Rough Rider & Related Slipjoints

midnight flyer said:
I have seen that Railsplitter in person, and it is a fine piece of work. I have the same pattern in Schatt and Morgan, and I have to say, if I didn't know either brand on sight, I wouldn't be able to tell which one was the premium knife and which one was the more affordable model.

Honestly, the Colt I saw was that nice. The S&M was just a little bit more, though....

Good suggestion for a great traditional working knife.

Robert
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I posted a picture of the Colt a few years ago and one of our knife maker members commented that it was one of the best production slip joints he'd ever examined.

Whenever I pick it up to use it, I forget how cheap it was, I think I paid $20 for it. I have a few different Colt branded patterns and they're all high quality.
 
Those Colt Railsplitters are great.

Here's one I tricked up for whittlin' to make it even better for that purpose.

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Mr. Chips said:
Those Colt Railsplitters are great.

Here's one I tricked up for whittlin' to make it even better for that purpose.

016_zps5c088829.jpg~original
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Nicely done! I have been thinking of taking up whittling as I enjoyed whittling different things when I was a kid. I used my CASE stockman to whittle all kinds of things and found it to be quite relaxing.

I have to ask; how do you find the edge holding capability of the steel on the Colt? I only have one, a large teardrop jack, and that particular knife holds an edge as well as any traditional pattern I own.

Mr. Chips (got that one when I referenced whittling), what is your experience?

Robert
 
Ran across a new one last weekend. Well, new to me anyway. it's a fairly large Rough Rider sodbuster pattern with a brass looking liner lock. I believe it's a 304 with the reddish jigged bone scales. As I recall the little shop I found it in had it priced at $15. I rather liked the looks of it and every thing seemed in order but not knowing anything about it at the time I didn't pull the trigger. From what I've been able to glean off BF and the net in general I believe I'll stop by and take another look.

Anyone have a RR 304 and if so what are your impressions of it? TIA
 
I find the edge retention is as good as any other pocket knife I have.

I have currently been trying out some of the Colt carbon steel knives. They are good too, but I wouldn't say any better than the stainless at taking or keeping an edge.

The one carbon steel knife that I have that does keep an edge noticeably better is an old Joseph Rodger's Sleeveboard, that I rescued several years ago.

Here it is:
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Mr. Chips said:
I find the edge retention is as good as any other pocket knife I have.

I have currently been trying out some of the Colt carbon steel knives. They are good too, but I wouldn't say any better than the stainless at taking or keeping an edge.

The one carbon steel knife that I have that does keep an edge noticeably better is an old Joseph Rodger's Sleeveboard, that I rescued several years ago.

Here it is:
030_zps48cfc36e.jpg~original
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Thanks for the reply on that. Always good to hear from someone that really give a knife a workout. If a whittler doesn't, who does? :thumbup:

And just a quick comment... love that old fella. What a great find to get one of those with that blade combination.

Robert
 
It would be great to find a currently made knife like this old one:

About 4" closed

Single spring

Pinned shield

The scales could be sheep horn or maybe bone of some sort.

I think this knife was lost in the dirt or a barnyard at some point. When it came to me it was rusty and the scales had curled etc.

Once cleaned up, it has good snap, very little blade wobble and really keeps an edge.

Knives like this always make me wonder about their story.
 
Badhammer said:
Ran across a new one last weekend. Well, new to me anyway. it's a fairly large Rough Rider sodbuster pattern with a brass looking liner lock. I believe it's a 304 with the reddish jigged bone scales. As I recall the little shop I found it in had it priced at $15. I rather liked the looks of it and every thing seemed in order but not knowing anything about it at the time I didn't pull the trigger. From what I've been able to glean off BF and the net in general I believe I'll stop by and take another look.

