silverdragon33
Gold Member
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2007
- Messages
- 1,530
Just got a R9. (Ordered and received 2 weeks later! and I'm in Europe)
Swamp Rats have always stood out for me because of their comfortable handles. As I understand it, the R9 has a love or hate handle.
Just a few out of the box impressions (from a smaller handed individual): I don't dislike the handle, but it's not quite as comfortable as it could be.
The ridge in the middle seems like a great idea. It may have been better just slightly further forward. It seems to lock the hand into one of two positions, the middle, or I can choke back with just one finger forward of the ridge (mostly) comfortably.
Never liked the Busse mag handle concept (but having smaller hands trying to use handles made by people with much larger hands probably doesn't help), particularly with the placement of the swells in the handle, and it was somewhat disappointing to learn that the R9 had such handle scales. The middle hump in particular seems annoying as it extends further down to the ridge on the bottom of the handle, and is likely the largest complaint I have about comfort. Some sanding will almost certainly alleviate most or all of my discontent though.
Discontent aside, I really like the blade on this knife. It feels like a really versatile large knife. The combination of the nearly flat, high saber convex grind with a blade that has just enough height and no more make for a lighter knife (relatively speaking and being used to the CGFBM). Haven't gotten a chance to take it out yet, but it feels like it could chop very well, especially when choking back on the handle, and can still be tightly controlled when utilizing the choil considering the balance point is nearly exactly on the grind line and lack of extreme weight.
I can't wait to take this out for some chopping after some sanding of the handles and a convex edge. Just need to find the time....
Swamp Rats have always stood out for me because of their comfortable handles. As I understand it, the R9 has a love or hate handle.
Just a few out of the box impressions (from a smaller handed individual): I don't dislike the handle, but it's not quite as comfortable as it could be.
The ridge in the middle seems like a great idea. It may have been better just slightly further forward. It seems to lock the hand into one of two positions, the middle, or I can choke back with just one finger forward of the ridge (mostly) comfortably.
Never liked the Busse mag handle concept (but having smaller hands trying to use handles made by people with much larger hands probably doesn't help), particularly with the placement of the swells in the handle, and it was somewhat disappointing to learn that the R9 had such handle scales. The middle hump in particular seems annoying as it extends further down to the ridge on the bottom of the handle, and is likely the largest complaint I have about comfort. Some sanding will almost certainly alleviate most or all of my discontent though.
Discontent aside, I really like the blade on this knife. It feels like a really versatile large knife. The combination of the nearly flat, high saber convex grind with a blade that has just enough height and no more make for a lighter knife (relatively speaking and being used to the CGFBM). Haven't gotten a chance to take it out yet, but it feels like it could chop very well, especially when choking back on the handle, and can still be tightly controlled when utilizing the choil considering the balance point is nearly exactly on the grind line and lack of extreme weight.
I can't wait to take this out for some chopping after some sanding of the handles and a convex edge. Just need to find the time....
If you could do this I'd appreciate it. I was looking for a good camp and survival knife with the ability to be used for combat if that helps.
