Do "custom" Randalls exist?

[ron mathews]

Aside from Bo's early knives and the few that Gary made from time to time, there was a period of time that the vast majority of knives coming out of the shop were made by one man from forging to final polish. Some standard models and some made to customer specifications. After VJ day, the demand for Randalls fell off a cliff! Bo let all of his help go with the one exception of Bill Platt, an English cutler by trade. The situation got so bad that Bo was relegated to bringing in brass fixtures for Bill to polish when he was between knife orders (Gaddis). The knives that Bill produced by himself in the mid to late 40's exhibited some of the finest workmanship to ever come out of the shop. Here is an example of a Model 3 variant with a 7" wide blade:

Here's another mated to a "translucent" Heiser sheath:

Best,

 

[sams]

The older knives look soo graceful. Elegant lines.
I sure don't think there were individually Randall made knives after the old masters.

 

[Melvin-Purvis]

Define custom...

Ron, a few weeks back a fellow asked me how many of those wide blade knives exist - not knowing the answer to his question, I gave him your phone number. He was asking about a Model #4 IIRC...

 

[ron_m80]

The #4 was the one I was going to order next. Those long curves.......i like them. Function and grace.


I have loved the older grind lines since I opened sheldon's book. I can appreciate the new crisper lines but tbe old ones just grab your attention.

 

[ron mathews]

Define custom...

Ron, a few weeks back a fellow asked me how many of those wide blade knives exist - not knowing the answer to his question, I gave him your phone number. He was asking about a Model #4 IIRC...

Hey Shel,

IMO a Custom knife is one crafted by a qualified maker one at a time from start to finish to a customer's specification or in some instances to the makers own design.

To my knowledge there are no others like that Model 3 I posted a photo of. The width is an inch and a half. From maybe '47 through '50, Model 4's had a wider blade than any other era. From memory they got up to an inch and a quarter. I'll be happy to talk to the guy if he calls.

 

[drshame]

I think the answer has to be "Yes" since Randall will accept custom spec'd orders, within their own limitations.
Blade length, top sawtooth, handle material, spacers can usually be specified on many models.
Arguably, even the "standard" configurations can be considered "customs" since they are deigned and made exclusively one at a time by Randall.

The Model 17 comes to mind as an example.
It was custom-spc'd by Nasa and co-designed by the Mercury Astronauts.

Can't get more "custom " than that , imho.