A.G. Russell BG-42 Slipjoints

somniloquist

somniloquist

Joined
Aug 9, 2007
Messages
1,445
Hi Guys,

I'm pretty new to traditional type knives and have been trying to learn about them as much as I can. I recently picked up my first two, both pearl handled varieties, one a Fightin' Rooster 5 blade congress and the other a small Case pen with scissors. I think I am officially hooked now!

I recently spotted a pair of slip joints on the A.G. Russell site that look very nice. One is a stockman and the other is a whittler and they both have 3 blades made from BG-42 steel. I am very tempted by them but thought I would ask a couple questions before picking one up.

First, I know A.G. sells quality items, but does anyone have one of these? What are your impressions? I'm kind of torn between the two patterns but am favouring the larger stockman a bit. I just wish it had a wharncliff blade like the whittler.

Next, is the steel worth the extra cash? BG-42 is getting rarer and rarer and I have no experience with it. How might it compare to something like S30V?

Finally, I'm wondering if anyone has any pictures of these knives they could share. I have tried to expand the ones on the A.G. site on a couple of different computers to no avail. If somebody has a clear photo they could post of either or both of these, I would be very, very grateful. I'd be happy to accept a couple of shots in my email too, if that makes things any easier for someone.

In any case, I really like this subforum here and have received wonderful help from it's members in the past. have a feeling I might be spending more time here as time goes by (and my collection invariably increases) Thanks in advance for any help and have a great day!
 
I don't have these particular knives, but I have several made from BG42 and it is my favorite stainless. I always hone knives to low angles, particularly traditional folders. With a thin blade and acute edge you need to be concerned about edge chipping and point breaking. For one of the harder stainless alloys BG42 is on the tough side. I would rate it tougher than S30V. The real reason that I prefer it is that it takes a very fine edge. That is always important to me, but more so on a traditional folder. S30V has larger carbide grains than BG42 and does not take as fine an edge. Regardless of which of these steels you pick I would get an extra-fine diamond hone to set the edge on them. It helps getting a little bit extra out of this type of steel.

On the other hand you might be better off with a cheaper non-stainless alloy blade. If you got something like 1084 to 1095 carbon steel blades they would be tougher than either of the above stainless alloys. One of the reasons that I like a stockman design is for whittling and carving. For detailed carving I often am sort of drilling or picking out material with the tip of my blade. I like a carbon steel blade for that type of work. I also really like the standard sheepsfoot blade on a stockman for this.
 
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Thank you both for your posts. Jeff, I have heard that BG-42 takes a pretty fine edge, but did not understand why. Your post was instructive and I appreciate it. It's a shame there aren't more makers using it in their products. Still, I kind of like the idea of a modern, sophisticated steel being used in an old fashioned type folder.

Thomason, thanks for that photo. Is that knife yours? How do you like it? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts if you have a moment to discuss them. Thanks!
 
Thomason, thanks for the link, it was informative. I didn't realize the primary had a recurve to it until you mentioned it and I saw your photo. It seems as though your comments were cut off in this thread though. Do all the blades open at different tensions? That seems a bit curious...
 
Haggismonger: I may be way off, but in my very informal look at what seems to be available on the market right now, BG-42 does seem to be less common. The only manufacturers I know of that are currently using it are Lone Wolf and Case in their liner lock models. I think Mantis may use it as well, but there seems to be a debate as to it genuinely is BG-42 going into their blades. That is my general impression right now. Like I said though, I could be wrong and I defer to those who may know better.
 
BG-42 is an older super steel. I like this steel but it is out of vogue now. The older Sebenza's had it and it was a good steel. A bit harder to sharpen but held and edge. I prefer D-2 myself.
 
