- Joined
- Dec 6, 2001
- Messages
- 59
Bring Back The CIA Knife
I am the happy owner of a for-years-discontinued Al Mar locker named
the "Eagle". (In knife mags it also informally had the nom de guerre the "CIA Knife," alluding to the special favor it found with Company operatives.)
The handle scales have that signature Al Mar shape (I will leave to someone with greater descriptive powers to portray it);4 in. blade; handle: 4 7/8 in.; width at widest point: 7/8"; Micarta or Pakkawood etcetc handle scales; 'back' or 'spine' or 'shoulder' lock; milled/knurled thumbstud; blade is spearpoint with midline bevel; s/s bolster is 1 9/16" long. The knife is max. 5/16 in. thick.
Al Mar Knives-- the Eagle aka "The CIA Knife"***(continued in post II)****************
I call attention to three features: (a) this locker
is O.L. EIGHT-&-SEVEN/EIGTHS INCHES; YET IT IS ONLY FIVE-SIXTEENTH INCHES THICK!! (Those Company boys might have special appreciation for a folder that has at least a 4 in. blade yet. . .is barely 1/4" thick, won't bulge out and crease your plush suit vest or dinner jacket. . .) This is a VERY slim-lined folder. (b) And yet, the blade is quite stout--else it couldn't have a bevel started up at the midline shoulder of the blade. (c) the most visually dazzing feature of the CIA knife is, a knife this size, with a ONE - And - NINE-SIXTEENTHS INCH(!!!) BOLSTER!! It jumps out of any photo >> the Eagle has a LONG UNUSUALLY LONG bolster(for its O. L.). As a result, the overall knife is unusually strong. Given that the pivot pin and hole are the folder's most vulnerable point, esp. to lethal torque and lateral pressure, the Eagle's long bolster may be provident. It is certainly the single most HANDSOME feature to the Eagle. Today's tactical knives dispense with such frippery as top bolsters, end bolsters, ornamental pins, tang stamps, blade etchings ["sanitized just means it's 'sterile,' man, like SEAL/Delta Force/Blue Light equipment . . ." etcetc.] Myself, I feel, as I look at the current Al Mar catalog,,,, that they would do well to bring back a lockback as 'cruelly handsome' as the young Sean Connery---and, if not the Walther PPK, at least let him bring back his folder with him.
:yawn: :grumpy: 
I am the happy owner of a for-years-discontinued Al Mar locker named
the "Eagle". (In knife mags it also informally had the nom de guerre the "CIA Knife," alluding to the special favor it found with Company operatives.)
The handle scales have that signature Al Mar shape (I will leave to someone with greater descriptive powers to portray it);4 in. blade; handle: 4 7/8 in.; width at widest point: 7/8"; Micarta or Pakkawood etcetc handle scales; 'back' or 'spine' or 'shoulder' lock; milled/knurled thumbstud; blade is spearpoint with midline bevel; s/s bolster is 1 9/16" long. The knife is max. 5/16 in. thick.
Al Mar Knives-- the Eagle aka "The CIA Knife"***(continued in post II)****************
I call attention to three features: (a) this locker
is O.L. EIGHT-&-SEVEN/EIGTHS INCHES; YET IT IS ONLY FIVE-SIXTEENTH INCHES THICK!! (Those Company boys might have special appreciation for a folder that has at least a 4 in. blade yet. . .is barely 1/4" thick, won't bulge out and crease your plush suit vest or dinner jacket. . .) This is a VERY slim-lined folder. (b) And yet, the blade is quite stout--else it couldn't have a bevel started up at the midline shoulder of the blade. (c) the most visually dazzing feature of the CIA knife is, a knife this size, with a ONE - And - NINE-SIXTEENTHS INCH(!!!) BOLSTER!! It jumps out of any photo >> the Eagle has a LONG UNUSUALLY LONG bolster(for its O. L.). As a result, the overall knife is unusually strong. Given that the pivot pin and hole are the folder's most vulnerable point, esp. to lethal torque and lateral pressure, the Eagle's long bolster may be provident. It is certainly the single most HANDSOME feature to the Eagle. Today's tactical knives dispense with such frippery as top bolsters, end bolsters, ornamental pins, tang stamps, blade etchings ["sanitized just means it's 'sterile,' man, like SEAL/Delta Force/Blue Light equipment . . ." etcetc.] Myself, I feel, as I look at the current Al Mar catalog,,,, that they would do well to bring back a lockback as 'cruelly handsome' as the young Sean Connery---and, if not the Walther PPK, at least let him bring back his folder with him.
:yawn: :grumpy: