Rough Rider & Related Slipjoints

Send me that knife Roland. You know what I will put it through. I love these knives as you well know. I will send it to hell and back along with my six blade Stockman and my Congress. Show them a thing or two about life on the farm.
 
I wish RR would start putting deep swedges on their blades! I might have to grind some into my blades.
 
really nice whittler there! interested in che # too, looks a nice pattern though!, hope that there are "good" handels to choose from

I had a RR clasp, i really miss for 15usd...., also loved the CAMCO g-10 canoe but sold them for case and gec's a couple years ago

I don't usually "bother" rr and the like as I prefer the handles, materials anf finish of GEC, queen CS and case, the handles of these imports are often strange in colouring and that's what does not appeal me much, if it's good bone g-10 or stag then ok I may like them :)
but I may re-add a couple to the collection and will add the AGR ones

btw saw a "wrangler" copperhead in stag on ebay yesterday, is it good? (20usd?)

Maxx
 
Max, some RR Handles are quite subdued and actually very worthwhile.For instance their Gunstock line in Green or Brown chequered bone is very nice, their Amber Bone is OK too.
 
willgoy said:
Max, some RR Handles are quite subdued and actually very worthwhile.For instance their Gunstock line in Green or Brown chequered bone is very nice, their Amber Bone is OK too.
Click to expand...

well i'm going to check some of them
 
This Whittler is RR # 1044.
I have 2 Wrangler Stag Copperheads. Quality is similar to Rough Rider but the blades do not arrive with edges quite as sharp as the RR's.
roland
 
Thanks Roland!

Sadly none availabe to Australia, as is normaly the case with the god ones! Will keep looking :)
 
thanks Roland
none on ebay right now, sadly

will look for a wrangler copperhead in stag, looks very nice
 
I just got a couple Rough Riders, a Rifleman series canoe and an outdoorsman series barlow. Both of them are pretty nice. There are some small gaps here and there but nothing too bad, no cracks in the bone or anything.

The pen blades have strong springs and the canoe's pen blade is a little stiff as well which makes opening it tricky but it's getting better, going to oil it soon. The barlows pen blade has smoother opening but still has a strong spring, bit of a nail breaker. I'll take strong springs over weak anyday though.
The spear blade on the canoe opens real smoothly and has a good snap to it. The clip point blade on the barlow opens smoothly too but the snap isn't as good as the canoes, it's decent enough though. They came pretty sharp but also had some dings and wire edges, should all sharpen out easily enough. The barlow is listed as having 440 steel blades while the canoe just said "stainless steel" but actually both their master blades say 440 steel. Might not be the best steel but at least I know what it is.

They look great too, I know they're cheap and all (about $26 combined) so I shouldn't worry about them but they just look so nice, almost gunna be a shame to use em.
 
i got a whittler today called a tennessee stud.
must be a new brand,not sure.
fit and finish are dead on though.
jd
 
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I been eyeing off these smooth bone with the really nice shields and bit the bullet on a congress! I am thinking of modding it and putting some swedges on each blade to give it that real traditional touch. Will sand off the etching too for a more satin finish.
 
Somebody is telling them boys some things and they are listening as evidenced by that congress and others I've seen. As they were getting things tightened up just a few years ago, there was still that difference that didn't quite make it all the way. The blades, while good, were a bit thick and the bolsters and bodies were too sharp cornered. All that added up to a tad bit of weight for the size and a bit of blockiness at the time. As you can see by that bone handled congress Robert went for, that's gone now in favor of sleeker, more rounded builds. They still have their share of blockish knives, but a lot of what I'm seeing coming from Rough Rider and the various other names that seem to be made by the same outfit are knives patterned more after our older, more pocketable knives.

I picked up a Troublesome Creek congress of the bay on a whim for under $10. It had the multi-inlayed scales and turned out to be a pretty little knife that was easy to carry. Didn't have it long. A guy at work talked me out of it in a trade. I made out good and figured I'd just grab another. Haven't seen one since on the block yet. I'm still a bit obstinate though. I'm still not willing to pay what some of the online retailers charge for them. If I'm going to spend more than $10-12 bucks max on a knife then I'm gonna pay a bit more for a Case or something similar when I can snag it at a good price.

Nice thing with them though. As Robert is talking about doing, you can mod them to your delight and if you screw it up, oh well. Get another and keep practicing.
 
Ironically that post made me give it a shot on a RR old yellow Barlow my wife got me for a weekend away...so I was hesitant about stuffing this one up because of the sentimental nature of the knife, but I took it slow and nailed it!

Put swedges on both blades and rounded the handle off more and hand rubbed both blades to 1000 grit paper. :)

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PS. I'm not very good with getting lighting in a way to show the angles of the blade off but you catch my drift...will try more tonight with artificial light rather than natural.
 
That looks awesome! I have that same little barlow without the mods. I might try rounding it some...the swedges, unfortunately, are beyond me. Nice stuff.
 
The rounded handle just sits so much better in the hand! I love it...and the swedges really tipped it over the top, it gives it that traditional character I really love and I'm sure the tips ability to piece is increased dramatically.
 
Wow Robert, great job! Looks like you nailed it!

How did you make the swedges? Would love to hear the details :)
 
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I have something similar to this, used the round emery disc to remove bulk material free hand and finished shaped it with a course diamond hone pad, final polish I used 1000 grit wet and dry wrapped on a piece of pine. The bottom line of the main blades swedge is perfectly in line with the top of the pen blades spine.

If I can get a shot I'll show how crisp the line is and its positioning (which those pics fail to show).
 
Thanks for that, sounds ideal, I have a disc on the side of mmy belt sander but no platen.

You must be very pleased with the result!

You've inspired me to mod a rough rider, I have enough of them to give it a go!
 
Definitely give it a go and post the results...I only have the disc too, its just a belt sander/emery disc attachment for a large bench grinder which I mounted on a pedestal.
 
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