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I love being rural. My "dealer" the guy i get swaps, used buys, and horsetrade with

2K views 16 replies 7 participants last post by  Goblin X 
#1 ·
I love being rural. My "dealer" the guy i get swaps, used buys, and horsetrade with

with from time to time, came up with a trade a couple of weeks ago, I been sorta down, so I couldn't really enjoy take it out and kick the tires, as it dont look like its going to improve, thanks to the VA/Federal Gvt, I might as well bite the bullet and get used to it.


any way, he swapped it to me to knock some of the onsite labor cost down
on his tractor, too much stump with not enough tractor,= blown hyd pump.
I always give him a fair deal, so i knocked a bit more off and all were pleased.

he got it in a swap, and hadn't been able to sell it, due to its size, don't know where he got it. didn't ask. didn't care. big chunk of steel . way i like em.

finally got one, been trying to get up with tha company since 13, never could get ahold of em.

9" edge,9.750 to tha scales,full.250 thick blade,Hammer butt, aggressive saw back, they say its a full 15 but i measured 14 7/8" overall,1095 HCS, Flat/Chisel/Combat ground,2"wide blade. I got to tighten up the edge a bit, they advertise em as coming with a toothy edge,that they do ,saw doesn't look to have ever been stroked. Scales are kinda thin,Green G10, but i got some carbon fiber sheet and my usual 69 barracuda green liner to widen em out, then round em down a lil bit.just a tad to flat for my liking, and sharp cornered.

sheath, is just a tad abbreviated. If ya belt loop it, its just a bit high for that long a blade,(slap yourself in tha armpit) I have a extra drop extension with a square d ring im going to add and drop it down about 6" which will work out about right.

the knife is a Grayman 9" Mega Ground Pounder going to make my own sheath for it in the future. OOOHHH YEEEAAAAA!!!:thumb::thumb::eek:


I horsetraded straight up for another blade while i was there, I had a 4" knife I had picked up, IT was in excellent shape, scuffed up a lil from use, but while it was useable, It just wasn't for me, ,But I will post about that trade at another time.
 

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#3 ·
call me monday brother, think i finally got the angle right on the cuts. my lefthanded but was going at it bassackwards. and i kept drifting off center.


I knew it!!!!!!!!! I got 1star!!!!!! I would like to thank my cousins, brothers, half brothers and all the brothers here that made this moment possible.....
 

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#6 ·
I know this thread is posted in the knives, sword and ax section, but I would like to take a moment to point out, you don't need to live rural to barter and swap. I barter my sewing services for a variety of things, including goat meat, vegetables I don't grow and car repair. I bake bread and sometimes a pie or cake for a man my husband works with in return for free eggs and the occasional chicken or duck. My husband just poured some cement and was paid in venison and boar. Most recently, I gave haircuts to an entire family for a pair of nearly new Oakleys. Everyone loves a bargain and most people will barter, but you won't get anywhere if you don't ask.
BTW- 5 stars for the thread.
 
#13 ·
thats how I get all my, NEW to ME stuff. picked up 2 more, I havent had a chance to take pictures off, the First one, I will get pics of both when I get em done, IS a Hardcorehardware D2 MFK O2. 5" blade, 6mm thick hunk of steel. it was on its 4th owner. sun damage to the sheath and scale (green behind the sheath tie in, light pale green elsewhere) other than that, knife never been USED. period. and the second one, just came thru late in the week for me. 60$ total for it, it had a broken belt clip(plastic) only mars on the finish is from sheathing and un sheathing. yep. another 3rd owner knife.never used. Finally picked up the Swamp Rat Ratmandu ive been chasing. Never could find one in my price range. this one due to the horrible skuffing on the sage paint, and a small mar from the sheath, was thankfully no longer a show piece (color is sage by the way) mine is identical to the one pictured, and for the life of me i cant see where the coating is skuffed. take all kinds. I picked up a used Esee Molle back to bolt to it. as well as a F/S tube and arrowhead sheath. i really like the shape of the ratmandu,always have, was just to high for me to get new from Busse and their Kin.

for some reason, they a lot of higher end knives moving in the used circles, for very lil cash. Ive got less than 160$ in all four in cash. thats the Helle, Greyman,Hardcore Hardware, and Swamp-rat:eek::eek::eek:. all last month. and my birthday present to myself showed up, only one I paid full price for, a NK 1 neck Knife from Extrema Ratio, I had to order it from Italy, no one had the one I wanted in stock. well worth the wait and price.110$ and if i break that lil devil im doing something. 6mm thick I had it on order before I came across any of the others.

its been a real good knife month.

these are just stock pics, I will have actual pics on Monday. for Peace and quiet i shut the shop phone off on weekends.

biggest surprise, the Hardcore Hardware, scale was funky, so I ordered a new set of scale and sheath. they told me to send em a pic of the blade without handles, and the they sent me out scales and sheath for zero cost.

Excellent company.

HELLE, on the other hand I just had some questions for, and in 8 weeks haven't heard a word back from em. Even their dealers couldn't help me out.
Got the answers I needed from people on this board,I couldn't get the owner of the company to answer the 3 emails I sent him. Love the fit of the knife,
but I would hate to deal with the company if i had a major issue.Ragnar of ragweed tried to help me out and pointed me in the right direction.
somehow, that seems problematic to me.:taped:

Grayman, for tha size of the blade, scales are tiny. gotta thicken em out. wants to roll in the hand with any kind of hit.

Ratmandu. even with my odd shaped mitts, grip is perfect. dont have to change a thing. just gotta make a sheath work. will make do till I can swing getting a dangler made by AZWELKE.


and the LiL NK1, a Neck knife i actually like. I can feel its weight in the sheath, the handle is long enough for my hand, and the cutouts make it perfect to grip. its a keeper!
 

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#15 ·
The swamp Rat feels really good right out the box. good scale ergonomics, well placed choil. really a user friendly blade. not to small , not to big, Just right.

Something gotta be going on there thought. Busse and Scrapyard, are both sold out on all their items. Looks like the only one still making for what ever reason is swamp Rat.

I had a choice between the Ratmandu and the Swamp Rat Rodent solution. I just didnt like the feel of the Rodent Solution in my hand. lil to small and light.
 
#17 ·
Find a place where you can actually inspect one, and try it on for size, i read up on em, most the complaints were on the size of the grip, with me, thats not a problem. plus as they are hand ground, grind line consistency and quality can vary. It coulda been ground on a day when the guy grinding had 2 to many Duval's the night before <G> and at their price point,$134.00 you want to be able to pick the cream of the crop. Contact with the company is almost non existent on anything but buying,(I always make contact with the companies when I obtain a knife) another reason to pick the one you want. mail order you get the next in line.
 
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