Picked up a Steel Warrior Saddle horn Trapper

S

SVRIDER1

Joined
Dec 29, 2008
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I was in the local hardware store(mom and pop store...really old still has wood floors)last week getting keys made. I see a big knife display case and at first I thought they were from case, but then I see the frost logo and I pretty much dismissed them but I kept looking mind you. It was eating at me for a few days so I searched the forum and got some info. I stopped on the way home tonight and picked up a small Steel Warrior Saddle Horn Trapper in what I would call Black Cherry jigged bone.

Now I have all kinds of knives, customs, production, custom collabs...but I have pretty much stayed away from chinese steel ( not looking for political arguements ) it always seemed to be an inferior product, I just always considered them cheapies and substandard.

Well I am impressed! I left with the first knife the woman took out, I did not cherry pick it. It is near perfect, no blade play, blades sit centered, they are both SCARRY SHARP!, the bone is beautiful it meets the bolsters perfectly, they both open and close with a snap, HALF STOPS ON A $12 KNIFE?, no gaps, springs sit flush in open and close postions. I have knives that cost almost 10 times this one with all kinds of issues...I have to say I am absoulutey perplexed how good this knife is for the cost. By all rights it should be just as crappy as every other $10 special.

If I had to make any complaints and believe me they are very minor it would be that the springs sit slightly not flush in the half stop position...and the name Steel Warrior....really? What kind of name is that for a line of traditional knives?
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I had the same impression of two Rough Riders that were given to me by a generous forum member. I really liked them but did the pay it forward thing and gave them to another member so more folks could get a chance to check 'em out.
 
I have a Small Copperhead knife of theirs, 3 and 3 eighths" amber bone scales. Has Clip blade and Modified Pen which is interesting but they are both absurdly thick for a small knife. Forget slicing:mad: Fit&finish is not at all bad, impressed that it has NO gaps on the liners,springs,scales etc. But useful it aint.
 
China's starting to take the manufacturing expertise they've gotten over the last 15 years or so and put it to good use. I've seen a number of pretty good Chinese-made (and branded) slipjoints lately (Redhead also comes to mind), as well as the SanRenMu for locking knives.

It might take a couple more years for them to get the designing portion down, but they've gotten a pretty good primer on that as well considering how many companies are doing manufacturing in China right now.

Good time to be a knife collector/owner/user, though.
 
willgoy said:
I have a Small Copperhead knife of theirs, 3 and 3 eighths" amber bone scales. Has Clip blade and Modified Pen which is interesting but they are both absurdly thick for a small knife. Forget slicing:mad: Fit&finish is not at all bad, impressed that it has NO gaps on the liners,springs,scales etc. But useful it aint.
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Maybe that explains the brand name...You have to be a man of steel to push the blade through the material to be cut! :eek:

;)


On a more positive note, Jerry Halfrich actually liked the lockback whittler I sent him to study alongside the Case/Bose lockback whittler. And I must say that I actually thought that it was a surprisingly nice knife given the price point.
 
I have bought and sold 100s of Rough rider knives and all but one have been great knives with amazing fit and finish and sharp as a razor. The one bad one had a flaw in the back spring that caused it to break. Prior to buying any to sell I tested a stockman for well over two years and found it to hold its edge and easily sharpened. I think they are great knives and not just because of the price, but that certainly adds to my feelings about the knives.

Regards

Robin
 
Blues said:
Maybe that explains the brand name...You have to be a man of steel to push the blade through the material to be cut! :eek:

;)

Could well be:D I'm not up to snuff:eek:

Mind you, I tend to associate 'warrior' with Xena Warrior Princess:D

The knife's OK but far less arresting than her:thumbup:
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I've still got a few here, and the only real complaint I heard consistently (other than the occasional small issue) was that the scales shrunk & split after a while. Well, I've held on to & regularly used several just to see what would happen, and after five+ years on a couple of them, they're fine.

I have two little itty-bitty Frost & Steel Warrior types, and they're the best of the lot for fit, finish, flush springs, nice scales, etc. I can see a larger knife being that nice, but to have that much effort put into such a small platform is amazing.

I keep saying I won't buy any more . . . and I keep doing it. :o

~Chris
 
I have a bunch of Steel Warriors. I like them. They are nice.
Actually a few are beautiful, like the pearl interframe.
First one i got about 3 years ago; and still use it in the garden most days. almost time to sharpen as it won't shave arm hairs easily now. Copperlock with Clip and Wharncliffe secondary which depresses to release the Clip blade. The one with "Candy Apple Red Swirl" (my name for it) is a beauty.
Get one. put it in your pocket.
Betcha it stays there a long time (i.e. becomes your new EDC right away). (kind of annoyed me because it displaced my Case Seahorse Whittler, which i also really like)
roland
 
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My son (13) picked one out on the bay a few years ago. He liked it because it was blue. IIRC the b.i.n price was 5 dollars and change, so I told him I would get it for him. He doesn't realize how hard it was for me to do it :D

Well, when it arrived, I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't a bad knife at all.
I'm glad that he decided he likes Schrades and Case knives better though :D

I haven't seen his knife for a long time, but now I will have to look and see if his peanut has half stops
 
picked up a gunstock trapper in bone made by colt. couldnt be happier. and as ive mentioned in other posts my income has beem cut in half due to the economy. ive been trying these "value" kind-of knives to help feed my addiction. backsprings when open have the same un-eveness as yours. they could be from the same plant just different branding.
 
A lot of the 'Frost' brand stuff itself is low-end, but they own some other brands that are decent knives. Hen and Rooster is a good brand, and the Steel Warriors are actually a good value for the money. If you buy them by the lot (five or six at a time) you can get them for about $6 each including shipping. For that price, I think they are worth every penny. I like to buy them and have a few around to give away to the Boy Scouts in my troop as kind of an incentive when they do something well. You would be surprised at the knives that parents buy their kids! They are two or three times the price of the Steel Warriors and they are total junk.
I like Case and Buck, but they cost too much to give away :)
 
I have a few steel warriors and rough riders in my collection. They are worth the money. Before I shell out the bucks for a case I will try the pattern in a steel warrior or rough rider for a few weeks to see if I like it. If the patern is not for me I'll just give the knife to someone that needs it.
 
Steel Warriors are the best $12 you can spend on a slipjoint apart from a SAK. I had a locking bladed coppperhead that also had a very thick blade, but generally the knives are very spot on fit and finish wise.
 
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