Stripped and Convexed my Swamp Rat Ratmandu

norcalblacktail

norcalblacktail

Joined
Jan 17, 2008
Messages
2,422
I decided to take my Swamp Rat Ratmandu strip it and convex it. I am not a fan of coatings except for the fact that the knife is cheaper that way. I forgot to take pics of it before and the stripping process. But what I did was take a can of Klean Strip Premium Stripper and spray it on the knife. It literally took about 5 mins and the coating was ready to be wiped off. It was very easy. I then hit the scotchbrite belt on my Kalamazoo 1X42". It took off the dull gray real quick. I then thinned and convexed the edge and finished it off with the leather belt. Total process took about an hour. This was my first time doing anything like this. Hows she look?

Heres a pic of what it looked like before. Red arrow. ( Not my pic)
ratmandus1.jpg


Heres what it looked like right after I stripped it.
IMG_2652.jpg

IMG_2651.jpg


And all done
IMG_2657-1.jpg

IMG_2660.jpg


You can see the rodent bite marks in the blade.
IMG_2663.jpg

IMG_2661.jpg
 
How's she look? :rolleyes:

:D

Ridiculously awesome is how she looks. Damn man, that's sick:thumbup::thumbup:. I need to see that in person one of these days. It looked good before, but it looks even better stripped and convexed.

The rough flat section and bite marks are sweet as well. :thumbup::thumbup: How did you do the bite marks?
 
Very nice! Such a great knife to start with...wow...I like! :)

Gonna look at these photos a few times for sure!
 
Russell:

The bite marks are most likely some sort of marks left over from the machining. They seem to be under the coating on most rats.
 
I was wondering if that was something characteristic of rats, wasn't sure if you had done it yourself since I've never seen many stripped rats before. Eerily cool if it's intentional... :)

Thanks for the info Nate :thumbup:
 
That is an incredible strip and convex job. Looks professionally done. Did you have to remove the handle slabs?
 
Kaizen1 said:
That is an incredible strip and convex job. Looks professionally done. Did you have to remove the handle slabs?
Click to expand...

Nope. Left them on. The scotchbrite belt does a great job cleaning everything up. I used a small wire brush to clean out a little bit of the crinkle coat that was in the cracks.
 
Wow. Even before sanding it looked pretty cool. The decarb or whatever looks better than the crinkle-coat!
 
I now this is a pretty big question, but could you explain how to convex an edge, or where I can look. Seems i'm always reading how much better an edge is after being convexed.
 
Search for the mousepad and sandpaper method adrock - there is a lot of info out there on it.

I used to do all my convexing by hand on a mousepad and sandpaper, until Horn Dog's awesome work with a belt sander convinced me to pick up a 1x30"... my convex edges now take minutes instead of hours.
 
Adrock, check out these two links, they are great primers to get you started.

http://www.knivesshipfree.com/pages/Sharpening-Videos

http://www.barkriverknives.com/convex.htm


For further info, definitely search the forums. Since you're a registered user, you'll have to use google and search within the bladeforums site.


Better depends on the task. I like convex, because if done right, it's a good all around edge/grind for an outdoor knife. But knives geared towards specific tasks (animal processing, wood working, etc.) might perform better with certain edges/grinds over others.
 
MustardMan said:
Search for the mousepad and sandpaper method adrock - there is a lot of info out there on it.

I used to do all my convexing by hand on a mousepad and sandpaper, until Horn Dog's awesome work with a belt sander convinced me to pick up a 1x30"... my convex edges now take minutes instead of hours.
Click to expand...

Sounds good. Is there enough info on it on bladeforums, or should I hit up google?
 
Adrock1978: Heres some links for you...I just did a quick search.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=661484&highlight=convex
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=659174&highlight=convex
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=656783&highlight=convex
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=651439&highlight=convex
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=654242&highlight=convex
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=652018&highlight=convex
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=648515&highlight=convex
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=642027&highlight=convex
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=639219&highlight=convex
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=640000&highlight=convex
 
Nice looking blade. Do you have a Scrapper 5? If so, which do you prefer?
 
That looks awesome. I'm sorely tempted to take one of mine and do what you did, then force a fairly dark patina.
 
Great job! I have a sage and tan micarta ratmandu coming.
I was thinking of stripping it, but after seeing your job I'm doing it for sure.

Is SR-101 more prone to rust than INFI?
Maybe keeping some Break-Free CLP on it would be an idea
 
iamtoast said:
Nice looking blade. Do you have a Scrapper 5? If so, which do you prefer?
Click to expand...

I have held an S5 and I didnt really care for it to tell you the truth. It felt a little weird in my hands, dont like the square choil, and dont care for it aesthetically. Although I probably would have bought one if it wasnt for the choil. The Ratmandu just feels made for my hand. It is a perfect mid sized knife for me.

blackmore said:
Great job! I have a sage and tan micarta ratmandu coming.
I was thinking of stripping it, but after seeing your job I'm doing it for sure.

Is SR-101 more prone to rust than INFI?
Maybe keeping some Break-Free CLP on it would be an idea
Click to expand...

SR-101 is prone to rusting more than INFI but as long as you dont put it away wet and store it properly I dont think it will be a problem.
 
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