Interesting reflections on the durability of a Randall. Heres my personal experience with a Randall model 14 which I carried/used on two infantry tours in Vietnam in the late 60s. My Randall hung from my web gear, went everywhere I went , and got frequent use. I used it to clear brush, to cut litter poles, to cut metal bands & pry open wooden boxes, to cut cable/wire, dig in the ground for buried caches and to slash VC equipment and hootches we wanted to destroy. It got pretty hard use. It never failed me. It does now have a light set of rust pits and a few dings in the blade which I cant easily work out. Gives it character. It turned out to be pretty well designed for what I needed. I bought a standard Randall m-14 with carbon steel blade, micarta handle, brass guard, but with the addition of saw teeth on top, making the point a spear point instead of a clip point as on the standard m-14 design . Cost me $35 (1967) and took about a year to get it from the Randall factory. They were real busy turning out knives for people like me. Replaced an older K-Bar which simply was not sturdy enough to stand up to heavy use. I modified my m-14 slightly by cutting coarse checkering on the micarta handle with a triangular file and by dulling the sharpened top edge near the point so it could be used for prying without chipping the edge. The major problem I had was fighting rust. We were constantly wet so I had to keep the blade clean & oiled just like my M-16. The channeled-micarta handle was apparently glued or epoxied on to the tang. It eventually worked loose and I had to tape & reglue it several times. And the leather sheath was nice to look at but no good in a hot, humid environment. It developed a persistent case of mildew/rot. Today, if I had to buy a knife for similar use, I dont think I would invest $300 in a Randall. They are good but they could be better. I would look at something else with similar features but at a lower cost and with a few changes. A blade to be used in a combat situation needs to be at least1/4 thick, 6-8 inches long, and pointed but without a long skinny, vulnerable point. The fairly blunt spear-point on my m-14 was ideal for digging & prying without getting broken. The saw teeth like Randall puts on as an add-on do a pretty good emergency job of ripping and tearing sheet metal (like on a helicopter). But do not count on saw teeth on a knife making it into an effective wood saw. If you plunge a knife into something and want to stop before your hand follows the blade, you want a thick, full guard like the one on the m-14. I would want the same design today. But I would want a stain-resistant steel instead of high-carbon steel. Must be capable of taking a sharp edge but if in doubt, err on the side of tough steel rather than hard (brittle) steel. I would also want an artificial material like micarta for a handle but riveted on and preferably rough-textured or checkered. I would want some sort of solid metal butt cap so you could pound without damaging the handle. I did pound with the butt of my m-14 and that probably helped loosen the handle. A lanyard ring is needed because when you are carrying a knife in your hand on steep terrain or through a river, you often want to use a wrist loop in case you loose your grip on the knife. And I would use a sheath of non-rotting material, like heavy rubberized belting with a metal-reinforced tip to keep the knife point from punching through accidentally. I dont know anything about the combat knives they sell nowadays but I suspect they would be as good or better than my Randall if they more or less followed the features I described. The main thing is sturdy, tough ...... not pretty or fancy.
