After several gallons of paint, Antique Beige to be exact, a frozen pizza, and a couple of bags of trash I was released of my servitude and free to play. What's a man to do with his free time, pit steel against steel.

When it comes to knives I'm especially interested in bush craft and survival type knives. I want a knife that's well rounded in it's ability in the field rather than one particular knife that's good at one thing.

The challengers are:

The Ratweiler by Swamp Rat Knives:


The knife feels very beefy, reasuring, and stout in the hand. The deep choil makes choking up on the blade pretty easy. It's fast in the hand but not as fast as the others. Unlike most I found the handle to be very uncomfortable at first. It took a few minutes with some sandpaper to clean up the micarta to a comfortable level.

Next is the Yard Guard:


Like the other blades this one screams tough and dependable. The choil isn't as deep as the RW but the thumb notch on the spine makes this a very easy and versatile blade when one has to choke up. This knife felt much more faster in the hand than the RW did but not as much as the RD-7. The RES-C handle was the most comfortable of the three.

Rounding out this trio come the RD-7 by Ranger Knives.


This blade feels as reassuring as the other. The choil is the shallowest and the thumb notch on the spine helps, but not as much as the YG. This knife felt the fastest in hand and the Micarta handle, while simple, is more comfortable than the RW.



The first challenge of the day was light limb clearing. I used Palm Fronds since they're so plentyful around here. Each knife was equal in its ability to chop them in one stroke. I think this is important if it's necessay to create a debris shelter. The less wasted energy wasted the better.

After I cut the fronds down I decided to do some finer cutting on them. I wanted to see how well they'd do with things like making cordage etc.... The Yard Guard and Ratweiler tied for first place in this regard. I tried to take pictures but the palm fronds became play things for my dogs.

1st place: Ratweiler and Yard Guard
2nd Place: RD-7

Next is the 25 whack attack.



I took a seasoned fence post and whacked it 25 times with each knife to see how it would fare. I think it really came down to a draw with the knives. While the YD and RD-7 chopped a little deeper, I think this was due to me, since the RW chopped a little wider than the others. Had I been able to chop a narrower channel like the others I thnk the depth would have been the same.

Winner: Tie

Next we have the one whack attack



Next I took each knife and with all my might tried to chop as deep as I could with one stroke into a seasoned 2 x 5. I think this is important if I ever have to deliver a killing blow to some poor helpless cute bunny that I've trapped. In the end this also came down to a tie. All the knives bit in to approximately the same depth.

Winner: Tie

Next up is stabbing



I wanted to see how each would do with stabbing in the event that it becomes necessary to dispatch game. I used the same seasoned 2 x 5 and stabed with all my might. I thought that it would end in a draw however, the RD-7 stabbed a little deeper than the others. The yard guard came in second place, and the RW third.

1st place: RD-7
2nd place: Yard Guard
3rd place: Ratweiler

The next test is drilling



Drilling can be a useful function if it's necessary to create a notch for a fire board or trap making. I was very surprised at the results of this. I used the 2x5 and placed the knife vertically. Next, I placed the palm of my hand on it, applied some weight and made 25 rotations.

I started with the RW. It dug in pretty well. Next came the RD-7. By the time I made 14 rotations it had already drilled to the same depth as the RW. Next was the YG and I was very surprised by this. I stopped after 15 rotations as it had already drilled deeper than either of the other two knives.

The Yard Guard was also extremely comfortable to drill with because of the RES-C handle. The RD-7 on the other hand was extremely uncomfortable because of the notch on its hilt. And the Ratweiler fell somewhere in between.

1st place: Yard Guard
2nd place: Ratweiler
3rd place: RD-7 (because of the lack of comfort)




Next Is hammering

Next I decided to used see how well these knives could hammer. I was particulaly interested in cracking open nuts, snails, mullosk etc.... So I gathered up a handful of Acorns and proceeded to crack them open. I wasn't able to take pictures because my dogs kept eating them.

The Ratweiler took the lead in this task. The exposed tang made cracking open the acorns easy as pie. In second place was the RD-7. It faired almost as well as the RW, however, that little nub would sometimes deflect off the nut. In a distant third place came the Yard Guard. The lack of exposed tang meant than I had to use the spine of the blade. I found that I didn't have as much control using that particulat method.

1st place: Ratweiler
2nd place: RD-7
3rd place: Yard Guard

The next challenge was the Chop Through



The object of this was to to see how well these knives could chop though a branch or log. This is important in the preparation of shelters, firewood, make shift weapons, tools, etc.... The branch measure approximately 5 inches in diameter. It took the following number of strokes to completely chop through this branch:

Ratweiler: 96
Rd-7 107
Yard Guard: 130

The Ratweiler was the fastest through and the Yard Guard was the slowest. However, the Yard Guard was also the least tiring. I suspect that the absorbing qualities of the RES-C handle have a lot to do with that. The RD-7 was the worst knife for this in my opinion. The handle keep slipping in my hand and it seemed that the shock from the impact was horrid. Surprisingly, the impact wasn't that bad with the Ratweiler as I thought it would be

1st Place: Ratweiler
2nd Place: Yard Guard
3rd Place: RD-7 (the shock impact brought it down)

Next Challenge: Spear Making

I was probably looking foreward to this the most, probably because there's nothing more manly than making weapons. I was also the most surprised.

