A while back I was lucky enough to visit the A.G. Russell facility. While I was there I got my hands on a "One Hand Knife" as it's often named by A.G. He told me that this was his most populair knife ever and he's sold literally thousands of it.

I didn't really like it at first but I didn't bring my own knives (didn't want to risk it flying really) and so I carried this one for around a week while I was in the US. And I fell in love with the design. Over the months following I heard that A.G. was planning another version. This time in Titanium, with scales and a pocketclip (the first One Hand Knife series with a pocketclip) and knew that I wanted no NEEDED that one too.

Then I saw some of the damascus older versions (they were sold as recently as 2010) and wanted one of those bad boys as well. So now I have three of them and figured it might be time to to some comparisons. So I introduce by age (age of the designs at least...not 100% sure how old my two oldest are)

 

The A.G. Russell One Hand Knife, Stainless handle. Cowry-X damascus blade.

This version of the knife is the oldest in Design. As the story goes, knifemaker Pat Crawford made a tactical knife out of a one piece handle with the lock incorporated in that same handle. A.G. got his hands on that one and thought he would be able to improve on it. He'd also discussed the matter with Pat on patents and stuff. Pat thought it couldn't be patented. This turned out not to be true however when A.G. patented his improved version and sent financial compensation to Pat for his original design.

Like you can see the handle on the knife is all one piece apart from the Pivot screw and the stud on the back of the lock. It's a single piece of spring steel. There are no scales and no pocketclips. It's simplicity personified. (Objectified?) I recently found this ad on facebook (copy of an old ad):

And it describes the functionality perfectly.

 

This knife is one of the premium editions of the knife. The blade is made out of a Cowry-X core with stainless damascus sides.

 

Cowry-X is a knifesteel somewhat similar to ZDP-189 in that is has a carbon content of around 2% (most "normal" knifesteels are around or just below 1%) and is hardened to the insane heights of Rockwell 65-67. This should make it extremely good in the edge holding departement.

 

Featherlite

The next version is the "Featherlite" version of the One Hand Knife

The Featherlite is A.G.'s Ultralight version (and wallet friendly version) of the One Hand knife. With a handle of Zytel instead of Stainless steel the weight difference is enormous. The one I own is the Utitlity blade AUS8a version. There is also a VG-10 version and clippoint versions of both steel types.

 

Titanium and with pocketclip One Hand Knife.

 

 

And so we come to the latest version of the one Hand Knife. This version is probably the most feature rich version yet in that it also has a pocketclip. It's also the first of the One Hand Knives to be made in China instead os Japan or the US. The one I have is the White smooth bone version. But ones with Cocobolo wood or Black G-10 are also available. The steel on this knife is VG-10.

Now, on to the details:

 

 Materials:

Cowry X version

The stainless spring hardened handle of the knife is VERY strong and sturdy. It being stainless hardened steel means that it doesn't show many scratches at all. And it'll hold through pretty much any use if needed.

The Cowry-X/Damascus blade is where this one shines though. The damascus sides are nicely polished and show the core of the blade nicely. The steel was a it of a pain to sharpend but still very doable with DMT diamond sharpening plates.

Thumbstud and lockstud out of brass. Nice little bit of contrast with the otherwise all steel knife.

 

Featherweight

The handle on this one as well as the lockstud are out of FRN. For those of you who don't know it. FRN stands for Fiberglass Reinforced Nylon and it's a lightweight high strength artificial material. It gets moulded the way it looks. Strong but a low cost option as well when a manufacturer is making a large batch of knives (expensive in a small batch).

The Steel on this one is AUS8a which is a decent steel for those on a budget. It has decent corrosion resistance, is easily sharpened to a hair splitting edge and keeps a fairly good edge.

Titanium version

Like I wrote earlier, this is the most feature rich version and it shows in the materials.

Titanium scales, pocketclip backspacer and spring stud. Titanium as some might know is loved mainly for it's strength to weight ratio. It's not as strong as steel, but very nice and springy and a lot lighter. Used as a premium in many a current knife it's become a knife collectors favourite.

White bone scales. Very nice materials bone, fairly tough and yet still has a fancy look to it like the more expensive ivory. Yet a lot cheaper.

VG-10 blade. A premium steel that'll have a lot better edge retention than AUS8a yet not as high as the Cowry-X one. Sharpens up fairly well, good corrosion resistance and good edge retention. Good stuff all around. Premium steel for a premium knife.

Size

All three knives are of pretty much the same size. The bladelength on all three is close to or exactly 3". It's a very comfortable carry size. Small an bigger jobs can be done with it as long as you're not expecting to chop a tree in half you're pretty much good to go.

The main difference is the thickness of the handles. The latest version of the knife is the thickest due to it's scales. But because of the way the pocketclip makes it carry it's about is unnoticable to carry as both thinner knives.

The other two are REALLY thin and virtually disappear within the pocket. They're the kind of knives where you don't mind them not having a pocketclip because that would just make them bulkier.

 

Build Quality

All three knives are done quite well. Both the FRN and the Titanium version are virtually perfect. No lock movement, no gaps, no bladeplay.

