Anyone actually use a Randall Knife

[jyo]

Back when we had The Great Western Gunshow here in Pomona (East of L.A.) there was a guy who always had a huge spread of new (and a few used) Randall knives in the first big building on the right side when you entered the show---prices were CHEAP back then (70-80s) and I had a thing for stag-handled knives---I'd buy one every time I went (the show ran twice a year sometimes)---I kept them unused and oiled out of their sheathe---many, many years later I found out what a great investment these were getting many times the purchase price!

 

[rburg]

--many, many years later I found out what a great investment these were getting many times the purchase price!

I still follow that policy. There are 4 or 5 gun shows a year and If I'm having a good day, I try to buy a Randall before I leave. The times I don't, I'm usually sorry afterwards. Over the years its easy to discover you've got way too many knives. I only wonder if the same economics will apply in the future. I've never made a screaming deal on one. The best was paying $150 for an early trout and bird. The worst was a few months ago when I paid $1100 for a Smithsonian with an ivory handle. Since my goal wasn't to resell it, I'm good. I sure bought a few in the early 1990s for the then outrageous price range of $300. I've even got a Soligen Fighter for that.

I've also bought other brands, Gil Hibben's custom have caught my eye for a long time. I see his designs all the time with Browning names on them. One day I bought a Hibben "White tail hunter" and paid probably $350 for it. Its still like new. So on we hiked at the gun show. And a few aisles over there was a guy selling knives. Somebody's old collection was being liquidated. And there, in front of me, was a knife with a clear Hibben design and logo. I got it for maybe $20. Sure, its a little rough.

So time passed and there was a Ken Po Karate shop opening about 20 miles away. And Gil only lives down in LaGrange, and he was at the grand opening, pushing his fantasy knives. I went to the shop and he had a line of maybe 8 or 10 people. Mostly they were buying new knives and he was signing the boxes. As the line moved up the guy about 4 in front of me asked about his custom "line" of knives. Gil's young wife was standing there and she started laughing. She told the others in line that I got a free pass to move up. I was carrying the 4 or 5 Hibben's I'd bought along the way. He kind of turned his nose up at the high dollar knives but zoomed in on the $20 rough one. He looked at me and asked where I'd gotten it. I told him and he was smiling.

He said its a steak knife. He'd made 3 sets over the years and that 2 of those sets were still intact. It seems the knife I have was from the 3rd set, the one owned by Steve McQueen. After his death, the hired help probably stole the silverware. Regardless, it got scattered to the wind. This is the first and only one to have ever turned up. His explanation was that McQueen and Ali McGraw weren't veggies. They liked steak and entertained often. His conclusion was that more than a handful of stars had probably used my knife. Cool, but you can't take it to the bank.

 

[29aholic]

Solingen blade?

Yes it is, I think he bought it in about 1965

 

[gabbyh75]

Anyone Actually Use a Randall Knife

I worked in RVN as a contractor from 1968 through 1973. Purchased three Randalls in 1968. I switched off carrying the #1 and the #2 pictured below. The third Randall is the Jim Thorpe Bowie also in the photo. I regret that I sold the big bowie recently. I picked up the other Randalls one at a time. Notice that they all are trimmed in brass and have brass butt caps and red micarta grips.



The old style trout and bird is my favorite.

 

[pre24/29]

I have a Randall bought in 59-61? Haven't even looked at it for 30 years or so and as I am not young, should sell. Anyone interested get in touch: [email protected]. Jerry

 

[failbot]

I'm new to putting stuff on fourums so if I do anything wrong please let me know. The reason carbon steel is so much better, & perferred by people who have knowledge of metalurgy, other than the rust resistance aspect of stainless is- carbon is needed to make the edge hard during heat treating so it doesn't roll the way stainless does. The reason stainless is hard to get sharp and keep it that way, is because when it gets thin it wants to roll to one side or the other. That being said Randall definitely uses a better grade of stainless alloy than most. The reason stainless doesn't rust as easily as carbon steel is that oxygen attacks carbon. The more pure alloy the stainless is like say 304 the less carbon content, therefore less rust. You just can't Harden stainless the way you can high carbon steel so the cutting edge is definitely less desirable. Just like everything else nowadays people like stainless for the ease of maintenance so you don't have to worry about it so much. I would think if you spend the money on a randal that you would want to take care of it and if you ever have to use it have a much more serviceable tool. You can actually make high carbon so hard and brittle during the heat treat it will break if you drop it. That is the reason a lot of high-end knife makers use high carbon steel for the cutting edge and laminate milder steel around it for flexibility so the blade doesn't break with use but will hold an edge for a long time. I have one that I skinned a deer, split the ribcage, & butchered it, you could still shave with it. Try that with stainless & you will likely stop sometime during the process to sharpen it probably more than once.

