Are Rough Rider knives durable?

[CVamberbonehead]

Agreed. The Vics are great value for money, and the Spartan is an excellent variant. Exposed rivets would top it a little bit, like those on the Alox Soldier or Cadet. Rivets that stand a bit proud, to allow for peening to adjust for wear, like on the US Milk-K-818 demo knife (or copy thereof) are always nice.

I would mention the Marbles 278 demo knife copy, but not if you want a working caplifter....

As for me, the Colonial 2205 scout has been just the ticket.

Whats wrong with the bottle opener?

 

[CVamberbonehead]

Off topic, but I just want to thank everyone for their time, Im loving the forum so far. Thanks for the responses and taking time out to answer a new members questions!

 

[CVamberbonehead]

 

[Blake the Blade]

In an ideal world Case would buy Rough Rider and sell them as their budget range, something like what Fender do with their Chinese made models. And I don't mean that as a criticism of Rough Rider, I think they're great knives and superb value.

 

[CVamberbonehead]

So, back to the original topic of durability. Whose got stories of working with their RRs? How are they holding up for everyone? Are they falling apart at the seams, or just getting that old familiar pocketworn feel? As for me, so far Ive cut up some fruit and just done little stuff like that. Sharpening pencils. Whittling. Opened mail. Etc. No problems so far

 

[solphilos]

So, back to the original topic of durability. Whose got stories of working with their RRs? How are they holding up for everyone? Are they falling apart at the seams, or just getting that old familiar pocketworn feel? As for me, so far Ive cut up some fruit and just done little stuff like that. Sharpening pencils. Whittling. Opened mail. Etc. No problems so far

I carried a RR copperhead for about 5 years, put to a lot of use at work and its held up the same as I'd expect as any of other pocket knife, regardless of brand or origin. I lost that knife on a job site and wish I still had it, it was an example of the good quality RR typically puts out. Back then politics didn't factor in to my knife purchasing decisions, I just needed a tool that could hold up to daily use at an affordable price and RR provided that.
If the knife is good when purchased I don't see any reason outside of blatant abuse why is should deteriorate with time.

 

[CVamberbonehead]

I carried a RR copperhead for about 5 years, put to a lot of use at work and its held up the same as I'd expect as any of other pocket knife, regardless of brand or origin. I lost that knife on a job site and wish I still had it, it was an example of the good quality RR typically puts out. Back then politics didn't factor in to my knife purchasing decisions, I just needed a tool that could hold up to daily use at an affordable price and RR provided that.
If the knife is good when purchased I don't see any reason outside of blatant abuse why is should deteriorate with time.

Exactly the sort of response i was hoping for. Thanks! Thats good to hear. Sorry you lost it

 

[Henry Beige]

There is a story which may be apocryphal, but I read it on this forum, about some guys from Case who visited the big vendor to look at their RRs. They were astonished and a bit dismayed that RR could produce that quality for the price.

As this thread has ground along, I have been pulling Cases and RRs off my shelf to look at them side by side, mindful of some comments to the effect that Case is clearly superior. It doesn’t look that way from here.

 

[Blake the Blade]

Have purchased a number of RRs over the last three or four years but these three have naturally become my go too users. the whittler has had the most abuse and was used as my work knife for a good two or three years and has no damage to it other than that caused by use or excessive sharpening. There is no side to side blade movement, it is sharp as a razor and a very hardy little knife. The medium red bone stockman is just a lovely knife altogether. I started keeping it handy to save wear and potential loss of an old Sheffield stockman I inherited from my great uncle and have really grown to like it. It has a feel of real quality, it's as sharp if not sharper than my old one, and I cant think of what it would take to damage it that wouldn't apply to any other knife I own. But the one that gets the most pocket time of all my knives is the small amber stockman, the first RR I bought. This one has become a trusty friend now and I'm sure I'm just as attached to it as anyone could be to a pocket knife. The blades have developed a nice shape through sharpening, the scales are mellow and pleasing, its nice and smooth to open, sharp and a real nice size to carry. Its slightly more versatile than my Case peanut (similar in size) which stays safe in my collection most of the time as a result. I also own a large yellow stockman, a faux tortoise shell trapper, white bone barlow, and bone/stag congress...all great Rough Rider knives.

