Ontario Rat-1 Regrind

[Zenturio]

Hello guys,

I bought myself a new knife last week, an Ontario Rat-1 in AUS-8 steel.

I promised myself that I will not modify it because of the nice looks a new blade has.

The factory bevel was crap, apex overpolished and the tip angle was too high. It even had a small recurve resulting from a bad factory grinding job.

So I put on a new and even bevel with my Tormek T4, 16 dps. The problem is because my wheel has a diameter of 180mm the area behind the apex bent under light pressure, which is not acceptable for a rather medium to hard work folder.

That was the trigger point to say ok, now you have to change everything. I reground the blade on my cheapo 1x30 inch belt grinder 80 grit fepa and finished the primary bevel by hand (150 fepa, then tormek polishing paste). I even dropped the spine a little bit to make it pierce better.

Now the recurve is gone, 0,3 mm behind the edge bevel (17 dps Lansky), I only left the tip area a bit thicker.

It is not perfect visually, but it is ok and the performance boosted.

Hope you like it

BR Oliver

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I have a partially serrated one that was gifted to me that I reground to a full height hollow grind on the beveled face and a full flat zero grind on the back. You can roll your thumbnail on the edge and watch it deform elastically under the pressure. Cuts like the dickens.

 

[115Italian]

I have a partially serrated one that was gifted to me that I reground to a full height hollow grind on the beveled face and a full flat zero grind on the back. You can roll your thumbnail on the edge and watch it deform elastically under the pressure. Cuts like the dickens.

So you hollow ground one side and flat ground the other? Im very curious.

 

[115Italian]

Z Zenturio very nice work.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

So you hollow ground one side and flat ground the other? Im very curious.

Yes. So that way it'd be easy to touch up the serrations from the backside. Otherwise I'd have done a full hollow on both sides.

 

[Dangerously]

If I had bench space it would be hard to resist a tormek and a belt grinder. So many thick knives I’d love to thin out.

That’s a great job on the regrind.

 

[Wowbagger]

Looks great !
Way to go.
Sorry the factory job wasn't what you like.
My Rat 1 in D2 that I just got a few weeks ago was actually quite usable. It's been doing good precise work for me and I usually can't stand factory geometry / edges.

 

[REK Knives]

Great job op!

Yes. So that way it'd be easy to touch up the serrations from the backside. Otherwise I'd have done a full hollow on both sides.

Wow that's crazy on a full flat to hollow... Must have been a large wheel! What diameter?

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Great job op!



Wow that's crazy on a full flat to hollow... Must have been a large wheel! What diameter?

Nah just an 8" wheel. It just meant I had to be more careful about how I did it since I couldn't be lazy about it and just rest the knife on the wheel. Had to start a "track" in the middle of the blade and work forward and backward.

 

[REK Knives]

Nah just an 8" wheel. It just meant I had to be more careful about how I did it since I couldn't be lazy about it and just rest the knife on the wheel. Had to start a "track" in the middle of the blade and work forward and backward.

Ahh ok Yeah so basically blending the spine to the edge on the wheel as opposed to a straight hollow where one grind line would track from the spine to the edge. Was gonna say if I did the latter I'm pretty sure it would eat through to the other side of the blade! Lol

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Freehanding it like that was still pretty fiddly, but by starting a track in the middle and then walking it back to the spine and forward to the edge worked out pretty good.