Ready for another review? Great! Grab some pop and a Twix and read away. Today's blade is the RD7 made by Ranger Knives. RD stands for Ready Detachment, and there are four sizes: the RD4 with a 4-1/2" blade, the RD6 with a 6" blade, the RD7 with a 7-1/2" blade, and the RD9 with a 9-1/2" blade. Today I'm reviewing the 7-1/2" version, and there's a lot to talk about. It's made in the US and makes a superb combat knife or outdoor knife, with quality right up there with RAT Cutlery. The RD7 reviewed here costs around $100 if you can find them. Let's go...
The Handle: The RD7 has a full, exposed tang and the handle slabs are screwed right on to it. The slabs are made of tan canvas micarta, and they're held in place with six 3/32" hex screws; three on each side. The length of the handle is great: 5" long with a nice working area of 4". The handle is 3/4" thick, and fills the hande nicely without creating aches. The handles have a smooth feel, and there are no sharp corners. They're a little bit grippy because of the texturing, but I'd prefer them to be a bit more coarse. There's a lanyard hole in the butt, and it will accomodate a single strand of non-gutted 550 cord. When using the RD7, you won't find any discomfort or rough spots. It's a great chopper, a really nice slicer, and an overall ease to use.
The Blade: The RD7 has a 7-1/2" blade made of 1/4" thick 5160 carbon, and it's heat treated to 58 on the Rockwell scale. It has a black epoxy powder coating, but it flakes off quite easily. The blade shape is a modified drop point, and it has a nice point if you need to penetrate. It's full flat ground and is easy to resharpen. This is really good for batoning and chopping, and would make an ideal self-defense knife as well. I didn't encounter any rust problems with the RD7, although I admit that I didn't let moisture sit on it for days either. One tiny spot of surface rust was quickly removed with 800-grit sandpaper. You'll also find a choil just ahead of the small guard, and it actually terminates at the blade's edge. I don't like this. I can easily see somebody using the choil and nicking their finger on the edge because it's right there. Moreover, I don't think I'll be choking up on a blade of this size anyway; I normally have a smaller knife for the detail work where control is paramount.
It's a very nice blade and holds its edge very well, but that's to be expected from a quality steel from a quality company.
The Sheath: The RD7 comes with a black Cordura sheath, which is 15-1/2" long. The blade is protected with a Kydex liner, and is secured by two snaps. There are also two lined holes in the top so you can attach 550 cord for even more security. The bottom also has two lined holes for a leg tiedown, and if you're carrying the RD7 on a belt, you'll need one because it flops a lot. The back of the sheath has multiple (five all together) 1" nylon straps for MOLLE attachment, as well as a single strap in the center, which is 1" wide by 14-1/2" long and ends in a snap. There's a belt loop for a belt up to 2" wide, but like I said earlier, you'll need a leg tiedown if you're carrying the RD7 on your belt.
The sheath also has a pouch sewn on the front, and is closes via plastic quick-snap fastener. It's large enough to hold a double-stack pistol magazine or a multi-tool. It also has the typical elastic band covering the pouch and under the plastic fasteners, which is nice but can get in the way at times. Everything considered, I'll take it when I can get it.
There's not really a single bad thing I can say about the RD7. It's stout enough to handle anything I throw at it, the steel takes and holds an edge unreasonably long, and it's of just about the right length for a camp / survival knife. It's American-made at a great price, and it just won't fail under normal circumstances. No wonder they'll pass any CO's examination for a deployment knife (my experience with the Rangers has been more than promising). Check out the entire Ranger line at www.rangerknives.com
(The photos are from the Ranger Knives site and aren't mine. You did save me one of those Twixes from earlier in the review, right?)
PHOTOS ADDED
I finally got around to adding my own photos. The blade is shiny now, as the finish was removed.
Next to a Becker BK9 for comparison...
The Handle: The RD7 has a full, exposed tang and the handle slabs are screwed right on to it. The slabs are made of tan canvas micarta, and they're held in place with six 3/32" hex screws; three on each side. The length of the handle is great: 5" long with a nice working area of 4". The handle is 3/4" thick, and fills the hande nicely without creating aches. The handles have a smooth feel, and there are no sharp corners. They're a little bit grippy because of the texturing, but I'd prefer them to be a bit more coarse. There's a lanyard hole in the butt, and it will accomodate a single strand of non-gutted 550 cord. When using the RD7, you won't find any discomfort or rough spots. It's a great chopper, a really nice slicer, and an overall ease to use.
The Blade: The RD7 has a 7-1/2" blade made of 1/4" thick 5160 carbon, and it's heat treated to 58 on the Rockwell scale. It has a black epoxy powder coating, but it flakes off quite easily. The blade shape is a modified drop point, and it has a nice point if you need to penetrate. It's full flat ground and is easy to resharpen. This is really good for batoning and chopping, and would make an ideal self-defense knife as well. I didn't encounter any rust problems with the RD7, although I admit that I didn't let moisture sit on it for days either. One tiny spot of surface rust was quickly removed with 800-grit sandpaper. You'll also find a choil just ahead of the small guard, and it actually terminates at the blade's edge. I don't like this. I can easily see somebody using the choil and nicking their finger on the edge because it's right there. Moreover, I don't think I'll be choking up on a blade of this size anyway; I normally have a smaller knife for the detail work where control is paramount.
It's a very nice blade and holds its edge very well, but that's to be expected from a quality steel from a quality company.
The Sheath: The RD7 comes with a black Cordura sheath, which is 15-1/2" long. The blade is protected with a Kydex liner, and is secured by two snaps. There are also two lined holes in the top so you can attach 550 cord for even more security. The bottom also has two lined holes for a leg tiedown, and if you're carrying the RD7 on a belt, you'll need one because it flops a lot. The back of the sheath has multiple (five all together) 1" nylon straps for MOLLE attachment, as well as a single strap in the center, which is 1" wide by 14-1/2" long and ends in a snap. There's a belt loop for a belt up to 2" wide, but like I said earlier, you'll need a leg tiedown if you're carrying the RD7 on your belt.
The sheath also has a pouch sewn on the front, and is closes via plastic quick-snap fastener. It's large enough to hold a double-stack pistol magazine or a multi-tool. It also has the typical elastic band covering the pouch and under the plastic fasteners, which is nice but can get in the way at times. Everything considered, I'll take it when I can get it.
There's not really a single bad thing I can say about the RD7. It's stout enough to handle anything I throw at it, the steel takes and holds an edge unreasonably long, and it's of just about the right length for a camp / survival knife. It's American-made at a great price, and it just won't fail under normal circumstances. No wonder they'll pass any CO's examination for a deployment knife (my experience with the Rangers has been more than promising). Check out the entire Ranger line at www.rangerknives.com
(The photos are from the Ranger Knives site and aren't mine. You did save me one of those Twixes from earlier in the review, right?)
PHOTOS ADDED
I finally got around to adding my own photos. The blade is shiny now, as the finish was removed.
Next to a Becker BK9 for comparison...
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I purchased the Ontario RD-4 at the first of April and though it hasn't really seen any woods time to speak of....just some chopping and cutting on a quick hike along the boundary line the other week...I think it will make a really fine outdoors knife. I have been using it for the past 2 weeks in the kitchen to check out how good it would be for a camp knife situation, and I think it would do just fine. Even though it is as thick as the bigger RD's, .25", the flat grind really helps in the slicing department.
