All About Pocket Knives

I never wrote a review of a knife before especially a Chinese knife! So here goes.

I was given this knife by Trevor, Christmas 2013, in his giveaway, thanks again Trevor
It is a Rough Rider RR1285, I like a sheep foot blade and a small pen knife blade in a knife so I said what the hell I am going to ask for it.

It arrived and I examined it closely it looked fairly good no obvious problems however the master blade had little snap on open good on closed and the pen blade snapped perfectly both ways. I oiled the joints and started carrying it the same day, both blades were razor sharp. I cut some new grooves in a pair of old shoes which were thick black rubber, I expected it to dull any minute now, did both pairs and it was still sharp. Over the next week I cut a lot of stuff from wood to plastic and it performed every task, after a week the bone at the bottom pin cracked, first on the mark side then about a month later on the pile side. Other than that nothing else was wrong. I carried almost nothing else except for a few days this knife the entire time, it even got left in my pants pocket and went through the washing machine one time!

On another occasion the knife went missing and I could not find it, for the first time I misplaced a knife I did not panic, I said to myself so what if I lost it`s just a Chinese made knife, I like that feeling when a knife is lost. I did find it again under the seat of my car, it apparently fell out of my pocket somehow. After about three months I needed to sharpen it so I took out the sharpening stone and it was the easiest thing to sharpen in a stainless steel I have seen so far. Several people seen the knife as I was using it and liked the looks of it, my father liked it so much he wanted me to get him one! Which I did for under $15 delivered, the first Chinese knife I have ever intentionally purchased He carries it every day and has not had a single complaint about it yet. He is rough on knives and sharpens it constantly till the blade is used up and then throws the knife away, the only knife he has used in the last 20 years has been Camillus electrician`s knives, but he never used the screwdriver blade on them but when he was done the cutting blade was a toothpick. His RR had perfect snap and the bone has not cracked yet.

So in conclusion I have read many accounts here pro and con about Chinese knives some of them get real heated, no I will not ever start collecting Chinese made knives nor will I make it a habit to buy them however I think before anyone can preach how bad they are you must try one for yourself first, this was my original intention with this knife. If I need another work knife that I intend to use up and throw away I would buy another one of these as I was satisfied with the knife at a $15 price tag.

I now plan to move on to an American equivalent made knife, a GEC #563211 which I bought last month! In a year I will see how this holds up to the same use and abuse I gave the Rough Rider and will post the results The last picture below is the GEC I bought!

Knice review Dimitri!

I too reviewed a couple and found them extremely durable, especially for the money.....

I'm a big loomfixer fan. My daddy bought my oldest son (9) a RR one because my son wanted one like my old Cases. It's a decent enough knife. The stainless in it isn't young to take near the edge my I,d Cases do. But it's good enough for a nine year old boy. He likes his, and he gets to pack a knife like daddy's win win.

Good review over a long trial period. I'll be waiting for the next one.

Wayne

My sediments exactly

Nice review Dimitri! for a cheap knife I think they take a lot of abuse. Perfect knives? No. But for money I find them surprisingly useful! I abused this RR305 with a hammer for a couple of days and she held her head high the entire time!
Last winter while driving to work in a storm a branch from an oak tree was slammed through the windshield of my Mustang. There was glass and oak slivers everywhere. It even taco folded a portion of the roof. Well in order to get it ready for new glass I needed to remove all of the broken glass that was still attached by that wonderfully efficient black adhesive that Ford uses. Since I was going to do the roof repair my self I had to get the remaining glass and adhesive removed . I found out later the repair guys use a reciprocating saw to cut the adhesive away. Well Being the chowder head that I am I decided to cut the stuff away with a hawkbill knife! Not wanting to use one the good ones I grabbed a Rough Rider 305 and was determined to make it live up to its name! I grabbed a hammer and the knife and began cutting the adhesive by hammering the knife through it! It worked.... I took a long time and left my hands and arms very sore! Did it over the course of two days with lots of breaks of course. The bolsters turned some, normal I suppose since they are just held in place by the pivot pin. The blade loosened up from the abuse. But I just re-peened the pivot pin and she is just fine! I have yet to re-sharpened the knife and really needs it, but if I need to use a hawkbill again that's the one I'm reaching for.

Randy

Thanks Wayne & Scott

#goldpan wrote:Nice review Dimitri! for a cheap knife I think they take a lot of abuse. Perfect knives? No. But for money I find them surprisingly useful! I abused this RR305 with a hammer for a couple of days and she held her head high the entire time!

Thanks Randy!

Glad to hear it held up for you, I did some hammering through some rope and wood with mine and it held up well. They certainly have their place as a work tool IMO

That sounds like a hard job you had to do, good thing you were not hurt when that branch went through the window

Dimitri, you never cease to surprise and amaze me.

Randy, the guy that replaced the windshield in Linnea's car used a special razor knife with a long blade, but I suppose you didn't have one of those handy.

