User mods on RAT Cutlery

I wish I had the skills of my grandparents, who were farmers. My dad left the farm in the Great Depression and joined the Navy. Fortunately, I got to spend Summers on the farm. Those people never waste anything! With the changes to a more urban America, we have lost much of our character that farming and ranching developed. I am old now, but with my neighbor's help, I plan to grow a garden next year. Got to start somewhere. I have tried to pass on what few skills I have to my daughters, and the values that I grew up with. We may face another Great Depression one day soon, and I fear that this mostly urban population will be at a huge disadvantage.
 
Horn Dog said:
I wish I had the skills of my grandparents, who were farmers. My dad left the farm in the Great Depression and joined the Navy. Fortunately, I got to spend Summers on the farm. Those people never waste anything! With the changes to a more urban America, we have lost much of our character that farming and ranching developed. I am old now, but with my neighbor's help, I plan to grow a garden next year. Got to start somewhere. I have tried to pass on what few skills I have to my daughters, and the values that I grew up with. We may face another Great Depression one day soon, and I fear that this mostly urban population will be at a huge disadvantage.
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I hear you brother. I've always maintained that as future becomes past, people of the "civilized" world trade skills for convenince. The more advanced our technology gets and the more things become "easier", the less we know how to take care of ourselves and perform basic tasks. Our survival and self sufficient mindset weakens while our fingers get faster and stronger from texting. Those of us who chose to maintain a knowledge of basic living and self sufficiency are looked at as "survival nuts", "doomsday paranoids", etc. Shit, I just want to remember how to plant and harvest and take care of myself. It really has nothing to do with being prepared for the end of technology and electricity. It has to do with not having to go to the grociery store or pay someone else to do something.

I could go on about this all day. The issue for me is much bigger than modding, using, maintaining, neglecting, and destorying knives. Those things just help me gauge who I am dealing with. My grandfather told me, "Son, you can tell a lot about a man by whether or not he polishes his own boots." That is the damn truth!
 
Mechtec there is no such thing as a poor dumb farmer. If someone is dumb they;ll never make it as a farmer.

I for one have to agree with the sticky. I have been through some very rough patches in life where my ability to use my tools and those tools literaly saved my life. They did get used and hard. But they also got maintained and cared for.

The kukri I used the hell out of for several very hard years and built two cabins with. Is still serviceable and shaving sharp. The Camillus pilots survival knife which was also used to buld one of the cabins was just passed on and even though it had been used as a wood chisel the point was still like a needle. It's purpose is now filled by my RC5.

I wish all the equipment that I purchase and use was anywhere near as high as RAT,s.
 
My take on this is a bit different then some...

I buy tools/knives to use. For the most part I use them as intended, but every once in a while, I use my knife as a hammer or prybar or shovel... yeah I know, right tool for the job... but if you don't have access to the right tool, the knife becomes the right tool. Like Dylan, I do not have a lot of money, and I work hard for the knives I have.

If I break a RC blade being stupid, like yesterday when i broke my leatherman, do you think Jeff or Shon will ever hear about it? I know they won't, at least not me asking for a free replacement. I make the choice to use something improperly, if I break it, it is up to me to replace it. I take responsibility for my actions and use of my tools, and therefore, if I break it, it is my responsibility to replace it. And I have been called a dumbass more then once for not just sending something I broke back and getting a free replacement.

If I am doing something completely valid, and the knife fails on me, sure then I will email the company about it. And Jeff, Mike and Shon are going to want to know that the blade failed! I once broke a Buck batoning in very cold weather, I got in touch with them, and they took care of it. I broke the scales on my TAK-1 using it as an Ice Pick. Probably one of the best things to happen to me, cause Ontario wasn't getting back to me after weeks of emailing and calling to buy replacement scales, so I came in here and asked. The point is, I wasn't looking for free scales, I was looking to buy a replacement. Jeff helped me out, thou it wasn't a RC problem, and that is what sold me on RC, the customer service.

So I will freely admit I don't always use my RC blade as they were intended. I won't ever be the moron chopping up bricks to "test" the toughness of a knife, but... if it is the one tool I have..... it is gonna get used.
 
