A 'Budget Rat 2 Clone' on r/BudgetBlades Reopens the Clone Question

Few posts split a knife community faster than a clone. When a r/BudgetBlades member shared a budget Rat 2 clone this week, the thread turned into the hobby's most familiar argument: why buy a copy of a knife when the original is itself one of the most affordable quality knives on the market? The Ontario Rat 2 is the budget knife world's benchmark — a $30-ish folder that punches far above its price — which makes cloning it a particularly strange business proposition, and an even stranger buying decision.

The Rat 2's reputation is almost mythological in the budget community. Designed by Randall's Adventure & Training and produced by Ontario Knife Company, it has been the default recommendation for beginners for years: AUS-8 or D2 steel, a proven design, and a price that makes it the safest first-knife purchase imaginable. When a design reaches that level of ubiquity, it becomes a target — and the market is full of cheaper copies trading on the silhouette.

The comments ran the full ethical spectrum. Some members were blunt: buying a clone of a $30 knife is pure waste, since the original is barely more expensive and infinitely better supported. Others defended the copy as a way to test the design before committing to the real thing, or noted that in some markets the original simply is not available at a reasonable price. A few pointed out the deeper irony — that the Rat 2's success means the clone market for it exists at all.

What the thread really illustrated is how the clone debate has matured. A few years ago, clone posts were mostly about high-end knives — people buying $50 copies of $500 designs. The Rat 2 clone moves the argument downmarket, where the economics make less sense and the moral lines get blurrier. The community's answer, predictably, was not unanimous.

Whether the poster keeps the clone or graduates to the real Rat 2, the thread served its purpose: another round of the hobby's favorite recurring debate, with the Rat 2 once again proving it is so good that even its copies start arguments.