Originally posted by marsupial
I have carried and owned lots of Randalls over the years and they are great knives,but in my opinion they are outdated in materials and heat tretment.They are treated good but many of the newer knives are cryoed and this makes a definite difference in edge holding.The greatest advantage Randalls have is their edge though.The edge on a Randall cuts better than most of the customs out there.A very fine edge just cuts better.All that said I would still go out bush with one on my side any day.
me: I gave up on getting a Randall a year ago. Other than the collecters being on a waiting list, it is backlogged because all the dealers get first dibs and they order way in advance of an individual buyer. It's first come first served at the Randall factory. Even for the money, there quite possibly is better out there. I think that the general consensus of the knives being more mystique and legend rather than any real world hard use applies for nowadays. From what I can tell, any Randall that is acquired is either a piece in a collection or put into a safety deposit box right away. It will not see any use in it's lifetime of existance. Since nobody seems to use them, there is no comparative standard to other knives of late. It's like the people who "buy" the real swords made by old swordmakers in Japan. There isn't going to be much "using" of them when they range from $7000 - $15000 in price. They are an investment.
A forumite turned me onto knives made in the original John Ek tradition. If anybody is going to talk about mystique and legend, the Eks are it. The great thing is that these are affordable and acquirable. Versus the Randalls having a four year wait, Ek has a four to six week wait even if you go for some custom work. True, they have evolved from their original design to something more modern although John Ek approved it's whole evolution before he subcontracted out his work to Blackjack like Randall and others did. Ek still sells a ton of knives and they seem to have even gotten more reclusive than Randall with their accessibility ( they have no e-mail address! ). It doesn't seem to hurt them because I think they get inundated with phone calls hence the use of voice mail with their pleasant female PR person. The focus on making good knives versus mass production shows in their work. I speculate and have a feeling that with them doing stock removal, it speeds up the process. With Randall, I understand their knives are not made this way and this might contribute to the lengthy process and the appealing individual quality of the custom work.
Anyways, I would be interested in finding out if anybody uses their Randalls HARD and if they are comparable to some of the modern knives. Maybe it might change my mind to be put on the notorious Randall waiting list.
Addendum: Bark River Knives have come out with a line that looks very much like a Randall. I think the company is a legacy of Blackjack.
http://www.agrussell.com/barkriver/index.html
Has anybody had a chance to make a comparison to Randall and other knives of this style? How do they compare to Fallkniven or even the Cold Steel R1s? I would imagine that more and more modern tech is being put into making these knives, hence the faster turnaround time. Does it affect quality? I would be very interested to know.
This reminds me of the debate of the Acura NSX versus Ferrari / Lamborghini / Porsche. Interesting...
I would really like either a small hunter or a 6" #25, leather handles please. But they would be used, abused and treated like the fine knife they are and then passed down to the next generation as "Grandpa's old Randall". Personally, aside from some of the collectible older ones, I think they deserve to be used more than just looked at. IMO, a well maintained user has much more appeal than a pristine model. They are still a fine knife by any means and will serve you well if you let them.
) carry striders...
