Rmd has arrived but has dull blade :(

J

jrm3

Joined
Feb 4, 2010
Messages
8
My first swamp rat has arrived and it is one of the nicest knives I own. It feels great in my hand. The only problem is that the blade is like a butter knife. So what do you guys recommend to sharpen as is and also a good sharpener when in the field. Or it seems like a lot of people are reprofiling the edge convexed. Is that the normal recommended way to go?

I was looking into getting the waki as well, but I'm just afraid of getting another expensive dull blade.

All in all I am happy to be joining the swamp rat family. I just need to give this knife the edge it deserves.
Thanks

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There have been a few issues in the sharpening dept.
Jerry has a thread about it over in the Busse forum.
You can always send it back.
Great excuse to talk to the girls:D

I would try a diamond rod, or ceramic in a butchers steel motion before I sent it anywhere.
They make portable models for the field

You can also strop it if you have the set up for it.

I have several WAKI and all came scary sharp;)
 
I'm sorry to hear that. Please send me a note and I'll give you the instructions to send it in and have it sharpened up for you.

I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience but don't worry we'll take care of you.

ratknives@insightbb.com

If you want a Waki let me know, I'll make sure it is shaving sharp before I ship it.

Eric
 
Stropping made a huge difference when i got mine. It still wasn't what i would call sharp, but it was a lot closer. Eric will take great care of you, their CS is second to none!

-- Adam
 
WoW.... Sorry to hear about the dull blade...
If I sound surprised,that's because...well... I am... lol

I haven't been in this game for very long,but I do have quite a few
rats running around the house... Every one very sharp from SRKW ...

I am though having problems with some of my Busse's (Already talked to Amy,I just need to send them in),
which leads me to a question that I have been wanting to ask for some time;

(directed at whoever can answer)
*Does Busse & SRKW share the same employees? Namely the ones that do the sharpening and inspecting?
I don't think that they do,but I could be wrong....

Anyway, I'm sure Eric and crew will fix you right up... It seems to me that one must have just slipped through,and you just happened to be on the receiving end....
OR maybe I've just been dang lucky and happened to get all sharp ones.... :D
 
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It took me about 12 hours to get mine to the point where it was really sharp. It was shaving out of the box but the angle was just too obtuse for me. I took it from a 60 inclusive down to about a 15, and this is really how they should come from the factory. I stuck it out and it was worth it-the knife is just insane.
 
Eric Isaacson said:
I'm sorry to hear that. Please send me a note and I'll give you the instructions to send it in and have it sharpened up for you.

I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience but don't worry we'll take care of you.

ratknives@insightbb.com

If you want a Waki let me know, I'll make sure it is shaving sharp before I ship it.

Eric
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Like always - - - Eric rocks! He will get you taken care of.
 
PayetteRucker said:
It took me about 12 hours to get mine to the point where it was really sharp. It was shaving out of the box but the angle was just too obtuse for me. I took it from a 60 inclusive down to about a 15, and this is really how they should come from the factory. I stuck it out and it was worth it-the knife is just insane.
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15? Inclusive? Too thin... Did you mean 30 inclusive, because 30 inclusive is about right.
 
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Unless your planning on performing surgery with it, 15 degrees inclusive has almost no practical use. And by the way, there's a reason why scalpels are disposable - they won't hold that kind of an edge for long.
 
i got another RMD few days ago and it was a little dull, but what i really noticed out of the box was that it had an uneven grind. this was really noticeable at the tip. not a huge deal for me, but, you should know that youre not alone.
Congrats on the RMD, its one of my favorite blades and at a great value.
 
GregS said:
15? Inclusive? Too thin... Did you mean 30 inclusive, because 30 inclusive is about right.
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The knife comes at about 30 degrees, or 60 inclusive. I took mine down to 15 degrees, or 30 inclusive. My method was a 1x4 arkansas stone wrapped in 320 grit wet-and-dry sandpaper, worked on up to 2000 grit. I can't dull the thing now, it's awesome. Sure did take a long time to get to that point... if only Swamp Rat would consider thinning out the edge from the factory, I'd be much more inclined to spend more money on them. It sure is a hassle getting them sharp to begin with, but once they are there they stay that way.
 
