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- Feb 6, 2000
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For those of you who have not yet heard, the Battle Rat is the largest in a series of knives from a new company called SwampRat. SwampRat is sort of an off-shoot of Busse Combat. They are related very closely, but are technically different companies. Here's a quote by Jennifer Busse (Jerry Busse's wife), who's running SwampRat knives, explaining the situation:
"The Swamp Rat production line will be run as a completely separate business, but will be a division of Busse Knife Co."
For more info on SwampRat, their website is quite extensive and features a great forum. Here it is: www.swamprat.com
For specifically more info on the steel used (SR101, a supercharged version of 52100), handle material, design features, heat treat, etc., check out this link:
www.swamprat.com/specs.html
I recently was lucky enough to be able to purchase one of the first (if not the first?) Battle Rat to be sold to the public. I worked the Busse booth throughout the show, and Jerry appreciated it enough to give in to my requests to buy a Battle Rat. However, I thoroughly enjoyed "working" the booth, and would not have rather spent the show any other way, so I was doubly happy. Jerry, thanks again.
Here are the Battle Rat's specs:
Blade Length: 9.5" (measured from handle)
OAL: 14.5"
Blade thickness: 0.25"
Aspect Ratio 1.87" (aprox)
Primary Grind Height: 1.6" (aprox)
Weight: 510g or 18oz (both aprox)
Handle thickness varies as it contours a lot.
Handle's thickest point: 0.9" (aprox)
Handle's thinnest point: 0.75" (aprox)
When I first saw the Battle Rat, the first thing I noticed was its blade shape. As I have always been a fan of the bowie-type blade shape of the original Battle Mistress (straight-handled), I immediately saw the resemblence (in fact, it appears to be nearly exactly the same as the SH-BM's blade). However, it has a very high saber grind instead of a full flat grind. This has pros and cons. Although it slightly reduces cutting efficiency, the blade has a very large aspect ratio so the cutting/chopping efficiency is still very high. It also puts more weight on the knife, which for a knife of this type I don't mind at all, because its main use for me would be chopping. It also increases strength, although I don't think I will EVER need the extra strength. Lastly, it looks VERY cool. Aesthetics are of very small importance to me, but looking cool doesn't hurt, and this grind looks extremely cool IMHO. It's very hard to pick up in pics due to the coating, but in person it is quite noticeable.
The first thing I noticed when I picked up the Battle Rat (and the other Swamp Rat knives) was its handle. I had not handled a Busse Basic handle before, which the SwampRat handles are based upon, and was very impressed with them. They are made of a hard rubber material called Resiprene C which is impervious to deet, oils, fuels, etc. They are slightly larger and harder than the Basic handles, and have a nice texture on them. They are not thick, yet fit my hand very well. I would want them a little thicker, but then again I say that about most of the handles I encounter; my hands are a little weird. The handles are extremely contoured, and really feel great. One advantage I've found with thinner handles is that they make fine work easier, which I found to be true with these. Another great thing about this handle is the sort of hook in the back for your pinky to rest on during chopping (sort of a rear guard). Most knives I've tried have hooks that are very abrasive on my pinky. This one, even after hours of chopping, has been extremely comfortable and my pinky is unabraded (if that's even a word)
Another thing I noticed quickly was the balance. It is a bit blade heavy, something I want in a chopper. The balance point is a little after the finger choil, and when choked up with your index finger in the finger choil, the blade's weight seems to disappear. Although it is a tad blade heavy, it is not so much so that it makes it slow in the hand.
Soon after I got it home, I decided to go chop something with it. It just screams for it! I took it and some other blades, including a Busse Steel Heart E, into the woods to do some chopping and whatever else came to mind.
As soon as I started chopping, I was very impressed by its chopping power. The combination of its balance, dimensions, and high performance primary grind and edge geometry made this rat an amazing chopper. The dual convex edge really chewed up the wood. I chopped for about an hour. It was very hot, and I sweated extensively. The handle remained secure, and I never had a problem of slippage. When I got back to the house, I checked the edge. It was bordering on shaving sharp (it came shaving sharp from SwampRat), and I decided to give it a touchup. At that time, I didn't know it was a dual convex edge (I thought it was dual flat), so I used a sharpmaker. I restored the shaving edge quickly and easily using several strokes on the medium and then more strokes on the fine stones. It seems that the convex edge is capable of being sharpened using a sharpmaker, although I'm sure I made a micro bevel on it. I didn't even go to a strop, although the next time I did. This SR101 is very easy to sharpen, IMHO.
