Bill, I to like the "slender" old blades...yours would pass as a filet knife today...it's beautiful!!
:-)Rocky

It sure would! Although I would consider calling it a "Covert Operations Weapon"

It's been a busy and productive 30-45 days! (let's not forget expensive!)

Oh those are fabulous. Love the tips. Great finds Bill, really!

Bill,

First of all, thank you for your contribution, enthusiasm, and wonderful photos you bring to the forum. I always enjoy your posts. Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about your all stainless Randall knife and have a few thoughts that I would like to share.

One aspect of RMKs that I have always appreciated is the fact that each knife in their line is well thought out and specifically designed for its intended purpose. This straight forward, no gimmicks, approach makes me question why Bo would add a bottle opener to a UDT/military knife – a knife that would likely be subjected to hard use in demanding environments. Even if this knife started out as a fish knife and was later adopted as a UDT knife, the novelty and limited use of a bottle opener wouldn’t be worth the risk of significantly weakening the blade from the stress riser caused by the creation of the bottle opener - especially on a knife that one’s life might depend on. Also, the blade shape, which is a slender trailing point used for delicate work, is not ideal for underwater or military application. The Model 16 was correctly designed as a dive knife. Its strong, spear point tip is perfect for light prying.

Here is a little more on trailing points from Knife Depot:

"A trailing point knife is a lightweight knife that has a back edge that curves upward. The "trailing point" is named for the point which trails higher than the generalized axis of the spine of the knife blade. Trailing point blades provide a large curved cutting area ("belly") and are optimized for slicing or skinning. They offer the sharpest point for fine, delicate, and small work, such as skinning and caping game or fish. They are most common on skinning and fillet knives. There are several disadvantages to trailing point blades, with the main one being its weak point. Because it is designed for fine delicate work, it will easily bend or break if used on tougher materials."

Not trying to take anything away from your beautiful knife. Again, just wanted to share some thoughts and add to the discussion.

Tom, thank you for your compliment's and your well written post!

I agree with you on all aspects. It was made for a specific application beginning in 1938, and first advertised in 1940, and named appropriately for that application.

The following year all hell broke loose as we entered into WWII.

My thoughts, (and they are my thoughts only) is that the specialty teams, near and far, needed a knife that would be resistant to salt water "more so than to lemon juice" and Bo had just that type of knife available! Of course it wasn't an ideally designed knife for this application, but it was certainly a better choice than a Model 1 with carbon steel!

And once again, there is the issue of using materials that were difficult at best, (if not nearly impossible) to acquire and were procured for use in the making of military items only by the War Production Board, coupled with Bo's involvement in the Civil Air Patrol and assisting any way possible with wartime efforts, I see no viable reason to doubt it's use for an unattended, but useful tool in the light of the situation at hand.

Of course, we are all familiar with the Model 16 which IS the best design for it's intended purpose, but the 16 wasn't to come about for nearly two more decades.

So, whatever anybody would like to call it, or think about it, is entirely up to them, which they certainly have the right to do. But in the meantime, I am entitled to my thoughts, like them or not, and not particularly swayed by being told by somebody "to stop it".

I don't call my Model 2-5" knives "letter openers" which they were named in 1950 either. lol

Thanks again Tom, for your interest in this extremely rare Randall knife! Most collectors will probably never see another one outside of the museum, and if they were to, it would be astonishing to find one any nicer, especially with the alligator sheath included!

TB

Bill, I understand your thoughts. Thanks. I suppose, at the end of the day, any knife can be a UDT knife or a fish & bar knife, if someone picks up any knife and starts using it.

Hopefully to put this to rest. I just got off the phone with Bob Gaddis and had a nice discussion about the Fish & Bar Knife. We discussed what he knows about the origins, quantity made, etc. , etc.

We also discussed the claim of UDT use and in his words, "that is total horses**t!", as only Bob can say it.

There you have it.

Thanks everybody for your kind replies. I'm very proud to own it!

Most everyone here has probably heard the expression that we don't own em, we just rent them for a while, or maybe something along the lines of us being stewards, or caretakers, preserving and protecting them for generations far past our own.

Having enthusiasm, taking time to read, to learn, to investigate, all work toward that stewardship. So, I applaud everyone's enthusiasm. Balancing fact with enthusiasm and observations makes for great conversations and perpetuates the hobby. That's alright!