Rat 3 or Busse Game Warden

B

bikerider

Joined
Nov 28, 2006
Messages
144
So I'm looking for a smallish 3 in fixed blade to carry along on day hikes and while mountain biking. I purchased the NWA forum knife and love it. It is my backpacking and hunting companion, but a little big for shorter trips. So for general use is the Busse worth the extra $200 (with sheath) than the RAT 3? I wouldn't necessarily mind spending the extra money for the Busse, just trying to justify it, and thought I'd ask the experts. :)
 
Neither. Fallkniven F1, much better. I have handled the Rat-3 and wasn't impressed when compared to the F1's fit and finish, the F1 has better blade geometry and ergonomics and the steels wonderful. The Rat isn't a bad knife but it is completely outshined by the F1 in performance.

I also got the chance to play with a GW a little while ago and gave up after a some minor use in favour to the F1.

My $0.02, hope it helped. :)
 
I do hate posting a third option in a 'which one' thread, since you've probably already narrowed things down amongst all the others, but I'd agree that the F1 is a really good choice. I don't really dig the shorter handle on the RAT. I don't personally love the design on the Busse, but I'm sure it would serve you well.
 
i have a d2 rat 3 and several gw's.

the rat is a nice knife, especially for the low $$$. the handle i found a bit small, though it is not uncomfortable.

i find the ergos on the gw to be better. the handles are thicker and shaped better for my hands. i also like the slight drop point on the gw.

i found the rat did not hold an edge as well as the gw. not that it was poor, just not as good.
 
I'd take the Game Warden over the Rat. The steel on the Game Warden is beyond great.

The F1, though, I'd take over both of them. The Game Warden has a huge (for a knife of that size) choil that is really annoying when you're trying to perform long slicing cuts, and besides, that thing wastes perfectly good cutting edge. That said, if you want the knife with the best steel, then go with the Game Warden. The laminated VG-10 on the Fällknivens is very good for the tasks the F1 is meant for, but INFI is in a class of its own, unless you want stainless.
 
If you decide to get the Game Warden, which would be my choice, do some research before you buy. They were offered in several different thickness and a variety of finishes. Your intended use will dictate which thickness blade. The thinner GWs make better slicers. There are some very knowledgeable people (way more so than me) on the Busse forum who are more than willing to answer your questions about Busse knives.
 
If you are just looking for a small fixed blade to take with you when you're not going too far off the beaten path I'd expect either knife would do just fine. But if you've been itching for an excuse to buy a Busse, the GW is a great knife. The one I got through the Busse company store recently was a little thicker than I was hoping it would be, but it still slices well enough and as an added bonus I've been able to use it to chop down a few small trees. It is quite a fun little knife.
 
The RAT 3 will be a better slicer and comes with a great sheath, the Warden however will keep an edge for longer and will no doubt go up in value should you ever want to sell it !
People keep on about the Fallknivens but I still can't help worrying about a laminated blade !!!!
 
razcob said:
I agree the Fallkniven would be better. I love Busse knives, and describe them as "fun", but I think the Fallkniven is a better cutter (blade is thinner).
Click to expand...

It is not thinner than a Game Warden, unless you buy one of the very recent fat ones. Most of them are .170 or .140, depending.

For that knife size, I'd go with a Busse Meaner Street, which have been appearing at the Company Store lately for $227. Super buy, super steel, perfect size.

.
 
Wabajack said:
Worry about what?
Click to expand...

After reading the results on Noss's Knifetests.com the tip of the blade broke off when he stabbed it into the sheet steel...this was the ONLY knife he has had this happen with out of all his tests !!!!
On the concrete it started chipping straight away but he went on to say that after a while the chipping stopped and it started denting !!!!

He said this like it was a GOOD thing ? I would sooner have a knife that chips and fails towards the end of much abuse than one which becomes damaged straight away but is still classed as useable for a long time after !

