Ontario RAT3 Revamp.

[ex-member Raikey]

i wanted a camp knife, not a knife to chop fire wood with but,...

something to have on my belt and cut string, a tomato, some herbs for the bbq meat or wittle summat, you get the idea.

i did some reading up and came across a lot of good reviews on the RAT3, and the feed back seemed to be that it would suit the jobs i had in mind.

i took it this summer on a two week camp and it did as i expected, plus some light batoning.....but,...

my mate called me rambo?!?!?! and i was already aware it looked a bit too military, the sheath especially.

so, i got itchy , erm,...hands?..and decided i was gonna have a play,...

one reason i dont have the money to throw at a custom bushy, and two i WANTED to try my hand at at the very least a re-handle.

ok so i never done this before, and i have limited tackle, just a band saw and hand tools really,..

i hope as well as just a progress thread of a re-handle, i hope it can also prove anyone can have a go at it if you have the desire..

if i can do it anyone can sorta thing.

please note, i,m by no means teaching or saying my techniques are correct,..i,m just bumbling through it, asking a bit here, borrowing a bit there, and looking at old threads on here etc,..

this is the bit of Laburnum i found to cut the scales from.

Forgot to mention, i had a sheath made by Ian from BB, i commisioned him to go down the bushy theme, the green micarta just clashed completly with the dark brown leather..

so i removed them to see where to begin,

these are the slabs i cut on the bandsaw, i went a bit thiker than the micarta for comfort and to allow some finishing, but could,nt go too much thicker as the sheath was built around the original knife,,,,

just havin a squint at it trying to imagine what its gonna look like,..

next i needed to think about lining up the scales, so i clamped one in place and ran a 5mm drill thru the tang into the wood. then pushed a spare drill in the hole while i drilled the other two....then repeat on the other scale..to get this,.....

youll notice i took the black coating off the blade too,...i did this with a razor/stanley blade as i didnt want to use nitromors as i dont know if it effects the steel,...then i flatted it off with some 600 grit just to see the condition of the steel...i will polish it later before fitting the scales..

i begged some liners in sexy red, and the 5mm brass pins are also begged ,...but then SWMBO shouts up to the garage tha me tea is ready so, i'll continue tommorow with some luck,..

oh i started knocking up a fire steel knob too out of the left over laburnum.

and i did start making some mosaic pins just as a test, but i think i should walk before i run,,,anyhoo heres the result using , brass pipe inserts, paper clips and stainless mig wire and super glue,...

they are for a little side project i began at the same time so as not to throw me sen into the main one unprepared,...so i think a good idea to practice on a cheap knife with scrap materials,..

one last thing is i used a cutelry drawer divider to keep the project in while its in build as my w/shop isnt really set up for knifecraftery..so i bring it all down to the house in the evening to sit and think about the next stage over a beer,..

i,m going to polish the blade tommorow and fit the liners and scales with some apoxy,

thanks for looking , any advice is welcome,

Stu..

 

[JonathanD]

Looking good. I'm going watch this thread with interest.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Good stuff dude, it gets really addictive fast, I like your mosaic pins, what are the little cases you used,

 

[beachlover]

Great project and good to follow a work in progress.
Looks great so far and waiting for the next set of pics.

 

[ex-member Raikey]

Good stuff dude, it gets really addictive fast, I like your mosaic pins, what are the little cases you used,

Cheers guys!,


Raymondo!

you know the little insert you put ito the end of nylon air pipe to stop it collapsing under the olives,.?? they're those,...

they come in metric dia's but they are only really short,..i "picked em up" from work,..

 

[Retired Member southey]

AHH! brulliant, you on at the mo Pig?

 

[ex-member Raikey]

AHH! brulliant, you on at the mo Pig?

waiting for Mrs Pigg to go to bed,..then i,m workin towards the "10th" ,..lmao,,,

gotta have my fix before i can settle,..

 

[Retired Member southey]

Hahahaha loser!!! Im on

 

[ex-member Raikey]

Hahahaha loser!!! Im on

hahahaha I'M the loser???

(i,m sat in the lounge with my FAL behind a claymore,...)

 

[Retired Member southey]

What ever ive got, claret all over tha carpet, and me gerberfast ready,

 

[ex-member Raikey]

Hey guys,...

i didn't get as long on the job today, work AM, and getting dragged round the shops in town by SWMBO but,...

i got it apoxied up and clamped up,

i layed out one scale, dropped in the pins and built it up bit by bit over the pins with the apoxy,..

it says you have 4 minutes working time with the stuff, and i got a bit worried but i was working in the garage with no heat on so this probly gave me a little grace time.

i also misjudged and dint mix enough, so the 2nd mix came in a panic,...but it seemed ok,...

so i clamped it and its sat in the dining room.

with hindsight, i reckon i should have trimmed the liners a bit more first,...

looking forward to having a session on the sander tommorow, or is that too early?

anyway, thanks again for looking and i'll be back soon,,

the small job in the background is the CRKT Side Hawg, i,m using it to practice with,..so bonded it just before the RAT.

 

[Retired Member southey]

hey chap, Just noticed, the front of your handle, towards the blade, I think you may have an issue with the liners there, I would have cut\sanded and polished that bit as its the only place you cant get to once the epoxy has gone of, you may find that the glue has pushed under the liner there and will give you problems when you come to work on that bit, unless you ment to leave the liner exposed?

In this area,

 

[ex-member Raikey]

exposed as in you will see the liner,..?

i thought that was ok as its got no bolsters to speak,..

i'll trim it with a blade and see how it goes,..

cheers dude,...

 

[Retired Member southey]

No worrys, i pin the scales together the shape and sand so both sides are simetrical, like this

Have fun chap,

 

[ex-member Raikey]

hahahahah oooops,....have fun as in good luck?....

where were you this mornin?!!

ah well i'll have to do it by eye over the blade eh,....

cheers Brav innit blad (thats street talk, my 9 year old taught me , apparently "daddy is da shizzle" that means im good!)

 

[Retired Member southey]

Word up fashiznit, Take a chizl D O double Gizle,

What am i doing, street talk at this hour!

HAHAH I need to go to bed,

 

[ex-member Raikey]

ok, its done,..!

i got up this morning and had a look at the apoxy, it was set and so i got to work on the belt sander,

i did the little "tester" blade first to ensure my technique on the belt was ok,

i was ashtonoished when it started to take shape, especially my attempt at mosaic pins , they began to look actually ok,...(for pipe inserts, and paper clips!)

once i'd gotten down to the tang i used 280 to get the shape i wanted, finishing off with 600 then 800 with some teak oil ,

i,m gonna keep hitting it with the teak oil, (its all i had) until it wont take anymore,....

i just wish i'd have taken time to do some 5mm mosaic pins for the RAT as i did with the little CRKT ....

but anyway, thanks for looking at my very first attempt ,

please note the RAT is a worker and gets some heavy use in the camp situation,,,so the finish is a working one not a show cabinet one....

i,m hooked now i,ve done one and have started looking for blanks,..

 

[Retired Member southey]

What a great looking pair! nice work mate, i especially like the crkt,

 

[ex-member Raikey]

me too,..

it was there as a buffer to, basically spoil ...

but it came out the best i reckon,....

 

[robevs73]

nice work mate. Also Ian makes a crackin' sheath.