RAT Knives do break!

I'm sure one of these days I'll break one of my knives. I always have some kind of spare on my presence. However, I'm not so sure why folks stress over this so much. Its always this paranoid delusion of you have only one knife stuff. That never really happens (one knife) and if it did, I guess I'd just deal with it from the rest of my kit contents. Heck a good rock can easily smash a stick and scrape a point. Mussel/oyster shells make great blades. There are lots of alternatives. Do I absolutely need a knife to survive? It is the best and most versatile tool, that is for sure, but why the emphasis that you have to have knife? Your knife can't break? If it chips out on you, can't you just use another or smaller part of the edge? Even those failed blades you see now and again where the tang separates from the blade at the handle. Can't you just use the blade? It will be uncomfortable, but not completely unusable. Half the time I grab my knife on the blade over the spine and use it like that anyhow!

Sorry, getting off topic. I love my knives. I think they are functional art, but I just can't see why people put some much stock in the so called indestructible. At one level it seems like a defeatist attitude - my life depends on the integrity of one tool...

Thanks for posting about the breakage Jeff. Then again, I couldn't really care about the stats. I like your blades and trust them and that keeps me using them.
 
R.A.T. said:
Also proof that there is no such thing as a "best knife" or an "unbreakable knife" and even further proof that hype in the knife industry is just that: bullshit and hype.
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But there is such a thing as a damn tough, well performing knife. There are also damn fine looking knives. Finally, there are knives built by a company that stands behind them 100%.

And every once in a while, there's a knife that has all three going for it. Like, for example, every single RAT blade.

You guys are doing great stuff. Never mind the bullshit; I'm a newbie here and even I can tell that RAT cutlery shines right through it.

What you're doing, and how you're doing it, both mean a lot. And that's neither hype nor bullshit. :thumbup:

Just my opinion.
 
kgd said:
Sorry, getting off topic. I love my knives. I think they are functional art, but I just can't see why people put some much stock in the so called indestructible. At one level it seems like a defeatist attitude - my life depends on the integrity of one tool...
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Excellent points. I think part of it that knives are such a simple tool, and people try to complicate that for whatever reason. I've chipped out a couple of blades, and most of them I've been able to sharpen/grind back down.

My theory on woods survival, and camping in general cropped up while packing for a hike with my brother this summer. One of us asked "what else do we need?" which got the reply "well, we need none of it. 20oz bottle of water and an SAK and we'd be fine, and even those are both unneeded". Point being, you don't really 'need' any of this gear or such to survive, or enjoy being in the woods. It's just determining what level of comfort you wish to maintain, and taking the appropriate gear to do that. (that said I still took a 40 pound pack in on that hike...but a lot of that was the 30 pack of blue light I had rolling around, and 3 pounds of beef jerky.)
 
Appreciate all the comments. Really do. The main reason we post up when a RAT knife breaks is to show those that follow us so closely that our knives are not the best at anything, and that physics, nature and logic will always win. There are a lot of up and coming youngsters in the knife / survival world and I've noticed reading through the forums that they're real vulnerable to BS. With many of them having these grand illusions about surviving with one knife, and only a knife. Survival and knifecraft has a certain mystique about it that draws people in. Then they get influenced by the industry as a whole, books, movies and made up, exaggerated stories about their heros. The bottom line to us is we have gained some notariety in this industry, and while we are grateful for that, we want to make sure that no one ever walks away from here thinking that all they need is a RAT knife to survive, or that RAT knives are the best in the business - because that's just not true. I would much rather see this forum be a no-bullshit knife and survival forum than it be about RAT Cutlery knives. I think if more companies would take on this attitude, this industry as a whole would be much better. Like I said, after spending several years in this industry I don't have a lot of faith that it is much about anything more than selling more hyped, BS knives to those that just don't know any better.
 
R.A.T. said:
Also proof that there is no such thing as a "best knife" or an "unbreakable knife" and even further proof that hype in the knife industry is just that: bullshit and hype. This whole industry is so full of it I don't even know where to start.
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Jeff. Not that it matters to you, but that statement just earned you alot of respect from me. Not that it was lacking before, just really really agree with you, and the fact that you are willing to spell it out for everyone to see.....well....Thats just right on. :thumbup::thumbup:

Kudos to you and your great company. Ill be a customer for life.
 
R.A.T. said:
Appreciate all the comments. Really do. The main reason we post up when a RAT knife breaks is to show those that follow us so closely that our knives are not the best at anything, and that physics, nature and logic will always win. There are a lot of up and coming youngsters in the knife / survival world and I've noticed reading through the forums that they're real vulnerable to BS. With many of them having these grand illusions about surviving with one knife, and only a knife. Survival and knifecraft has a certain mystique about it that draws people in. Then they get influenced by the industry as a whole, books, movies and made up, exaggerated stories about their heros. The bottom line to us is we have gained some notariety in this industry, and while we are grateful for that, we want to make sure that no one ever walks away from here thinking that all they need is a RAT knife to survive, or that RAT knives are the best in the business - because that's just not true. I would much rather see this forum be a no-bullshit knife and survival forum than it be about RAT Cutlery knives. I think if more companies would take on this attitude, this industry as a whole would be much better. Like I said, after spending several years in this industry I don't have a lot of faith that it is much about anything more than selling more hyped, BS knives to those that just don't know any better.
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Damn. Your on a roll brother. :thumbup::thumbup:
 
It seems that most things that are expensive require hype to get them sold. I just had a discussion with a buddy of mine about Scent Lok clothing. We both manage to get deer every year wearing old BDUs.
 
