Case vs Rough Ryder personal experience. Is this the norm or was it a fluke

I have had good to great results with both brands... I prefer Case.

I did, however, finally get a Case knife that is a little "off"... I was going to take pics and show it, simply because it was so out of the ordinary for my experiences with Case.
I recently bought an amber bone Sowbelly in CV steel. When it arrived, I gave it a cursory look, then put it with my other knives. Yesterday I finally decided to give it the "maiden voyage" in my pocket. At work, I was going to flush the joints, and in doing so, noticed that the primary spear point blade is bent pretty far out of "center"...... in fact, with the pen blade open, and the main blade closed, the main blade almost acts as a liner lock on the pen blade. Not quite, but close. It definitely rubs....
Fit and finish on the knife are really nice.... minimal to no gap at the backsprings, very nicely finished out, with good "walk and talk".
Is it bad enough to send back? Nope. Not really. It still functions well, and is aesthetically pleasing..... as long as you don't look at main blade centering.

I only point this out to state that this is the worst I've had from Case... and it's not all that bad, just not perfect. My other Case knives have been pretty much "no problem"... ranging from "pretty nice" to "most excellent"..... my sowbellies and swaybacks are top notch, all the way, as are the copperheads, copperlocks, and Texas Jack.

I've also had pretty good results with the two or three RR knives I've bought... no real issues on them either. I bought two of the original "viper" style knives, and a whittler, and one of their "yaller delrin" carbon sowbellies. They are all fully functional, nicely finished knives.
 
hmmmm.... more pictures, you say.... ok... these are 2/3 of today's carry.... my newish black/red (Go Tech!) sowbelly, and my new copperhead.... is that bone not special?

ZMWvvZ.jpg
 
Old Hunter said:
Jack Black Jack Black that is too bad. Whatever the brand and whatever the product, I buy with the expectation it will be functional and as advertised. Hope you can exchange it so the boy can have a knife. OH
Click to expand...
Thanks Bruce, I've sent the worst of them back, though I'm not really impressed with the other :( At least it has a bottle-opener! :D That young man has already had a handful of knives from me. I have a stainless RR Scout, so I may give him that instead :thumbsup:
 
JohnDF said:
That's the fun of it. ;)
Click to expand...

I'm feeling jack knifey lately, but the Copperheads don't thrill me, nor do trappers. I'd like an equal end jack, 4.25-4.5 inches long closed, with rounded bolsters and a clip and long spear point blade, but it's been a day or two since Case or anyone else made a pattern like that.
 
Rhino, Case makes a moose on their big #75 pattern, and the long spey can very easily be transformed into a spear blade.
 
My experience with Rough Rider is limited to a pair of RR Barlows, but it has been positive so far. Were they a bit rougher (hah hah) around the edges than most of my Case knives out of the box? Maybe, but I honestly can't remember. I bought them about a year ago and I think I remember grinding and sanding on the liners and springs to get everything flush on the back of the knives. There are no major gaps anywhere. The blades arrived with very rough grinds, but so did every Case knife I've ever bought. The blade steel seems to hold an edge just as well as Case's SS steel. All in all, they were definitely worth the $13 I paid for each on Amazon.
 
Gave it one more shot and got a Case Mini Trapper with a Wharncliffe Secondary (https://www.smkw.com/case-bonestag-mini-trapper) along with a Rough Ryder Copperhead.

This time I got a nearly perfect Case and a very good Rough Ryder. The Case only has the kind of imperfections that are easily ignored and have no effect on the use of the knife. Very excited to get a good Case in my favorite pattern that easily lives up to what you expect from a Case. I like the Wharncliffe more than the Spey blade, for anyone that likes the Mini Trapper patterns but doesn't need a spey blade this is a really great knife. The Rough Ryder needed a small adjustment but is overall far nicer than a sub $15 price tag knife should be.

From now on, I will buy in person at 67 Hardware (my closest big dealer) but I was already sending a return to SMKW, so if I had to return anything it would not be any additional postage. Thanks for pushing me back towards Case, it was definitely worth it.
 
NCknifefan said:
Gave it one more shot and got a Case Mini Trapper with a Wharncliffe Secondary (https://www.smkw.com/case-bonestag-mini-trapper) along with a Rough Ryder Copperhead.

