Anxiety: How I Spent A Grand

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VorpelSword

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Anxiety: How I spent a Grand on cutlery.

Back in 1997, our 17-year-old son decided to join the Marines. As parents, we wanted a different, "safe" future for him. Being a US Marine is an honorable, positive thing, but thinking about it kept me awake a few nights.

Several veterans of Korea and Viet Nam at our church managed to talk our son out of enlisting right out of High School. Instead, he got an academic scholarship from the Marines and went to Texas A&M University, Corps of Cadets and ROTC and Marine Corps on graduation day. He was going to be a Marine one way or another.

At the beginning of his freshman year, it was evident that he would actually go in as a marine Lieutenant on graduation: I contacted Randall Made Knives and ordered a #16-1 "Special Fighter". Cost was $250 and delivery was TFOUR YEARS! Well K-RAP! Not gonna be a graduation gift. Then 9/11 happened and life got real. Talk about anxiety.

During all the festivities at his graduation in 2002, I quietly gave him a New Model K-Bar ( 7" D-2 blade, plastic handle). The Randall was still over 18 months off.

He had done OCS during his last summer at A&M so he went right to The officer's Basic School (TBS) eventually entering a training cycle as a Platoon leader in Light Armored Reconnaissance (3Rd LAR) at 29 Palms.

Early in 2004 his unit was in a serious taring work-up for deployment to Iraq. Delivery of the Randall was still a way off. I got him a Leatherman Wave, and a bit later a CRKT-M-21 utility folder. Then the Brigade Quartermaster catalog showed a production model of the Darrel Ralph designed "Mad Maxx" folding dagger ( 5.5 inchD-2 blade and Titanium handle) for $125. Jumped on that.

Somewhere along the way I added up what had been spent on cutting tools and realized that it was nearing $1,000! Another realization was that there was no amount of money or gear that I could buy that would assuage the anxiety that I felt knowing that the 3Rd LAR and our son were going into what we saw on TV every night.

Well the Randall knife finally did come and it was beautiful; mirror-polished 7" stainless blade, nickel hilt, black border patrol handle and with the waxed black leather sheath. Got a serious combat sheath ("jump qualified") for it too. Gave it to him when we visited that summer. We left and they began a series of live fire field exercises prior to deployment in the fall.

"They" (don't really know who) wouldn't let him go into the field with the Randall! The mirror finish would flashes of flash glint visible miles away in the desert. That wouldn't be allowed. I freaked! Then found a Chris Reeve Green Beret at a local gun store here in Houston . . .and paid a premium over MSRP. Shipped it ASAP.

OK, now it was over a grand.

Got the Randall knife back from 29 Palms and contacted Randall Made Knives. Thought they would help me out with an anti-glint matt finish. No such luck. After several e-mails and actually calling over there, it was evident that they had no interest in any sort of custom modification at any price.

Couldn't believe it. The Randall legend was built on getting a quality fighting knife into the hands of American warriors at the point of the spear. They were telling me that not only did the current stock fighting Knife not meet the needs of our troops, but they at Randall Made had no interest in offering any low-glint option.

It ends well though. A local gunsmith listened patiently and said he could fix the glint problem.. Two days later he showed me the knife, perfect in every way, with all metal surfaces bead-blasted to a uniform flat grey. Wouldn't take my money either. That knife did go to Iraq and was used daily, often "outside the wire", worn as a belt knife or mounted to a plate carrier. I am told that it works really well for opening up MREs and to point out important things on a map table.

That was a long time ago. Our son made Captain and made other deployments. Significantly, he took the Chris Reeve Green Beret, but left the Randall at home!

He is out now doing other things, married with two kids and a cat . . . and I can sleep all the night through.
 
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Thanks for sharing! Great story, and glad your son was safe on his deployments!
It is certainly tough on family...
my younger brother serves with the Canadian Forces, started with the Navy when he was at university, just became an MP couple months back...thankfully he's posted in Ottawa (capital)...Over the years i too have gifted him a few knives, they don't add up any where near the $1,000 mark though...lol
 
Thanks for sharing that story! Love hearing those, especially ones with happy endings! I can relate in many ways as my son graduated from the USNA class of 2007 and I bought him a certain handgun he always wanted. Thanks again for sharing.

