Case vs Rough Ryder personal experience. Is this the norm or was it a fluke

Luckily for me Case Knives are pretty widely distributed throughout the area that I travel as a Salesman. I get to put my hands on them before I buy; last week I bought a yellow Delrin 07 pattern Mini-Trapper - W&T and F&F were perfect, especially for a knife I paid $33.00 for. That said, I was actually after a Case Pocketworn, red-bone 18 pattern - he had two of those in stock and both had such weak blade snap I wouldn't buy either one - decided to wait until he gets some more in stock. I have a decent number of Case Medium Stockman pocketknives and I know Case makes very snappy versions. I wait until I can get what I like; wish it wasn't that way, but it is. Case is my favorite brand of pocketknife and I will keep buying them, but only in person. OH
 
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I haven't acquired a Case since the mid 1990s. The two Rough Ryder stockman patterns (one large classic carbon and the other a sowbelly titanium) I have are built and finished as well or better than any Case I have. The Rough Ryders have no or minimal gaps, edge grinds are nearly perfect, and they open and close very smoothly with just right amount of snap.
 
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I know Case went through a rough patch several years back.
If your dealers still have stock from that time period, there will be issues.
They seem to have a lot of their issues worked out on their newer releases.
You still get liner gaps, but I think that's going to be pretty typical with mass produced knives.
 
I had a issue with their 'recent' Case/Bose collaboration (if you are interested, the thread was called "what would YOU do?") It got all sorted out but it took a while with a ton of back and forth and trying to get updates from them.

I expected the Case quality to be sporadic given they are trying to keep the costs down to compete with the number of manufacturers out there...Just didn't expect the knife of such high value with such quality issues.

Not a regular Case buyer so I will stay quiet on their regular production knives but wanted to share my thoughts.

Speaking of Rough Ryders, I've generally had good luck with them but will point out that they also came with their own issues (blade rap, blade rub, extremely light pulls, etc). I will speak very highly of their lock backs, however. I have two of RR lock backs, (one was purchased used, and other new). Both are probably the best production lock backs I have. One I purchased for less than $10 but I have no idea what the blade stock is (it is just called stainless steel). 😁

Hope you find your happy place :D regardless of the company. There area a lot to consider in a quality of a company, even with the flaws you are speaking of.
 
Over the past ten years I've had a couple dozen of each brand, and see very little difference in their quality. I've never received one from either brand that I would send back, and nearly all of them have been bought off the internet. RRs generally arrive sharper, Cases usually have slightly better F&F, and the W&T is very similar with medium pulls and snap. Because sharpening is not a problem for me, I prefer Case slightly, but the RRs are a better value at 1/3 to 1/4 the price.
 
I'm a Case "Fan Boy" and I get a little touchy when people knock Case Knives. Here's a few that I have.

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There's a couple duds in the groups but over all they're first rate knives.

Gotta confess though - I've got a few Rough Rider knives too.

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Couple/three duds - one with very light action and the pile side cover separated from another but overall pretty decent.

Case has the upper edge for me but I can't really complain about the Rough Riders I have. I've only ever sent one Case knife back over a blade issue and haven't bothered sending the Rough Rider that lost it cover back because the postage would exceed the price of the knife.

Anyway that's my .02¢
 
JohnDF said:
I know Case went through a rough patch several years back.
If your dealers still have stock from that time period, there will be issues.
They seem to have a lot of their issues worked out on their newer releases.
You still get liner gaps, but I think that's going to be pretty typical with mass produced knives.
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My experience would agree with this. Every Case I’ve purchased since the release of the Barlows has been nearly perfect. A few flaws here or there but mostly cosmetic. What I really appreciate is that they seem to have improved the edge bevels quite a bit, some of my more recent purchases having edge bevels around 30 inclusive.
These

These days I’m almost exclusively a Case guy because of this. I won’t even consider GEC anymore with those thick edge bevels. I’ve actually just sold all of my GECs except for my TC Barlow so I can buy more Case 😁
 
My experience with modern Case knife purchases is that they have been well done functionally, but often have dramatically different color bone scales. As if the person assembling them randomally picks 2 scales out of a bucket with no thought. That being said, they are no worse than the mismatched scales I see on the latest GEC keychain knives, so maybe my expectations are out of wack. . .
 
Modoc ED said:
I'm a Case "Fan Boy" and I get a little touchy when people knock Case Knives. Here's a few that I have.

View attachment 1613532
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There's a couple duds in the groups but over all they're first rate knives.

Gotta confess though - I've got a few Rough Rider knives too.

