My curiosity of Rough Rider, needs to be resolved...

herisson said:
The ones that got me on the fence are their "Moonshine" series. You even get a steel flask with the knife and the package is delivered in a small wooden barrel...(I suppose the booze is not included, disappointing !)
The corn cob scales look really nice. Not trying to feed the addiction but so much for the curiosity... I will probably have to fall for the Canoe (my possible choice)to be able to talk strictly knives and get out of the "taste/opinion/assumption" ground.
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Hahaha... I know you will report back with your findings if you decide to take the plunge :-) As for the RR lady leg, I will have a high end model to compare it against, that being the quality made Tidioute (GEC) lady leg knife I have in my collection. If it even comes anywhere near close to that one, I will be impressed! I mean, I paid 70+ bucks for that one... so it approaches a 10 times higher price over the RR. It will either impress and be added to the collection... or not impress, and be given to my grown daughter (she loves shoes) when I give her and her boyfriend the two SAKs I have for them. She likely would get a kick out'a a pink lady leg knife... Heck, if it is well made... I'll get a kick out'a the pink lady leg knife! Get it?... Kick... Leg... lol! ;-)
 
jon_slider said:
iirc Rough Rider is owned by Smoky Mountain Knife Works, so the patterns they make are intentionally American Traditional Patterns. I like that I was able to buy a Case Peanut and a Rough Rider Peanut and then compare the two. I did the same with a Case Tiny Toothpic and a Rough Rider Tiny Toothpic. I also bought GEC Barlows and Rough Rider Barlows.

Here are my observations.
peanut comparison
The Case peanut has nicer smoother narrower scales. The jigged bone rough rider is more square and blocky. I disliked the Rough Rider Bone Peanut for being thick and blocky in the handle. I also had a tortoise Peanut from Rider. I liked the covers. btw the Rider peanut primary blade opens to a flatter angle than the Case peanut whose blade has an obvious drop below the line of the handle. Its just different, neither is necessarily better. My peanut is available in carbon, I personally am not a big fan of stainless. Rough Rider in Carbon would get my attention.

tiny toothpic
I had both a Rider and a Case
The two knives are very similar, both stainless. The cover materials are similar, but Case gets the edge for slightly higher quality material, albeit at a higher price. I bought the Rider in MOP. It looks slighly MOP ish, but more shell like. That is more like white shell with not so much clarity. This is one aspect of Rider that makes sense, I dont expect 100 dollar MOP on a 10 dollar knife. The Peanut TPick has Southwestern covers with stone inlays including turquoise. Its nice, but the stone is dyed, not super high price stuff. On the toothpic, Id say the Rider and Case are close, except you cant get Rider in CV.

barlow
The small barlow in Rider is slightly smaller than the GEC. I bought the smooth white bone Rider. I like smooth rounded things. The bone though has black stains. I dont recommend the white. The rider small barlow is a very nice shape and worth considering just to try different covers. Recommended if youre curious, and can live with stainless. I also have the GrandDaddy Barlow from Rider. Its a pretty thick blade, but again makes a good inexpensive gift, or camp kitchen knife.. My Gec Barlows have carbon blades, not available in Rider.

Regarding carbon steel, I like it for myself, but for gifting to non knife people, stainless has stone strong points. It saves me from explaining patina and rust management. And keeps the recipient from having to get over the idea that a "dirty" looking blade is not really bad.

