Who has an "AL Mar" Knife..?

Wavester

Wavester

Joined
May 5, 2008
Messages
1,665
Curious to see what forum members have an Al Mar knife..If so which model do you have? What do you think of it? Can you post some pics of your knife as well? I remember dying to have the Al Mar SLB for the longest time - and then when I got one, esp for the $70 give or take I paid for it..I was not that impressed. I had the knife for a day at best and never used it. What didn't I like about it? I dunno..I like small knives, but the SLB just felt too light and a little TOO small for $70+ dollars. It might make a nice $30 knife, but not $70. Some of their other knives are very nice looking - so I wanted to see what others felt about other Al Mar's.
 
Al Mar Eagle Ultralight Talon (1005UBK2T). Just got it this Fall. Wanted it for years. An alternative to the Spyderco Police models.

Very light weight, about 2 oz by my old postage scale, and slim footprint for such a long, about 9" overall, knife. Excellent lockup on its lock back. Very nice grinds, classic black micarta scales, ingenious pocket clip mount, a real looker and love the pointy blade.

Just getting used to it being around. I wanted to have one in my collection and I am happy with it.

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oregon
 
My favorite light carry knife is my SE Falcon. The fit and finish is about as good as it gets on a production knife! Even though the knife is a feather weight it locks up and cuts like a med./heavy weight! I should have added this one to the recent favorite company's serrations post which to me are really excellant!
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I like Al Mar knives, and even owned a few. That said, I'm done with them. The fit and finish were perfect; they were sharp; and they were nice to look at. But I can NOT justify spending around $100 for a knife made of AUS-8. I can get S30V or ZDP-189 at that price, when a lot of the AUS-8 knives I own only costed me about $20-$35 and have the same funtionality of the Al Mar.
 
I have a SERE 2K. Very well built. Extremely sharp. I like the steel, VG10. Carries very deep in my pocket.

Only negatives are, at least for me:

1) A little heavy for an EDC. Got use to a much lighter paramilitary, which was my EDC for almost 2 years. Yet, I've been using a SERE as my EDC for a few months now.
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2) The clip is very tight. I have to expand it a little to get it over my pants pocket. I could bend it out some, but do like the secure retention it offers. Maybe both a positive and negative at the same time. Does this mean they cancel each other out? :confused:
 
I had the same experience with the SLB that Wavester did. Once I got my hands on it, I was disappointed given the price tag. So I sold it. I replaced it with a Spyderco Copilot. Great little knife. I took the clip off and it is in the regular rotation. So thin I sometimes forget it's in my pocket.

Learned my lesson, though. I handled an Al Mar Ultralight Falcon before I bought one. A 3 inch blade in a 1.3 oz package; I still get a bit surprised when I see that much blade swing out. It's Al Mar, so it's pricy, but it has a "redeeming value" for me.

Greg
 
I have a few, the newest of which is from the late eighties. Here's my favorite, an early eighties Falcon:
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I've had/ have several Al Mars. I like them alot and will get more.
 
I have an Al Mar Hawk. Had it for @ 20 years, I think it's a great gent's pocketknife.
 
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Here's mine.
I got it about 20 years ago.
ATS-34 blade prototype limited production serial No. 121/300
A few years later, the blade steel has been changed to
ATS34 and this proto blade steel lost it's significance. ;)
Handle scale name plate is gold plated, although almost scratched off.
 
I own an Al Mar SERE knife. It is by far the most heavy duty folder I have ever owned.
 
I own a Mini Sere and a Nomad. These knives are very fine knives. The lock-up is great. The vg10 blades are excellent. These knives are made in Japan. I own many knives from many differant makers. The Al Mars' are my favorite. The blades are so sharp, they are scarey. I keep them that way, always. I carry both as edc, as well as a couple swiss army knives. I will buy more Al Mar knives asap. I want a Shiva too. A Sere Operator is also in my sights. When you open the Sere or Mini Sere, and here the click of the lock, you can't help but have to own one.
 
I have an Al Mar Hawk and a Mini Sere.
Both have not had much pocket time but are nice knives.
They both came very sharp out of the box.
garciajr
 
The late Al Mar was probably one of the earliest (if not the first) to market Japanese made knives as a top notch product.
Brilliant because he managed to deliver spectacular knives with equally spectacular quality in fit and finish; besides having simgle handedly created and introduced to the knife market a whole new genre of premium quality production knives.
I wouldn't know if the current generation of knife collectors could appreciate owning the old Al Mar product line-up which were made then with the latest high tech premium Japanese AUS6 Stainless Steel. Considering, that the majority of top notch factory made production knives back then, were ground from high carbon stainless steel from the 440 series.
To own an Al Mar Knife in the early years of the company was nothing short of buying the best quality a production knife had to offer. And I don't think that early Al Mar products would ever not find an edger buyer.
 
GIRLYmann, well said. I think so too.

They are in so elegant shape, yet they are men's knives,
as release of lock looks like something too tight for women.
 
I recently picked up an Auto SERE. The knife is actually made by Benchmade. Fit and finish are absolutely top notch. I do like some of Al Mar's design features that set the Auto SERE apart from other Benchmade autos, namely the deep pocket clip and larger button and safety switch.
 

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:...release of lock..."
Good point Fujita, you brought out a something which I had failed to mention earlier; in that Al Mar created the mid-lock (that's a back-lock fitted mid-way on to the back of what would usually have been placed at the back-end of a Buck folding knife).
This once again, demonstrates the late Al Mar's brilliant creative solution in coming up with a quicker one handed unlocking back-lock (if that makes sense to you).
 
i have a early SERE from the mid to late '80s and have had a couple of SERE2K's, great knives imho.
 
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