Rough Rider & Related Slipjoints

dalee100 said:
Hi,

I've had these about a week now.
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I've never had these patterns, so it's been fun trying them. The fit and finish is a little variable between the three. The green mini-trapper is far and away the best for fit and finish. I'd put it against any production slippie out there. It walks and talks. And I've come to find that I kind of like the pattern. It's as good a working knife for my day to day use as is my stockman or Vickie Soldier.

The half-whittler is a real surprise to me. It's not quite as good a fit and finish as the trapper, but still pretty darn good. The blades don't quite have the nice snap on opening or closing. And the dye job was not well matched on the jigged bone scales. But I really like carrying it. It's light and easy in the pocket. Didn't think I'd really care for it. I only got it because SMKW didn't have the mini-sunfish I wanted.

The mini-canoe is perhaps the disappointment to me. While I adore the saw cut bone and fluted bolsters. The fit and finish isn't as good as the other two. There is a .004" gap in the back springs on one end. And the a small .0015" between the brass liner and one bolster. (Hey, as a machinist, I measure:)). I know it's not going to prevent it from being a good user. It's just I was hoping that it would be as good the trapper. It's a good slicer though. With a .045 thick main spear point blade it sliced through a cardboard box, a foil pouch, and 2" thick styrofoam with ease. I will continue to carry it, though perhaps not as often as others.

All in all, I like my new knives. Rough Rider provides me with inexpensive slippies to expand my horizons all the while making a good solid knife. Could you imagine if RR offered plain carbon steel at these prices?

dalee
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You can get some of the cinnamon bone stag in carbon.
 
draggat said:
The new Bluegill Barlow. Have to say I'm very happy with all of the changes they've made to these..... Plain bolster, pen behind the main..... Now just get rid of the shields on the Barlows please!



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I agree the simple unadorned lined bolsters look much better than that deep, ugly "R" molded in, does.

I rather like the green and blue bone stag covers.
The Pen Blade behind the main is where it belongs.
I may "have" to get one of these for a Sunday Go to Meetin' carry.

The shields don't bother me half as much as the fingerprint and smudge magnet signal mirror or light house reflector blade polish.
A "brushed" blade finish (and on the bolsters, too) would be so much nicer, in my opinion.
It would even cut production time and costs, if the blade cleaning stopped at 400 to 800 grit, rather than 3,000 grit followed by red or green rouge on a buffer wheel. Whether the cost saving would be passed on to consumers ...
 
Stumbled across this one recently. The etch is not good IMHO and the poor photo doesn't help, but it does show how poorly it was applied. Otherwise it's a pretty nice one, even if the checkering was hand cut by a computer! :D



 
I have been loving the RR vg-10 knives. Great stainless at a reasonable price. I am just waiting for another series without any of the RR design oddities.

I like SMKW's Wasp Barlow, but the scales are a bit bright.
 
draggat said:
Stumbled across this one recently. The etch is not good IMHO and the poor photo doesn't help, but it does show how poorly it was applied. Otherwise it's a pretty nice one, even if the checkering was hand cut by a computer! :D



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Just got one of these and yes, outside of the ugly etch, the quality is astonishingly good. Some of the best walk and talk in my collection.
 
draggat said:
Stumbled across this one recently. The etch is not good IMHO and the poor photo doesn't help, but it does show how poorly it was applied. Otherwise it's a pretty nice one, even if the checkering was hand cut by a computer! :D



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Not a fan of the etch but I happened to order one of these over the weekend myself lol. I don't like any of the other teardrops I've seen from RR but this one looks perfect, love the jigging and the bone and the shield and the bolsters. Does the etch seem like it'll be easy to buff off?
 
Carboniferous said:
Not a fan of the etch but I happened to order one of these over the weekend myself lol. I don't like any of the other teardrops I've seen from RR but this one looks perfect, love the jigging and the bone and the shield and the bolsters. Does the etch seem like it'll be easy to buff off?
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Unfortunately, you'll probably need sandpaper. I'll try buffing it with flitz tonight, but I don't have high hopes. I'll update the results here!
 
I spent a few minutes with the teardrop just now. Did about 10 minutes with this polishing pad then a solid rub down with flitz and a microfiber cloth.



It didn't change the finish of the blade, but it did make the etch quite a bit less obnoxious. The etch isn't extremely deep.... You could probably get it off with 1,000 grit.

Forgot to mention that the handle was loaded with green polishing compound. I used a toothbrush and rubbing alcohol to remove it.

A little bit of work, but it was worth it!

C Carboniferous thanks for the buffing out idea!



 
draggat said:
I spent a few minutes with the teardrop just now. Did about 10 minutes with this polishing pad then a solid rub down with flitz and a microfiber cloth.



It didn't change the finish of the blade, but it did make the etch quite a bit less obnoxious. The etch isn't extremely deep.... You could probably get it off with 1,000 grit.

Forgot to mention that the handle was loaded with green polishing compound. I used a toothbrush and rubbing alcohol to remove it.

A little bit of work, but it was worth it!

C Carboniferous thanks for the buffing out idea!



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I don't even mind it like that, much better! Good to know, already have Flitz on hand
 
draggat said:
I spent a few minutes with the teardrop just now. Did about 10 minutes with this polishing pad then a solid rub down with flitz and a microfiber cloth.



It didn't change the finish of the blade, but it did make the etch quite a bit less obnoxious. The etch isn't extremely deep.... You could probably get it off with 1,000 grit.

Forgot to mention that the handle was loaded with green polishing compound. I used a toothbrush and rubbing alcohol to remove it.

A little bit of work, but it was worth it!

C Carboniferous thanks for the buffing out idea!



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That looks so much better. I’ll have to give it a shot. So did you put green compound on the sanding pad?
 
Shmo723 said:
That looks so much better. I’ll have to give it a shot. So did you put green compound on the sanding pad?
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Thanks, I'm much happier with it now as well!

The knife arrived from the dealer with the green compound stuck in the grooves of the checkering. Cleaning it was the first thing I did with the toothbrush and alcohol.

For the etch, I used that polishing pad dry and then rubbed it with fltz and a microfiber cloth after. I guess you could use compound instead of flitz, but if you used it with the pad, it would clog it up and be less abrasive.
 
draggat said:
Thanks, I'm much happier with it now as well!

The knife arrived from the dealer with the green compound stuck in the grooves of the checkering. Cleaning it was the first thing I did with the toothbrush and alcohol.

For the etch, I used that polishing pad dry and then rubbed it with fltz and a microfiber cloth after. I guess you could use compound instead of flitz, but if you used it with the pad, it would clog it up and be less abrasive.
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Got it. Thank you!

The brass liners on mine kicked out some nasty burrs my first 2 days messing around with it but I think it’s all good now.
 
draggat said:
I spent a few minutes with the teardrop just now. Did about 10 minutes with this polishing pad then a solid rub down with flitz and a microfiber cloth.



It didn't change the finish of the blade, but it did make the etch quite a bit less obnoxious. The etch isn't extremely deep.... You could probably get it off with 1,000 grit.

Forgot to mention that the handle was loaded with green polishing compound. I used a toothbrush and rubbing alcohol to remove it.

A little bit of work, but it was worth it!

C Carboniferous thanks for the buffing out idea!



Click to expand...
Very nice.
What's the closed length?
I've looked on their site, but they don't give it.
 
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