Untitled by Blake Blade, on FlickrUUntitled by Blake Blade, on Flickrntitled by Blake Blade, on Flickr

 

[afishhunter]

That's false.

A 3 7/8" Case 3347 costs $38.98 from a major Case dealer. A 3 7/8" Buck 301 costs $37.95.

My apologies. I was going by the prices I saw on Buck's websites, and those I saw on the "big river" and that big store in Tennessee site.

 

[CVamberbonehead]

Have purchased a number of RRs over the last three or four years but these three have naturally become my go too users. the whittler has had the most abuse and was used as my work knife for a good two or three years and has no damage to it other than that caused by use or excessive sharpening. There is no side to side blade movement, it is sharp as a razor and a very hardy little knife. The medium red bone stockman is just a lovely knife altogether. I started keeping it handy to save wear and potential loss of an old Sheffield stockman I inherited from my great uncle and have really grown to like it. It has a feel of real quality, it's as sharp if not sharper than my old one, and I cant think of what it would take to damage it that wouldn't apply to any other knife I own. But the one that gets the most pocket time of all my knives is the small amber stockman, the first RR I bought. This one has become a trusty friend now and I'm sure I'm just as attached to it as anyone could be to a pocket knife. The blades have developed a nice shape through sharpening, the scales are mellow and pleasing, its nice and smooth to open, sharp and a real nice size to carry. Its slightly more versatile than my Case peanut (similar in size) which stays safe in my collection most of the time as a result. I also own a large yellow stockman, a faux tortoise shell trapper, white bone barlow, and bone/stag congress...all great Rough Rider knives.

Untitled by Blake Blade, on FlickrUUntitled by Blake Blade, on Flickrntitled by Blake Blade, on Flickr

Those are some well loved knives! Nice pictures. Well im glad to hear that you have had good results, I was wanting to see long term durability, to see how they stack up, and those look pretty good.

 

[CVamberbonehead]

There is a story which may be apocryphal, but I read it on this forum, about some guys from Case who visited the big vendor to look at their RRs. They were astonished and a bit dismayed that RR could produce that quality for the price.

As this thread has ground along, I have been pulling Cases and RRs off my shelf to look at them side by side, mindful of some comments to the effect that Case is clearly superior. It doesn’t look that way from here.

I think as a whole, Case is maybe better, but are they good enough to justify a 500% price increase???? I dont know. That goes for any company. Queen, GEC whatever. Time will tell I guess

 

[Will Power]

Good review Blake Mirrors my experience of using RR for garden work. I like those ornaments on your mantlepiece too

I find RR as durable as any other Traditional slip joint knife. It's inevitable that comparisons with CASE will be made and that many people will get stirred by this as they may have grown up with CASE knives. They have a long heritage & authenticity, RR obviously lacks this completely. Yet I think it is fairer to compare CASE with Buck. Base models are about the same price, but Buck is all stainless construction and more or less synthetic woods or delrin handles-these are much more durable than carbon,brass,real wood bone. But CASE has a bigger range of styles, handles, patterns and basically look nicer but I don't find them as innately durable as Buck if we're talking about day in day out work for an extended time.

Finally, my tastes are broad, I enjoy a lot of different types of Traditional knives from around the world, some very cheap others quite costly but I don't find RR lacking in build quality as opposed to the others nor in steel edge retention either, another aspect of durability.

 

[Bartleby]

Whats wrong with the bottle opener?

Rather than using the classic Camillus 1760 (Milk-K-818D) as starting point, the Marbles 278 version is a very direct copy of the Queen Q1986/Ontario 8980 camp knife, including a poorly designed cap lifter. The geometry of the cap lifter is such does not allow the lifter to hook under the cap at all in the examples I have tried.

