Scrapper 6 first impressions

bigbcustom

bigbcustom

Joined
Dec 20, 2005
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Just got my Scrapper 6 in the mail, and thought I would post some first impressions.

Good:

This knife is built like a tank. Handle feels wonderful. Choil is perfect. Fit of handle to blade is better than my other Res C knives. Sheath is what you would expect for 17.95.

Bad:

Bevel grind on blade is atrocious, edge looks like a snake with all the curves when observed edge on. I have a Battle Rat, Howling Rat, and a Camp Tramp, and they all have had this problem. With some sweat and time, I have managed to get the bevels in shape on all of them.

Overall:

I feel that this knife will prove to be a good value for the money if it lives up to it's promise as all of my Rats have. Bad bevel grinds are a relatively minor irritation that can be fixed, and what you are paying for with this knife is the ergonomics, and legendary Busse heat treat so the bevels don't detract much. Overall, I am so far happy with my purchase. I will post more once I get it in shape and have a chance to use it in the woods.

Question, has anybody else noticed these bevel problems with rats and scrapyards? Or am I overly picky, or been blessed with the exceptions to the rule rather than the norm?
 
Cliff Stamp said:
Do you mean the edge changes in width significantly along the blade?

-Cliff
Click to expand...

when looking edge on at the blade, the edge wanders from side to side. At the base, almost all bevel is on right side then it wanders to left then back to right. looked at from the side, the bevel as it came from the factory, varies from just barely perceptable to over 1/8" on both sides in various locations. Also interesting to note that the tip was ground almost completely off on the left side with almost no bevel on the right. I have since corrected the problem with prodigious stone work on my eze-sharp. The knife now has a perfectly symetrical 30 degree main bevel with a 40 degree micro bevel. I set the angles like that so it could be touched up easily in the future on my sharpmaker rather than setting up the eze-sharp.
 
That is interesting, I have never seen that. I would have liked to watch the guy sharpening.

-Cliff
 
As mentioned previously, all three rats I have, as well as this one, have exhibited this problem to a greater or lesser degree. The worst of the bunch was my howling rat...it was almost a single bevel blade in places. To be fair, I have noticed the same problem, though not quite as bad, in my ontario rat series knives, particularly the rat-5...I have personally had 2, and have sold six or seven others all of which had slight to severe problems with their bevels. The Becker series from camillus has, in my experience, excellent quality control as far as bevels go (although I understand that this may have changed after the strike started...I heard rumors of poorly ground blades coming out after that). The bevel grinds I have seen on the Hossum Retribution series that ontario imports from Fox in Italy have been absolutely, positively perfect (at least as far as my eye can see, and I can measure with a dial caliper) I think they are somehow machine ground as I can't see any way a person could grind those recurve blades that well in any kind of timely fashion.
 
I have had issues with the bevels on the edge being ground way uneven as well on multiple knives from them. My friend has a game warden LE with the tip ground completely off on one side just like you said. I had a Howler that was ground very steep on one side and very shallow in the other.
 
For QC problems it would be of benefit to make note of them in the manufacturer forum. Hopefully a bit of public attention will induce a correction to any potential problem.

I'd be interested in your opinion of the steel vs INFI and SR101.

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp said:
For QC problems it would be of benefit to make note of them in the manufacturer forum. Hopefully a bit of public attention will induce a correction to any potential problem.

I'd be interested in your opinion of the steel vs INFI and SR101.

-Cliff
Click to expand...

I did post in the manufacturer forum with the howling rat.....I won't re iterate what happened there.


As for the steel vs infi and sr101, I don't own a piece of infi so I can't comment on that. The SR101 does seem to hold an edge better (I think both my howler and battle rat are hardened more than my scrapper though) as far as toughness I can't say as I haven't done anything to stress the scrapper as of yet (though I have put both my howler and BR through hell, and they have come up roses). As I am not willing to intentionally rust my blades, and I take very good care of my tools, I can't comment on corrosion resistance. I am surprised you don't have a scrapper yet Cliff. If there are any non destructive comparisons you would like me to make between any of my knives, just ask and I will do my best to accomodate. I will say that the scrapper is rapidly becomming one of my favorite knives.
 
I'd just be interested in any comments in regards to similar work, no need for rigid constraints. Do you notice a significant difference in frequency of sharpening when use for similar wood work for example. Is there a difference in responce of sharpening (time, max sharpness).

-Cliff
 
When you say the edge wanders, it the edge actually off-center by over 1/8" in some spots? I cant imagine how that could even happen. All makers scribe center lines and should be grinding to those lines. I dont see how something could be that far off! What about the grind line? Can you see the top grind line, or does it disappear off the spine? Does the grind line follow the edge being off-center where it wanders?

Centring an edge should be a no-brainer to any maker. The only thing ive seen throw it off are heat treating warpage, which can reult in what appears to be a mis-grind when in reality its a warped edge...

Is it possible to get a picture? if not, paint the cutting edge with a marker and roll it along a piece of paper...is the line straight or wavy?
 
I wish I had taken before and after pictures...it would have been easier to describe. Suffice it to say that the bevels were extremely uneven...it looked like whoever ground them was in a big hurry or wasn't paying very close attention to what he was doing. I have corrected the discrepency now and find that I really like this knife.

Cliff,

All I can give you at this point are my feelings for observations made. The two steels seem to be equally sharp when an edge is applied. The SR77 seems to sharpen about a third faster than the SR101. The SR101 holds its edge longer than the SR77. These observations were made when comparing the Battle Rat to the Scrapper. I will try, in the next few days, to sharpen each to an equal edge, cut identical items (probably cardboard or 2x4) until dull counting strokes (dull being when it no longer shaves arm hair after a cut for the purposes of this little outing). Then count strokes of equal pressure to bring each back to an optimum edge. That is about as scientific as I feel like being right now lol. Please don't ask for kinematic equations showing force vectors describing the application of the sharpening process or the effects of wind drag and gravity on the differing stones used in the operation. (lmao...sorry Cliff...I couldn't resist)
 
Thanks, that would be appreciated. Wood takes a really long time to dull unless its really abrasive, cardboard can do it really fast though. The quickest way to do an edge comparison is to just do straight push cuts and stop when the blade fails to be able to make a cut and just bends the cardboard down. This won't take very long at all if you keep the edge perpendicular to the cut.

-Cliff
 
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