Wonderful 3's Edo thanks for sharing them with us.
Kevin

I picked this one up at the Blade show in June. Interestingly enough, it was not brought to the show to be sold. The gentleman was carrying it as a user! It took me pretty much the whole show to talk him out of it, but in the end we both parted happy campers.



Until then I had never seen any WWII Hunter come as close to the one Mr. Gaddis describes as "mid 1944" on page 68 of his book. Note the abbreviated choil, extended top quillion, small ricasso and "Scagelesque" blade grind.



I had yet another (Hunter) surprise in store for me at the show: Going back to Kevin's introduction of the Model 3:

Quote:

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From Randall Made Knives: The History of the Man and the Blades by Robert L. Gaddis, pg. 71

Quote:

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In November 1943, Bo decided to redesign one of his Scagel-style hunting knives to use the same hilt, handle, and butt cap as his fighters. The blade shape was similar to the number 9 style shown in the first catalog. This in turn was a direct descendant of the original knife made from his sketch of Litch Steinman's William Scagel hunter. The blade width, tang shape, and length of this new hunter were the same as those of his fighting knives. This allowed use of the rough hilt, leather disks, vulcanized fiber spacers, and aluminum butt cap that went onto the Fighter or Stiletto. The top quillion was removed from the hilt before finishing the handle to basically the same size and shape as the Fighter. Randall Knives now had a hunting knife that could be fabricated right along with the two combat types without disrupting the flow of orders from servicemen. Bo called this new model simply 'The Hunter.'

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Thus was born today's Model 3.

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Mr. Gaddis brought a photo copy from the Randall files that had never been published: It was again of the 1st three models similar to the photo on page 68, but it was taken late in 1943. This Hunter had a WRIST THONG LINK and an ever more rudimentary blade grind! Makes you wonder how many of these were made and where they are now. I hope I live long enough to see one show up

Great stuff !!!

Thanks, as always for the contribution.

Dubie

Ron,
That's a great find! You mentioned the guy was carrying it as a user, so evidently it had a sheath with it? What does the sheath look like?
~dale

Thanks, Dubie!

Dale: Good question and another interesting part of the story. The gentleman had picked up the knife a number of year before without a sheath. He had cut out the back pocket of a pair of Levis, wrapped the blade in that and then just stuck that "package" in the back pocket of the pair of Levis he was wearing! As luck would have it I had picked up a period sheath a couple of months earlier: An e-bay seller had put up a mismatched WWII Hunter with a 5 5/8" blade and a sheath accomodating a 7" blade. Although he put photos of both the knife and sheath in each auction he was selling the knife and sheath separately. I got the sheath but not the knife:



The sheath was the earliest Heiser I had ever seen made for a Hunter. Only these very earliest Heiser sheaths did not have the "edge trimming" around the stone pocket flap and the other unsewn edges including the retainer strap. You can see a few of these in Hunt's books. This one also has oversized painted buttons and is set up for right side carry ("Edge down" carry as Mr. Gaddis would say") which is unusual for a pre 'mid '46 Heiser sheath). In any event I would be hard pressed to find a better fit.

Oops. I forgot about this Model #3-5. Can I show it even though it got all scratched up? Must have happened in the safe when Rick Bowles and David Perdue snuck into the house while I was away. Those pesky fellas. Happened a while ago though.









Regards, Doug

Ron,
What a great knife and story. So much character in the blade. Thanks for sharing with us.
Kevin

Doug,
Those merry pranksters. Putting all those scratches on your knife whilst you were gone.
We all feel your pain.
Maybe we could have a scratch and dent thread.
Thanks for sharing.
Kevin

Grazie Kevin!
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Doug, Cape Hatteras?

Edo, That was a picture taken before the lighthouse was moved. Now it is 1600 feet away from the water.

Dubie