Ontario RAT & TAK knives review

phaserrifle,

Well thought out and worded:thumbup:

Perhaps the wife with the lover led to the arterial bleeding:confused:

My Rat-3 was obtained in a trade and I would be hard pressed to part with it. As a matter of fact I was so impressed with it that I traded for a Rat-5 and purchased a Rat-7.

I find it an easy blade to maintain, both edge wise and cosmetically, has cut cardboard, small gauge wire, rope, radiator hose, made a fuzz stick, and chopped a river caught Saugeye into little tasty chunks for the fire.
While I did not attempt to barbecue the said fish with my Rat-3, nor did my Rat-3 produce liquid refreshment for me to enjoy, I did not immediately throw it into the river because it couldn't, nor did I return home and flame Ontario for producing a knife that would not perform a task that no one with 2 functioning synapses would expect it to do.

Need a good kitchen knife, buy a kitchen knife. Need a good chopper, visit the Horton or Busse forums. Need a good EDC knife at a decent price that you can literally beat with a stick, buy a RAT.

Chuck
 
cabala said:
Also, blade rusts. Wrong choice of steel for this type of knife. In the jungle would be much worse.
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In the hands of someone who doesn't know how to properly maintain a knife, any steel, short of H-1, is the "wrong choice of steel" for any type of knife.;)

cabala said:
Man comes home and sees his wife with lover in the bed. " What are you doing, for God sakes! " he said. " What are you talking about, nothing of course " she said to him, " do you believe your eyes or me!? "
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Cabala, your ability to construct an analogy seems on par with your ability to conduct a review.:rolleyes:

cabala said:
How come that this " review " isn't locked?
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Because even the moderators of the Knife Reviews forum enjoy some humor from time to time.:D

Regards,
3G
 
chuckinohio said:
phaserrifle,

Well thought out and worded:thumbup:

Perhaps the wife with the lover led to the arterial bleeding:confused:

My Rat-3 was obtained in a trade and I would be hard pressed to part with it. As a matter of fact I was so impressed with it that I traded for a Rat-5 and purchased a Rat-7.

I find it an easy blade to maintain, both edge wise and cosmetically, has cut cardboard, small gauge wire, rope, radiator hose, made a fuzz stick, and chopped a river caught Saugeye into little tasty chunks for the fire.
While I did not attempt to barbecue the said fish with my Rat-3, nor did my Rat-3 produce liquid refreshment for me to enjoy, I did not immediately throw it into the river because it couldn't, nor did I return home and flame Ontario for producing a knife that would not perform a task that no one with 2 functioning synapses would expect it to do.

Need a good kitchen knife, buy a kitchen knife. Need a good chopper, visit the Horton or Busse forums. Need a good EDC knife at a decent price that you can literally beat with a stick, buy a RAT.

Chuck
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No, I sold TAK and RAT and I'm very happy because of that. These knives are overpriced, wrong designed, and not high quality made for that price. You buy yourself every You want but I made myself what I need.
 
Well, hope that works out for you. You're by far the minority, though. :)
 
He wins... Let's all sell our RAT, buy some 10" ATS-34 blade an cut cloth whenever arterial bleeding occurs. All problems solved, please close bladeforums ;-)
 
redaums said:
He wins... Let's all sell our RAT, buy some 10" ATS-34 blade an cut cloth whenever arterial bleeding occurs. All problems solved, please close bladeforums ;-)
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cabala said:
I won!!!
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sarcasm

A form of irony in which apparent praise conceals another, scornful meaning. For example, a sarcastic remark directed at a person who consistently arrives fifteen minutes late for appointments might be, “Oh, you've arrived exactly on time!”
 
redaums said:
He wins... Let's all sell our RAT, buy some 10" ATS-34 blade an cut cloth whenever arterial bleeding occurs. All problems solved, please close bladeforums ;-)
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Somethimes you don't need cut clothes because is thorn apart. I think that this was just misunderstanding. I have this knife too and all my criticism is on things that must be inproved on that knife. So, don't sell knife, just say what you think.
 
i'd like to know why ATS-34 is the best steel~ i think each type of steel have their own use~ there is better quality of heat treading~ there is no "best" steel~(try up your ATS-34 into salt water and see what will happen~)
 
brybry said:
i'd like to know why ATS-34 is the best steel~ i think each type of steel have their own use~ there is better quality of heat treading~ there is no "best" steel~(try up your ATS-34 into salt water and see what will happen~)
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You have right. I must agree that each type of steel has specific purpose. 1095 is cheap steel but excellent for mass production. In tests with salt water this steel rusts like hell and knives are completely destroyed, but still this is army no.1 choice for combat blades. Steel can't be " best ", that's true.
 
There is no "best" steel. Just ones that are most suitable for particular tasks. ;)

If ATS-34 were to be given a conventional heat treatment and used in military knives, they'd be much more prone towards breakage than they are presently, if I understand the steel correctly. But the edge retention is high and corrosion resistance would be decent. You don't often see large fixed blades made out of ATS-34, as far as I've seen at least.

