Rough Rider & Related Slipjoints

Hi,

Yeah, I don't think they make any blades in plain carbon steel. It would great if they did though. I thought a one time I heard they were making a fixed blade from Sandvik stainless. But I can't remember where I heard that.

dalee
 
I have a belt knife of theirs .Just over 8" overall, blade just under 4" in root burl wood and black cordura sheath, 10 dollars plus freight charges. Drop point Hunter style,2 brass pins&lanyard hole.An excellent beater but looks and feels very OK too, don't know about Sandvik...more like their own 440 which is tasty sharp anyway.
 
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the picture greatly exaggerates the slight mismatch of scale to liner at EO notch. the RR Marlin Spike is a really nice 'crisp' knife.
roland
 
Yosemite Sam said:
The only knife I've ever had something like this happen with is a Chinese Marbles with dark red bone handles, which is one of very few Chinese knives that I own.

"WHY?" Because the Chinese knives are made cheap, with cheap materials, including cheap dyes. Cheap dyes run. Cheap manufacturing means scrimping and saving at every step of the operation. There's a reason these guys can produce a knife that sells for $5 (other than government subsidized dumping of products to take over a market, of course).

I've never had the scales on a quality knife (Case, Queen, Boker, Bulldog, Eye Brand, Laguiole de l'Artisan, etc) lose any pigment whatsoever.

These Chinese knives may provide an opportunity to experience something that's like a real knife, but one should never make the mistake of thinking they're getting something for nothing with them; It's still a $5 knife. It is not going to be in the same ballpark of quality as a $50 knife.

You can buy tools at your local "dollar store", but you cannot expect them to be of the quality you'd get from NAPA or Snap-On. Or rather, if you do have that expectation you will be disappointed.

-- Sam
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FWIW I have had handle scales on "quality" knives bleed color, sometimes significantly. Some otherwise very nice Queen knives come to mind and I had one red-handled Kissing Crane knife bleed pigment like a stuck pig.

It may be possible to make too much of this kind of thing. Bone is poor material to take and hold stain, to begin with, and practically all bone-handled knives have their handle colors change over time. This is especially the case when knives are carried and used. "Pocket worn" Case knives, anyone?
 
Does anyone have any opinions on the texas toothpick knives by Rough Riders? Is it one of those knvies where you get what you pay for (low quality for a cheap price) or is it a good deal?
 
Hi there Davide, I've got 7 rough riders, no texas toothpicks, I can tell you for the roughly 8 to 10 bucks each you would be hard pressed to find a better value. All 7 of mine got bone scales, nickel silver bolsters, polished blades and come razor sharp. However, they have cheap steel, they are hard to sharpen, and some of them are nail breakers when trying to open, but for disposable beaters I like them. Hope this helps. And of course this is MHO.
 
I got the large texas toothpick with smooth red bone scales. Fit and finish on it was wonderful, but the bone was a bit off in terms of coloring on one side. It's my go-to food knife when I feel like stainless (which is kind of rare).
 
I have a few of the RR knives, and yes they are cheap, but just like almost everything else imported from China, todays cheap is a whole different world from yesterdays cheap. One of mine is a little split spring whittler and for $9.99 to my door, I don't see how they do it.
I am interested to see if as a by-product of the advances sure to come in the steel used in the Chinese made Bemchmade/Spyderco etc, that whoever is making these RR, Boker, Schrade, Owl Head etc.. starts upgrading these for very little increase in cost. We might end up with knives that rival Case for under $20. They aren't really close right now, but they will probably only get better.
 
Thanks for all the information guys. I had been hoping that they would be a good deal. Too bad about the steel, I guess something has to give at that price point.
 
Don't be under the impression that Rough Rider steel is bad. It isn't. They already give the likes of Case a run for the money. Outside their sparse use of CV, the objective superiority over RR is pretty small.
 
I have purchased over 100 RR knives and have found them to be very good knives for the money. The steel is 440a and I have not found it to be hard to sharpen at all in fact just the opposite. I use a stockman to cut 8 and 10 oz leather all day long and a couple of quick strops usually brings the edge back up. A friend of mine skinned three White tails with a RR fixed blade and only stropped it twice to get all three done. The fit and finish is pretty amazing for a knife under 10 bucks and the handle options are numerous.
I like RR knives very much and have introduced people to the love of slip joints who now buy American knives.

Best regards

Robin
 
I hav e a drawer full of RR knives, and I'm amazed at the quality for the price. They just seem to be getting better all the time, too. This is my EDC now, a RR Copperhead. Great fit & finish, good snap, and a generally all around good knife. Under $10.00, how can you go wrong?
IMGP3592.jpg
 
shecky said:
Don't be under the impression that Rough Rider steel is bad. It isn't. They already give the likes of Case a run for the money. Outside their sparse use of CV, the objective superiority over RR is pretty small.
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I agree that RR steel doesn't seem to be bad, but I will check back in about 20 years and see how today's RR knives have held up in under a few decades of carry/use before I will concede they even hold a candle to a Case knife. I bought mine as a sort of novelty, and to try a few patterns on the cheap, and IMHO from the few I have handled they are nice for the money, but everything about them is not really close to Case standards.

Now, If they can somehow manage to put out twice the quality at twice the price, then I think we could be looking at a real challange to Case.
 