I wasn't impressed with the way the bone scales were finished though. The flats on them were slightly rough. I fixed that myself by polishing them with the full scala of Micromesh that I have at home up to 12.000 grit. They're nice and shiney now. Some people may not have a problem with that though.

The titanium is beadblasted which has a nice tactile feel to it.

It was very tough to open and close when I first got it. But after using it for a few months it's gotten to the point that I don't think I've ever owned a smoother opening and closing folder.

The FRN is pretty much perfect. I can't find any fault with it.

The stainless handle one is not the best ever though. It has bladeplay both sideways and up/down. And although that could be fixed by tightening the pivot. Tightening the pivot would also make it so tight that it would become almost impossible to open one handed. Which would defeat the purpose of the thing.

Now normally I would send it back to A.G. Russell. But since I didn't buy it off them but from an E-bay seller I don't know if that would work. They have the best service in the buisiness, when you're a customer. But for this knife I wasn't the actual customer. Also, I don't know if there's really anything they could do about it.

Sharpness

Now there's three factors with sharpness:

1. Out of the box sharpness
2. Ease of sharpening
3. Edge retention

 

Out of the box all three were very sharp. Would slice paper with ease and with some tries shave arm hair.

 

The AUS8a and the VG-10 were also fairly easy to sharpen. I use a DMT diamond set to give them a nice shiny reprofiled edge at around 30-33 degrees. I've kept them sharp pretty much through stropping alone since then. Very easy and conventient.

The AUS8a gets dull a lot quicker than the VG-10 but also takes less strokes on a strop to get back to optimum sharpness.

The Cowry-X was a completely different animal. Even with Diamond stones this took quite a while to get done right. Once it got there though....WOW. It just keeps going and going and going. Very nice edge. I'm sure that some will say "but it's brittle at that hardness!" which is ok by me. It's a small knife, it'll not be used for anything other than slicing. And so far I've not seen any chipping or edge damage to it at all. This stuff is the bees knees.

 

 

Comfort

The knives are very comfortable in pocket. The pocket clip on the one makes it unobtrusive. And the other two are very flat and hardly take up any pocket real estate.

Most comfortable of the three to work with though is the FRN version. It's so nice and grippy, it opens very easily and closes in the same fashion. It hardly weighs anything (I sometimes have to make sure it's still there because I don't feel it in the pocket) and yet it's very strong and dependable.

 

Design

I've talked a little about where the design comes from. What I haven't talked about it why exactly I like it so much.

 

And that is the lock mechanism, the bladeshape and the handle shape.

The handle shape lends for a perfect four finger grip. The knife is an excellent light/medium duty work knife. It's clearly not meant to be something to go tramping out into the woods with but it'll do in a pinch. It's comfortable and the handle shape just has a nice flow to it. For the titanium version this is slightly less true. It's a bit more boxy than it's older brothers. But still very nice nonetheless.

 

The bladeshape. A.G. refers to as his "General Purpose" bladeshape. And that's exactly what it is. It kind of combines the practicality of a wharncliffe blade with the aestethics of a spear point. It's a very fine point and won't be suitable for prying however. But slicing it'll work for just fine as well as piercing for opening packages and such.

 

And then the lock. The lock is very solid (except less so on my Cowry version). Once it's engaged there's no real movement. But the coolest thing about it is. It's completely one hand operated. And MEANT to be that way. It'll take the new user a little bit of practice. But once you have it down you'll never use two hands to close it. It's demonstrated in this video by A.G.

 

And in this one for the titanium version

 

And in a commercial they made:

 

That single mechanism is what makes me pick one of those three knives for carry more than any other knife in my collection.

 

As an added bonus on the titanium version. There is a deep carry (titanium) pocketclip which can be switched for either lefthand or righthand pocket. A feature that I've found many knives lack. So if you're a lefty and are looking for a nice EDC with pocketclip and premium materials you'll get a kick out of this one.

 

Price

Pricewise these three are all over the place.

The FRN version can be had for $35 (Aus8a version) or $50 (VG-10 version). And with an optional added Kydex sheath. Making this one the financially most attractive version. Quite simple, this is a bang for the buck knife. Even the more expensive version at $50 beats most offerings from rivaling companies for bladesteel. There are not many knives out there for so low a price with this nice a design and this good a steel. (yes I know...there are some. But you'll have to admit the range isn't very big).

The Titanium version isn't too bad either. At $120 for the white bone version and slightly more for the Cocobolo and G-10 versions this one won't break the bank but WILL put a knife in your hands that feels like it's worth about 2 times what you paid.

The Cowry version however isn't cheap. Originally listed at $300 in the catalogue and that's IF you can find one somewhere. You do however get a premium very good looking blade that you'll be hard pressed to find anywhere else for that price. If you're into the superhard steel though you might want to check out A.G.'s Acies knives (the small ones aren't sold out yet at the time I write this) titanium framelocks with ZDP189 steel for a similar price.

 

Conclusion

All in all, a classic design that's gotten a few overhauls. And as with all classics, they're classics for a reason. When I was first handed one I wasn't quite sure to react. Especially when I was told that it's their best selling knife ever.

Now, after having one for about 3 quarters of a year I understand why. It's one of those knife that everyone should at the least have played around with for a while. You'll understand why when you do.