I did some more miscellaneous chopping the next day, although not nearly as much, as I used the other blades more. I didn't even touch it up when I got home; it was still very sharp.
A few days later, I finally did some more heavy chopping. This is where most of my comments on chopping will come from. I dislike chopping too much live wood, so I chose a dying oak that was stunted by other nearby trees to do my chopping on. It was about 4-5" thick near the base. I started chopping, and the BR bit deeply into the live oak, which was still quite hard. Then I encountered something harder. A little over half the diameter of the tree was dead, and had been for some time. It was extremely hard, some of the hardest wood I've ever chopped. None of it was even close to rotting. I still had no problem chopping through it, just not quite as quickly as through the live oak. One thing I really like about the BR is that it doesn't bind at all (in my use). It penetrates well, but tends to break out the wood more and not stick in as other blades I use do (such as machetes). This is a great thing, as prying a wedged blade out of a tree is annoying and wastes time. I also had no problem with twisting. I attribute this partly to the slight amount of handle drop this blade has. When you chop with you wrist in a natural position, the blade is still at a small angle to your wrist, and increases the natural torque you put on the blade to keep it from twisting. I really appreciate this feature, as a twisting blade is a real pain to work with.
Here is a link to soom pics of the Battle Rat in action:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=4291743469
If you only see one pic at a time, change your view mode (upper right hand part of the screen) from album to index. Click on pics for larger ones, then again for even larger ones if you wish.
Edited to add: Note, there is more than one page of pics. Sorry for the three repetitions.
Here are some examples:
The first two pics in the album are on a previous chopping session, but all the rest are from the last chopping session I undertook, with the half-dead oak. You will notice I chopped up the entire tree so as not to waste it. I also wanted to do some chopping with smaller wood, which the upper branches and trunk afforded. I did ten cuts through larger wood (+/- 4") and about eleven cuts on smaller wood (1-3").
I experienced very little wrist fatigue while chopping, a testament to the design of the handle and the blade in general. Chopping felt very comfortable, with almost no shock being directed to my hand (one advantage it has, IMHO, over full tang, hard-handled knives), and no hotspots developing. It felt like an extension of my arm. A very sharp extension
I brought my Steel Heart on this excursion again to comment on how they chop relative to eachother. I did a little chopping with the Steel Heart on similar wood during this exercise, and really noticed the difference in chopping abilities. This is just a loose esimate, but I would say that the Battle Rat chops about 50% better than the Steel Heart, although it doesn't weigh a huge amount more. The Steel Heart is already an impressive chopper, so this is saying quite a bit.
On smaller wood, the BR also does well. It is not its forte, and a longer and thinner blade would do better I think, but it still does very well. I could cleave 1-1.5" oak branches in one swipe, and it limbed out the tree very effectively.
I also did a small amount of fine work with the BR. In the choked up position, with your index finger in the choil, the BR's weight seemingly disappears. In this position, it is adept at fine work such as whittling and making delicate cuts. I would not want to skin anything with it, but this could be facilitated by holding the blade near the tip and perhaps tying the handle of the knife, through the lanyard hole (I great feature, BTW ), to your forearm. I would want to take a small blade for most of these tasks anyway.
After all that days chopping (including a little bit from a few days before), the edge on the sweetspot would still shave coarse hair quite easily and would scrape-shave fine hair. It would push cut paper, but not quite as cleanly as before I started. This really impressed me, and again I was impressed at how quickly a razor edge was put back on with the Sharpmaker (and a strop this time).
I have full confidence after seeing the concrete block chopping results first hand that if and when I accidentally hit a rock with the BR the edge will be fine. I will comment on that if and when it happens. Although I did not hit any really hard objects, it was still impressive that the edge was not even a little misaligned by the extremely hard oak. Also, I've seen a Battle Rat flex to 90 degrees without breaking! Very impressive.
Now on to corrosion resistance. Well, I didn't do any specific corrosion testing, but I also didn't pamper the BR. I just cleaned off the sap and wood stains, washed it off, then dried it. I put no oil on it, just to see if it would rust. No corrosion formed after a few days, and that level of corrosion resistance is plenty for me. It would almost certainly rust if left wet for quite a while, but that should be expected of a version of 52100, a steel with only about 1.5% chromium after all. Basically, as long as you do the basic things to care for the blade (clean and dry it off, put some oil on for extra safety) you will have no problems with rust, IMHO. Just treat it like a regular carbon steel.
