AK-47 | Red Laminate (Field-Tested)

This is the AK-47 | Red Laminate in Field-Tested (FT), and no wear of this finish costs less: the four other wears all cost more. The red wood of the handguard and stock is already lightened at the corners, and the finish puts no paint on the metal at all. The skin is Classified rank and drops from the eSports 2013 Case. The float lies within 0.15 to 0.38.

What the AK-47 | Red Laminate looks like in Field-Tested

Only the wooden parts of this rifle are colored: the handguard, the gas tube cover, the pistol grip and the stock. The wood is scarlet, with dark cherry grain and swirls of layers. On the stock the grain forms large rings, on the handguard it runs lengthwise. The artwork here is the texture of plywood layers, not a pattern applied on top. The receiver, cover, barrel and magazine stay dark factory metal, and there is no lettering or marks on the body.

In Field-Tested the scarlet wood lightens at the corners of the stock and along the edges of the handguard, and the grain fades there to pinkish. The flat areas of wood hold their color, so the contrast with the dark metal does not go away. Wear does not touch the metal at all: there is no finish on it, and nothing to rub off.

Where the AK-47 | Red Laminate came from

The artwork was made by Valve itself, and no Steam Workshop submission is recorded for the finish. The eSports 2013 Collection was released on August 14, 2013. In Valve's skin catalog this rifle is number 14, one of the earliest numbers in the catalog.

What to check before buying

In a listing of the AK-47 | Red Laminate, check these parameters:

• the float within 0.15 to 0.38: at the lower end the corners of the stock are still dark scarlet;


• the condition of the handguard edge, where a light band appears first;


• stickers and a name tag already on this copy of the AK-47 | Red Laminate.

The pattern is the same on all copies of the AK-47 | Red Laminate. The AK-47 | Red Laminate in this wear comes from the 0.15 to 0.38 band, and the look at the two ends of the stretch is different.

What the AK-47 | Red Laminate costs in Field-Tested

The scale of this finish starts not at zero but at 0.06, and Factory New got a strip of just one hundredth, the narrowest band on this rifle. Hence the gap in money: Factory New is priced at more than ten times as much. Minimal Wear costs nearly twice as much.

The price does not fall below. Well-Worn costs about a sixth more and Battle-Scarred about a fifteenth more, though both look more battered. You cannot save by taking a dirtier copy here.

Fifteen Classified rifles carry a price in this wear, and the Red Laminate is fifth from the top. The nearest below is the AK-47 | Redline, then the AK-47 | Frontside Misty and the AK-47 | Cartel. The dearest in the rank are the AK-47 | Jet Set and the AK-47 | Hydroponic.

Getting the AK-47 | Red Laminate

The rifle drops from the eSports 2013 Case, and no other case holds this finish.

Ten skins of the rank below can turn into the AK-47 | Red Laminate in a contract if they are skins of this collection. The eSports 2013 Collection has two Classified finishes, so the contract returns either this rifle or the AWP | BOOM.

StatTrak and Souvenir

Stickers and craft on the AK-47 | Red Laminate

The AK-47 | Red Laminate has a StatTrak version. No Souvenir packages were ever issued for this finish: they were made only for the tournament map collections. But you can build a Souvenir copy yourself, since the Souvenir-O-Matic applies gold tournament stickers and a player autograph to an ordinary skin from your inventory. That is why a few Souvenir copies turn up now and then even where no packages ever existed.

There is plenty of clean metal on this rifle: the receiver, cover and magazine are unoccupied, and a craft in CS2 is usually built there. Scarlet wood fights warm colors, but white, black and silver stickers read both on it and on the dark metal. On the handguard edge the paint is already lightening in Field-Tested, and a sticker is best not placed there.

Who this wear suits

This wear of the AK-47 | Red Laminate is worth buying for three reasons:

• you want a wooden AK-47, rare in CS2, without paying the Factory New premium;


• nothing is cheaper for this finish, while Well-Worn and Battle-Scarred cost more;


• wear sits on the wood and does not touch the metal, so the look stays put together.

At 0.15 there are almost no lightened areas; at 0.38 the handguard edge is lightened along its whole length.