Rough Rider & Related Slipjoints

Pipeman said:
I collect many different knives from different makers and RR makes a Great knife and not just because they are cheap, way too cheap IMO. They make great lock backs but for my money the best trapper they make is the Jumbo trapper.
Here's a pic of a jumbo in their barnboard bone.

Best regards

Robin

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That Jumbo Trapper is nice! I am going to have to hunt one down with the same handle. All I can find is smooth tobacco.
 
Bought a copperhead in stag bone recently. F&F was very good, just a couple minor gaps. Blades weren't sharp by my standard but they were ok. Overall quite nice for under $15.
 
Not sure if this is related enough, but this is interesting to me. The jigging on this Chinese Buck 373 (love the knife btw) is almost exactly identical in pattern and color to the jigging on a little RR toothpick I bought awhile back. Is it possible that they're made in the same factory, or that one company jigs the handles for the other?
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LeatherMan64 said:
Not sure if this is related enough, but this is interesting to me. The jigging on this Chinese Buck 373 (love the knife btw) is almost exactly identical in pattern and color to the jigging on a little RR toothpick I bought awhile back. Is it possible that they're made in the same factory, or that one company jigs the handles for the other?
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I think it is entirely possible. I have knives from different companies that have the same profiles and dimensions as knives from other companies. Not only are many of the knives out there from the Pacific rim area simply "jobbed" or contracted out, but I think different factories use parts from other sub contractors. BTW, the BOKER cattleman I have has identical jigging to that BUCK knife and even the colors are the same.

Robert
 
It's possible they all come from the same factory. However, I have four Chinese Buck slipjoints, and they just don't have the same feel as Rough Rider. Maybe a bit better fit/finish than Rough Rider. Embarrassingly good compared with Buck's domestic line. But the difference between Buck and Rough Rider may be because Buck specified very Buck-like designs and finishes.

The low priced Chinese made Boker Plus punch stockman I have similarly doesn't feel much like a Rough Rider/Marbles/Colt knife, even though the fit/finish is superb. The even less expensive Magnum line may be a different story, though.
 
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Hi guys. I just joined this forum recently to search for info on Rough Riders. Well I bought a couple after reading through this thread, even though I read some negatives about RR edge retention. Well I've just carved a tea spoon from a piece of dry wood about 3'' x 4'' in size using one of these...



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Sowbelly Stockman RR501. It's smaller than most Sowbellys with very thin blades. The main clip point's like a toothpick blade unlike most models. I completed the spoon using only the small spey blade, nothing else. I hadn't sharpened the blade since buying it but ran it over a butchers steel half way through the project.

When it was finished I ran it over the steel again and it's cutting through paper like it did when new. Personally I'm pretty impressed.

Obviously this knife isn't the best tool for that job but I was eager to find out how the edge would hold up so I persevered. Is this a half decent test of edge retention? Remember this is a small knife with very thin blades. I think they're about 1mm thick.

No idea what the wood was. It was just a piece of firewood left over from my last camping trip. The spoon's not pretty and my hand hurts. :)
 
This is an interesting little set from Frost:

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I've not stumbled across anything serrated before in my limited browsing so far. I know serrations aren't for everyone but a 2 blade slippie seems as good a way as any.
 
I had one of these when they came out, misplaced it, hunted extensively for it and never came up with it. I missed it in the EDC rotation. Hunted one down on the Internet. Well, maybe hunted down the big brother too. Very unique, handsome, jigged bone with a sweet and sharp drop point. Nicely built Rough Rider San Mai Damascus Lockbacks. The RR1020 is 4" closed, the RR1021 is 3 3/8". Both have great snap for a lock back knife.









 
^ Great-looking knives. Nice to see this thread back up too :thumbup:
 
I'm still anxiously awaiting the carbon lineup, but can't help but feel something is hanging it all up. Thawk that's a couple of great RRs, I've got one of those little Damascus lockbacks somewhere, very nice knife as fit and finish is concerned, still even if it is the most expensive Rough Rider I've purchased, I felt like I got an outstanding deal.
 
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I got the Outdoorsman Series Large Sunfish in natural bone, because it was 10 bucks and elephant toenails are neat. It wound up supplanting my Opinel Garden Knife as my EDC, because it was ludicrously sharp, a joy to handle, and looked interesting. The short length and absurd width really fit my hand and working style. The pull and snap were unreal - super smooth and and almost aggressively positive.

It was a bit gritty, so I blasted it out with WD-40, and then lubed with dry lube. Apparently the grit was the only thing holding it together - it developed some serious blade-play on the large blade. It was reluctantly retired, and I've asked, pretty please, for a GEC All-Steel Sunfish to replace it on my berfday.

Just today I found a youtube video showing how to tighten old slip joints with a bench vice and a ball-peen hammer. It worked - too well. The super-smooth action is now tight at the 90º point of the arc, tho it does snap open and closed without drama.

Another consequence is that the nice, shiny finish on the bolsters was dinged, and the pin now shows through. It needed some rehab with a round of metal sandpaper headed from fine to 800 to 1500 to 2000 grit and a final, furious rub with a Scotchbrite pad. It's now got a nice satin brushed-brass look that I replicated on the other end.

It's a lot less refined looking than the original, but it suits the natural bone scales better, I think. It needs a bit more time with the Scotchbrite, and some more exercise opening and closing, but not bad for a kickin' around knife while I wait for the GEC.
 
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