What does a Randall #1 go for these days? I met a guy at last gun show that told me Randalls son is now making his knives. Anyone have the sons knife? If so, opinion of the knife?
Respectfully, you are dead wrong. Randalls are not blanked on a machine. Never have been and likely never will be. They are hand forged from a piece of either O-1 or stainless......... Randall's are what are referred to as bench-made knives these days. The blades are blanked on machines, and then ground and completed by hand. Randall has a number of employees who specialize in different aspects of the finishing, some do handles, some do polishing, etc. The days when you could count on getting a Randall knife actually made by a Randall, start to finish, have been gone since the late 60s, it was the only way to keep up with the demand.
The other Models not forged are the Model 24 Guardian and Model 9 Pro-Thrower, as well as the Model 10s of various length, all of this stated plainly in their catalog.....currently i believe the Guardian is ATS-34, the others being 440C-range......i say "range" as when talking to Gary and inquiring about whether they used variously quoted 440B or 440C for the big knives, he replied it would depend on what that particular lot essayed at.....high carbon 440B blends into the 440C range, and visa versa.....i would expect from that comment they order their steel in a carbon content range that straddles the arbitrary division between B and C.....not being a shop insider, this is hypothesis....but it would make sense when trying for that best balance between hardness and toughness...The only type that is cut and ground from flat stock is the Model 10 Saltwater Fisherman. These used to be "in stock" knives at Randall, but now they are 60 months like all Randall knives.
All the other more famous models are forged. I have both types but my saltwater fishing models get the most use.
Nice knives, but the leather washers on my #3 got all twisted and out of alignment after some hard use. I was able to massage them back into place, but basically you can't beat on the butt if you have that handle. That's why I decided to change my custom order to a micarta handle.Stacked leather handles are the way to go for a user knife. Gutting a deer you'll get blood on your hands and on the handle. Stag or any type of synthetic material gets slick when wet. But the leather handle just gets tacky and sticky when wet and will not slip out of your hands. All of my Randall users have a leather handle.