JAB

Man, KnifeCenter is fast! I placed my order on Thursday around lunch time, got an email from them on Thursday evening that the order had shipped and my new D2 RAT 1 showed up in my mail box on Saturday. First impressions? I think that D2 really is noticeably different from Aus 8, even just right out of the box. My Aus 8 RAT 1 with the Ontario logo on the blade has barely - and I mean really, barely - been used, as in maybe peeling an apple or two and slicing some cheese, once. It has also been stropped - not sharpened, just stropped the factory edge. My Aus 8 RAT 1 with the Randall's Adventure Training logo on the blade has never been carried or used and hangs out in a drawer still in its original box and bubble wrap. It has been out of the box, opened and closed a few times and then put back in the box so the edge on it is still exactly as it came unused from the factory. Just feeling the edge with my finger tips the D2 is noticeably sharper, right from the factory. Now, is this because the D2 version is a 'special edition' and they pay more attention to sharpening them? I don't think so - the factory edges look identical so I really think that the D2 simply takes a better/sharper edge even at the factory. Not that the AUS 8 versions are 'dull' just that the edge on the D2 version feels as sharp right out of the box as many knives feel after I have spent time sharpening, honing and stropping them. The D2 RAT 1 is in my pocket, today, and probably will be for a few days, at least so I can see how it holds an edge with my usage over time. Here is a group pic of all three. Sorry the pic is a little blurry - I took several but my cell phone just didn't like the lighting, apparently. I am really liking the coyote brown scales:

I didn't say that they did. What I said was that these historians rank Lincoln - a president who pretty much destroyed the Founders' vision for the nation and more or less made us all 'subjects' of the federal government - as number one, above Washington, Jefferson, etc. I said that to put their ranking of Obama as #12 into perspective.

So, it seems a group of historians has ranked Obama as the 12th best president in history. Of course that same group of historians rank a president who pretty much single-handedly destroyed much of the Founders' vision of what the country and Constitution should be as number 1 - above even Washington and Jefferson - so I guess it isn't too surprising. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/c-span-survey-obama-12th-best-president/ar-AAn3LK0?OCID=ansmsnnews11 .

A person doesn't work in a vacuum. Someone with a good customer attitude can have that attitude ruined by a work environment where they aren't treated with at least a modicum of respect by their employer. If a person's employer has a piss-poor attitude or treats the employee like he or she doesn't matter then that employee probably isn't going to have a very good attitude, either - and you can't really blame them. Further, if the work environment is hostile or geared in such a manner that employees are pushed to "hurry up and get it done" regarding getting stock on shelves, etc. then such pressure can result in the employee feeling like they don't have time to devote to customer service and the truth is that they may not if they want to keep their job. On the other hand, if the employer creates an environment that not only fosters a positive attitude and let's the employee know that he or she isn't going to get yelled at for spending time helping a customer, even at the expense of getting other things done, if necessary, that is going to help a person with a good customer service attitude maintain that attitude. The fact is that a person's environment, how they are treated and such things have a major impact on that person's attitude, interaction with others and job performance. That isn't just my personal opinion but is based some of the basic tenants of Human Resource Development.

I used to carry fairly large (as large as was legal at the time) slipjoint knives with three and four blades. I have also been known to carry Swiss Army knives that had what I would consider to be a 'medium' amount of tools (certainly not the large or huge ones but still fairly heavy) so I think I have a different 'standard' for what is heavy in a pocket knife than some. Still, when I was holding both of them the other day I noticed that the RAT 1 felt (didn't weigh them, just going by feel) heavier than the Resilience even though the Resilience is quite a bit larger. Maybe not a lot heavier but noticeably so in hand. On the other hand, the RAT 1 was quite a bit less noticeable in my pocket - as in, having gotten used to the Resilience as my edc I had to check a couple of times to make sure the RAT 1 hadn't fallen out. Either way, I really want to try out the D2.

IANAL but it seems to me that the easiest way to handle it is if you are in the car with him then just make sure that the gun is on your person and the same with your wife.

