{"id":2343,"date":"2024-07-09T20:47:53","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T20:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=2343"},"modified":"2024-07-09T20:47:53","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T20:47:53","slug":"randall-knives-practical-beauty-rock-island-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=2343","title":{"rendered":"Randall Knives’ Practical Beauty | Rock Island Auction"},"content":{"rendered":"


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As the story goes \u2013 and it\u2019s posted on the Randall Made Knives\u2019 website \u2013 W.D. \u201cBo\u201d Randall was walking along the shore of Michigan\u2019s Walloon Lake in 1936 when he encountered a man who was scraping the hull of a boat with what turned out to be a handmade knife, an indelicate task for such an instrument. Randall, unimpressed with how the man was using it but impressed with the knife\u2019s toughness, offered to buy it from the man.<\/p>\n

That knife, by Michigan knife maker Bill Scagel, inspired Randall to try his hand at making one. A successful citrus grower and cattleman in Florida at the time, he considered the exercise as simply a hobby. However, Randall founded his eponymous knife-making company, Randall Made Knives, in 1938.<\/p>\n

For those wanting a Randall knife but faced with the company\u2019s six-year backlog on new orders, Rock Island Auction has an opportunity for knife collectors, offering a dozen of the fine, American-made blades in the upcoming Aug. 23-25 Premier Auction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Randall Knives, American Knives<\/h3>\n

The story of American knives starts on a sandbar north of Natchez, Miss. in 1827.<\/p>\n

Jim Bowie, then a planter and not yet a Texas hero, was on hand for a duel that turned into a brawl. Bowie, shot once in the hip and bludgeoned, managed to stab another man to death with his large knife that he would eventually become synonymous with, the Bowie knife.<\/p>\n

Randall offers a variety of Bowie knives among its products. The Raymond Thorpe Bowie Knife\u2019s 13-inch blade is the longest in the Randall catalog while the Bear Bowie Knife has an 8-inch blade. Randall also offers models with blade lengths that fall in between. Thorpe is author of \u201cThe Bowie Knife\u201d and an expert on 19th century Bowie knives.<\/p>\n

Randall Knives Go to War<\/h3>\n

Randall started selling his knives out of his father-in-law\u2019s clothing store in Orlando, Fla., priced at $16.50 for a simple and functional design. They quickly sold out. At the start of World War 2, a sailor asked him to make him a knife for hand-to-hand combat. Once the sailor\u2019s friends saw the knife they wanted Randall Made Knives, too.<\/p>\n

A reporter wrote an article about Randall\u2019s knives and their popularity soared. He offered the Model 1 as an \u201cAll Purpose Fighter,\u201d the Model 2 billed as a \u201cFighting Stiletto\u201d and a Model 3 \u201cHunter.\u201d Randall would receive order letters from GIs simply addressed to \u201cKnife Man, Orlando.\u201d Randall estimated that with a couple of assistants he made about 1,000 knives for servicemen during the war.<\/p>\n

One customer wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a terrible thing at close range. (Your knife) would cut a man’s head nearly off with a quick swing… I also used that knife to open cans, cut wood, dress water buffalo… and it stayed sharp. I was offered all kinds of trades, but I wouldn’t part with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Randall Knife was briefly considered as a replacement for the U.S. Marine Corps\u2019 Ka-Bar knife in the 1950s but was rejected over the fears of how long the manufacturing process took, as well as the costs.<\/p>\n

Randall Made Knives Business Booms<\/h3>\n

Shortly before the end of World War 2, Randall hired a full-time employee who served as shop manager for the next 35 years. As orders from the war wound down, Randall Made Knives started offering new designs for outdoorsmen, with names like \u201cBig Game and Skinner,\u201d \u201cCamper,\u201d \u201cFisherman,\u201d \u201cTrout and Bird Knife\u201d and \u201cSalt Fisherman.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1953, following a feature on Randall\u2019s company in \u201cTrue\u201d magazine, orders exploded and the company\u2019s backlog began. The company\u2019s website states that demand is such that an order will likely take six years to fulfill.<\/p>\n

