A. G. Russell

A.G. Russell recently passed away.

If that name doesn’t mean something to you, you’ve led an impoverished life.  It may not have been financially poor, but your soul hasn’t been nourished enough.

Russell started making knives when he was nine.  In 1968 he started selling after-market knives but continued to have his designs made.  His wife, Goldie, helped publish a slick glossy catalog containing photos of knives of amazing beauty.  Knife fanciers refer to it as “knife porn” as we anxiously await the current issues which would be studied, pawed over and each knife’s detailed description memorized.

The catalog is still in production and I still look forward to seeing it.

I met A.G. years ago at one of the S.H.O.T Shows, along with 100 thousand other people.  But a recent article of mine in Knife Magazine on his Gent Folder II brought us back into contact.  We talked and he showed me how he could flick open virtually any knife.  He said he enjoyed my article.

One of A.G. Gent Knives

He joins a select group of knife giants. Some of the names should mean something to you.

James Parker Sr. who once owned Case Knife and founder the National Knife Collectors Association (NKCA)

Bill Scagel who inspired so many other designers and makers like Bo Randall, the founder of Randall Knife.

Bo influenced Bob Loveless who inspired countless other makers.

Robert Terzuola who invented the term Tactical Knife.

The environment they created let people like Blackie Collins flourish with his innovative designs.  Blackie was also a founding member of the Knife Makers Guild as well as the originator of Blade magazine.

Bill Moran, the rediscoverer of pattern welded steel and founder of the American Bladesmith Society isn’t excluded from this group by any means.

And of course, A.G. Russell, who opened the world of art/collector and working knives to everyone.  Let me remind you he produced the first production knife with a thumb stud.  His Sting boot knife still inspires both art knives and fighting designs.

I know there are others I’ve missed and skipped, but I there is no question that A.G. Russell will be on anyone’s list of knife milestones.

A.G. Russell, III passed away Friday, October 12, 2018 at Northwest Medical Center in Springdale, AR at the age of 85.  The knife community will miss him.

China Knives and AG Russell

Had an interesting event at the April meeting of the WRCA knife club.

Call to order and a reading of the minutes

One of the officers stood up and showed off two very nice AG Russell knives he just purchased. 

No clip, no stud, no lock, but it felt very good in my hand.

He claims each knife was under $50 online.  The interesting thing was both were made in China.  I took a close look at the knives.  The finish was first rate, the handles and bolsters met nicely and I couldn’t feel any separation or mis-alignment.  They were very well made knives!

 

I really like the wharncliffe blade. And its nail nick is on the other side so you don't have to fight with the drop point blade to open it.  I see a lot of American knives without that feature. 

I really like the knives and that’s odd for me.  Very odd.  Neither knife locked open nor did they have a pocket clip.  And they both used nail nicks to open the blades.  This makes these knives totally un-natural for me.  But you know, if the blade locked open, I’d carry them.  I’d give up the clip and one-handed opening.  That’s how nice they were.

Many people at the meeting felt that any product made in China was junk.  I see that perception at my knife table at the shows.  But it’s not so.  AG Russell doesn’t sell junk.  Spyderco doesn’t make junk, here or elsewhere, nor does Ka-Bar, to name a few. 

True, some companies are bringing some of their lines back to the USA. I suspect this has two causes.  One, they didn’t have enough oversight watching production and quality slipped.  The second reason and perhaps the hardest to remedy, too much of their customer based is rooted in the equation:

China = Junk

I don’t think that equation is unconditionally valid.  I think quality companies can produce a quality knife in China if they choose to.  Of course, one should expect a relationship between cost and quality. 

 

A $2 dollar knife made in China or the US will be junk.  

A $30 knife made in China by a quality company will not be equal to the quality of a $150 knife made by the same company in the US, Germany or Japan.  It will match and perhaps exceed a $30 knife made anywhere else.  

I advise my customers to buy quality in relation to their needs.  Your 11-year old son in Scouts doesn’t need an $80 Benchmade, but a $27 CRKT might just be the perfect starting place. 

A three-month trapping expedition to Alaska merits a TOPS fixed blade knife and maybe several SOG or Cold Steel folders.  Scrimping on price and quality here could be disastrous!

So, who are the people opposed to quality Chinese knives?  I don’t know.  I suspect they had problems with a counterfeit product, or bought cheap and found out they only bought trouble.  Perhaps they see the Chinese worker as a direct threat to their employment. 

 

China is far from perfect.  I don’t like their government; I don’t like their economic system and some of their labor practices sound like indentured slavery to me.  But the Chinese want a standard of living approaching ours.  And they know that quality is the way to get there.

These subjects are far above my pay grade, but I suggest to keep an open mind about products and their country of origin.