Mike
 
VorpelSword said:
Anxiety: How I spent a Grand on cutlery.

Back in 1997, our 17 year old son decided to join the Marines. As parents, we wanted a different—"safe"—future for him. Being a US Marine is an honorable, positive thing, but thinking about it kept me awake a few nights.

Several veterans of Korea and Viet Nam at our church managed tp talk our son out of enlisting in the right out of High School. Instead, he got an academic scholarship from the Marines and went to Texas A&M University; Corps of Cadets and ROTC and Marine Corps on graduation day. He was going to be a Marine one way or another.

At the beginning of his Junior year it was evident that he would actually go in as a marine Lieutenant on graduation: I contacted Randall Knives and ordered a #16-1 "Special Fighter". Cost was $350 and delivery was—Three Years! Well K-RAP! Not gonna be a graduation gift. Then 9/11 happened and life got real. Talk about anxiety.

During all the festivities at his graduation in 2002, , I quietly gave him a New Model K-Bar ( 7" D-2 blade, plastic handle). The Randall was still over 18 months off.

He had done OCS during his last summer at A&M so he went right to The officer's Basic School (TBS) eventually entering a training cycle as a Platoon leader in Light Armored Reconassance (3Rd LAR) at 29 Palms.

Early in 2004 his unit was in a serious traing work-up for deployment to Iraq. Delivery of the Randall was still a way off. I got him a Leatherman Wave, and a bit later CRKT-M-21 utility folder. Then the Brigade Quartermaster catalog showed a production model of the Darrel Ralph designed Mad Maxx folding dagger ( 5.5 inchD-2 blade and Titanium handle) for $125. Jumped on that.

Somewhere along the way I added up what had been spent on cutting tools and realized that it was nearing $1,000! Another realization was that there was no amount of money or gear that I could buy that would assuage the anxiety that I felt knowing that the 3Rd LAR and our son were going into what we saw on TV every night.

Well the Randall knife finally did come and it was beautiful; mirror-polished 7" stainless blade, nickel hilt, black border patrol handle—and with the special black leather sheath. Got a serious combat sheath ("jump qualified") for it too. Gave it to him when we visited that summer. We left and they began a series of field exercises prior to deployment a bit later.

"They" (don't really know who) wouldn't let him go into the field with the Randall! The mirror finish would flashes of flash glint visible miles away in the desert. That wouldn't be allowed. I freaked and found a Chris Reeve Green Beret at a local gun store here in Houston . . .and paid a premium over MSRP. Shipped it ASAP.

OK—now it was over 1K.

Got the Randall knife back from 29 Palms and contacted Randall Knives. Thought they would help me out with an anti-glint matt finish. No such luck. After several e-mails and actually calling over there, it was evident that they had no interest in any sort of custom modification at any price.

Couldn't believe it. The Randall legend was built on getting a quality fighting knife into the hands of American warriors at the point of the spear. They were telling me that not only did the current stock fighting kife not meet the needs of our troops, but they at Randall Made had no interest in offering any low-glint option.

It ends well though. A local gunsmith listened patiently and said he could fix the glint problem.. Two days later he showed me the knife, perfect in every way, with all metal surfaces bead-blasted to a uniform flat grey. Wouldn't take my money either. That knife did go to Iraq and was used daily, often "outside the wire". worn as a belt knife or mounted to a plate carrier. I am told that it works really well for opening up MREs and to point out important things on a map table. The Cris Reeve knife was lost in-theater.

That was a long time ago. Our son made Captain and had a heavy weapons infantry company for another deployment. He is out now doing other things and I can sleep all the night through. The knives stay in a closet.
Click to expand...

Good story. Disappointing about Randall but not surprised.
 
It is obvious that you love your son very very much. Glad you can sleep easier now.
 
"worry". Comes with the territory of being a parent.

We thank your son for his service to our country.

And we thank you for sharing that.
 
