an edge like a D2 blade should.

I don't know how these two knives stack up against any that met their spec but I knew that I couldn't resist grabbing them up at...get this...$20 each!
 
PB Wilson said:
I picked up two D2 Rat-3 knives as factory seconds from their shop in New York. They told me that they were seconds because the "Ontario USA" etching by the choil was misaligned and the USA was part way hidden by the handle scale. It wasn't all that sharp out of the box and the grind was a bit obtuse. One had some minor chips on the coating so I stripped it. I also spent a considerable amount of time working the bevel angle down and they are really nice users. From the amount of time I had to spend re-profiling the edges I'd say that their heat treat was good and they hold an edge like a D2 blade should.

I don't know how these two knives stack up against any that met their spec but I knew that I couldn't resist grabbing them up at...get this...$20 each!
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That's pretty much what I've found with Ontario's knives. On both my RAT7 and RAT3 (both D2), they weren't sharp when new, the bevels were very obtuse, and the coating looked nasty after one cut.

I'd hate to lose my knives, because $100 for a knife is bad enough, but when you have to spend about 4 hours apiece stripping, sanding, then reprofiling D2, the value goes up a lot.

That being said, my RAT's are great knives, and I really enjoy using them.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
I've owned one TAKD2, two RAT3's, one in 1095 and one in D2, and one RAT7 in 1095. I wish I would have held onto all of them, they were great knives. Not a big fan of the coatings, but that can be removed. I have owned a few of their Spec Ops branded knives, and while they weren't bad, I didn't care for the designs. I have seen their PSK knives, not bad, better than the few Camillus I have owned.

I did own a RC4 from Rat, and that was a great little knife. Better than the Ontario RAT3's? Didn't have both to compare at the same time.

If you can get a good price on Ontario RAT knives, I would pick one up. I always wanted a RAT5. If you absolutely positively have to pay full price, I would hold out for a RC.
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How did you remove the coatings? I don't like the coating on mine either.
 
You should never hesitate to post because you think it's playing with fire. Some, here, take themselves far too seriously and get attached to others, who do likewise, and it becomes a virtual cascade of back-patting nonsense amongst the irrelevant.

If you read the reports from R.A.T., they're just not made the way they wanted them to be made. The tip has been changed on the R.A.T.s and the kinds of improvements and quality control they wanted have been worked into the R.A.T. line.

I'm still waiting on a R.A.T. RC-6 and will hold out for it rather than go for the runner-up.
 
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dispatch 510 said:
How did you remove the coatings? I don't like the coating on mine either.
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It's not difficult at all. First I removed the scales. Thank goodness they're attached with allen screws. There's a bit of loctite on the threads so make sure you have the right size allen keys and maybe touch the screw with a soldering iron for a few seconds to break the bond. Then I took a card scraper, put the blade in a vise and scraped as much of the coating off as I could. This step may not be necessary, but you may have to do more coats of stripper afterwards. Then I used hardware store stripper on it for 15 minutes, wiped it off, neutralized with mineral spirits and did it once again for good measure. I went from 220 up to 600 grit paper and had myself a nice clean blade. Easy.
 
I have an Ontario RAT-3 in 1095. It's a good knife, and is made well. I like Ontario as a company. I also like Jeff Randall and RAT Cutlery. My RAT-3 was a Christmas gift- but I was going to buy one anyways. I probably would not ahve thought about buying one if Ontario didn't put them out, because retail on the RAT's is just more than I would honestly pay for a knife. That said, I could see myself eventually buying knives from their product line- I can't wait for the Izula to come out, and there will hopefully be more in the future as well.
 
PB Wilson said:
It's not difficult at all. First I removed the scales. Thank goodness they're attached with allen screws. There's a bit of loctite on the threads so make sure you have the right size allen keys and maybe touch the screw with a soldering iron for a few seconds to break the bond. Then I took a card scraper, put the blade in a vise and scraped as much of the coating off as I could. This step may not be necessary, but you may have to do more coats of stripper afterwards. Then I used hardware store stripper on it for 15 minutes, wiped it off, neutralized with mineral spirits and did it once again for good measure. I went from 220 up to 600 grit paper and had myself a nice clean blade. Easy.
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Thanks for the info? Can ya post a pic. I would like to redo mine and put some new scales on it , I have some cherry that would do nicely. Also looking to make a leather sheath.
 
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I have had this one for 44 years. It saved my but many times over the years and in the military. I have had about 50 Ontario knives. One was no good, the rest have been A-1. And worth more than they cost. I can't say that about very many things. I stay away from the Politics of knife making.
 
What's the deal with Ranger and Ontario now ? Are they going to do the same thing to Ranger knives that they did to RAT ?
 
Ontario makes the best machetes in my opinion. They are thick 1095 that has been parkerized with good rivet construction. They also make really good bayonets with 1095 steel blades. Imagine that a bayonet that actually takes an edge. I bought my Ontario RATs before I had even heard of Rat cutlery and now that I know I honestly feel the same about my knives. I got a RAT5 and RAT3 in D2 they work so I can't complain. I am however going to get the Rat Cutlery sheath system for the Rat3 because I don't care for plain bladetech sheaths.
 
Most of my Ontarios have been quite good. I did get a few with sloppy, uneven grinds. I understand that Jeff Randall was having some quality issues with some of the Ontario/RAT models, but my RATs have all been fine. The 1095 steel takes a good edge and holds it well. Bark River made their top of the line custom machetes for KSF using Ontario machete blanks, so their heat treat and steel must be ok.
 
I have a Rat3 in 1095 and a TAK in 1095, I got around Christmas last year before I knew anything about the Ontario and Randal problems. I love both of those knives more than any other knife I own, except maybe my Buck119. I have never had the least little problem with either. The only thing I dont like is the sheath on the TAK. It sucks. Other than that, I love em. Yes Ill keep buying knives from Ontario. Good company. I will say though that they did wrong by the Randall guys.
 
What I have seen and heard of Ontario over the last few years, had to do with bad heat treat, not sloppy construction, neccessarily.
 
Ontario has had heat treat problems in the past but they have long been sorted out.

I don't own any of the Ontario RAT line but I do have a couple form their Spec Plus series, and a dozen or so from their Old Hickory line. The Old Hickorys had no edge and had to be done with a file. The Spec Plus had good edges that could easily slice paper, and after a minor touch up on the sharpmaker stones they shaved hair with no effort. The leather backed condura sheaths are ok, but some are kind of tight fitting and you have to use both hands to put the knife in until they loosen up.

Ontario is one of the few that still makes most of their knives in the USA out of 1095.
 
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