Spare screws for RAT knives

Y

Yorkshire Boy

Joined
Sep 27, 2008
Messages
947
I believe this has been asked before but I can't remember the definitive answer.

The micarta handles are near indestructible and I look after the blade well (even though I stripped the coating), but the screw heads are showing signs of wear.

I'd like to buy several sets of screws so I can replace them as the heads get worn out from undoing them and making sure the blade is doing OK.

I think it would be a good after market purchase.

Thank you.
J
 
Since you are in Wales, would it be cheaper to have the insert changed and get your screws locally? You use metric correct?

If you remove and replace the scales as often as you suggest it might be cheaper. Would hate to see you spend $2 on screws and $10 for shipping. Eventually you will probably strip the insert anyway.

I may be wrong, just thinking about you being overseas and the cost.
 
With the proper tools and handling procedures, the screws should last hundreds or assembly dis-assembly cycles. I'm sure though that the screws can be had cheap. Hopefully R.A.T. Will chime in.
 
smustian said:
Since you are in Wales, would it be cheaper to have the insert changed and get your screws locally? You use metric correct?

If you remove and replace the scales as often as you suggest it might be cheaper. Would hate to see you spend $2 on screws and $10 for shipping. Eventually you will probably strip the insert anyway.

I may be wrong, just thinking about you being overseas and the cost.
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65535 said:
With the proper tools and handling procedures, the screws should last hundreds or assembly dis-assembly cycles. I'm sure though that the screws can be had cheap. Hopefully R.A.T. Will chime in.
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Thank you chaps!

We do use metric and to some extent imperial as well. The RAT screws are imperial and they didn't fit the metric spanner things (or what ever you call them!) so I found some imperial ones which fit.

I think I've taken the scales off about 10 times, perhaps more.

Money is tight (isn't it for everyone?), I'm a youth worker and earn a lot less than the average national income but I would be happy to buy screws from RAT (ooh err missus!:)).
 
In respect to the non-jacking threads request, I have to ask from your OP. Why are you constantly checking under the scales? This is very strange to me. I've had my RC-4 from the moment they first started shipping. I even stripped the blade of its coating, but have never one looked under the scales (the tang is still coated). What is there to look at or suspect problems with???

In my mind, there are two pieces of protection that are provided with the RC scales. One - the coating. If you leave the coating on the tang, how the heck is that ever going to get damaged and how would it ever let moisture in? Two - the liner. I have several knives, some with and with liners. I've noticed one thing in comparing them. The liners do a good job of squeezing any pockets out between the tang and the scales. Many of my non-liner knives, while very close, can show pin hole sized gaps where the slabs fit the tang. You see this by holding the knife up towards a window or bright light. They are pretty much always absent when a liner is put on the blade. For this reason, I always order liners with my knife now.

Finally - most knives by default, even carbon ones, do not have handles that can be taken apart. RAT's are, but man - that is really kind of a novelty. From what it sounds like, you are doing more damage to your knife (screw wear) by constantly taking it apart. Certainly, you aren't doing the knife any good by doing so. I you aren't using a bit of lock tight after each time, you also run the risk of your screws getting loose on you in the field.
 
kgd said:
In respect to the non-jacking threads request, I have to ask from your OP. Why are you constantly checking under the scales? This is very strange to me. I've had my RC-4 from the moment they first started shipping. I even stripped the blade of its coating, but have never one looked under the scales (the tang is still coated). What is there to look at or suspect problems with???

In my mind, there are two pieces of protection that are provided with the RC scales. One - the coating. If you leave the coating on the tang, how the heck is that ever going to get damaged and how would it ever let moisture in? Two - the liner. I have several knives, some with and with liners. I've noticed one thing in comparing them. The liners do a good job of squeezing any pockets out between the tang and the scales. Many of my non-liner knives, while very close, can show pin hole sized gaps where the slabs fit the tang. You see this by holding the knife up towards a window or bright light. They are pretty much always absent when a liner is put on the blade. For this reason, I always order liners with my knife now.

Finally - most knives by default, even carbon ones, do not have handles that can be taken apart. RAT's are, but man - that is really kind of a novelty. From what it sounds like, you are doing more damage to your knife (screw wear) by constantly taking it apart. Certainly, you aren't doing the knife any good by doing so. I you aren't using a bit of lock tight after each time, you also run the risk of your screws getting loose on you in the field.
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Definitely words of wisdom here. +1
 
kgd said:
In respect to the non-jacking threads request, I have to ask from your OP. Why are you constantly checking under the scales? This is very strange to me. I've had my RC-4 from the moment they first started shipping. I even stripped the blade of its coating, but have never one looked under the scales (the tang is still coated). What is there to look at or suspect problems with???

In my mind, there are two pieces of protection that are provided with the RC scales. One - the coating. If you leave the coating on the tang, how the heck is that ever going to get damaged and how would it ever let moisture in? Two - the liner. I have several knives, some with and with liners. I've noticed one thing in comparing them. The liners do a good job of squeezing any pockets out between the tang and the scales. Many of my non-liner knives, while very close, can show pin hole sized gaps where the slabs fit the tang. You see this by holding the knife up towards a window or bright light. They are pretty much always absent when a liner is put on the blade. For this reason, I always order liners with my knife now.

