Here is Rhett's writeup on the knife in Issue 15 of the RKS Newsletter dated August, 1992:
THE ARY TENDON CUTTER: GADDIS / STIDHAM
Last fall I was fortunate enough to buy an "Ary Tendon Cutter" from the collection of the late Dave Young of Onsted, Michigan. He and his wife Dee ran a gun and knife shop on Route US 12 there. Fellow member Dee still runs the business and it would be worth a stop for you since she usually has several Randalls and custom knives on hand.
I saw this knife first in the old Argosy article called "King of the Wild Knives" by George X. Sands. Mr. Sands called the knife a "knee-duster" and it was said to be made for an American in the Far East to slash through opponents knee tendons.
I next saw this knife in Ken Warners Knives 88 on page 12. The article by Warner himself is a 50-year tribute to Bo Randall. Steve Alexander of Ramrod Knife and Gun of New Castle, Indiana holds the knife. The picture caption reads, Made to suit a USAF survival instructor, this Randall brush knife was never made a regular model.
Bob Gaddis usually asks me what I have found in the way of Randalls and I started telling him about this weird knife that I had just purchased. Bob says, "thats funny, I ran across the shop records on that knife on one of my trips to Orlando. Thats an Ary Tendon Cutter". Well I told Bob you fellow members would sure like to hear the REST OF THE STORY. So here it is:
GADDIS: From the notations, in Bos hand writing, on the original sketch of this most unusual knife we learn that the originator was a Lieutenant Jas. A. Ary from nearby Pine Castle Air Force Base. On March 30, 1958 Lt. Ary came to the Randall knife shop, which was then next to Bo and Ruths home at 220 Ivanhoe in Orlando. He came to find if they could and would make a special combat knife of his own design. He either brought the still existing sketch with him, or made it while at the shop. This was to be a large knife with a 9-inch long blade, 1-3/4 inches wide and 1/4 inch through at the thickest portion. The most unusual part of the design was the blade shape. It didnt have any kind of a point for stabbing. This was to be strictly a slashing knife, with its long and heavy blade down swept at the front part, something like a pruning knife.
Bo and I talked briefly about the specimen of this special order knife in the Randall museum, during both my visits of November 1985 and October 1986. Lieutenant Ary had made a lasting impression on Bo back in 1958, and he remembered him quite well, especially for only having met him on one or two brief occasions. Bo said that the good Lieutenant was a full-blooded American Indian, an Apache he thought, and that he and his brother had perfected a unique method of knife fighting. He said that they had practiced it from the time they were kids. As Bo told it: "...his method was to kind of back off, maybe get the other guy to look up, then take a running dive at his opponent, go sliding by either his right or left side and give him a back hand slash into the knee tendons as he went by, which would catch the guy off guard completely. This special knife was designed for holding in either hand and cutting the tendons of the opponent as you went diving by. Ary swore that was the way he and his brother found was most effective. Ive never known of any knife combat book that suggests that (method). You read about throwing dirt and dust into your opponent's eyes and that stuff.
Bo only remembered making the knife, which Lt. Ary picked up at the shop on May 6, 1958, plus the one in the museum. The museum knife is most probably the first one, but as Bo remarked while looking at it: We wouldnt dare give that to the customer because it had a forging flaw. This flaw is visible even in the photograph.
The shop sketch shows the knife was ordered with no sheath and Lieutenant Arys cost was $24.00. //////// Gaddis-Stidham
Best,
