Ontario Rat 1, you dirty rat!

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.

Does size matter?!

This question has been plaguing mankind for decades, centuries even... DOES SIZE MATTER?!

I'm writing this to give a little insight into my personal experiences and preferences in this matter as what you carry can sometimes say a lot about you or represent your tastes or so on. When it comes to an everyday carry knife personal preference is ALL that matters.

I've always had a fondness for bigger knives as it seemed more manly and, I don't know, sword like? Either way I've slowly been gravitating away from 3.5"+ blades. Never the less I still love to carry and use the Paramilitary 2 and others but something new and shining is attracting my attention and wallet... I LOVE the Paramilitary 2 and recently got a Manix 2 from a good friend on Instagram, but any longer of a blade and I find it unwieldy and cumbersome to use and carry at times.

Now every knife has a situation but I'm kind of focusing on the everyday city carry as it tends to be my everyday situation.

I've been starting to use a lot more 3" and sub 3" knives now for everyday use and I'm loving them! I never really cared about the 'sheeple' effect of larger knives, if anything it let me talk to them and educate them on my tools and why I carry. I find the speed and action of the smaller knives just suits my day to day needs better. Maybe if I was doing a lot more camping and bushcraft I'd pack a larger robust knife and/or fixed blade. But remember the best knife to have in an emergency situation is the one on you. So emergency bushcraft would still work with my smaller carry but not everything.

Anyway.

Recent knives I've been cycling through are the Cold Steel Tuff Lite, Spyderco Ladybug3 Hawkbill, Dragonfly 2 G10, UKPK and Squeak. They're small and pack so much punch! Try some of these for yourself and maybe you'll start to see the primary knife could be a small blade. 

Again I also seem to carry larger knife paired with the small to be prepared for anything. It's usually the Paramilitary 2 or Manix 2. But thats my silly brain not wanted to be left out, as of late I've started trying to only carry one knife a day again but you know what they say: "Two is one, one is none" and I always let that ring around my head before I try and battle it out for the day.

This is personal preference and I still love the looks and style of some larger knives.

Cold Steel Tuff Lite. Light, Little, Lethal and Legit!

My foray into Cold Steel Knives has begun with this little guy.

I spent $40 CAD and got the Tuff Lite an AUS 8A steel little tank of a knife. It has a wharncliffe style blade which lends itself excellently to a ton of tasks like simple box opening, envelopes and even cutting food. Over that it of course is a blah blah self defense blah, lets be honest we aren't using our knives for self defense because majority of us are not in the military or law enforcement. But for those who are I'm sure this would be a great secondary solution to close encounters.

The construction is surprisingly good for a low end knife. Great ergonomics as well. The triad lock is present which engages really deep on the blade which can sometime hinder the closing of the knife but feels more than secure when using it. The handles are pure plastic which is whatever and the worst thing is there is no tip up option stock on this knife.

Is it worth it? Oh hell yeah, it's a beautiful little knife that will surpass expectations like it did with me as Cold Steel has a stigma of showy joke knives in my opinion but now I'm actually looking at more of their stuff. An excellent first for anyone cold about Cold Steel.

Boker Tech Tool 5. Take a look at the SAK killer.

Boker Tech Tool 5, review.

Click the link to see my full review up on the YouTube!

Yeah this is a cheap out instead of writing it all, haha. Ya win some and ya lose some.

Spyderco Atlantic Salt, what's the deal?

I purchased my first H1 knife a few years back, it was a serrated Dragonfly 2 and it was a great knife. I since then gifted that one to my brother in-law and bought a plain edge Dragonfly 2 in H1. After another year and a half I started eyeing the Atlantic Salt but I wanted that straight razor edge and all I saw were the serrated but at last finally saw the discontinued plain edge on eBay for the same price as the serrated and without hesitation pulled the trigger.

BLAM. One week later, straight from Poland came the plain edge Atlantic Salt. It has grippy 'Volcano Grip' FRN scales which I think I like more than the bi-directional FRN on the other Japanese made Spyderco knives. The construction was tight enough but easy enough to flick open and close the blade. It is riveted pin construction so taking apart the knife is impossible which I don't like as I can't order custom scales although I may end up ripping it apart anyway and making new pivots for the blade and lock.

H1 steel is very soft. It sharpens with very little effort. Also it is completely rust proof. The hardware used to assemble the salt series is also coated to help reduce the chances of corrosion as well. I can totally see how amazing the serrated version would be for divers or nautical uses. As a matter of fact the next version I get will be the serrated as the plain edge although razor sharp, loses that edge rather quickly in comparison to other steels I'm familiar with. Not saying it's a bad steel, it will still do what you need it to while you need it but I suggest the serrated as it seems to last much longer as I've experienced with my Dragonfly 2s. H1 is one of my favorite steels just for the fact it is razor, hair popping sharp in a minute and they're not too bad to look at.

The knife is rather large but very light in the hand, fitting great bare hand or with glove. I decided to add an anchor shackle through the barrel screw as a way to easily attach a lanyard I've made with a bobber when fishing just in case.

I've also tried it out in similar fashion to the Spyderco Assist. If it was serrated it would cut rope against the handle easier but I was able to cut through paracord simply with the plain edge closing against the handle. I've also ordered a glass breaker tip and pre drilled a hole for it in the butt of the handle. This is turning into a rescue EDC knife more everyday.

Should you pick one up? If you're looking for something different, yes. Odds are you'll only find the serrated which I may pick up one of in the long run anyway. It makes for a killer water knife with real grippy scales and rust proof steel. Worth it for a tackle box knife at the very least. Again the sheepsfoot blade isn't for everyone either so another alternative is the Pacific Salt or Salt 1.