Rat Pack#428

Ive been a chef for 20 years now and Knives are the tools of my trade.
I purchased 2 Gustav knives when I first started out at 17 and they cost me 2 months pay, I earned $80 a month back then.
So this taught me to respect my knives and look after them!
The same is now said of my wilderness knives, good knives arent cheap so why not look after them?

"A bad workman blames his tools"
 
I'm with Mr Coffee on this one. If I break one then I wouldnt say anything unless I felt it was a manufactorer flaw.
And truely, I wish that RAT would replace the warranty with something like "If you break it, dont expect it to be replaced. We might do it if I feel like it. If you dont like this policy, dont buy or abuse our knives."
 
Dylside said:
For me, a lot of it stems from, "I can't afford another one of these." and "I can't afford to pay someone to do it for me."
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Exactly. Only to me it is grandmas ingenuitiy.
The women after WWII, who reused every stone and every thread they came across to rebuild homes, to keep their families fed and generally to get by with next to nothing while they didn't even know if their husbands were dead or alive.
 
R.A.T. said:
That's where RAT Cutlery is different. We will indeed replace a broken modded knife because that's our warranty.
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I think I may have caused the jimping warning:o
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=693903

I have since rounded the bottom of the V's and hope that may restore the integrity , while still having the grip I wanted. If I broke my knife due to the jimping I would not even think about having RC replace it.
R.A.T. it is great idea for people to check on a mod first and your willingness to warranty a modded knife is amazing, only goes to show what a great company Rat Cutlery is!
 
I only throw knive I don't mind losing; since I'd hate to lose any of my Rats I don't throw them:D

Seriously, I don't abuse my knives (or my other gear for that matter), but I take comfort in knowing that I could, if it was necessary for survival reasons. That's why I love Rat Cutlery knives, not because I'll abuse them, but because I know they could stand it, if there was some sort of emergency.
 
Here's the way we look at it and I'm being dead honest: If someone modded a knife or hammered it sideways and broke it, then emailed us and said "hey look, I broke the knife but it was my fault because I did _____" then you will never hear us bitch or complain and we will be happy to replace the knife. It is ALL about integrity. That is the whole philosophy of RAT. What's happening lately though (and it's not on the forums) is we are getting people emailing us saying there was something wrong with the knife and requesting a new one. When we get it back it has obviously been absued. We send them a new knife anyway. THAT is what this whole thread is about. We will ALWAYS have our 100 percent warranty, even against abuse, but all we ask for is honesty, nothing more. So, Mr. C if you abuse one of our knives and break it, no problem, but we also know you would tell us the truth and we would be more than happy to replace the knife for you. In fact, we want to replace that knife if you break it. This goes for everyone else. We have had several people break knives because of abuse and when they told us how they did it, we just smiled and gave them a new one. No problem. No bitching. No complaining. They were honest and we were glad to put a new knife in their hands. Damn, all we're looking for is integrity and honesty. Nothing more. The people on this forum have that and we appreciate it. For example, we won't name any names but we had a guy email us yesterday that had a broken sheath. No problem, we are sending him a new one. He was obviously very honest and just wanted to know why the sheath broke. He was apologetic when he emailed us but we're not looking for apologies because you had a problem, we just want to fix your problem. Never, ever feel you owe us an apology for using our warranty. Never. Again, this post is for the few that know who they are. They obviously lurk here and play the game and attempt to use the system. It was not meant for anyone on this forum.
 
Bierkameel said:
If I ever manage to break the knife it is a lot cheaper to get a new one over here then send it in for warranty.
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Don't assume that. If you ever break the knife let us know because I think we can make it pretty cheap on you getting a new one. (I happen to know someone at the Rowen factiory) :D
 
I modify alot of my tools, knives, guns and so on. to me modding a tool has only one definition and it's "NOT" altering it from it's original structural integrity. take my glock 17 for instance. I have added high cap mags,extended controls, stainless operating rod, rubber grip sleeve. I have not grinded, melted, shaved, or changed it in any manner that would alter it's structural integrity or made it unsafe to use. anything beyond that is a risky move!

