A.G. Russell Knives

A uniquely American development, push daggers first appeared on the early riverboats and in the gold fields of California and Nevada. The period right after the Civil War saw new development in cartridge pistols making them more reliable and much less likely to misfire, which seems to have contributed to the decline in popularity of this type of knife.

We have been working on this new Sting™ for two plus years, intending to do the one-piece forgings in Germany and the grinding and finishing in the United States. After almost two years without a finished sample, we recovered our deposit for the forging dies and cancelled the project. At that point, the project was moved to Taiwan where the knives are forged from a single piece of honest to goodness 440C, a better steel than that in the old German-made knives.

Push Daggers appear to be a uniquely American development, first appearing on the early riverboats and in the gold fields of California and Nevada. Gamblers favored them because they could be as swift across a poker or faro table as a percussion pistol without the possibility of a mis-fire.

This is a heavily made dagger or dirk with a 7" blade of O-1 high carbon tool steel with a Rockwell hardness of 54. The India Stag handle measures 4-3/4"- 5" and has a brass double hilt.

In 1917, when the United States entered World War I, most Americans lived on farms which processed their own pork, ham, bacon and sausage. In the process, many of them used a knife called a pig sticker, a knife with a double edge intended to cut the throat of the hog once he was shot and hung. Many a farm hand saw this as just the thing to carry away to the Army or the Marines in 1917 and again in 1941-42.

SOG® has a reputation of making some of the finest production fixed blade knives in the world. That reputation began with their first knife in the early 1980s, a replica of the original Studies and Observation Group knife secretly developed and used in the Vietnam War by the 5th Special Forces and other elite soldiers.

Gerber Legendary Blades® first introduced the Mark II™ in 1966 during the Vietnam War. It became the most sought after knife of the Viet Nam conflict and has been one of the best selling knives of all time.

SOG® is replacing their Desert Dagger® with the Daggert which is available in two sizes. Both are weighted and balanced for perfect control.

Sized down into a 3-1/2" blade of 1/8" AUS-6 at 55-57 Rc with a gray powder coat. Checkered handle of glass reinforced Zytel®. Black Leather sheath. Made in Japan. Suggested retail $54.95.

About 20 years ago Col. Applegate premiered his Applegate-Fairbairn Fighting Knife. The first version was handmade by T. J. Yancy in Colorado. This knife has had a long life. When T. J. stopped making them, Al Mar made them in Japan. While Blackjack had their factory operating in Illinois, they made the knife, and now they are being made by Böker® in Solingen, Germany.

In 1915, when the battle lines of WWI changed into a trench war, there was a growing need to supply the infrantryman with a functional dagger. Henrich Böker & Company of Solingen, Germany received the government order to develop a compact fighting knife. The 1918 Trench Knife was the result. It quickly became one of the most desired by the troops.

Böker® began reproducing legendary fighting knives with Damascus blades in 1999. The knife was the Applegate-Fairbairn fighter. The most recent is their re-introduction of the German Trench Knife. In 1915, when the battle lines of WWI changed into a trench war, there was a growing need to supply the infantryman with a functional dagger. Henrich Böker & Company of Solingen, Germany received the government order to develop a compact fighting knife.