Rough Rider

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Armored farmer

Armored farmer

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I host a blackpowder shooting match every spring at my farm. I have been buying Rough Rider knives to give as prizes. I have bought over a dozen in the last three years, even a few for myself.

I cant see why they arent more popular. Fit and finish is good, the blades are razor sharp. They never get a mention among knife lovers.
Why is that?
Its easy to break or lose a good knife doing my job.
These Rough Riders have been good, and the guys that have won them say they like theirs too.

15239662374601161075256.jpg
 
I like them also.
I think because most people perceive them as 440 china junk, but they are not.
They may be 440B but they are properly heat treated and tempered, and as you say great fit and finish, not to mention inexpensive.
 
I remember my Dad's pocket knife. It looked quite a bit like the one on the bottom, except with black plastic scales.

When I had learned how to read by the late '50s I was bewildered as to why they misspelled one of the words in the name on the little attached plate; KAMP KING.

It wasn't of terribly high-quality, expensive or sexy but it sure was both sharp and handy.

I now recall that 20-25 years ago I actually came across a new KAMP KING somewhere and bought it for Dad (his original by that time had not been used in decades and really looked like crap). Dad has been gone for 10 years ... and now I am off to locate that new KAMP KING ... I know that it is around here somewhere ... ;)
 
I have a dozen or so RR tiny toothpicks. I like them almost as well as my case xx. The fit of the scales is better on my case xx. Otherwise I love them. I bought a dozen 7 years ago and handed them out to the guys in my wedding party. Each one got a different pattern with a distinct meaning behind it. My FIL got a trapper and is still carrying it daily. No complaints yet, but it’s been sharpened a lot. He uses it at work quite a bit in the electricity lineman world.
 
Armored farmer said:
I cant see why they arent more popular. Fit and finish is good, the blades are razor sharp. They never get a mention among knife lovers.
Click to expand...

I agree that the fit and finish are very good, in fact excellent for some of the Rough Riders I own. However, the 440A blades are soft and dull quickly. I called SMKW and asked why they did not use 440C, and the whole idea was inexplicable to them, as a question, as a concept, or as a need.

I suspect they use 440A because it must be easy to stamp out, easy to grind, and the average knife owner wants something cheap, that does not rust, and is clueless about knife edge holding.

When a knife owner can't tell the difference between a knife , a pry bar, or a screwdriver, they are not going to be very discriminating on edge holding ability.

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Nice pic slamfire!

I have a deep love of old knives.
I have collected a bunch of really old schrades, shrade-waldens, Imperials, Cammilus, Case and others.
I even found an old Van Camp. They were a hardware chain in tbe 40's that did a private label deal with Schrade to put there name on pocket knives.

The most prized ones are a Schrade Walden Bosuns knife a 3 blade pocket knife, both in jigged bone that belonged to the wifes grand pa,a Navy Chief who carried them both on Dec 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor!
 
Old Imperials and Hammer Brand knives are fun and cheap to collect. Even though they werent expensive when new, they had better steel than a lot of knives even today. I have a Hammer mini Barlow from the ‘30’s that was supposed to be a “boy’s knife”. I love it, and only stopped carrying it because the celluloid scales began to separate.

The Kastor family did a HUGE business making knives for other people-Camillus, Schrade, Ulster, even Case. That’s likely who made the Kamp King mentioned above (Keen Kutter, etc etc). I have a Camillus camp knife that I bet is an exact clone of it.

As I stated earlier, a pre-Coleman Western stockman is one of the best “users” out there. Outstanding steel. Even better than some Case offerings.

Old blades are FUN.
 
Perhaps because they look too "old school"?
Click to expand...

I like the "old school" knife look......

I have recently developed a fondness for swing gaurds.
Click to expand...

Me too... Swing guard knives are some of my favorites... I have a few from Northwoods and Remington (bullet knives) with a swing guard...
 
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