All About Pocket Knives

Moss,

It does not look Mexican or South American made to me at all.

I would say it is a WWII era theater made knife, looks like many similar I have owned

Moss, I said Mexico because of the long clip bowie blade, it just has that southwestern look. Years ago we did some work down
there and I saw some knives of similar style...but the handles were pretty crude and I believe the blades were flat ground.
The threaded tang make me wonder if it's a "theater knife"...hollow ground could mean stock removal. The pommel is interesting,wonder if it was cast or hand formed...being drilled amd tapped indicate's some skill in knife construction. Should
you ever figure it out please let us know.

Bob

Bob:
I Have been reading on theatre knives and had an epiphany, I think this could have been made from a sword or saber. My impression of hollow grind was I now think incorrect. If you look at the second or the last photo and click on them twice to get the full enlargement you can see the line of the fuller going all the way from the guard out to nearly the tip of blade. there is no tang. They could have cut off and shaped the sword blade and removed stock from near bottom of fuller and ground off to create the sharp edge. There is just no way hollow grinding could have taken place on a theatre made it had to be in place on the metal from the get go. I think the pommel was a hunk of brass that was ground, shaped, drilled and tapped. I will take a couple of photo's in the A.M. and post them to show end of handle and attached end of pommel showing the work. Whoever did it was not a run of the mill soldier. Probably some type of ordnance man or machinist. He just did some fine work. If you happen to have military Knives A Reference Book From the pages of Knife World Magazine take a look at the theatre and custom knives from page 127 thru page 136. let me know if you do not have it and I will attempt copying and sending to you. That is if you want the pages.
moss

Moss:
I would agree that it is a theatre type knife likely made in the WWII era.I have a modest collection of them and the quality on several is just amazing.What really amazes me though is the way they fit into your hand;I have yet to find an uncomfortable one even though some of them are pretty bizarrely shaped.I also have a couple that weigh more than a lot of swords and must have been made to see how big they could make one.
I'll try and post some tonight in this thread.

Here are the photos of the pommel, end of handle, a couple showing stack and inside of handle and pommel itself.
moss

Moss, Those are some excelllent photo's, I see what you mean about the guard, it's a bit sturdier than I thought.
I like the pommel attachment...done by someone with a metal working background and an eye for detail. Workmanship
on the knife looks very nice...the handle does look comfortable, maybe the extra weight helps with the balance of
the long blade. I bet who ever made this would get a kick out of knowing people are adimiring his work. Yes I did
look in the reference book and I see that heavy pommel's are used.
A nice find for sure...If you should ever tire of it I know a good home in Missouri it would be welcomed at...

Bob

I've been lurking around this site for a while and have enjoyed it--other than the fact fact that it's cost me some money! I was not familiar with the GEC knives until I came here--now I've got one and another on order!

Anyway here's a big 'un. A Randall Model 1 carried in China in WWII--it was given to me by the man's wife, a neighbor, after he passed.

Pictured with a Nambu my father brought back from the Pacific campaign.

Welcome to AAPK.

Sorry to hear about your newfound addiction. The only cure is BUY MORE!!

Great lookin' WWII set of stuff.

That old Randall is the berries!!

While I'm at it.. Here's a PAL that went through the Pacific with a SEABEE in WWII.

Cooter: Really nice Randall. Not a bad shooter either. Shot quite a cartridge for the soft load, that did make it more accurate though.
Wullie: Nice Piece you got there.

Did you guys know that the Nambu 14 was rumored to be where Bill Ruger came up with the idea for the blow back action on his Late 1940's patent on this one.

here is my 1976-80 stag Case knives

Cooter,

Nice old Randall, I have one just like it.

Do you have the scabbard? Mine is missing


SKW,

Wow! Check out all that STAG

Those would make for a nice display

Mossdancer wrote:Cooter: Really nice Randall. Not a bad shooter either. Shot quite a cartridge for the soft load, that did make it more accurate though.
Wullie: Nice Piece you got there.

Did you guys know that the Nambu 14 was rumored to be where Bill Ruger came up with the idea for the blow back action on his Late 1940's patent on this one.

WIllie, the Randall is a beast. That blade is seriously thick and heavy! I also have the original Heiser sheath and stone. I'd like to find a little more about it, value etc. I really like the PAL. My father also gave me his PAL Pioneer knife, issued to him when he got to New Guinea.

Mossdanceer, I've never shot the Nambu. The old man shot it some during the war, and he found some ammo for it somewhere years ago. I don't much like the idea of shooting what might be reloads of unknown origin. From what I understand, the catalog company Midway got its start from the guy loading Nambu ammo in his garage. The pistol is still in working condition, with the firing pin intact. Apparently the firing pins were fragile in these guns.

When my father "liberated" it on Luzon, it was still in the Cosmoline, or the Japanese equivalent.

The Ruger does look very similar--but the Nambu is easier to field strip!!!

Hey Cooter,

A Randall like with the original Herman Heiser sheath (anything made by HH is very collectible as well) and stone would probably be a MEGA buck knife. THe fact that is WWII and complete and in very nice shape will put it way up there dollar wise.

As for how many dollars? It has been way to long since I fooled with Randal stuff to even hazard a guess. The market went way past my ability to enjoy a long time ago.

Somebody here and I'm thinking it is Perry from SPACEPORT knives knows the Randall market pretty good. I may be off on that recollection, however, here is the link to RANDALL
http://www.randallknives.com/

You might email them and see what they say.

As for the Phillipines? I was there several times during '72 and '73 for visits. That Nambu is a NICE one. I had a couple of them over the years but none as nice as yours. Dad did good.

Edit, I just went through my bookmarks and found this.
http://www.militaryfightingknives.com/collection.html

Your knife appears to be a Model 1 slightly different but very close to the one pictured. Scroll down the page until you see RANDALL and the Model 1 is the first shown.

WWII Randall Model 1 Springfield Fighter. The knife has a 7 1/2" carbon blade that is marked "Randall Made / Spfld.Mass.". The sheath is original to the knife. The stone is also original, still retaining its paper label. There were aprox 1100 of these made during WWII..

Hope this helps.

Cooter, the Randall Knife Society is here: http://www.randallknifesociety.com/default.htm They have a forum too: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forum ... .php?f=769

Thanks, gents. I actually posted the knife on the Randall board asking about it, and to put it mildly they went a little nuts. People were PMing and emailing me--one guy even figured out who I was and called me on the phone trying to buy it. I have no interest in selling it and was not able to get a good number--some were obviously lowballing and the site administrator emailed me and said to let him know who was contacting me. It was an informational post and I stated clearly I did not want to sell. I declined to name names, but he said he prob. knew who it was. He also said to watch for lowball offers and thew out some numbers on the high end that were a little shocking. Of course that was when the economy was better.

At any rate, I may contact the fellow at Spaceport Cutlery. I looked at the site and for $75 he'll do an appraisal and authentification. But I'd really hate sending something like that through the mail.

I'll be posting more stuff in other sections. I don't have a lot but I've got a few old ones with stories.

Cooter, Bernard Levine also does appraisals etc. You can reach him through his webpage at http://www.knife-expert.com/appr-k.htm

I've got that site bookmarked, just in case I ever manage to run across a knife such as your Randall!

My one and only

coffeecup wrote:Cooter, Bernard Levine also does appraisals etc. You can reach him through his webpage at http://www.knife-expert.com/appr-k.htm

I've got that site bookmarked, just in case I ever manage to run across a knife such as your Randall!

Thanks. I might just contact him. That seems quite reasonable.

Here are a few khukuris, ranging from 16" to 20" OAL.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... escription

Compliments of 88case !

Is that per pair, or for two pair?

This is my BIGGEST WACKER I have.

Desription
"Black Jack Fixed Tartan Dirk Dual Edge Japan 1980s 13 3/4 "

Dang it she is SHARP.

Came up with this guy last friday. Thought at first, what a bunch of put together junk and it may still be. Check the way the guard has been cast to be off setfrom the blade so the handle would be in line. Also how the round protrusion is cast into the guard so the lower handle carrier will fit the knife. See on the straight down views how the blade is in center line of handle and the guard is off set to side of blade. The only marking on the entire thing is the 864 in or on the guard. Also notice how the tang is peened to attach the handle to knife. Just enough to get a person to thinking.
The blade is a bit over 13 inches with the overall being a tad under 18 1/2". Thickness is 1/4" or better with weight at 2 1/2 lbs. Does anyone have a book on Bowies that shows similar construction.
moss

Did you get any info along with it? The only comment that I would have is that that "S" guard is on upside down. Looks great

I do not disagree with your premise, would be a heck of a job with the peened Pommel. Either that or it was intentional and the knife was meant to be used upside down.
EDIT: After looking at it a bit the guard could not be turned upside down as that would put the handle carrier facing down. The guard would have to be rotated 180 degrees with the same result of moving the proper guard end in place for protecting the hand from slipping forward onto the blade.
moss