I've never written one of these "should I or shouldn't I" kinda' threads. And, generally speaking, they usually get on my nerves!

BUT . . !

I have a kick-ass Vietnam-era, Randall fighting knife I inherited from my brother (who passed only last July). I've always coveted the damn thing as, needless to say, it's awesome! But, times change.

I already have four K-Bars, a couple Gerbers, SEAL Pup, etc, etc . . . and, as most of the SF knows, I'm of the mind that S gonna' HTF - sooner rather than later!

Sweet as it is, I think I should be able to move the Randall pretty quick - especially if I price it right (say, $600 - it's worth closer to a grand [maybe more]). As you can see, the thing is in near-perfect condition with nasty-looking-gut-tearing serrations on the spine! The sheath and stone are in great shape too and the steel is incredibly durable: hard to sharpen but hold an edge really well. It's got a bakalite (sp?) handle and sports a brass hand-guard.  

I'd like to use whatever cash I get to buy the HAM antenna(s) I need and maybe even a small solar unit for recharging small, battery-powered stuff (commo, power-tools, etc.).

So what do you guys think? I'd appreciate whatever advice/suggestions you might be inclined to offer.

Thanks!

If your brother gave that to you, and he has passed on, I would hate to see you sell something that you can relate to your brother....just my 2 cents

I wouldn't sell a family heirloom without dire need.  YMMV.

If it were mine it would be one of the last things I would part with...just saying

Absolutely not!   Especially with the amount of sentimental value you mentioned.


I won't be selling my Randalls unless I would be close to living on the street.

If you needed the money you would not be asking.

If you needed the ham stuff you would not be asking.



Lots of other things I could say might not be polite

OH God!  I just posted a thread in GD about lusting for a Randall, been looking at them all day.

No way in hell I'd sell it. I made my wife promise me to give my model 14 to my son.

my FIL sliced a NVA soldier from the groin to the sternum with a Ka-Bar in a hand to hand deathmatch over in Viet Nam.  then a month later he stepped on a landmine and during transport to the hosp they stripped him of everything and he never got his Knife back.  He was just telling me about the knife he missed so dearly the other day. That tough SOB still goes for wound/burn treatment once a week and its been 31+ years.

Dont sell the knife.

I sold my Randall and have regretted it ever since. It wasn't even a family keepsake!

I'll go further.  I'd be living on the street with that heirloom stuck in a sock.  I lost my father's .38 in a pawn fail when I was really really broke once and it still burns after 30 years.

I will take it right now for $600.  Let me know.  Like others have said, I would not get rid of it unless your kids are starving.  You will really regret it down the road.  I have 3 Randalls myself.  One is a model 15 that I have carried in Iraq, Afghan, and South America. One is my Dads and the other is my hunting knife that I ordered and waited on for a few years.  I would not part with any of them.

OK first off I don't care who the hell made the knife the fact of the matter is that it was your brothers he is not there anymore and there was some reason why he gave it to you!  I would keep it. My uncle who was in Nam gave me his Ka-bar he is still a live and it's the last knife I own I'd ever sell.

I'd sell the K-Bars, the Seal pup and maybe an under-used firearm or two before i would part with that Randall


Mine  (which looks a lot like one of Pyro's )

yep



 

Yes, I'd have to agree with this.  I think you'll regret it down the road.  You obviously coveted it in the past and it was your brother's knife who isn't there anymore making new memories.  I would hold on to the connection.

How old are you?  Not to be insulting, but you seem immature for your age.  Your brother served, he passed that knife on to you and you want to sell it!?  I'd sell any of the other items you mentioned first.  Not sure why you'd even consider selling the Randall.

Your brother trusted you with that knife, it meant something to him and he trusted you to keep it in the family.

Sell a kidney first if you need money for HAM gear.

look at his user info.  Yeah, he's pretty old

Lets see a pic and we'll tell you what it's worth . Just remember that Randall's are still being made .

I'm not a RMK expert, but I know Randalls.  If that is an authentic Vietnam Model 1 or 14 and that's the right Johnson Roughback sheath, that knife would be worth closer to $2500+.

FWIW my #1 that I carried while I served will either go to my son in the AF or my grave

If you do sell it, the very second you hand over the knife and take the cash in hand, you'll regret it.

