A.G. Russell Strikeforce

[TorzJohnson]

This is kind of a preliminary review as I just got the knife a couple of days ago and I haven't had a chance to really use it much. Mainly a first impressions, fit & finish review.

I'd been wanting one of these. as well as an airweight Folding Gent's Hunter, for quite a while. I actually ordered the Folding Gent's Hunter first, but I wasn't satisfied and returned it in exchange for the Strikeforce. This is the first time I've ever needed to take advantage of A.G.'s return policy, and they quickly exchanged the knife (they cost the same) with no problems at all.

The knife is traditionally styled with the handle being reminiscent of a "110-sized" 112. The integral aluminum bolsters are black powder coated on the bolster area, and shiny bare aluminum on the liner area. The contrast is crisp and very classy looking. The VG-10 blade is perfectly ground and extremely sharp, right up there with my Military. Where the backspring meets the blade, both are perfectly fitted and you nearly can't see where they meet. It's very sleek and slender, yet built solid and tough. It's robust and elegant looking at the same time. The slim, super sharp blade should slice like nobody's business.

The action was a little stiff out of the box. I dropped a few drops of Militec into the pivot and worked it a little, and now it's much smoother. I'm not a big fan of the oval opening hole - the small opening combined with the harder opening force needed for a lockback are gonna make this a 2-hand knife for a while. This is not necessarily a bad thing for me, I'm not hung up on 1-hand opening anyway. The upside of this tighter action is that the lockup is rock solid. There is zero blade play and it makes a really nice snap when it's opened.

There are a few minor fit & finish issues, but considering the reasonable price for the overall quality you get, I don't have a problem with them. They're pretty minor. The G-10 inlays do not match 100%, if you look closely with a critical eye, one is slightly taller than the other and beveled a little differently. I'm thinking about finding somebody later on to put carbon fiber or ironwood inlays in place of the G-10 anyway. The cutout for the opening hole could be a little more smooth and polished. That's about it. I think the knife is a great value and I plan on using it quite a bit.

 

[TorzJohnson]

Before this post completes its Icarus-like death plunge, deep into the bowels of the bladeforums archives, I should add that after just a day of working the pivot I can do a nice one-hand opening with this knife. It just needed a little breaking in and got a lot smoother, the small hole didn't make as much of a difference as I initially thought.

This is just for the benefit of future bladeforums archeologists that may one day excavate this post and think to themselves, "I wonder if that action ever did loosen up enough to do a one-hand opening?"

 

[Sword and Shield]

I've never used one with AG's lock mechanism. How's it work?

 

[TorzJohnson]

It's not a special design, just a well-executed lockback. Pretty solid though.

 

[TIR]

I have the tanto version and was kinda disappointed that the blade was so thin on this long blade. I have not measured the thickness but it is less than an 1/8". This does of course lend itself to being a very efficient slicer, which it is. My fit and finish was about the same as yours, decent but not spectacular. My knife has smoothed out alot after carrying it at work for a couple of weeks and using it around the house for a couple of months now. Oh yeah out of the box sharpness was much better than expected, easily as sharp as Spyderco's.

Thanks Torz for taking the time to post a review, this knife deserves some more attention as it is a good value especially with AG Russell backing them.

 

[cpirtle]

...easily as sharp as Spyderco's.

I'd be willing to bet that they're made by the same plant that makes Spyderco, SOG, Cold Steel etc...

I have had one of these for a while and feel it's a nice knife for the money. Tight lock-up, light weight and a great cutter. I agree on the opening hole, it can be difficult to get a good bite on.

The thing I liked about it most was that it's easy to customize. I'm planning to replace the inserts with something a little more interesting.