View attachment 1613536
View attachment 1613539

Couple/three duds - one with very light action and the pile side cover separated from another but overall pretty decent.

Case has the upper edge for me but I can't really complain about the Rough Riders I have. I've only ever sent one Case knife back over a blade issue and haven't bothered sending the Rough Rider that lost it cover back because the postage would exceed the price of the knife.

Anyway that's my .02¢
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Really liking that blue swayback, what is the bone color called?
 
Modoc ED said:
I'm a Case "Fan Boy"
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Me too, ED... Me too. :) :thumbsup:
solphilos said:
I won’t even consider GEC anymore with those thick edge bevels.
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I've stopped looking for GEC releases all-together and don't even bother searching them on eBay any more... not worth the struggle or the price.
I don't feel like fighting for the opportunity to spend $150.00 or more (sometimes way more) for their knives when my Case knives cut just as well or better.
I will cherish the few GEC knives that I have, but I'm done with them unless one happens to fall in my lap.
 
JohnDF said:
Me too, ED... Me too. :) :thumbsup:

I've stopped looking for GEC releases all-together and don't even bother searching them on eBay any more... not worth the struggle or the price.
I don't feel like fighting for the opportunity to spend $150.00 or more (sometimes way more) for their knives when my Case knives cut just as well or better.
I will cherish the few GEC knives that I have, but I'm done with them unless one happens to fall in my lap.
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That’s pretty much where I’m at. I’ll enjoy the few I’ve kept but also appreciate the time and attention I now have to thoroughly enjoy all my other knives, namely my Cases.
 
I think the recent run of Barlows are a great example of Cases better quality. Wish I would’ve picked up at least one more before they were vaulted.

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I will end up getting another Case but may just only buy in person. I normally only buy in person since I live near a master dealer but it was a warranty refund so it had to go through the Case website. Two of the Case knives were not that bad, but not as good as the Rough Ryders and not quite worth $50+. The Rough ryders have small aesthetic issues and don't look as good as nice Case knives but they are functionally excellent and easily worth $12-$16. Growing up Case knives were the dream knives and I had several good ones in years past, and will probably get some good ones in the future.
 
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I'm not going to knock CASE but will say that F/F used to be better than those I've purchased in the last few years. In fact, I have one CASE Teardrop (Tony Bose collaboration) back at CASE right now for warranty work. That really isn't an issue with me. CASE stands behind their knives 100% and I've always received my knives back from CASE in near perfect condition after repairs.

Therefore I will continue to buy CASE in spite of some issues. Besides supporting American workers, warranty work is done right here in the U.S.A. ... even if it might take a couple of months for repairs. Not sure where offshore made knives warranty work is done, but I'd rather deal with someone here in the states than offshore.

I don't even own a single RR knife ... that is until today. I've looked at and talked myself out of a particular RR knife for months and finally just today pulled the trigger on a Rough Ryder Work Knife Denim Micarta 440A Wharncliffe. Awaiting shipment from the "smoldering, tall knife hills" yonder. I've read virtually nothing but glowing reports on the knife, so we'll see. It doesn't even have "RR" on the bolsters, nor "China" anywhere on the knife. Does have "Rough Ryder" on the blade tang.
 
JohnDF said:
I've stopped looking for GEC releases all-together and don't even bother searching them on eBay any more... not worth the struggle or the price.
I don't feel like fighting for the opportunity to spend $150.00 or more (sometimes way more) for their knives when my Case knives cut just as well or better.
I will cherish the few GEC knives that I have, but I'm done with them unless one happens to fall in my lap.
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Thats probably why I have never been pushed to buy a GEC pocket knife.
I can think of a couple times I saw one posted that I loved and decided to look into, I see a price I would have paid and of course they're unavailable.

Case and Buck knives have been great to me and I can just buy them on my terms / timing whenever I'm ready.

No GEC isn't some kind of exclusive club or anything, but they are limited production and a first come first serve situation comes naturally with that.
I've got other hobbies and if I just spent over $100 on another hobby that week the timing may not be right to spend another $100+ on a knife before it sells out.

I just don't need hobbies that aren't very flexible in when I can buy.
 
I think I might have jinxed my RR luck! :rolleyes: I just got a couple of these Scouts in carbon ($46 apiece here), but on both knives, the blades have a very weak pull (2 at most), with vertical blade play - quite a bit of it on one of them. I was going to give one of them to my mate's lad, but don't feel comfortable about doing that now :(

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This discussion leads me to the realization that I need a new Case, but it's tough to decide on the pattern and scales. Decisions!
 
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