Boker made Russell? pics

[Owd Wullie]

Judge for yourself..
side by side

other side by side

tang stamps

maker stamps

both blades open

bottoms

tops


What cha' think?

My money says it is a Boker made knife.

[philco]

Hey Wullie,
Your photos make a compelling argument for your theory. The only thing that perplexes me is that the Russell is selling for well below the cost of the Boker. If the Russell is made by Boker,then whomever is having them made must be operating on a pretty thin profit margin to be able to sell that far below the comparable knife with the Boker branding. I'm certainly not saying that it isn't possible, but the financial side is a puzzle to me.
Did you pay retail for your Russell when you bought it?

Phil

[Owd Wullie]

I got it off an ebay auction.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0318175075

That doesn't necessarily reflect the real retail. I have no idea how much the guy I got it from made or lost. I liked the looks of the pics he had and figured I'd bid $20 and hope it wasn't a piece of junk and it went for 16.50 plus shipping which made it a tad over $20.00.

I figure real world prices ought to be pretty close the real thing. I think I just lucked out and got it a bit cheaper. I paid 25 or so for that funkadelic handled Boker about 2 months ago. Never saw one before or since with gaudy wood like that either.

Maybe the J Russell with Solingen attached to the name scared folks away. I don't know, but sure feels good in my pocket.

I'll see how it does on a stone tomorrow while I'm watching my crews work. My Mexicano contractors like to scare the younger kids on the crew when they see "Pinche Willie" sitting in my truck and sharpening a knife.. They're a great bunch of guys and hard working SOB's.

W

PS. anybody that wants to know what "pinche" translates to is welcome to PM me.

[peterforce]

does anybody else think these are china made knives or know they are?

oh and pinche is not something you wanna say to your mama!! haha!

[philco]

Wullie, after a good nights sleep, it has dawned on me (no pun intended ) that I have seen some of those Russell repro knives for sale on my favorite TV show Knives Live! Smoky Mountain Knife Works has had several different configurations of the Russell knives for sale. A quick check of their website shows they do not currently have any in inventory, but they still do list Russell as one of the brands they carry (or have carried) in their 'shop by brands' listing.
It is my recollection that the Russell knives they were selling were German made and that they were priced pretty reasonably although I don't recall exact figures.
If they were made in Germany, it does stand to reason they very well could be made by Boker, as Boker has and does make knives marketed with other brands on them.
I just love a good mystery!

Phil

[Forensic Jim]

Wullie I'd say they look the same and I like the looks of it as well.

[rmfnla]

At 16 bucks I'd say you stole that knife!

As for more info, pop an e-mail out to the fine folks at Russell: [email protected]

They have been very nice & helpful to me in the past.

[johnnierotten]

Looks like they were both made in the same factory. ...does anyone know,maybe Boker bought out the Russell name.

[Owd Wullie]

Well, I spent the better part of an hour with my "mystery" knife and a hard arkansas stone today. I can say it has some hard steel. Furthermore, whoever it was that put the so called factory edge on it sure got things lopsided. I got all that straightened out and got a pretty decent edge on it before I got tired of messing with it. Wish I'd brought my old carborundum stone to work too. Would have made things a bit quicker. I'm off work tomorrow so I can get serious about making it sharp. My crew didn't pay me any mind and were probably happy that I was messing with that rather than busting their cojones.. No green horns with them today. Oh well maybe next time.

Either way, I like this knife. I'll shoot Russel an E-mail and see what they say and get back to ya with more details.

Oh, I think $16.50 is a very reasonable price.

I just found the same knife for sale in Australia..
http://www.sportingoutbacksupplies.com. ... 260&page=2



Live rates at 2009.04.10 03:23:43 UTC
95.00 AUD

=

68.2246 USD
Australia Dollars United States Dollars
1 AUD = 0.718153 USD 1 USD = 1.39246 AUD

Guess I did steal it..

[rmfnla]

At 16 bucks I'd say you stole that knife!

As for more info, pop an e-mail out to the fine folks at Russell: [email protected]

They have been very nice & helpful to me in the past.

My bad; I realized that this is a different Russell (John vs. A.G.).

Thanks for not trouncing me.

[Owd Wullie]

At 16 bucks I'd say you stole that knife!

As for more info, pop an e-mail out to the fine folks at Russell: [email protected]

They have been very nice & helpful to me in the past.

My bad; I realized that this is a different Russell (John vs. A.G.).

Thanks for not trouncing me.

I checked russelsformen.com and figured out that it was a different outfit. They've sure got some fancy gear that is WAY out of my league.

I do appreciate the offer to help.

As far as trouncing? This forum is heads and shoulders above any forum I've ever been to as far as manners and the available knowledge of its' users. I run a couple of non knife related forums and I spend more time here than I do at my forums.

You guys are awesome.

[rmfnla]

Amen to that!