Just a heads up since you indicated interest: I just now ordered a RAT 1 in D2 at Knife Center. They have them on sale for $39.95 before S&H. The standard (2-4 day) shipping was $2.99 so the grand total came to $42.94. Even with shipping that is, what, something like $12 or $13 more than the in-store price + tax for the AUS 8 version at Walmart. At ~$50 (before tax, S&H or whatever) give or take I was trying to decide if I wanted to get one as it would cost nearly double the price of the AUS 8 version. At $39.95 plus nominal shipping the decision was just about made for me. They have a few, different options for scale colors all at the same price. I chose the coyote brown scales. Just as I don't have anything in D2 I also don't have any folders in coyote brown and have kind of wanted one so that was a double bonus, for me. I think I will force myself to put my Resilience aside for a few weeks, at least. I want to carry the AUS 8 RAT 1 for a few days and then carry the D2 version so I can see for myself if I notice any difference. Or maybe I will just carry the Resilience and rotate carrying the two models of RAT 1 alongside it. That way I can compare the Resilience side by side with the RAT 1 and compare the AUS 8 and D2 versions of the RAT 1, as well.

I do really like the RAT 1 but have to say that I missed my Resilience when I carried the RAT yesterday. I think I have found my favorite edc blade - at least of the type - in the Resilience. It is still really tempting to get in on the D2 version of the RAT 1 at the price point if only to own a folder in D2 that won't break the bank. I know how you feel about it being a 'no brainer', though - if Spyderco started offering the Resilience in D2 for fifteen or twenty dollars more than the standard my response would be, "Take my money. Take my money, NOW!" Just FYI, the version of the RAT that Walmart sells in the few stores that stock the RAT 1 is still the AUS 8 model. I had heard somewhere that Ontario was switching to only making the RAT 1 in D2 but have since read that the D2 is a 'special edition' and is not replacing the AUS 8 version. Even on Amazon I think I have only found one seller that has the D2 version - all the rest seem to still be selling the AUS 8.

Yeah, I have to strop the 8Cr13MoV blade of the Resilience about once a week to bring it back to that 'razor blade' sharpness I mentioned earlier. After about a week it is still pretty sharp but I recently went maybe three weeks between stropping and ended up having to do a little, light sharpening on a diamond stone and then honing on the flat steel and finally stropping to get the edge back where I wanted it.

Grayfox54, you sighted the exact reason I wouldn't want to carry a .22LR as a main SD gun in most circumstances. Even before the .22 craze I have had 'duds' (usually fire on re-strike) even in the 'premium' .22LR brands/types such as Stingers, Mini-Mags and so on. I cannot, however, recall ever having had a single failure to fire with a .22WMR - not even the cheap Winchester Dynapoint ammo or some really old stuff my late, maternal grandfather had squirreled away when he died. I can't even say the same about factory 9mm as I have had 'duds' that didn't fire even on restrike from both Remington UMC and Federal (in their low cost, range ammo lines.) Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that you should trust .22WMR. I am just making a general statement that I believe there is a big difference in reliability and dependability between .22LR ammo and .22WMR ammo. I don't know if that is due to the difference in construction, if more QC attention is paid to the WMR because it is more expensive or what but that has been my experience.

I already have two RAT 1 folders in AUS 8. One of them - which I got via Amazon - has the old Randall's Adventure Training triangle logo on the blade. I have it in the box it came in stashed in a drawer. The other - which came from Walmart - has the newer 'O' Ontario logo on the blade. It has been carried but only a little. The reason it has only been carried a little is that I also got my Spyderco Resilience at about the same time. Some folks might think that the Resilience is too big for an EDC but for me - since the blade length restrictions in TN went away - it is just about the perfect size. It fits my hand well and I like the larger folders (4 to 4.5 inch blade) better than medium or smaller ones, just in general. I consider the RAT 1 to be a medium sized folder. All that said, I have a soft spot for higher carbon steels over 'stainless'. Don't get me wrong, I know that even some of the 'budget' stainless steels can be good. I have only passed the carried RAT1 over a flat steel and stropped it on an old, leather belt and it will shave. I reprofiled (convexed) the edge on the Resilience and now the 8Cr13MoV blade is literally as sharp as a razor blade. Still, I remain a bit 'old school' in my opinions of stainless steels. I also don't own anything in D2 (which I know is sometimes considered to be 'semi-stainless' because of the higher chromium content but does that just mean it is kind of like Case 'CV' steel or a 'crovan' steel?) Strangely, while there are quite a few more traditional 'slipjoint' pocket knives in D2 and other, higher carbon steels there don't seem to be too many D2/carbon steel knives of the same type as the RAT 1 and Spyderco Resilience. By that, I mean knives with pocket clips, one-hand opening features (Spidey hole, thumb studs, etc.), wider blade profiles and at a price point I would consider to be 'budget' or 'economical' lines. In fact, at about $50 on Amazon - which is just a couple or three dollars more than the going rate for a regular 8Cr13MoV Resilience right now, the RAT 1 in D2 seems to be just about the only player on the field. So, in considering ordering a RAT 1 in D2 I have decided to EDC one of my AUS 8 RAT 1 knives for a few days to see if I would be okay with a RAT 1 riding in my pocket instead of the Resilience in the first place. This brings me to my question for y'all, though. Does anyone here have a RAT 1 in AUS 8 and one in D2? Is there really that much day to day difference under normal, moderate, general pocket knife type usage? Is the D2 worth the extra twenty some-odd dollars in practical usage or is it really just kind of a 'cool factor' for this, particular type of knife?