Samael said:
Unless your planning on performing surgery with it, 15 degrees inclusive has almost no practical use. And by the way, there's a reason why scalpels are disposable - they won't hold that kind of an edge for long.
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I figured I didn't have to distinguish the measurement for that reason... sheesh. You'd have to remove stock from the spine to get the edge down to that thin of a grind... either that or take a rotary wheel to it and hollow grind...
 
Has everyone forgotten how to sharpen a knife? did we watch to many ginsu commercial's?

I understand that we would all like sharp well ground knives out of the box but truth is its rare that it happens. When you put knives on big bench stones you quickly find that about 1% of knives are correctly sharpened, all the more reason to sharpen your knife as soon as you get it.

What happens once you dull your new knife? do you send it back every time to be sharpened?

Even a simple $20 norton india stone will get your knife sharp in short time no need to ever send a knife back for sharpening and you can keep it sharp.
 
Still, you pay 150-200 bucks for a knife, you expect it to come out of the box sharp. Do they purposely come with such an obtuse edge? Is it really that much easier to grind a 60 degree edge than it is a 30? Or even a 40?
 
I think they do come with a fat edge on purpose. It is practicing CYA when you have a lifetime warranty. Most people that I know (average Joe) don't know what a sharp knife is and they beat the snot out of everything. These Rats are advertised as hard use blades and not capers. At $138 the RMD is way above its' competition and the folks that buy "survival" blades in that price range on average aren't really experienced users. Look at a Cold Steel or Fallkniven .... rubberish type handles made over seas for about the same prices. The FK has a nice convex but it won't hold up like a Swamp Rat ..... and most of those other blades don't have the Swamp Rat warranty. I can't think of any other company that offers blades with handles as trick as Swamp Rat for the money. I like to set my own edge bevels anyway and don't measure the angles. I thin out a section a little at a time until it cuts what I want how I want. Normally I leave half of the belly to the tip at the stock angle so that it stays tough.

... but I could be wrong!:D
 
knifenut1013 said:
Has everyone forgotten how to sharpen a knife? did we watch to many ginsu commercial's?

I understand that we would all like sharp well ground knives out of the box but truth is its rare that it happens. When you put knives on big bench stones you quickly find that about 1% of knives are correctly sharpened, all the more reason to sharpen your knife as soon as you get it.

What happens once you dull your new knife? do you send it back every time to be sharpened?

Even a simple $20 norton india stone will get your knife sharp in short time no need to ever send a knife back for sharpening and you can keep it sharp.
Click to expand...

...I was thinking the same thing. :)

Sure it would be nice if more knives came with perfect hair whittleing edges, but this almost never is the case. ...and like you say no matter how sharp a knife is when you get it, it's eventually going to get dull if you use it. "then what?"

That's why I would suggest to the OP that he take the opportunity to start learning how to reprofile an edge and properly sharpen a blade.

I know it can seem intimidating and frustrating when starting out, but once you get the hang of it, it is SOOOOO satisfying to know that you have the skill to put the kind of edge you want on any blade! :thumbup:

I know it's the first thing I do when I get a new knife. I actually look forward to it! ...True that SR-101 is tough stuff, so it can take some work to reprofile, but as stated before once you get it sharp it STAYS sharp for quite a while! ;)

Definately a skill that any knife lover should take time to try and learn. IMHO.
 
I got a Ratmandu about a year and a half ago, and it wasn't particularly sharp. I'd say it had a somewhat thick "working edge." The way I see it is this; if there is a little too much metal on the edge (it's too thick), you can always remove a little metal to thin the blade and make it slice better. Conversely, if the blade arrives and the edge is fairly thin, when metal is removed to thicken the blade, the profile of the blade changes more. Just my thoughts.
 
I usually recommend that people start out with a cheap Buck knife and some plain old sharpening stones. Sure you're going to bugger it up, but that HC120 is pretty forgiving, and in a worst-case scenario, you're out what? $30? It's priceless experience, and you'll appreciate that Lansky set with the diamond stones a whole lot more afterwards.
 
Well anyways guys. Some of the questions I asked weren't really answered lol.
Eric contacted me and said they will take care of it no problem (they have great customer service) however I made this thread for tips because I planned to do it myself.
Sorry I didn't mean for it to turn into a debate how knives should arrive new.
 
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