AG Russeell China folder

[blindhari]

Last month I got a little maudlin on this forum and my wife said time to go talk to someone. We went to see in-laws in California and drink a little too much with a brother in-law, retired LEO and Chaplain. He and his wife were headed to see family in Ark and evidently they stopped in at AG Russell and he called my wife from there. She got on the computer, took a look at their store and bought 9 of the AG Russell folders with yellow Delrin handles. These are big knives which fit my hand well. The Sunfish is just too big though at around 10oz for a pocket knife. Has anyone out there got an opinion on these as a working pocket knife, THEY ARE CHINESE STEEL and I wonder about endurability. Wife also thinks they look a lot less threatening than the Buck lightnings I have carried for the last 10 years.

blindhari

 

[Carl Levitian]

I would not hesitate to go and use the heck out of them. I'm leary of brand X Chinese steel, but if it's from A.G., then I don't worry. He backs his stuff with an ironclad warrantee, if you're not happy then A. G. will remedy the situation so that you are happy, happy, happy.

The Chinese make several different levels of stuff, ranging from pure junk to downright good. In the last few years of his life, Bill Moran bought a bowie knife from Hanwee (Spelling?) forge, and took it out back of his shop to the woods there. He chopped, pounded, batoned, and beat on the Chinese bowie. He pronounced his amazement at how good it was. I knew Bill for thirty years, and if he said it was good, it was.

Some good stuff is coming out of China, but it all depends on what the manufacturer has specified.

 

[hso]

You can trust what A.G. Russell sells.

 

[Wil Terry]

The Chinese build things to the level asked for by the purchaser like A.G. Russell. the A.G. Chinese knife in my pocket takes and holds a SUPERB edge that just wipes the hair off your arm. It is only the second single blade pocketknife I've carried in the past sixty years as I always wanted three blades to work with when one got dull; NOT needed with this A.G. knife, Nosirree !!!
And so it goes...

 

[blindhari]

Close to a week ago I asked for info on AG Russell folding knives with China steel and yellow Delrin handles. I have taken one of his double blade sowbelleys and done everything I can think short of putting a blade in my vise and hitting the handle with a hammer. My opinion is that it is one tough knife, easy to sharpen and fits my old hands well. Only problem I had was the lanyard, a piece of latigo and 15 minutes figuring out a braid took care of that. I made a braid with an open loop at the end. Lanyard braid goes behind my belt, knife goes through the end loop and drops into the pocket of my jeans leaving the weight on my belt and not in my pocket. I currently have 9 different folders from AG Russell my wife hauled off and bought for me. Out of all of them I am sending back the Sunfish as just too big. I am keeping three and the others will be used as XMAS presents. One last thing, I have been watching EBAY and other auction houses, AG Russel knives are listed but not a single one of the Chinese folders have come up in the last 6 days. Maybe these are the everyday knives too good for people to get rid of.

blindhari

 

[grter]

I hate to admit it but they can be top quality. The fact is as already stated here is that they (Chinese factorys) will produce whatever quality you want.

Futher more they have both the means and the will to make it your way which has been a problem in the past and present with American companies who don't want to even consider trying to manufacture a new design.

 

[Ron James]

Any thing A G Russell sells is top quality, and as posted, his warranty is, if you are not satisfied with one of his knifes, no time limit, no need to explain, he will make it right. The China knifes he sells are as good as any of the Japanese knifes. I have a number of Knifes with his name on them and a number of knifes he handles ( such as Queen, Shatt and Morgan, Canal Street and so forth ). He sells good stuff.

 

[JShirley]

A G Russell= good.

There is a lot of variation in the steels available from China, as there is from any country. You could get crap steel from anywhere, but China also has quality steels like 8Cr13Mov. Moderator Sam Owens carries a Chinese-built Spyderco Resilience I gave him for Christmas, 2010. He makes his own knives, which are top quality. He carries the Spyderco because he likes it, and living out in the country, and working with his hands, it gets used a lot.

 

[Joe Demko]

Remember the past. When I was a kid, anything made in Japan was assumed to be cheap, shoddy, junk. That gradually changed. Japanese cameras, electronics, cutlery, and motor vehicles became prestige goods. Korean goods began the same transformation in the 1990's.
As others have said, if AG sells it, you can count on it being good quality. He's a guy who genuinely loves knives and he doesn't put his name on trash.