Nah, I know you meant the thread as a joke but I think these discussions are fun as long as no one starts telling someone else that they are an 'idiot' because of their choice, etc. I like these threads because they give me a chance to reflect out loud regarding where I stand at the moment.

I wouldn't bet on it. I thought I remembered reading about slingshots being illegal in some states/areas so I did a quick Bing search. This article is from 2012 but I see no reason to believe that the law has changed: http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Teen-charged-with-slingshot-possession-3429903.php from the article: OMG - RUN! He's got a powerful wrist-braced slingshot! Run for your lives! We're all gonna diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeee!!!!!!! The 'Johnson' who is quoted is the local police chief. Yep, the chief of police thinks that carrying a slingshot is 'almost like carrying a gun'. So what kind of guns does his police force carry that are 'almost like' a slingshot? Nerf dart guns? He might want to look into upgrading to potato guns or something before some desperate thug with a rubber band launcher takes out his entire force. Can't you just imagine it? "Ow! My eye!" "Oh, no! They got Bill! Officer down! Officer down!" You can't fix stupid. All you can do is nuke it into oblivion. (note: If we still had sig lines that would be my new one) Then there is this article, about a New Jersey legislator trying to get their law changed is from 2015 - and I can't find anything saying that he was successful: http://www.app.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/2015/05/13/bill-make-slingshots-legal-nj/27236849/ Yep, a fourth degree crime with a possible $10,000 fine, up to 18 months in prison or both - for carrying a friggin' slingshot - unless the person has an, 'explainable, lawful purpose' for carrying it. Somehow, I doubt that, "Because you bunch of panty-waist bedwetters won't let me carry my damn gun," would pass muster as an 'explainable, lawful purpose'. Probably the best, most foolproof way of making sure one does not run afoul of weapons laws in New York or New Jersey is to avoid those states as if they were ground zero for an epidemic of the bubonic plague, ebola and genital warts. That is my plan, at least, and I hope to be able to stick to it. I am thinking that Joerg Sprave (German guy who has a YouTube channel called 'The Slingshot Channel' where he pushes the idea of the slingshot to the extreme) had better not even be seen within 50 miles of either state. They would have to call in their National Guard with bean bag bazookas to stop this maniac!

I hear that the whole thing has gotten blown way out of proportion over the years. The truth, as I heard it, involved a woman, a bottle of cheap tequila and two guys duking it out in a gravel parking lot.

I am sure that someone will gut HB0508. They will probably do away with the requirement that each person who enters through the public entrance must be searched in order for firearms to be legally prohibited. Then, knowing how much our legislature loves their damned signs, someone will probably amend it so that there has to be an officer or security guard 'on duty' but if the officer or security guard is away from the door a sign alerting people entering the building that there is a guard 'on duty' will stand in substitution of the actual guard as long as there is at least one guard 'on duty' during open hours. Then local governments will assign a bailiff or even a patrol officer to be the official 'guard', that person will actually be present 'guarding' the door for maybe an hour or two each day and we, the citizens of the state of Tennessee who go through qualification, vetting, paying fees and other nonsense in order to get the state to say that we are safe and honest enough to carry a firearm will get screwed over, once more. I am so sick of our 'pro-gun' Republican majority legislature that I could vomit. I am thinking maybe we should elect a few more Democrats or maybe elect a Democrat governor next time because the Republicans seem to get more done for gun rights when they are trying to bullsh...er...convince us that they are on our side. When they actually gain control of the legislature they get complacent and show their true colors.