On to the coating. The coating appears to be the same epoxy based coating that Busse uses. This is to be expected, as SwampRat knives are closely linked to Busse knives, and Jerry Busse's wife, Jennifer, is running the business. I have come to respect this coating a lot. In the hours that I've worked with the knife, doing heavy chopping into hardwood, the only coating wear that has occured is right on the sweet spot. There the coating has been evenly smoothed for at most 1/4" up from the edge. The coating has been removed for less than 1/8" up from the edge. The beauty of this coating is that when it does wear, it wears evenly and will not scratch. The coating smooths relatively easily, but is extremely difficult to actually wear off. This only happens near the edge on the sweetspot and at the top of the primary grind if you do a lot of hardwood splitting, and only limitedly (I am basing this on the wear to my Steel Heart, which I have used hard for over a year, and I'm nearly 100% sure has the same coating).
The sheath the Battle Rat came in is also the same as Busse's cordura/kydex sheaths. It seems to be of good quality, is quite sturdy, and has a very handy pocket on its front. One can fit a fire-steel, a multitool, a folder, a small ceramic rod, etc. in the pouch (not all of them ). I usually put in a fire-steel and a SAK. The fit is good, and the retention strap is only really necessary for extra safety when necessary, IMHO. The knife fits snugly in the kydex insert, and there is no rattling. There is a place to attach a leg-tie, which I do. Also, it is totally ambidextrous. I've been very happy with these sheathes.
Any suggested modifications? Well, as I mentioned earlier, a somewhat wider handle would be nice, but that's just me, and I have fairly irregular hands. I would also like to see a BR with a longer blade and a nice distal taper, but that's more of a suggestion for a new model rather than a modification of this one (that one would have a somewhat different niche). To tell you the truth, that's about it. It is a very solid design and is well made.
To sum it all up, the Battle Rat is a great chopper with a very comfortable, well-designed handle, and is made of a very high performance steel that offers a lot of edge retention and also toughness, and is backed up by a great warranty even if you do somehow damage it. It is also very easy to sharpen (and to get a very sharp edge on), and its price/performance ratio is one of the best in the industry, IMHO. If you're looking for a great all-round large chopping knife, I can heartily recommend the Battle Rat by SwampRat knives.
Note: SwampRat also makes a 7.5" version of the Battle Rat and will soon come out with some 4.5" knives and a small hatchet.
"The Swamp Rat production line will be run as a completely separate business, but will be a division of Busse Knife Co."
For more info on SwampRat, their website is quite extensive and features a great forum. Here it is: www.swamprat.com
For specifically more info on the steel used (SR101, a supercharged version of 52100), handle material, design features, heat treat, etc., check out this link:
www.swamprat.com/specs.html
I recently was lucky enough to be able to purchase one of the first (if not the first?) Battle Rat to be sold to the public. I worked the Busse booth throughout the show, and Jerry appreciated it enough to give in to my requests to buy a Battle Rat. However, I thoroughly enjoyed "working" the booth, and would not have rather spent the show any other way, so I was doubly happy. Jerry, thanks again.
Here are the Battle Rat's specs:
Blade Length: 9.5" (measured from handle)
OAL: 14.5"
Blade thickness: 0.25"
Aspect Ratio 1.87" (aprox)
Primary Grind Height: 1.6" (aprox)
Weight: 510g or 18oz (both aprox)
Handle thickness varies as it contours a lot.
Handle's thickest point: 0.9" (aprox)
Handle's thinnest point: 0.75" (aprox)
When I first saw the Battle Rat, the first thing I noticed was its blade shape. As I have always been a fan of the bowie-type blade shape of the original Battle Mistress (straight-handled), I immediately saw the resemblence (in fact, it appears to be nearly exactly the same as the SH-BM's blade). However, it has a very high saber grind instead of a full flat grind. This has pros and cons. Although it slightly reduces cutting efficiency, the blade has a very large aspect ratio so the cutting/chopping efficiency is still very high. It also puts more weight on the knife, which for a knife of this type I don't mind at all, because its main use for me would be chopping. It also increases strength, although I don't think I will EVER need the extra strength. Lastly, it looks VERY cool. Aesthetics are of very small importance to me, but looking cool doesn't hurt, and this grind looks extremely cool IMHO. It's very hard to pick up in pics due to the coating, but in person it is quite noticeable.
