All About Pocket Knives

Has anyone here purchased any of the recent offerings from A. G. Russell?

There is a single lock blade folding hunter, a sow belly two blade trapper and a single lock blade gunstock jack.

All of them are hefty knives. The folding hunter is 5", the gunstock 4" and I'm not sure about the length on the sowbelly trapper.

They're offering them in yellow Delrin, brown Rucarta and nicely grained cocobola.

I don't wish to kick off another geo-political bruhaha, but the knives are manufactured in China.

They look awfully nice.

I've ordered the gunstock jack in cocobola.

Here are some pics. They should expand by left clicking.


Charlie Noyes

damm they're gorgeous. especially that sow trapper with the warncliff.. how can american companies compete with that??

I just ordered the single blade hunter and the optional sheath. Will let folks know what I think once I get it and play with a bit.

Cheers - Joe

ok then, i'm game for the sow trapper. i'll let you know when i get that knife

so sorry folks, i went to the a g russell site and had the knife one click away from paying. but i just couldnt pay $78 for a china knife. i would be hard pressed to explain an a g russell knife from china without even seeing the price tag. i am sure they are great knives,, but i just couldnt do it

chetr1200c wrote:damm they're gorgeous. especially that sow trapper with the warncliff.. how can american companies compete with that??

can you say blade wobble, plastic scales

Charlie those are some good looking knives. Let us know how it performs. What kind of steel do they use?

This is going to get interesting!!!.......

chetr1200c wrote:so sorry folks, i went to the a g russell site and had the knife one click away from paying. but i just couldnt pay $78 for a china knife. i would be hard pressed to explain an a g russell knife from china without even seeing the price tag. i am sure they are great knives,, but i just couldnt do it

Nice Chet!

The steel is 8Cr13MoV, whatever that means.

Here is a link to the knives on Russell's site:

http://www.agrussell.com/ag-russell-med ... hhhCQ13CO/

Please understand that I am not selling nor promoting the knives. I just wanted to know if anybody else had purchased them.

Charlie Noyes

After looking at those pictures I had to order the gunstock with the brown rucarta handles for $54.95. Those look to be really well made.

They are good looking knives for sure, but for $60 - I can think of about 50 knives I'd rather have that are made here, and have better blade steel.

i just bought a camillus made a g russel granddady barlow mint with the leather pouch for the same money as that cocobolo sow trapper...i feel better already

I'm with you, Chet. I can't even buy a Gerber Paraframe for ten bucks when I want something
new and shiny.

I love A.G. Russell and his wife to death but he has really gone to the other side with his product line. You can either buy a $200-$400 - 3" Hen and Rooster or a Cattaraugus made in China for an unreal price point for a Chineese made knife. Plus he hits with some American customs for Crazy money. After he describes some of the Chinees knives you would think that they had some special material over there but we all know the special material is the 14 year old Hafter working his butt off. It is a shame that American craftsmen can't live on $80 bucks a week, or is that a month? The business he is in has forced him to do it. Some of his knives have been sitting around for 30 years or longer. I will not ever forget the look on the faces of the Men from Trico when they took their last decent paycheck and that was for packing trucks with their machinery bound for China. It's all the same. I for one will miss him and his catalogs when he finally does throw in the towell. I am sorry I driveled on like this but It was hard for me to find a job at 59 years old and all I knew was how to build one heck of a windshield wiper.

Trico went out of business??

I hope my comments here do not offend; I have utmost affection for the integrity & cutlery expertise of this Forum.

In the interest of full disclosure I worked at Camillus Cutlery Company for 27 years, & I currently work for A.G. Russell.

In this, & several recent threads here, there has been significant discussion regarding A.G. Russell having knives made in China.
I believe that this is, to be honest, more than just a Cutlery topic; it is a political, financial & social topic too.

I understand many of the painful realities that face us all.
My Grandfather in England was wounded 4 times & lost 3 brothers at The Somme in WW1.
To his dying day (in 1987) he never so much as sat in a German car, let alone bought one!
I lost a job & a pension & so much more when Camillus closed.
In my humble opinion it is totally reasonable to personally not want to purchase a product from a particular country; when feasible. I do it too.

