Al Mar Warrior 3103 - A review

bouddha0357 said:
Hi Joe,

I remember watching your video on the Ben Seward Bodyguard a few years ago. Awesome Knife!

I can see that I have a lot of catching up to do on your channel :)
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hello to you as well

i don’t have time for many videos these days …… sometimes life just gets ahold of ya and ya run out of time :)
 
The down and dirty on the AMK Warrior -

Al Mar and I were close friends and SF Brothers. He'd served in Vietnam as part of the all-Asian teams (CIA project) doing recon and direct action missions. Mar was in a Special Forces reserve group at the time and although he had not yet attended the "Q" course he had the skills and attributes to be selected for the project. They operated on Okinawa and were co-located with the 1st Special Forces Group. This is why Al wore a 1st Group "flash" when he attended events like the SOF conventions.

Mar showed me a black and white photo of himself on Okinawa. He was in tropical fatigues, had an M1 rifle and a Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife on his LBE. He was a member of the SOA, highly regarded, and his service was the entry point for the years later connection with Colonel Nick Rowe, founder of the Army's SERE School. Together they designed the SERE folder (sterile) which went to Bragg - and the SERE fixed blade models which Al evolved from the folder.

The Warrior project was a generous gesture given Mar's close friendship with Bob Brown at SOF and his respect for Mike Echanis. Randy Wanner and Bob Taylor brought the design to Al because at the time it was near impossible to manufacture and they didn't have the money to do so anyway.

Wanner, one of the first Hwa Rang Do instructors under Supreme Grandmaster Joo Bang Lee, is the original creative mind behind the Warrior. It was to be a knife specific to the martial art of HRD. Randy ground several prototypes himself and then had a few custom makers in SOCAL attempt to create the design. At the time it was near impossible to do and the project languished.

Mike Echanis had nothing to do with the Warrior other than, according to Randy, after seeing a prototype offering a serration feature would be nice. "Mike was too busy with other projects and was preparing to go to Nicaragua," Randy told me. In addition, Echanis favored the Gerber MK-1 and MK-2, offering to MCPO Bob Nissley, his CIA handler at Fort Bragg and upon retirement a key figure at PHROBIS Knives regarding the CUK and M9 Bayonet projects, that the MK-1 "was all you need to kill a man".

When Echanis was killed in Nicaragua, Randy Wanner who had by then left HRD and teamed up with Bob Taylor, sent a letter of introduction on Bob's behalf to the Echanis family. I have read that letter. They wanted permission to use the Echanis name with Wanner's design and to market it as the "Echanis Warrior". Pat Echanis, Mike's mom, ignored the communication but kept the letter and the proposed marketing image of the knife. No family authorization to use their name was ever granted.

Some years later Wanner/Taylor approached Al Mar with the project. I was there at the onset. Mar agreed to take it on due to his strong relationship with Bob Brown at SOF and his respect for Mike Echanis. However, the design would be known as the AMK Warrior. Production capability in Japan at the time for a blade design such as the Warrior was challenging - Mar invested $20K alone for the synthetic grip mold. I agreed to promote the Warrior once it became available. Al overcame the production issues by tweaking Randy's original design and that accomplishment alone made it unique to his acumen as a specialty knife maker.

The AMK Warrior was never a big money maker but it has become an AMK cult knife in the best of terms. Over time, however, Taylor/Wanner began hounding AMK about sales...about royalties...and finally alleging Mar was secretly selling Warriors in Europe which was utterly untrue. Mar had a love-hate relationship with his maker in Japan. He'd discovered his models showing up in Europe without any agreement for sales to take place there. The problem became so bad he began looking to move production to Taiwan.

Although Taylor/Wanner had this explained to them they rejected Al's explanation.

AMK dropped the Warrior and moved on.

That's when Taylor started Round Eye Knife & Tool (REKAT) and began offering custom made Warriors, Warrior Lites, the Hobbit Warrior, and folders. Alan Blade made the Warrior models and as Taylor told me it was Alan who was the genius behind grinding the difficult lines and serrations of the knife. REKAT closed its doors. Alan continues to make a variety of his own designs to include the Venom, his evolution of the Warrior.

Once AMK released the Warrior in its product line both Wanner and Taylor gave seminars in its functionality and features, primarily at SOF conventions. I attended one of these seminars and it was then that you really saw while training with a live blade what Wanner's thought processes were design-wise - directly connected to his Hwa Rang Do training and experience in close quarters knife combatives.

Note: While visiting with Bob Brown now many years ago in Boulder, Colorado, Bob showed me the handmade Warrior he'd been given. It is framed, has ivory micarta grips, and Bob's personal number engraved into the ricasso..."007".