And conversely, I'm sure I could fail to get deer in Scent Lok just as spectacularly as I do in BDUs. :)
 
A bit off topic, but somewhat related in the circular logic of threads, Talfuchre had a thread in W&SS last month asking if 'we use buying outdoor gear as a method of replacing out outdoor experience'. I.e. do we buy into the consumerism model that buying bling is the same as having bling. There is a lot of merit to the post as it applied to our little group. How many times have we proceeded to buy new gear before even trying the old gear.

I guess that is why RAT is goading us with building shelters with their knives - break us of bad habits ;)
 
I don't have a probably with gear queers. I buy a lot of gear myself. What I do have a problem with is someone thinking gear can replace experience. We all need to realize that probably about 80 percent of the people that buy an RC knife (or any knife) really don't need the knife at all. Again, for the most part we are selling bullshit simply because we are selling un-needed items. How do I know this? All you have to do is take a look at a lot of the knife photos in this forum and most of them are all pristine laying beside something in the outdoors. With all that said, we truly appreciate people buying our knives if that's what they want to do with their money, but if I could magically have my way about things, this forum would be more about hard-core survival training and edgecraft than the every day run-of-the-mill thread about RC knives. I realize everyone here can't get out and train. I also realize that a lot of folks here live in an area that just does not offer outdoor experiences. Trust me, we're not trying to run off our core group of buyers / users because we appreciate every one of them more than most people realize. I am just sayin' I'd like to see this forum be different than the average knife forum. I want people (of any experience level) to walk away informed and realizing that they get the unvarnished truth when they read this forum. No bullshit. No hype. And yes, that is one of the main reasons we do so many contests. We want to encourage folks to use their knives and learn something.
 
I do think that a lot of folks who post pictures of shiny knives is because it's the excitement of a new toy that inspires them to dig the camera out. All of my RATs show some serious signs of use. I'll try to post some recent pics when I get home. :D
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
I do think that a lot of folks who post pictures of shiny knives is because it's the excitement of a new toy that inspires them to dig the camera out.
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I agree with that and do the same thing sometimes.
 
R.A.T. said:
I don't have a probably with gear queers. I buy a lot of gear myself. What I do have a problem with is someone thinking gear can replace experience. We all need to realize that probably about 80 percent of the people that buy an RC knife (or any knife) really don't need the knife at all. Again, for the most part we are selling bullshit simply because we are selling un-needed items. How do I know this? All you have to do is take a look at a lot of the knife photos in this forum and most of them are all pristine laying beside something in the outdoors. With all that said, we truly appreciate people buying our knives if that's what they want to do with their money, but if I could magically have my way about things, this forum would be more about hard-core survival training and edgecraft than the every day run-of-the-mill thread about RC knives. I realize everyone here can't get out and train. I also realize that a lot of folks here live in an area that just does not offer outdoor experiences. Trust me, we're not trying to run off our core group of buyers / users because we appreciate every one of them more than most people realize. I am just sayin' I'd like to see this forum be different than the average knife forum. I want people (of any experience level) to walk away informed and realizing that they get the unvarnished truth when they read this forum. No bullshit. No hype. And yes, that is one of the main reasons we do so many contests. We want to encourage folks to use their knives and learn something.
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Guilty as charged...like many on here, I own more knives than I could wear out in 10 lifetimes. And because life, family, work, etc. got in the way, in the past 10 years or so I have not spent as much time in the woods as I used to.

On the plus side,this may be turning around...as I have a wife that loves the outdoors (and she's a Jersey City Chick), and have a daughter and two sons who are becoming of age to really enjoy the outdoors, camping, hunting and fishing. In fact, I have become somewhat re-invigorated, as my 6 and 11 year old sons have joined the Boy Scouts. While this is not really hard-core, my oldest son's troop goes camping at least once a month. Also, my wife and I are looking into some wilderness survival classes or us and our kids.

Its a good start...
 
Murphyslaw said:
Guilty as charged...like many on here, I own more knives than I could wear out in 10 lifetimes. And because life, family, work, etc. got in the way, in the past 10 years or so I have not spent as much time in the woods as I used to.

On the plus side,this may be turning around...as I have a wife that loves the outdoors (and she's a Jersey City Chick), and have a daughter and two sons who are becoming of age to really enjoy the outdoors, camping, hunting and fishing. In fact, I have become somewhat re-invigorated, as my 6 and 11 year old sons have joined the Boy Scouts. While this is not really hard-core, my oldest son's troop goes camping at least once a month. Also, my wife and I are looking into some wilderness survival classes or us and our kids.

Its a good start...
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Kudos to you! It doesn't matter if it's "hard core" as long as you get out there and practice something that may be useful. The way I look at it, unless you're just a collector there is no sense in having all these knives if we don't at least use them and learn from them every so often.
 
I have a good many knives. But I use the ones I have. When I find something better I put the old one away and might pull it back out one day...but as least I know its capabilities.
 
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