I heard some nice things about the discontinued RAT 1 folder put out by Ontario, and politics aside, I wanted to try one. For the $30 price tag, I'm very impressed. The knife is made in Taiwan if you're interested. Here is my review on this nice folder, model number 8848SP.
Handle Details: The RAT 1 is 4-3/4" closed and 7/16" thick (not counting the pocket clip). There are dual stainless steel liners; one locking. The handle scales are textured Zytel, and it seems they tried to replicate the feel of G-10. The handle scales are black, as are all of the screws in the knife. The liners and spacers are uncolored stainless steel. The back of the handle is open so debris can be blown out, and is held together with five pillars (spacers) in the back. They're Torx T-6 size so you can easily disassemble the knife for cleaning or modifying. The knife opens via linerlock, which is aggressively jimped. Lock-up is solid; no blade play side to side or up and down. The pocket clip is blackened stainless steel with the RAT triangle logo lasered on it in silver. It's held in place with three T-6 screws, and it's a four-way pocket clip. You can have it tip up or tip down, either left or right-handed. A finger choil makes it hard for your hand to slide up onto the blade. Yes, that's a good thing. You get a lanyard hole in the butt, and it's large enough to accomodate gutted 550 cord. This knife is quite comfortable to use.
Blade Details: The RAT 1 has a 3-3/4" blade with a 3-5/16" cutting edge. It's 1/8" thick and made of AUS-8. The blade is flat ground and has a nice satin finish. It was shiny enough that I could see my reflection in it. The blade is also available in black. It came very sharp out of the box, and was shaving hair in about 10 seconds on a strop. The blade has a nice upswept shape, good for those rolling cuts like you use when cutting rope or tubing. The deployment is easy; dual stainless thumb studs make opening effortless. I like to "flick" it open by loading up a little thumb pressure behind the stud, then flicking my thumb forward while not touching the blade. The ball detent helps rocket the blade out, and you get a nice authoritative "click" upon opening. Standard opening is also fast and smooth, thanks to the phosphor bronze washers on each sid eof the blade.
The spine of the blade has jimping, which is both ramped and aggressively textured. This is how jimping should be! If you want to adjust blade tension, it's easy due to the pivot pin... a Torx T-8 screw. The left side of the blade has the Randall's Adventure Training logo on the blade and Model 1 above AUS-8 on the tang. The right side of the blade simply has Taiwan on the tang.
The combination of blade steel, grind style, fast easy opening, solid lock-up, and great handle makes this a nice medium-to-heavy duty folder. I'm not sure I'd baton with it, but it's a very nice slicer.
Handle Details: The RAT 1 is 4-3/4" closed and 7/16" thick (not counting the pocket clip). There are dual stainless steel liners; one locking. The handle scales are textured Zytel, and it seems they tried to replicate the feel of G-10. The handle scales are black, as are all of the screws in the knife. The liners and spacers are uncolored stainless steel. The back of the handle is open so debris can be blown out, and is held together with five pillars (spacers) in the back. They're Torx T-6 size so you can easily disassemble the knife for cleaning or modifying. The knife opens via linerlock, which is aggressively jimped. Lock-up is solid; no blade play side to side or up and down. The pocket clip is blackened stainless steel with the RAT triangle logo lasered on it in silver. It's held in place with three T-6 screws, and it's a four-way pocket clip. You can have it tip up or tip down, either left or right-handed. A finger choil makes it hard for your hand to slide up onto the blade. Yes, that's a good thing. You get a lanyard hole in the butt, and it's large enough to accomodate gutted 550 cord. This knife is quite comfortable to use.
Blade Details: The RAT 1 has a 3-3/4" blade with a 3-5/16" cutting edge. It's 1/8" thick and made of AUS-8. The blade is flat ground and has a nice satin finish. It was shiny enough that I could see my reflection in it. The blade is also available in black. It came very sharp out of the box, and was shaving hair in about 10 seconds on a strop. The blade has a nice upswept shape, good for those rolling cuts like you use when cutting rope or tubing. The deployment is easy; dual stainless thumb studs make opening effortless. I like to "flick" it open by loading up a little thumb pressure behind the stud, then flicking my thumb forward while not touching the blade. The ball detent helps rocket the blade out, and you get a nice authoritative "click" upon opening. Standard opening is also fast and smooth, thanks to the phosphor bronze washers on each sid eof the blade.
The spine of the blade has jimping, which is both ramped and aggressively textured. This is how jimping should be! If you want to adjust blade tension, it's easy due to the pivot pin... a Torx T-8 screw. The left side of the blade has the Randall's Adventure Training logo on the blade and Model 1 above AUS-8 on the tang. The right side of the blade simply has Taiwan on the tang.
The combination of blade steel, grind style, fast easy opening, solid lock-up, and great handle makes this a nice medium-to-heavy duty folder. I'm not sure I'd baton with it, but it's a very nice slicer.
Last edited:
