Who is Rob ( Bob) Turner? Seems to be an association with Bo Randall Pics below.

kenhills

kenhills

Joined
Dec 17, 2007
Messages
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Hi All,

(Originally I posted this in the Bernard Levine's Knife Collecting & Identification forum but got no where with it so a member suggested I post it here. If you have any information it would be greatly appreciated.)


After spending hours and hours trying to figure out what this is and who Rob Turner is I am finally going to the expert for help. Usually I can figure this out my self but this one has me stumped.

All I have been able to find out is that this knife was probably made back in the 1940’s and that only because Rob Turner’s name comes up in association with a patent application pertaining to sportsman's knives. Do a Google a search he will come up. Interestingly when you do a Google search on images there seems to be an association with Randall knives but I can’t get any further with the research than that. Then I did a search on Bob Turner and BO Randall comes up in the top of the search results. So there seems to be some sort of association could it be that they were contemporaries that worked together at some time?

The knife is overall the knife is 14 inches the double edge blade is just under 8 inches
The brass bolster has whats left of Rob Turner’s name stamped into the top of it (the part facing forward) as well as on the sheath. Any help would be gratefully appreciated this one is driving me nuts. Thanks, Ken








 
Ran into a guy who says that Rob Turner was someone who would grind for Bo Randall, Early version of Randall model #2 ?
 
The most likely reason that Randall knives come up in an image search is because the images are similar. Google image search is a complicated algorithm, and things like the background color of the pictures, the colors, shapes, etc. all play a part in what comes up. The fact that you searched a picture of a stag handle knife with a polished blade is enough to bring up Randall made knives, possibly the most popular and interlinked stag handled knives with polished blades ever made. I bet there was some Muela come up too. Of course, if there are photographs of Randall Made knives that resemble the photo you put in (like, if they could have been taken by the same person) it would case a lot more results to skew that way. Once similar pictures come up the algorithm starts to look for similarities in those results (the tags, the related web content, file names, etc) so when 20 pictures come up and 8 of them include connections with Randall made knives, that is what the results are going to start skewing toward.

The fact that when you search the guy's name and you don't get any connections in a regular web search is enough to tell me that there is nothing substantitive about the connection between this knife and Randall made knives that can be inferred from image search results, because the web results are exactly what the image results would use to make those connections - the connections you're getting are simply because you're searching a picture of a knife that has similar materials (stag, polished steel and leather), possibly similar photographic style to some of the pictures tagged Randall, and maybe even similar lighting. Most likely, there is nothing more to be found there.
 
All true, But still does not give me an answer as to who this guy is. Off to a knife and gun show today to sell some of my own knives, usually I do pretty well. There is a representative from Randall there hopefully he can give me some input. Back later.
 
kenhills said:
All true, But still does not give me an answer as to who this guy is. Off to a knife and gun show today to sell some of my own knives, usually I do pretty well. There is a representative from Randall there hopefully he can give me some input. Back later.
Click to expand...

Well, that what I was trying to convey - that there is most likely no connection whatsoever between Rob Turner and Bo Randall knives.

Using a regular search, the only association between Rob Turner and Bo Randall are threads you have made - an implied connection that has absolutely no proof. There is absolutely nothing about that knife that associates it with Randall made knives, so you're probably looking in the wrong place to find any pedigree. There have been thousands of small time local knifemakers that made stag handled knives over the years, and a picture of any one of those knives would likely bring up some information connected with Bo Randall using a google image search. In fact if you type in "Rob Turner knifemaker" and then select images, it comes up with your pictures first, and then it has lots of stag handled knives made by makers named bob, robert, or turner, but doesn't come up with any Randall Made knives because that keyword search actually has more information than just a picture.

The problem is that now when you search Rob Turner you now get these threads (as well as threads on other forums you've made) that imply a connection to Bo Randall. The results are now misleading.

The most likely scenario - Bob Turner made knives as a hobby (honestly, that knife is of a lower quality than any Randall made knife I have ever seen, and is more in line with a hobby knifemaker of the era than it is someone that had experience working at the Randall facilities) and this is one of the examples. Knowing what part of the country the knife was found in might give you a better start than anything, but I do have a lead for you. When you search Rob Turner knifemaker and look at the Google image results, the very next photo after your knives is of a man named Bob Turner, and the link takes you to "Palestine High School in Memory Of", and halfway down the page there was a Bob Turner that worked for Dow chemical. I don't know what the link is, but it's much stronger than anything to do with Randall, so your search would probably be better served trying to follow up on that guy. It would put it in the correct era.

ETA- That lead is probably junk too. I found out why that picture comes up - because Don Hastings, another member of the class was in the knifemakers guild. I think the only thing you can say about the search results is that there isn't any information regarding this person on the Internet (except a patent you found) so he's probably not significant enough or prolific enough to be included in online literature on knife collecting. I don't know what to tell you, but I wouldn't imply a connection to Randall when selling until you have substantitive proof (employee records, newspaper clippings, etc.).
 
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Why do you think I am trying to sell the knife. As it happens I collect stag handle knives. Im just trying to get info on the maker. Sorry if you feel uncomfortable with the question but the last time I checked this is a forum pertaining to and about knife collecting and or making knives. An unsolicited lesson in how the web works perhaps belongs somewhere else. Non the less thanks for yor input and sugestions.

UOTE=A Justice;13206039]This might be the Bob Turner you're looking for - from Australia - he created the Mirror Cut Knife Sharpening System, and the business Flaming Sharp out of his technology.


ETA- Bob Turner has been involved in the sharpening industry on some way for over 30 years, here is his website , you may try contacting them and asking if he made any knives early in his career.[/QUOTE]
 
I think there is a lot of great info (new to me) on this thread, and I hope we find out who "Bob" is. The knife looks cool, although not Randallesq….. The hunt continues… The sheath, though somewhat crude does have a neat look also… Perhaps he was a sheath maker.
 
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