Ontario RAT Folding Pocket Knives
December 3rd, 2019My youngest son, Reed, chose an Ontario RAT-1 for his first knife six months ago. I’m definitely no expert on knives or EDC gear, but I’ve been so astonished by the quality, durability and low price of the Ontario RAT-1 knife, I wanted to tell you about it.
Reed is extremely hard on his tools in general and his RAT-1 gets the same treatment as everything else. He carries the knife on him every day, all day. He is constantly cutting, carving and whittling wood. He strips bark. He cuts rope. Despite my warning to him that he’s probably going to ruin the liner lock on the knife, he batons wood with it. Prying stuff with the tip, risking blade bends or breaks? Check.
Despite all of this, he is able to maintain the blade’s sharpness to such a degree that he uses it as a sort of quazi Exacto blade for his art work.
Here’s the knife after six months:
Earlier today, I sat down with Reed and we took the knife completely apart to clean and oil it and see how it’s holding up. It had a bit or dirt and sand between the handles and the scales. There was a small amount of surface rust on the tang near the pivot. We were able to remove the rust with a couple of drops of 3-in-One oil on a rag. Other than that, a bit of the black finish had rubbed off the clip and the little logo that was on the blade had also worn off. Despite batonning, the liner lock was perfect. With a hint of 3-in-One on all the metal parts, we reassembled the knife and it was ready to go again.
Before we took it apart and after reassembly, there was no play/slop in the blade at all when locked open. With a bit of adjustment on the pivot screws, we got the blade to line up perfectly centered between the scales again when closed, just like it came from the factory.
Come to think of it, that tiny bit of rust we encountered on the tang was probably due to Reed attacking some banana trees (which are full of water) with the knife. Some of the gunk around the pivot was probably old banana tree pulp.
I noticed that all the screws were set with blue Loctite from the factory. I didn’t have any Loctite so we didn’t replace it. I don’t know how necessary it is, but Reed had switched the clip configuration on the knife when he got it and, despite not replacing the Loctite then, those screws have not backed out at all after constant use for six months. (I wonder if to-Loctite or not-Loctite debates fester in weird backwaters of the Internet… I’m seeing a miasma of grey beards, suspenders and Pall Mall cigarette smoke.)
The Ontario RAT folding knives come in different sizes, colors, handle materials and blade steels. The RAT-1 is the big RAT, the RAT-2 is much smaller. I bought a RAT-2/AUS-8 for myself (black knife on the left in the picture below). I hardly notice it for EDC around our farm. I paid $25 for that knife, which is an unbelievable value in my opinion.
I thought AUS-8 was the way to go for the steel selection due to ease of sharpening and I have not been disappointed. Reed is able to maintain the edge sharpness very easily. D2 steel will hold an edge longer (apparently), but it will also be more difficult to sharpen and more prone to rust.
In summary, you can’t go wrong with the Ontario RAT knives.
Hey, thanks for the info. Knives are a favorite
You’re welcome. If you know a lot about knives, I’d be curious to hear what you think about these Ontario RATs. Is there anything better for the money?
No. Have never seen an Ontario RAT. Looks tough as hell with a great blade. I ordered one 🙂
Thanks, I appreciate your support.