Bob Taylor recently passed away. Randy Wanner was diagnosed with dementia several years ago and his son had to place him in a nursing home. Slowly but surely the circle grows smaller where the Warrior project is concerned and today the AMK / REKAT versions fetch truly impressive prices when found for sale.
 
TheMint said:
The down and dirty on the AMK Warrior -

Al Mar and I were close friends and SF Brothers. He'd served in Vietnam as part of the all-Asian teams (CIA project) doing recon and direct action missions. Mar was in a Special Forces reserve group at the time and although he had not yet attended the "Q" course he had the skills and attributes to be selected for the project. They operated on Okinawa and were co-located with the 1st Special Forces Group. This is why Al wore a 1st Group "flash" when he attended events like the SOF conventions.

Mar showed me a black and white photo of himself on Okinawa. He was in tropical fatigues, had an M1 rifle and a Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife on his LBE. He was a member of the SOA, highly regarded, and his service was the entry point for the years later connection with Colonel Nick Rowe, founder of the Army's SERE School. Together they designed the SERE folder (sterile) which went to Bragg - and the SERE fixed blade models which Al evolved from the folder.

The Warrior project was a generous gesture given Mar's close friendship with Bob Brown at SOF and his respect for Mike Echanis. Randy Wanner and Bob Taylor brought the design to Al because at the time it was near impossible to manufacture and they didn't have the money to do so anyway.

Wanner, one of the first Hwa Rang Do instructors under Supreme Grandmaster Joo Bang Lee, is the original creative mind behind the Warrior. It was to be a knife specific to the martial art of HRD. Randy ground several prototypes himself and then had a few custom makers in SOCAL attempt to create the design. At the time it was near impossible to do and the project languished.

Mike Echanis had nothing to do with the Warrior other than, according to Randy, after seeing a prototype offering a serration feature would be nice. "Mike was too busy with other projects and was preparing to go to Nicaragua," Randy told me. In addition, Echanis favored the Gerber MK-1 and MK-2, offering to MCPO Bob Nissley, his CIA handler at Fort Bragg and upon retirement a key figure at PHROBIS Knives regarding the CUK and M9 Bayonet projects, that the MK-1 "was all you need to kill a man".

When Echanis was killed in Nicaragua, Randy Wanner who had by then left HRD and teamed up with Bob Taylor, sent a letter of introduction on Bob's behalf to the Echanis family. I have read that letter. They wanted permission to use the Echanis name with Wanner's design and to market it as the "Echanis Warrior". Pat Echanis, Mike's mom, ignored the communication but kept the letter and the proposed marketing image of the knife. No family authorization to use their name was ever granted.

Some years later Wanner/Taylor approached Al Mar with the project. I was there at the onset. Mar agreed to take it on due to his strong relationship with Bob Brown at SOF and his respect for Mike Echanis. However, the design would be known as the AMK Warrior. Production capability in Japan at the time for a blade design such as the Warrior was challenging - Mar invested $20K alone for the synthetic grip mold. I agreed to promote the Warrior once it became available. Al overcame the production issues by tweaking Randy's original design and that accomplishment alone made it unique to his acumen as a specialty knife maker.

The AMK Warrior was never a big money maker but it has become an AMK cult knife in the best of terms. Over time, however, Taylor/Wanner began hounding AMK about sales...about royalties...and finally alleging Mar was secretly selling Warriors in Europe which was utterly untrue. Mar had a love-hate relationship with his maker in Japan. He'd discovered his models showing up in Europe without any agreement for sales to take place there. The problem became so bad he began looking to move production to Taiwan.

Although Taylor/Wanner had this explained to them they rejected Al's explanation.

AMK dropped the Warrior and moved on.

That's when Taylor started Round Eye Knife & Tool (REKAT) and began offering custom made Warriors, Warrior Lites, the Hobbit Warrior, and folders. Alan Blade made the Warrior models and as Taylor told me it was Alan who was the genius behind grinding the difficult lines and serrations of the knife. REKAT closed its doors. Alan continues to make a variety of his own designs to include the Venom, his evolution of the Warrior.

Once AMK released the Warrior in its product line both Wanner and Taylor gave seminars in its functionality and features, primarily at SOF conventions. I attended one of these seminars and it was then that you really saw while training with a live blade what Wanner's thought processes were design-wise - directly connected to his Hwa Rang Do training and experience in close quarters knife combatives.

Note: While visiting with Bob Brown now many years ago in Boulder, Colorado, Bob showed me the handmade Warrior he'd been given. It is framed, has ivory micarta grips, and Bob's personal number engraved into the ricasso..."007".

Bob Taylor recently passed away. Randy Wanner was diagnosed with dementia several years ago and his son had to place him in a nursing home. Slowly but surely the circle grows smaller where the Warrior project is concerned and today the AMK / REKAT versions fetch truly impressive prices when found for sale.
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Thank you for sharing your memories......👌👌👌.....

