AG Russel Sting....

[BigEd63]

...is back in production. Being made by CRKT in Taiwan, least it's not in Red China. Handle and blade made of one piece of 1050 carbon steel, black matte powder coated blade, black cordura sheath w/zytel insert.
Too bad they don't offer one of their original low profile leather sheaths as an option.

I'll probably go look at one and see if it's worth the $29.95. My main interest is to put one back as a possible collectible but may also get one or two for SHTF use.


I do hope they keep to the original thin blade, makes a nice double edged razor. :dgrin:

[RIKA]

That Sting looks like a nice knife. Will be looking for your comments.

RIKA

[BigEd63]

I will try and stop there this weekend. In their catalog they mention mid-Feb. as a ship date so they ought to be there but if not I'd think they'd have at least one demo in the show room for me to drool over. :dgrin:

[John in AR]

Thanks for the heads-up. Last time I looked for one was when AG Russell was in that small shop in Rogers, probably 1994 or so. They only had one used one on hand, and wanted over $100 for it, iirc.

By CRKT for only $29.95, it sounds good so far.... (Even has the old "Black Chrome" look of the old one.)

[BigEd63]

They only had one used one on hand, and wanted over $100 for it, iirc.

Yoinks!

You know it's a sign one's getting old when over half your knives you bought new are now collectibles. :bird:

BTW- AG sold me my first one and one of his ceramic crock sticks when I bought it in the summer of '84.

[BigEd63]

Update!

Well I got to look at the shop display/prototype model.

And was impressed enough to put my name down to get one from the first production shipment in.

Not as purty as the black chrome one but good enough for field use.

[RIKA]

What is the finish on the one you signed up for, Ed?

RIKA

[BigEd63]

It's a semi-matte black powder coat.

The nice thing about the black chrome one is it's nice looking as deep polished gun bluing but very tough.

[BigEd63]

Well I got a call Thursday morning that the first shipment came in.

I'll do some more detailed comaprisons with the original Sting and take some pics when I can manage.

What's in my hand now is a bit more well proportioned than the prototype I handled.

But, it is overall a bit thicker than the original by just eyeballing them and in feel.

It did come shaving sharp out of the box.

The sheath is decent from a field/tactical stand point but on the bulky side for deep concealment IWB. Nothing that can't be corrected by a good leather worker IMHO.

Overall though on first impession it is worth the $29.95+tax I paid for it.

[RIKA]

Good deal. Looking forward to your comments.

RIKA

[BigEd63]

Here are the measurements on both:

German Sting: Blade thickness at midpoint- .079"
Blade width at midpoint- .87"
Handle thickness- .31"
Handle width at "hilt"- 1.16"

CRKT Sting: Blade thickness at midpoint- .13"
Blade width at midpoint- .925
Handle thickness- .358
Handle width at "hilt"- 1.17

Been palying heck getting a decent close pic of both knives at once but here it is: