All About Pocket Knives

I've been trying to find anything on the internet about this large 3 7/8" stockman knife by Rigid. It was given to me for my birthday some 10-12 years ago by a friend who is a shop teacher. He told me he always bought his boys a stockman knife when they graduated from his class because he felt a young man should have a classic, sturdy, American-made pocket knife. Since he bought in bulk, I'm sure a lower-priced knife with Delrin scales was the perfect item. For the first time I finally pulled it out of my knife drawer the other day and gave it the chicken eye and coon fingers and discovered a real quality product.

This Rigid RG83 is one sturdy knife. The fit and finish are excellent, with blades and scales that remind me of Schrade's Uncle Henry King Ranch 885UH stockman. This Rigid's Delrin scales are much nicer, though, since they don't pretend to be popcorn stag like the Uncle Henry. It does have a hidden fingernail notch on the offside to access the lower-sitting spey blade, and the sheepsfoot does not sit above the clip. There is no blade rub. Altogether, if these were still made I would definitely buy a couple more but since I assume they are not, I'm out of luck. Any thought on these? Is/was this a United Cutlery product? Thanks for your comments, folks.

Sorry I cant help you BUT.... that is a SWEET knife!!! John

I have a Rigid reverse gunstock stockman that was made by Canal Street. The markings on my knife don't match yours exactly. Canal Street made top quality knives in my opinion. Canal Street had a lot Schrade heritage and was in business from approximately 2005 until approximately 2015. Someone should come along that can be more precise on the dates and more prescriptive about who made your knife.

RalphAlsip wrote:I have a Rigid reverse gunstock stockman that was made by Canal Street. The markings on my knife don't match yours exactly. Canal Street made top quality knives in my opinion. Canal Street had a lot Schrade heritage and was in business from approximately 2005 until approximately 2015. Someone should come along that can be more precise on the dates and more prescriptive about who made your knife.

Thanks. Mine is definitely not the top quality product as those made by Canal Street, but the fit and finish on mine are second to none. No sharp corners anywhere. I do believe that mine is just a little earlier than Canal Street's production, but you never know...

jmh58 wrote:Sorry I cant help you BUT.... that is a SWEET knife!!! John

You know, it is a really nice pocket knife! I'm so used to thinking that quality only comes with nice jigged bone scales, but here I am EDCing this Rigid with Delrin scales and not feeling bad about it at all.

I'm curious to know what made you think of United Cutlery as a possible source for this knife ?

Going strictly on gut instinct I would have to wonder if that isn't a Camillus creation. I may be way out in left field however.

Does your knife have a USA stamp on it ?

philco wrote:I'm curious to know what made you think of United Cutlery as a possible source for this knife ?

Going strictly on gut instinct I would have to wonder if that isn't a Camillus creation. I may be way out in left field however.

Does your knife have a USA stamp on it ?

Yes, it has a USA tang stamp.

I thought it could be United since I read an internet comment somewhere where it said United made some Rigid knives at one point. Perhaps I misread. Your thought that it might be Camillus makes a lot more sense.

Here is the finest Congress i have ever held: 4" branded "Rigid", made by Canal Street Cutlery, blade action is smooth but with a solid feel, no rubs yet they fill the well, no space left over. Rigid really came out ahead with these as the workmanship is some of CSC's best ever. And, look at the blade choices: 2 Sheepsfoot, a small clip blade and a Zulu-like pen blade, what a great line up on this best ever Congress.
kj

I'm not sure who made that knife, seeing the pivot pins though tells me it isn't a Schrade product.
I have seen some Rigid brand name was at one time owned by United Cutlery, but they went into bankruptcy about the same time Schrade did or a little bit before actually if memory serves me.
From what I have observed, Rigid brand has been made by a number of different manufacturers. I had not seen one made by Canal Street until the one posted earlier in this thread.

Here is a Rigid copy of the Schrade 152OT, the Sharpfinger. Notice the model number RG0152MX it even uses the 152 model number of the Schrade Sharpfinger. Who made this knife for Rigid? Schrades 152 Sharpfinger has been copied by lots of companies; Camillus copied it after Schrade closed. I would not be surprised to learn that Camillus actually did some of the blanking for Schrade or even completely manufactured some of the 152OT. I know Camillus did make other knives for Schrade and they made parts for them also. I believe Bear & Sons also makes a copy of the Sharpfinger.

Here is the Rigid Sharpfinger compared to another blank that came either the Schrade or the Camillus factory, but I believe it came with some Schrade blanks that I got years ago. Whichever factory the blank came from it is apparently a blank for the Rigid 152 Sharpfinger. Notice how the blank is just slightly larger than the completed knife is. I’m about 90% sure the blank came from the Schrade factory, the other 10% chance would be Camillus. One of those two companies made the Rigid Sharpfinger, as evidenced by this blank.

I guess this is when a Sharpfinger goes tactical.

Here is the company name and info printed on the back of the Rigid Sharpfinger box.
It seems to be all about who owns which brand name.

orvet wrote: I believe Bear & Sons also makes a copy of the Sharpfinger.

