Are Rough Rider knives durable?

How is the overall edge-holding of Rough Rider? consistent over different patterns? Do they mostly use 440A? Just curious. I have seen where RR is a good useable blade for general use, so fit and finish is decent without being cheap / junk. In other words, it will not come apart after some use.

Edited. It gets into the much-debated issue of inexpensive vs cheap knives. Decent quality and value, vs cheap, gas station, flea maket stuff that has no edge holding and fall apart soon after. To be fair every once and awhile you can find some decent bargains at flea markets but they are the exception to the rule.
 
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In my experience with RR knives, the stainless ones hold an edge about like Case Tru Sharp knives, I cant tell the difference in use. The steel is fine. I have used a Marbles (RR made) Trapper quite a bit for skinning animals on a trapline and it held up very well.
 
Rough Rider knives are more than a match, metallurgically, for Case knives of forty plus years ago, and no one questions their use-ability. They are harder, more corrosion resistant, hold an edge longer, come just as sharp and are just as easy to touch up. There may be many various reasons to not like them, but the quality of the steel should NOT be one of them. I've never found traditional knives to be very durable in hard use; any side pressure on the blade often results in loose pivots. Rough Riders aren't a bit more prone to this than any others I've tried.
 
I have several Rough Rider knives, most have been very good. A couple are excellent and a couple with some minor issues. I have a mid lock whittler that leaves a little to be desired in the blade nesting,kinda like the pics JohnDF JohnDF posted. Quality wise its fine though. ALL of mine are used,sometimes a bit hard, I refurbish mobile homes and call on any knife I carry to work. I've had no problems with edge holding, although admittedly I touch up any knives I carry regularly. As an example THIS is a well built knife by anyones standards.
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I have the same RR as MisplacedHillbilly ... the wharnecliffe ... almost brand new (late 2019), never carried, never left my desk and one side broke off (see images) for no apparent reason,
never even dropped it, the other side snapped off when I was trying to straighten the lanyard hole. I'm going to re scale it with some bloodwood but first cut the brass pins and lanyard tube down all the way. The blade on it is great.

I had the same thing happen to one side of a RR medium stockman that had wood scales.

The other thing I'm noticing is that the brass pins on the last 3 newer (2019 and 2020) are sticking up too far ... easily felt as a rough edge, and poorly polished edges on all the brass
on the backs and top side of the well. I think RR finish quality has gone down quite a bit recently.
I just bought a Rough Rider Large Blackwood Folding Pocket Work Knife RR1708 Sod Buster. Same issue with the brass pins and brass edges all around.

The oldest RR I have is a small canoe I bought used and it's very clean and the finish is very smooth in all areas. I'd guess it's more than 5 yrs. old.
The difference in finish quality between the older and the newer is night and day.

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That does look poor. I haven't had any recent RR knives so can't share experiences there, earlier stuff seems more than OK though.
 
At1Rest said:
I have the same RR as MisplacedHillbilly ... the wharnecliffe ... almost brand new (late 2019), never carried, never left my desk and one side broke off (see images) for no apparent reason,
never even dropped it, the other side snapped off when I was trying to straighten the lanyard hole. I'm going to re scale it with some bloodwood but first cut the brass pins and lanyard tube down all the way. The blade on it is great.

I had the same thing happen to one side of a RR medium stockman that had wood scales.

The other thing I'm noticing is that the brass pins on the last 3 newer (2019 and 2020) are sticking up too far ... easily felt as a rough edge, and poorly polished edges on all the brass
on the backs and top side of the well. I think RR finish quality has gone down quite a bit recently.
I just bought a Rough Rider Large Blackwood Folding Pocket Work Knife RR1708 Sod Buster. Same issue with the brass pins and brass edges all around.

The oldest RR I have is a small canoe I bought used and it's very clean and the finish is very smooth in all areas. I'd guess it's more than 5 yrs. old.
The difference in finish quality between the older and the newer is night and day.

001.jpg
002.jpg
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Oh wow! That is pretty bad, I've used mine at work and while not overly rough,not to gently either. Mine has held up great. Maybe something went wrong when they pressed the lanyard tube. A sporting goods store near me carries them but I haven't been in there for awhile so haven't looked at any of the newer stock.
 
Misplaced Hillbilly said:
Oh wow! That is pretty bad, I've used mine at work and while not overly rough,not to gently either. Mine has held up great. Maybe something went wrong when they pressed the lanyard tube. A sporting goods store near me carries them but I haven't been in there for awhile so haven't looked at any of the newer stock.
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It would be nice to see one in person before purchase. I can't find a brick'n'mortar near me that carries RR.
 
CVamberbonehead said:
Hi everyone, I am new here, but everybodys been great so far. Now, onto the important stuff. I used the search function but havent found anything, so my question to all of you is, are Rough Rider knives durable? I saw a youtube video of someone breaking some Rough Riders(doggonerunning or something) and Im a bit worried. Ive never had one, and I want to buy a RR premium select congress for whittling. So, those that use RR knives, are they tough? I use Case knives usually, with no complaints.
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ebrandwein said:
I've been using this Rough Ryder as my edc knife for about 10 years now. Aside from and occasional sharpening, it's been idiot proof
https://imgur.com/a/t6xPLK4
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nice, i bought one it was a rigging knife but it was a real piece of crap liner lock but the lock didn't work, when you opened it the lock either centered like it should or went to the other side of the knife and you could shut the blade when locked, or it centered and with a little pressure on the spine the lock would bend and snap to the closed position and the blade would shut on whatever was in its way, so i broke it and tossed it that was a few years ago, i bought one this past spring and what a difference !!! i bought the sunfish with the blue bone scales and it is one of the nicest cheap knives i have ever treated myself to, i would have paid 60 bucks for it maybe more its worth itif i could figure out how to post pictures i would show it its definitely a keeper
 
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