It is not so, nearly

And the fact that stainless steel is inferior carbon,
it's just the old prejudices. It can be said - the inertia of thinking.
This statement is gone 20-30 in the early years, when the level
of steel was approximately equal of a modern stainless steel
AISI 420 (most cheap Chinese knives). Then indeed the level
of heat treatment was low and carbon steels were better.
Now the situation has changed, but the momentum bad
history about retention edge has remained.

There is one more thing, while steel, as now 420, was 0.4-0.5% carbon. Most of the carbon blades that time correspond to
the steel 0.6-0.9% carbon. Their comparison is simply not correct.

It all depends on the quality of heat treatment.
You can harden steel 440A, 440B or 440C
with using cryotechnology, thermal cycling
and other special techniques, so that the edge retention
is better than most carbon steels.
Wherein this is easy sharpening. If we consider the modern
powder steel, it features much more capabilities.
But it is quite expensive. You can compare the prices of
standard industrial knives, for example, knives Phil Wilson,
Bob Dozier and other custom masters from same steel
and then compare the results of the real work him.
Industrial knives are behind.

According to my observations, Randall makes a high-quality heat treatment. I do not see much difference between stainless 440B and O-1 in retaining edge.
In this case there is one point O-1 have ~1% C.
440B have 0.75-0.95% C - such variation laid down
in the standard for this steel. So I do not rule out that sometimes Randall knives made of stainless steel can
be a little bit softer or harder, depending on the instance,
which naturally affects the edge resistance.

There is also another factor that rare mentions - this quality of sharpening and sharpening angle.
If you sharpen the knife on rough abrasive - it is well cut,
but not for long. If you choose too small an abrasive,
the knife good cuts tree, but the skin, the fat,
film on the meat it will just slip as if blunt.
Sharpening is also very interesting topic, bit of an art,
akin to cast bullets and weighing required number of homemade black gunpowder.

Now I bought a rare version Buck 110 with S30V.
A very good stainless steel. I use it in city like EDC
and as an additional assistant for my Randall 3-5.

 

[jag312]

I have never used this Randall, but I'm sure this WW2 era Randall saw a lot of use. Does anyone have one like this?

 

[failbot]

Hard to say, like a fake in my opinion..

But I'm not a pro, pro here
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But it is only at first glance, it is too little used, it is very rare, very-very rare.

If possible, please take a photo of the back of the sheath,
sharpening stone and handle end (pommel or butt cap, by different names)

Additional photos will help a lot. Do you have any additional documents on it?

 

[Lee's Landing Billy]

On the wall of my gun room there is a picture of a much younger me and Bo Randall at his shop in 1981. While they finished my knife that he had them do while I waited, he took me and my wife to his house right behind the shop. Inside the door there was a Japanese sword that I guess was his security system. He treated us like we were somebody and showed us the orange groves and the little museum that has now morphed into a larger museum. I still have the first #1 I got that day. It has cut a lot of stuff I should have used something else for. I carry on my belt a #1 mini that gets used for everything that a normal person would use a knife for..no abuse for this little fellow. There are 21 others in the safes that do not get used, that's not what I bought them for. I have found a man that can get any model in any configuration that I want in 5 months instead of 5 years. He charges STRAIGHT catalog retail prices. He is a gentleman to deal with and at this writing I am waiting on 2 for Christmas to be gifts for shooting friends. Randall says in his catalog..there is no product that can not be made cheaper and more inferior. I know what happened to Mr. Randall but I wonder what happened to that nice young fellow in the picture with him??

 

[mic214]

I come back to this thread often to check out (And drool over) all the great knives that are posted. I figured I would add a few more photos of my Randalls.

