Ratmandu toughness during real word use

S

Silverbullet951

Joined
May 16, 2009
Messages
94
Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has done any substantial performance testing on the Ratmandu or a similar Swamp Rat blade. I was thinking along the terms of flexibility and impact toughness, breakage during batoning or other hard use. Have there been any instances where a RMD has outright broken or failed in any major way? From my limited experience with mine, it just about seems like the perfect hard use survival or outdoors knife and certainly one of the toughest. Edge holding so far seems to be better than 1095 and other commonly used carbon steels.

I hear a lot of people talk about how 52100 is supposedly more brittle/less tough than INFI and other high performance carbon steels, but I would think that it’s alloying elements and Swamp Rat's heattreat should make it much tougher to lateral stress and impact than the best heat treated 1095, D2, A2, etc. It also seems that almost all other major outdoors/survival knife brands are using 1095 which does not have any alloying elements to increase toughness. Any thoughts?

Josh
 
I have beat my RatManDu stupid, chopping trees, making stakes, poles for tarp shelters, batoning wood, its still going strong. Havent even rolled an edge or anything. Edge holding ability is good, not great, but honestly better than i expected, sharpens up easy. All in all I totally trust that knife
 
Hi Guys, I started off with the Ratmandu then I got the Rodent 9, then the Rodent Solution, they preformed beautifully so I got the Rodent 7 and the Rodent 4 again I really liked the steel performance so I decided on a 6" blade lenght but I didn't like the tactical look of the Rodent 6 so I asked Trissy if they could modify the Rodent 6 and she said their Custom Shop could so I had the Rodent 6 thinned down to make it a better slicer and I had the top gaurd taken off and now it look's like a beefy Ratmandu, the Ratmandu was my all time fav., and it's still up there it's a great knife but tge Rodent 6 I think replaced the Ratmandu only because it has a little more realestate whenn I'I'm batoning the SR101 is my fav., and I have knives made from 3V, S30V, good tempered 440C, but I really like the overall performance of the SR101, pending is the Rodent 5, and the Rodent 3, then I will have a complete recent Swamp Rat line, I paired off my Rodent 9 with my Ratmandu, the Rodent 7 with the Rodent 4, my new Rodent 6 which by the way came out perfect you can't ever tell it was ta Rodent 6 with the Rodent Solution my Rodent Rucki will be paired up with the Rodent 5 and the Rodent 3, that Rodent Rucki is becoming a great summer bush tool the fact it has a choil I don't have to look for a smaller blade to finish the job, it's a great tool for the Ohio bush it clears, chops, and I baton with it, a long knife is super for my wood's in Ohio and tge Rodent Rucki is a perfect tool for the woods, if I didn't like the performance of my Swamp Rat's I wouldn't get the complete line, no regrets I personally like it alot.
 
I tossed one of my RMD's into a Black hole. It cut a hole in the black hole, reversed the gravity well, and reset the space time continuum.

All in all, the blade stayed super sharp. :cool:

Seriously though, best blade I own, all things considered.
 
Mulder said:
You probably damaged the knive beating it with a steel hammer.
Try using a plastic/leather or other softer than steel dead blow hammer for all your batonning needs and your knife will last alot longer.
Click to expand...

This seems reasonable....
 
kdstrick said:
A brief review.... Ratmandu is tough as hell! As far as the difference between it and INFI goes, the biggest difference I see is that the 52100 is less stain resistant due to the carbon content. Fantastic knife, overall. Ergos are great. I own three, just in case I grow another hand. :D

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...tmandu-use-and-abuse?highlight=ratmandu+abuse


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Click to expand...

The differential heat treat is everything for SR101, certainly tough enough. However, SR101 is to 52100 what INFI is to A8. They are related but not exactly the same. I have been working with SR101 a bit and I do like it. I don't think it can be beat with price consideration. The 1311 is a beast.
 
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