The first thing I noticed when I picked up the Battle Rat (and the other Swamp Rat knives) was its handle. I had not handled a Busse Basic handle before, which the SwampRat handles are based upon, and was very impressed with them. They are made of a hard rubber material called Resiprene C which is impervious to deet, oils, fuels, etc. They are slightly larger and harder than the Basic handles, and have a nice texture on them. They are not thick, yet fit my hand very well. I would want them a little thicker, but then again I say that about most of the handles I encounter; my hands are a little weird. The handles are extremely contoured, and really feel great. One advantage I've found with thinner handles is that they make fine work easier, which I found to be true with these. Another great thing about this handle is the sort of hook in the back for your pinky to rest on during chopping (sort of a rear guard). Most knives I've tried have hooks that are very abrasive on my pinky. This one, even after hours of chopping, has been extremely comfortable and my pinky is unabraded (if that's even a word)
Another thing I noticed quickly was the balance. It is a bit blade heavy, something I want in a chopper. The balance point is a little after the finger choil, and when choked up with your index finger in the finger choil, the blade's weight seems to disappear. Although it is a tad blade heavy, it is not so much so that it makes it slow in the hand.
Soon after I got it home, I decided to go chop something with it. It just screams for it! I took it and some other blades, including a Busse Steel Heart E, into the woods to do some chopping and whatever else came to mind.
As soon as I started chopping, I was very impressed by its chopping power. The combination of its balance, dimensions, and high performance primary grind and edge geometry made this rat an amazing chopper. The dual convex edge really chewed up the wood. I chopped for about an hour. It was very hot, and I sweated extensively. The handle remained secure, and I never had a problem of slippage. When I got back to the house, I checked the edge. It was bordering on shaving sharp (it came shaving sharp from SwampRat), and I decided to give it a touchup. At that time, I didn't know it was a dual convex edge (I thought it was dual flat), so I used a sharpmaker. I restored the shaving edge quickly and easily using several strokes on the medium and then more strokes on the fine stones. It seems that the convex edge is capable of being sharpened using a sharpmaker, although I'm sure I made a micro bevel on it. I didn't even go to a strop, although the next time I did. This SR101 is very easy to sharpen, IMHO.
I did some more miscellaneous chopping the next day, although not nearly as much, as I used the other blades more. I didn't even touch it up when I got home; it was still very sharp.
A few days later, I finally did some more heavy chopping. This is where most of my comments on chopping will come from. I dislike chopping too much live wood, so I chose a dying oak that was stunted by other nearby trees to do my chopping on. It was about 4-5" thick near the base. I started chopping, and the BR bit deeply into the live oak, which was still quite hard. Then I encountered something harder. A little over half the diameter of the tree was dead, and had been for some time. It was extremely hard, some of the hardest wood I've ever chopped. None of it was even close to rotting. I still had no problem chopping through it, just not quite as quickly as through the live oak. One thing I really like about the BR is that it doesn't bind at all (in my use). It penetrates well, but tends to break out the wood more and not stick in as other blades I use do (such as machetes). This is a great thing, as prying a wedged blade out of a tree is annoying and wastes time. I also had no problem with twisting. I attribute this partly to the slight amount of handle drop this blade has. When you chop with you wrist in a natural position, the blade is still at a small angle to your wrist, and increases the natural torque you put on the blade to keep it from twisting. I really appreciate this feature, as a twisting blade is a real pain to work with.
Here is a link to soom pics of the Battle Rat in action:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=4291743469
If you only see one pic at a time, change your view mode (upper right hand part of the screen) from album to index. Click on pics for larger ones, then again for even larger ones if you wish.
Edited to add: Note, there is more than one page of pics. Sorry for the three repetitions.
Here are some examples:
The first two pics in the album are on a previous chopping session, but all the rest are from the last chopping session I undertook, with the half-dead oak. You will notice I chopped up the entire tree so as not to waste it. I also wanted to do some chopping with smaller wood, which the upper branches and trunk afforded. I did ten cuts through larger wood (+/- 4") and about eleven cuts on smaller wood (1-3").
I experienced very little wrist fatigue while chopping, a testament to the design of the handle and the blade in general. Chopping felt very comfortable, with almost no shock being directed to my hand (one advantage it has, IMHO, over full tang, hard-handled knives), and no hotspots developing. It felt like an extension of my arm. A very sharp extension
I brought my Steel Heart on this excursion again to comment on how they chop relative to eachother. I did a little chopping with the Steel Heart on similar wood during this exercise, and really noticed the difference in chopping abilities. This is just a loose esimate, but I would say that the Battle Rat chops about 50% better than the Steel Heart, although it doesn't weigh a huge amount more. The Steel Heart is already an impressive chopper, so this is saying quite a bit.