I'd be hesitant to sell it considering the story behind it.  However, if it wasn't for that story, I'd sell it in a heartbeat.  $600 for a knife is silly.

OK, trying to be a gentleman here but are there really regular, average people that would pay 600 bucks for a knife?  If so, sell it before they wise up or run out of money.   I'm afraid I will dissent from the majority and go with the "sell it" group.   To be honest, I can't see me EVER spending that much money on a knife,I don't care if Carlos Hathcock gutted his first kill with it.  No way.  I have a issue M-9 and a cheap glock knife, both of which will reach a heart.  brother, you can't take it with you!

Got #1 and a #5 wouldn't sell either one, plan to pass them on to the first born of both my daughters.

Yep, I agree I would sell it.
$600 for a knife is just plain stupid.

Take the money you get for it and put it to good use. What good is that knife? All you are going to do is throw it in a drawer right?
Why bother? Sell it and buy some stuff you will use.

i;m not a huge Randall fan, and i probably wouldn't reccomend that someone buy one unless they had the cash to spare and it was really what they wanted, or they found a screaming deal.

i'd be more prone to suggest buying an ESEE, which is also a Randall, a Jeff Randall. but that's only around $150 or so.

but i'd also suggest thinking really long and hard before you sell it, because you'll never be able to replace it., at least not with the same one that your brother had. you could get another one, but not the same one.

Both of my Randalls were bought on time, and custom made. I paid less than $350 for the both.

I'm a bit of a sentimental. If it was given to you or passed down as an heirloom, it's not yours to sell. It was meant to stay with you and yours to be passed down and remembered. I have but a few things that I have now that are like that and know of a few things of significant value that friends and family have told me to hang onto when they have left us. Those things are not something you'd ever look fondly on getting rid of for trinkets and such that can be bought with a new part time job at a gunshop or sporting goods store.



ETA- my grandfather's nazi marked ppk in perfect condition in holster or my friend's various guns and knives he carried in Vietnam that he wants me to care for (he fears his daughters would sell them) wouldn't hit the sales floor no matter their value. I won't lie, if they meant I could retire early at my age, maybe, after a bottle of wild turkey and some tears, but not for a few hundred bucks.

NO WAY IN HELL would I sell that knife.....no matter the make...... it is not replaceable.

sell the other knives and some other crap you wont really regret if you need the money.

You would hold on to Ka-Bar's and a seal pup and sell this? Dude...think. Times are never that tough.

ok, but what year did you buy it at that price?

currently, from what i've heard the wait time for a new order seems to be 3+ years, and if you're buying one that's made recently made without the wait, the prices are $600-ish depending on what model, features, size, etc.

there's a boatload of other custom makers out there who will make a very nice knife for a fraction of that price... plenty for the $150 to $250 range, Busses are a little more.

i'm not knocking Randalls, just saying that there may be better values for the money.

First one was bought in 92,, the second was bought about 6 years later. Took about a year and a half to be delivered. Current catalog prices are about $350 for both models with no upgrades.

This is impossible to reach a concensus on as some people are more tied to material things than I am.  I just am of the conviction that you can't take anything with you when you die. People matter -  "stuff" just doesn't matter.  You came without the "Randall" and you will leave without it.

Fact is nobody beats a Randall Made Knife.  Period.  There are many who strive, but they will never.  Many current knife designs were copied from Randall.  Yes there is a hell of a wait time.  However, you can still order a new #1 for $345.  Isn't the ARCOM saying buy once cry once. You pay for quality. The prices are still printed in the current catalog.  The collectors are the ones that forced the 2nd hand market up.  Mine have given me superior service and will be passed down to my kids.  Some of you guys kill me.  You are willing to spend $400 on a TAD jacket that may last a few years, but not $300 on a blade that will outlast 3 generations

Well put, I expect that my great, great grandkids will still be using my knives.

Dont Sell

Enuff others gave some dang good resons why not

Just because it's "Vietnam Era", or are they superior to the ones available now.  I've got the same knife I paid less then 300 for (no saw back).  I like it, but I'm not convinced it's worth that.  Maybe if I were a pilot in AK I might feel different as the handle fits my hand perfect.

I got over the allure of a big survival knife shortly after buying the randell.  I bought 2 Busse's and was much less impressed.  I find I get 20x the use out of a good locking pocket knife and leatherman tool, and a hudson bay axe beats a suvival knife IMHO.

