Rough Ryder Reserve: New Premium Rough Ryder Line

A second one arrived. This one has the arrowhead better centered.

When closed it's almost the same size as the Boker Barlow but it's larger when opened.

The smudge on the blade is from me opening it up, it's not a defect.

I am annoyed that the Boker shield is off center, as well. For $120ish they should have things straight.

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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."
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I am trying to say a perfectly centered shield is not a quality attribute for many artisans or knife lovers. Things a little off center or imperfect is often the sign of being hand made, humans are by nature a little off center :)
 
brownshoe said:
I am trying to say a perfectly centered shield is not a quality attribute for many artisans or knife lovers. Things a little off center or imperfect is often the sign of being hand made, humans are by nature a little off center :)
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unless you were Tony Bose, heh
 
ErikMB said:
Strange that RRR, Boker, and Case are making simple single blade Barlows these days
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Case is producing a Barlow?!? I thought they took it "out of the vault" for a year in 2019, then put it back "in the vault" and out of production in 2020.

Makes less than zero sense to me why Case doesn't have the Barlow as a regular production item, like most of their competitors do.
If someone wants a new Barlow, they can buy a "LNIB" Case on the secondary market at an inflated price or wait five to ten years for Case to "take it out of the vault" again, or buy a Böker, Rough Rider, Bear & Son, Marbles, or one of the better Frost brands, among others for less green.
Why send your customers to the competition, Case?
 
Here is what SMKW has on their website about future RRRs...

RRR003BM ROUGH RYDER RESERVE BLUE MICRATA SWELL CENTER WHITTLER
RRR009BM ROUGH RYDER RESERVE EZ OPEN BLUE MICARTA SWAY

RRR013 NO INFO
RRR018 ROUGH RYDER RESERVE KAYAK (Stabilized Green Oak)
RRR019 NO INFO
RRR020 NO INFO
RRR021 NO INFO
RRR022 NO INFO
RRR023 ROUGH RYDER RESERVE D2 PATRIARCH FOLDER
RRR023D ROUGH RYDER RESERVE D2 DAMASCUS PATRIARCH FOLDER
RRR024 ROUGH RYDER RESERVE D2 GRANDDADDY FOLDER
RRR024D ROUGH RYDER RESERVE D2 DAMASCUS GRANDDADDY FOLDER
RRR025 ROUGH RYDER RESERVE D2 BURGUNDY MICARTA SABACC (Star Wars Game?)
RRR026 ROUGH RYDER RESERVE D2 BROWN MICARTA ROUND UP
RRR027 ROUGH RYDER RESERVE D2 BLACK AND GREEN TANTO
RRR028 ROUGH RYDER RESERVE D2 BLACK AND BLUE TANTO
RRR029 ROUGH RYDER RESERVE D2 BLACK AND RED TANTO
RRR030 ROUGH RYDER RESERVE D2 G-10 LINERLOCK
RRR031 ROUGH RYDER RESERVE VG10 DAMASCUS LINERLOCK
RRR032 ROUGH RYDER RESERVE D2 ASSISTED OPENING TANTO
RRR033 ROUGH RYDER RESERVE G-10 LINERLOCK
RRR034 NO INFO
RRR035 ROUGH RYDER RESERVE CARBON FIBER BLUE FRAMELOCK
RRR036 ROUGH RYDER RESERVE ASSISTED OPENING ONE ARM RAZOR
 
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brownshoe said:
I am trying to say a perfectly centered shield is not a quality attribute for many artisans or knife lovers. Things a little off center or imperfect is often the sign of being hand made, humans are by nature a little off center :)
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Ah yes, Rough Ryder, the bastion of hand made artisanry.

You've got a lot of posts in this thread. How about you share some pics of your RRR knives! :)
 
craytab said:
Ah yes, Rough Ryder, the bastion of hand made artisanry.

You've got a lot of posts in this thread. How about you share some pics of your RRR knives! :)
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Just like GEC, I have handled many but only one, a split back whittler, did I want to buy. The walk and talk of the RR was too poor though. I am not a fan of their nail nicks.
 
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craytab said:
Ah yes, Rough Ryder, the bastion of hand made artisanry.
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Both RR and RRR. Question is: "How "hand made" are they?!?"

Are they "hand made" in the same way Victorinox Swiss Army Knives are: a worker assembles the appropriate parts in the proper order in a jig, pushes a button or foot pedal, a machine does the rest, then kicks it out to be taken to have the covers pressed on?
"Hand Made" like Mr. Stan Shaw and the other cutlers made knives in days gone by?

