Rough Rider & Related Slipjoints

ErikMB said:
I love these Queen knives though the color somehow reminds me of a cockroach. 🤣

Still, they did a great job with them.

I think Rough Ryder purchased them and moved the production to China but I'm not sure.

I'd love to see more like these with a variety of scale materials like burled wood or horn.
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Yep, now made in China. Bittersweet. I'm personally hoping that with the success of the RRR line of knives, they will bring back some classic Queen patterns (tear drop liner lock, whittler) produced at the RRR level of quality (which I consider on the level of Queen's old stuff, a sure step below GEC).

I'll miss the amber carved bone stag covers, though. Still my favorite, and I missed out on picking up an example before the market supply dried up.
 
Is this thread about Rough Ryder knives or Rough Rider knives? I wasn't even aware of the second brand until I came across this thread.
 
JohnDF said:
I'd put Old Queen and GEC on pretty equal footing, especially when the same guy was at the helm. 🤠 :thumbsup:
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Can only speak from my experiences. The Queens I've owned had more small issues. Gaps, issues with fit between liners and covers, absolutely trash edges, blade strike. On the "macro" level they were nicer than the RRR I have but they seemed to skip out some on the "micro" level. GEC, again just from what I've owned, does a better job of covering both levels.

I do admit that I have a small sample size though, so could be wrong generally. And I also haven't had any OLD Queen knives, only stuff that I think was produced near the end.
 
I have a RR copper series fishing knife on the way. I plan to compare it to the GEC fish keeper I have stashed away and a 1950s Japanese made knife in the same pattern. Might be interesting or not, but I wasn't impressed with the GEC gaps and blade rub and possible rap, it is the first one I have been able to procure. The RRR one arm razor I have seems to be pretty flawless and is with me more often than not. Some of the non reserve knives are hit and miss, including a denim barlow that I consider a knife shaped object, but the wasp series barlow was a pleasant surprise.

Cheers,
 
JohnDF said:
Ya, the stuff they were putting out towards the end was complete junk.
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I always feel a touch of melancholy that I was born after the Golden Age, and only became interested right before the downfall. Hoping the recent surge in slipjoint popularity after the domineering "tactical" trend brings it back somewhat.
 
Carboniferous said:
The Queens I've owned had more small issues ... absolutely trash edges ...
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"They don't sharpen them because buyers want to put their own edge on for the type of cutting they do, just like in the old days ..." was the excuse most given for the pass modern Queens were given for the lack of cutting/slicing ability out of the box.
(Never mind the fact that that in "the old days" people who bought a new pocketknife expected to be able to use it right away, and even the least expensive no name "Made in USA" stamped knives were sharp out of the box...🙄)

I remember a couple years ago a big Queen fan bought a new Queen knife and thought there was something amiss with it. It had even grind lines, and the edge was sharper than the spine.

Me? I just figured modern Queen were intended for display, not use.
 
afishhunter said:
"They don't sharpen them because buyers want to put their own edge on for the type of cutting they do, just like in the old days ..." was the excuse most given for the pass modern Queens were given for the lack of cutting/slicing ability out of the box.
(Never mind the fact that that in "the old days" people who bought a new pocketknife expected to be able to use it right away, and even the least expensive no name "Made in USA" stamped knives were sharp out of the box...🙄)

I remember a couple years ago a big Queen fan bought a new Queen knife and thought there was something amiss with it. It had even grind lines, and the edge was sharper than the spine.

Me? I just figured modern Queen were intended for display, not use.
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Totally agree, there just is no excuse. Especially on a slipjoint running close to $100, ESPECIALLY when they use a dang tool steel.

Sure, I can spend an hour putting a fresh edge on it and waste my time, or spend more money to have a professional do it, but...the knife was already in the hands of a professional. Should already be done.

My RRR one-arm jack cost half as much and comes with a great edge. The regular RR knives were closer to 1/10 the price and come with decent edges. I understand American labor costs more but how much were they saving? It doesn't take much/any longer to grind a usable edge compared to a useless edge, just requires you to not be lazy/to care.
 
I have a couple of Queen knives from the mid 2000s and they were built fine, but the edges were useless.

As mentioned, defending them by people saying that "you always sharpen the knife anyway, you never like factory edges anyway, you have the opportunity to design your own edge, everybody needs to know how to sharpen, it's like changing your car tyres... and so on", excuses that we still hear if anybody dares to criticise anybody's favourite brand does not really help the brand.
I can imagine some people buying them and immediately binning them as they were not able to do what a knife is primarily supposed to do -cut.

I do not remember any other knife that did not come with a working edge, and I do have some really low cost rubbishy knives too.
 
afishhunter said:
3 inch toenail or 4 inch toe?
The large sunfish is such a nice practical pattern.
I like how they don't "print" loose in the bottom of go to meetin' or business suit trousers. 😁👍
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Rough Rider Elephants Toenail Knife, Amber Bone, RR084. Bought in 2011.

I do not have it with me, but on a site it says that "Measures just under 4"
 
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