I’ve got to spend a bit of time with one of my favorite little knives the Swamp Rat Knife Works Rat Shaker. Like everything from Swamp Rat this little knife is built like a tank and yet easy to carry and use.
The Rat Shaker is 1/4 inch thick and made of SR101 steel. SR101 is a proprietary steel from Swamp Rat. Many theories abound on the Web as to what it actually is but I’m only interested in the fact that it is brutishly strong and has the great edge retention and ease of sharpening that you would expect from a premium carbon steel. I like the thickness but found that in a knife this small it took a bit away from the cutting ability. I had to thin the edge out a little bit to get a razor sharp edge on it. I would probably like to see this knife come in a 3/16 inch version or have a more aggressive taper on it like I had to do.
The Rat Shaker has finger grooves and a nice sized choil giving plenty of grip options. I’ve been using it at work for my normal cutting of rope, pull line, and for stripping back on cable and it has worked like a champ. I really need to get a sheath made for it, with a pocket clip on it and a neck chain.
This knife has been out of production for a few years and this is one of the rare green ones. They sometimes pop up for sale on the secondary market and are going for $75-100. I think this is a pretty fair price as short of Nuclear War this knife is going to last. Plus it is backed by Swamp Rat’s unconditional warranty. Here it is their own words:
Most importantly though is our unbeatable lifetime guarantee. All Swamp Rat Knives are covered against any and all unintentional major damage for life. Period.
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hey there B.I.L…. two things: 1 i tried to subscribe and had some issues and could not sign in. it says my email is subscribed but the page to confirm my subscription is missing. 2: I was thinking now that spring is here and people are doing their spring cleaning that composting would be a great subject to discuss! I did a little research myself and found that although it is not all that difficult its not as easy as i thought. For one thing using the dogs poo is an absolute no! That stinks (no pun intended) i have a giant pile of leaves and other green and brown waste but cant use most of it because i threw a lot of the dogs poo in there. Anyway just some food for thought. Talk to you soon!