Are Rough Rider knives durable?

CVamberbonehead

CVamberbonehead

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Hi everyone, I am new here, but everybodys been great so far. Now, onto the important stuff. I used the search function but havent found anything, so my question to all of you is, are Rough Rider knives durable? I saw a youtube video of someone breaking some Rough Riders(doggonerunning or something) and Im a bit worried. Ive never had one, and I want to buy a RR premium select congress for whittling. So, those that use RR knives, are they tough? I use Case knives usually, with no complaints.
 
Absolutely they are durable. I used to own a Half Hawk that was a tank. Or maybe a half track...

Anyhow, Rough Rider knives are stellar quality for the price, and everything I have handled from them has been on par with Case.
 
I use a RR Coal Miner exclusively in the garage. Mainly because it was cheap cheap cheap and I dont care if something happens to it, but the locking blade and the size help as well. I abuse it a LITTLE more than I would any other decent to nice knife, nothing crazy, but its held up wonderfully and has actually surprised me quite a bit. The edge needs very light work on a stone and strop to get it back to sharp just about every night I abuse it but thats to be expected. My smaller two blade RR knife has a lose scale on one side but Im sure I could fix it pretty easy, but thats not from abuse I dont believe.

Matt
 
None of my RRs has a lot of miles on it, because they are cheap and I have quite a few. I doubt that anyone has years of experience with one, because they have not been around nearly as long as Case, but I use mine as I would any knife and have seen nothing to make me think they are any less durable.
 
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They are well-made, particularly for the price. As others have stated I would put them on par with Case and just as durable. I have used mine for "normal" knife chores around the house as well as outdoors (hunting, fishing, camping, etc.) and they have been fine. I'm not abusing them, or any knife, but using them no different than I would a Case, GEC, Buck, etc.
 
CVamberbonehead said:
Hi everyone, I am new here, but everybodys been great so far. Now, onto the important stuff. I used the search function but havent found anything, so my question to all of you is, are Rough Rider knives durable? I saw a youtube video of someone breaking some Rough Riders(doggonerunning or something) and Im a bit worried. Ive never had one, and I want to buy a RR premium select congress for whittling. So, those that use RR knives, are they tough? I use Case knives usually, with no complaints.
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The only one I used a lot ( a large sodbuster liner lock) has gone berserk and is potentially dangerous (see picture and guess the next step), the others are still fine (#quite unused). You better stay away from this pattern.
RR-pivot.jpg
 
I also should chime in about the large Sodbuster pattern since mine has developed a similar issue. The rivet hasn't come through yet, but it has developed side to side blade play after a few months of light kitchen duty.

I've owned about 10 other RR knives and they've all been fine. Quality construction and edge holding similar to Case's TruSharp, maybe a little better, and in all honesty more consistent fit and finish.
If you've been haply with Case, you'll likely not be disappointed with RR.
Theres a thread dedicated to them here:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/rough-rider-related-slipjoints.582468/
 
Awesome! Thanks so much :) Thats a real shame, I was thinking their sodbuster line looked pretty good. The jigged bone looked like a cheap alternative to a Case version. Glad I saw this. Thats pretty bad.
 
To answer some of you, I dont abuse my pocket knives, but I was worried about lateral pressure on the pivot while whittling. Specifically, if Im carving hard to remove wood, there could be some force there, and the congress doesnt seem like a very stout knife. And I am worried that the brass for the liners, or the bolster and pin, is not up to par and might bend or break under stress. It seems like itd be fine, but I dont know. Im glad to hear that most of you have had good service from your Rough Riders, thats reassuring.
 
I had a rough rider a couple of years ago. It was alright and imagine if it was used just as a knife you could get years of use out of one. I don't believe they match up to Case in quality, but then being a third of what a Case costs, that's to be expected. Rough Riders are fine especially if you think you're liable to lose your knife on a regular basis such as I once was.
I think the dollar for dollar best value for a pocket knife would be Victorinox. A Spartan is a bit more expensive than a rough rider, but sinc Vics are rivetted instead of pinned, they don't loosen up near as easy, plus you get a caplifter to open a cold beer amongst other things. Hard to top that.
 
bt93 said:
I had a rough rider a couple of years ago. It was alright and imagine if it was used just as a knife you could get years of use out of one. I don't believe they match up to Case in quality, but then being a third of what a Case costs, that's to be expected. Rough Riders are fine especially if you think you're liable to lose your knife on a regular basis such as I once was.
I think the dollar for dollar best value for a pocket knife would be Victorinox. A Spartan is a bit more expensive than a rough rider, but sinc Vics are rivetted instead of pinned, they don't loosen up near as easy, plus you get a caplifter to open a cold beer amongst other things. Hard to top that.
Click to expand...

I know this is off topic, but every time I see your Avatar pic I wanna ask, is that a picture of you ?
It's a little blurry, but it looks just like Colin Mochrie from " who's line is it anyways ? "

Now on topic, my experience with rough rider quality in general hasn't been perfect and I wouldn't consider them as good as what I've experienced or seen with Case knives, but they're definitely a strong value for what they cost.
 
I think they are definitely durable. If you're going to be whittling check out the RR106 split-back whittler pattern.
 
Well I bought it. Along with some others... lol Soon Ill have a stoneworx baby toothpick, a rams horn big daddy barlow, a copper series fshing knife, a dog bone jack, a baby elephants toenail and congress (both arrowhead series) and a premium select baby copperhead. And for the price, even my wife couldnt be upset with them lol I hope theyre worth the little I paid.
 
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