Gryffin, thanks for the heads up on the Owl Heads.
longbeachguy, thanks too, you answered a question I had that I hadn't asked yet about the Boker Magnums. I figured they were more an economy made line of Boker. I wasn't sure if it was a case of Boker capitalizing off their name or if it was more a designator on a different line made elsewhere, kind of like the Arbolitos from Argentina. And, I wondered how well the Magnum line was made.
It seems just about all the decent makers are developing Chinese made lines. Perhaps most intend to eventually shift all production there.
I noticed today that a lot of the J.A. Henckle slipjoints have 420 blades. I saw a stag congress that just listed the blades as 420, no other designation and the price was $78 and change.
I had a whole long post written up earlier today but couldn't post because the board became inaccessible for a short time. In the post I stated I'm starting to consider going for stainless blades in lines that I collect primarily to look at and fondle. These I probably won't even sharpen. As the number builds I won't have to worry that if I don't wipe down every blade, every day they might get some rust. Nice to do if I want to do so, but I like not having to do so.
I am collecting Cases and eventually some Queens, Bokers, Robert Klass, and hopefully a Canal Street or two someday. My interest in the Rough Riders is primarily because with the pix I've seen on the internet they have some nice looking knives in some interesting scale materials, a variety of bone, some stag, supposedly some genuine mother of pearl, and a nice looking tortise shell. If they are decently fit and finished then they would make some great cheap thrills in a collection focused mainly on handle materials and patterns, looks and not heavy daily use. Junk however still looks and feels like junk. So if they are junk then no matter how cheap the price it is over priced. They would only be an economical venue if there is reasonable quality in the builds. I'm not expecting top US and European levels, maybe approaching, but not necessarily at current production, basic Case levels. I have started collecting Case regular production, but recognize they aren't the final word on fit and finish, even though they are pretty well finished in general. I mainly apprecaite them based on their history as an American slipjoint staple.
I'll soon see personally how the Rough Riders measure up as I picked up two on ebay this weekend. One is a tortise shell barlow and the other is an imitation abalone muskrat. Each knife was something like $10 each including shipping. (NOT $100 like my typo said in an earlier post in this thread.) So the worst I am out is twenty bucks and can use them for presents for some who aren't really into knives and would just toss them in a drawer.
I'm not really an EDC rotation kind of guy. I pretty much settle on a steady carry and go with that, only changing out for specialty situations or just to test out a knife's carry and usage characteristics. I carried and used my Keshaw Ken Onion Blackout almost exclusively for over a year, only recently replacing it as my EDC with the Case CV Sodbuster Jr. I prattle on so about. I may eventually get to the point I have two or three carefully selected knives that I vary the use of. Maybe I'll have a winter and a summer selection, I don't know. Perhaps I'll just continue to carry a single primary carry and augment that based on the situation.
. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSAA:US:11&Item=6625680195 I'm also trying to pick up an tortise shell barlow just cause it looks pretty.
