Rough Rider & Related Slipjoints

Not sure. The last few I've bought have been very disappointing in their quality. I hope it's not a Case of increased production causing lower quality control.
 
I agree about Case in general. I only buy their knives in person where I can handle them and look them over. The snap is real important to me and the fit & finish I sort of take for granted for the most part. I haven't noticed many issues with Rough Rider knives to this point but I have a limited perspective view of them.

Rough Rider knives are pretty good, especially for the money. They now have their "titanium" which I believe is a titanium wash. There will come a time when that won't be the case. I do handle the RR's before I buy. I looked at a couple of the peanuts before choosing. I think having this option makes the sales tax acceptable overall. But the sale tax thing will change in the near future once the states figure out how to collect it with online/catalog sales.
 
Full disclosure...

The only real issues I've had with Rough Rider has been with their lockback knives. One knife didn't lock at all, one had such a gritty action (read horrible) even after flushing the crap out of it (rough steel finish perhaps), and the third had so much blade play in all directions that I didn't feel good about using it. All the slip joint Rough Riders I've owned have been pretty good.

Case knives usually just have fit and finish problems, but that can be mostly alleviated by bidding on items with good pictures or buying from a brick and mortar store. I've NEVER had a Case knife with bad walk and talk or lockup problems. Usually their issues are real bad blade centering that results in blade rub or huge gaps in the liners. I do feel more confident buying a Case as long as I can see pictures of blade centering and liners.
 
DSC03615ed.jpg As I recall, the lockbacks tend to have more blade play. I have only purchased regular slippies to this point. Yes to the blade centering and the sowbelly RR has some issues in that department which is common with a stockman type knife. The one Hen & Rooster stag stockman I own is about perfect in that department. They are priced similar to Case. Photo above with the Case Peanut. I now question the value of H&R knives considering they are basically high priced Frost knives.
 
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One of my favourites and from a few years back and it MIGHT be that quality was better then than now? Haven't bought a new RR for a longtime really.

I was put on to this pattern by black mamba black mamba thanks Jeff as this Eureka Stockman is a brilliant compact knife and an unusual pattern. The Master blade (Turkish Clip) and Sheepfoot have sunk joints and the cutaway effect of the Eureka frame and Turkish Clip means that the Sheepfoot is not an uncomfortable hump when using the Master blade, 3 3/8".

fyxUEJa.jpg
 
Will Power said:
One of my favourites and from a few years back and it MIGHT be that quality was better then than now? Haven't bought a new RR for a longtime really.

I was put on to this pattern by black mamba black mamba thanks Jeff as this Eureka Stockman is a brilliant compact knife and an unusual pattern. The Master blade (Turkish Clip) and Sheepfoot have sunk joints and the cutaway effect of the Eureka frame and Turkish Clip means that the Sheepfoot is not an uncomfortable hump when using the Master blade, 3 3/8".

fyxUEJa.jpg
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What's the pattern # on these...please sir ?
 
Great Gev, the pattern No. appears to be RR 406. At least from the tang, I don't keep their boxes much as they're flimsy. Hope this helps. Very snappy item too :cool:
 
Nice Eureka, Will. That little guy definitely punches above it's weight . . . a great little knife.
 
Just received a new Rough Rider Medium Stockman...
It's a very well put-together little knife. The F&F is great with smooth transitions and no gaps. The blades are thin and sharp with no blade rub. It is well built beyond its price range. With that being said, it's not a pattern that I'm taking to quickly, so I'll pass it along to my Brother-in-Law at Christmas. Still, worth every penny I spent on it and it was a cheap way to try out a new pattern for me.

 
A current Imperial-Schrade sowbelly stockman is certainly a slipjoint related to Rough Riders, so I'll post the new one I just got here. I have several Chinese Imperials with which I've been very pleased (2 sizes of canoe, a sodbuster jr), so I decided to include an Imperial sowbelly, one of my favorite patterns, in a Black Friday buying frenzy. Like my canoes, this knife has cracked ice "celluloid" covers. The covers on this one are very attractive, with substantial inner luminosity! I'm also drawn to the almost sunk joints typical of most sowbelly stockman patterns.
imp.sow.pile.closed.jpg

imp.sow.mark.3open.jpg

- GT

Modoc ED said:
How are everyone's Rough Rider and Imperial Schrade knives doing today. Although this picture was taken when these knives were new, I've been using them mostly in the house but sometimes outside for various yard and field use and they are holding up quite well at least as good as my Case, GEC, pre-2006 Schrade, and Camillus knives. The blades on all of them sharpen up nicely and perform well.

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I was going to give someone else a turn to post in this thread before I jumped in again, but not much happening here at year end! ;) So here are 3 Rough Riders I bought in a Black Friday frenzy a month ago.
First up is a RR amber jigged bone peanut, my first of that pattern from RR. It seems to be an excellent knife. :thumbsup::thumbsup:
peanut.mark.closed.jpg peanut.pile.2open.jpg

I also ordered a couple of RR's relatively new carbon steel knives with yellow synthetic covers. I'm ecstatic over these! :):thumbsup: Well-built, sharp out of the box, and whatever the carbon steel is (1095?) it patinas just as I had expected. Here's a carbon steel canoe:
carbcanoe.pile.closed.jpg
carbcanoe.mark.2open.jpg
carbcanoe.backsprings.jpg
Here's my new carbon steel sowbelly stockman:
carbsow.pile.closed.jpg
carbsow.mark.3open.jpg
carbsow.backsprings.jpg
- GT
 
22-rimfire said:
I'm thinking about getting one of the sowbelly's if they are still available on my next store visit.

I notice that they are putting "R" on some of their bolsters now. When did this start? Going to be all new production?
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Just got smOkey cat in mail .they are changing rough rider to rhyder and make mention to collectors
 
Just got a Roughrider stockman for Xmas,(I sent the link to the wife and said I wanted it,lol!). I wanted it because it’s got a caplifter along with clip main, sheepsfoot and Spey blades. It’s got yellow plastic, (delrin?) handles. I’d have preferred a different cover, I think they came in jigged bone but this was the only one I could find, and it was the last one. It’s new but the covers are a little warped. Not terrible since it was made in 2003. Haven’t decided if I’m going to pull it apart and recover it. If I do, I’ll of course take care of the f&f but for it’s cost it’s pretty good overall.
 
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