I love to use it in my knives, although it's hard to grind, and hell on belts, when you drawfile it, it gets a nice soft feel to it, and when it's polished, you get a really nice rainbow grain effect. I'll have to agree and reiterate the previous comment about it being an older super steel. If my older memory serves, I thought I had read an article in an old Knives Annual about BG-42, and how there were only a couple of makers using it, because it was unknown to most, and not the first thing you thought of when it came to custom knives. It was originally engineered for the space program in teh late fifties, if I remember, because there was a need for steel fittings that could endure massive temperature changes, pressure changes, and vibration without failing, and the manufacturing process of it is what sets it apart, it truly is a pure alloy, in that there are absolutely no impurities, nor is there any inconsistency in the alloy throughout. As an added plus, and the reason I choose it over ATS-34, is that it's made in Latrobe, PA, instead of overseas in Japan. When I voiced my concern about the availability, i must not have read thoroughly enough, otherwise I may have realized you were talking about the availability of factory knives produced with this steel. It makes sense, though, that it's not being used so much, it's relatively expensive, and hard to work, and it's hard to get a return from the market when there's so much overhead to account for by the piece. There are a lot of designer steels out there that could make a superior knife, but are so danged expensive that it's counterproductive to go anywhere but the custom route. ZDP-189 is an example.
 
BOTH are most impressive. I bought the stockman in march of '08 from A.G. himself and we had a wonderful gabfest as he is a most erudite gentleman. My wife just loves him!!!
The stockman is a wonderful knife. It is well made and all three blades do their assigned jobs very well. All three blades would shave as received, at least on one side. The spey blade works like no other spey blade I've ever used in my life. The sheepfoot works very well too, as indeed all sheepfoot blades do in my experience. I do not quite understand the clip blade having a recurve and cannot see where it does a thing for me except tickle my fancy looking at it. It is pretty cool and it tickles me to see A.G. taking a different tack in the old standard blade designs in this most classic of all American pocketknife patterns.
I received the whittler a week ago or so and was startled at how small it was/is in the hand. Yeegads, I am not used to dinky little pocketknives like this !! This whittler is beautifully fit all around and has three blades of nearly scalpel sharpness. The warncliffe main blade not only looks cool as all gittout it impresses me as the ultimate sheepfoot blade [ my favorite of all blade shapes...] as it were.
The two smaller blades on this whittler are not pen blades perse', but are tiny little drop point blades of identical form and shape that look for all the world like Loveless went crazy on the grinding machine and ended up with these beautiful little blades. These two are gorgeous little blades and sharp as the dickens but I do NOT know of what earthly use for such a small blade anyone would have. Were I truly a whittler myself perhaps I would understand these two small blades better. It will take some serious carrying and use by me of this small knife to even get used to it's feel in my hand as a 4" to 4 1/2" stockman or congress knife feels just right in the hand to me. I am gonna use this new whittler though as it is too darned neat to be ignored.
I also find it to be a LOT of fun trying out a new pattern, learning it's whys "n" wherefores of different blade shapes, and different basic shapes of the entire knife itself.
Frankly, I am all excited to see the next pocketknife in this new series by A.G.
 
Wil Terry: Thanks for your comments. I'm getting more and more anxious to pick up one of these after what seem like pretty favourable reviews here. I'm thinking of the stockman right now over the whittler, since it is the same length as the SAK I have been carrying around forever and seems like "more" knife for the same price.

Do you really find the whittler to be too small for EDC? I can hear that wharncliff calling my name but I wonder if it will get carried as much as a stockman might. I know, I know..."get both!" I wish I had the money for that. Maybe I should start the "newly graduated and dead broke from 8 years of student loans" fund and see if I can convince any takers? ;)
 
