A.G. Russell Acies 2 -- first impressions

I am going to have a handful bead blasted and will post in BF when they are done

A. G.

Great! Thank you sir. Fall more in love with this knife every time I carry it. I will have to check out the gentlemans frame lock soon. I'd love to check out the flipper action.
 
After owning my acies 2 for 8 months I'm glad I have one and have no regrets selling off a lot of other knives
 
An update on my Acies2 experience. Loving this knife. I made a decision about 6 weeks ago to part with any knives that I wasn't using in my EDC rotation. Said goodbye to some beautiful safe queens, but kept around 7-8 knives that I will use. I've tended to gravitate to higher cost production knives and prefer blades of about 3". I've held on to a couple of small sebenzas, an XM-18, a couple of Benchmade Ritters with custom scales, a Benchmade 707, and my Acies2. I love all the knives and they get equal use, but I must admit that one of my favorites in the group is this A G Russell beauty. Its one of my favorite blade steels and blade shape. I have found it extremely easy to open with a simple flick of the thumb stud....right or left handed. If I had any wish for a change it would be to have a blasted pocket clip (which I've been told by Mr. Russell he will have a few of soon) and I wish the screws were polished silver instead of black, but those are both just aesthetic issue that have nothing to do with how great a user this knife is.

Saw this week where the price has dropped on the newer A G Russell Gentlemen's Frame Lock and will probably have to get one of those in the rotation soon. If it performs at all like the Acies2 I'm sure it is a winner too.
 
I didn't even know about the Acies 2 until a few days ago. It sounded great to me since I am starting to only buy folders with 3", or less, blades.

I bought one.

While I was on the AG website I also looked at the AGR folders. For some reason, I had never looked at the AGR knives, just the other brands.

Wow! There were several gents knives that I had never seen before. They were exactly what I have been looking for.

So, $700 later, the wait for the mail begins.....
 
An update on my Acies2 experience. Loving this knife. I made a decision about 6 weeks ago to part with any knives that I wasn't using in my EDC rotation. Said goodbye to some beautiful safe queens, but kept around 7-8 knives that I will use. I've tended to gravitate to higher cost production knives and prefer blades of about 3". I've held on to a couple of small sebenzas, an XM-18, a couple of Benchmade Ritters with custom scales, a Benchmade 707, and my Acies2. I love all the knives and they get equal use, but I must admit that one of my favorites in the group is this A G Russell beauty. Its one of my favorite blade steels and blade shape. I have found it extremely easy to open with a simple flick of the thumb stud....right or left handed. If I had any wish for a change it would be to have a blasted pocket clip (which I've been told by Mr. Russell he will have a few of soon) and I wish the screws were polished silver instead of black, but those are both just aesthetic issue that have nothing to do with how great a user this knife is.

So how does it compare to your Sm Sebbies? I have a couple Sm Sebs myself, but I've been considering the Acies2 for some time now but have unfortunately never handled one. I know they're different knives and can't necessarily be compared apples to apples, but do you prefer one more than the other? If so, why?
 
I really love both knives.

Very comparable in size to the small seb. The pocket clip on the Acies2 is deeper, but not nearly as nice as the sebenza clips (IMO).

I really love the shape and material of the Acies2 blade. ZDP189 is definitely one of my favorite blade steels and on the Acies2 it is extremely sharp. Both have titanium scales and are frame lock designed.

The thumb stud is very different on the Acies2. Is is flat on one side as compared to the round, pointed studs on the sebs. I find both easy to engage, but it is different and takes a little getting used to.

I love Chris Reeve knives and with the exception of a small Hinderer slicer my next favorite is the Acies2. You can't go wrong to pick one up!
 
The Acies2 is pretty much my dream EDC shape, size and weight. The ZDP 189 is the icing.

I own two and each has issues. Both are a bit rough to close. One also has a loose lockbar. My original Acies (the larger model) is just about perfect after a lengthy break-in. It, too,was rough at first.

As good as the Kershaw-manufactured Acies are -- and they are! -- the f&f on the Sebs is simply at a different level.

The Acies and Seb -- different strokes. But no reason they can't be for the same folks. In my case, definitely. Love them both.
 
The Acies2 is as smooth as my Strider SJ-75 Baby Huey and Sage2. It's smoother than my wonderful Three Sisters Forge tactical. It's way smoother than a Grayman Dua I returned. And way, way smoother than a Jim Burke production Rockstar I've been trying.

I've had all four of the folders that are mentioned...but no Acies 2. I love all four of them. I sold the Jim Burke and am sorry I did.
That was(is) a remarkably smooth and SOLID-feeling knife. When you opened that blade, you smiled...
 
After three months with the Acies 2 I am very impressed.
It is my favorite knife now.

The action was very smooth to begin with. After cleaning and relubing it has become one of my smoothest folders ever. Not quite Al Mar smooth, but close.

The detent is perfect, it snaps open extremely easily. The blade shape is perfect and the steel is about as good as it gets.

I did buy a bead blasted pocket clip for it. I like the looks of it better than the shiny one. I do feel like the clip could be a bit lower profile but, it works fine and I have no complaints.

Overall, the Acies 2 is one of the best folders I've ever had. I prefer it to any Sebenza that I've ever owned.
 
I agree with must of what is bring said here. My Acies2 is a great knife. My only problems are some F&F issues. tooling marks on the pivot and blade stop both could have used some attention after coming of the three machine. And there is a gap between the blade stop and the scales (I can got a piece of paper in the gap). I got this second hand so I'm just going to countersink the holes and see if that fixes the problem. Overall it's a great knife and I'm very happy with it for the price I paid. It's just suffering from some F&F issues that could be fixed to make it 10/10 right now it's a 8/10.
 
Does anyone know the hardness of the Acies2 ZDP-189? Or, if Kershaw is the fabricator, what they generally run their ZDP-189?
 
almost 6 years later and my acies2 is still in my pocket. what a great purchase...i just looked online and it seems the acies2 is no longer sold for some reason. glad i got one when i did.
 
The Acies2 is one of my favorite folder shapes and is one of the best knives Mr. Russell ever designed.
 
almost 6 years later and my acies2 is still in my pocket. what a great purchase...i just looked online and it seems the acies2 is no longer sold for some reason. glad i got one when i did.
Mr. Russell usually only makes a limited number of most knives.

I'd still like one of the larger ones...but I doubt it's ever coming back.
 
Russell will make a 1000 knives if he thinks can sell them, e.g. his CRKT Sting, Woodswalker, Onehand Cawford-designed folder.
 
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