Thanks to all who have participated thus far.

From Randall Made Knives: The History of the Man and the Blades, by Robert L. Gaddis, p. 230

Quote:

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It was originated by one of the shop craftsmen who was an avid hunter, plus a do-it-yourself taxidermist with his own ideas about how skinning knives should be designed and constructed. He also happened to be working in just the right place at the time, so he proceeded to make a knife to his own specifications.

Working before and after normal shop hours to do so, he came up with a blade that combined a raised point, generous width, well-rounded belly, and long bevel from back to cutting edge. And he did this with a forging that started as a thin, 3/16-inch-thick piece of stainless steel. He contoured his Micarta handle with a slight swelling in the middle, but not as much as a commando handle. He chose nickel silver for the hilt and gave the aluminum butt cap a shape like that used on Tommy Thompson's March 1952 Alaskan Skinner. In fact the whole handle configuration of this new knife bore a striking resemblance to Tommy's sketch....

This new, unusual design worked out just fine, with both Bo and Gary liking the results, so they decided to have the shop make a few for both trial and sale over the counter there at the knifeshop. It soon became known as the Model 22 Outdoorsman and was added to the Randall line with the twenty-first printing of the catalog in April 1971....

Gary Randall used one of these knives for a number of years and liked it quite a bit. Both he and Pete Hamilton stressed that it is a knife for fine skinning and that the very thin bevel will chip at the cutting edge if the user is careless enough to cut into bone. When used with care by a professional guide or skilled hunter, it delivers excellent results, as Gary can attest to.

This is one of the most unusual knives in the Randall catalog. One can see traces of the Model 3 Hunter, Model 4 Big Game, and Model 20 Yukon Skinner in its blade, yet it is obviously not just a modification of any of these models. With a handle similar to Tommy Thompson's early knife, it introduced the crow's-beak butt cap into the Randall line, along with a thin blade of stainless steel. All in all, it is a unique knife, and Gary said in December 1991 that he had no plans to make any changes to it.

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Lady and gentleman, may we please see some Model 22s?

Kevin

OK, I'll start it off... Here's a 22 that I bought form an individual, not ordered through the the shop.
~dale

Thanks for posting Dale.
You apparently have the only Model 22 in existence.
Kevin

This must be the only Marron Micarta 22 in the world.

Cool knife Charlie

Here's ours, a 1970/71 vintage pre-production pinned pommel variant...



Good stuff

Very Nice Sheldon and Dale
Sheldon, Is that Micarta?

Collector interest is just not there with these 22's. Is it the lack of the 1/4 inch blade stock for such a large Knife? Lack of available options? I saw a nice newer model in stag but it did not have the crows beek which to me is a must. Sheldon, Is it my eyes or does that have the later period spacer configuration. 3 thick 2 thin?? Maybe an interesting story??

Charlie, yes, it's black Micarta. Some models seem to be more popular than others, the Model #22 is apparently not one of the popular models.

Andy Thornal Company, a (former?) RMK authorized dealer, often used 'just' black & white spacers - Denmark Sporting Goods, a past authorized RMK dealer, often used 'just' red and white spacers. The spacer configurations outlined above were very common with Randall knives sold thru these two dealers during the 1970's.

Hope that helps

Are they all the same thickness appx?

Charlie, with several spacer configurations used during the 1970's, I'd say the spacer thickness was probably relative to the standard spacer configuration in use at any given time...

I haven't ever seen a Thornal or Denmark two-color spacer stack knife with more than five spacers, although there may be some seven spacer versions too; on this particular knife, the three black spacers are medium thickness, the two whites are thinner...

Thanks Sheldon, good information to have.