Inherited a couple Randalls - What are they?

[brucebikefish]

Hello,
My uncle passed a while back and he had these 2 knives. I'm pretty sure he got them new and skinned a moose w/ the skinner in the early 60's. I have been trying hard to figure out more of the story behind them. New to the forum and not sure if photos posted, so I apologize in advance. Any information would be greatly appreciated!

 

[clk]

Double post, sorry

 

[clk]

Can you provide a pic of the other side of the knives and the sheaths? The blades and sheaths look like standard RMK fare, but I am not convinced about the handles. The spacers don't look like they came from RMK.
As well, a close up of the area around the Randall stamp. Specifically I am looking for a K or Kit stamped on the blade. As well the top knife the hilt looks like it has a bit on the top of the knife. Not a single hilt, perhaps a double hilt that has been shortened.

 

[brucebikefish]

OK, I will try and take some better pictures tomorrow and post. Someone else mentioned a kit knife but I see no markings as such. Thanks so much!

 

[bart1]

Look like a #5 and #11 kit knives , late 60's early 70's with your uncle or a friend probably finishing them out, as they were both done by the same person.

 

[clk]

Brucebikefish

I agree with Bart, the top knife is a Model 5 and the bottom one is a Model 11. Still would like to see more pics.

 

[brucebikefish]

Here are some more pictures. I hope this helps. I wish I'd asked him about these but didn't know.

 

[clk]

IMO Bart was 100% correct. They are both Kit knives. Kit knives were available from around mid 60's to the mid 70's.

The sheath on the top knife, is marked 1 6, but both Model 1's and 5's used the same sheath. Your knife is a Model 5. Great pieces from your Uncle.

 

[brucebikefish]

Cool. But I thought kit knives had a K stamp? Are these rare? I originally planned on selling them but they are growing on me. He built a couple rifles for me , so these would go well w/ them. Thank you so much!

 

[clk]

Brucebikefish

I think Kit knives were first marked with a "K", that was followed by "Kit" and then there were no marks on the blades. Hopefully Sheldon or someone more knowledgeable than me will confirm or correct me.

If you read my next post, I have the information backwards. Blades with no marks came first.

 

[clk]

Here is an article I found out of the old RKS newsletters. This is Rhett telling about a conversation he had with Peter Hamilton:

Pete tells me these first blades were sold as rough, heat treated and forged blades and also sold as finished blades, but they were not marked kit. Blades continued to be sold in any stage of completion until about 1971. Therefore, there are many hundreds of kit knives out there that are not marked kit. About 1971 Gary Randall got tired of knives coming back into the shop that were obviously not completed in the Randall shop. He came up with the idea to mark the blades "KIT" at the side of the Randall logo. For a while you had to have your name etched on the back of the blade or "KIT" marked on the front. But this did not last long and then "KIT" was used exclusively on blades leaving the shop.

The "KIT" has always been etched (not stamped) on the blades, therefore it was quite easy to remove the "KIT" etching and still have the Randall logo. And some did. In 1978 and 1979 Randall took the Randall logo off and sold only unmarked blades. So finally, about 1979, Randall stopped selling unassembled blades to the public, altogether

 

[Melvin-Purvis]

Something else of interest; typically, if a kit blade was name etched, it was not 'KIT' or 'K' etched. Again, typically. Still, I've always found that to be odd...

 

[brucebikefish]

Thanks guys for the help!!!! Pretty interesting.