Fit and finish with my Riders had been excellent, just a bit blocky in that the handle covers tend to be a bit thick and square, though that is not true of their small barlow. I like the way Rough Rider finishes their blades and spines, soft edges on the spine is to my liking. GEC leaves their blade spines really sharp, I always have to sand them down.

anyway, what rider is good at, is making a shiny blade with a very toothy edge that works well. There is even a youtube of a guy who dresses a whole deer with a Rider. He comments the knife stayed sharp and worked great. Rider is also good for an inexpensive test of a pattern you might be curious about. I bought Case peanuts and toothpick after a Rider of each, and Ive bought GEC barrows after Riders, then gave the Riders away. But that just means more fun for me. Every time I give away a knife, I make room to get one more for myself :-)

Buying Riders has not stopped me from buying other brands, in fact, I just ended up getting some of each :-)
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Good read, thank you :-)
 
To jon_slider : many thanks for your very informative post. Here's some facts and food for thoughts ! That's exactly what such a thread is supposed to generate (instead of "my taste only" rants...). I do registrate such input.
To Jimmy : who wouldn't get a kick out of a pink (kicking) lady leg ? Certainly not me !!! Best thing ever, isn't it ?
Now, I'm not (usually) into pushing too much into the habit, but you've probably inquired enough into the Laguiole makers to find their Lady Boot's knives (snakewood, MOP, pink horn...) These are some tasty lady legs, indeed...
 
herisson said:
To jon_slider : many thanks for your very informative post. Here's some facts and food for thoughts ! That's exactly what such a thread is supposed to generate (instead of "my taste only" rants...). I do registrate such input.
To Jimmy : who wouldn't get a kick out of a pink (kicking) lady leg ? Certainly not me !!! Best thing ever, isn't it ?
Now, I'm not (usually) into pushing too much into the habit, but you've probably inquired enough into the Laguiole makers to find their Lady Boot's knives (snakewood, MOP, pink horn...) These are some tasty lady legs, indeed...
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LOL!!! Yeah, the Laguiole knife I purchased for my collection and the one I purchased to give as a gift, were both beautiful knives, indeed. But for the price of those two Laguioles, maybe I could have purchased 30 or 40 kicking legs from Rough Rider!.... lol!!... Just kidding... love my Laguiole! And, the one I gave to my daughter's boyfriend... Well, he was so impressed by it! As nice as the Rough Riders may be for the money... that Forge De Laguiole as a gift was one of my better decisions. They are not something that the average person gives away as a present, at least not around these parts, and the recipient is likely to cherish such a handsome classy historical piece. Actually, he has some French blood in his veins, so a copy would not have worked as well... had to go with an original that carried the same blood lines ;-)
 
Well, you chose to act as a king. Good on you and good on the recipient. Stay true to this line, it maybe a thing of the past but it's at everybody's reach. Enjoy the lady's legs... those nice Laguioles with the laced boots, I mean.
 
herisson said:
Well, you chose to act as a king. Good on you and good on the recipient. Stay true to this line, it maybe a thing of the past but it's at everybody's reach. Enjoy the lady's legs... those nice Laguioles with the laced boots, I mean.
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Well this is not a French Laguiole knife... BUT.... it is a French Kate! LOL! ;-) Btw... it's a Tidioute (GEC) made knife :-)
ofugyc.jpg


And this one, well, is the real French Laguiole knife... wearing ebony wood just like her French Kate friend ;-)

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jkulysses said:
It is a bone handled barlow and is actually a steal car for $10. Pretty good fit and finish, walk and talk isn't to bad, I would say the pull is around 6 and came pretty dang sharp. With that being said I hate the stainless steel they use. Is harder than my carbon steels to put an edge on but doesn't hold the edge for very long compared to my modern folders that have quality stainless.
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Or even as well as carbon steel.

Very well put. I agree. I actually would rate the F&F and walk and talk higher, but I hate their steel too. It's that 440A-ish mystery steel you see on so many everyday knives.

They make good gifts, but so does Opinel.
 
I don't see the French version but I must say Tidioute made a very elegant (and strong) version of the pattern. Very desirable. Guess what ? The Laguiole version has a slimmer blade, I could bet my Bourbon filled tin flask on this...
 
It's that 440A-ish mystery steel you see on so many everyday knives.
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Identifying the alloy used for knife blades is not a traditional concept.