[img]http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff304/jerrwhy/rwspear.jpg[/img]

The first spear I made I used the Ratweiler. This was effortless and the RW easily takes first place in this category. Why? The hollow pins on the micarta make lashing effortless and secure.

[img]http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff304/jerrwhy/rdspear.jpg[/img]

The next spear was the RD-7. I was very disapointed in this. I had a hard time making this secure. This is probably not a knife that I would entertain making a spear into. The knife was to twist and shift around making lashing difficult.

[img]http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff304/jerrwhy/ygspear.jpg[/img]

Next, and most surprising was the Yard Guard. I was cerain that I would have problems lashing it. It wasn't as easy and effortless to lash as the swamprat but I was able to affix it very securely with only a little more effort. This knife comes in a close second.

1st Place: Ratweiler
2nd Place: Yard Guard (very close to the Ratweiler)
3rd Place: RD-7

Post Test Inspection

When I inspected the knives at the end of this test I noticed that the edge on the RD-7 had rolled a little bit near the choil. I suspect that this occured during the chopping of the season fence post. That thing is pretty tough. Inspection of the other two blades yeiled no visable signs of damage.

The Choice:


If you dropped me off in the bush with any of these knives I wouldn't feel under knifed with any of them. Each of them are tough as nails and capable performers. What it came down to was details, I'm after a solid well rounded knife. I don't want a specalist knife, I want a general purpose blade.


So which knife will I choose to accompany my flint and water bottle?

[img]http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff304/jerrwhy/rw1.jpg[/img]

I really found the ratweiler to be more well rounded than the others. It came in dead last in the drilling category, and its handle initially wasn't that comfortable. However, it outchopped the other knives, was on par when it came to cutting and finer work. The extended tang makes minor hammering and smashing a breeze, and it can easily be lashed into a spear. In addition the SR101 has great edge holding abilities. Finally, it's going to be a little easier to sharpen than the recurve of the YG.

My second place knife, and it's a close second would be the Yard Guard. The RES-C handle really helps with grip and compfort. I was very surprised with the spear lashing exercise it really exceeded my expectation. It definately out drilled the others. However, the extra effort to chop through the log and the diffuculty in hammering took away from this great blade.

Lastly, there's the Ranger. Overall it's a great knife and performs very closely to the others. But like I said before it's all about the details. I found that when I chopped the handle would slip in my hand. The amount of shock that transfered to my hand was much greater than the other blades. It came in dead last for drillng and spear making.

Nice review, I enjoyed reading it greatly... thanks!

Nice pix and review Jerry, looks like you threw a little of everything at them.

I meant to put the cost into the equation but for what ever reason I didn't. And I do agree the best bang for the buck would be the RD-7 especially since it's a little cheaper and includes a sheath.

The problems with these types of things is that they're so subjective. What I like and you like in a knife are bound to be different. And one little area of performance can make or break a knife when it comes to our own predjuices.

that was great thank you.

Yeah, I was trying to find balance. I'm sure there's a lot of stuff I overlooked that someone else will think of. And then there's time. It's a lot easier to test a knife over the course of a couple of weeks in the back yard than test three over the course of a couple of hours.

Great review bro

I love my Rd7!

Great review. I'm always curious about why people want to use a knife as a spear though. I'd just sharpen a stick and fire harden the tip. Pretty much as effective as a blade on the end and much better balanced. A big plus is you still have your knife for chores or emergencies without having to dismantle the spear every time.

If I'm missing an important aspect of using a knife as a spear, please let me know. I'm not picking on you, this has always made me curious and this just seemed like an opportunity to ask.

Jerrwhy, thanks for the good little mini review! Ted, like you I've never seen the point of throwing your prime survival/field tool away either.. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

I have been eagerly anticipating your review, and I was not disappointed! Great comparison, Jerry. I find the ratweiler handle a little more comfortable than the Ranger's in heavy chopping. It's a tough call overall. I like the way you used the knives in these different survival tasks. The 'Weiler is a great knife for the swamps of Georgia and Florida! Outstanding review. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

I agree with you, my first choice would be to fire harden the tip and save the knife. However, what happens when you're in a situation where you cannot fire harden the tip? This could be because of excessive rain fall, or you just got into the survival situation and your first order of business in the need for a weapon for protection, being stalked by a bear or some such thing.

You can also lash the knife to the end of a stick and use it to prune. I've done this before to cut down wasp nest. But it could also be used for bees nest if you want to get at the honey.

It's important to kepp in mind that survival is all about opportunities and options. The more you have the better you are.