I recently picked up a Colt New Frontier single action in .44 Special. I thought it made a great companion to my Randall 12-9 Bowie. I would like to get a set of elk horn grips for my Colt to go with the Bowie:



I carry the Bowie with me out at the ranch when I am checking fences. We do come across a snake or two out there:


Even though I love my large Bowie, I find myself carrying the Model 5 on a day to day basis:



Here is the Model 16 in action that I gave to my daughter and son-in-law on their wedding day:


My son is getting married next July, so the Model 14 will be handed down to them.....

 

[alexdrake]

Great Stories and Pictures loving them totally.
I also use Randalls knife.

 

[paul s]

Yep, I use mine!

 

[failbot]

I used one to stab somebody to death in Panama in 1978. Does that count?

Two times had to kill the wounded boar in hunting,
not to waste ammunition. I did not touch people,
from one seeing of such a knife thugs becoming
are very polite and calm.

 

[jag312]

Last night (Christmas Eve) we had a dinner where I carved the ham with a Randall #12 Confederate Bowie. I did that just so I could say that I have used a Randall knife, although not in the way that Bo Randall would have envisioned.

 

[rburg]

although not in the way that Bo Randall would have envisioned.

I don't think Bo would have minded a bit. He just knew first hand how much effort went into building the knives and felt it should not be wasted. I use one or more pretty often. The steak knives are the most used, but even that requires you be smart and not have a hard cutting surface. All that does is roll the edge over. Its misuse and often leads to complaints that a knife won't hold an edge.

 

[mic214]

Last night (Christmas Eve) we had a dinner where I carved the ham with a Randall #12 Confederate Bowie. I did that just so I could say that I have used a Randall knife, although not in the way that Bo Randall would have envisioned.

That is an awesome idea! After reading your post, I thought I would break out my Model 12-9 "Sportsman's Bowie" and use it to carve the Prime rib that we had for Christmas dinner last night:

 

[BearBio]

I forgot==gave the wife a Randall Carving set for X-mas a couple of years ago==she uses it for the Thanksgiving turkey and the New Years prime rib!

 

[rhm0351]

A friend gave me this 1960s Randall 1-6" that he used to use heavily. He had blackened the blade with naval jelly, but I polished it off with a rag and Flitz. Unfortunately, the sheath was lost somewhere before I got the knife.

I had this 1-7" delivered in 2010 and have carried it camping a few times. The handle is a little on the thin side for me. The compass in the pommel has already lost its water while stored in the box...oh well.

I gave a Model 6-9" carving set to my best friend for his wedding a few years ago, and he uses it extensively.

I have a Model 15 that was due to be delivered in May, but when I talked to them before I deployed they said it will be delayed until September. I'm hoping it is of more practical dimensions than my 1-7". Assuming it is, it will probably accompany me on future deployments.

 

[failbot]

rhm0351, I wonder if you got your #15?

I made a modification, more precisely my friend
who had golden (or steel) hands, made a small re-grind.
Now the knife has a finer grinding and cuts like a laser!

For everyday use I took 2 more small folding knives and waiting
news from the store - deadline is approaching for receiving
the model is 10-3 with rosewood

I apologize for the bad picture. I did not have light,
so the lighting was from 2 flashlights aimed at the ceiling

 

[rburg]

Glad to see this thread still alive and well. Just yesterday I picked off another Randalll. It was up at the OGCA show. There was a nice early 3-7 over on a chair beside the guy. Long experience has taught me the best stuff generally doesn't show up on the tables, but instead under them or behind the guys. I asked about it and it sure looked good. Its been well used and the Roughy sheath looks like more use than even the blade. But it wanted to come home with me. Someone did a poor job of cleaning up the blade, but didn't do much damage to my way of thinking. 7" blades are probably too long for serious business. But they look cool, which is important for the knifes future work as a safe queen. Its got a well worn stag handle from back when they tapered it drastically at the front. I'm not sure what that was supposed to accomplish, but it did provide a surface to practice their polishing skills.

I'm thinking about making a display using a belt. I'd like to get one cut for someone really fat and hanging it from the mantle, side to side. Probably 84" or so. then just installing all the knives or all my nasty old Heiser holsters. As long as I don't go overboard with a fire, it would be nice to look at.