Rodent 9- Its' abilities beyond chopping

A

ASharpCanadian

Joined
Sep 12, 2011
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Looking for something that is, in a word, beast. I'll hike it in, delimb and chop, and really plan to baton the ever-living #$%@ out of it for firewood as its starting to get cold up here in Canada. Will be pairing it with a nice tiny mora which I actually use for knife stuff :)

I have and love axes but I want to play with a nice large blade for a while.


Junglas- handle looks great, rave reviews, no choil. Big enough to baton

Rodent 9- cool factor but 1" shorter than the Junglas, choil might get in the way batonning???, and of course more $$$$



Opinions very much appreciated gents/ladies you always help me out as I cant just go to the mall and handle these for myself :(
 
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Not sure if it will matter that much to you in Canada but Junglas has a lower RC than R9. I batoned it through some of our Aussie hardwood and the primary bevel got deformed, the secondary bevel was not damaged, just the edge now has a slight wave to it.
Junglas was designed as a big knife/short machete meant for cutting thinner living plants, not take punishment that you are talking about.

R9 on the other hand will take it and laugh at you. Choil doesn't really affect batoning, and R9 is thicker so it will have just as much momentum as Junglas in chopping. And SR-101 is a better steel than 1095 (especially at around 55-56 RC).
 
elof_alv said:
Not sure if it will matter that much to you in Canada but Junglas has a lower RC than R9. I batoned it through some of our Aussie hardwood and the primary bevel got deformed, the secondary bevel was not damaged, just the edge now has a slight wave to it.
Junglas was designed as a big knife/short machete meant for cutting thinner living plants, not take punishment that you are talking about.

R9 on the other hand will take it and laugh at you. Choil doesn't really affect batoning, and R9 is thicker so it will have just as much momentum as Junglas in chopping. And SR-101 is a better steel than 1095 (especially at around 55-56 RC).
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:eek:

Just so we're clear on terminology, the "primary" bevel is ground over most of the blade, is usually ground first, and gives much of the cutting profile. It is generally left alone. The narrow bevel at the edge which is often modified/sharpened and usually takes most of the damage is the "secondary" or "edge" bevel. Scandi- or "zero"-grind knives have no secondary bevel though one is often added by the user later.

So when you batonned a Junglas through your hardwood, you rippled the blade?!! Yeah, i can't imagine that happening with a Rodent 9, the sucker is thick. I don't own a Junglas but from what I've heard it will cut/slice more efficiently than a R9 because it's thinner from edge to spine. The R9 has a hatchet-edge but great balance, it won't cut as efficiently but it'll split wood and handle a baton with ease.

I posted these on another thread recently, but here they are again:

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[video=youtube;iCphmLgvaV4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iCphmLgvaV4[/video]
 
heheh I came to the right place I wanted to get talked into the rodent 9. Someone's review on here said the rodent 9 didn't baton well...I wonder if I stripped the coating and put a patina on it if it would pass through wood easier...???
 
chiral.grolim said:
:eek:

Just so we're clear on terminology, the "primary" bevel is ground over most of the blade, is usually ground first, and gives much of the cutting profile. It is generally left alone. The narrow bevel at the edge which is often modified/sharpened and usually takes most of the damage is the "secondary" or "edge" bevel. Scandi- or "zero"-grind knives have no secondary bevel though one is often added by the user later.

So when you batonned a Junglas through your hardwood, you rippled the blade?!!
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Yes, I mean the ripple went up 1/3 of an inch up from the blade edge.
Most of firewood here is hardwoods, pine is really just construction material and hard to get as logs. Aside from being hard, the wood usually does not have a straight grain, and often twist around the central axis, so the growth is in somewhat spiraling.
Didn't have any issues with any of my Bussekin knives while batonning, I was really surprised with the Junglas.
The only one binding in wood was NMFSH, which was surprise to me as mine id double cut. Choppy was gliding through, so did 911 and 711.
 
ASharpCanadian said:
I wonder if I stripped the coating and put a patina on it if it would pass through wood easier...???
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After stripping my 711 it definitely bites deeper when chopping.



wood-butcher said:
The satin SR101 that I have tends to rust with just fingerprints, but the stripped one always cleans up easy, and it takes much more abuse to start it rusting...
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This is interesting. After my 711 was stripped I fought rust horribly until bluing it. Perhaps there is an undercoating on the R9 that helps to inhibit some of the rust???
 
interesting about that Junglas I thought they were badass- they probably are 99% of the time and Id love to get my hands on one eventually.

I definitely need my big hard use blades to be about as invincible as my ratmandu though....
 
ASC, Junglas still is badass, just specifically designed for a different environment than you are in. You need something a lot more heavy duty.
I can't recommend R9 specifically, it just did not sit right in my smallish hands, but a Swamp knife in that size is really hard to beat. I had the luck of snatching Rat Daddy, Rat Mastiff and M9 and will wholeheartedly recommend every one oh them.
If the handle worked for me I'd have R9 for sure!
 
My thoughts on this are a bit different. Having used both I most defiantly prefer the Junglas for chopping and the R9 for a one knife approach. I feel the Junglas is a better chopper regardless of the material, if a saber ground 3/16 inch thick blade isn't tough enough for you than you are doing something wrong. 1095 wont holds its edge nearly as long as SR101 but it is easier to re sharpen which to me is more important for a chopper (its going to dull anyway unless you are chopping a bunch of really soft wood). The only complaint I had with the Junglas was I didn't really like the stock scales thankfully TKC custom G10s fixed that problem very easily and it is now my go to big knife.

Big knife = Junglas
All around winter knife = R9
 
Hard Knocks said:
This is interesting. After my 711 was stripped I fought rust horribly until bluing it. Perhaps there is an undercoating on the R9 that helps to inhibit some of the rust???
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Did you remove the decarb from the surface of the steel? This is a by-product of the heat treat and must be removed with something abrasive as it rusts like nobody's business.
 
elof_alv said:
ASC, Junglas still is badass, just specifically designed for a different environment than you are in. You need something a lot more heavy duty.
I can't recommend R9 specifically, it just did not sit right in my smallish hands, but a Swamp knife in that size is really hard to beat. I had the luck of snatching Rat Daddy, Rat Mastiff and M9 and will wholeheartedly recommend every one oh them.
If the handle worked for me I'd have R9 for sure!
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I definitely do have lady hands so I checked out the other blades you mentioned. Too bad going rate for a rat daddy is 350-400! thats the ideal length for me I think as well. I think my best bet is to get this rodent 9, see if it gets along with my hands, and sell as needed. That handle looks like it could be great with the option to hold the end for real chopping and choking up on it for hacking/delimbing of a walking stick or something. Or it could just suck :)


@Patrick- thanks! Good to hear from a few folks that have had both blades.

Yeah chopping isn't everything but still a factor. Im thinking of doing a late fall or winter overnighter complete with lean-to and fire/reflector etc...I think a blade like this would be awesome for lean to building as you aren't chopping down big trees but many small ones, cutting paracord, etc... then batonning fun



Anyone know when swamp rat will change their lineup? is it a yearly thing? Ill keep my eyes open for another 10.5" chopper
 
aaaa_cccc said:
Did you remove the decarb from the surface of the steel? This is a by-product of the heat treat and must be removed with something abrasive as it rusts like nobody's business.
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When I stripped it off I really worked the blade over and gave it a nice convex edge. It came out wicked sharp and I'm sure there is no decarb on the surface of the metal where it was ground.

I thought that maybe I made it worse by taking it down to bare steel, but apparently not.
 
ASharpCanadian said:
I definitely do have lady hands so I checked out the other blades you mentioned. Too bad going rate for a rat daddy is 350-400! thats the ideal length for me I think as well. I think my best bet is to get this rodent 9, see if it gets along with my hands, and sell as needed. That handle looks like it could be great with the option to hold the end for real chopping and choking up on it for hacking/delimbing of a walking stick or something. Or it could just suck :)


@Patrick- thanks! Good to hear from a few folks that have had both blades.

Yeah chopping isn't everything but still a factor. Im thinking of doing a late fall or winter overnighter complete with lean-to and fire/reflector etc...I think a blade like this would be awesome for lean to building as you aren't chopping down big trees but many small ones, cutting paracord, etc... then batonning fun



Anyone know when swamp rat will change their lineup? is it a yearly thing? Ill keep my eyes open for another 10.5" chopper
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Depending on how much you want to spend a NMFBM isn't a bad choice :) Also the Fehrman Extreme Judgement. If you want to keep the price close to the R9 try to snag a Scrapyard 1111 or even better a 1311 off the exchange.
 
ASharpCanadian said:
I definitely do have lady hands so I checked out the other blades you mentioned. Too bad going rate for a rat daddy is 350-400! thats the ideal length for me I think as well. I think my best bet is to get this rodent 9, see if it gets along with my hands, and sell as needed. That handle looks like it could be great with the option to hold the end for real chopping and choking up on it for hacking/delimbing of a walking stick or something. Or it could just suck :)


@Patrick- thanks! Good to hear from a few folks that have had both blades.

Yeah chopping isn't everything but still a factor. Im thinking of doing a late fall or winter overnighter complete with lean-to and fire/reflector etc...I think a blade like this would be awesome for lean to building as you aren't chopping down big trees but many small ones, cutting paracord, etc... then batonning fun



Anyone know when swamp rat will change their lineup? is it a yearly thing? Ill keep my eyes open for another 10.5" chopper
Click to expand...

You might want to check the Scrap Yard offers then. 9-11 has pretty much the same blade as R9, is lighter & cheaper, has the same warranty, and Resiprene-C handles are probably best choice for winter, you would bot touch any of the tang, and the handle size is just right for small-medium hands. Additionally, Res-C absorbs most of the shock so you can work comfortably and longer.
You might wan to wait a bit as 11-11 was supposed to be available from Yard online store.

There is a bigger problem than the $$$ with the three I mentioned, they don't come up for sale all that often. I've seen a few M9s recently, but only 2 Rat Dadys and Mastiffs in the last 2 years.
 
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