- Joined
- Dec 26, 2010
- Messages
- 1,091
I want to start out by saying that while I had issues with this product, my experience with A.G Russell as a vendor has been very positive, and if they have a knife that you like for a price that you like, I would highly recommend dealing with them. On the same day I sent an email, I got a reply expressing their regret with my dissatisfaction and offering to send me a mailing label for a return, nice job.
On to the knife.
I ordered the gray bead blasted Italian Made Tactical. I couldn't find almost any reviews, but I did find a youtube review that was promising, and with a titanium framelock handles and an ats-34 blade for $99, I was pretty excited. My first impressions were pretty good, the blade was super sharp, popping a couple hairs off my arm with considerable ease. The beadblast seemed even and well done, the screws, edgebreaks, chamfers were all nice and even. The blade was pretty significantly un-centered, but I figured that it has a framelock pushing it to one side, and I could probably improve it greatly with a little tinkering. And then, while inspecting the edge bevel, I noticed a little dent in the edge, near the tip. Upon close inspection it looked very much like someone or something had hit the blade with a hard rod. After a while, it occurred to me that maybe the blade was somehow hitting the handle pillars, so I closed it, and sure enough, that's what was going on. I assumed that something was broken or defective to allow that to happen, but it seems that there is nothing preventing the blade from closing too far. The only "stop" is the ball detent of the lock bar, but the blade is easily pushed past that with the slightest effort until the edge hits the handle pillar. On my Sage 2, the stop pin also engages the tang when the blade is closed, controlling the blades movement in both directions. On the Italian Tactical, it seems that this is not the case. I suppose it's possible there's a defect I didn't see, but as of now it seems like an unfortunate design flaw, which is why I'll be returning it for a refund rather than a replacement.
High hopes dashed, oh well, perhaps one day I'll get an Acies.
On to the knife.
I ordered the gray bead blasted Italian Made Tactical. I couldn't find almost any reviews, but I did find a youtube review that was promising, and with a titanium framelock handles and an ats-34 blade for $99, I was pretty excited. My first impressions were pretty good, the blade was super sharp, popping a couple hairs off my arm with considerable ease. The beadblast seemed even and well done, the screws, edgebreaks, chamfers were all nice and even. The blade was pretty significantly un-centered, but I figured that it has a framelock pushing it to one side, and I could probably improve it greatly with a little tinkering. And then, while inspecting the edge bevel, I noticed a little dent in the edge, near the tip. Upon close inspection it looked very much like someone or something had hit the blade with a hard rod. After a while, it occurred to me that maybe the blade was somehow hitting the handle pillars, so I closed it, and sure enough, that's what was going on. I assumed that something was broken or defective to allow that to happen, but it seems that there is nothing preventing the blade from closing too far. The only "stop" is the ball detent of the lock bar, but the blade is easily pushed past that with the slightest effort until the edge hits the handle pillar. On my Sage 2, the stop pin also engages the tang when the blade is closed, controlling the blades movement in both directions. On the Italian Tactical, it seems that this is not the case. I suppose it's possible there's a defect I didn't see, but as of now it seems like an unfortunate design flaw, which is why I'll be returning it for a refund rather than a replacement.
High hopes dashed, oh well, perhaps one day I'll get an Acies.