Traditionally, knives came with either "stainless" or "carbon steel". Exactly which alloy was being used was not revealed. IIRC, Schrade did not publish the identity of "Scrade +" until the 1990's.
 
Speaking of legs... I really would love to purchase one of those GEC Ivory handled legs... It would be a good side display next to my Ebony Tidioute... but wow on the price! They are almost up there in the 200 dollar range, where the ebony Tidioute was in the 70 dollar range. Love the Ivory, but those tiny slivers of tusk costing almost 100 bucks extra... well, just can't see myself pulling the trigger on one. Would be nice :-)
 
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Get your maths straight on what a Lady's Leg is worth...
 
Actually, my laguiole is a much bigger knife overall than my french kate. I believe it is something like 11cm closed. The blade on the french kate is milled out of sheet steel using a stock removal method.... where as the french laguiole blade is actually made by drop forging first, then machined. The kate has a much thinner blade.... but it being so much smaller a knife, it seems appropriate. Tidioutes have a satin finished blade, where my laguiole has a high polished blade very much like a Case knife. Just like my other French made knives (except obviously the opinel), the laguiole has a heavy reassuring back spring tension.... weak fingers or hands may have a bear of a time opening it. I simply like the Laguiole pattern... such a classy look about it... but some may think it looks menacing, and that's because upon opening the darned thing, it seems to be all blade!!! LOL! ;-)
 
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I purchased a few of these Rough Rider knives a while back because they are so inexpensive. I was more than a little impressed when they first arrived, but noticed issues with them right away. One knife had a very lazy spring. Another one arrived with one of the scales off, and I discovered that the pins on the scale did not pin anything at all...they are just for show. The scale is literally glued on. The steel arrives sharp, and is fairly easy to sharpen, but does not hold an edge well.

They are definitely worth what I paid for them, but not keepsakes...to be sure.
 
Laguiole wins all the way ! Hooray... no wait Hourrah ! Hourrah ! (whatever that means, the Frogs are the best, like always...)
 
And because I'm not only a fool, I do registrate first hand information provided by users... The goods and the not so goods... RR is still floating, the price / versus quality thing, you know...
 
i have or have had perhaps a half dozen rough rider pocketknives in the past year. ive generally been happy with them although i have had a couple that had flaws that the more 'collector' types among us would not like. flaws such as the blade not only off center but the side of it actually rubs against the liner. or blades rubbing against each other on a multi-blade knife. in no way did these flaws interfere with the ability of the product to cut things. i never even look to see if there are gaps between the covers and the liners or if the handle covers match from one side to the other or anything like that. you dont cut things with the handles.
i work outdoors in the environmental industry and also do a lot of gardening and yardwork at home. i dont 'baby' a pocketknife but im not one of those 'x-treem hard use' dudes either. the rough riders i have used seem to have held up just fine for what i need a pocketknife for.
 
dma1965 said:
I purchased a few of these Rough Rider knives a while back because they are so inexpensive. I was more than a little impressed when they first arrived, but noticed issues with them right away. One knife had a very lazy spring. Another one arrived with one of the scales off, and I discovered that the pins on the scale did not pin anything at all...they are just for show. The scale is literally glued on. The steel arrives sharp, and is fairly easy to sharpen, but does not hold an edge well.

They are definitely worth what I paid for them, but not keepsakes...to be sure.
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Wow, did not realize that the pins were just for show... kind'a a bummer about the scales only being glued on. I'd feel better about them being glued, if they did not try to give the look of pinned with false pins.. yuck to pins that do nothing!
 
Forgot to mention that I've noticed a little bit of color bleed from the covers on one or two examples I had in my possession.
 
Ive purchased 4 RR knives so far. I find that the QA is on par with other manufacturers. I have gotten very nice fit and finish and edge geometry from 2 and the other two had issues. One was dull as a butter knife with a weird grind to the edge and the other had some blade play and the covers were not fit very well. So if you take price into account they are pretty good deal but not on par with the best on the market.
 
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