This gets my vote..........sell your other blades and keep the Randall.......

Okay! Okay! Calm down!

First . . . I was there when he bought it from a guy who'd been SF in Nam, so I know it's the real deal. He said he'd gotten it from another SF trooper who'd also carried it over there too. (I THINK he may have been killed, but I'm not sure.) Amazingly, the guy even told us how he'd split a sentry's head with it - smashing right through his pith helmet, through his head, then having to then pry it from the guy's breastbone. (!) (I'll never forget that!)

I don't remember why the guy sold it to my brother, though. (He'd actually sold him two Randalls - my brother selling the other one years ago.) Nor, do I remember how by bro heard of the guy or the knives being for sale. (I was around 14 y/o at the time.)

Secondly . . . I hear what the "keep it" crowd is saying - and I'm sorry if I didn't say how hard its been, coming to the semi-conclusion (to sell it). Christ! Asking my age - inferring I'm a dumb, young punk? You guys . . . Jeesh! (Once again, the GD-type BS invades the SF!) FYI, it's not like the Randall is the only thing I've inherited from my brother! I also got 6 acres of build-able land, an unregistered, war trophy Colt .45 Commander (1K FMJ, too), a match-grade 20" AR (2K+ decent ammo, for that), a small, carry S&W .22 auto-pistol, a sweet 10-22 and a whole collection of folding knives - plus lots of other stuff (a shop-full of woodworking tools and an excellent & extensive war/history library being a couple of the most cherished). He was my only surviving sibling.

Still, I hear ya' and I guess it would be wiser to sell one of my "extra" AR's instead (my KISS carbine comes to mind). A Randall is irreplaceable. I only thought I'd sell the Randall 'cuz I know I could do so, very easily - and quite quickly, avoiding the hassle of FFL's and "all that".

But, you're right that I should keep it. I'd probably be kicking myself, at some point. But, in my defense: isn't that what the "what do I do" threads are for - convincing people of what they really should have known all along?



* To Fuggit . . . where'd you get that $2,500+ figure? Just curious. I'd heard up to $1,400 - $1,500, or so (at most). That came from a former V-era 5th SFG guy I know who (apparently, like many here) collects them.

You think HE just wanted to snag it himself -  for a bargain price?


By the way, can anybody help me identify the actual model? I used to have that info - and turned the house upside-down, looking for it, unsuccessfully. Thanks.

The blade is 7-3/8". Overall length is 12-1/8". The blade simply says, Randall Knives, Orlando Florida - with a large "S" .

And what does ARFCOM say its worth? (I'd bet my above-quoted price is pretty close, but I'm open to better news!)

And WTF ARE those nasty-looking serrations actually FOR, anyway? They are no good, whatsoever, for sawing. I've heard they are indeed for pulling guts from an abdominal wound, during a fight. But, that sounds pretty risky to me - and quite bizarre.

Thanks again, guys.

Edit: spelling (and fixing stuff that I have no idea how they got fucked up)!

The only help I can add with the ID is the S is for stainless steel.  If there was no marking, it is high Carbon steel.

Does the back of the sheath have a number on it?

It is a Randall Model 18 with stainless blade.  If you look at this link, there is one similar.  There is a collectors market for older Randalls, however I believe you already made you decision.  If you are wanting to offload it, I would say now is not the time due to the economy.

I stand corrected.  I was looking at the wrong picture.

Actually his is a Model 14,   –– since this turned into a little bit of a pic thread , you may have been thinking of the 18 one of the other members posted up

..Perfectly stated, I bought mine out of the BX for 235.00 ( I think) back in 78, that was damn near a months pay foran E2 sailor...worth every penny, and I still grab that blade as my first choice, yeah i have a few others and a couple of Busse's but that #1 just has something special about it and what it has been through, maybe its sentimental but it performs and thats the thing about a Randall Made, they are made to be used.just my second .02 worth and again just MY opinion but those who cant see the value in one have either never carried one under stress or never held one and USED one.

ETA...the serrations are for cutting through the skin on aircraft typically or that was the original design intent and yes thats a Model 14 in stainless and produced under the watchful eye of the old man Bo Randall

I'd sell your brother's AR or the other lesser knives before I sold the Randall.

I'll give you $600 for it.