Rough Ryder Reserve: New Premium Rough Ryder Line

I do my best to avoid the political aspects of origin when I mention it primarily by stating that it is a personal choice of mine as to weather or not origin/maker has an impact on my purchase choice. I am not out to start political discussion on it but when talking about a knife product and pricing I do think origin and maker have a place in the discussion. That shouldn't mean we need to dive into reasonings that are political based given politics are personal views or choices and there is no need to dig into them. I am happy to explain what my personal reasons are for my choices/preferences and will do so in what ever channel is available and appropriate. I don't wish to dig into this any further than this here as it is detracting from the thread but I do have a respect Peregrin Peregrin 's position on this forum as a moderator and his view but I disagree on the validity of origin to the discussion but agree we need to still keep distance from becoming a political discussion.

I am sorry for the derailing a bit here but since I was quoted I just felt inclined to add this response.
 
It's all about discussing the knives. A reference to where they are manufactured is certainly appropriate. A personal statement that you won't purchase because of where they are made is not appropriate in this sub-forum. It takes the emphasis off the knife discussion and makes it political, respectful or not.
It was already heading that way when I posted and now it's worse.
Let's please return to the discussion of the knives. Personally, I'm not interested in them, for various reasons. See what I did there? :)
 
I don't find their nail nicks attractive, thats been one of my peves with all their products. That being said i do buy them for experimentation purposes (dying, replacing scales) and own a half dozen or so. In my experience i got what i paid for. The EO one armed piece is the only one i found at all appealing, just a little steep a price for me to gamble without seeing it in person.
 
I don't find their nail nicks attractive, thats been one of my peves with all their products. That being said i do buy them for experimentation purposes (dying, replacing scales) and own a half dozen or so. In my experience i got what i paid for. The EO one armed piece is the only one i found at all appealing, just a little steep a price for me to gamble without seeing it in person.

I've been going back to the EO piece and looking at it. I don't care much for the blade, but I like the pattern. My only gripe might be the location of that lanyard tube. Nice touch, but does it look too close to the edge for you? It doesn't change functionality, but it sure doesn't look right to me. Again, hard to lose at $40.

As a matter of fact, I've signed up to be notified when that "Kayak" becomes available.
I'm tempting myself- let's see what happens.
 
The matchstick nail nicks or whatever they are called never have bothered me I don't seek them out but nothing has made me feel like they are ugly or a problem. It is extra detail work so I see why it would be used on a more premium line.
 
None of them really speak to me, the EO one arm is confusing. The shield is also weird, someone mentioned it's the old SMKW shield, so I guess it does have some provenance behind it. The match striker nicks do look out of place to me on these.

I did get the denim micarta RR swayback in today. I ordered two. One was nice and snappy out of the box. The other had a lot of blade play and the action was bad. With a little encouragement, it's nice and smooth and snappy now. Not a terrible knife for $15.
 
I like matchstick pulls just not theirs, just my opinion tho. I dont know if they are just too pronounced, but something seems odd about them. The lanyard hole didnt catch my eye at first but i do see now that it is about as far to the edge as possible. Wouldnt think it would be much to worry about tho, just another nit pick i guess! ;)
 
None of them really speak to me, the EO one arm is confusing. The shield is also weird, someone mentioned it's the old SMKW shield, so I guess it does have some provenance behind it. The match striker nicks do look out of place to me on these.

I did get the denim micarta RR swayback in today. I ordered two. One was nice and snappy out of the box. The other had a lot of blade play and the action was bad. With a little encouragement, it's nice and smooth and snappy now. Not a terrible knife for $15.

Mine should be here tomorrow- was the encouragement in the form of a ball peen hammer?
I'm taking notes it case need should arise. I'm kind of excited to have a new toy... erm... sophisticated tool. ("Not a terrible knife for $15"... haha! couldn't quite call it good? :p)

I was reading the blurb about the arrow head. Evidently it stems from the guy who started SMKW, and some love of Native American Artifacts. I could believe it- SMKW has always had novelty Native American styled items. Besides, it's not like a shield shape is really proprietary though, right? If I was them I would have tried to come up with a new one for the premium line. Something unique to them but not tacky.
 
I don't like to buy Chinese products primarily because so many of their products are total trash as evident in my first, last and only RR knife. I don't see any complaining when we compare Mora or Victorinox to American products or slam their steels when compared to US steels, why the super sensitivity to China? A little self guilt perhaps? There is no way to discuss a $50 knife, RR or otherwise, without some mention of it being a Chinese product, being a Chinese product is in itself enough to question a $50 price tag given their deplorable overall quality issues.
 
being a Chinese product is in itself enough to question a $50 price tag given their deplorable overall quality issues.
That's much more of a Rough Ryder quality issue than an issue of where it was made. There are plenty of Chinese made modern knives that are coveted for their design and build quality. The quality issues stem directly from the Rough Ryder factory, not the country of origin.
 
As mentioned before, the only one to catch my eye was the EO, and if it had a spear point or clip blade, as a Barlow. I will pass unless the fit and finish really are much better than regular RR knives, and the blades do not look so wonky. :p Get rid of the match pull, and make sure the shields are pinned. Blade stop pins too.
 
I have had better luck with Case than I have RR, and am certainly not going to buy a Chinese RR for the same money that'll get me an American made Case knife.

That being said I think it's good that they're trying to expand and put some competition in the industry.
 