Good story. Thank you. It's really nice when it turns out well.
I had two sons in the military. One spent many yrs in Iraq, Turkey, Germany. Worried a lot. Both sons got out fine after about ten yrs each. Now busy with other things also.
Very surprised about Randall. Who woulda thunk?
 
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knarfeng said:
"worry". Comes with the territory of being a parent.

We thank your son for his service to our country.

And we thank you for sharing that.
Click to expand...

I'll mirror this post.

Speaking of mirror, I wonder who it was in his unit that was concerned about a flash from a Randall giving away the position of a LAV-25. Interesting.
 
Thanks to all for your kind words.

As to who disallowed the Randall knife in the field? My understanding was that the training staff at 29 Palms gave it a down-check. After the bead blasting modification, it was acceptable.

Over twelve years later it is late to complain and expect any accomodation or fix. I do not. Yet I am still surprised that no-one at Randall Made had any interest in helping out with this. Anything would have been acceptable. They could have done it in-house or jobed it out as a factory/OEM modification. I offered to pay whatever it cost. They could have recommended an outside shop and facilitated my contact. I explained that this was for an active duty Marine going in-country. They gave me nothing but disinterest.

Moving on: The Darrel Ralph designed folding dagger was produced by Camillus as thie "Cuda Maxx" and hit the market in 2003 I think. There had been some buzz in the knife-press earlier and it looked wicked. Bought one of the first production run knives out of the Brigade Quartermaster catalog("Action Gear") right away. The Darrel Ralph produced "Mad Maxx" version had blades of S30V wiith titanium scales inlade with exotic materials for over $1,000. The Camilus produced version that I bought had a 5.5 inch double edge or bayonet profile blade from D-2 steel (still pretty good) and plain titanium scales for a tenth of that at introduction.

Now that is a big pocket knife and it can easily be opened one-handed. There is no way to argue that it is not in the category of " dagger, dirk or stiletto". Not a knife-law guy, but I cannot imagine this item being considered legal to use by a civilian in any jurisdiction. There may be some special case, but I think that is pretty much true. Our son is now a regular 30-something guy, married with two kids and a dog (really). He feels that this item is a potential liability at home and is thinking of selling it off. Please PM me with any advice on the best way to find it a good home.
 
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VorpelSword said:
Back in 1997, our 17 year old son decided to join the Marines.

At the beginning of his Junior year it was evident that he would actually go in as a marine Lieutenant on graduation: I contacted Randall Knives and ordered a #16-1 "Special Fighter". .....

It ends well though. A local gunsmith listened patiently and said he could fix the glint problem.. Two days later he showed me the knife, perfect in every way, with all metal surfaces bead-blasted to a uniform flat grey. Wouldn't take my money either. That knife did go to Iraq and was used daily, often "outside the wire". worn as a belt knife or mounted to a plate carrier. I am told that it works really well for opening up MREs and to point out important things on a map table......

That was a long time ago. Our son made Captain and had a heavy weapons infantry company for another deployment. He is out now doing other things and I can sleep all the night through. The knives stay in a closet.
Click to expand...

I got a Special Fighter back around that time in the same price range. Rather than order directly, I bought it at the Blade Show. It was the epitome of what a fighting knife should be to me at the time.

Great story and now, 15 years later the knives stays in the closet. A typical story, He can give it to one of his sons if the time comes and the journey continues.
 
This is not the first time I have read such accounts of Randal knives
Looks like the stayed with the technology and mindset from WW2 and didn't move on
Surfing on ancient history
 
Revolverrodger said:
This is not the first time I have read such accounts of Randal knives
Looks like the stayed with the technology and mindset from WW2 and didn't move on
Surfing on ancient history
Click to expand...


Our son carried both of them at one time or another, and the folding dagger too. Having myself held both the Chris Reeve Green Beret knife and the Randall #16-1 Special Fighter, I feel that while the Randall looks great and has cachet, the Reeve knife is a tougher tool for any warfighter in a combat zone. Anacdotally, Our son tells of hacking through thick Plexiglas with the Reeve knife and other rough usage that would have badly damaged the Randall.

