Kissing Crane and Rough rider

needler420

needler420

Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
947
Which do you prefer? I see some trappers in both I like. They both seem to be good budget knives. I've never owned either. I did just order my first kissing crane but its a stiletto.
 
I've owned both brands of Chinese knives. I would say they are pretty equal as far as quality.
 
Four out of the five RR knives I have purchased have serious issues that make them virtually useless. I won't be wasting any more money on that brand.
 
I have had about equal success with both. Most of mine have come with some minor fit and finish issues but all have been fully functional. Dakota, what kind of issues did your examples have??
 
Never had a Kissing Cranes knife. I have been favorably impressed by Rough Rider.
 
I bought a RR Elephant Toe to try out the pattern cheaply. F&F was pretty good but not perfect. For $16 delivered, the bang for the buck was jaw-dropping. I'm considering a couple more for modding practice.
 
dakota said:
Four out of the five RR knives I have purchased have serious issues that make them virtually useless. I won't be wasting any more money on that brand.
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Please elaborate, as this would be an exception to the rule. Rough Rider's generally have a good (deserved) reputation around here. It would take allot to make a knife "useless", even those cheap paki 110 clones you won at the fair as a kid could be used.
 
I'll start with the good one. It's a RR198 Barlow with white smooth bone handles. It's pretty fantastic!
I then purchased an RR1708 and RR1709. These are copies of the large and small Moki Fish Owl knives. The lockup on both is very poor, and there is a lot of blade play in every direction. The large one is especially bad. The brass liners stand very proud of the back spring when the knife is open. The blade on the small one touches on the back spring when closed.
My last go with RR was a stag bone stockman RR1794 and a smooth red bone signature stockman RR437. The clip on the red one had literally no back spring tension. The spey sits too low to reach the nail nick and the blade rests on the back spring. The sheepsfoot is ok but has no snap at all when opening or closing.
The stag bone stockman RR1794 was the most disappointing to me because it is very pretty. The bone is great, the polishing is very well done, and I love the blades. It's the Rosie Perez of my collection, great to look at until it starts talking. There is very little spring tension combined with horrible blade rub. Like the red stockman the spey hits the backspring.
I wouldn't feel comfortable even giving the lousy ones away.
 
I see mixed reviews on them ( rough rider) There aren't a whole lot of reviews on kissing crane.

There seems to be a market for them. I realize now that I sold my case trapper for cheap and even purchased it for cheap when comparing it to other traditional trappers. It was a USA made case. I am hoping wal-mart gets more this holiday season then hopefully they make it to clearance. That's about the only way to get a new Case knife for around $20.



I don't expect rough rider and kissing crane knives to compare to great eastern cutlery or queen or case. That is comparing $10-$20 dollar knives to $40-$100 dollar knives.

I know fit and finish won't compare but neither does the prices. I feel like they get a bad rap because they are made in China. Yet at the same time I see lots of people buying them and using them. For the price how can you go wrong testing a few out?
 
I will tell ya, I have a Rough Rider Gunstock that will compete with any Case knife (I've ever had) in build quality. It has flawless fit, zero gaps, perfectly centered blades, with delightful and snappy walk and talk.
 
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dakota dakota
Thanks for the explanation, 4 lemons is enough to sour anybody's opinion. I have a brick and mortar store near me that carries them, so I get to handle them before buying. And to be fair I only have 3 at the moment, but I've bought some as gifts to. Of the ones I've handled only one had a glaring defect, and that was excessive side play. It was their liner lock sodbuster type. When I pointed it out to the guy at the counter, he put an orange sticker on the box and said they'd send it back. I bought the next one though.
 
dakota said:
Four out of the five RR knives I have purchased have serious issues that make them virtually useless. I won't be wasting any more money on that brand.
Click to expand...

Dakota I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with Rough Rider most folks have had good experiences with them. I personally have had several of them and the worse of them all was a scout/camp knife that had 10+ pull a real nail breaker. Other than that no real issues the dyes they use sometimes come out a bit funky but Case has that same problem (although IMO they are a better knife than RR). Also some of the covers are a bit square for my taste but then I consider almost all of them are less than $15 so I can't compare them to GEC or some other premium brand and should expect some flaws but I've just not found any real functional issues. needler420 needler420 I've never owned a Steel Warrior but my experience with RR has been positive and no doubt will buy them again. Here's a roll of Rough Riders because we do like pictures

GctUdM9.jpg
 
BTW, there are some very nice Rough Riders circulating in a box right now as part of the Mr. Knife giveaway, including some patterns I had not seen. A word to the wise....
 
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