I'm not sure if this should have a thread of it's own, but here is a short review of my latest Rough Rider, a buffalo horn muskrat. This is my 4th Rough Rider, and although it is a good user and well worth the $10 shipped that I paid for it, it has the least impressive fit and finish of the 4. My other 3 RR purchases have simply blown me away with their bang for the buck factor, while this one seems more like what one would expect from a $10 knife.
Iphone5-june10-2015-muskrat by
mazdamattc, on Flickr
Iphone5-june10-2015-muskrat by
mazdamattc, on Flickr
First off, the most important part, the blades. They have a nice strong, but not too strong pull to them, and snap open and closed with authority. One of them is perfectly centered, and the other is just slightly off center, but not enough to rub on the liners. The grind on the 440A blades was even, but one of the blades had a short section that was shiny, indicating a micro flat spot. The other clip blade was uniformly sharp with an even grind but close inspection showed some very small areas of darker steel at the thinnest portion of the grind. I expect this was where the person (robot?) doing the grinding let the steel start to overheat. The blade is still very sharp, and I expect the overheated area will disappear as the blade is sharpened as time goes by. I have not used any of my RR 440A blades enough to see how well they hold an edge, but as someone who sharpens their knives frequently, I don't value edge holding too highly. The 440A can certainly get razor sharp on a ceramic rod and leather strop, and that is what matters most to me.
As the photos show, the buffalo horn scales are not what I was expecting. Most buffalo horn I have seen in photos of knife handles is much darker and more uniform. Much of these scales, especially on one side, is a very translucent amber, with darker brownish black streaks mixed in. I googled buffalo horn, and found out that this translucency is not uncommon in asian water buffalo horn, and I assume that is what these scales are made of. Not surprising given that the knife is manufactured in China. I also learned that polished buffalo horn looks very much like plastic, and these scales do nothing to dispute that. If it wasn't for the irregular nature of the streaks and mismatching, I would have thought these were an artificial simulated product. Another problem with their translucency is that you can see glue bubbles through the clear sections. Does anyone know what tool I should use if were to attempt to do some diy jigging on these scales to hide the glue? Has anyone seen translucent buffalo scales like these, and if so, were they smooth or jigged? Anyway, one of the scales also has a 1mm gap to the adjacent bolster. Light also shows through between the scales, liners, and springs in a few locations.
Other than the cosmetics mentioned above, I like the two sharp clip blade layout and the handle shape of this muskrat. It makes for a good slicer for food prep, and although I am not a hunter, I imagine it would excel at skinning small animals, like it's name suggests.
In short, for $10, this is a good first test run for the pattern for me, as I have never used a muskrat before. I may give jigging the scales a go, especially if anyone can point me towards a "how to" on youtube. A brief search didn't turn up anything useful, but I'm sure the information is out there somewhere! Here are a couple more photos:
Iphone5-june10-2015-muskrat by
mazdamattc, on Flickr
Iphone5-june10-2015-muskrat by
mazdamattc, on Flickr
Iphone5-june10-2015-muskrat by
mazdamattc, on Flickr
.Maybe they actually took my advice 
