AG Russell Field Knife Test

[Sharpshooter]

World War II was certainly a watershed moment in 20th century history. Technology was affected in almost any area you can think of, from the first widespread use of the “Jeep” to the use of airpower to fight wars and feed troops. The United States Army entered the war equipped with the M1 Garand, the only army generally equipped with a self-loading rifle. The war also saw use of ancient technology, hand-to-hand combat and knives.

The United States found itself pulled into the war critically short of almost every bit of military equipment, tanks, trucks, jeeps, rifles, pistols, canteens, backpacks and helmets. Young men wrote home seeking knives, asking mom and pop to send him his “Hunting Knife” or any other knife they could find. The products of Webster Marbles were very well made and popular so thousands of MSA knives were shipped, one at a time, to every theater in the war and can still be found in the far reaches of the world compliments of the U.S. Government.

The Marine Corps was embroiled in a fight, like no other in their history; taking the jungles of the South Pacific from their enemy, fighting for each inch, often hand to hand. The need for a “Combat Knife” became very obvious from the first actions as the issued bayonet was too long and unwieldy to serve the purpose so a “Marine Corps Fighting Knife” was designed and ordered. Two Marine Officers were ordered to "fill all the demands that could be made upon it, while standardizing a common knife for the Navy and the Marine Corps".

The knife chosen was based on the MSA 7 ½” Ideal Blade, a flat pommel for driving tent pegs, a leather washer handle and carbon steel blade; the venerable “Ka-Bar”. It was wartime and the need for knives was pressing so fit, finish and polish were unimportant; slap ‘em together, get an edge on it and ship it out. The end of the war made 1.5 million of these knives by almost every American cutlery manufacturer.

We still hear the praises of the Ka-Bar as a field knife, fighting knife, survival knife and camp knife. Much as I love my old Ka-Bar, I’m not fond of carrying it on camping trips; it’s just not a very friendly looking knife around the campfire.



Enter A G Russell and his new Field Knife. When I first unwrapped the pair of knives I immediately understood what AG was looking for, it’s a modernized Ka-Bar in dress blues.

AG is offering the first of these knives made the way they should be, the best possible knife, regardless the price. In the process he has brought us one heck of a knife. The Field Knife is being offered in limited numbers in this guise. 600 will be made of A2 with black micarta handles, a thick brass guard and polished aircraft aluminum pommel. AG and I share an affinity for A2 (1% Carbon, 1% Molybdenum and 5% Chromium) as a terrific edge holding steel that belongs on a convex blade. This knife ships with a hard lined cordura sheath that should serve well in the field.

Following the theme of no holds barred, AG is also offering 150 of the Field Knife in the new “Wonder Steel” CPM S30V with elegant Desert Ironwood Burl handles. S30V has Vanadium added for higher wear resistance and more Molybdenum for better pitting resistance. It is also resistant to edge chipping with superb edge retention. (1.45% Carbon, 14% Chromium, 2% Molybdenum and 4% Vanadium). A no holds barred knife calls for an upgraded sheath so AG sends a brown leather sheath with this one.

Since the knives are the same in shape and purpose, I decided to test the S30V, taking the fancy one into the woods for a bit of a workout. A2 is a known commodity to me hardened to 59-61 Rc it will hold an edge longer than I can work it in a day, the question is, how about S30V? It’s hardened to 60-62 Rc but in my experience stainless steels just don’t work as well as A2; S30V is supposed to be a different story.

My son and I headed into the woods to do a bit of knife testing and some father/son time, in addition to learning knife skills, Everett is getting pretty good with the camera.

The first step was to play with the Doan FireStarter, a magnesium block with a sparking insert issued to troops as an emergency fire starter. The knife-edge is used to scrape curls of magnesium from the block, which are collected and used to get the fire going. The Field Knife’s convex edge did a great job of peeling off curls while the edge was completely unscathed by the challenge.



On the subject of firestarters, I did find myself using a bit of hacksaw blade to generate sparks. I believe this is the ONLY shortcoming of the S30V as it really doesn't create the showers of sparks I see with carbon steels. This isn't a huge issue since most fire starters come with a scraper.

A fire requires fuel as well. AG’s blade is 6 7/8” long and 1 5/16” wide, the deep fullers stiffen the blade and the convex edge is perfect for chopping. Small hatchets and big knives have spoiled me, but chopping with the Field Knife is a surprise, it works well; chewing thru three and four inch thick logs pretty easily. I wouldn’t feel handicapped trying to make a fire using only this knife.





Batoning is another method of shortening up fuel; stand the edge against the log and drive the knife thru with blows on the spine. Here’s where the deep fullers really make sense. A thick convex blade can drag along the sides of a Batoning cut, eating up some of the energy, the fullers are hollows that allow the force to be directed on the edge making Batoning more efficient. The stout spine and well shaped edge walked right on thru the hard birch log.



After the chopping Batoning and scraping it was time to make up some long curls, testing the cutting ability of the remaining edge. Once again, no problem as the S30V slid effortlessly thru wood, leaving long thin curls.

The Field Knife seems to share lineage with the Ka-bar and I’m most certain it could serve well in the hard use environment of combat. It certainly functions well in cutting and chopping wood for fire and shelter building.

Al Mar is credited with saying that a “Combat Knife is actually 10% weapon and 90% tool.” I think he missed the percentages slightly with reality being 99% tool. Heavy cutting is important, but it’s the light work that separates great knives from “sharpened pry bars”. Food prep has challenges as well, sharpness, agility and stain resistance.

My Fiancé’ Robin, has come to expect strange knives on the countertop, the beauty of the burl handles and convex S30V made this one quite welcome, the fact that it slid thru the very ripe tomatoes and finely chopped the onion was a bit of a surprise for such a thick blade. But it does work.





In all, I REALLY LIKE THIS KNIFE. The S30V seems to be holding the edge quite well. Close enough to the performance of A2 that I don’t think most of us would notice the difference, then again as my good friend Mike Stewart tells me, “It’s not the steel, it’s the maker…” In this case, the maker got it right.

Remember, there are a limited number of these “Field Knives” in full dress, don’t delay unless you want to be one of the folks who admire them from afar because those who get one aren’t likely to be letting go of theirs.

Reid

[boaty]

Nice review, great pictures, but above all I love the skillet!

Hmm, A1 tool steel and a convex edge... I wonder who might be making these knives?

[Johnnaris]

ignore me


Thanks for sharing this useful information. It's great.

[s-723]

Thanks for the review