RAT versus TOPS?

Heat treat, heat treat, heat treat. They both use the same steel, but I believe Rat has the Heat Treat on 1095 down about as good as its ever going to get.

Have you seen the vise video. Amazing stuff.

Bill
 
canadiantrailman said:
Many thanks for all of the replies, it is appreciated. I will probably go with a RAT RC-5 P-B for now and consider TOPS some other time.
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I ordered an RC-5 Plain Edge in OD.

Hasn't arrived yet and the wait is torture.

Woodsmonkey.com has a good review of the RC5. It looks like a machine from all that I can tell.

I'm shivering with anticipation over here.

If I ordered a knife from TOPS it would be one of four: Armageddon, Anaconda, ATAX or Hoodlum. TOPS has good stuff. Some of it is a little quirky (I'm still trying to figure out what groovy stuff Captain Hawke was on when he designed that "Hellion"...no offense Cpt!)
 
Hitthespot said:
Heat treat, heat treat, heat treat. They both use the same steel, but I believe Rat has the Heat Treat on 1095 down about as good as its ever going to get.

Have you seen the vise video. Amazing stuff.

Bill
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Rowen Mfg. said:
Yes we do manufacture for TOPS. Mike Fuller, (owner of TOPS) is a great guy and we are proud to build product for him. In fact we have been manufacturing products for the sports and recreation industries for about 30 years, but it was Mike that helped us break into the cutlery industry. On a side note TOPS had Ron Hood do some video in our facility last summer and Hoods Woods should be coming out with a video on knife manufacturing soon. You guys might look at picking it up, should be a great video. Also If anyone is interested Jeff posted a intro letter for us on the RAT Cutlery forum a while back here is the link. http://www.jungletraining.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3817
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TOPS and RAT Cutlery are both manufactured by Rowen Manufacturing. Hard to believe that the heat treat is better on one than the other.
 
hlee said:
TOPS and RAT Cutlery are both manufactured by Rowen Manufacturing. Hard to believe that the heat treat is better on one than the other.
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You may be correct. I don't know the answer to that question. I would like to know if they are heat treated the same or differently regardless of which one would be called better.

Bill
 
moonwilson said:
RAT knives are much better designed than TOPS, that's the major difference, IMHO. RATs are designed with a very focused concentration on function. TOPS designs, by comparison, are more or less dashed-off, with a heavy focus on what "looks cool". The basic materials are comparable, but RAT has better fit & finish, quality control, and customer service, from what I've seen. Both companies make good knives.
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+1:thumbup:

I could not agree more with this assessment. They are both built out of great materials, but I find the RAT's to be much more practical for real life applications.
 
Tripton said:
"SPECIAL OPS TRUST TOPS CAUSE THEY'RE HARD TO THE CORE"

Good to see that. I hate when knives have a mushy center.



However, being that I am not in special ops...or pretend to be, I think I will stick to my RATs.
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:p

in my opinion any Commando ,Special OPS or any other 'bery' dangerous job would be better of with a RAT.

just my opinion though :yawn:
 
I have some of each. I am very pleased with both products, and both are great quality. TOPS has a very extensive design catalogue and gives you some unique options that greatly differ from RAT. That said, for price, warranty and service, RAT can't be beat. Don't let RAT's lower comparable price fool you, they are top of the line knives. If you are considering a TOPS model that is comparable in design to a RAT, I say go for the RAT.

By the way, Jeff Randall from RAT has a TOPS knife in his bug out bag.
 
100_0069.jpg

CWTipFail-1.jpg

This broken Swamp Rat Chopweiler tip caused some concern :rolleyes:
CWTipFail-5.jpg

88989889.jpg

To finish with a flourish and!
TOPS Knive maybe bend!?

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=711124

P/S
All this shit comes from this FORUM!!!
 
RAT 7 is not a RAT Cutlery product, that is from Ontario knife company. The broken tip might have been the one that was broken from prying bricks out of the driveway. I remember reading about it in the RAT Subforum. It was abuse that broke it, and that I am pretty sure of.
 
TheGame said:
RAT 7 is not a RAT Cutlery product, that is from Ontario knife company. The broken tip might have been the one that was broken from prying bricks out of the driveway. I remember reading about it in the RAT Subforum. It was abuse that broke it, and that I am pretty sure of.
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You forgot to mention the "Swamp Rat" Chopweiler, not a Tops or RAT Cutlery knife either.
 
