China made knife

[grayfrior]

I'm a new member here and appreciate letting me in. I have more or less bought knives over the years and have noticed a new brand out. Pretty good looking knive as far as finish work and steel goes. Who makes the Rough Rider brand?

[Bear Claw Chris Lappe]

They are imported from China, under several different names.

I suspect they are made at diffferent factories in China, and quality controls seems to vary I have about 15 and some are really good and others REALLY bad.

Which one did you get? I have noticed that for some reason the ones with brown jigged bone handles seem to be better than some of the others, particularly their:

Copperhead
Whittler
and Barlow patterns.

[grayfrior]

so far, I have stayed away from them, but everyonethat I know that collects knives has gone crazy over them. The one that I saw this morning was supposed to be antler or something , but I think it was had cut because in one place they overran the bolster. Otherwise it was a goodlooking knife. It "walked"good and "talked" good.

[skip]

I have the brown jigged bone doctor's knife and that one is excellent quality.
A red jigged bone medium stockman that is the same.
A red jigged bone congress that is so-so. Good fit and finish, but not much walk and talk on that one. Great knives for the price

Skip

[grayfrior]

are these all imported by one company and distributed or several companies?

[Bear Claw Chris Lappe]

From what I have observed at gun & knfie shows is that these knives are being imported under several names and by different companies.

[straybulletbmc]

I don't even look at them, they will never go anywhere if you collect them

[Bear Claw Chris Lappe]

I don't even look at them, they will never go anywhere if you collect them

I agree, these are "beaters" for sure. I can't really see them ever becoming very collectable. Although they used to say that about alot of the Jim Parker japanese made stuff and they actually are becoming somewhat collectable. of course it only took 20+ years...

[grayfrior]

I doubt that this brand like so many others will be a collector item. To many are produced and sold cheap. Probably a good work knife or throw away item. I guess I'm not a collector . Hs ha, but I know a lot of my friends are buying them that I was just trying to find out as much about these knives as possible. I don't even own one. But, I've missed a lot of good things before.

[grayfrior]

I doubt that this brand like so many others will be a collector item. To many are produced and sold cheap. Probably a good work knife or throw away item. I guess I'm not a collector . Hs ha, but I know a lot of my friends are buying them that I was just trying to find out as much about these knives as possible. I don't even own one. But, I've missed a lot of good things before.

[swede88]

I agree that these probablly won't go anywhere as collectables, but if you have a bunch of Case or other American made goodies & want an old fashion style knife to pocket I could see that. Just remember the 80's were Japan was selling tons of stuff cheap & almost bought out America. China is trying to do the same but succeed. Be careful, sometime a dollar is more than a dollar & American jobs are falling by the thousands!!!

Swede

[Bear Claw Chris Lappe]

Be careful, sometime a dollar is more than a dollar & American jobs are falling by the thousands!!!Swede

What exactly is an "American job"?

[alexander]

It is often said that importing items from China (and other countries) "takes" American jobs... However, we as a nation have always imported and exported products. It's called international trade, and it can boost the economy if it's done right. What does, in fact, damage the American workforce is not importing of products made by companies in other countries. It is outsourcing of labor, not associated with products, but more often with services. Call centers and customer service providers are the biggest offenders currently. When you call your credit card company, or your cable tv provider, or your computer support hotline, for example, it's highly likely that you will talk to a 20-year-old in India who is paid a fraction of what an American of the same age and skill would be paid. In my line of work, I am directly threatened by this type of outsourcing (I'm an IT specialist). It's the next generation of offshore competition. Initially, it affected people like auto plant workers, etc. (like when the Japanese car boom took off). Now, it's more geared toward the telecommunications industry, wherein an employee can do the same work for the same company whether they're in Bengladesh, Canada, Honduras, Antarctica, the U.S., or Siberia. It's not driving American companies out of business (like the Japanese car explosion did), but is affecting the workers themselves directly (the American companies turn a bigger profit by employing cheaper labor in other countries).
This is the kind of outsourcing that is really damaging these days, not the production of a few pocketknives by a Chinese company. Look at Rupert Murdoch, a Canadian who controls most of the American media (and as the head of a huge corporation, has more say in American politics than you or I -- even though he's not a citizen, or even a resident!).

To get back to the knife content, I'm not going to buy any Chinese-made knives, but not because of where they're made. I just like the really nice ones that are made here. They have history and tradition behind them, and I know they're of good quality.

Peace.

[Oman]

Well said and very true.