Rough Rider & Related Slipjoints

dalee100 said:
Hi,

I think RR's are pretty much the equal to the SAK for edge holding. At least in my own usage of both. So if you like Vic steel, you won't be disappointed by RR. I never really thought about it, but I think I agree with Robert about sharpening them. It's easy to get both steels sharp. But the RR's are a bit easier to get to "hair shaving/poppin'" sharp.

Dale
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That's great to hear.
I always liked Vic's steel. No it doesn't hold it's edge the longest. But it is as functional as it gets. If it dulls on me, usually a strop on my hand or jeans gets the edge back, a bonus out in the field where you might not have anything to sharpen it with. And it gets hair poppin sharp.
Ok, so, every time I talk myself out of spending more money on another knife, this friggin thread pops up and calls to me
"BUY A BARLOW!!! BUY A BARLOW!!!"
Oy vey!!!
 
Voltron said:
That's great to hear.
I always liked Vic's steel. No it doesn't hold it's edge the longest. But it is as functional as it gets. If it dulls on me, usually a strop on my hand or jeans gets the edge back, a bonus out in the field where you might not have anything to sharpen it with. And it gets hair poppin sharp.
Ok, so, every time I talk myself out of spending more money on another knife, this friggin thread pops up and calls to me
"BUY A BARLOW!!! BUY A BARLOW!!!"
Oy vey!!!
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IMHO the barlows and the sowbellys are absolutely RR's best. BUY A BARLOW!:D;)
 
yobbos1 said:
IMHO the barlows and the sowbellys are absolutely RR's best. BUY A BARLOW!:D;)
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Buy a Barlow:D

Here's the Grand daddy in sawcut bone, the three blade "Barlow" and the small Barlow, all beauties. Sorry for the bad light, it's the gare off the snow:grumpy:

Regards

Robin

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Robin, have you got a pic of the 4" Tickler LB ? Too much hard rain here for pics. may last days.
roland
 
rprocter said:
Robin, have you got a pic of the 4" Tickler LB ? Too much hard rain here for pics. may last days.
roland
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Hi Roland
Sorry, I don't have a toothpick . I'm having a hard time keeping up with RRs new patterns, love the new whittlers. I know what you mean about BC rain ;-( I endured a few "winters" there in the 60s. However, this is what I woke up to here in the wilds on Ontario this morning.
BTW, nice buck you got, my land is loaded with hunters as we speak, not hearing many shots though.

Best regards

Robin

Sorry Blues, I edited my post to meet the regs.

Best regards

Robin

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Robin, beautiful picture ! Fresh snow is the very best for "whitetailing".
Climate change here in the Kootenays means we hardly ever get snow on the ground anymore before the end of whitetail season, Nov. 30th.
roland
 
Robin, that three blade 'Barlow' is an interesting knife, nice long pull on the Spear. Now if they made a single blade Spear with Barehead I'd be ordering right away!

We don't have any snow yet in Finland either, just a decade ago it was another story.....
 
Here you go. I have two of these the first one was a freebie thrown in on a trade and was less than perfect. I think I described it elsewhere as crap:grumpy: This on the ohter hand while not as impressive in quality as other RR's I have is very well built and locks up nice and tight. Great slicer too.

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yobbos1 said:
IMHO the barlows and the sowbellys are absolutely RR's best. BUY A BARLOW!:D;)
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Hi,

Oddly enough, the Barlow I had, has been the only RR I didn't care for when I got it. It was well made, can't fault the build of it. But it just didn't feel right for me. It now resides in the beginning collection of a 13 year old young Gentleman. Not his first knife, but his first slippie. I believe I've turned him to the darkside now.:D When I see him he wants to talk about Case, Queen, and GEC's.

I had a Sowbelly too. I wish I still had it because I really liked it. But my Wife got that one. Reminded her of an Uncle that carried something similar. I got to get another.

Dale
 
Thanks yobbos1. That's the knife. I have 2. one has been abused (came in a knife 'lot') but my unused one is very well put together.
I think the only generalization that can be made about RR's is that the more recently made ones are better than the 'older' ones. But if you get, for example, a 'bad' Jigged Bone Tickler LB, i don't think you can generalize that all of those knives will have the same 'issues'. The quality control is pretty high. The frequency of getting an unsatisfactory one is low.
i base this on my experience of buying over 100. But that's not a large enough sample to be sure. I will need to buy more.
roland
 
Well, I just got three new RR knives. They're all good value for the money but they're
also all far from perfect.

The canoe I got had some scratches on the blade.

The sunfish I got has a little Side to Side bladeplay on both blades.

The peanut I got is the best one but the scale pins are slightly too long.

And on all three the gap between the blade and the spring is a lot bigger than I like.

I don't own any Case knives but if the Rough Riders are better or as good as Case knives like some have said then I'll have to pass on those in the future.
 
