There you have it. Thanks Cap.



Perhaps, but I can't say I have seen many "pre-war" Randalls period. Most war time knives that are re-handled were done out of necessity, as in a repair. it was not a cottage industry like it has become over the past several years, of other makers altering generally newer and perfectly good knives to make a "one of a kind Randall"

You of all people should know, and have told me that you want to get new guys involved in the hobby, so it is surprising you have such a lais sez faire attitude about altered knives. I will repeat for the third or fourth time in this thread, a new guy buys an altered/re-handled knife (predominately newer production) thinking it came from the shop that way is lost probably forever. Think about his first or second foray into the collecting world only to find out later the knife is not original, yet was purchased as such. Bad ju ju.

I don't have a problem with it as long as they are marked in some fashion. Some of the guys do great work and may enhance the appearance of a plain Jane Randall for the owner, but what I am saying is folks that are doing this work with Randall knives on a regular basis, and are making GOOD money doing so, should mark their work in some fashion. Maybe honor the "understanding" with the shop that was in place? That would insure there is no grey area for the new(er) guys.

The pre-war knife I referred to was one re-handled by Michael Johnson.

He had it t Blade Show in 2018. He offered it for sale, with full disclosure that he had re-handled the knife. I almost bought it... he did a great job.


Michael Johnson Knife

This modern era fad of rehandled Randall’s is anathema to the purist Randall collector. All inherent value is lost, period. It is certain a fellow collector will get burnt at some point, if not many. I, and most I knew, wouldn’t give these fantasy pieces a second thought.

It is amazing how few object to this. I suppose now that many of the old timers have died off, and we find ourselves in the “Age of the Common Man”, it is not really all that surprising.

Pinned stag Saturday, but on a Wednesday. LOL. Models #1 thru #8.

Willhunt

Beautiful, can’t say anything else.

Thank you Rod. Much appreciated.

yeah, that's pretty cool

Outstanding Stag!

Tom Flynn

Joe and Chris,

Checked under high magnification and no TL or TWL anywhere.

Tom Flynn

This is an interesting thread...

People routinely ask RMK whether certain knives were their work. When they were made. Etc. Having to deal with those requests must be bothersome, distracting. After all, they are in the business of making knives, not verifying history.

Yet RMK has been patient about it, and asked others like Pete, Perry, Grady, if they would do authentications to help the owners/collectors who had knives that maybe did not look like knives in the current catalogues.

Knives that were genuinely made by RMK as “one offs” or transitional or set up in ways not considered to be standard are at times questioned by knowledgeable people who did not have the benefit of knowing for sure and did not have the personal experience of being involved in making them.

Even folks at RMK might not know for sure…Institutional memory fades with time, and not everybody remembers everything even if they are still there when a question is raised.

This Forum has had a lot of conversations along these lines…sometimes heated, almost always informative. (How many stiches to the inch or what about the color of thread on this sheath? Why this sheath stamp in this orientation? What about this spacer setup? How about this Model X with a blade that does not look like a Model X?)

Most people who like knives have ideas about design, parts and pieces, etc. If we must have knives that satisfy these urges, and we want a Randall, we can work with RMK within the bounds of their production and get a perfectly suitable knife.

Otherwise, we can have another maker put their own brand on a knife that matches our wishes.

I guess I fall on the side of keeping the real thing real. If a Randall knife needs work, have RMK do whatever is needed to keep it functional but avoid having outsiders modify it to an extent that it could be confused as a rare example that never went into the catalogues.

Otherwise…those suspected “rare examples” might be brought to RMK for authentication at some time in the future.

It is likely that said rare examples will have been bought at a premium because somebody told the buyer a “story” that turns out to be just too good to be true.

(By the way, it is not just RMKs that fall into this situation. Consider efforts to authenticate Jim Bowie’s actual knife. A number of said knives have been laboriously “authenticated” over the years! And owners of those “authenticated” knives have strained to justify their purchases, motivated by zeal, by the urge to protect their investment, and/or the anticipation of profit when they sell them.)

Larry