This time I got a nearly perfect Case and a very good Rough Ryder. The Case only has the kind of imperfections that are easily ignored and have no effect on the use of the knife. Very excited to get a good Case in my favorite pattern that easily lives up to what you expect from a Case. I like the Wharncliffe more than the Spey blade, for anyone that likes the Mini Trapper patterns but doesn't need a spey blade this is a really great knife. The Rough Ryder needed a small adjustment but is overall far nicer than a sub $15 price tag knife should be.

From now on, I will buy in person at 67 Hardware (my closest big dealer) but I was already sending a return to SMKW, so if I had to return anything it would not be any additional postage. Thanks for pushing me back towards Case, it was definitely worth it.
Click to expand...
Glad you got a good one :thumbsup:
Something I’ve found with Case is that some patterns seem to be overall better made than others, the mini trapper being one of those patterns. I don’t know if this is a fact, but it seems that way from my own experience and second hand reports from others. Either way, the mini trapper with wharncliffe is an excellent one, probably one of my favorite Case patterns.
 
solphilos said:
I think the recent run of Barlows are a great example of Cases better quality. Wish I would’ve picked up at least one more before they were vaulted.

DFJK2Ik.jpg
Click to expand...
I've been tempted by some of the recent Case Barlows like yours, but I can't get past the extra pin in the covers. I know they are using it to pin the covers to the liners before pinning the whole "sandwich" together, but it bugs me.
 
I currently have around 30 Case knives, and only one Rough Rider. I may be biased, but I much prefer my Case knives. Out of the ones I've received, maybe 2-3 of them I wasn't 100% satisfied with, but all issues were cosmetic, not functional. All but one were purchased sight unseen online. For the prices, I am more than happy with Case quality, and the brand personally sees more pocket time than any other in my collection.

My one Rough Rider I have is the Improved Muskrat (purchase influenced heavily by 5K Qs 5K Qs ). It is very well finished, especially considering it cost around $15. Good size, great blade combination, nice bone, fair F&F, and razor sharp blades. Personally, I don't like the match strike pulls, and really dislike the shield. Other than that, it's a great value knife, but it's only been in the pocket a handful of times since it's purchase in 2015. No real reason for not carrying it, I just can't seem to connect with it.

2sXofZs.jpg


I guess one good thing I can say for the shield, is that if you really squint and turn your head sideways, it almost reminds me of our Calgary Tower :D

calgarytower020.jpeg
 
JohnDF said:
I think you're right, GT.
I see a lot of good reports about the RR brand, so it's unlucky on my part.
I wish the home company was more responsible though, they pretty much just blew me off with my complaints.
I think that, more than anything, has really turned me sour on that brand of knife.
Click to expand...
You can return them for a refund, you know. Any time that I have called SMKW's customer service with an issue, they either sent me a replacement and told me to keep the old knife, or gave me a full refund and told me to keep the old knife. If they require you to send the old knife in, they reimburse you for the postage if the knife is found to be defective.

I have also had good luck with Case's customer service concerning defective knives. You can get a dog from either brand.
 
The only Rough Ryder I own and received it just last Saturday. Been in my pocket every day since.

This knife has NO RIGHT to be as solid rugged, generously sized and with good fit and finish for UNDER $20 !!!
Bade is not perfectly centered, but well centered. Backspring is virtually flush at half stop and even more so fully opened. Just slightly sunk when closed.
NO blade play or wobble what so ever. Good bevels and even grinds. Smooth transitions and fine walk 'n talk.
If I could change anything, it MIGHT be the covers ... MAYBE. Wood or bone would be nice but this Micarta is also okay.
I honestly didn't like the screaming electric blue color but disliked it so much ... I kinda like it now ... maybe ... I think.
Plus, the color doesn't look quite so vibrant in most lighting conditions. Besides, my birthstone is Sapphire. So there's that.
I REALLY like it doesn't have the usual RR stamp on the bolsters and no shield or medallion on the handle.
Steel is a respectable old school 440A. 3.9" closed and weighs 2.9oz.
This knife is a WIN and it just ain't right.

Am I ready to jump on another Rough Ryder? ... nope, but if the right one comes along I might

aXzu0H8.jpg


bFsLp49.jpg


EDIT: So, I mentioned centering ... close enough to perfect for me

VYfiEBJ.jpg
 
Last edited:
I've decided that Case is off my list of knives to own, at least for the foreseeable future. I have 2 of them and both have problems that none of my Buck or Rough Ryders have.