I just feel the need to address a couple of statements that have been made that I believe are misinformed.

I have been very fortunate to have visited many Cutlery Factories around the world.
I have visited many facilities in China.
You know a funny thing they all have in common?
They have Knife Makers in them!

I can honestly tell you as FACT regarding the Chinese Cutleries I have visited:
1. They do not employ child labor!
2. They do not work for a bowl of rice; the skilled ones are in great demand & it is not uncommon for a Cutler to move to a different Factory for a better deal!
3. Chinese Factories are not owned by the Chinese Government.
4. They are very proud of what they do.

As to the Stick that some believe A.G. deserves for daring to have his knives made in China; well don't be concerned, I doubt it hurt much more than the Stick he took in the late 60's & early 70's for daring to have his knives made in Japan!

But the real truth is no one loves the American knife business more than A.G.!
He does business with every American Factory he can.
A.G. even has knives made for him by Factories that don't make knives for others!!
When A.G heard that Camillus was in trouble, he called to increase his orders!
He also currently does business with Cutlery Companies in Europe, Japan & Taiwan.
All of the designs he first took to China were ones our American makers passed on.


A.G. Russell is on a constant quest for High Quality Cutlery, where ever he can find it.
He always wants to improve the design & quality of his knives.
The Chinese were used to producing the cheapest knives as possible; A.G. has challenged them to quality, not quantity & price. Some of the Companies have risen to that challenge!
As is true at all the other Cutleries on the planet, higher quality & lower volume consistantly produce seismic pricing increases!
Are $60-$90 Chinese knives a leap of faith? No Doubt!
But A.G. & Goldie were bold enough to find out.

I am personally very proud to have been involved in the development of these knives, as well as grateful for having the opportunity to consider some of those Chinese Cutlers as friends!

Thank you for the opportunity to speak my mind.

phil im assuming u were in some management or design area at camillus

Trico didn't go out of business in fact they are very succesful. They have plants in North America, South America, Europe, Australia and Asia. They call it bringing their products closer to the world marketplace. They just walked away from the city of Buffalo, N.Y. for a more reasonable work force (cheaper) in another country in North America where the windshield wipers are bullet proof. No taxes and total cooperation from local government couldn't help keep them. Now they are in countries where it's elderly workers sit along the walkway sharing a cigarette and talk about taking a vacation in America. Now we can have a little fun with Buffalo where the people are it's greatest product mainly because they have lost everything but their pride and a little snow.
I don't blame A.G. and Goldie fror doing what they had to do to survive. I remember the statement he made in his catalog when he said he was being forced to compete with the world market too. He does put quality up near the top of his business plan right under eating and surviving. His knives are some of the best ever made in China. To bad we have to pay for it with our chance to eat and survive. This is America and we can adjust our skills. When the world vacations here we can wait on them.

nice post there phil. but knowing the prices that come out of that country. i am sure a g could have dropped 40% off his price and still made a profit. at least it made me think twice and buy that a. g./ camillus made granddaddy barlow.

Off topic post removed.

Phil
AAPK moderator

YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE

When RobisonsRme.com started this thread he stated his wish that this not become another political debate. Once again that is what it has become. If you gentlemen can't respect the original poster and keep politics out of the discussion, simply do not post because I fully intend to delete or edit every political post made as being off topic. If you wish to rant and rave about how bad Chinese made knives are or what politically evil folks they are who make them feel free to do so on your own thread in the OFF TOPIC DISCUSSION forum.
I do not intend to let a few people continually hijack every thread that mentions a knife made in China.

Phil
AAPK moderator

i agree 100% phil. my statement wasnt political in the least. i reffered to prices that rough rider and steward taylor are asking for thier knives made in that country. a.g. is asking just a tad too much, or i would have bought that sow trapper

I don't think that any of us are surprised that A.G.R.'s prices for any knives of any name made in any country far exceed most other similar dealers prices for similar products .

Bob R.