A.G. Russell Gentleman’s Damascus Hunter

Got this knife for a friends birthday a few years ago. He’s a big fan of the trippy patterns of Damascus steel.  

There are several incredible bladesmiths offering custom knives in a variety of damascus patterns. 

A very small selection:

William Henry

Kaj Embretsen

Gaétan Beauchamp

As gorgeous as some of their creations are, in many cases, prices run into the many hundreds, often many thousands of dollars. I’m not saying those prices aren’t reasonable for the amount of work and talent that goes into the creation of these one of a kind knives. It’s just that I can’t afford them.

Browsing through knife choices online, I came across the A.G. Russell Gentleman’s Damascus Hunter. 

Coming in at a much more reasonable price, it was still a very nice knife. While others are works of art that are only meant to be safe queens, this is a beautiful knife that will actually be used.

It has a 10 cm (4") Chinese quince burl wood handle, with a hilt/guard made of nickel/silver.

The blade is made from Daryl Meier damascus steel, and is a 7.5 cm (3") drop point, hollow ground blade.  

Coming in at about 17.5 cm (6.875") overall, and with a full tang, it’s a nicely sized knife. As the name implies, a gentleman’s knife. A very functional outdoorsy knife, but considerably more attractive than a run of the mill offering. Figured it would be perfect when he took his son on camping trips and out fishing.

With a blade about as wide as the hand, it’s an ideal size for most tasks. Cleaning fish, peeling fruit, preparing food, doing a bit of carving around the fire, etc.

It’s complemented by a wet formed leather sheath.

It’s no longer offered by A.G. Russell, not because people didn’t want to buy it any more, but because the maker in Japan was a small family affair. Like so many traditional crafts in Japan that used to be handed down from generation to generation, the kids of today have little interest. When the father died or retired, his son(s) were off in the big city. So, unless A.G. Russell is able to find another maker, this particular knife may well be a collectors item now.

A.G. Russell WoodsWalker

I find knives indispensable tools, but I seem to have a particular fondness for small knives. Since I often carry these sorts of knives around my neck, I usually refer to them as neck knives.

Outdoor Edge Wedge

Cold Steel Bird & Trout

Small knives are lighter, easier to use for most of the things I ever do with a knife, and they tend to not freak the sheeple out quite so much. :-)

I have a friend whose outdoor knife of choice is a paring knife. Just like you’d find in your kitchen. It’s not at all flashy or expensive, but it does exactly what he needs it to do. Which is pretty much just food prep, clean a fish, cut the odd piece of rope, make a fuzz stick, open a package, etc. He made a leather sheath for it, and it’s served him well on canoe trips for twenty or more years.

I had been intrigued by this A.G. Russell WoodsWalker for a long time, and while buying a birthday present for a friend, I figured I may as well finally get it. For the cost, I couldn’t really go wrong. And I didn’t.

The length of the blade is 6 cm (2.375"), and overall, the knife is 15 cm (6"). The blade is made from AUS-8, hardened to an HRC of 57-59. The handle is wood Rucarta (which I think is just a way of getting around the Micarta trademark. Same thing, different name.) It weighs 34 grams (1.2 oz.). Oh and it’s made in Japan.

Nice size.

The WoodsWalker comes with two sheath options. One is a leather model....

...in a back pocket. Comfortable and unobtrusive.

The other option is a Kydex sheath. This allows for far more in the way of carrying and mounting options...

...including neck carry...

...or mounting it to any piece of MOLLE/PALS compatible gear. The possibilities with this are almost endless. Horizontal, vertical, angled, right side up, up side down. In this example I used para-cord to attach it, but zip ties could also be used. I’m not sure, but I suspect you could also use MOLLE-LOKs or TEK-LOKs to attach it to a pouch or pack or belt or rig.

Terrific little knife. Great value for the money. Sharp and easy to keep that way. A pair of great carry options. It’s pretty much just like my friends paring knife in a slightly slicker package.

I’m a firm believer in the old adage “one is none, two is one.” I usually always have a slightly bigger, sturdier knife that serves as my main user, but a knife of this size gets used a lot. And, if I was ever to lose the other knife, I would be well served with this as my backup.