Colonial chose on their 2205 Military Scout knife to use tools very closely based on the Bear & Son series of Scout knives, rather than going for a direct copy of any previous Mil-k-818 version. This was a wise move, given the design flaw that was continued by Marbles in their version. It also did away with the need to bend the screwdriver blade to avoid hitting the can opener on closing. I did contact Colonial about the change to the shorter screwdriver blade, and I was told that the shorter blades were used on a different version of a scout knife that had been made previously. I can only speculate at this point that perhaps this is a result of collaboration between the two companies in the knife's production, as Bear & Son discontinued their production of scout type knives when the Colonial 2205 was introduced.

 

[supratentorial]

Case would not charge an insane amount for the same knife. They don't make the same low quality. To drive the point across I hope everyone will appreciate the difference in comparing the quality of the mother of pearl on a Case knife to that on Rough Rider. Let's even toss out the examples from RR that are cracked (like some the OP received) and look at a "good one". You should see a clear difference. Go to a dealer selling mother of pearl raw materials and you will see that the quality and prices vary quite a bit.

Here is a comparison photo for the example that I previously provided. I picked mother of pearl as an example because the difference is extremely obvious. It is a lower quality material. Some will undoubtedly say they are the same though!

The pearl on the Rough Rider is milky and opaque. The owner/dealer's product description also warned that the material is often cracked. These first examples were pulled from the web but I had an example from this series and it had a chip in the abalone shield. You can see the chipped knife in the scan from one of my old Exchange sales. The OP also had cracks in a knife that he received.

Since the topic is durability, I'd probably skip anything with pearl and inlays. But it was the bling that he liked.

Case vs Rough Rider

Chipped abalone shield

 

[knarfeng]

You might be the only one I have ever heard use "mother of pearl" and "durable" in the same sentence. Just sayin'.

 

[supratentorial]

You might be the only one I have ever heard use "mother of pearl" and "durable" in the same sentence. Just sayin'.

The OP started a topic about durability and he bought a knife with abalone inlays. Don't recall if abalone and durability were in the same sentence though. Both types of shell can crack. Acrylics would be more durable.

 

[deltaboy]

I got my first RR BARLOW over 10 years ago and lost it on a trip! I been buying this brand every since along with my ebay finds!

They done everything I done with any other brand pocket knife and I have not broke one yet!

 

[knarfeng]

I don't see any post talking about MOP except yours. The OP bought a congress with turquoise inlays.

The congress is great. ...Its an arrowhead series, with imitation turquoise.

Be that as it may, my point is that the durability of MOP in an of itself will be less than that of the rest of the knife. Any knife. And the original question was durability of a RR knife when used for whittling. So I was somewhat bemused by the MOP example.

But, back on track.
I have a couple of RR knives. Bought them because I wanted to try them. I don't consider the finish to be the equal of Case in all regards. Initial carry and use performance suggests to me they are the equal of Case in that regard, though I've not given any RR enough pocket time and cutting tasks to be absolutely certain.

 

[supratentorial]

I don't see any post talking about MOP except yours. The OP bought a congress with turquoise inlays.


Be that as it may, my point is that the durability of MOP in an of itself will be less than that of the rest of the knife. Any knife. And the original question was durability of a RR knife when used for whittling. So I was somewhat bemused by the MOP example.

But, back on track.
I have a couple of RR knives. Bought them because I wanted to try them. I don't consider the finish to be the equal of Case in all regards. Initial carry and use performance suggests to me they are the equal of Case in that regard, though I've not given any RR enough pocket time and cutting tasks to be absolutely certain.

He says pearl here.

Unfortunately they arent all perfect. Im goig to return a couple. I bought a dog bone that has a broken lanyard and lanyard peice, and a stoneworx small toothpick that has 2 cracks in a piece of pearl. But Im still mostly pleased.

Also, in the OP's first post he says

........I used the search function but havent found anything, so my question to all of you is, are Rough Rider knives durable? .....I want to buy a RR premium select congress for whittling. So, those that use RR knives, are they tough?....

I think it is this knife with abalone inlays. If I understand correct he bought knives with both types of shell.