Case Tru Sharp vs Rough rider 440a

P

Pipeman

Joined
Dec 2, 2004
Messages
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Been wanting to do a sharpness test between Case and Rough rider for a while. I didn't have matching knives but all were unused knives and I tried to match the blade size and shape as well as I could. The handles were somewhat different which could make a minor difference. I am a sheath maker and leather smith so I used strips of 10 oz veggitan for cutting as I am very familiar with the feel, the strips were 1/2 inch wide. I used a crunch and pull for each cut in the first inch of all blades. Here are the knives. and the results.
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Case mini copperhead pen vs RR peanut pen. This was the only blade that Case won. Both blades needed more pressure than the bigger blades. The case blade was slightly sharper.
Case Mini copperhead Clip vs RR clips on both the peanut and small single blade Barlow. No contest between the copperhead and the RR peanut the RR sliced like butter while the Case clip dragged and the Barlow was sharper than both.
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I used the Case medium stock vs and what RR calls their 3 blade Barlow "sabre blades" for cutting. This one really surprised me, the RR cut 40 cuts like butter and then 40 more, the case dragged through 10 cuts using a great deal more pressure.
The RR sabre blade and RR clip on the small barlow were BY FAR the sharpest blades. So much for the much maligned 440a .

Best regards

Robin
 
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Did you sharpen these, or just take them out of the box and start cutting?
If so, how?

Not looking to knock you at all , just trying to understand what exactly has been compared here.

Thanks.
 
FLymon said:
Did you sharpen these, or just take them out of the box and start cutting?
If so, how?

Not looking to knock you at all , just trying to understand what exactly has been compared here.

Thanks.
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Hi Flymon. All the knives are brand new never used or sharpened, factory edges. I used the same pressure comparing pen to pen clip to clip and sabre to sabre however the sabre blades just can't be compared for sharpness. Even to do 10 cuts with the case I had to use twice the pressure and the RR sabre blade did 80 razor cuts. I'm going to buy some rope tomorrow and use it for testing.

Regards

Robin
 
Why does this not surprise me?

I've come to have a good amount of respect for the R brand. Very good knives for the price, and they will do the job. My experience withthem coems from my friend Chet, who is a fan of them. About every couple of months he shows up at the Friday breakfast with a new RR. Barlow's, stockman, whatever. The thing is, I know Chet, and he uses the living heck out of them. Aside from being an avid hunter, he loves camping, civil war re-enacting, and flint knapping. He uses his pocket knives for all manor of cutting and borderline abuse, and the RR's keep on going. Kind of lke the old Timex watch commercials; take a licking and keeps on ticking. Anything from carving tent pegs to camp cooking and leather work.

A RR is a good knife, no getting around it.

Carl.

PS- I love the match strike nail nick of the RR peanut.
 
Pipeman said:
Hi Flymon. All the knives are brand new never used or sharpened, factory edges. I used the same pressure comparing pen to pen clip to clip and sabre to sabre however the sabre blades just can't be compared for sharpness. Even to do 10 cuts with the case I had to use twice the pressure and the RR sabre blade did 80 razor cuts. I'm going to buy some rope tomorrow and use it for testing.

Regards

Robin
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No doubt about it the RR are sharp out of the box.
Sharper than any of the slipjoint manufacturers we talk most about here in my experience.
 
I just don't like the RR steel. It feels like it takes forever to get a good edge on it, like much stainless, no biggy there. But then, that edge dulls down to just "working sharp" real quickly.

My experience with Case tru-sharp has been the Sodbuster and that concave edge may bias my feelings, but it cut great and held an edge similar to a softer carbon steel.
 
jackknife said:
Why does this not surprise me?

I've come to have a good amount of respect for the R brand. Very good knives for the price, and they will do the job. My experience withthem coems from my friend Chet, who is a fan of them. About every couple of months he shows up at the Friday breakfast with a new RR. Barlow's, stockman, whatever. The thing is, I know Chet, and he uses the living heck out of them. Aside from being an avid hunter, he loves camping, civil war re-enacting, and flint knapping. He uses his pocket knives for all manor of cutting and borderline abuse, and the RR's keep on going. Kind of lke the old Timex watch commercials; take a licking and keeps on ticking. Anything from carving tent pegs to camp cooking and leather work.

A RR is a good knife, no getting around it.

Carl.

PS- I love the match strike nail nick of the RR peanut.
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Hi Carl
I first read about RR knives in Knives illustrated feb 2007, the article sang praises about them. I bought a stockman with micarta scales and used it on my leather bench for two years before I bought more. The knife still snaps and cuts like a razor. The thing I like about them most is the way they sharpen, much like an old carbon steel, a few licks and the blade is sharp, and they hold an edge very well. After 100s and 100s of sharpenings you can see the sheepsfoot blade hasn't lost much steel. I think you'd like the small barlow in the pictures, great little knife.

Best regards

Robin

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I've got a RR canoe and a mini trapper, both have been excellent knives, easily sharpened and hold an edge. I've used the clip blade on the mini trapper for breasting out pigeons and it cut like a scalpel. Great knives for low £££.
 
I have yet to encounter an out of the box knife period that my my standard for "sharp". You should sharpen both and then re-test.
 
akadave2 said:
I have yet to encounter an out of the box knife period that my my standard for "sharp". You should sharpen both and then re-test.[/QUOTE

akadave, In the KI article that drew me to RR knives the writer reprofiled the edge to 25 degrees and it cut 4 times as much rope as the factory edge did. I haven't played with Case tru sharp but my CV blades certainly get much sharper than the factory edge.

