I wish "Randallaize Co."

[Chicahiro Ishida]

Randall is great maker we know.
But I think the Greatest of THEM is that, Randall is not only W.D.
If only W.D., maybe great knives but limited and expensive as Cooper.
But they founded the great system that many craftman's system without down quality.
As we can get Randall knife after W.D. died, moreover reasonable price.
I wish, if such system of Cooper were, too!
And I can say the same for many living custom knife makers, especially using special technique(like Mad Dog, David Boy, and Warren Thomas) Now they are all right, but if 100 years later boy want there knife, he will be trouble as if I would want to get Cooper.

If it were such corporation that, around such great customknife maker, training craftmans who understand him and make like original, and founding semicustom factory system like RANDALL KNIVES.

 

[Crayola]

That is a very interesting point you are making! I think it is a very personal decision a maker must make with respect to how he or she wants to go about making knives. To go the Randall way takes money, time, a group of workers willing to do the hard and precision work, and a lot of good business sense. Running a hand-made knife factory is completely different than running a knife making operation from one's basement shop.

However, it would be interesting to see more makers "Randallize" as you said. I'll be thinking about your idea for a while! Thanks

 

[Mike Hull]

http://people.txucom.net/keen/

 

[Keith Montgomery]

That is a very interesting idea that you have there, but I don't think that many makers would be interested in doing this. Lots of makers teach others to make knives, but want them to have their own style. I think they would rather leave their mark on the industry as being rather unique and would not want others to continue to make knives that they made and continue them under the same name. I wonder if Randall will continue on once Gary is gone.

When makers copy a design that was made popular by another maker, that is done out of respect and because they really like that design. It is done with the name of the current maker on it and usually with some of his own style added. I think that this is maybe the best way to keep a great makers work alive. Just my opinion of course.

 

[not2sharp]

Randall is a very professional organization, and their success has to a large extent been due to Randall's ability to market his knives. It is an excellent company to work with. Every order seems to be processed by clockwork and delivered precisely as ordered, on time, at the agreed upon price. They maintain a very high quality of communication, starting with an informative well written catalog, and on through order confirmation and invoicing.

At least these aspects of RMK's operation should be studied and emulated by any knifemaker that wants to launch a benchmade operation. I can't keep track of how many fine custom knife makers have bombed when they have attempted to convert to produce higher volumes.

Where ever you are, on the custom versus production debate, give Randall Made Knives credit for doing things right.

n2s