Okay, since even the OP got in on the act of the question not being only a joke... It depends on where I am going or what I am doing. When I first started carrying, I was a lot more worried about caliber, capacity, etc. I liked carrying a snubnosed .357 or a Ruger P95 on my belt with reloads for either. I would also, sometimes, have my P3AT in my off-hand pocket as a backup. The problem was that I couldn't really shoot my P3AT all that quickly with much accuracy with my off (left) hand. I ended up getting a NAA mini revolver in .22WMR to carry in my off-hand pocket. If I was going somewhere that carrying on my belt would be problematic (I cannot stand IWB so belt carry for me is OWB) I'd carry the P3AT in my strong-side pocket and 'hope' it would be okay. Then a couple years went by and, realizing that I still had not been in a situation where I had to fight off a horde of berzerker ninja assassins on meth whose one goal was to see me dead, I started 'just' carrying the P3AT in a pocket more often. I'd usually have a backup magazine or two, though. Eventually, after realizing that while I am okay with the P3AT (and I still carry it, sometimes) as my one and only, I honestly like and trust revolvers more. That is when I traded my snub-nosed Rossi .357 - which I really wasn't carrying any more - toward my S&W 642. After putting some Pachy grips on it, meaning I can shoot it much better, now, I mostly carry the 642 in my pocket and a speed strip (or, rarely, a speedloader.) Truthfully, for me and my current lifestyle I feel plenty comfortable with that. Truth is, I can't carry at work, period so anything I carry when I can/do carry - which is pretty much any time I am not at work as long as I am not in an 'illegal to carry' location - is better than what I have on me for what ends up being the majority of my waking hours that are spent away from home. Often around the house I will have my Heritage Rough Rider with the .22WMR cylinder installed riding on my hip. The reason is that, out in the country, it is more likely that I am going to have to shoot a possum or raccoon in the chicken coop (and, actually, I have) than that I will have to fight my way out of a confrontation with a human assailant. For such use, the .22WMR is superior to cutting loose with a .357, .9mm or even a .38 +P. Further, I have little doubt that five Hornady Critical Defense .22WMR rounds (I carry hammer down on an empty in that, particular single-action revolver) from a 6.5 inch barrel would give pause to said, hypothetical human assailant, as well. There have also been times, in public, when the only firearm I had on me was the aforementioned NAA. I load it with Speer Gold Dot .22WMR (my informal tests have shown me that, for some reason, the Gold Dots work better in the NAA but the Hornady works better in the Rough Rider.) In my informal tests, those Gold Dot .22WMR rounds - from that 1 5/8 inch barrel - penetrated three gallon jugs of water and put a hole in the front of a fourth jug (the bullet rebounded and was found in the third jug) while yielding an expanding bullet that almost literally looked like the one in the picture on the front of the box. Again, five of those would almost certainly cause any assailant to stop and consider their actions. Although mine is just a 'vanilla' NAA magnum, I put the larger, rubber grips on it similar to the ones on the Black Widow (without the spider emblem) so it is possible to hit with it, too - especially at likely handgun distances. Now, if I am going camping up at Citico, Tellico, etc. then the smallest I am likely to trust will be either my GP100 or, more likely , my Taurus Tracker .44 Magnum. Is a black bear attack likely? No. Is it possible? Yes, no doubt. In the event that I am faced with an attacking black bear, however unlikely, will I be glad to have a .357 (with Buffalo Bore heavy hard cast) or a .44 Mag instead of a smaller caliber on me? Absolutely. Oh, when not at work I also often carry a fixed blade knife in a belt sheath. I tend to think of that as more of a tool than a weapon, though, as I have zero training or experience with using a knife in a defensive capacity. That said, if backed into a corner with no choice I would try to insert pointy tab 'A' into assailant 'B' repeatedly, if possible. I also tend to keep my knives very sharp (razor sharp for the ones that will achieve such) so it just might give me a chance, at least. At work about the best I can do is a Spyderco Resilience which, again, I see as a tool - it gets used to slice cheese, peel apples and so on.

Wow - when you do a new blade style you make it look as if you have been making that kind of blade forever.

