All About Pocket Knives

Does anyone know any resources for info on Rigid brand knives? I always considered them cheap knives imported by United Cutlery, but I see some older Rigids on ebay fetching over $100 so there must be more to the story.

Thanks!

Hi Jim,

How are things?

A smidgen... paraphrased from Goins' Encyclopedia...

RIGID... circa 1970-1987, in Lake Hamilton, Arkansas. Hunting knives and folding hunters. Trademark sold to SMKW in 1987. Appears that United may have acquired it from SMKW, and was offering some fairly nice knives under the brand.

A page from A. G. Russell...
http://www.agrussell.com/knives/by_make ... rigid.html

Don't really know where things are now, with the troubles at United.

Best I've got, my friend.

Bill

Just a little more information. I have a stag congress that was made in Solingen, Germany. It is a very well made knife. I was told that they were made in the same factory as the Bulldogs. I have seen some really cheap made Rigids at knife shows recently. New knives that weren't the best quality by any standards.
Tom

here's rigid i aquired. great knife. made by queen. i understand they were in the process of building a high quality american knife line when they went bust.

I did see some slipjoints in a SMKW mailer 3-4 months ago. The price was good & the pictures looked GREAT!

Having done business with SMKW before I called & asked where they were made............."China." They will usually tell you where something is made if you ask.

Maybe SMKW has the name & had some made in China, or United did before their financial troubles.

I do have a USA made Rigid copy of a Schrade Sharpfinger. It looks to be a good knife. A few design changes I even liked.

Sorry, that is about all I can add,
Dale

Some Rigid knives are made in china and some , like the one Johnnie has, are made in the USA by Queen. There are six different Queen made patterns. They all have the same handle material as Johnnies.

James

Thanks you guys! The ones I saw on ebay most likely were the pre-1987 variety when they were under their own banner, before they sold their trademark to SMKW. They look very nice, sort of like the old Browning USA Sportsman's knives from the 70's which I also like.

For some reason, I associated the Rigid name with the line of power tools of the same name. Tool companies often come out with a cheap imported line of working knives and I originally assumed this same connection. Looks like that was completely incorrect.

The reason for my interest is I just ordered a Rigid stag handled hunting knife from a collector site. I have no idea whether it's pre-1987 or post. It was very reasonable so either way I won't lose much. If it's an original Rigid USA made knife, I may have something. I'll post pictures when it comes.

Thanks again,

Jim

Rigid != Ridgid

There are also some very nice versions made in Italy, somewhat resembling the older Fox and Hound knives; United's first attempt at grabbing the collector market with the name.



I bet yours looks a lot like this one....

Yeah, sure does. A LOT like that one. And hows this for a coincidence--the guy I bought it from has the same name as you! And he operates a website called collectorknives.net just like you! Gosh what are the odds?

So Mike, if I understand correctly this knife was imported by United but was made in Italy? That sounds pretty interesting. Do you know what year it was manufactured?

Incidentally if any of you guys don't know about Mike's site (http://www.collectorknives.net) you have to check it out. LOTS of interesting stuff and very reasonable prices. It's probably the top single site I buy from these days.

I didn't look at the paperwork that close, and it is already on its way west. But it was imported by United and a little dandy.

We are going to miss a lot of the United stuff. There was some junk, but also Kissing Crane, Henckels, etc.