I think they are very good 'experimenter' knives for trying out patterns you are unsure of.

That said, they are outstandingly good for very little money and I find they come extremely sharp from new so I don't have any complaints about the steel.

Scattershot posted a photo of his Copperhead knife,I have this in Gunstock brown jigged bone and can't really fault it. The Old Yellow series is, I think, their best. The yellow is almost the same hue as CASE'S and I have 3 of these knives: Doctor's single blade, Sodbuster and yesterday a Gunstock arrived from the USA to Scandinavia. This Gunstock came from the Bay from a very good vendor, 4.75dollars in auction plus very reasonable shipping costs in a sturdy box. It is a really nice knife,the shield is properly laid,no proud edges,strong snap,and the bolsters are smaller than on the standard Gunstocks I've seen, this reduces the appearance of bulk inherent to this pattern.Matchpull nicks, and the nail nicks are on the same side with the secondary blade closest to you.I favour this arrangement and dislike turning knives around,put just personal quirk on my part. Worth getting? Certainly.
 
shecky said:
Don't be under the impression that Rough Rider steel is bad. It isn't. They already give the likes of Case a run for the money. Outside their sparse use of CV, the objective superiority over RR is pretty small.
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If an RR isn't quite right, broken blade..... can you send it back to the factory to get it done right, repaired, or replaced?
 
rayban said:
If an RR isn't quite right, broken blade..... can you send it back to the factory to get it done right, repaired, or replaced?
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It depends on how the damage occurred, and who you bought from. I've had two defective RR's from Smokey Mountain Knife Works, and the first wasn't really a problem, but they sent another free of charge anyway. The second was a peeling scale, and again it was replaced for free. If the damage is from the Mfr., you shouldn't have any problem getting it taken care of. If it's from use, I don't know what a vendor might say to that.

For as little as they cost, I would just toss the bad one and move on.

thx - cpr
 
rayban said:
If an RR isn't quite right, broken blade..... can you send it back to the factory to get it done right, repaired, or replaced?
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Unfortunately, I've had more Case knives needing to be "made right" out of the box (two) than Rough Rider (none). And I've owned twice as many Rough Riders as Case knives. I can be uncharitable in drawing the conclusion that the higher price buys me the privilege of sending my knife back to be reworked.

I like Case knives. But I'm not going to carry water for the company. The real advantages they have over Rough Rider are few.
 
Quote: "Does anyone have any opinions on the texas toothpick knives by Rough Riders?"
i have a few RR Toothpick knives. the best is a 4 1/8" lockback with threaded brass bolsters, v. attractive dark brown jigged bone and a propellar shield. it's a very solid knife, the brass liners are thicker than usual, lock-up is 100% tight, and it fits in the hand perfectly. 4 1/8" is an excellent carry size and this is an excellent knife. if you see one, get it, you will really be pleased you did.
roland
 
FLymon said:
I agree that RR steel doesn't seem to be bad, but I will check back in about 20 years and see how today's RR knives have held up in under a few decades of carry/use before I will concede they even hold a candle to a Case knife. I bought mine as a sort of novelty, and to try a few patterns on the cheap, and IMHO from the few I have handled they are nice for the money, but everything about them is not really close to Case standards.

Now, If they can somehow manage to put out twice the quality at twice the price, then I think we could be looking at a real challange to Case.
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FLymon, a thoughtful post and very accurate as well as I can personally attest to.. However, folks need not wait 20 years, but for the simple reason that they likely will not last anywhere near that long under normal every day useage.

Somewhere in either this traditional or perhaps the general sub-forum I wrote a concise summary review regarding the purchase of these off shore imports in a post discussing these knives. It was the holidays at the time and I handed them out as gifts to my employees on my job site crew to use and enjoy. I ran/run a small contracting business and each of my carpenters edc'd some form of pocketknife and utilized it for every day use on the job. They were all quite pleased with wide open eyes with the initial attractive appearance of these knives they received from me and were soon eager to use them..

Suffice it to say that among the entire group, not one of these slipjoints made it through the year without one or multiple problems related to the construction quality of the knives..

Broken, cracked, warped and shrinkage, of the handle material was universal in all but one knife. Another constant, was several of the back springs failed and could not hold up under the typical riggers of the repetitive opening and closing function of the knives on a daily basis. The blades began to wobble side to side with lots of play, and a few of the secondary blades just snapped off completely in the same place in each instance; right at the tang and it soon became evident that some of the blades steel was improperly tempered. They were so brittle in fact that you could detect tiny fischers at the center of the steel under glass at the break site..

Several aspects I will agree with is that, first, these knives(for the most part) had acceptable fit & finish and were polished up and shinned like a new penny. And secondly, they were worth every single dollar I paid for them..

I got exactly what I paid for. Like my old Grandpa used to say regarding quality workmanship, or the lack thereof: Cheap work isn't good.. And Good work isn't cheap.

For my hard earned money, I will stick to purchasing cutlery that has been tried and tested true, time and time again!. Money well spent for a knife I'll get a lifetime of faithful service out of and one I'll be proud to pass on to my kinfolk, and to be remember by.


Anthony
 
Excellent post Anthony. :thumbup: I couldn't agree more with you & your Grandpa in regards to quality workmanship.
In most cases, you really do get what you pay for.
 
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