The release of the film \u201cThe Iron Mistress,\u201d starring Alan Ladd as Jim Bowie and Virginia Mayo as his love interest boosted the profile of the Bowie knife. Randall started offering the \u201cArkansas Toothpick,\u201d a 12-inch stiletto-style dagger. The company also offers a small Arkansas Toothpick with a 6-inch blade among the nine Bowie knife-styled blades.<\/p>\n

In the early 1960s, NASA reached out to Randall about making survival knives. Bo Randall worked closely with Gordon Cooper, one of the Mercury Seven astronauts. On its website, Randall Made Knives offers the Model 17 Astro and the Model 18 Attack Survival knives. The Astro was specifically designed for the Mercury astronauts and has a blade designed for cutting through spacesuit material and a large guard to use while wearing gloves. An example of the Astro Model is in the Smithsonian Institution collection while an Attack Survival Knife is part of the Modern Museum of Art.<\/p>\n

Astronaut survival knives were aboard every Mercury Mission, including Gus Grissom\u2019s Liberty Bell 7 when it sank in the Atlantic Ocean, nearly taking him with it. When the Mercury astronaut\u2019s capsule was recovered in 1999, Grissom\u2019s knife was still inside and was serviceable after a good cleaning.<\/p>\n

Randall Knives Return to War<\/h3>\n

Orders for Randall Made Knives increased in the 1960s because of the Vietnam War, and the Survival model was added as well as the \u201cBushmaster,\u201d \u201cBear Bowie\u201d and \u201cLittle Game\u201d models. Gen. William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, carried a Randall knife, as did Gary Powers, whose Trout and Bird knife was taken off him after his U-2 was shot down over the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

Randall often talked and corresponded with customers. When speaking with reporter and author Carl Hiaasen for Florida Today in December, 1975, he shared a letter dated Feb. 11, 1944 from an Army Air Force captain named Ronald Reagan who praised his Randall knife, writing \u201cP.S. Hope you don\u2019t mind my showing off your handiwork, but it really attracts an audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making a Randall knife<\/h3>\n

The time-consuming process of making Randall knives involves 17 steps that include heating the blade to 1,950 degrees to shape and harden it and then the more intricate work of refining the blade, shaping the contours, smoothing it, making and fitting the handle, multiple polishings and sharpenings and fitting it with a sheath.<\/p>\n

Randall Made Knives produces about 8,000 each year. The company has a museum at its production facility with more than 7,000 knives and other edged weapons. Bo Randall died in 1989, a year after the company celebrated its 50th anniversary.<\/p>\n

In that 1975 interview, Randall said of his company\u2019s knives, \u201cI\u2019m glad we make a lot of knives and don\u2019t try to make that one best knife in the world. I\u2019m glad there are that many in the hands of people who use them and appreciate them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowie Knives Precede the Randall Knife<\/h3>\n

Despite its very American origin story, English cutlery makers dominated the market for Bowie knives in the 19th century. Sheffield\u2019s top knife manufacturers often had representatives in the United States since American industrial capacity was still rising up to that of the British. Also, the English cutlery companies paid their craftsmen low wages so they could offer their knives at less expensive prices.<\/p>\n

Randall Knives for Sale<\/h3>\n

Randall Made Knives are handmade in a variety of models with numerous ways to upgrade them so they are truly one of a kind. Always wanted a Randall knife but don\u2019t want to wait several years to get it? Rock Island Auction Company has 12 opportunities to acquire one in the Aug. 23-25 Premier Auction<\/a> in Bedford Texas.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/h3>\n

\u201cRandall Military Models,\u201d by Robert E. Hunt<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bowie Knife, Unsheathing an American Legend,\u201d by Norm Flayderman<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s More Than a Knife,\u201d by Carl Hiaasen, Florida Today<\/p>\n

\u201cHandmade-Knife Company Keeps Tradition Sharp,\u201d by Jay Hamburg, The Orlando Sentinel<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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As the story goes \u2013 and it\u2019s posted on the Randall Made Knives\u2019 website \u2013 W.D. \u201cBo\u201d Randall was walking along the shore of Michigan\u2019s Walloon Lake in 1936 when he encountered a man who was scraping the hull of a boat with what turned out to be a handmade knife, an indelicate task for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}