On smaller wood, the BR also does well. It is not its forte, and a longer and thinner blade would do better I think, but it still does very well. I could cleave 1-1.5" oak branches in one swipe, and it limbed out the tree very effectively.
I also did a small amount of fine work with the BR. In the choked up position, with your index finger in the choil, the BR's weight seemingly disappears. In this position, it is adept at fine work such as whittling and making delicate cuts. I would not want to skin anything with it, but this could be facilitated by holding the blade near the tip and perhaps tying the handle of the knife, through the lanyard hole (I great feature, BTW
), to your forearm. I would want to take a small blade for most of these tasks anyway. After all that days chopping (including a little bit from a few days before), the edge on the sweetspot would still shave coarse hair quite easily and would scrape-shave fine hair. It would push cut paper, but not quite as cleanly as before I started. This really impressed me, and again I was impressed at how quickly a razor edge was put back on with the Sharpmaker (and a strop this time).
I have full confidence after seeing the concrete block chopping results first hand that if and when I accidentally hit a rock with the BR the edge will be fine. I will comment on that if and when it happens. Although I did not hit any really hard objects, it was still impressive that the edge was not even a little misaligned by the extremely hard oak. Also, I've seen a Battle Rat flex to 90 degrees without breaking! Very impressive.
Now on to corrosion resistance. Well, I didn't do any specific corrosion testing, but I also didn't pamper the BR. I just cleaned off the sap and wood stains, washed it off, then dried it. I put no oil on it, just to see if it would rust. No corrosion formed after a few days, and that level of corrosion resistance is plenty for me. It would almost certainly rust if left wet for quite a while, but that should be expected of a version of 52100, a steel with only about 1.5% chromium after all. Basically, as long as you do the basic things to care for the blade (clean and dry it off, put some oil on for extra safety) you will have no problems with rust, IMHO. Just treat it like a regular carbon steel.
On to the coating. The coating appears to be the same epoxy based coating that Busse uses. This is to be expected, as SwampRat knives are closely linked to Busse knives, and Jerry Busse's wife, Jennifer, is running the business. I have come to respect this coating a lot. In the hours that I've worked with the knife, doing heavy chopping into hardwood, the only coating wear that has occured is right on the sweet spot. There the coating has been evenly smoothed for at most 1/4" up from the edge. The coating has been removed for less than 1/8" up from the edge. The beauty of this coating is that when it does wear, it wears evenly and will not scratch. The coating smooths relatively easily, but is extremely difficult to actually wear off. This only happens near the edge on the sweetspot and at the top of the primary grind if you do a lot of hardwood splitting, and only limitedly (I am basing this on the wear to my Steel Heart, which I have used hard for over a year, and I'm nearly 100% sure has the same coating).
The sheath the Battle Rat came in is also the same as Busse's cordura/kydex sheaths. It seems to be of good quality, is quite sturdy, and has a very handy pocket on its front. One can fit a fire-steel, a multitool, a folder, a small ceramic rod, etc. in the pouch (not all of them
). I usually put in a fire-steel and a SAK. The fit is good, and the retention strap is only really necessary for extra safety when necessary, IMHO. The knife fits snugly in the kydex insert, and there is no rattling. There is a place to attach a leg-tie, which I do. Also, it is totally ambidextrous. I've been very happy with these sheathes. Any suggested modifications? Well, as I mentioned earlier, a somewhat wider handle would be nice, but that's just me, and I have fairly irregular hands. I would also like to see a BR with a longer blade and a nice distal taper, but that's more of a suggestion for a new model rather than a modification of this one (that one would have a somewhat different niche). To tell you the truth, that's about it. It is a very solid design and is well made.
To sum it all up, the Battle Rat is a great chopper with a very comfortable, well-designed handle, and is made of a very high performance steel that offers a lot of edge retention and also toughness, and is backed up by a great warranty even if you do somehow damage it. It is also very easy to sharpen (and to get a very sharp edge on), and its price/performance ratio is one of the best in the industry, IMHO. If you're looking for a great all-round large chopping knife, I can heartily recommend the Battle Rat by SwampRat knives.
Note: SwampRat also makes a 7.5" version of the Battle Rat and will soon come out with some 4.5" knives and a small hatchet.