First comes the intended task, or set of tasks.
Then comes a design well suited to those tasks.
Then comes a steel well suited to that design.
Then comes a heat treatment suited for that design.
Then comes proper usage of said knife for those tasks.

Providing that that formula is followed you'll get very high performance out of a knife. :)
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
There is no "best" steel. Just ones that are most suitable for particular tasks. ;)

If ATS-34 were to be given a conventional heat treatment and used in military knives, they'd be much more prone towards breakage than they are presently, if I understand the steel correctly. But the edge retention is high and corrosion resistance would be decent. You don't often see large fixed blades made out of ATS-34, as far as I've seen at least.

First comes the intended task, or set of tasks.
Then comes a design well suited to those tasks.
Then comes a steel well suited to that design.
Then comes a heat treatment suited for that design.
Then comes proper usage of said knife for those tasks.

Providing that that formula is followed you'll get very high performance out of a knife. :)
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I agree. I just can say something from my own experience. If I must choose only one piece of steel for knife that would be Victorinox steel. I don't know wich one is this( think 18/10 on 58 Hrc, don't know ) but it has best level of toughness, edge holding, ease of resharpening and rust resistant. Maybe it's expensive, that don't know. But if I want one knife " for all " that would be my first choice of steel. Second would be Sanvik 12C27 on 58 Hrc.

Before 2-3 weeks I get Mini Deyavoo from BM. S30V on 59 Hrc is something that you sharpen once in year and cut all time. One of best ( maybe it is the best?!) but one of most expensive steels. Things are changing every year.
After all, my Spyderco Terzuola C19 jr. with ATS - 34 is still " the Emperor ". Even 420 J2 was my favorite steel for blades and I still believe that is maybe best choice for survival knife ( on 54 Hrc ).
 
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Lol.
I'm no expert on knives and I tried very hard to filter out
any useful info about the knife from all the ...ehm...let's call it miscommunication.
I've been trying for months to decide on "my next blade for life",
i.e. a multi purpose outdoor knife with possibly the best steel for the job, edge retention,
ease of use in skinning but also being reliable in my many fishing trips,
both in salt water and fresh.
I own a couple of Opinels, Leathermans and some really shitty knives too.
From what I learned up till now, I am thinking of buying the H1 Fallkniven (the 3g version) but I will not take that to any saltwater fishing trip.
Can't risk it because it's so expensive.
An extra folder would therefore be nice.

I mean, I should make sure that any salt water is gone from the blade immediately,
but I know myself.:p

I'll prolly end up buying the same blade more than once.
Any ideas from you lot on both the H1 and a folder that cost about half, maybe 3/4 of the H1, would be very much appreciated.
I live in Holland, skinning anything in this country is totally unthinkable,
luckily my mum lives in France where she has sheep.
Still, the H1 or anything better that you can recommend to me, will see a lot of
woodcutting, veggie slaughter and general use as a camping knife ( which is worlds apart from what you know as camping in the US).
Like I said, I need a knife for life.

Feel free to move or delete my comment if it is in the wrong place.
I could not find a search button anywhere,
is there such functionality on this site?
Kind regards,
Pilum Lugdunum Batavorum
 
cabala said:
I agree. I just can say something from my own experience. If I must choose only one piece of steel for knife that would be Victorinox steel. I don't know wich one is this( think 18/10 on 58 Hrc, don't know ) but it has best level of toughness, edge holding, ease of resharpening and rust resistant. Maybe it's expensive, that don't know. But if I want one knife " for all " that would be my first choice of steel. Second would be Sanvik 12C27 on 58 Hrc.

Before 2-3 weeks I get Mini Deyavoo from BM. S30V on 59 Hrc is something that you sharpen once in year and cut all time. One of best ( maybe it is the best?!) but one of most expensive steels. Things are changing every year.
After all, my Spyderco Terzuola C19 jr. with ATS - 34 is still " the Emperor ". Even 420 J2 was my favorite steel for blades and I still believe that is maybe best choice for survival knife ( on 54 Hrc ).
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Since it seems as though corrosion resistance is high on your list of concerns I might suggest something from Spyderco in H1. Not only is it guaranteed not to rust, but it's also one of the most impact-resistant stainless steels due to the way that the blade is work hardened during the grinding process instead of given a normal heat treatment.

At Spyderco's booth at the industry trade show I attend yearly for my place of work they had a blade from an Atlantic Salt folder that was bent 90 degrees without cracking. Now that's impressive! And from what I hear, many folks seem to think it holds an edge about as well as their standard VG10! (I personally would rate it around a well-heat treated AUS8, which is plenty nice in itself). Pricey steel, but sounds like the best match for your purposes providing you find a Spyderco done in it that pleases you. :)
 
cabala said:
RAT and TAK are actualy " Rambo " or " Tom Brown " knives. Intended to be in movies and nothing else.
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My money is on you never leave the security of your backyard or local park.

Continue with your kitchen testing. It is amusing.
 
Has everybody sold their Ontarios and RATs yet, I was waiting for the flood in the exchange and it never appeared:confused:

I've kept my eyes peeled for arterial bleeding also, no dice:confused:

I can't even catch the woman with a man and disbelieve my own eyes or hers:confused:

Chuck
 
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