The
Muskrat Pattern Knife
By:
Uncle Alvah
With any
knife, it’s nice to be working with a sharp blade. One of the Muskrat pattern
main selling points is that if, say, halfway thru whatever chore you find the
knife is not “what it should be” in terms of sharpness, With two simple
flicks the dull blade is stored and the identical fresh blade brought into use.
I am also of the opinion that because there is less upward “sweep” on the
blade, the overall straight line of the cutting edge makes sharpening a good
deal easier. The radius of the blade on any knife seems to always give me the
most problem when it comes time to sharpening. A carbon steel Muskrat, coupled
with decent sharpening steel, is about as easy a ticket as there is to
habitually possessing a razor sharp cutting blade. Easy sharpening is a big
“must have” for me on most any blade. And with the Muskrat, “razor
sharp” is just what you want, the Muskrat blades are less robust than the
typical Stockman clip blade, so the order of the day is to reserve the Muskrat
for pure cutting chores, select something else for heavier work.
A
Muskrat Pattern Knife From Case Knives
It
is a given that I’m prone to losing things, and pocket knives are no
exception. I’d guess I’ve had 8-12 Muskrat pattern knives over the years.
Probably the best two were a Case with jigged bone handle, and an original
Schrade, made in Ellenville NY, NOT China as they are now. Original “Schrade
USA” knives can still be found however, and there are additional quality
offerings easily found, like the pocket knives from Camillus (now also going to
close up US manufacture as well, sadly. Schrade ended US manufacture of it’s
knives during the company’s 100th anniversary year).
While the Stockman is
likely to continue it’s strong availability and popularity, next time you’re
snooping around for a pocket knife, either for yourself or as a gift for an
active outdoorsman (or woman), peer at the display case a bit closer and see if
there’s not perhaps an offering in the Muskrat pattern available. If so, why
not give it a go? I strongly suspect most users will be very well pleased with
its use and function.