A one arm blade with an E/O notch? Am I the only one to see the irony here?
At first I thought that was quite ironic, but I now wonder if an EO notch, and not too strong a back spring, could actually lend itself to one-handed opening. I could imagine trying to grasp the blade at the EO notch between index and middle finger, placing thumb and ring finger on the sides of the EO notch and pushing the handle down with thumb/ringfinger while pulling blade up (or just holding it steady) with knuckles of index/middle finger; if you could get some separation between handle and blade, you could "hook" handle on pocket or table to pull blade fully open (although you'd end up holding the open knife by the blade rather than by handle, but you could then "flip to switch grip").

I think I personally would try a slightly different technique, grabbing blade with thumb and index finger, and pushing handle away with middle finger on one side of EO notch until I got adequate separation to hook handle on something and open fully.

Try it! Knife tricks are fun!! :D:thumbsup::cool:

- GT
 
I'm interested in seeing RR's premium line....... I'd like to see what changes distinguish them from the present offerings.... FWIW, I have 25-30 RR knives and all were received in perfectly acceptable condition...... Most had exceptionally well done cutting edges...... Some overall geometry of different facets is wonky, but I consider that to be freedom of design...
 
Sorry to bust your bubbles. :(

The arrowhead shield dates back to the 1800's.

Travman, The only people who've even heard of Northfield are folks who hang out at knife forums, like this one, or heard about them on Twitter, Facebook, possibly You Tube, or some other social media..
The same can be said for GEC.
Do either buy advertising in Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, or any magazine targeting hikers, shooters, etc. who's activities would increase the likelihood they'll buy a knife at least for when they are out doing whatever they like to do, or even in Playboy magazines?

Of course not. If nothing else, they don't produce enough knives to meet demand now, let alone the additional demand from "hipsters" and such if they were to advertise nationally. Advertising nationally could well add 20,000 and more to the demand for any particular pattern run.
Lets be honest. GEC does not have the manufacturing capacity to even come close to meeting demand if they were to effectively advertise nationally. That isn't meant as a knock or bash on GEC, by the way. It is only the simple truth.

Aside from large manufactures such as Case, Buck, Puma, Böker, Ontario, Victorinox SAK, and maybe a couple of the big "kitchen knife" manufacturers, cutlery companies generally don't buy advertising in the appropriate magazines or on the Saturday/Sunday morning and afternoon hunting and fishing TV shows.
They rely on word of mouth on social media/forums. (all cutlery (and firearms) manufacturers rely on word of mouth to some extent)

Most people don't hang out at/on a knife forum, or a forum where knives get much discussion. (this includes archery, camping, hiking, and hunting/fishing forums).
At best, they know the brands of knives sold at the local big box stores, and on Amazon and eBay.
I've never seen a GEC or related brand available on Amazon. Have you? Those on eBay are all high priced "New in Tube"/"Like New In Tube and "New/Like New No Tube" used knives, unlikely to garner much interest from someone who isn't a collector or "knife nut" looking for a specific GEC they missed out on by not getting their order in sometimes a few seconds to a minute or two after it was released. (and who are well aware they are going to be "taken to the cleaners" price wise, on the secondary market.

In short, the "Average" person has never heard of GEC and the related companies, believe the original Queen, Cutlery and most of the other old names went bankrupt and shut down in the 1930's, during the great depression, and haven't been made since.

Most of those who do know what a Northwoods is, "wouldn't want to be caught dead" with a Rough Rider, or any of the long dead but in name only now made offshore knives, from what I've read on BF.
They won't buy the Rough Ryder no matter how nice it is, or what shield it has or doesn't have.

I've been a member here since 2014. Prior to joining BF, I'd never heard of GEC, or post 1930's production Northwoods, Northfield, and Queen knives. Until this thread, I didn't know Northwoods "normally" has an arrow shield.
Truth to tell, I thought Nothwoods was just another brand owned by GEC.

I don't know anyone for who the shield is a deal maker or deal breaker.

Shields are not proprietary designs. (The cross imprinted or stamped on SAK handles isn't really a "shield" but is proprietary.)
If they were, you can bet your bottom penny they would be patented, trademarked, and copyrighted (©) so no one else could use them.

How many different cutlery companies b over just the last 150 years (since 1880) have used the bomb shield (both single and double) and plain oval shield? "All of them" is the correct answer. :)
Several cutlery companies used the arrowhead shield prior to World War one, and again between World War 1 and 2. Many more than Northwoods and Rough Ryder have used it since World War 2, as well.
Rather than "stealing brand recognition" (of a brand most folks have never heard of, no less) by using that shield, a more likely explanation is: The designers thought it looked the best.

Heck, not even the Horse Shoe shield used on some (but not all) Rough Ryder/Rough Rider knives isn't a proprietary design, and was used on knives long before Rough Rider/Rough Ryder was started.

I'm not in the customer base Northfield and/or GEC (and when they were still in business, Queen, CSC, and the other high end "collector" brands) sell their products to. It doesn’t matter that shields aren’t prop

Heck, at the price point SMKW has their new Queen Cutlery/Queen City lines at, I'm not in their sights as a potential customer for those lines, either. Which is fine. :)

Sorry for the rant. :(
Well said. I don’t disagree anything you mentioned. However, respectively I do think Northwoods and GEC are popular enough that other brands are influenced by them. We have seen examples of this in the past couple of years.
 
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