All About Pocket Knives

If this post is in the wrong column please feel free to move it.

Rough Rider Cotton Sampler review:
I received my first (and probably only) Rough Rider yesterday. I've really wanted a Cotton Sampler for some time ( I grew up in the Memphis area so anything cotton has some nostalgia to it for me), but I wanted it for EDC. As much as I'd love to have an American made version, there's no way I was going to invest $125-200 and turn it into a daily beater.

The model I purchased was the ram's horn version. All in all, I will say that it is a good looking knife with good fit and finish. If I had bought American, I would've been disappointed as there is a small divot to the back of the blade and some finishing issues at the flat base of the blade. Handle material looks pretty good. It was a touch blocky on the edges but nothing a little steel wool didn't solve. Blade arrived well sharpened.

Definitely not American quality but far superior to anything I've seen from China so far. Actually pretty impressive for a total $16.95 investment, including shipping. Again, I hated to buy Chinese but this knife was bought to be a daily beater.

I have several Rough Riders and with only one exception the fit and finish has been very good. The problem I've found with them is they are lacking in the heat treatment of the steel and they get dull pretty quickly.

Rough riders are good knives for the money. They're not perfect, but are impressive considering the cost and being made in china. The best thing about them is they make rare patterns that are easily available to everybody. I've bought a few just to try out patterns before dropping money on a more expensive one.

We like pics!

I need to get one.

Quote: "they get dull pretty quickly."
Interesting because my experience is the opposite: "they hold their edge surprisingly well" is how i sum them up.
"Surprisingly well" = equal to Case Tru-Sharp or CV, and maybe even a bit better.
RR always arrive with sharp edges ready to cut right out of the box.
Case often arrive with blade edges that need attention before being ready to cut. Often there is a burr along one edge and they might need further sharpening.
Perhaps my standards are lower than those who find the RR lacking in edge holding ?
kj

I had no issues with my RR KNIFES being sharp or holding an edge.

I've got a lightly-used RR smooth tobacco dogbone jack with one of the sharpest out-of-the-box master blades I've ever bought. I've also got a green (possibly Appaloosa-style?) bone canoe with two scary-sharp blades that I haven't ever had to touch up -- also lightly-carried. I've been intending to carry the DBJ more often so I might make a project of really using the master blade to see how that steel holds up over time and use. Among my remaining RRs initial sharpness seems to be hit and miss, but I've read some opinions that their 440A is "reasonably" heat-treated and stays workable (good utility edge, at least). Of course, it is entirely possible that their processes have changed over time or that the consistency of their HT isn't as remarkable as, say, Buck's (whose 440C from the 1970s is pretty much pre-eminent for the material IMO -- that Buck HT is something special on the old 110s/112s). But, as the prevailing theme seems to go, for Pacific Rim knives the RRs (and the Colts and other marques that are made in the same factories) are pretty solid in the bang-for-the-buck category.

Got one and it solid knife!

I grew-up in the middle of California's cotton country (my Dad had ~100 acres in cotton nearly every year). I have to admit I had never seen a "cotton sampler" knife until I started getting into knife collecting. But, I also don't think I had ever met a "cotton buyer" or seen anyone at the cotton gin cutting into the cotton bales. My Dad just used whatever knife he had in his pocket to open up the immature cotton bolls and check for boll weevils. Maybe those knives were a Southern thing?

The only ones I ever seen was Old Hickory made ones that were fixed blades.

The fellow on YouTube thinks it would be a good skinner blade!I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bThSngSM6w

It cuts real good!

That was an interesting video. I would like to see his theory of using that knife style in actual use. Getting started skinning a critter usually calls for puncturing of the hide, a place to get the blade under the skin to begin the process. That knife blade, the cotton sampler, won't do that first step very effectively, easily or quickly in my humble opinion. I noticed he had a 'skeeter suckin' blood on his right hand while he was doin' his talk.
Treefarmer

Maher & Grosh in their old catalogs( pre 1930) advertised an obvious cotton sampler as a skinning knife.

Looking back at my comment on the cotton sampler blade, I suppose I'm looking at it with tunnel vision. In a meat processing plant, a kill floor, skinning knives have an upswept blade very similar to the cotton sampler plus several other knives come into play in the old style butcher pens. peanut740 pointed out the bade being advertised as a skinner caused me to think about that application. My narrow view is based on my experiences dressing deer over the last 50+ years. I'd have to have another blade with a sharp point on a knife that contained a cotton sampler blade. That is where the 2 blade folding hunters come to the rescue, a sharp pointed clip and a companion blade with some sweep on its' front as a skinning blade.
Treefarmer

Ever professional butcher I ever saw wore a multi-knife holster that had several fixed blades of various shapes and sizes, never a folder.

I hear you TFL! Professional butchers used to wear, and probably still do, an aluminum/plastic holster/scabbard to hold the knives they choose to use that particular day. I can still see in my mind's eye, my Father-in-law and his crew of meat cutters in their white coats and aluminum scabbards working on beef, swine and sheep. Skinning knives, breaking knives, butcher knifes, boning knives, all used to get the critter to the electric meat saw and turned into steaks, roasts, soup bones and ground meat.
My observation is based on my choice of knives to dress Bambi and for years it has been a #39 Queen. I have some fixed blades, I don't carry one in the woods but I do carry a folder capable of doing the job. Several of us have participated in 2 pass-arounds of fixed blades, one a Case and the other an ugly heifer made by an axe company. It is always interesting to see what a knife is capable of doing. Last year, I completely dressed a deer with a RR Trapper some one anonymously had sent me just for fun.
If I run across a cotton sampler maybe I'll try it on Bambi' britches rather than a cotton boll.
Done ramblin'.
Treefarmer

Mine works great in the Kitchen!

Solid knife

It just cute great! Veggies are no match for the Cotton Sampler!

Here we go again! Miss Joy said, "Looks like your knife is here." My response, "I don't remember buying one." Somehow the anonymous Rough Rider donor has sent another one, this time a Cotton Sampler. My thanks again to whoever is mighty generous!
This is my 1st time to actually fondle a Cotton Sampler. The knife is sharp, will shave your arm. The knife is solid, has half stops and the fit and finish seems to be very good. I noticed this one doesn't have the "match strike" nail nick. The joint was a little bit gritty and with a drop or two of oil it gave up some nasty black stuff, like most new knives anymore. I love the smooth bone handles but the edges are very sharp, a little bevel on the exposed bone edges would make it a bit more pleasant to handle. That would be an easy fix. I stand by my original statement concerning this type of blade, it would not suit me as my only skinning knife. I believe it would work very well once the job was started with a pointed blade. Maybe the Lord will bless me this coming season to be able to give it a good work out. Again I was much impressed with the RR Trapper last season but that old "Patriotic Bug Bite" is still felt in this old hide.
Be sure to read the warning on the end of the box, this may be something I need to isolate along with some of the ol' celluloid gals.
Semper Fi
Treefarmer

As someone that lives in California, I can tell you that those warnings are put on EVERYTHING here. They are in nearly every store and business. I'm expecting them to soon appear on bottles of water...

Here ya go - take yur pick...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Californi ... _chemicals

I enjoyed mine so far