I finally after so much debating I bought a Ontario Knife Company Rat 1 folder but in D2, just to be different. This is a value knife clocking in at only $40 to the wallet. Is it worth it? Of course, many reviewers have raved about this knife. The Model 1 sets a standard for budget knives everywhere.
This is the kind of knife that was made to do work. I want to use it and use it hard and beat it up! It feels like it could handle anything you throw its way. Plus it is a lot of knife for your money. This has also got to be one of the sharpest knives out of the box I've had to date. Hair popping right out of box.
The Rat 1 has it all... a great ergonomic handle starts our journey. It's large enough for bigger hands like mine and super comfortable when doing repetitive cutting tasks. One super small gripe would be the plastic handle scales feeling a bit, well, plastic! I'd like to see a G10 version. But that aside, worth every penny.
Now the construction is immaculate for a cheap knife, on par with some of the $150+ knives I've bought and used over time. Excellent fit and finish all around! No complaints at all.
The blade I chose was the D2 steel over the AUS8 as I haven't had much experience with either except my Cold Steel Tuff Lite was AUS8 and faired pretty decently. D2 is nearly a stainless steel, somewhat comparable to S30V in edge retention in my experience so far but can be slightly chippy. Nothing 2 minutes on the fine rods on the Spyderco Sharpmaker couldn't fix! Another note is the jimping on the back of the blade, it's perfect, great purchase for your thumb but almost wish it continued a bit on to the handle.
Please do yourself a huge favor and buy this knife, any version, AUS8, Assisted, D2 and I'm sure the Model 2 being slightly smaller would be just as amazing, too bad no D2 option for it yet. But as I said this knife wants to be used, make it a truck knife, bugout bag knife, tool box knife even. Just get one and you won't be disappointed.
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