On Sun, 8 Jan 2006 20:09:46 -0500, "gfulton"
wrote:



Thanks. According to Buck's website, they still have a factory in the US.
The new model 301 I saw was definitely stamped "China" at the blade hinge
end. I do make an effort to avoid Chinese merchandise whenever possible. I
hope I'm not going to get another lecture from an eight ball from the
survivalist newsgroup over this.

Perhaps I should note that most or all of A..G. Russel's blades are
made in Seki, Japan.

I don't have a problem with that. The Japanese were making fine
blades long before the USA came into existance.

I have several A.G. Russell folders. All of them are markedly
superior to anything I've ever seen from either Buck or Gerber.

One good US blademaker is CRKT. A.G. Russell carries them, and they
can be ordered direct from CRKT as well.

http://www.crkt.com/

I've had a couple CRKT's. Lost one, gave the other away. I like
my A.G. Russells better, but I think CRKT is a cut or two above Gerber
and Buck (pun not intended, but it does seem appropos)

I've noted that blades, even mass-produced blades (i.e., the ones I
can afford) are individuals. I have a made-in-Taiwan lockback
folder I bought at K-Mart some years ago for less than 10 bux. Most
of those are junk and this one looks like junk but it's a
surprisingly good blade. It's in the little jar of pens and
pencils by milady's computer which is the household 'puter. That
cheap crummy gook-made blade is used primarily as a letter opener
when I'm paying bills. Cutting paper can dull a fine edge
surprisingly quickly, but I haven't honed that blade in at least two
years even on the crock stick and it's still sharper than a new box
knife blade. Go figure! Letter openers rip rather than cut, but
this blade slices, along the fold or not macht nicht.

The other is an A.G.Russell that is in me pocket right now. It's
AUS-8, not an exotic steel by any means, but for some reason it takes
and holds an edge as well or better than any other blade I have. I
think it cost me $35. Basic functional clip point blade design, easy
one-hand lockback opener, no serration. It's a workaday blade,
not a fantasy "tactical serrated-edge gut-yer-assailant" blade.
(Neither does the classic K-Bar but we're civilians so who cares.)

It can and does slice a dead-ripe garden tomato paper thin after
stripping wires, cutting rope and string, and whittling epoxy-stir
sticks in the shop. I don't even recall when I last sharpened it
other than two quick light strokes on a crock stick. It just
stays sharp. The weight of the blade is enough to slice cleanly thru
20-pound bond paper when I make address labels. I got lucky with
that one. An AUS-8 blade should not work this well. Luck counts
some days.

They only made 500 of them, guess it didn't sell well. Too bad.