LX, my guess is that all 3 of these are early made Rough Riders. There's lots of "new in box" older RR stock 'out there'.
Others, like the "Gunstock" series, or "Tobacco Bone" or "Trapper" series (many others as well), are easily identified and are within the last about 2 years. If you get one of these, i doubt you will find any 'issues'.
roland
 
rprocter said:
LX, my guess is that all 3 of these are early made Rough Riders. There's lots of "new in box" older RR stock 'out there'.
Others, like the "Gunstock" series, or "Tobacco Bone" or "Trapper" series (many others as well), are easily identified and are within the last about 2 years. If you get one of these, i doubt you will find any 'issues'.
roland
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Sorry buddy, the peanut IS from the gunstock series and the canoe is from the Long Rifle series which is also from the latest series.

Only the sunfish might be from the old series.
 
I've tried Case in the past and wasn't happy with them. The first I looked at fell apart when they took it from the box. I ended up buying one that looked pertty good but was just never happy with it. The blades wouldn't stay sharp like other knives I had at the time. I ended up giving that one away.

They tell me the Case knives made today are much better. I just hate to take a chance on them with the price they want for them. I wouldn't mind paying $100 for a good folder though.

I do have some RR on my shopping list because I want to see what all the fuse is about. :)
 
Schrade Old Timer Trapper in Ironwood. Not exactly a RR but its still made in China for a US company. It has some of the lightest springs I've ever felt on a slip joint. Not much snap closing. Its not as nice as my Case or GEC trappers but it was only $9. I don't think you'll find anything with ironwood in this price range but I could be mistaken. One of the nicest beater knives I've seen.
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LX, i think yours is the only post in this thread stating any problems with the knives in those series. i have quite a few, all ebay, so not hand picked, and all are right on.
roland
 
Well, I just got in the RR Canoe with fluted bolsters and the Small San Mai damascus lockback.

Both are great for the money. The Canoe is far from perfect but nothing structural really, just minor cosmetic imperfections, very similar to what I've experienced with Case knives costing two to seven times as much actually.
The bone is nicely done, both blades have decent snap with just the right pull effort. The large blade had rough movement initially but after some oil and a day of opening and closing it's smoothing right out. I'm really liking this knife, especially the fluted bolsters, something different.

The San Mai damascus lock back was a little better fit and finish and of course required some oil also. The only fault I have with it is the blade is loose when closed. It locks up fine and tight when open but I'll just tighten with the proper torx bit at work and it should be nearly perfect. I can't really fault it at all even though I probably won't keep it since it's not really my style. Just had to check out my first damascus steel. Pretty cool.

Now I'd really love a Case Canoe in carbon steel but I'm somewhat reluctant to pay Case prices due to my experiences with Case knives. I'll probably do it anyways or find another U.S. made Canoe like Queen or GEC.

BTW, they had better initial grinds than all my Case knives have also. I actually dropped the Canoe while oiling it and it cut me pretty good. I didn't even notice until I saw all the blood.
For the record, I don't want to sound like I'm knocking Case knives. I still feel they're better knives overall at least until RR's stand the test of time.
 
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I just got in the last rough rider I ordered. It's a Synth Stone Gunstock. I also got around to taking pictures of all the ones I got so far. So here we go. I'll list the issues that they have directly after the individual pictures.

The whole gang a a group:
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Featuring:

An Elephants toenail with sawcut bone:
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Side to side bladeplay. On both blades, moreso on the large blade.

A Long Rifle Canoe:
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Scratches and some dents (????? how'd that happen?) on the large blade.

A Green Gunstock checkered peanut (my first Peanut....and I seem to like the pattern.)

Pins sticking out too much.

And last but certainly not least....the Gunstock in Synth Stone malachite scales.
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Notice the way the but end of the spring is bigger at the smaller blade? My Queen doesn't even have that! (I own a Gunstock Queen as well).
Also, filework that follows through to the springs
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As you can see nicely fluted bolsters and a very well executed half stop on both blades
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The synth stone is somehow very well done. I expected it to be completely smooth and very fake looking but it has some discolourations and pitting, just like real stone would have.
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All in all. The Gunstock doesn't have any of the flaws (however slight) the others have. It's definately the best one I got in this bunch. (Also had asmall trapper black pearl and Tobacco bone Congress some months back but they both ended up as gifts.....sorry)

The only thing I notice that is done better in terms of fit and finish on my Queen than on my RR is the blade sitting fully flush with the backspring when the blade is opened, and the Queen blade seems to be a hair thicker (and the steel offcourse). If it wouldn't be for that at first glance I'd say the RR is the more expensive knife.

It cost me around $20 total. I was very sceptical of the Synth stone but they pulled it off very nicely.

If Case knives are as nice...(or better than) the Gunstock RR....I'm going to have to get me a Case knife sometime.
 
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