RAT Woodland Ops Photos

R.A.T. said:
Pete, we've got a couple of LE courses that we are in the planning stages on. These will be heavier into tactical tracking in a potentially hostile environment. Stay in touch with us. Three of the guys that were in this class are working on getting their agency to sponsor it. If they do, then we can pull you into that class and all you will need to do is get yourself to the training area since you are LE.
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That would be great. Keep me informed sir.
 
SOUTHSTAR said:
Im hearing what you all are saying and I can tell it comes from a lot of experience .
The one thing I am still a little confused about is what is the advantage of a machete over say a scrapyard dogfather? Other than cost . What can a machete do that a DF can't?
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Not trying to be a smartass here, but you would just need to get out and work for a day cutting material in the wilds and the answer would manifest itself to you pretty quick. It's all about efficiency. A few of the guys in the training course came up to me after finishing the class and told me they were convinced that machetes were the way to go for wilderness survival after using them. None of RAT Cutlery knives are anywhere near as efficient as a machete for tropical/sub-tropical environments. Not sure what the dogfather is, so i can't speak to that. Is it a machete?
 
One advantage that a cheap machete has over a high priced machete is that they are cheap and easily replaced. One of the guys in the class lost his RC6 in the river. I would have broke down crying. If I owned a high priced chopper, I know that I personally wouldn't use it for near as much stuff as I used my machete for. That's just my opinion though, there may be guys out there that disagree. I had my RC6 with me, but used the machete for just about everything.
 
Hot damn what fun!!!!! :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
R.A.T. said:
Not trying to be a smartass here, but you would just need to get out and work for a day cutting material in the wilds and the answer would manifest itself to you pretty quick. It's all about efficiency. A few of the guys in the training course came up to me after finishing the class and told me they were convinced that machetes were the way to go for wilderness survival after using them. None of RAT Cutlery knives are anywhere near as efficient as a machete for tropical/sub-tropical environments. Not sure what the dogfather is, so i can't speak to that. Is it a machete?
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The Limited Edition Dog Father makes a fair camp machete. It has a 10" blade of S7 steel and a "rubber" Resiprene C handle. It is light enough to swing all day with its full flat grind. It handles much like the RTAK. It's a useful knife, not like some of the super heavy choppers. But an 18" machete can do more work at even less weight, and a lot less cost. I did a huge chop-off last year over on W&SS forum. Kukris, goloks, Bowies, and machetes. A thin Condor 14" Puerto Rican machete out chopped every knife there, including my big Busse Fat Fusion Battle Mistress. If something actually worked better than a machete, the people who live in the jungle would have discovered it by now.

There are times when I like to carry a large bowie. A big knife can "make do" as a machete if you don't anticipate having to do a whole lot of slashing and chopping. I still prefer the lighter ones, like the RTAK, DFLE, and the new Swamp Rat M9LE. Such big knives can be quite useful for those places and times when you don't need to carry a long machete. But the big heavy ones are best left in the jeep. They are good for chopping downed limbs and such, much like a small axe.
 
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mainewoods said:
Looks Great!!! when with you do one the North east N.H,V.T,ME ? I would join that one for sure! Thanks for the pics. and your time sharing them.
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I was thinking the same thing looking at the pictures... and dozens on New England places come to mind to run one of the courses....

EDIT: if you ever do have one in our area, be sure to have something more robust then a machete (I don't care who makes it). The closest thing to a machete I have found to work well up in my area is the Ontario SP-8 and the KaBar Cutlass.
 
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I easily chop through 6 inch diameter oak, maple, and pine trees down here with a cheap machete. I'm not sure why you would want to use anything larger in any survival situation or environment.
 
I understand that machete is better then any knife, and probably a must in difficult environment, but it is bigger. I can see my self carry RAT knife around where ever i would go, but machetes for me are a bit big to just pick it and go...that is what i like about RAT knives, they are built for very hard use so you can trust to hold up to any task and yet small enough to carry around anytime...and that is the reason i would pick knife over machete.
 
R.A.T. said:
I easily chop through 6 inch diameter oak, maple, and pine trees down here with a cheap machete. I'm not sure why you would want to use anything larger in any survival situation or environment.
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Ummm, mostly because 50% of the year those pine, maple and oak are as hard as granite because it is below freezing..... mid summer, sure a cheap machete would work, thou mid summer I rarely find I need anything heavier then a TAK-1 or RC-4. Of course this could just be my lack of skill with a machete, but I don't think so. You yourself qualified where the machete was the proper tool when you said in the tropical/sub-tropical areas it was hands down the best.
I plan to head up to Carters Notch in January, maybe I will take a machete and give it a try, like HornDog did with his write up for WS&S. We will see... of course if you wanna move one of your training courses up here.....
 
What happens to a machete in a frozen 6 inch log? Just wondering since it doesn't get that cold down here.
 
R.A.T. said:
What happens to a machete in a frozen 6 inch log? Just wondering since it doesn't get that cold down here.
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I've never had any trouble, personally. You just can't super-hulk-smash the logs like you can in the summer. I used my machetes all through the winter dealing with blow-downs from ice storms. Pines, poplars, and even a maple or two. No failures of the edge or blade either with my various Condors and Cold Steels.
 
Axe is definitely the designated winter wood tool. That said I'd still bring my machete for making igloos, machetes are awesome for working with snow.
 
Being a city dweller, it takes effort and makework to get out and use tools and some of the skills I have accumulated over the years getting outside and camping/hiking. I may overload a pack or bag for a short hike sometimes, but my reasoning is more about staying acclimated to loads and packing gear than it is that I would run into using some of that gear. I rarely spend more than 50-60 bucks on a knife of any kind - I just can't get myself to do it most of the time - not useful. This has prevented me from purchasing the new crop of RAT knives. I would rather spend the money on getting out of the house, and getting some dirt time, no matter how brief it might be.
 
Smash05 said:
Being a city dweller, it takes effort and makework to get out and use tools and some of the skills I have accumulated over the years getting outside and camping/hiking. I may overload a pack or bag for a short hike sometimes, but my reasoning is more about staying acclimated to loads and packing gear than it is that I would run into using some of that gear. I rarely spend more than 50-60 bucks on a knife of any kind - I just can't get myself to do it most of the time - not useful. This has prevented me from purchasing the new crop of RAT knives. I would rather spend the money on getting out of the house, and getting some dirt time, no matter how brief it might be.
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Sooooo buy an Izula. :)
 
He's saying he'd rather spend the money getting out of the city than on a new knife... not that he needs a new knife for city living. and I don't blame him. He probably already has a bunch of izulas.
 
R.A.T. said:
What happens to a machete in a frozen 6 inch log? Just wondering since it doesn't get that cold down here.
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Rolled edge that is a bear to repair. Batoning with a D2 TAK can cause it to break, picture what it would do to a much thinner blade. It is truly like trying to chop rocks when it gets really sub zero for a couple of days straight. Never had an issue with my RC-3, or TAK-1, or any of the 01 tool steel stuff I have got, but they are used on small stuff in the bitter cold. I can't remember the machete brands I had used during the Ice storm of 98 (?) but it suffered badly, and looked like I had taken a chisel to the edge. Going to try out the Gerber Gator this winter, and will take pictures and such.
I can remember way way back when I was getting wood in the winter, and I had taken my Dad's Woodman's Pal, and Dad got super mad, handed my the Axe and said "RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB! Don't be a dumbass!". So maybe I am just trying to avoid my Dad's wraith still... :)
 
Believe me, I would love to own more than the RAT 3 I've had for three years, but hey I have what I need and then some right now ;)
 
That said I'd still bring my machete for making igloos, machetes are awesome for working with snow.
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The day I have to make an igloo with my machete to survive, will be the day I'll just fall on the machete to end my misery :) I don't do cold weather very well.

I'd guess that when there is several inches or feet of snow on the ground, there isn't much need for clearing underbrush etc either. But in the tropics, when you need to clear out a section of ground from the jungle, you can't beat a machete. It doesn't have the same kind of heat-treated steel as a knife, so when you hit the inevitable rocks etc while chopping low parallel to the ground, you aren't going to chip anything -- roll the edges or make small indentations, yes, but you can fix that easily with a file.

One of the few types of trees in the tropics a machete isn't much use on was "pona" (I'm not sure of the English name for it, according to Wikipedia the name ironwood applies to over 100 different kinds of trees). It was what the Peruvian Indians used for flooring in their stilt-houses. In bygone generations they also used it for points on their arrows.
 
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