Its really to bad, many things have gone that way. I'd rather have US made, but quality and price speak.

I want to buy USA knives but it is hard to argue about the quality of most Rough Riders and several other knives that are made in China, Japan, Taiwan, Italy or Spain  by American several knife makers.  I also realize that most of the knife makers are not out sourcing  their manufacturing to these markets because they want to make a larger profit margin.  They are doing it to stay in business.  We blame the companies when we should be blaming our government for being so hostile to business in this country.  Most knife companies are small operations  employing maybe  hundred or so people, tops.  They are not going to be able to absorb the over regulated business climate  as easily as the Walmarts and big box stores.

And then you have the issue of quality. Rough Riders are solid well made knives.  If you get rid of the tang stamps and that "china" mark most people  would agree they are on par with Case and Buck. The blades are quite as well polished but build and quality is there.

Excellent, very well said Tobias.

The way things are they smother small business's with overhead cost. I think, we should encourage small companies. They employ a few workers at first and then more if they are successful. That use to be the American dream.

A look at the Rough Rider Canoe Whittlers (Canittlers) 

Great job, well done and interesting.

Well done Tobias

Thanks my friends.  I'll have more videos in the near future.  Please consider subscribing to my You Tube channel. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=W.+Tobias+Gibson&sm=3

One of my favorite Rough Rider's is the RR-078.  A small lock-back that looks similar to the Moki-Meek.  Here's why:

Neat looking knife Tobias

It is one of the first knives they made which is explains the low pattern number.  They made a couple knives that were non-traditional. Most were just semi-blah tactical type knives.  But this one was  different.  I had not seen the Moki Meek until after i had bought this  Since then I've seen other knives with this style of handle but I've yet to see this blade and handle combination anywhere else.

It is one my favorite rough riders.

The Rough Rider 844 Fixed blade:

I love it, great little knife.

That fixed blade hunter looks 100% the exact same as a magnum knife that I once had. Probably comes from the same factory.

Should be a very functional knife for the money. The fit on mine was terrible though. Uneven handle scales and bolsters should never be acceptable no matter the price.

hey steve...this is little odd looking cause on AMAZON but its the knife http://www.amazon.com/Rough-Rider-StoneWorx-Round-Stockman/dp/B003S...

They made 3 stockman in this pattern when it came out. One with round bolsters and one with square bolsters.

I may be wrong about bolsters, but I found picks of 3that I have.

it looks like the blade was etched on yours, Steve. I bought mine about 3 years ago.

That Stoneworx looks a tad different than the ones I've seen.  I only have one of the Stockmans(RR914).  The other ones are RR913 and RR915.  Does this one have a pattern number.  The stone layout is different than the other Stoneworx Stockmans and I've never seen that blade etch.  Pretty cool looking stockman. 

Oh yeah.  There ain't no such thing as red turquoise.  The red stone is synthetic bloody basin jasper which is a red jasper with spider vein of black, brown, or green.  (Not to be confused with Bloody Jasper which is a green jasper with red veins.)  The yellow stone in the Stoneworx line is yellow jasper.  These stones are often called red and yellow turquoise but the stones are NOT turquoise. 

Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium.

Jasper, a form of chalcedony, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue.

I got this RR711 Rifleman Series Large Toothpick today.

Nice one Charles

Good one Charles.  I love the RR 5 inch Toothpicks.  I just wished they made more than 5 of them.

My latest Rough Rider is an oldie but goodie.  The RR492 Canoe with tortoise shell handles.

It is part of my growing collection of Tortoise Shell.

RR 495 peanut

RR 505 Baby Toothpick

RR 492 Canoe

RR 514 Work Knife (Locking Soddy)

Marbles MR 207  5 inch Toothpick

Not sure ho many more RR Tortoise Shells I will get but I'll at least get the Reverse Gunstock and the Straight Razor.  There is also a nice Bever Creek (Frost) Trapper with a Sharps Carbine Shield) and Marbles Sleeveboard Whittler in tortoise shell that look enticing.

(And yes I know it is imitation tortoise. Many Knife Companies in America led the way in banning the use of tortoise shell for knife handles.  I think  many American Companies stopped using it before WWI.  Several other companies followed suit soon after WWI.   Other industries were much slower with many continuing to use the actual tortoise shell until the world wide ban in 1973.)

Nice looking Canoe Tobias

There is a discussion within Rough Riders called:  Rough Riders and other SMKW House Brands

I think it would be interesting to have groups devoted to SMKW house Brands and a group for the Frost House Brands, especially if people were unbiased in their comments.   Not every thing Frost sucks!

My latest Rough Rider is the RR1278 Outdoorsman Fixed Blade.

I have a full review of it on Amazon.

Here is the meat of the review:

It is about the same length as a Schrade Sharpfinger and features a nice drop point blade with a three inch cutting edge. It came very pointy and quite sharp. The 440A Stainless steel blade is mirror polished with a hollow grind. Mine has a nice evenly colored tobacco smooth bone handle with an acorn shield and lanyard hole. The bone is flush with the full tang and integrated bolster. It is nicely pinned the tang and, if keeping with Rough Rider's normal method, it is also epoxied to the tang.

The sheath is nylon with either leather or pleather accents. It has a plastic insert. The knife fits the sheath quite well... the belt loop is around 2 inches wide so it should suffice for any belt that is used to hold up your jeans.

I think the knife would make a good skinner or capping knife. It would also make a nice neck or boot knife as it is a small knife that could easily be concealed. However the sheath may need to be modified for that purpose.

If you're looking for a nice, lightweight, slim-line fixed blade with an extremely sharp drop point blade you may want to consider this knife. Be forewarned, however, that the handle is only about 3.25 inches so there isn't a lot to hold on to if you have a bear paw for a hand. Also the smooth bone and lack of a guard could be problematic if the handle got slippery. (consider using a lanyard to help keep your hand in position.

Knife in the sheath.  The snap helps keep the sheath and I was unable to shake it lose.  However I was able to pull the knife out with the strap still snapped!

Compared ot the Schrade 65th Anniversary Sharpfinger.  About  the same length but much slimmer and less bulk.

Note the good size belt loop.  Only a vertical carry option.

Got this on ebay recently (it's not here yet) and it's a pattern I've not seen before.  Anyone know what this would be called?

-ds

Did some research... this is called a Moose.

-ds

Yep:  that is the RR1199 Moose with Blue Swirl Celluloid handles.   Really nice looker.  Should serve you well!

Got this interesting whittler which is a style I haven't seen before (R565):

It's a large (5-1/4"), heavy knife.  I like it!

I've got one of those, Dave,  im sure youll like it.

Dave,

I think you will like this one.  It is a great pattern

Not sure if I'm the first one on the IKC block but once again I saw it on Ebay before it showed up at SMKW!!  The Trapper and the little leg is in this month's catalog.

This one is the RR1429 Glow locking Work knife; essentially a glow in the dark Sodbuster Jr. with a liner Lock!  How awesome is that!

The shield on the Glow series

Comes with a warning that basically says if you live in California it has chemicals in it that will kill you!  Sure am glad i don't live in California!  LOL

LOL, well it's not going to kill you if you live anywhere else so we are safe Tobias

I like the liner lock idea but the handles are not doing anything for me

I'm a sucker for glow in the dark stuff.  The liner lock was initially added to Case sodbuster sometime back but they discontinued the locking Sodbuster and have no plan on reissuing them.  The folks at SMKW took the Case model and released their work knives based on the Case.  They offer the locking work knives in the same sizes as the standard and junior Case sodbusters.   Here i smy tortoise shell locking work knife.  But you'll find the full size one in tortoise more appealing, Jan!

I should also mention the glow in the dark handles do not photograph well.  Or at least with my crappy camera they don't!

 Collection of Long Rifles

 Sawcut and Smooth Red bone RRs.

My latest Rough Rider is their new Cotton Sampler in the Appaloosa Brown Bone  It's  a hefty knife.  I'm pretty happy with it.  I hope they make it in a White Smooth Bone, and a few other handle materials.   I also wish they'd offer that fish-knife in a few more options.   It seems like SMKW doesn't pay much attention to Rough Rider Collectors anymore.  They're concentrating more on Colts.  (Sigh!)

The new shield. Tey are reissuing older knives with this one but offering very few new patterns or handle material.

Enough complaining!  Here's the knife.  It's pretty durn cool!

Details:

Rough Rider 1422  Cotton Sampler

·440A stainless steel blade

·Brown appaloosa smooth bone handles

·Brass pins and liners

·Nickel silver shield and ringed bolsters

·Lanyard hole

·3" Blade

·Blade width: 7/8

·Blade thickness: 1/16"

·4-1/8" Closed

·Made in China

and a last shot comparing the folding Rough rider Cotton Sampler to the Old Hickory fixed blade Cotton Sampler

Has anyone seen anything new coming from Rough Rider.   The last I saw was the cotton sampler below.  Any new handle material or new patterns?  Any new fixed blade offerings?

Tobias,

not a great deal of anything in the "new" category for RR.  I like the Cotton sampler and intend to get one, I am waiting to see if other handle options are going to happen