Finally - most knives by default, even carbon ones, do not have handles that can be taken apart. RAT's are, but man - that is really kind of a novelty. From what it sounds like, you are doing more damage to your knife (screw wear) by constantly taking it apart. Certainly, you aren't doing the knife any good by doing so. I you aren't using a bit of lock tight after each time, you also run the risk of your screws getting loose on you in the field.
Click to expand...

That's about as good of a post as I have seen on here. I totally agree.
 
kgd said:
In respect to the non-jacking threads request, I have to ask from your OP. Why are you constantly checking under the scales? This is very strange to me. I've had my RC-4 from the moment they first started shipping. I even stripped the blade of its coating, but have never one looked under the scales (the tang is still coated). What is there to look at or suspect problems with???

In my mind, there are two pieces of protection that are provided with the RC scales. One - the coating. If you leave the coating on the tang, how the heck is that ever going to get damaged and how would it ever let moisture in? Two - the liner. I have several knives, some with and with liners. I've noticed one thing in comparing them. The liners do a good job of squeezing any pockets out between the tang and the scales. Many of my non-liner knives, while very close, can show pin hole sized gaps where the slabs fit the tang. You see this by holding the knife up towards a window or bright light. They are pretty much always absent when a liner is put on the blade. For this reason, I always order liners with my knife now.

Finally - most knives by default, even carbon ones, do not have handles that can be taken apart. RAT's are, but man - that is really kind of a novelty. From what it sounds like, you are doing more damage to your knife (screw wear) by constantly taking it apart. Certainly, you aren't doing the knife any good by doing so. I you aren't using a bit of lock tight after each time, you also run the risk of your screws getting loose on you in the field.
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You're right on several points, particularly about leaving the coating on the handle portion of the blade and that most production knives don't have removable handles.

A few months after buying the knife I took the handle off out of curiosity. This is what I saw on the liners.

IMGP0775-1.jpg


I guess it's water marks?

Later, I removed the coating from all of the blade, it slices slightly better but as you say I should've removed it from just the blade part only.

So, knowing that water creeps through the screw holes I've wanted to keep an eye out for rust.

The last time I took the handles off was about 6 weeks ago, I didn't see any rust (maybe because of the patina I put on the knife when I first took off the coating?), I re-oiled the tang and put the handles back on.

I think it's a shame I can't buy any RAT Cutlery screws for my knife.
 
Just put a coating of some kind of wax or other protectant under the scales. I completely stripped mine and put a coating of Renaissance Wax on the tang and haven't had any trouble.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Just put a coating of some kind of wax or other protectant under the scales. I completely stripped mine and put a coating of Renaissance Wax on the tang and haven't had any trouble.
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Good idea, thank you. :thumbup:

It just strikes me as odd that you can deliberately abuse and break a RAT knife, send it to them and they'll give you a new one. Yet the one part on a RAT knife that could be prone to wear from "looking after" your blade and there's no after market part for it.

Oh well, you live and learn as they say. If I buy another RAT knife (I'd like to have an RC-10) I won't be stripping the coating from underneath the handle.
 
I do not think those are water marks on the liners. It looks like a little bit of machining lubricant or screw oil or something like that that the liners absorbed from the screws when they were inserted in manufacturing. If water were very apt to find it's way in there you would likely see water marks also around the edges and I don't see any. The liner material is a high density fiber paper that resists water a bit just because it is so dense. But petroleum products, particularly a very light machine oil will be absorbed by the liner. Don't worry over it. Mike
 
A thick grease, or better yet a wax based lubricant on the blade under the scale works well.

You can also simply use a good qaulity epoxy coating which is clear and thin on the handle.
 
MikePerrin said:
I do not think those are water marks on the liners. It looks like a little bit of machining lubricant or screw oil or something like that that the liners absorbed from the screws when they were inserted in manufacturing. If water were very apt to find it's way in there you would likely see water marks also around the edges and I don't see any. The liner material is a high density fiber paper that resists water a bit just because it is so dense. But petroleum products, particularly a very light machine oil will be absorbed by the liner. Don't worry over it. Mike
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Thank you Mike.

And thank you 65535

:thumbup:
 
We don't advise anyone to strip the coating off the knife. Some users do but this is 1095 steel. If it gets moisture on it, it will rust. Simple.
 
R.A.T. said:
We don't advise anyone to strip the coating off the knife. Some users do but this is 1095 steel. If it gets moisture on it, it will rust. Simple.
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And anyone who DOES strip the coating should do so knowing full well the risk that they're taking. I knew what I was getting into when I did it to mine. :thumbup:
 
if you just want to strip the coating off leave it on the tang portion ,since you did strip the whole thing....I would suggest dusting lightly with Krylon paint just for the giggles of it ,to protect the unseen by many portion for which you stripped.
 
texastonydobbs said:
if you just want to strip the coating off leave it on the tang portion ,since you did strip the whole thing....I would suggest dusting lightly with Krylon paint just for the giggles of it ,to protect the unseen by many portion for which you stripped.
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Good idea :thumbup:

I'm not arguing any of the stuff written in the above posts :) I should of left the coating on the tang but I do prefer the blade without the coating :p

I've had some incredibly fast emails with Mike and he's very kindly offered to send me some more screws. RAT Cutlery customer care gets a lot of mentions here and I have to say I think it's 2nd to none.

I'm glad I bought an American "style" blade (I hope you understand what I mean by that) that's made in the USA and I'm even more glad that I bought a RAT Cutlery knife.

Thanks,
Johnny
 
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