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.

While there are many different handle materials available, we have chosen three different ones (Ebony, Giraffe Bone and Pink Ivory), each with mosaic pins of stainless and copper to complement the color of the handle scales. The ebony is an exotic wood from Mozambique, the pink ivory is a dense wood from South Africa with a naturally occurring pink color and the Giraffe Bone is in its natural color. It has been stabilized but not dyed.

Our Shopmade® program makes maximum use of our assets. Our knowledge of who can do the best job of waterjet cutting, heat treat, wire electro-discharge machining, and rough grind all allows the greatest productivity from our rarest asset, the time of our expert knifemaker(s).

Cowry X Damascus is some of the finest blade steel I have seen. It is a laminated steel that was a forerunner of the laminated VG-10 damascus and laminated ZDP steels. The core is Cowry X at 66-68 Rc. sandwiched between layers of softer stainless steel.

The term San Mai comes from Japan and simply means "three layers". The San Mai steels that began appearing in the American knife market the past few years have all come from Japan. Laminated steels, such as San Mai, were developed to allow a very hard center core for the best cutting and edge holding and a blade that is tough enough to not snap under normal pressure. The soft sides support the hard core and add strength.

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.

The A.G. Russell One Hand Knife™ has been our best selling knife since the first ones were shipped in 1988. The handle, which is machined from a piece of solid stainless spring steel, works in conjunction with the blade to create an unusual locking system.

A.G. Russell™ Knives is honored with the opportunity to reproduce images from John Banovich’s paintings on knives produced in the A.G. Russell shop. The first image we have chosen is The Defensive Line, a narrow horizontal painting of five Cape Buffalo that is a natural for a large knife blade.