Great to hear and Know..👍👍👍
 
TheMint said:
The down and dirty on the AMK Warrior -

Al Mar and I were close friends and SF Brothers. He'd served in Vietnam as part of the all-Asian teams (CIA project) doing recon and direct action missions. Mar was in a Special Forces reserve group at the time and although he had not yet attended the "Q" course he had the skills and attributes to be selected for the project. They operated on Okinawa and were co-located with the 1st Special Forces Group. This is why Al wore a 1st Group "flash" when he attended events like the SOF conventions.

Mar showed me a black and white photo of himself on Okinawa. He was in tropical fatigues, had an M1 rifle and a Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife on his LBE. He was a member of the SOA, highly regarded, and his service was the entry point for the years later connection with Colonel Nick Rowe, founder of the Army's SERE School. Together they designed the SERE folder (sterile) which went to Bragg - and the SERE fixed blade models which Al evolved from the folder.

The Warrior project was a generous gesture given Mar's close friendship with Bob Brown at SOF and his respect for Mike Echanis. Randy Wanner and Bob Taylor brought the design to Al because at the time it was near impossible to manufacture and they didn't have the money to do so anyway.

Wanner, one of the first Hwa Rang Do instructors under Supreme Grandmaster Joo Bang Lee, is the original creative mind behind the Warrior. It was to be a knife specific to the martial art of HRD. Randy ground several prototypes himself and then had a few custom makers in SOCAL attempt to create the design. At the time it was near impossible to do and the project languished.

Mike Echanis had nothing to do with the Warrior other than, according to Randy, after seeing a prototype offering a serration feature would be nice. "Mike was too busy with other projects and was preparing to go to Nicaragua," Randy told me. In addition, Echanis favored the Gerber MK-1 and MK-2, offering to MCPO Bob Nissley, his CIA handler at Fort Bragg and upon retirement a key figure at PHROBIS Knives regarding the CUK and M9 Bayonet projects, that the MK-1 "was all you need to kill a man".

When Echanis was killed in Nicaragua, Randy Wanner who had by then left HRD and teamed up with Bob Taylor, sent a letter of introduction on Bob's behalf to the Echanis family. I have read that letter. They wanted permission to use the Echanis name with Wanner's design and to market it as the "Echanis Warrior". Pat Echanis, Mike's mom, ignored the communication but kept the letter and the proposed marketing image of the knife. No family authorization to use their name was ever granted.

Some years later Wanner/Taylor approached Al Mar with the project. I was there at the onset. Mar agreed to take it on due to his strong relationship with Bob Brown at SOF and his respect for Mike Echanis. However, the design would be known as the AMK Warrior. Production capability in Japan at the time for a blade design such as the Warrior was challenging - Mar invested $20K alone for the synthetic grip mold. I agreed to promote the Warrior once it became available. Al overcame the production issues by tweaking Randy's original design and that accomplishment alone made it unique to his acumen as a specialty knife maker.

The AMK Warrior was never a big money maker but it has become an AMK cult knife in the best of terms. Over time, however, Taylor/Wanner began hounding AMK about sales...about royalties...and finally alleging Mar was secretly selling Warriors in Europe which was utterly untrue. Mar had a love-hate relationship with his maker in Japan. He'd discovered his models showing up in Europe without any agreement for sales to take place there. The problem became so bad he began looking to move production to Taiwan.

Although Taylor/Wanner had this explained to them they rejected Al's explanation.

AMK dropped the Warrior and moved on.

That's when Taylor started Round Eye Knife & Tool (REKAT) and began offering custom made Warriors, Warrior Lites, the Hobbit Warrior, and folders. Alan Blade made the Warrior models and as Taylor told me it was Alan who was the genius behind grinding the difficult lines and serrations of the knife. REKAT closed its doors. Alan continues to make a variety of his own designs to include the Venom, his evolution of the Warrior.

Once AMK released the Warrior in its product line both Wanner and Taylor gave seminars in its functionality and features, primarily at SOF conventions. I attended one of these seminars and it was then that you really saw while training with a live blade what Wanner's thought processes were design-wise - directly connected to his Hwa Rang Do training and experience in close quarters knife combatives.

Note: While visiting with Bob Brown now many years ago in Boulder, Colorado, Bob showed me the handmade Warrior he'd been given. It is framed, has ivory micarta grips, and Bob's personal number engraved into the ricasso..."007".

Bob Taylor recently passed away. Randy Wanner was diagnosed with dementia several years ago and his son had to place him in a nursing home. Slowly but surely the circle grows smaller where the Warrior project is concerned and today the AMK / REKAT versions fetch truly impressive prices when found for sale.
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Thanks for combining 2 of my favorite things, knives and history.
 
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