SIR,
I would most definately buy the stockman first. It is just an outstanding example of what was for years the standard pattern carried by most Americans, particularly those out here in the west.
I would not surmise the new A.G RUSSELL whittler discussed here is too small for every day carry. Lots of folks carry little pocketknives of the peanut pattern and are perfectly happy with them. I will note again that I was amazed at how small it felt in my hand after 55 years of carrying 4" to as much as 4 1/2" pocketknives of two or three different patterns, but mostly stockman or congress pattern knives. Mind you though, there were a couple of small knives included in that time now that I think seriously on it, including a BELKNAP 2 3/4" 3-blade stockman that I carried back in the '60's when I was travelling every week on my job. [ I also carried a 5" cap&ball revolver back in those days as it was legal those days in every big city in the country, and I assure you I was WELL armed !!! ]
I stopped this answer for a while to go look upon and fondle the new A.G. whittler again. I touched up the blades on a ceramic stick and it was as if I were working on a child's knife...LOL !!! But do NOT for an instant think this is not a serious knife, beautifully made, and fully capable of doing some serious work if you've a mind to put it to such uses.
 
WIL TERRY: Your comments are illuminating. I think I will pick up the stockman first, as per your advice. It seems to be a more well rounded knife suitable to a greater number of tasks than the whittler.

It seems a bit curious to me that Mr. Russell would choose two identical pen blades for the whittler. It strikes me as a lost opportunity somewhat, as I'm sure a similarly sized coping blade or other could have been chosen to introduce a bit more variety to the setup. It is certainly not a dealbreaker for me though and I'm sure he has his reasons.

In any case, I suppose it is time for me to start saving my pennies to scrape together enough cash to pick one of these up. I hope very much that he does not introduce those beautiful knives he was showcasing in another recent thread too soon or I may arrive home one day to find a court sheriff moving all my furniture onto the front lawn. Thanks for everyone's comments so far!
 
Did you ever pick up the stockman? Anybody have more feedback on these? Looks to be one of the highest quality production stockman patterns available at this time. Without going full custom, this appears to be as good as it gets. Why aren't these wildly popular?
 
Harry Callahan said:
Did you ever pick up the stockman? Anybody have more feedback on these? Looks to be one of the highest quality production stockman patterns available at this time. Without going full custom, this appears to be as good as it gets. Why aren't these wildly popular?
Click to expand...

I suspect the price point is a problem.

If a man is willing to spend that much, he is likely willing to put a little more with it and get a custom.

They are pretty expensive for a production (or semi) knife.
 
This is a knife on my radar and I think the price is justified. ..................... I think that anyone who likes traditional slipjoints would appreciate this knife.

About BG42, it's a great knife steel, but there are alot of great knife steels these days. In my experience, it takes as fine edge than S30V, and holds it longer than VG10, ATS 34 or 154CM. I think that makers a not using it as often is because it is somewhat more costly to grind than the newer "super" steels. It is great tho.

Edited for some new information on the construction of this knife that I wasn't aware of. It's still a very nice knife, if not handmade in Ark.:o, Thanks Harry.
 
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Proved it again ! BF is a dangerous place.
Saturday night, just cruisin around BF, find this thread, read it, then decided to check out the AGR website and at least look at these 2 knives.
that was 10 minutes ago; my 3 1/2" BG42 Stockman will soon be on it's way !
I really like the Wharncliffe Whittler as well, but agree at 3 1/8" it's just a bit small. 3 1/2" would make a big difference.
So i chose the Stockman and think the blades look pretty neat. I take AG at his word when he says he doesn't know how much longer they will be able to make these. so by buying one now, i give AG a little well deserved support and get a great knife before they could be gone.
i disagree with above post saying they are rather expensive, so may as well get a full custom. these knives are about $100 less than the Norfolk Case/Bose collab., and it has only 2 blades, not 3. only a minority of custom makers will make a 3 blade knife and prices start at about $800.
so for $185 i hope to get a knife that is a small step up from a S&M or GEC. certainly the steel is better in my opinion.
i gave a Spyderco Military with BG42 to a friend who is a hunting guide. he deboned 4 big game animals and did a lot of cutting around camp before it needed re-sharpening.
so, thanks for this thread; now i have a nice knife coming.
roland
 
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