Rough Ryder Reserve: New Premium Rough Ryder Line

Never had any actual dealings with SMKW direct, so i have no idea whether i would like them, their policies, or they way they treat customers etc.

In the UK we tend to buy the RR knives through dealers on our shores, and they have an excellent reputation for customer service. Which i might add is justified.
 
EngrSorenson EngrSorenson
Lol, I agree with the unashamed trailer park vibe, they're based in the Appalachians and some of us hillbillies tend to wear our redneckery loud and proud :D:thumbsup:
I grew up looking at the SMKW catalog and the US. Calvary catalog until they was worn out lol. I mean what kid of our generation didn't want a Rambo knife,Conans or Duncans sword, a pair of night vision goggles ,and US Calvary even had those neato glow sticks Rambo tied to his arrows:cool::thumbsup:
But now I'm wondering to far off subject......:rolleyes:
 
About two years ago I bought a RR just to see what they're like. I think I paid about $14 for this medium trapper. I was fairly impressed given the price but for $50 , I'd be buying a Buck or Case even if I had to spend a little over the 50 to get one.
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skyhorse said:
About two years ago I bought a RR just to see what they're like. I think I paid about $14 for this medium trapper. I was fairly impressed given the price but for $50 , I'd be buying a Buck or Case even if I had to spend a little over the 50 to get one.
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- yup, just like there are bikes out there one-third the cost of my Harley ...........they out-perform, out-brake, out-corner, out-everything - but you'll never shift me away from chunky iron-horse :cool:
 
Henry Beige said:
The difference is, with RR, you pay less, and maybe get less. With Harley, you pay more to get less.
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........beg to differ :) in as much as.......the kind of thing, the kind of thrill I get pushing 400kilos as fast through bends and twisties as I can can’t be replicated on any other bike, especially when I have four other 2litre bikes thunderin’ in my ears :D

If I had the money and the space, I’d have those other bikes in my garage too ;)

(.......apologies, going OT a tad)
 
And then furthering my crusade to challenge modern definitions for knife blades, here’s a modern “sheepsfoot” and two “reverse tanto”. To my eye it looks substantially like there is no difference, which leads me to believe that there is no such thing as a reverse tanto with a belly.

The point is ultimately, in my opinion, that the kayak is an odd duck with very little substance to the blade design/choices. It could have been a lot better with even just a few tweaks. At the very least folks would have to admit that it’s super weird that the secondary blade is thicker from edge to spine than the primary.
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I think you meant sheepsfoot with a belly. Because all reverse tantos have belly's, either gradual or sudden. Name it or call it whatever you want to, its not a new blade shape in the traditional custom world, but it does appear RRR is the first to put the blade shape on a canoe-ish pattern. Its bold. Will it sell well? Yep. Will I buy one? maybe, i don't prefer 2 spring patterns. If GEC made the same pattern, would the attitude toward it be different? Yep.

Anyway.. Here are a couple examples of similar kayak blade shapes by other makers.
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jrawk jrawk Well it seems we can argue about modern names for blades for days, because point of fact is that we can find many straight edge reverse tantos (to B brownshoe 's point), just as we can find curved edge sheepsfoot blades. Misplaced Hillbilly Misplaced Hillbilly demonstrated that "wharnecliff" in modern knives is a fairly abused term for blade shape.

I mean, the kayak boasts 2 "reverse tantos", one with a curved edge and the other not, so if we're going by what SMKW calls them, then we're looking at two things that supposedly define the style.

These conversations always, sadly, degrade to this because just as soon as someone says something like "there's no such thing as a clip-less clip point" someone can find an example of someone who's made one. I'm not so sure we should use that criteria, since legitimacy is all-inclusive.

If the community feels that definitions are a silly way to go with these types of knife discussions, that's fine too- it just makes things more subjective, which is more boring.

To your other point, JRawk, if GEC made these knives they would definitely not look like this. You pay for what you get, and there's something lacking in these designs that GEC would not be over-looking. I'm sure some of these knives will sell, I even considered it, I just don't see these reaching "viper"/"grinling whittler"/"TC Barlow"/"77 Barlow" status. I think you're right that there would be less skepticism if it was an established brand like GEC; point of origin alone would get more takers. However in my opinion there would still be a discussion caused by the design of the Kayak. This isn't your typical "I wish I had a clip/spear/sheepsfoot/wharncliff instead of the clip/spear/sheepsfoot/wharncliff they put on there" type of discussion.

Regardless, can we agree that the it's super weird that the secondary blade is more beefy than the primary? Either that or the beefier one is the primary and breaks the typical expectation by being on the pile side.

Ultimately it looks like a lot of knife for relatively small blades.
 
I think the easy open notch makes sense considering that since the knife does not have a nail nick it would be tough to open unless you wanted to use the one hand/arm notch only. I think the GEC one hand 15 I owned at least had a nail nick to go with the notch so you had a 2 handed choice
 
Eli Chaps said:
Personally, I find everything about SMKW gimmicky and bordering on slimey. It's like I'm always waiting for the ShamWoW guy to pop on the screen and start hawking knives. They come off like the old commercials with the "brilliant genuine cubic zirconia 10 carat, hand-cut, stone set in a beautiful 99.99% silver plated band."

I just won't have anything to do with them.

But to each their own and if you like their products, then good on ya.
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I agree. I used to buy from them in the catalog days butt some their policies and representations of product bordered on scamming.
 
I will say that, as time rolls on and nothing shows up on the SMKW site, my excitement wains. Just doesn’t feel like they have their house in order; the promotional stuff made it seem imminent. With GEC’s the longer I look at them, the more enticed I become. Not so with these. My interest in the mystery 4th pattern is even flagging.
 
I bought knives from the SMKW catalog, way back in "The Day" and was satisfied with the mail in the check order form situation. I have more recently had several interactions with them and am happy. I received one knife that I wasn't satisfied with and SM sent a new one no questions asked and told me to keep the bad one. I never really felt a particular "vibe". Interesting.

I have about 8-10 RR knives and at least 4 of them are good users. The others are okay but I doubt I will use them. Probably cause I have so many knives.
 
EngrSorenson said:
I will say that, as time rolls on and nothing shows up on the SMKW site, my excitement wains. Just doesn’t feel like they have their house in order; the promotional stuff made it seem imminent. With GEC’s the longer I look at them, the more enticed I become. Not so with these. My interest in the mystery 4th pattern is even flagging.
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I feel they announced these a bit early. My interest is waning a bit also. I'll still pick one up though. I only have 3 or 4 Rough Ryders currently but have had dozens over the years. At 10-15 dollars they are perfect for giving to friends who need a knife. From my experience the fit/finish has improved in the past few years. At this price point I fully anticipate them to surpass current Case quality. Although there would likely be more interest out there if these reserve models were offered with 154cm or s30v. Especially since Marbles can already be had with D2.
 
From what I have seen from the first three, I will not be impressed with a fourth model, they are just not right.
 
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I've had sufficient time to cool on these now. I'm glad I had time to really mull it over- these are too clunky looking.
1) missed opportunity for a medium size competitor for the GEC 15s
2) super odd duck canoe pattern with a needless liner
3) spacers on each side of the main blade of the split back; to make up for the difference in material thickness of the tang.

I'm excited for reviews- I hope everyone who wants one likes theirs.
 
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