Ontario RAT 1

Had to pick this up when I seen it on here as I've still got one from years ago and its beat it was my pack knife for a long time and it's been put through its paces and never failed me , so when I seen this I had to get it I got the blacked out one with the serrated blade in Aus 8 and it stunning mine was razor sharp out the box . This is an amazing folder for the money dont think it can be beat and love the ease of the one hand deployment its addictive

The best sub £50 folder I've ever bought, nice size and weight, feels good in hand, razor sharp and evenly ground straight out the box, feels solid and well built

I needed an inexpensive, do-it-all pocket/pack knife. Initial impressions are hugely positive and seem entirely consistent with its reputation for rugged reliability. The compromises? - the scales feel a bit cheap, and its weight may put off some for EDC.

Couldn't decide between Rat 1 / Rat 2 and Aus8 / D2. Went for Rat 1 as I have large hands and Aus8 as I value ease of sharpening over edge retention. Arrived in 24 hours with standard delivery and couldn't be happier. Perfect blade centering and no blade play. 2 minutes on a whetstone and a strop and it's like a razor. Can't fault it.

Got this today NDD, thanks HH for the service we know and enjoy. I ordered the plain satin blade in OD, I gave it a quick test earlier by making a bow drill fire and battoning some very dry scrap pine wood, with ease it drilled impressions into the hearth board, hacked through some saplings for the bow and also split the wood. D2 has a very toothy biting edge which I think is useful for beginners as it grips the wood so accidents could be less likely. Overall I like this knife as it's a nice tool where you will appreciate a medium sized blade for many tasks but with the advantage of being a folder however I would like one without thumb jimping, well that's my 2 cents.

Had this for about 6 years. The good; Ergonomics of the design are absolutely perfect I can't stress that enough. Was received incredibly sharp as a knife should do and is easy to sharpen up. You're getting spyderco military size blade here for almost nothing. Fit and finish superb. No rough scale edges, no bad jimping etc. (had bad jimping on a spydie squeak a while back which I found astonishing for maniago at £70. This is a Taiwan production, not china, that's right. £43 and its not even china sweat shop labour! So you don't have to feel bad about feeding the red giant. Bad; Scales are slippy. Not slightly slippy, almost on the dangerous side. Distinctly remember doing an initial clean up which I do with all my nice new knives and slipping on the scales, cutting myself quite badly (damn that thing's sharp when you see finger bone!) AUS8 - well its never been my favourite steel. I 'mistreated' mine and it got rust at about 6 years. As such a quick Heinnie search and they do D2 steel! Would I buy it again. On a budget yes. Now I have a few more dollarpounds I'll be saving up for a D2 version. All the spydies I've got my eye on are at least 3x as much, and I doubt they'd be any more of a useful tool.

Great knife for the money, really well put together. It was sharp out of the box, but I couldn't resist giving it a bit on a 6000 stone, plus a strop., leaving it quite scary. This is real value for money, I'd say the build quality is approaching my Spyderco. HH service flawless, as usual.

received mine last week in green, well built sharp straight out of the box, love the one hand opening no play in blade should last a life time, great service from HH..

I received this today with olive green scales and the plain edge, it was a replacement for a Byrd Cara Cara 2 that sadly arrived with a slightly wobbly blade, despite being a huge Byrd/ Spyderco fan I took a punt on the Ontario Rat instead. Brilliant customer service from Heinnie as usual on that front. While the Rat 1 may only have FRN scales rather than G10 you can see where the money saved has gone instead. It's perfectly well machined and finished, noticeably so compared to the all steel Byrd. Lock up is perfect, huge bronze washers, zero blade play, lighting fast deployment yet more importantly very safe but quick to put away again. One thing you can't tell before you order one is that the liners and pillars have a matte brushed nickle finish to enhance corrosion resistance in an area of the knife that may be neglected or collect moisture, it also stops the knife from looking too flashy. The AUS8 steel is Japanese rolled so it's a known quantity - yes it may not be a "super steel" but it's perfectly serviceable , even more so when delivered in such a well thought out package as this. 5 stars for the knife, 6 stars for Heinnie Haynes.