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Home of the Rough Rider. RR offers all of the great knife patterns from the past. Quality and affordable, a rare product these days.

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Blade thickness

by J.J. Smith III

May 22, 2018

As I posted in my last discussion on Rough Rider vs CASE, I'm having issues with the thinness of some of the Rough Rider blades.

I questioned this on the Rough Rider Facebook page and was confronted by someone there that said that all the RR blades, in the traditional patterns, were 1/16".  They even tried to say that the blades in a similar CASE knife we're also 1/16".  I haven't heard anything back from them after I posted a side by side of a Rough Rider 603 and a 75 pattern CASE.

Tobias Gibson said I should check the RR298, as the blade specs appeared to indicate thicker blades.

Well, my RR298 came in today and in a quick inspection showed the blades to indeed be thicker than the 603.

While not as robust as the CASE,  it certainly appears that the, older, 298 has thicker blades than the, newer, 603.

Is this a trend that Rough Rider is following in order to keep costs down?

Anyone else notice a significant change in blades lately?

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  • up

    Kevin

    Most are fine but I have been disappointed in a few blades that were overly thin. My blue bone Whittler secondary blades are too thin. My dog bone Jack secondary blade is too thin. A few others as well. It’s normally the secondary blades that are too thin on my experience.

    Oct 29, 2024

  • up

    Kevin D

    Hey JJ,

    Hard to be definitive without putting my calipers on them...   But I do believe that the one on the right has a slightly thicker blade stock thickness.

    The biggest difference that I am seeing is that the grind on the knife on the left is a fair bit more significant than the one on the right.  More material removed = more work involved in the manufacturing process, right?

    Or maybe the tolerances were opened up to allow for a wider spread between the high limit and low limit.   That could allow for a thinner blade to still be "acceptable".

    Oct 31, 2024

  • up

    J.J. Smith III

    I never slapped a set of calipers on them Kevin. 

    The 298 has to be my favorite size stockman coming in at 4.5 the inch mark. I really wish that they would reissue them in something other than the red jigged bone.    I picked up the 603 to carry because of my liking the CASE 75 pattern and that's where I found the biggest difference in the two. 

    I still have Rough Rider whittlers that are nearly indistinguishable from a CASE whittler.

    Nov 1, 2024