Randall Made will not specify just what steel is used, and cautions against "improper usage". The Reeve was made with a high alloy S30V steel. Current production is S35V I think. They offer a service to refinish a used blades. Interestingly, Randall specifically markets the #1 and the #16-1 as fighting knives, while Reeve markets the Green Beret as a utility knife. Every middle and high-end maker of knives that are intended for military use offers some sort of dull finish. That some method of anti glint is not offered by Randall kinda bothers me—still.

And the Camillus Cuda Maxx? Now out of uniform, with two kids and a dog, he feels that a 5 1/2 inch gut-ripping throat cutter pocket dagger is a liability at home. He would like to sell it off. What is the best way to do that?
 
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VorpelSword said:
Our son carried both of them at one time or another, and the folding dagger too. Having myself held both the Chris Reeve Green Beret knife and the Randall #16-1 Special Fighter, I feel that while the Randall looks great and has cachet, the Reeve knife is a tougher tool for any warfighter in a combat zone. Anacdotally, Our son tells of hacking through thick Plexiglas with the Reeve knife and other rough usage that would have badly damaged the Randall.

Randall Made will not specify just what steel is used, and cautions against "improper usage". The Reeve was made with a high alloy S30V steel. Current production is S35V I think. They offer a service to refinish a used blades. Interestingly, Randall specifically markets the #1 and the #16-1 as fighting knives, while Reeve markets the Green Beret as a utility knife. Every middle and high-end maker of knives that are intended for military use offers some sort of dull finish. That some method of anti glint is not offered by Randall kinda bothers me—still.

And the Camillus Cuda Maxx? Now out of uniform, with two kids and a dog, he feels that a 5 1/2 inch gut-ripping throat cutter pocket dagger is a liability at home. He would like to sell it off. What is the best way to do that?
Click to expand...

The way to sell it here would be to list it on the exchange, but you'll need to purchase at least a gold membership before you do that.
 
Knives asides what matters is your boy survived deployments. That's the happy ending of a story on knives lost and maker disappointments etc.

Thanks for sharing.
 
I don't see the finish on the M16-1 all that significant relative to your son and his military service. If it mattered, he could have easily forced a patina onto the blade or painted it. He didn't.

Randall does not use mystery steel. Stainless Randall knives back during that time were made in 440B as I recall.

Sounds like your son is going to be a lifer in the Marines. Good for him. He must do some things right to have made it this far inside the military framework.

As for the present use of the knife, I don't see it as a big deal. But it is a fighter and some people don't want that kind of a knife around their family. It certainly reminds others just what marines are trained to do. Personally, I'd just keep it in a safe place and not worry about it one way or the other.
 
Hexenjager: thanks.

JB Monkey: How right you are.

22rimfire: I had a local gunsmith bead-blast the Randall fighter to a nice flat grey . . .worked. Our son has been out since maybe 2010; married with two kids and a dog. The Randall will eventually go into a display case along with the Reeve Green Beret, his Marine Saber and an A&M Saber.

The knife he needs to move on is a Camilus Cuda Maxx. That is a 5.5 inch Bayonet profile double edged folding dagger. II don't have dep knowledge of this stuff, but my impression is that this constitutes a prohibited weapon in any context other than a locked display case. With a six year old boy in the house and the potential over the next fifteen years or so for visiting frriends to be irresponsible is his worry. The potential to out-place it in exchange for hundreds of dollars puts it on the free-agent list.

Nothing hystical about it. Mostly, he just wants to manage hundreds of dollars that are off-budget.

Probably won't sell off any other cutlery . . .Where can I read about Gold Membership?
 
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Laws on dagger carry are on a state by state basis. Here in TN they are legal. Where they are illegal to carry, they are legal to own. I don't see a lot of point if buying a bunch of double edged knives unless you're a collector or they are legal to carry. I am far too lazy to pay really close attention to knife laws considering that I frequent TN, GA, KY, and AL, and occasionally the Carolina's. Hence I choose not to carry such a knife.
 
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