Remington once did a survey on pocket knives, and they came to the conclusion the the average life of a pocket knife was something like two years. They must have known my friend Chet.
Chet is a bit of a strange fellow in his own right, but in a good way. He sometimes thinks outside the box, and comes up with some innovative thoughts. One of his loves is flint knapping, of which he's given me some lessons, and caused me to rethink some things. But his use of a pocketknife is the stuff nightmares are made of. Scraping, prying, digging, and all sorts of abuse that would send some of the knife obsessed aficionados running off with the screaming meemies.
But to give Chet his due, he doesn't use very expensive knives for his daily cutlery torture. Chet loves Rough Riders. He's been buying them for some years now, and he manages to use one up about every two years. Sometimes a bit less. Chet doesn't like to take a lot of time sharpening them, so the big rough old 'carborunum' stone in his truck will do if he's around his truck. If he's not, the side of a brick building, the cement step of a building will do. Needless to say, Chet's knives all have a very toothy edge to the blade. Mayb that's what Chet is used to.
He makes the most beautiful snapping I've seen. Using flint, and sometimes pitch black obsidian, he flakes out and edge with w piece of deer antler quick and easy as some of us touch up an edge with a Arkansas stone. He has bolo ties with obsidian arrow points, and a sheathed knife in a very neat little discreet little pouch on his belt with a small flint blade in it. About a two inch blade, it looks much like Otzi's knife but prettier. Chet put some work into the polish of the wood handle and gray flint blade blade. On our Friday morning breakfasts, it's custom to pass around any new knives we've got, for chicken eyeing and coon fingering, and Chet's flint and obsidian blades get coon fingered a lot. But hs Rough Riders get an equal amount of coon fingering.
Over the years we've seen Chet use up a nice RR peanut, a barlow, a largish two blade jack, a granddaddy barlow, and a few others. Rough Rider has always made a pretty decent pocket knife, and getting to examine specimens before Chet goes about using them to destruction, I've formed an opinion that they make a good daily using knife. But, I think they have upped their game over the past year. Some of what I've seen of late, the fit and finish seems to be better. The steel seems to hold up well, and even a destroyer like Chet is happy with them.
Once at a breakfast, Chet was being ribbed a bit about his sharpening techniques. He responded by spearing a nice fat sausage on his fork, holding it up over his plate and using his Rough Rider barlow neatly sliced off the end of it with a slow drawing cut, letting it plop onto his eggs. The sidewalk serrated blade seemed very sharp.
I can only wonder if given equal treatment that we would give a nice Case peanut or trapper, that a Rough Rider would work just as well. I've seen them pass the Chet test.
Chet is a bit of a strange fellow in his own right, but in a good way. He sometimes thinks outside the box, and comes up with some innovative thoughts. One of his loves is flint knapping, of which he's given me some lessons, and caused me to rethink some things. But his use of a pocketknife is the stuff nightmares are made of. Scraping, prying, digging, and all sorts of abuse that would send some of the knife obsessed aficionados running off with the screaming meemies.
But to give Chet his due, he doesn't use very expensive knives for his daily cutlery torture. Chet loves Rough Riders. He's been buying them for some years now, and he manages to use one up about every two years. Sometimes a bit less. Chet doesn't like to take a lot of time sharpening them, so the big rough old 'carborunum' stone in his truck will do if he's around his truck. If he's not, the side of a brick building, the cement step of a building will do. Needless to say, Chet's knives all have a very toothy edge to the blade. Mayb that's what Chet is used to.
He makes the most beautiful snapping I've seen. Using flint, and sometimes pitch black obsidian, he flakes out and edge with w piece of deer antler quick and easy as some of us touch up an edge with a Arkansas stone. He has bolo ties with obsidian arrow points, and a sheathed knife in a very neat little discreet little pouch on his belt with a small flint blade in it. About a two inch blade, it looks much like Otzi's knife but prettier. Chet put some work into the polish of the wood handle and gray flint blade blade. On our Friday morning breakfasts, it's custom to pass around any new knives we've got, for chicken eyeing and coon fingering, and Chet's flint and obsidian blades get coon fingered a lot. But hs Rough Riders get an equal amount of coon fingering.
Over the years we've seen Chet use up a nice RR peanut, a barlow, a largish two blade jack, a granddaddy barlow, and a few others. Rough Rider has always made a pretty decent pocket knife, and getting to examine specimens before Chet goes about using them to destruction, I've formed an opinion that they make a good daily using knife. But, I think they have upped their game over the past year. Some of what I've seen of late, the fit and finish seems to be better. The steel seems to hold up well, and even a destroyer like Chet is happy with them.
Once at a breakfast, Chet was being ribbed a bit about his sharpening techniques. He responded by spearing a nice fat sausage on his fork, holding it up over his plate and using his Rough Rider barlow neatly sliced off the end of it with a slow drawing cut, letting it plop onto his eggs. The sidewalk serrated blade seemed very sharp.
I can only wonder if given equal treatment that we would give a nice Case peanut or trapper, that a Rough Rider would work just as well. I've seen them pass the Chet test.
I've been impressed with all the Rough Riders I've handled, I just wish they'd take a patina! 
:thumbup:
