How tough are Randall knives?

brownshoe said:
I've been to the shop. You should too the next time you are in Orlando. They truly hand hone each knife on stones.
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I have actually spotted two videos on you tube from their museum, [video]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6M3T_ZOhVTg[/video]

This is one of them , breathtaking collection, but filmed in rush... Not too big of a fan of folders, but have spotted here few extraordinary large fixed bowies, pity it was only a glimpse of them.
 
Seriousbladeno1 said:
I have actually spotted two videos on you tube from their museum, [video]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6M3T_ZOhVTg[/video]

This is one of them , breathtaking collection, but filmed in rush... Not too big of a fan of folders, but have spotted here few extraordinary large fixed bowies, pity it was only a glimpse of them.
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The Scagel subcollection is awesome. I never knew what "Scagel knife" meant until I saw that collection. Then Paul Basch let me coonfinger one and It really clicked. I saw a fox cross the drive in front of me on the way in. Great visit.
 
brownshoe said:
The Scagel subcollection is awesome. I never knew what "Scagel knife" meant until I saw that collection. Then Paul Basch let me coonfinger one and It really clicked. I saw a fox cross the drive in front of me on the way in. Great visit.
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It's awesome to see knives that actually inspired Bo Randall to start making knives himself.I do not know much about Scagel apart of fact his knife was bought by Bo Randall after he witnesses the harsh use of it without any visible damage to the blade.
 
440B stainless or 01 Carbon, 5 year wait, $400+ cost... Just out of curiosity and conversation sake... if it didn't say Randall would any one here wait in line for a knife with that description?
 
I would. The wait is about the only really reasonable gripe folks make. I'm not a fan of every Randall design, but most of the designs are really nice, especially the flagship designs. The collectors toll is one thing, but the base prices and upgrade charges are certainly reasonable in the realm of small shop handmade knives.
 
lobo9er said:
440B stainless or 01 Carbon, 5 year wait, $400+ cost... Just out of curiosity and conversation sake... if it didn't say Randall would any one here wait in line for a knife with that description?
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I don't think many people would, honestly.The only think that somehow justify its prices apart of name is that they are being handmade and forged, but leave the name alone - Very few people would go for it I think...Currently prices has been also increased on website overally,taking into account these are high cost knives with all customisations up to 1K /piece, I believe there are a lot stronger,tougher knives for much less...But hey,it's a Randall name :)
 
Seriousbladeno1 said:
Randall page says,the properties of their stainless steel is nowhere else to be found (not sure if this is optional only) or as standard steel they use on all their stainless knives?

Anyone have any closer info on what is it exactly? Page description of their stainless steel is relating this with resistance against saltwater and also putting example as their Astro model...
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It's 440B, but variations in carbon make it edge towards C according to the foreman... Standard is 0-1 which is good but very "rusty"... I can concur there's nothing like it under use...: Only Lile's D-2 so far has proven able to sustain heavy chopping on wood at around 10-12 degrees per side on a thin 0.020" edge shoulder: I've seen many other 440C blades fail on wood at this angle, even with edges two or even three times as thick, and they routinely do micro-chips or wire edges, or even crumbling, and also one big blade in S30V was twice as thick, more open in angle, and did a wire edge in a few chops... The Randall hollow grind sinks effortlessly into wood, so this might make the blade more stable, and so make the edge seem disproportionately stronger...

I don't like the rough finish, so I Cerakoat all the Randalls I care about. The 18 style blades are more loosely made, unacceptably dull-pointed, and the welded guard or blade can be askew: Watch for things out of true on the 18 blades, and even heat-curving... The Model 12s and Clintons are more finely made, so are well worth the extra cost.

Gaston
 
Gaston444 said:
It's 440B, but variations in carbon make it edge towards C according to the foreman... Standard is 0-1 which is good but very "rusty"... I can concur there's nothing like it under use...: Only Lile's D-2 so far has proven able to sustain heavy chopping on wood at around 10-12 degrees per side on a thin 0.020" edge shoulder: I've seen many other 440C blades fail on wood at this angle, even with edges two or even three times as thick, and they routinely do micro-chips or wire edges, or even crumbling, and also one big blade in S30V was twice as thick, more open in angle, and did a wire edge in a few chops... The Randall hollow grind sinks effortlessly into wood, so this might make the blade more stable, and so make the edge seem disproportionately stronger...

I don't like the rough finish, so I Cerakoat all the Randalls I care about. The 18 style blades are more loosely made, unacceptably dull-pointed, and the welded guard or blade can be askew: Watch for things out of true on the 18 blades, and even heat-curving... The Model 12s and Clintons are more finely made, so are well worth the extra cost.

Gaston
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That's a great post here! Thanks
 
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Heres an example I like Buck knives, and I like 154cm steel, but this knife retails at around 300 dollars... For my money with 300 dollars I can find far superior material for that cost with equal "looks"... and 154cm would trump 440B of any flavor I would guess.
 
Any suggestions or findings on hollow handle Randalls - model 18? How well are these blades constructed? Anyone here put them to test? How well they hold up?

Its well known,hollow handles are very difficult design to make, to withstand harsh use. There are however some out there on the market, that have very good customer feedback, such as Martins Knives,so how well would Randall mod.18 stand against these for example? Anyone manage to broke Survival Attack by accident or by normal use?
 
Seriousbladeno1 said:
Any suggestions or findings on hollow handle Randalls - model 18? How well are these blades constructed? Anyone here put them to test? How well they hold up?

Its well known,hollow handles are very difficult design to make, to withstand harsh use. There are however some out there on the market, that have very good customer feedback, such as Martins Knives,so how well would Randall mod.18 stand against these for example? Anyone manage to broke Survival Attack by accident or by normal use?
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The 18 has a 50-year track record of holding up to hard use. Use it for its intended purpose and there is no way it's coming apart. Just don't run over it with a tank.
 
lobo9er said:
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Heres an example I like Buck knives, and I like 154cm steel, but this knife retails at around 300 dollars... For my money with 300 dollars I can find far superior material for that cost with equal "looks"... and 154cm would trump 440B of any flavor I would guess.
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That's good example,very similar model to few RMK's
 
TAH said:
The 18 has a 50-year track record of holding up to hard use. Use it for its intended purpose and there is no way it's coming apart. Just don't run over it with a tank.
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I guess you are right, I am sure such a renoved knife manufacturer wouldn't let any single design to be somehow faulty,this is clear to me.However, I was curious to read some hands on,real work experience with this particular model in wilderness or so on....
 
lobo9er said:
Just out of curiosity and conversation sake... if it didn't say Randall would any one here wait in line for a knife with that description?
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Some of us might not, but the average person doesn't know the intricacies of different steels and wouldn't know the difference. For Randalls intended for hard use there are advantages to the steels that we think are mundane. No matter the materials, Randalls perform equal to their reputation. Mundane steel or not, I've bought 3 Randalls myself.

There are a lot of products that have demand and pricing that would seem out of touch with their manufacture and function because of the name on the product. Things like Roles, Mercedes, BMW all have high prices and demand. A BMW costs more than a Ford but maybe does not perform that much better, or last that much better. And a Rolex is a fine watch, but not 2 or 3 times as good as an Omega, or 30 times as good as a Japanese market Seiko that costs $400. I have a Blackjack that is styled after a Randall. I don't know how closely it will perform to a Randall but it costs about 1/4 as much. Maybe it won't perform as well as a Randall, so if you want a knife that you know will perform better than other production knives, will hold its price and have future demand, and you will be proud to own, you have to pay the price of the real thing.
 
AdamFuzzyballs said:
I don't understand why everyone is so aggressive towards op. People ask about toughness of knives every. Single. Day. And to you who say "why would you abuse a randall"...well a knife is a knife. I can think of many members on here who 'beat the hell' out of much more expensive knives.

To op, yes, you should know that Randalls have been tested in war manyvtimes. They were built to be used, not collected and looked at. The collectibility is simply the side effect of being a world renowned company.
They are not Busse, and I'll admit I wouldn't hammer one through a cinder block. However, they have most likely been abused in every other way imaginable on the front lines and I imagine one could handle anything short of stupid that you do to it.
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Marcinem could be a very condescending and rude. It's just how his online personality is. But what he says is true in a very blunt manner.
 
lobo9er said:
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Heres an example I like Buck knives, and I like 154cm steel, but this knife retails at around 300 dollars... For my money with 300 dollars I can find far superior material for that cost with equal "looks"... and 154cm would trump 440B of any flavor I would guess.
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You can keep your Buck, it's more over priced at $300 than a Randall.
 
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