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Good point!
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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Randall blade steel
- Thread starter Charlie Mike
- Start date
Good point!
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That could be said for most knives in that price range.
Randall doesn't need to change steel. They work just fine. One of my favorite hunting knives is a Model 28. Holds a suitable edge for anything that I use it for during whitetail season.
In this photo the middle knife and the bottom knife were used when I got them. They weren't beat up but certainly had been carried and had cut something.
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Dang it! You're making me feel guilty for regularly using my Model 5 instead of keeping it in the safe. :grumpy:
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In late 1970 I got orders to go back to Vietnam on my fourth tour, and ordered a Stainless Steel (440B) Randall 14 from a dealer in Texas, whose name escapes me at the moment. He would order years in advance and had about a 25% mark up, in any case I got it, and carried on that tour as an Advisor to the VN Border Rangers (old SF Camps in II Corps) and for the next 20 years in the U.S. Army Special Forces, until I retired in 1991. I swam that knife in salt and fresh water during amphibious operations training, carried it in Winter Warfare where temperatures reached -40 degrees C/F, in the field many, many times and it is still ready to go. The only thing I ever did was first I got a beeswax sheath from Randall, but still have the original sheath, and in 1988 had Wayne Goddard put a new handle on, as I was never completely satisfied with the finger grip handle on the Model 14. I did have a very good friend of mine ask to see it in about 1990, turn to me and say "John, you actually used your Randall?" I never had any trouble with the 440B blade, so while their are better steels available now, it did its job and I would not have any hesitation to carry it to the field again. John
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jdm61
itinerant metal pounder
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IMO, they are still made the same way because that is the way Bo did it in 1940. There is absolutely nothing wrong with O1 or 440. As a matter of fact, there are still many things very RIGHT with O1. The question that I have is why do they still leave it rather soft like Bo did in 1940? They sure as hell have enough room on their orange grove property to put in a heat treat shack with some salt pots. But then again, I have already answered that question, haven't I? 
IMO, they are still made the same way because that is the way Bo did it in 1940. There is absolutely nothing wrong with O1 or 440. As a matter of fact, there are still many things very RIGHT with O1. The question that I have is why do they still leave it rather soft like Bo did in 1940? They sure as hell have enough room on their orange grove property to put in a heat treat shack with some salt pots. But then again, I have already answered that question, haven't I?
Because they'd rather have a soldier sharpen it a little more often, than take up the RC and have it chip, or even, God forbid, break at the wrong time in the field. Sometimes it's better to err on the side of caution than the other way.
I've had a few Randall's in my time, and in the late 1960's gathered a little collection. I was very deep into the knife thing then, and thought the world of Randall's. Fast forward to way down the road, and I think that the Randall knife has been coasting on the early rep and status for a very long time. In their day, the WW2 era and a bit after, they were something special. But these days, there's many production knives on the market that will equal or exceed the Randall for a fraction of the cost, and much much easier availability. Most of the Beckers will do anything a Randall will do, without the high class hype. I sold off my Randall's many years ago, and haven't really missed them. Except for the collectors, Randall's era has passed.
I don't want to pay $600 for a knife with a 5 year wait, so I'm going to get a few Blackjack knives as they come available.
For the price of a single Randall, I can have a Blackjack 125, 1-7, and a model 14.
There's also something tricky to making a "rat tail" tanged knife that won't snap where the steel goes from 1.5" wide to 1/4" or whatever it is.
Mike Stewart explained that they differentially heat treat the blades on the Model 1-7 so that the tang remains soft and can take a lot of abuse without failing.
For the price of a single Randall, I can have a Blackjack 125, 1-7, and a model 14.
There's also something tricky to making a "rat tail" tanged knife that won't snap where the steel goes from 1.5" wide to 1/4" or whatever it is.
Mike Stewart explained that they differentially heat treat the blades on the Model 1-7 so that the tang remains soft and can take a lot of abuse without failing.
