It's the old adage of 'you get what you pay for'. After several positive reviews of the SM knife, I went and bought one, and yes they are good knives. They are not up to the quality of AW knives though, in finish or construction. My SM needs sharpening far more frequently than the AW, and the point loses it's sharpness quite quickly.
That said, the original price of £89 was quite good, now you usually pay around £130 plus for one. There are far better finished knives out there for that kind of money. The WS micarta Woodlore was a better finished/made knife, and it was less money too at the time.
All in all, Stuart Marsh is still finding his feet in the business, and undoubtably the demand for Woodlore style knives has boosted the selling/asking price of his knives. I saw one sell for £230 on eBay last week!!! Alan Wood is a master of his art and his knives are his reputation and you cannot fault them, he has worked steel for years. I know there has been some QC issues with some of the Woody's, but I've never heard of any issues with his custom stuff.
I don't believe you can seriously compare the two together at this point. Both good knives aimed at disfferent areas of the market. It's akin to comparing Ardbeg to Bells
