A.G. Russell knows his blades. He designs every one the eponymously named company makes, contracting out the manufacturing to one of six plants in Taiwan, Japan and the Middle Kingdom. And he sells his work strictly through his own catalogs an via his web site. As I was fighting my way through the Saturday NRA exhibit hall crowds, I had a chance to meet the man and finger one of his latest EDC efforts, the Gentleman’s Framelock with its satiny, bead-blasted titanium frame. And if you can’t tell from the photo, this thing feels as good in the hand as it looks.
Read the rest at thetruthaboutknives.com . . .
I guess I don’t understand. If there is a new TTAG for knives, why all of the knife posts here? Or is this to promote the new knife blog on the gun blog?
Yes. Yes it is.
But this series is knives for CCW permit holders. So . . . there.
Good to know. Thanks for the heads up!
Obscure Object of Desire: AG Russell Shopmade California Bowie, with ironwood handle scales. “English” style bowie blade, coffin handled, absolutely beautiful work, only $395! Not exactly a pocket carry knife (8.5″ blade), but it is just what you need for your next sandbar fight.
And for a good lesson on not giving up in a DGU fight for your life, read the Wikipedia entry for the Vidalia Sandbar Fight:
“As the duelists turned to leave, Bowie came forward to meet them. Seeing this, Maddox’s friends ran forward to join the group. Cuny, who had previously fought with Crain, is recorded as having called out to him, “Col. Crain, this is a good time to settle our difficulty.” Crain fired, missing Cuny but striking Bowie in the hip and knocking him to the ground. Cuny and Crain then exchanged fire, with Crain sustaining a flesh wound in the arm and Cuny dying from a shot to the chest.
Bowie, rising to his feet, drew his knife and charged at Crain, who struck him so hard with his empty pistol upon the head that it broke and sent Bowie to his knees. Wright appeared, drew a pistol, and shot at the fallen Bowie, missing. Wright then drew his sword cane and stabbed Bowie in the chest, but the thin blade was deflected by his sternum. As Wright attempted to pull the blade free, Bowie reached up, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him down upon the point of his Bowie knife. Wright died instantly, and Bowie, with Wright’s sword still protruding from his chest, was shot again and stabbed by another member of the group. As Bowie stood, pulling the sword cane from his chest, both Blanchard brothers fired at him, and he was struck once in the arm. Bowie spun and cut off part of Alfred’s forearm. Carey fired a second shot at Bowie, but missed. As the brothers fled, Carey was shot and wounded by Major McWhorter.
The Battle of the Sandbar lasted more than 10 minutes, leaving Samuel Cuny and Norris Wright dead, and another four men—Alfred Blanchard, Carey Blanchard, Robert Crain and Jim Bowie—wounded.”
Love titanium…
I’ve got a William Henry in titanium with damscus blade. It’s a thing of beauty!
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Just another knife made in China, Taiwan or Japan. Maybe feature knives made in the United States. Doesn’t matter if the guy designs his own knives or not. We should be encouraging American made, not something from China. It is hard to find American made knives.
Japan has a long and storied tradition of crafting edges. I wouldn’t be so hasty to lump them in with China and Taiwan.
AG Russel Shopmade knives. Tell your wallet to be prepared.
sizzlin bacon said: “It is hard to find American made knives.”
Benchmade makes all Benchmade-branded knives in the US. Spyderco makes many models in Golden, Colorado, most of which are very popular and not cheap to boot. Kershaw, Zero Tolerance, ESEE, Ethan Becker, Chris Reeve, Rick Hinderer, Strider and many, many other production, semi-production and custom knife makers make many if not all of their lines in the US.
IMO, the best knives in the world are made in the US and are relatively easy to find. What they are is not cheap but many of them are great values. Not to say that fine knives can’t be made overseas. Spyderco’s productions in Seki City, Japan and Taiwan are very well made knives, sometimes better than their US cousins but the US, it seems to me, has the most vibrant knife industry in the world.
Hard to improve on that comment. It may be difficult to find many well-made, nicely designed EDC blades for under about $40 that are American made, but as Roger said, there’s no shortage of American-made knives out there.
And through our posts, we’re neither encouraging nor discouraging manufacturing from anywhere. We’re simply bringing news of new, interesting, unique, functional, useful, and fun cutting tools to our readers, many of whom are just fine with buying a knife that’s made elsewhere.
In a day and age of dwindling American craftsmanship, it is disappointing to see few manufactures of knives that the average person would carry and use (not these silly $300 skeletonized titanium knives in tactical baby seal fur sheaths).
I would be interested in seeing an under $50 knife made in America (therefore supporting American jobs…).
When you go under $50 the field is limited. Off the top of my head I can only think of two. Spyderco UKPK. I carry this everyday. It might not be for everyone though as it doesn’t have a lock; it’s a slipjoint and it’s around $35. The other is a Kershaw Skyline, also about $35.
When you go up to around $100 your choices expand quite a bit. Benchmade Griptilians can be found for as cheap as $65 and there are many other Benchmades for around $100. Also the Spyderco Paramilitary 2 (when you can find it), Native and Manix. The latter two well under $100 for certain editions (depends on steel etc).
My Emerson Karambit was a great knife, one of the all time great self defense knives. A tactical cop picked it up & opened it one time, he shook his head & put it down, Randy
I’ve had several AG Russell knives, most ended up as letter openers
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