Rough Ryder Reserve: New Premium Rough Ryder Line

afishhunter said:
Arrowhead shields have been used by several companies over the last 120~130 or so years.
Was Case's use of the shield/bomb, oval, bowtie, and bar shields trying to "steal some sales" from NYKC, Cattaraugus, Schrade/ Ulster/Old Timer, Uncle Henry, Camillus, Utica, Colonial, Robeson, Northfield, Northwoods, S&M, and all the other companies that used those shields since Case was founded? Of course not.
Northwoods wasn't/isn't the first to use an arrowhead shield. I've seen photos of prewar (your choice of which of the two previous World Wars) that used an arrowhead shield. They and Rough Ryder won't be the last to use it.
I doubt most non-knife nuts or collectors have ever heard of "Northwoods Cutlery", or they may associate it with the Northwoods Cutlery of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries (which also used other shields) that folded either before or during the 1930's.
Also, all the RRR have used Micarta covers. Doesn't Northwoods use bone, wood, or stag, with no or very rarely Micarta? Speaking of which, are companies that use natural cover materials "trying to steal" sales from other companies that use the same materials, in most cases, in the same red/black/blue/green/amber/yellow colors?
Shields that aren't the company name in cursive are not proprietary.
Click to expand...
In the video where SMKW introduces the RRR line, the narrator mentions that the arrowhead shield is to honor Kevin Pipe's passion for collecting Native American artifacts. The narrator begins discussing the shield at 18:00 in the video. Could be just part of the marketing strategy or maybe there is some truth to it.
 
ErikMB said:
The Barlow is PERFECT except for a misaligned arrowhead shield. I can't believe that, with all that care and quality, they made an error this visible.

Fit and finish are outstanding, it's nice and robust, feels great in the hand, and the blade is rather wide so I expect it will be good for spreading peanut butter and jelly. 😃
View attachment 1808329
Click to expand...
The site that I know sells these is not a member here so I won't link the picture, but the shield placement looks almomst exactly like the image used on their website with the shield off center to the same side of the pin.
So maybe it was designed that way for some reason?
 
Good point. I was looking at some advertising photos too and noticed the same thing. I guess that's deliberate or a very common minor error. Go figure.
 
ErikMB said:
The Barlow is PERFECT except for a misaligned arrowhead shield. I can't believe that, with all that care and quality, they made an error this visible.

Fit and finish are outstanding, it's nice and robust, feels great in the hand, and the blade is rather wide so I expect it will be good for spreading peanut butter and jelly. 😃
View attachment 1808329
Click to expand...


I've heard of knife companies doing this with the shield in relation to the pin, slightly offset it so that the gap isn't too small and prone to cracking. Just my 2 cents.
 
afishhunter said:
Arrowhead shields have been used by several companies over the last 120~130 or so years.
Was Case's use of the shield/bomb, oval, bowtie, and bar shields trying to "steal some sales" from NYKC, Cattaraugus, Schrade/ Ulster/Old Timer, Uncle Henry, Camillus, Utica, Colonial, Robeson, Northfield, Northwoods, S&M, and all the other companies that used those shields since Case was founded? Of course not.
Northwoods wasn't/isn't the first to use an arrowhead shield. I've seen photos of prewar (your choice of which of the two previous World Wars) that used an arrowhead shield. They and Rough Ryder won't be the last to use it.
I doubt most non-knife nuts or collectors have ever heard of "Northwoods Cutlery", or they may associate it with the Northwoods Cutlery of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries (which also used other shields) that folded either before or during the 1930's.
Also, all the RRR have used Micarta covers. Doesn't Northwoods use bone, wood, or stag, with no or very rarely Micarta? Speaking of which, are companies that use natural cover materials "trying to steal" sales from other companies that use the same materials, in most cases, in the same red/black/blue/green/amber/yellow colors?
Shields that aren't the company name in cursive are not proprietary.
Click to expand...

Northwoods founder bought the Scagel name and mark. Dave Shirley used the arrowhead because Scagel did. That's the origin of the Northwoods connection to arrowhead shields.
 
Arrived today. W&T and F&F are top notch. Pull is subjective, but I’d call it a solid 6. Perfectly flush closed to slightly proud at the half stop to perfectly flush at open. No gaps to speak of, centered, nice grind and very sharp. Excluding the quirky lanyard hole, this is a fine knife.F186E158-428F-48CF-8F25-DE6C9B23F70D.jpeg15A55049-4BDF-478D-BC9A-93A0998A3049.jpegF88E8CC5-2075-4642-9A82-8F6644F97E14.jpeg522A83D1-DC17-4BA2-AFB1-7E503E487AAD.jpeg
 
bigfish64 said:
Arrived today. W&T and F&F are top notch. Pull is subjective, but I’d call it a solid 6. Perfectly flush closed to slightly proud at the half stop to perfectly flush at open. No gaps to speak of, centered, nice grind and very sharp. Excluding the quirky lanyard hole, this is a fine knife.View attachment 1809443
Click to expand...

Looks good :thumbsup:
Based on yours, the offset shield is not intentional.
 
mbkr said:
Looks good :thumbsup:
Based on yours, the offset shield is not intentional.
Click to expand...
Thanks Mike. I think it’s the angle of my photo because the shield is slightly off center. I likely wouldn’t have really noticed it but once it’s mentioned, like you said, it’s hard to not see. Not a deal breaker for me.
 
bigfish64 said:
F186E158-428F-48CF-8F25-DE6C9B23F70D.jpeg
Click to expand...
Looks good, Todd. 🤠 :thumbsup:
 
There is no rule on tablets that says a shield must be centered. I've got a custom that has a shield not in the center, the maker said that for the .45 caliber slug shield, it looked better to him where it was. Artisans don't always measure quality with a straightedge and a t-square.
 
I must respectfully disagree, my friend. On a high quality knife we should see some precision, like there should be no grime-gathering gap between bolster and scale, pins should be flat enough not to cause hot spots on your hand, blade should be well centered and not wobble, spring should be flat enough not to be deformed by repeated contact that it wouldn't have if it were flush with the plates and sharing that surface area, plates and scales should fit flush and not gather grime, there should be no cracks causing weak spots by pins, and so on.

Just my opinion, of course.
 
brownshoe said:
There is no rule on tablets that says a shield must be centered. I've got a custom that has a shield not in the center, the maker said that for the .45 caliber slug shield, it looked better to him where it was. Artisans don't always measure quality with a straightedge and a t-square.
Click to expand...
... Are you trying to say that Rough Ryder Reserve is making artistic choices on these knives?
😆😆😆😆😆

"The other terrible aesthetic choices can stay, but hey fellas, can you make these shields off center? Better for the knife's feng shui."
 
EngrSorenson said:
... Are you trying to say that Rough Ryder Reserve is making artistic choices on these knives?
😆😆😆😆😆

"The other terrible aesthetic choices can stay, but hey fellas, can you make these shields off center? Better for the knife's feng shui."
Click to expand...
They have been making some very odd artistic choices in their RRR line. That being said, I still like them and have collected most of them, thus far.

I love/hate the kayak because the blades are too similar but they are both excellent. What I appreciate about the Canoe design is that the blades are very different from each other. That's what I like best about the 2-blade Barlows, as well.

Strange that RRR, Boker, and Case are making simple single blade Barlows these days. It's like they removed what make them so useful just for the sake of minimalism.
 
Last edited:
I haven’t gotten any reserves since the ‘flop’ on my easy open razor. This one is really tempting me - especially with all of these pictures and if FF seems to be better. It does seem quite small though…
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top