Maybe I am missing something and please don't think I am being sarcastic it's just that I'm very confused by the tests results, compared to the other knives tested it seemed to perform poorly !!!:confused:
 
No offense but I think knife performance tests that involve stabbing through sheet steel and chopping on ?concrete?! are ridiculous. Yes, I can see the remote once in a lifetime possibility of having to chop through concrete or stab through steel. However, given that situation any knife of decent steel, geometry and heat treat will perform. If one is looking for a tool that will do this on a regular basis I say get a chisel or an ax. The guy that leaps from a rescue vehicle to free some unfortunate soul form a wreck and pulls out his GW to open the hull of the car is IMO an @$$hole, when there is probably a crash ax on the truck. In my world, knives are used for cutting tasks and what counts is geometry, edge holding and ease or sharpening.
 
What does that scenario have to do with a Game Warden? And yeah I'd laugh if a guy tried to pry open a crash with a 2 7/8 in. blade too.
 
Swamp rat will soon be offering a skelleton version of the game warden. Same size and shape, but no handles. I believe the price is going to be $59. I have one I bought form a friend who went to blade west. Here is a pic:

knife4-1.jpg


The sheath was made by http://rainwalker15.googlepages.com/index.html

There where three request I had.

1)I wanted it to be able to accept the Tek-Klip and Tek-loc's.
2)I wanted to be able to wear it as a kneck knife both upside down and rightside up.
3)I wanted grooves on the side so that I can wrap some kind of small cord around the sheath.

As you can see, he did a great job. The square shape also makes it suited for pocket carry
 
None of the above, get an alien2 from topeak for mountain biking. It has all the tools you will need to fix a bike and it does have a blade (about 2 inches), in the worst case scenario combine a multitool like the alien2 with a sak. the wave is good too but it is not geared towards the typical cycling repairs.

If you need a real separate blade then go for something like 4-5 inches in length.

Lots of fans from the F1 on this forum, can't stand the handle myself.

By the way, Nicks knife is great.
 
pitdog said:
After reading the results on Noss's Knifetests.com the tip of the blade broke off when he stabbed it into the sheet steel...this was the ONLY knife he has had this happen with out of all his tests !!!!
On the concrete it started chipping straight away but he went on to say that after a while the chipping stopped and it started denting !!!!

He said this like it was a GOOD thing ? I would sooner have a knife that chips and fails towards the end of much abuse than one which becomes damaged straight away but is still classed as useable for a long time after !

Maybe I am missing something and please don't think I am being sarcastic it's just that I'm very confused by the tests results, compared to the other knives tested it seemed to perform poorly !!!:confused:
Click to expand...

Ironically, all these issues that you are referring to are issues not caused by lamination. If you take a good look at the A1, you'll notice the very tip, just like the very cutting edge of the blade, is VG-10. The lamination line runs some millimeters away from the cutting edge and the very tip of the blade. So, what chipped on the A1 when it was stabbed into sheet metal was solid VG-10 - not the laminated part of the blade. This isn't surprising at all. VG-10 is high carbon stainless. It is not the toughest of steels. It will chip and dent if you chop concrete or stab metal with it.

To reiterate, the A1 did not chip because of the lamination. It chipped because it's made of a high carbon stainless. The lamination with softer, tougher low-carbon stainless makes the knife take lateral pressure better, but it does not help the cutting edge any. The cutting edge and the very tip of the blade is still VG-10, and VG-10 can't take being stabbed into metal. Don't worry about the lamination. Worry about the VG-10, if you're going to worry. The edge of the A1 is made for cutting stuff, not chopping concrete or stabbing metal. It's too acute to survive stuff like this without damage. Hence the chipping. But the knife is thick, and even VG-10 can take a lot of damage being that thick, and hence the denting after the most acute part of the edge was damaged by chipping.

It's a compromise. Fällkniven wanted to make a knife that actually cuts well (better than the other knives Noss tested). That also means that with stainless steel as the material, the edge will suffer damage if you abuse it against concrete or metal. On the other hand, the A1 is still a pry bar in thickness - so, after initial edge damage, it can take a lot of pain and remain usable even after damage. This is in fact good. It would be even better if the knife wasn't damaged in the first place - but that could be achieved only by making the knife a worse cutter, or switching to a tougher, non-stainless steel which would lead to worse corrosion resistance.
 
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