Anyone have a RR 304 and if so what are your impressions of it? TIA
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I'm very interested in what you find out. I found what you where talking about on giggle but it didn't have any info. :(
 
youknowwhatimsayin said:
I'm very interested in what you find out. I found what you where talking about on giggle but it didn't have any info. :(
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Here ya go. Scroll down to the bottom and you can see that the numeric differences in this model apply to the scale material used on its covers. I have read somewhere on this forum (or may another.. can't remember) that a couple of guys that got this model really liked it for all the right reasons.

http://blindkat.hegewisch.net/RRR/rr514.html

Robert
 
I have one of those that I got in a bag of seconds a while back, and keep it in my camper. It's a sharp sturdy sonofagun, and I would not hesitate to buy another one.
 
Mr. Chips said:
It would be great to find a currently made knife like this old one:

...Knives like this always make me wonder about their story.
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I'll bet the guy that lost it was upset when he found out it was gone. Don't let Charlie Campagna or GEC see it, they may want to make one. I think they have something pretty close now. Kinda like this:

GEML781214PR__56003.1390340523.1280.1280.JPG

photo from Collectorknives.net

Making one similar to the one you posted wouldn't be much of a stretch for them.

Ed J
 
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Here's my RR locking Work-Knife. About 3.5"/9cm closed. Smooth Caramel Bone? That is darkening nicely, good sturdy liner which I don't find gets in the way. I have the much larger faux Tortoise version too but it's far too big for my carry likes. This smaller one is a real treat. Thanks, Will
 
I have to say, one of the things that made me look at some of these Asian offerings was the great covers they put on them. Will, that caramel bone would make anyone happy. I have seen many examples of RR knives with excellent bone work and acrylic covers than I can count.

And the same goes for some of the Colt offerings. I have a teardrop jack pattern from Colt that I have bragged on more than once and one of the impressive features is the completely consistent dye job of medium brown, and the near perfect checkering like you would find on a gun stock. Crisp, sharp, no over cuts on the checkering and it is wearing very nicely. I like that honey bone, too. And after looking at Mr. Chip's railsplitter, I may have to buy one of those in that honey bone. As I said I saw one in person and it was beautiful.

RR has also raised the bar on jigging and I think has brought back some interest in more interesting patterns. I have a Barlow with "bark bone" scales on it that is fantastic. They do a great job on their "armor hide" pattern, and for that old fashioned look I really like their version of "peach seed".

They do a nice job with their shields, too. I like the choices of shields they put on their knives and love that acorn shield.

Robert
 
I went over every page on [a big knife e-store] looking at their RR, is there a place to find their more "rare" scales and patterns?
 
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Robert, thanks for your observations. I'm actually proud of that RR locking knife, it works well-very sharp and feels right in the hand and pocket. I also like the RR Gunstock checquered bone, unusual and grippy not unlike the Armour hide you mention.

Regards, Will
 
youknowwhatimsayin said:
I went over every page on [a big knife e-store] looking at their RR, is there a place to find their more "rare" scales and patterns?
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youknowwhatimsayin, not as difficult as you might think once you learn this trick. Go to Google, then click on "images".

Then type in "Rough Rider stag" or "Rough Rider smooth bone bone", or "Rough Rider XXXX" with the XXXX to be the material or pattern you are after. You will have to dig around in the pictures, but generally speaking the picture will light up a URL and connect you to the address of that picture.

Many times (although there are a lot of BF pics to be found that way!) attached to the link there will be knives for sale, or at least an applicable model number you can plug right in to your search engine to locate. Better still, once you are in the images section you will see all kinds of Rough Rider knives with all kinds of scales on them, some not a bit connected to your search instructions. To test drive this, I just plugged in "Rough Rider amber bone" and after the few 50 - 75 pictures, I saw a peach seed, a tobacco bone, and a rare rope jigged pattern. Nothing to do with amber bone.

As far as the big e-site that has the big selection, they only have the newest offerings. Older models and different configurations that are no longer made won't show up there. But if you find an image you like and can get a model number or exact model name from your image search you can probably find someone online that has the one you want in stock.

Rough Rider has dozens of resellers, so if you find one you really like someone will probably have it.

Robert
 
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