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To be fair, those knives you have listed to compare to the wait time; are not that much cheaper than the RMK model, and the comparable RMK's don't cost $600 either.
The base price for a Model #1 is $375.00
The base price for a Model #14 is $395.00
The Blackjack copies;
The Model #7 suggested retail is $268.00
The Model #13 Halo retail is $$279.00
Those prices are TOO CLOSE for the major differences in manufacturing methods used by the two companies. There is no argument for "Randall's cost too much....", they do not cost too much at all.
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To be fair, the #7 sells for $175 and the #14 for $200.
So I guess I can only buy two Blackjacks for the price of a Randall, all without the multi year wait.
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If you like that style try an EK model 5 Combat Bowie, I picked up a sterile model for $50 at a gun show, mine is coated black, IIRC it's 1095 and I made my own oak scales from a chair leg.
This is my go to outdoor knife, perfect balance, razor sharp and tough as nails. Also it's very comfortable to use with the scales all day long.
Not mine it's a pic I grabbed off the internet just to give you an idea, really great knife, I've never tried the Black Jack version but to my understanding the early ones were the best.
That rack you have would make for a nice rehandle on one of these, you think you could make scales for mine?
This is my go to outdoor knife, perfect balance, razor sharp and tough as nails. Also it's very comfortable to use with the scales all day long.
Not mine it's a pic I grabbed off the internet just to give you an idea, really great knife, I've never tried the Black Jack version but to my understanding the early ones were the best.
That rack you have would make for a nice rehandle on one of these, you think you could make scales for mine?
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I love the lines on this, is a great chopper/slicer, turns 2 liter sofa bottles into 2 halves with one swipe. I need batteries for my camera so I can update my pics. 
There are lots of knives that you can buy for less than a Randall that will function pretty much the same. I'm a fan of the Blackjack for instance but rather than $175, there are others you can buy for less than $100, you can even buy some pretty good Cold Steel knives for about $30. But none of those will say Randall on them. After you use a Cold Steel it will be worth less, and it won't go up in the future. Randalls will continue to go up. And every time you take it out to use it you will have pride in ownership. I have a range of knives but some of them I just cannot respect and I don't utilize them very well for that reason. But on the other hand I can't buy an expensive knife and bring myself to use it. Every person has to find their own upper limit and lower limit, and I would be happy to see a person that buys a Randall and then uses it. I've often thought that if I had the money where I could buy one, or any expensive knife for that reason, and not worry about the financial loss if I lost or damaged it, I would buy expensive knives and use them. And I'm even thinking about buying expensive custom Bowies and carrying them for hunting as an example. I'm sure that the men that made them and took care in the heat treat and edge design would really appreciate their knives actually being used rather than being safe queens. But I'm not rich so I have a few safe queens myself.
jdm61
itinerant metal pounder
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Actually, it is not tricky at all. I do it quite often. My question was why does Randall leave the blade so soft? i would ask the same question about some of the companies making 1095 knives today.
james terrio
Sharpest Knife in the Light Socket
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Yeah... we've been hearing that for roughly 100 years (well not me personally of course, I'm only 43...) from pretty much every maker and manufacturer. I'm not buying that argument. O1 (or 1095 for that matter) at around 1/4" thick with fairly wide bevels with a thick edge will take a heckuva beating even at significantly higher hardnesses, and still isn't exactly difficult to sharpen. These are not straight razors we're talking about
Not really. Mass-produced $10 files and rasps are built and HT'ed that way, and pretty much always have been.
But hey, Randall customers like 'em soft, so that's cool too. Some things are traditional simply because... they're traditional.
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Or if you like D2, you might be in luck right now:
Source: http://www.bladehq.com/item--DUSTAR-Knives-Model-1-Arad-Knife--10859
Hahaha designed by Alex Shamgar....he originally designed the CRAP out of that blade. (not)