Who here carries a muskrat?

[siguy]

i've become interested in getting a muskrat pattern...

i'm curious to know who here carries one and why.

any reason related to tasks at hand, nostalgia, etc?

also, eye candy is always welcome.

i was looking at the Queen in particular, with a basic jigged bone. i like the sounds of D2 and don't mind doing edge work. any other brands that feature well done carbon blades and good fit and finish? it would work hard for me, so aesthetics aren't a primary concern, but i do like using a good looking knife.

thanks for all the help.

 

[Blues]

For what it's worth, I prefer the Hawbaker style with the clip and wharncliffe blades.

I'm just not a big fan of redundant blades on a knife though I suppose if I were actually using the knife for its originally intended purpose it might be useful having two blades with the same profile for the occasion of one being damaged or dulled during use.

The Case-Bose muskrat is the only one I own and other than a pure custom I think it'd be hard to beat.

(image courtesy of JpN)

 

[6.0stroker]

Sorry about pics:thumbup: BUT I carry a 77OT USA made Schrade Oldtimer 1095 carbon and have pretty much exclusively for over 20 years Never AND never have I found anything it couldn't do IMO turkisk clip style blades can and have performed for me and I come from an Agriculture background and am a carpenter so I use "tools/ knives" hard but don't abuse for lots of things, to me it is nice to have one blade realllly sharp and one with more of a steep angle sharp if that makes since? I retired the first knife back in Dec.07' and carry another just like it, OH YEA I highly recomend the pattern!:thumbup:

 

[siguy]

thanks for the info guys, much appreciated.

elliott, nice photo thanks. i think i want the redundant blades so that i can use different angles or just use one for food and one for dirty jobs, or just use one until its dull and then switch to the next. i like having the options of different blade styles with a stockman, but i find that for 95.87% of what i do, it doesn't really matter which blade i use. the rest is for whittling, and i don't normally whittle on a whim, so i'm normally going to have a stockman with me when i want to whittle.

 

[2manyknives]

I own one Muskrat - can't honestly say I carry it. It is a Cold Steel, made in the US with Carbon V blades, presumably by Camillus. It's a nice knife and the blades take a good edge. There were a few tradionally styled knives in this series put out by Cold Steel but you don't hear a lot about them.

 

[siguy]

a question just occurred to me-do muskrats typically have one spring or two? i can see in the coldsteel version it looks to have two springs...

i think i might try a rough rider or similar to see how i like the pattern...

 

[neeman]

I have a Queen Muskrat in Cocobolo in D2.
A very thin knife, with the two clips slightly different.

I agree with Elliott about redundant blades.

I have a Queen Hawbaker style in Cocobolo on the way, that has a clip and a long spey

 

[navihawk]

I have a Queen Muskrat in Cocobolo in D2.
A very thin knife, with the two clips slightly different.

I agree with Elliott about redundant blades.

I have a Queen Hawbaker style in Cocobolo on the way, that has a clip and a long spey

Thats what I'm looking for. I'll pick up a single spring Queen one of these years. I like how blades lay in together. I have a Mooremaker that is nice. very smooth action,absolutely zero blade play, two springs and ideal for filleting. Camillus made, basically a safe queen and ocassional "worry stone". It's soft Buffalo and smooth action make you want to fiddle with the thing while watching TV.(sounds crazy, huh?)
That Cold steel looks just like the Mooremaker. Same thing just different scales and nicks.

 

[pauldulson]

I have a Canal street Muskrat, carried it for a short time,just didn't do it for me . I find the blades just too slim and pointy for the kind of uses I have for a pocket knife. I don't do any skinning of anything so no surprise it doesn't work for me . Not a good choice for an edc in my opinion.

 

[popedandy]

I have an A.G. Russell that has the same blades as the one Blues posted. I haven't had it very long, but I like it. I went with the clip and Hawbaker combination for the same reasons as Blues.

 

[Ron53]

Simon,

I, too, own an older Schrade 77OT Muskrat. It's a VERY handy knife in the outdoors! This one has done everything from cutting sausage to fleshing out a deer hide we were tanning. The Muskrat is quite a useful pattern, and you won't go wrong in getting one.

Ron

 

[SharpFella]

Popedandy, I went to the A.G. Russell website and they didn't have any muskrats with the Hawbaker like you and Blues have. Did you get it from them?
Thanks

 

[Blues]

The Hawbaker (named for its designer) is a particular pattern of muskrat which features the wharncliffe and clip blades (in case there is any confusion on that point).

I'm not personally familiar with the knife from A.G.'s catalog. The Case-Bose version I showed above was one of the Case-Bose annual collaboration knives from a few years back and was produced in limited quantities.

 

[neeman]

I stand corrected

I just copied the name from a website
Queen call their spey muskrat 'special muskrat'

 

[sunnyd]

I love the Muskrat pattern. I carried a 77OT in the very early 80's for a good while. I edc'd that knife for a good year or more and at the time I was a foreman running a construction crew and working on high rises for a large outfit on the beach in Fort Liquordale, Florida. The fellas on my crew teased me a bit and knew I would only let folks borrow my knife whom I knew and liked, and did not let it out of my sight for very long.. She shaved hair with both blades 95% of the time and I kept it clean and oiled. I caught a bit of a rep for that cutter. . . I really appreciated the Muskrat pattern and later the Moose pattern as well..

Anyway today, as luck would have it, I took the day off here to stay at the old home-20 to work on my property and do a little tool maintenance. My cousin Jason calls me on my cell and is in town for the day from Okeechobee. He says he wants to slide by and had a trading deal for me..? mmmmm, what kind of trade, me wonders, and eventually asks??.
" I have Case XX knives in some tin cans." Says he. "Whatcha talk'n about Jason?" Says I. . .

Well, long story shortened up some, I trade my cuz a case of his favorite rifle ammo and a hand full of some special hand-loads that I made up special for his Ruger Black hawk single action pistol, for all the Case knives in them tin cans on the floorboard in the cab of his pick up truck.:thumbup:..

Sometimes it pays to stay home on Monday's!. :thumbup: ..

So, can y'all guess what I am EDC'n today??.. mmmm?

 

[navihawk]

(in case there is any confusion on that point).

No pun intended.

 

[Blues]

No pun intended.

Of course not!

 

[6.0stroker]

Crusin the web today went to Shepherd of the Hills web site (not affiliated at all so mods if out of line no problem to modify this reply), but holy cow a new muskrat pattern by Case called of all things:thumbdn::grumpy: Texas Muskrat, Me I'm an OKie, (pretty sure a SFO) 4 ya read it right 4 blades Sheesh some think 2 blades of the same profile are alot go take a look at 4of em!!!

 

[Blues]

Crusin the web today went to Shepherd of the Hills web site (not affiliated at all so mods if out of line no problem to modify this reply), but holy cow a new muskrat pattern by Case called of all things:thumbdn::grumpy: Texas Muskrat, Me I'm an OKie, (pretty sure a SFO) 4 ya read it right 4 blades Sheesh some think 2 blades of the same profile are alot go take a look at 4of em!!!

Further proof that bigger ain't necessarily better!

 

[d.parker]

A true Hawbaker Muskrat issued by permission of Edwin Hawbaker son of S. Stanley Hawbaker. The original designer of the Hawbaker Muskrat. These Knives were issued in 2000 and manufactured by Queen Cutlery. There was a run of 500 but I don't think that many was ever produced.