Yes, they do.
A few years ago when I was at the B&S factory sale, I overheard Ken Griffey say that
their tooling for the 152 (clone) actually came from the Schrade factory bankruptcy sale ....

..... which has nothing to do with the OP knife. Really nice Rigid .

The original Rigid knives were made in Santee California and were almost as much money as custom knives of the era. I have an Apache folder,an unmarked(model wise)folder,and a Bowie fixed blade from that era. I also have a couple of Rigid folders made in Japan. Not sure who made them but they seem to be of decent quality.

Is this the same rigid company that made most of my pipe wrenches and thosegreat calendars on my mechanics wall?
Bruce

Great looking knife 63rdOVI, I have seen a rigid display at a knife store that I go to. If I remember correctly most of the knives had brown delrin handles like Schrade used on their Old Timer knives. I will take pics of it the next time I'm up there. Here is a muskrat I picked up that looks like a CSC knife I really like the blades. I'm not a muskrat fan but this one really caught my eye. Monte

Berryb wrote:Is this the same rigid company that made most of my pipe wrenches and thosegreat calendars on my mechanics wall?
Bruce

Nope;that company spells it's name RIDGID.

Here is some more info** -- you can buy this knife now -- seems to ba another copy of a Schrade design /handle ?? --- JayKnuives has a lot of the different models, for sale too** ( second link )

http://www.osograndeknives.com/index.ph ... list&m=332

http://www.jaysknives.com/rigidknives.htm

I assume that none of these were made for or sold by the Rigid Tool company? pipe wrenches and pipe cutters and threaders. By the way I have some old pipe cutters and treading too sets I have picked up at garage sales etc. that are probably companies long gone but looks to be high quality. Bob

mrwatch wrote:I assume that none of these were made for or sold by the Rigid Tool company? pipe wrenches and pipe cutters and threaders. By the way I have some old pipe cutters and treading too sets I have picked up at garage sales etc. that are probably companies long gone but looks to be high quality. Bob

That would probably be RIDGID Tools, not RIGID. See above.

I did not catch the spelling but their website does not indicate that Ridgid has sold any kind of knives. Thanks

mrwatch wrote:I did not catch the spelling but their website does not indicate that Ridgid has sold any kind of knives. Thanks

I didn't know that! Thanks for clearing that up for me.

It seems to be these are made to resemble the Chinese made Old Timers, they may even be made in the same factory on the same machinery!
Here is a 3-1/4" Rigid stockman pretty doggone cheap, $6.51! If there decent knives they might be worth it.

I have a Rigid RG70 that was made in the USA. It's a clone of a Camillus 72 and I'm pretty positive it was made by Camillus. I also have a small RG0828 single blade that's marked "China" on the pile side of the tang. I paid $1.60 for it but $6.00 shipping Irked me something fierce.

Edit: I could be wrong about this but I have in the back of my mind that Rigid got their knives from several U.S. makers which included Camillus and Schrade.

jerryd6818 wrote:I have a Rigid RG70 that was made in the USA. It's a clone of a Camillus 72 and I'm pretty positive it was made by Camillus. I also have a small RG0828 single blade that's marked "China" on the pile side of the tang. I paid $1.60 for it but $6.00 shipping Irked me something fierce.

Edit: I could be wrong about this but I have in the back of my mind that Rigid got their knives from several U.S. makers which included Camillus and Schrade.

That first one was surely made by Camillus!
I believe you are right that Schrade and Camillus made a lot of the Rigid knives.
A lot of other companies made them also but I think for a period of time Schrade and Camillus were the main providers for Rigid.

jerryd6818 wrote:I have a Rigid RG70 that was made in the USA. It's a clone of a Camillus 72 and I'm pretty positive it was made by Camillus. I also have a small RG0828 single blade that's marked "China" on the pile side of the tang. I paid $1.60 for it but $6.00 shipping Irked me something fierce.

Edit: I could be wrong about this but I have in the back of my mind that Rigid got their knives from several U.S. makers which included Camillus and Schrade.

The first one you show is like my RG83 stockman, including scale color and typeface on the shield and tang. I'm pretty convinced now that since my knife was made in the USA that it was made by Camillus and not United Cutlery. Thanks for posting the photo!

Canal Street made 4 or 5 different pocket knives for Rigid. I happen to have each of them! Canal street also made the same exact knife with the blades tang stamped Canal Street. I am missing one of these, but I will find it eventually. I will see if I can get a picture listed up.

Tom

I have two Rigid knives (three, actually, two are identical) back at the house. They are just stamped as "54" (mini-trapper) and "55" (full-size trapper), both with laminated hardwood handles and matte-finish blades. I have the boxes for two of them, so once I finish the long commute home I will endeavor to look for any sort of indication as to which cutler produced them. IIRC, however, there wasn't much in the way of identifying information...

I found it a little amusing that Rigid used the number 54 for a trapper pattern, though Case's 54 is a 4.125" trapper while Rigid's full-size trapper is the 55.