Legitimate Knifery

About a month ago, I finally bit the bullet, and bought some steaks to grill on a small charcoal grill I got for free. Attempts to gather some soup-to-nuts beginner grilling information fell flat, since I was apparently supposed to be born with the natural ability to grill meat on fire as soon as my androgynous zygote checked the box for dangly bits.

But who am I to question thousands of years of male genetics? Especially when the steaks turned out surprisingly well. Then again, I guess it IS so easy a caveman can do it...

Anyways, I've been grilling more often, and have been having issues with tools. I've been using a $2 grill brush for moving the coals around, salad tongs for a variety of uses, and my EDC pocket knife for opening bags, meat packaging, for cutting into the meat to ensure it's cooked, and any other odd task it was suited for.

After digging into my pocket repeatedly, and repeatedly finding something to clean the blade on after each use for fear of juices gumming up the works, it was obvious that I needed a small fixed blade utility knife that I could use for these, and other tasks.

The requirements were few; sturdy, short plain blade, good steel, probably a standard or drop point blade, small overall length, and a hopefully ambidextrous clip-style sheath. I didn't want to go leather because most leather sheaths only offer belt loops, and are not ambidextrous. I figured a kydex friction retention sheath would fit better.

After a bit of searching, I wound up at an old favorite that had been on my list for a while.

The Ontario RAT-3 is short and sturdy, made with tool steel, with a good utility handle, and the finger choil I love.

The micarta sheath is ambidextrous, with a belt clip, and friction retention. Perfect to grab and clip to your waistband whenever you need it ready

As it happens, RAT split off from Ontario, in order to produce cutlery as they pleased. They remolded their offerings into the RC series, including the RC-3.



The RC-3 sported a slightly extended grip, thinner blade portion for a better factory edge, a MOLLE sheath attachment for expanded mounting possibilities, and a pointed pommel.

The extended grip is kind of lost on my small hands, and completely unnecessary when choking up on the blade. The thinner blade is actually the opposite of what I wanted, and I had no problem putting a new edge on if the factory edge wasn't very good (as was reported). The pommel looks like a glass breaker, but RAT only lists glass breaker as a feature on their Military RC-3, which is obviously more sharpened than the standard RC-3. So is it for style, or is there really an offensive pommel on a 4" utility knife? Even if it did have a glass breaker, it would be unnecessary for my purposes.

The RC-3 is not much more expensive than the RAT-3, and my knife snob sense kept telling me that more expensive = more better, but when I really looked at what I wanted it for, the RAT-3 was a better fit. Honestly, either would probably be fine, and I would like to support RAT's independence from Ontario.

Since Ontario's RAT series includes models that specifically do not overlap with RAT Cutlery's offerings, I'm guessing RAT now owns the IP to the RAT-3/RC-3 model designation. Maybe this means the RAT-3 is discontinued, and will lower in price, increasing the price differentiation. Normally any price under $200 for a knife-o-phile such as myself would be A-OK, but with the wedding and life right now, I can't spend the money on this fine knife just yet.

As an aside, I hope RAT comes up with a "new" model along the same lines as the RTAK. It's on my list, and I'd like to see what RAT would have done without Ontario's say.