I was debating about getting either a TOPS or RAT and decided to go with a RAT when money allows mainly because of the warrenty which has already been said:
Tops
"Fixed Blade Knives are guaranteed to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for the lifetime of the Original Purchaser ONLY."
RAT
"No Questions Asked Warranty. If you screw it up, break it, or cut it in two with a cutting torch, send it back and we'll replace it. Warranty is transferable. In other words, we warranty the knife no matter how many times it's been traded, sold or given away. We don't ask for a sales receipt, date of purchase or where you bought the knife - No fine print and no hassles. If you have a problem, contact us."

but I will say that TOPS does have some neat designs yet still practical not all but some.
 
KinJames said:
RAT
"No Questions Asked Warranty. If you screw it up, break it, or cut it in two with a cutting torch, send it back and we'll replace it. Warranty is transferable. In other words, we warranty the knife no matter how many times it's been traded, sold or given away. We don't ask for a sales receipt, date of purchase or where you bought the knife - No fine print and no hassles. If you have a problem, contact us."
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That is really hard to beat :thumbup:.
 
any knife can be broken.
the tip of the Swamp Rat is quite thick .
it still broke.

what does this mean?a bad heat treat?
come on.

some people know how to skrew up the best knives that are around.
as if they accomplished to show a weakness.

maybe some Tops knives have thicker points than RAT knives.
but it will be most of the time at the cost of a good cutting and slicing blade.the RC-5 is a thick RatCurlery knife.
i still imagine that it also can be broken by some 'smart' person.

and i will stick to the phrase: "any knife can be broken".

some people realy know how to f..k a knife up instead of using it.

I have had 2 Tops knives.Screaming Eagle ,MAK-7.
an axe slices better than those.
 
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hlee said:
TOPS and RAT Cutlery are both manufactured by Rowen Manufacturing. Hard to believe that the heat treat is better on one than the other.
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Not all tops knives are made by rowen though, just certain models.

Love RAT for the wide flat grinds, so for the most part TOPS is of no interest to me, some are quite appealing though, edges just always seem too thick up close
 
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While I deeply respect the opinion of everyone here who has posted I am going to have to disagree about TOPS. Some of the knives in their catalogue do seem to be geared towards the armchair commando but a great number are extremely functional. Fit and finish on both are excellent and since they are both produced by the same company I think most of the differences are a placebo. You would really have to try to break either one. I have used TOPS for years; I even carried one in Iraq. If I had a complaint it would be the weight, but for survival purposes I prefer a heftier blade.
 
Longtrang said:
While I deeply respect the opinion of everyone here who has posted I am going to have to disagree about TOPS. Some of the knives in their catalogue do seem to be geared towards the armchair commando but a great number are extremely functional. Fit and finish on both are excellent and since they are both produced by the same company I think most of the differences are a placebo. You would really have to try to break either one. I have used TOPS for years; I even carried one in Iraq. If I had a complaint it would be the weight, but for survival purposes I prefer a heftier blade.
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I don't think anyone was questioning the quality of build, just quality of design. I do like some of their knives, but a large segment of their offerings fall under the true "sharpened pry bar" canopy. I mean, I'll bring the name up just because it's an oft-leveled criticism: Busse offerings are often categorized pry bars for having 1/4" and 5/16" stock thicknesses, but they're almost all full height or 3/4 height grinds, and usually on blades that are 1.5" wide or greater, so the primary blade angle is still reasonable. For comparison, the Anaconda (or, really, almost any of TOPS' large fixed blades) has a primary grind that's half the height of the blade or even slightly less, and that's on a blade that is itself narrower to begin with---meaning that it goes from 1/4" stock thickness down to cutting edge in the space of about 1/2"-5/8". That's really much more bayonet than knife. I mean, don't get me wrong, the steel choice is good, the heat treat and overall quality control is there, the execution is very nice----it just will not cut very well beyond shaving hair, no matter who makes it. Most of the TOPS fixed blades come across to me as principally fighting knives in a similar vein to the old SOG Bowie---not a utility tool at all, really, but strong and will open one hell of a wound channel.
 
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