Early WWII Hunter

R

ron mathews

Joined
Feb 11, 2003
Messages
379
According to Gaddis (Pg 71) "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"

IMHO over the next ~ 21 months the blade grind evolved in three stages to get to what is recognizable today as the Model 3 Hunter.

The earliest of these WWII Hunters had a double upswept spine and a stepped choil. The next iteration was the most "Scagelesque" in appearance with a single upsweep and a rudimentary choil. The final WWII product had a "hump" coming off the hilt and a conventional choil.

This one walked up to my table at Blade this year. It is the earliest variety. The seller had picked it up off of e-bay 10 years earlier advertised as an old Little Bear Bowie. That seller in turn had picked it up at a garage sale in Sanford, Fla. from an older gentleman. It's far from pristine, but given it's rarity that can be easily overlooked. I hope you enjoy.

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Best,
 
"Rarity" is almost the wrong word. That's a super-nice find, Ron. I'm jealous.
 
Hi Dingy,

I see your green light on. You're up pretty late tonight! I got her at a big knife show in Atlanta, Ga. that is held every year. Where in China do you live? Are there any Randalls in China?

Best,
 
man, i live in Shenyang ,liaoning provence , north east china , the climate here , like southern Canada.

Randall knives are famous all over the world, but on my local forums few people have ,some even never hear of the name of Randall.


i love those high quality knives , especially those forged carbon steel ones.

dingy
 
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Spectacular!

Thanks for posting the photos and the story. Makes you wonder what else might be laying around in some Central Florida garage, tool shed or tacklebox.
 
Dingy: Thanks for your answers. It seems a good knife can bring people everywhere together.

Trailing Point: My pleasure. Yeah, sometimes I do wonder what Randall treasures are still waiting to surface. The more that do the fewer that remain, but there are still plenty out there.

I have a buddy working on this 3-7 and 4-7 right now:

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A gentleman in his 80's bought them new in 1947 and never used them. Really early use of ivory and nickel silver. The guy has seen and done just about everything and doesn't need the $. Just wants to make sure they have a good home. It's going to take a while if it does happen. That's OK. My buddy's patient.

Best,
 
Ron, those are some nice examples of early pinned ivory. Love the patina. Ron, you really need to tell people the truth as to how you are aquiring those early model 3's. I know you have a time machine that you use to go back and buy them new from Bo himself. You then stash them close to where you live, then come back to the present time and then claim to "purchase" said vintage knives at that hugh knife show in Atlanta and then post them here:D Making all of us Randallholics drool.

Dan in Kalifornia
 
bladerunner67 said:
Ron, those are some nice examples of early pinned ivory. Love the patina. Ron, you really need to tell people the truth as to how you are aquiring those early model 3's. I know you have a time machine that you use to go back and buy them new from Bo himself. You then stash them close to where you live, then come back to the present time and then claim to "purchase" said vintage knives at that hugh knife show in Atlanta and then post them here:D Making all of us Randallholics drool.

Dan in Kalifornia
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Dan,

I can't believe you outed me in public! Yes, my Great Uncle HG bequeathed his TM to me. Problem is that it needs a tune up and I can't find a qualified shop. Sometimes the damned thing sends me back to 1,000,000 BC when I set it for 1939! I quickly look around for Raquel Welch and then haul ass back. I also keep forgetting to bring RenWax with me. :mad:

Best,
 
Ron, sorry about that. But I didn't want your head to swell too much with all the praise and congratulations you were receiving for posting another outstanding vintage Randall:D If you want, I could come over and give your "way back" machine a tune-up. My dad left me these awesome set of tools that I just know will work. Of course I'm going to have to take it for a test spin, just to make sure everything is working correctly. :D

Dan
 
Dan: I'll take you up on that tuneup, and you can count on taking that first test spin. Not that I don't trust your mechanical abilities, but it wouldn't be good to turn up before the earth was formed :(

Tom: Good one, but we were both having a bad hair day :D

Took another trip last night and dug this one up this morning:

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This is the 2nd iteration that is so "Scagelesque" in appearance.

Best,
 
Ron, there you go again. Showing off another beautiful vintage Randall. Did you say hi to Bo for me this time like you said you would? Plus, showing off your vocabulary alittle there? "Scagelesque" You have to watch those large words around Randall people, someone might think you are trying to show us up:D

Dan
 
Bo remembered you were gay. I didn't correct him as I didn't know for sure :D

I know like three 25 cent words. I use one of them and I get my balls busted! What a crowd :D:D

Best,

PS: Thanks!
 
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If I wrote the dictionary, "Scagelesque" would definitely be in there. But it isn't, so that doesn't count as a fancy word.

Agree that the blade's Scagelesque. The handle, not so much.
 
Bo only thought I was gay because he once handed me a pinned ivory handled model 2-8 that while I was holding and admiring it he thought I was stroking it. Of course me saying: My precious, my precious probably didn't help:D I guess Bo wasn't a Tolkeim fan.

Dan
 
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