Rough Rider & Related Slipjoints

midnight flyer said:
When you are looking at "bendy" blades, you are looking at model differences as the bend is allowed due to the thickness of the blade. This will generally be dictated by the manufacturer's interpretation of the model itself. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with quality, but a lot to do with personal preference.

For example, it is possible that that the RR has thinner blades, a thinner edge, which might make it a better slicer than the BUCK for its size. (Settle down, men of Buck... that wasn't a negative...) However, some may use a knife much harder and prefer a stiffer blade for their knife's chores. So you get basically the same knife, about the same size, but built differently for different uses. That's why manufacturers build different models of the same knife patterns.

I have bendy medium stockman patterned knives. I have non bendy. One is heavier built, and one slices better than the others. I like them both for different reasons.

In keeping with any knife guy's tried and proven solution, and certainly in the tradition of Blade Forums, you should buy the BUCK so you will have both! :D

That way you can make your own comparisons.

Robert
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Yeah, I agree with this. Thin blades aren't necessarily a bad thing. Just different and for different purposes. That's why you gotta carry a few knives. :cool:
 
This 'value' knife arrived this afternoon so I'll give initial reactions:

Quite a hefty and thick knife as it is two bladed, but not too heavy. The build quality appears high, it has none of the issues that really irritate me e.g. gaps on liners or scales, blade play, badly radiiused bone around bolsters or liners. In fact, it seems very well finished indeed. The aesthetics are more debatable though, but this is naturally subjective.

PROS

Overall finish is very good. Blades are very sharp indeed and have minor swedging to help with the closing. Main spear is nice and broad too without an excessive kick. strong spring, half-stops. Blades centred.Bone jigging very well done indeed, much above RR. Flush in open and close match between tang and spring. Nearly flush closed, very minor raising. No gaps whatsoever even under strong light.

CONS

Really to do with the appearance and this is where it's personal. The lined bolsters and the deeply stamped C although well made are not to my taste, too fussy and cheapening. I knew from pictures what they were like but wanted to try the finish of the knife. Dislike the coin shield with the Colt in it, far too big and outlandish. Don't much like medal shields at all, CS and Queen ones are smaller but still unappealing, Böker manage it-it's very small and the tree looks nice!

FINALLY Definitely well-made, good materials and very sound workmanship.Sturdy and feels durable. Worth the 20 USD absolutely. Let down by careless and over fussy detailing, but some people might really like it of course, could be a great rendering of this pattern if it were more tastefully executed.
 
Willgoy, I agree. My Colt is very nicely made but I can't quite put my finger on what it is that makes this knife seem 'tacky' to me. Have you ever got a dream knife and wouldn't admit it was disappointing so you tried to like it? This is the opposite, I found myself trying very hard to find something wrong with the Colt whittler, I tried not to like it:confused: I guess I just didn't, well,:o...like it.
 
Here's 3 recent RR arrivals. The quality continues to climb.

3 1/2" 2 blade Gunstock

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note the wrap around spring for the Pen blade:

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Here's a modern take with a 4 1/8" Trapper:

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Saber ground Master blade locks in the open position, released by depressing the Wharncliffe blade:

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Excellent fit of scales/liners/spring and blade spine in open position:

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And finally, this is the first 5" RR Toothpick i have seen. Rifleman Series:

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These 3 are all well designed and very well made knives. All blades have smooth yet crisp action, just the right degree of 'pull', zero blade play even with force applied, and the Gunstock has half stops.
My total cost was $35. And that is the 'problem'. I'm finding it harder to buy other brands knowing i will pay 5 or 10 times as much and may well receive a knife not up to the RR standards.
roland
 
Roland, I've got three of that pattern. The one I don't have is the yella comp. Great EDC.

IMG_9964.jpg
 
I found 2 like the above with a thumbhole blade, and a wharnnie, but they were yellow, and tortoiseshell.

Can't wait to find one with bone or wood.

Anyone have the model numbers?
 
black mamba said:
They are nos. 821, 822, 823, 824.

I'm sending you a PM.
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Fantastic thank you :) I got a very similar PM from Roland ;)

Not sure how I missed that one, I thought I looked at them all.

Hopefully it will be mine!