Regards

Robin
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I have been using RR knives and others made in the same factory for several years now, for my own carving and whittling projects and to modify for my own and my students' use. I used to tell my students that the last thing they should ever want to see on the blade of their knife was the word "China". That was back when I was using and selling a lot of Camillus knives, which were great.

The current crop of RR et al are however just as good, and possibly even better. I know for sure that the current crop of Schrade branded knives are certainly better than the old made in the USA ones with the Swinden Key construction that loosened up with any kind of hard use.

The steel in these RR etc. knives is great. Keeping a very good edge is important in doing detailed carvings, and in that respect I have found the stainless to be at least as good as not only the domestic brand stainless but also the 1095 carbon.

Having read all the buzz about 1095 I bought a Queen congress in 1095 and gave it a workout. I know a lot of people don't want to hear it, but sorry - it isn't worth the money. I have Case CV blades too. The RR stainless is better in my opinion.

Of course when I compared the older Camillus stainless and their carbon I found the same thing. Their stainless seemed to me to be superior.

This all comes from may hours of working in wood - White Pine, Basswood, Birch, Walnut, Alder, Maple etc.- and not only myself, but maintaining the many knives of my loaner roll used by my students. I know which ones need more sharpening. The RR, Colt and Marble's are at the top of the pile in edge keeping and in general sturdiness.
 
The day before a big high voltage job I told the 3rd year apprentice to bring a sharp sturdy knife tomorrow because we will be making stresscones up all day well he went out and bought one of those RR and away to the MCC'S we go and start stripping 750mcm cable a couple of hour into it I had twice as many cones made up as he did at lunch time I asked him what was taking so long and he said he had to stop every hour to sharpen the RR and it was hard to strip wire with one side of the scales coming unglued.So with that said and in real life I find it very hand to think you can really compare 440a to cv,1095 440c or 420 hc and as far as tru sharp I can strip cables all day with a hit on a strop once or twice.My 2cent worth and a fact.
 
I have a few RR knives but I haven't really used them a lot yet. I got them mostly to give away as gifts to people that don't generally carry a knife and a couple of peanuts to sub for my EDC peanut if I have to fly or travel and don't want my Case peanut to come up missing.
 
The 3 RR I bought weren't sharp out of the box. They took some work on the sharpmaker to get sharp but they take an ok edge. I much prefer Queens D2.
 
i love how we can get to WILDLY different opinions on rough rider knives in the same thread.
several folks love them, and then garddogg56 posts something like that...

its weird, i have one rough rider, a barlow and i LOVE it.
i've taken it to work a few times in the warehouse and it seems to do just fine...at least as well as my case's
 
I thought it was incredibly bold to outright compare a knife made offshore to a CASE. Risky and gutsy. Rest assured Robin, you won't convert anyone or change an opinion, but BRAVO for expressing yours.

Personally, I was gifted an incredibly well made large stockman branded as a "Remington" knife a few years ago. After using it for 3 - 4 years, it is still a great knife. (It looks suspiciously like the pic of your stockman...) No loose blades or scales, the steel is great for a working folder, and it is as solid as a rock. And an excellent worker. It came sharp from the blister pack.

Remarking to my niece that it was a really nice knife after using it for a few months, she gifted me a medium stockman that was similarly badged "Remington". It too, has worked well on the job and on my hiking and camping trips. One gripe with this knife is that it has some kind of wood scales for handles and one side lifted up. It was easily remedied with a dot of epoxy and hasn't been a problem since. This one came fairly sharp as well.

I don't know what she paid for these knives but she bought them in the Christmas gift promo area of a local sporting goods store. My sister told me she thought the large stockman was about $10, and the medium was about $8. Incredible. The steel is easy to sharpen and holds an edge well. While I can't get the stainless on these blades as sharp as my old carbon CASE knives (which is probably just as much a blade geometry issue) they indeed hold an edge as well or slightly better than the CASE carbon. Both these Remington knives hold and edge better than the CASE stainless knives I have.

And what an unexpected surprise for me to find that not only do they hold up well in actual service, but that I have really gotten fond of them. In my highest compliment possible to this type and style of knife, they remind me of my old CASE knives from decades ago. I don't know if I just got a couple of "good ones" or not, but it sounds like some here are having the same experience with some of this type of knife. I don't have any idea what the actual knife steel is on some of these knives as some seem to be AUS 6, some 440 A and others.

Personally, I like the fact that many of the RR knives and their cousins come with sharp blades out of the box. It shows just another 20 seconds or so per blade that I miss when I pick up a knife that feels like a mini prybar on the edge. On a $65 knife I wouldn't mind putting in another fifty cents a blade on a knife to make sure it was sharp when I bought it. But to get an $8 that is sharp out of the box is a real joy.

I for one will be looking forward to your further testing.

Robert
 
Rough Rider knives do come out of the box pretty sharp. I would love to see a test between a good carbon steel and Rough Rider with both gotten razor sharp. That would be the "extreme" test in that direction. I mean maybe it's just me. I generally carry carbon steel and steel it once a day and sharpen at least weekly. I like hearing a knife say "snick" as it cuts.
 
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