Rat 2 D2 edge retention.

Gizler00

Gizler00

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Feb 19, 2006
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Ok. I realize this is only a 30$ knife, but I was really surprised that the edge wore out almost instantly cutting through a little cardboard. I’m talking 3 cuts and I would no longer slice the cardboard. I watched quite a few reviews on this knife and decided to try it out. Has anyone else experienced this with the Ontario d2? My Aus8 Rat 1 holds an edge longer. Pics for reference.

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I have the same knife and the edge holds up very well. Cardboard is rough cutting. How was your edge to start with out of the box? That looks like some heavy card board. Sharpen it up and see how it does. I do a lot of cutting on pine 2x4 and so far no loss of cutting power. More expensive knives may not do any better no matter what the gurus say.
 
Whitedog said:
I have the same knife and the edge holds up very well. Cardboard is rough cutting. How was your edge to start with out of the box? That looks like some heavy card board. Sharpen it up and see how it does. I do a lot of cutting on pine 2x4 and so far no loss of cutting power. More expensive knives may not do any better no matter what the gurus say.
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Thanks for the reply. I don’t think of this cardboard as really thick. I am half tempted to test out another blade on it. I was just genuinely surprised. I touched it up on my 600 grit Spyderco stone. It’s hair shaving again. I’ll see how long it lasts this time.
 
Perhaps a reprofile is in order.

My first Rat from years ago was flawless and laser sharp. Edge retention was above 8CR13MOV but still not super great.

Bought a new Rat this year. Edge came sharp-ish. Would not cut great even after I resharpend it. I got frustrated with having to resharpen it every other day. It just was not cutting well, or staying sharp.

So I dropped the shoulders down. Couldn't tell you the exact angle, but I did my best to make it as shallow as possible. The edge got stupid-scary sharp. I took it to work the next day and it instantly dulled cutting a water bottle. I realized the edge stability was shot. I took it home and put a steep micro bevel on it.

Now, the knife cuts much better, and seems to stay sharper longer. My blade finish now looks terrible, because I suck at reprofiling. But for a work knife, the performance is number 1, and the knife now preforms excellent.

So maybe it's not the steel itself, but the edge geometry?
 
Billy The Hungry said:
Perhaps a reprofile is in order.
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what he said, get rid of the burn with a fresh edge. Not with your Sharpmaker unless you pop for some coarse rods (Congress Moldmakers SIC -triangle shape fits holes) or have a coarse stone you can place securely against Sharpmaker rods. Generally Ontario knows how to cook thier D2.
 
55-56 Rockwell is pretty soft for D2. I often thought Ontario would have done well to increase those numbers to take advantage of the alloy type.
 
MolokaiRider said:
55-56 Rockwell is pretty soft for D2.
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that is soft, did you test or is that factory published marketing copy? I have seen typo's from sellers copy on stuff I know factory published marketing, some sellers more then others...
 
scottc3 said:
that is soft, did you test or is that factory published marketing copy? I have seen typo's from sellers copy on stuff I know factory published marketing, some sellers more then others...
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I did not test, just info from what I see as advertised.
 
I wanna get a Rat2 in plastic for grand kids, what I found: Factory and distributor only call out AUS 8 HRC at 55-56; Such cr$# info from most stores, one calls out Ontario D2 HRC AT 62-64... LuvThemKnives tested 2 Rat2's D2 at 58.7 AND 57.1 and a Rat1 at 58.0. Big river revu samples from half a dozen sellers are all over 91 percent 4 and 5 stars.
 
That looks like cheap junky Chinese double wall corrugated. That stuff would bunch up on any knife, the sharpness has nothing to do with it. Try again on some US sourced boxes and see what the results are.
 
FWIW I have several R1 and R2 models in AUS8 and D2, and find them to be great working EDC folders.

A lot of bang for the buck.
 
From memory, I think 58 is the bottom HRC spec for standard D2, and 9 tenths HRC is good and consistent results across batches for 3 Rat folders.
 
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