Here it is Saturday night and I'm testing out of the box knife  sharpness shearing paper - I think that I really need to get a life! lol  Anyway, tonight's little exercise was to test and report on some new Rough Riders that I have picked up recently, and as I expected, the results were not surprising at all to any of us RR fans.  The knives that I have added to the collection are:

Stroke Of Luck Large Toothpick    RR1059

Lockback with Fancy Bolster         RR182

Yellowhorse Small Sunfish             RR796

Yellowhorse Lockback                     RR800

Yellowhorse Small Toothpick       RR795

StoneWorx Small Toothpick          RR916

Smooth Bone Small Lockback       RR137

While I do realize that we are responsible as owners to maintain and sharpen our knives once we purchase them, I still feel that the sharpness of a new knife that I purchase is indicative of how much care and effort was put into it at the factory...you don't buy a brand new car and expect to have to tune it up as soon as you bring it home, do you?

That said, I used a Queen Cutlery #20 Large Toothpick with a factory edge to compare to each of the RR's paper shearing ability. To put it bluntly and in a nutshell, every one of the RR's were sharper than the Queen except for the Small Bone Lockback, and I felt that it basically tied with the Queen. And you are talking about a little RR that I picked up on the Internet for $10.00 shipped...a whole lot less than it's competition.

The Queen knife has better fit and finish and has a "walk and talk" that cracks like a whip. It has good ergonomics and feels great in the hand. It reeks of quality and is a very nice knife. But more effort had apparently put into the final stages of prepping the RR's prior to their leaving their factory, because they were sharper than the Queen, plain and simple. The "sleeper" of the night was the large blade on the Sunfish...it was a very very sharp blade. The Stroke Of Luck and the Yellowhorse Lockback were remarkably sharp also.

The Rough Rider knives are beginning to remind me of Hi-Point pistols...they do way better than they have any right to at their price point, and offer the consumer unbeatable value for the money invested. I am a believer in Rough Rider knives - period.    Steve Williams