'Dog Wick' was great! I had not seen the movie John Wick and so decided to purchase the DVD at Wally World last Friday and watched it on Friday night. It was a great movie. I even got a chance to make a John Wick reference in a text to some friends, today. I was telling them about a dog food company that has recalled some of its products because a drug used for euthanasia has been found in it. I said that if I fed my dog food from some company and it killed her then I just might go all John Wick on their a**.

Only on Tuesday nights? What are you, a monk?

Yeah, I usually renew my permit in person and it always annoys me that I am not legally allowed to carry my firearm in the very facility where I go to renew the permit.

It has never made any sense to me that the very government that deems a person to be eligible for a permit, sets the requirements for that person to get a permit, vets the person as safe and trustworthy to carry a gun before issuing the permit, takes the person's money in fees, etc. for the permit and then issues the permit turns around and basically says that the same person isn't safe and trustworthy enough to carry a gun in 'their' (our) buildings and that the permit issued by that very government basically isn't valid in their (our) buildings. It just shows how elitist most politicians are - like they are saying, "Well, we are fine with you carrying in restaurants and places like that around the general public but we don't want you carrying around important people like us."

I need to get to Academy in Knoxville and see where they are on .22 ammo. My weird work schedule and some other things that are going on right now make that easier said than done. I can say that .22LR is still mostly a fairy tale at the Walmart locations in this area (Turkey Creek, Lenoir City and Sweetwater at the very least.) I did see a single box of Federal Automatch on the shelf at the Sweetwater location on Saturday afternoon. The price was $17 which I thought wasn't bad (say what you will about Walmart - they usually have the best price on ammo for those of us who can't/don't order in bulk.) That single box looked so forlorn sitting there all by its lonesome that I felt I just had to take it home. That was the first .22LR I have seen at any of those locations in a month or two, at least. The strange thing is that they do seem to usually have .22 LR shotshells.

On a completely different note, I was in the Save A Lot in Sweetwater on Saturday and they had this: That is one of the brands of bacon that Save A Lot regularly stocks. It is pretty good bacon even if sliced a little thin, sometimes. The packages are 12 ounces instead of a pound but a pound and a half (total) of bacon for $5 isn't bad, I think. I don't know what others would think of the fat to lean ration - I personally don't like too much lean in bacon but I don't like it to be all fat, either. I also don't like my bacon cooked 'crispy' as I think that makes it dry and removes a lot of the flavor.

Is that a problem with their packaged bacon? My love for Bentons bacon (and ham and sausage and prosciutto) comes from going to Bentons and buying it. They do sell the bacon pre-packaged at the store but I often get them to slice it right off the whole piece. If I do buy the prepackaged I look through and find a pack that looks best. If I can't find a pack that looks good I'll say to the guy at the slicer something like, "Do you have any bacon back there with more lean in it?" I guess I have a soft spot for the place due to something that happened a few years ago. After I had my bought with congestive heart failure and was having to watch my sodium intake (I still try not to have too much sodium but it now looks like my congestive heart failure might have been caused by a virus) I considered making a smoked, uncured bacon analogy to keep the sodium down. I called Benton's and asked if they would sell me a portion of a 'green' pork belly as I would never use a whole one. The person I was talking to (who may well have been Mr. Benton - I have met him in person, at the LGS of all places, and this sounded like him) said that they didn't really sell partial bellies because it made the process of turning them into bacon more difficult. Then he asked why I wanted to buy a partial, 'green' one so I told him. He responded that if I wanted to do this because of a health problem with the sodium then that was a different story and he would sell me ever how much I wanted. He then gave me advice on how to make it work. Well, I never actually got around to doing it - just pretty much laid off of bacon for a while (and still only eat it occasionally) but I will never forget it, either.

Following up on my last post, another thing to consider is that Amazon could close its doors today and Brezos would still be filthy rich. He probably has more money than he could ever spend so even a successful boycott would not be likely to hurt him. It would, however, hurt all of the employees who could and likely would lose their jobs if Amazon's business declined or if Amazon closed its doors. If we want jobs for Americans then boycotting a company that hires lots of Americans might not be the best approach. Again, people are, of course, free to spend their money anywhere they wish. Heck, I generally avoid Target but to be honest I didn't really shop there very much to begin with. I just wanted to toss it out there that the intended consequences of a boycott and the real consequences can be very different.