"Machine Made" or "Robotic Construction" doesn't sound as grand. However, the consistency from the first and the last made any given shift/day/week/month that is "machine made"/"robotically constructed" is probably a lot higher than "hand made". What controls the hands can get distracted. Automated machines and robots don't know the meaning of "distracted".

Does human hands during the manufacturing process in any way, no matter how minor their contribution is equate to "hand made"?

Perhaps "Hand Finished" is a more accurate term?

Don't get me wrong. I like Rough Rider/Ryder knives. I believe they are high quality. However, I suspect most of the manufacturing process is almost as automated as the Swiss Army knives are. The number of knives the factories that produce them for Rough Rider, Marbles(?) some Frost(?) and others is great enough they'd probably need thousands of employees to meet the contractual demands, let alone what they may produce under their own brand(s) for domestic and regional sales.

Pull strength, edge bevels, overall fit and finish is too consistent across the 60 or so I have of various patterns to be done by hand at a production level. With the exception of the secondary blade on a baby sunfish/elephant toe, regardless of if 1, 2, 3, 4, or six blades, every blade has a "5" pull. (the one exception was a minimum "18" to "20" pull. Prying and pliers were required to open it ...after opening the main blade, that had a "5" pull.) Lack of blade rub, (even my 6 blade sowbelly stockman that went AWOL didn't have that feature!)
 
brownshoe said:
Just like GEC, I have handled many but only one, a split back whittler, did I want to buy. The walk and talk of the RR was too poor though. I am not a fan of their nail nicks.
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I'm not familiar with that Rough Ryder Reserve model. Is it new? Care to share your thought on the other specific RRR models you've handled?
 
I think he is referring to the Classic Carbon II series Seahorse Whittler RR2217. That is a very nice knife. I liked it so much I bought two- one for the collection and one to keep on my desk for everyday use.


As for the automation of the manufacture of Rough Ryders... I'm no expert, but I really doubt that their manufacture is as automated as Victorinox or Buck. The reason that those two brands can be that high tech is because they have either a small number of models (Buck) or their knives are modular (Victorinox). There are all kinds of Rough Ryders in different sizes, patterns and blade shapes. I'm sure they stock various parts for frames, but I think they achieve bang for the buck by doing large runs of of a single model, then move on to a different model. This is why we see a whole lot of one type of Rough Ryder for a while, then they gradually sell out and are replaced by a new model.

A friend of mine works with Chinese manufacturing companies, and he told me that each towns where they manufacture their goods specializes in a particular product. One town does pots and pans, another does toys, another electronics and another does cutlery. This gives them access to large numbers of highly skilled workers in a particular field. I'm guessing that Rough Ryders are produced in a production line system, largely by hand. Custom hand made knives are made from beginning to end by a single person, but the process of assembling the knife is probably pretty much the same.
 
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sf fanatic said:
I’m pretty sure it’s been already covered but this is a knife that punches well above its price point. Imho it’s worth every penny and then some. 😃
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I agree Dan, so much so I bought another one to tinker with! 🤣 I’m going to try to smooth off the edges and dye the handle. I’m going to use the first one though ( the one with the lanyard) because the second one has better Micarta and a perfectly centered shield.
EngrSorenson said:
This is the only one I've seriously considered getting. Too bad about that strange lanyard hole placement, though.
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My first RRR also and I felt the same way, but once I got the cord through the hole it now gives me a full four finger grip.
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I finally got a Rough Ryder that I can say is an excellent knife.
The Barlow is really well built from top to bottom. Not perfect but really good. If I have one complaint, it the dumb lanyard hole.
The lanyard hole needs to be in the place of the pin, or not used at all... and it's really tiny. Why bother putting it in if it's not functional?

 
bigfish64 said:
I agree Dan, so much so I bought another one to tinker with! 🤣 I’m going to try to smooth off the edges and dye the handle. I’m going to use the first one though ( the one with the lanyard) because the second one has better Micarta and a perfectly centered shield.

My first RRR also and I felt the same way, but once I got the cord through the hole it now gives me a full four finger grip.
View attachment 1814753View attachment 1814754
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I just used thinner cord.
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JohnDF said:
The Barlow is really well built from top to bottom. Not perfect but really good.
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Ugh... I spoke too soon. :mad:
The opening 'snap' is really mushy.
I'm flushing it, but there's no way it's going to improve enough to make me happy... This one will probably go down the road.
 
JohnDF said:
Ugh... I spoke too soon. :mad:
The opening 'snap' is really mushy.
I'm flushing it, but there's no way it's going to improve enough to make me happy... This one will probably go down the road.
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John, that’s too bad. Mine was at first as well but after a good flush with CLP it is nice and snappy opening and closing.
 
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