The trapper has a spring gap that runs the length of the knife. It isn't a massive problem but it shouldn't be there. Probably a dirty build. My medium stockman though has a slight bend to the clip point and the blade wobbles to the point where the bolster is slightly separated from the liners.

I sent this knife back to Case for service and, after over a month, I just got it back with exactly the same problems I sent it in with. It doesn't look like they did a thing to it. That's pretty bad in my opinion.

I've reached out to them again but I'm not holding my breath though. For the moment, Case is off the list, so to speak.
 
My preference is for Case. I own five Rough Ryder's which were purchased in person at the SMKW store in Tennessee. If you get the chance to visit you can compare them directly. From my experience what I have seen with RR knives is that when you lay down 2-3 of the same knife, they all look exactly the same. Jig bone patterns are almost identical with jigging in the exact same areas, same dye and color applied in the same spots. They produce a well made knife for the money, and the boxes they come in sure are pretty, but there is very little about them that feel like each knife is unique or somewhat different–maybe that hand made element is missing, I'm not sure. The RR's also tend to be chunky knives compared to their Case counterparts. And another thing is that SMKW carries the China made Marbles, Queen, and some other brands which are sold right next to their RR's. All the patterns look like they came from the same place, just different shields to set them apart. If that doesn't matter to you then you'll be more than pleased to pick one up. The one's I own have very nicely polished blades and strong springs, but two have slight gaps in scales (a congress and stockman).

I will say that Case has really upped their quality control in the last few years, since maybe 2016-17. The one's I have purchase have not disappointed and it feels like they're trying. Maybe the competition from GEC is partly responsible. I did purchase an early Seahorse Whittler back in 2006 from an online vendor. It had some slight play on the two smaller blades. With stuff like this I always go directly to the manufacturer and sent it in to Case. They fixed everything free of charge, no questions asked as to where it was purchased or how long it was owned. The knife came back with perfect centering and blades had a slightly stronger pull. With RR, you may not get that kind of customer support unless you purchase directly from SMKW and show proof. Just something to consider.
 
5K Qs said:
N NCknifefan reported on his bad experiences with Case purchases and good good experiences with RR, while JohnDF JohnDF reported that his experiences were exactly the opposite (Case good, RR bad). I'll go on record as a representative of a third class of people, those who have had good experiences with both brands.

I have 30 Case knives, I think, and they're mostly very good. Many of them are gifts from, or purchase from, BF members, so there may be a natural "weeding out" process of defective knives in that kind of situation. A few of my Case knives have a dye job that I think lacks uniformity, and I have one Case knife I ordered that arrived NIB with blade rub that I think is unacceptable (and I regret not returning it when I got it).

I have over 80 Rough Riders, and they're also mostly very good. Some of my smooth bone RRs have uneven dye jobs, and most of my Case jigged bone knives have more attractive jigging than most of my RRs with jigged bone covers. Almost all of my RR knives are stainless, while quite a few of my Case knives are carbon steel. My RR knives typically cost a third or a fourth of the typical price of my Case knives.

I think the OP and John have had very bad luck with their Case and RR purchases, respectively, while I've had very good luck with my purchases of both brands!

- GT
Click to expand...
Hello sir , from the UK . Sorry to come onto this thread at such a late stage but I got quite interested in the conflict of comments regarding Case / GEC etc verses Rough Ryder . Ive been into all sorts of knives for sixty years now from using Sheffield made pen knives as a kid in the 1960s to making my own Scandi knives , using knives in the Military as a combat survival instructor to where I am today ( only a collector ) and within the last two years a collector of Rough Ryder slip joints . Apart from owning a Buck 110 and the 112 and a Case XX USMC fixed blade , I only know Case , GEC and most other US slip joint manufacturers by their enviable reputation for quality made knives and to be truthful at my age I cannot afford the prices for these products now . However a couple of years back I did discover Rough ryder slip joint knives which I started to collect mainly for their reasonable prices and the choice of traditional style models of which I now have sixteen . Got to say I have been very happy with all of the models I have bought but probably due to the fact that I buy them from mainly one supplier in the UK and each time I order , I make the request that he check out each purchase for : good all round fit and finish , straight well centered blades between the liners , no gapping between scales , liners and back springs , good transitions , and last but not least good walk and talk ! With all that I have always received really nice quality products even though I have no doubt there will be a certain amount of Lemons in every shipment , but that as in all companies is down to good / or bad quality control .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top