$10.87 about the same price as a rough rider and probably made in the same place.

Jerry that thing looks like just the ticket Hope I never have to do that again. As luck would have a recent storm drop a branch in my driveway and cracked the windshield. I think I'll let the tech handle it Interesting tool though. I get one to put into the collection.

Dimitri I was very lucky. The branch went through the passenger side. Good thing I wear glasses as well. My hat and coat and stuff was covered in powdered glass... Crazy stuff. I do like the looks of that RR you have. May have get my self one.... just cause...

Randy

Randy, you can get one of those RR Loom Fixer / Half-Hawks with free shipping for $11.04 at --- http://www.ebay.com/itm/311239949132?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

Thanks Jerry. I headed over to check 'em out right now.

Randy

I step away for a few weeks and Dimitri is packing a RR...

Dimitri - very nice review. I have a couple of Rough Riders too, and I agree with your assessment that for $15 they are satisfactory.

Dinadan wrote:Dimitri - very nice review. I have a couple of Rough Riders too, and I agree with your assessment that for $15 they are satisfactory.

Dan. Check your PMs.

After reading this post I ordered a couple Rough Riders to check out for myself. Have a Barlow and a peanut coming in the mail.

My limited experience with the primary Chinese made brands is that there are several brands (Rough Rider, Boker Magnum, Boker Plus, Colt, Columbia River Knife and Tool, etc. ) that are quite adequate for normal daily use. I guess that's what make it such a scarey situation. They are a legitimate threat to American made knives as far as EDC is concerned, especially when you consider that the majority of knife buyers could give a flip less where the knife comes from as long as it meets his needs.

I just ordered me a French Kate model also. going to put it to a torture test on a couple thirty packs to see how it holds up.

philco wrote:My limited experience with the primary Chinese made brands is that there are several brands (Rough Rider, Boker Magnum, Boker Plus, Colt, Columbia River Knife and Tool, etc. ) that are quite adequate for normal daily use. I guess that's what make it such a scarey situation. They are a legitimate threat to American made knives as far as EDC is concerned, especially when you consider that the majority of knife buyers could give a flip less where the knife comes from as long as it meets his needs.

Remember those Pakistan knives in the late 1970s and 1980s that were not worth picking up if you saw one on the ground? The blades could not be sharpened and the body looked like it was made by a guy with a hacksaw? I was expecting the China knives to be like that, and it was a shock when I found out how good they are. Like you say, they are adequate for normal daily use.

Edited by author to remove political content!

ive learned. no politics! I will say that the rough riders do a nice job on their bone treatment. nice jigging and color. ive got a r.r. doctors knife that im about to put into edc use. ill give an honest assessment in a few months.

All I can say is in my hand, they look and feel like "less". Less substantial (thinner), lest robust (again thinner and lighter), just not the stout knife I'm accustomed to with American made knives. It's like they skimped on materials throughout the knife, by 10%. I don't know how else to explain it. This is not something new I just came up with. I've been saying that since the first time I handled one.

Nice looking bone on it, the RR I mean,the GEC is a very sweet knife. Good , honest review.

Back in 2006 or so my Wife saw what I was spending on some MOP knives. When she saw this RR large congress with real Black Lip and standard MOP she thought it was the score of the century for 20 or 25 bucks. Of course I blew it off and tossed it in the drawer. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I took a good look at it. I have to say it's pretty impressive. The blades are razor sharp. They have match stryker pulls. The bolsters are ringed and pinched. It came in a sleeved felt covered box just like the USA cutlers pack them. The MOP is nice especially the Black Lip side and there's filework everywhere. I don't think you can find an American company anywhere making a Large Congress with real MOP today. I can't complain about the knife
How they managed to do it will be debated in another thread.
Just for kicks I just measured and weighed it. It's 4 1/4" and 4.9oz. In contrast I did the same to a Case brown bone 88. It was 4 1/4" as well but it only weighed 3.6 oz.

The rough rider did a number on that hammer. That is one nice looking congress.

jerryd6818 wrote:All I can say is in my hand, they look and feel like "less". Less substantial (thinner), lest robust (again thinner and lighter), just not the stout knife I'm accustomed to with American made knives. It's like they skimped on materials throughout the knife, by 10%. I don't know how else to explain it. This is not something new I just came up with. I've been saying that since the first time I handled one.

After reading Jerry's post and it was to hot here yesterday to go outsider. I though I would weigh some knives.The only knives I had that where similar was a Camillus four line and two Rough Rider whittlers
Here my results:

(1) Camillus 4 line 1.8oz (53grams ) 3 9/16" long
(2)Rough Rider ( abalone ) 1.9oz ( 54 grams ) 3.5'' long
(3)rough Rider ( midnight swerl ) 2.2oz (63 grams ) 3.5" long

(As a extra the weigh of a Camillus 72 Yellow Jacket 2oz (58 grams ) 3 9/16" long

Grant