I really like the fact that rat cutlery has taken the standpoint they have.
 
Sometimes people ask me what my relation is to RAT cutlery and how I ended up as a mod on this board and how I became involved with the company.

Truth is, I truly believe in the company, the knives and the people behind it.

I love the philosophy, the fact that Jeff could give two shits about selling knives. He just wants to put out the best possible product and the most reasonable price point.

When Jeff says, "Don't buy our knives" he really means it.

When he say's "No questions asked warranty" he means that too.

That's the thing about RAT, it's so much more than knives, it's a bit of a lifestyle and a way of looking at things.

No group of people I'd be more proud to associate with.
 
To me if you do something stupid to your knife, then it might let you down unexpectedly when you most need it, and no warranty will deliver it to you at that time.

The only person you screwing up by doing idiotic things to your tools is yourself
 
shotgunner11 said:
Sometimes people ask me what my relation is to RAT cutlery and how I ended up as a mod on this board and how I became involved with the company.

Truth is, I truly believe in the company, the knives and the people behind it.

I love the philosophy, the fact that Jeff could give two shits about selling knives. He just wants to put out the best possible product and the most reasonable price point.

When Jeff says, "Don't buy our knives" he really means it.

When he say's "No questions asked warranty" he means that too.

That's the thing about RAT, it's so much more than knives, it's a bit of a lifestyle and a way of looking at things.

No group of people I'd be more proud to associate with.
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+1 :thumbup:
 
R.A.T. said:
Exactly, all we are asking for is personal repsonsibility. That's the philosophy we live our whole lives on. If we screw something up we accept the consequences.
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Amen to that! There seems to be a shortage of personal responsibility these days!

Related to all this nonsense, several years ago, I was of the mindset of "I need to buy one of the latest and greatest super steel knives that doesn't have to be sharpened!" Well, fortunately for me, that changed. I realized that even steel like ATS-34 and 153-cm can be tough to sharpen. I don't need some steel that's hardened to 64 Rc which would pretty much require diamond sharpening tools. I don't claim to be an expert at sharpening knives, but I'm doing my best to learn. Fortunately for me, previous jobs, high school shop classes, and most importantly, my dad taught me to take care of tools. Sure, when there's no other option, tools might get abused, but that's definitely the exception, not the rule.

Oh, and Jeff, I don't own any RAT Knives yet, but I like your philosophy and will own one in the future! With so many choices and so little money, it will be hard to decide which one, though!
 
dl351 said:
Amen to that! There seems to be a shortage of personal responsibility these days!

Related to all this nonsense, several years ago, I was of the mindset of "I need to buy one of the latest and greatest super steel knives that doesn't have to be sharpened!" Well, fortunately for me, that changed. I realized that even steel like ATS-34 and 153-cm can be tough to sharpen. I don't need some steel that's hardened to 64 Rc which would pretty much require diamond sharpening tools. I don't claim to be an expert at sharpening knives, but I'm doing my best to learn. Fortunately for me, previous jobs, high school shop classes, and most importantly, my dad taught me to take care of tools. Sure, when there's no other option, tools might get abused, but that's definitely the exception, not the rule.

Oh, and Jeff, I don't own any RAT Knives yet, but I like your philosophy and will own one in the future! With so many choices and so little money, it will be hard to decide which one, though!
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Brother, you probably already have all the knives you need. Don't run out and spend hard-earned money just to own a RAT. All we ask is be part of RAT here on the forums. You obviously have a lot of common sense and was raised right. We can appreciate and respect that! ;)
 
I would be more than just a bit embarrased to abuse any knife, including a RAT, and sending it back for free replacement. Its taken me a while to learn that I sleep better at night when I "own" my F-Ups. It's exactly this that my Wife and I are trying to instill in our 3 children. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be reinforced by much of today's society:(

That said, I would probably let Jeff and Mike know of any damage to one of my RAT knives due to use or abuse (hey, I have 3 kids that use, or will be using them), as I believe it would be valuable info for RAT's ongoing R&D.
 
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