Best,

Steve

EDIT: Darn, they won't ship here :(
 
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"what's the bone called on the Gunstock"
"Gunstock Bone" i guess because it's checkered like the stock of of a gun might be. The Toothpick's scales are called "Walnut Gunstock Bone".
Some of the RR's nomenclature is a bit confusing like "Trapper Series" are not all Trappers. And the "Rifleman Series" and "Long Rifle Series" look very similar. Definitely some of the "Series" are consistently a little better than the others.
roland
 
JPD1998 said:
The RR knives are inexpensive working knives and they're not bad looking either. I compare them to the Imperial knives that used to sell for $1- $2.00 at hardware stores during the 60's and 70's. If you break one , no big deal, they're not heirlooms

Bingo
As I scroll through this thread, This same thought has occurred to me
several times. ( posted 1/9/2010 by JPD1998) )
However, the pressed/crimped, metal handle Imperial's, lesser quality workmanship, was more apparent, compared to other brands of the period.
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I bought over a dozen RRs prior to Christmas and gifted several to a budding 13 year old knife nut as well as a couple to other family members.

Altogether I bought six different patterns (multiples of most) and honestly not one had an issue that I considered major. Sure, fit and finish was a little better on some than others, but overall I was impressed...again:o

All of these were bought sight unseen 'ceptin' for stock photos on the net.

Every single blade on 15 knives had "walk and talk" and some were three bladers. I wouldn't trust my luck to buy 15 new CASE knives sight unseen and expect the same;)

So far I've kept four back that I intend carry and use. Already been carrying two that are more than satisfactory so far. (Baby Barlow and Peanut)

I expect I'll buy more:o
 
Darwin, thanks for posting about buying a bunch of RRs. My experience has been similar and i continue to be amazed by their consistently high level of fit & finish and quality control.
I think over the last 50 years people have gotten used to the fact that production knives quite often arrive having some aspect not as it should be.
Now RR knives have come on the scene and the vast majority of the time you get a good one. And they're about the least expensive knives available.
It doesn't make sense to me, but i'm happy about it !
roland
 
I wanted to see what the new Taylor "Schrade" knives were like so asked for one in my stocking :( fooloish me. The promo pics of this whittler looked quite nice, big pronounced swedge just above the forward nail nick on the master didn't arrive with the knife. A double nick would imply the need for it, wrong, the pull is about a 2 on all the blades. Came with a tiny blade wobble on the master and very soft snap on all blades which were dull. The Buffalo horn scales sit above the bolsters and one had a filled gap at the bolster. Not sure what the steel is, I assumed 440a but it sure doesn't have the heat treat of a Rough Rider. It gets moderately sharp but won't hold an edge worth a damn.
Now a $25.00 knife is harldy worth the effort of writing this but I have to wonder what the h### is Taylor thinking????
Rough rider puts out quality work and IMO a great heat treat and dozens of very nice patterns. Why would Taylor take a name like Shrade and put out Total garbage when RR has proven what kind of quality can be had for less than 1/2 the price of this "old timer".
Shoulda asked for 2 1/2 RRs.:D
It's a real shame that Taylor has grabbed the brand name. Old timer is a great old brand, Taylor brand "old timers" are a POS:thumbdn::thumbdn:

Best regards

Robin

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I use RR knives probably more than any other brand, because I don't care if they get damaged or worn. I agree with the others , the steel is more than adequate and really holds an edge, even after breaking down boxes.

I once tried to slightly bend one of the blades on a large stockman to stop it from rubbing another blade and noticed the steel had a nice "spring" to it. The blade was not easy to bend ( using a vice) and I really expected it to snap off.

The one thing I have noticed is that the scales on some of the patterns develop cracks at the spring pins. It's happened to two sowbelly stock knives, one in yellow delrin, the other in smooth bone. The same happened with a 3 blade gunstock in yellow. It seems that on some of the knives the holes drilled into the scales are too close to the edge. Of course this is just cosmetic...

A co-worker saw me using a sowbelly in yellow and said he’d like to get a knife like that. So the next day I gave him one (I had another one). You would have thought I gave him gold , he thought it was an expensive knife.
 
I ordered a RR today. I hope to get it soon...

I´ll post my experiences with the knife, as soon as i have it.
 
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