As the story goes – and it’s posted on the Randall Made Knives’ website – W.D. “Bo” Randall was walking along the shore of Michigan’s Walloon Lake in 1936 when he encountered a man who was scraping the hull of a boat with what turned out to be a handmade knife, an indelicate task for such an instrument. Randall, unimpressed with how the man was using it but impressed with the knife’s toughness, offered to buy it from the man.

A Randall Model Twelve "North America 75-06" Continents Series Bear bowie knife with Tom Leschorn engraved furniture, carved and inlaid grip, and tooled sheath sold for $44,063 in RIAC's May 2025 Premier Auction.

That knife, by Michigan knife maker Bill Scagel, inspired Randall to try his hand at making one. A successful citrus grower and cattleman in Florida at the time, he considered the exercise as simply a hobby. However, Randall founded his eponymous knife-making company, Randall Made Knives, in 1938.

Numbered set of two Randall Made Knives with a display board and sheaths.

For those wanting a Randall knife but faced with the company’s six-year backlog on new orders, Rock Island Auction frequently offers these fantastic blades.

Randall Knives, American Knives

The story of American knives starts on a sandbar north of Natchez, Miss. in 1827.

Jim Bowie, then a planter and not yet a Texas hero, was on hand for a duel that turned into a brawl. Bowie, shot once in the hip and bludgeoned, managed to stab another man to death with his large knife that he would eventually become synonymous with, the Bowie knife.

Find Bowie knives for sale at Rock Island Auction Company.

Randall offers a variety of Bowie knives among its products. The Raymond Thorpe Bowie Knife’s 13-inch blade is the longest in the Randall catalog while the Bear Bowie Knife has an 8-inch blade. Randall also offers models with blade lengths that fall in between. Thorpe is author of “The Bowie Knife” and an expert on 19th century Bowie knives.

Rock Island Auction Company offers some of the finest Randal Made Knives for sale.

Randall Knives Go to War

Randall started selling his knives out of his father-in-law’s clothing store in Orlando, Fla., priced at $16.50 for a simple and functional design. They quickly sold out. At the start of World War 2, a sailor asked him to make him a knife for hand-to-hand combat. Once the sailor’s friends saw the knife they wanted Randall Made Knives, too.

A reporter wrote an article about Randall’s knives and their popularity soared. He offered the Model 1 as an “All Purpose Fighter,” the Model 2 billed as a “Fighting Stiletto” and a Model 3 “Hunter.” Randall would receive order letters from GIs simply addressed to “Knife Man, Orlando.” Randall estimated that with a couple of assistants he made about 1,000 knives for servicemen during the war.

Randall’s distinct two-line stamp found on the blade, “Randall Made/Orlando, Fla.” And bookended with two knife images was trademarked in 1939. At top is a Model 1 All Purpose Fighting Knife with a 7-inch clip point blade, nickel silver double hilt, stag grip and nickel silver wrist thong buttcap. Below is a Model 1 All Purpose Fighting Knife with a 7-inch clip point blade, a brass double hilt, figured wood grip and brass buttcap.

One customer wrote:

“It was a terrible thing at close range. (Your knife) would cut a man's head nearly off with a quick swing... I also used that knife to open cans, cut wood, dress water buffalo... and it stayed sharp. I was offered all kinds of trades, but I wouldn't part with it.”

The Randall Knife was briefly considered as a replacement for the U.S. Marine Corps’ Ka-Bar knife in the 1950s but was rejected over the fears of how long the manufacturing process took, as well as the costs.

This Randall Sergeant’s Model Knife (top) has a 5-inch clip point blade with a nickel silver single hilt and stag grip is at top, and below is a Model 1 All Purpose Fighting Knife with an 8-inch clip point blade, a brass double hilt, scalloped collar and maroon Micarta grip and scalloped brass coolie cap. (Knives are not proportional to each other.)

Randall Made Knives Business Booms

Shortly before the end of World War 2, Randall hired a full-time employee who served as shop manager for the next 35 years. As orders from the war wound down, Randall Made Knives started offering new designs for outdoorsmen, with names like “Big Game and Skinner,” “Camper,” “Fisherman,” “Trout and Bird Knife” and “Salt Fisherman.”

In 1953, following a feature on Randall’s company in “True” magazine, orders exploded and the company’s backlog began. The company’s website states that demand is such that an order will likely take six years to fulfill.

This Big Game and Skinner Knife, top, has a 7-inch trailing point blade and stag grip with brass buttcap, and below it is a Model 12 Bear Bowie Knife with an 8-inch clip point blade with a brass forward curved double hilt and leather grip. (Knives are not proportional to each other.)

The release of the film “The Iron Mistress,” starring Alan Ladd as Jim Bowie and Virginia Mayo as his love interest boosted the profile of the Bowie knife. Randall started offering the “Arkansas Toothpick,” a 12-inch stiletto-style dagger. The company also offers a small Arkansas Toothpick with a 6-inch blade among the nine Bowie knife-styled blades.

In the early 1960s, NASA reached out to Randall about making survival knives. Bo Randall worked closely with Gordon Cooper, one of the Mercury Seven astronauts. On its website, Randall Made Knives offers the Model 17 Astro and the Model 18 Attack Survival knives. The Astro was specifically designed for the Mercury astronauts and has a blade designed for cutting through spacesuit material and a large guard to use while wearing gloves. An example of the Astro Model is in the Smithsonian Institution collection while an Attack Survival Knife is part of the Modern Museum of Art.

Astronaut survival knives were aboard every Mercury Mission, including Gus Grissom’s Liberty Bell 7 when it sank in the Atlantic Ocean, nearly taking him with it. When the Mercury astronaut’s capsule was recovered in 1999, Grissom’s knife was still inside and was serviceable after a good cleaning.

At top is a Model 18 Attack Survival Knife with a 7 3/4-inch drop point sawback stainless steel blade with a brass double hilt and knurled hollow metal grip with a screw-on buttcap with inlaid compass on the interior. The Model 16 Diver knife is described as being an “almost indestructible all-purpose knife designed for heavy-duty saltwater use.” The Diver, at bottom, has a 7-inch drop point stainless steel blade with a double nickel silver double hilt and Micarta border patrol grip. (Knives are not proportional to each other.)

Randall Knives Return to War

Orders for Randall Made Knives increased in the 1960s because of the Vietnam War, and the Survival model was added as well as the “Bushmaster,” “Bear Bowie” and “Little Game” models. Gen. William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, carried a Randall knife, as did Gary Powers, whose Trout and Bird knife was taken off him after his U-2 was shot down over the Soviet Union.

Randall often talked and corresponded with customers. When speaking with reporter and author Carl Hiaasen for Florida Today in December, 1975, he shared a letter dated Feb. 11, 1944 from an Army Air Force captain named Ronald Reagan who praised his Randall knife, writing “P.S. Hope you don’t mind my showing off your handiwork, but it really attracts an audience.”

Here are a pair of outdoorsman Randall knives. At top is a Woodsman Knife, excellent for skinning and outdoor use with a 4 1/2-inch blade with a nickel silver single hilt and Micarta grip. Below it is a Model 5 Camp and Trail Knife with a 5-inch clip point stainless steel blade with a nickel silver double hilt and duralurmin buttcap. (Knives are not proportional to each other.)

Making a Randall knife

The time-consuming process of making Randall knives involves 17 steps that include heating the blade to 1,950 degrees to shape and harden it and then the more intricate work of refining the blade, shaping the contours, smoothing it, making and fitting the handle, multiple polishings and sharpenings and fitting it with a sheath.

This Model 17 Astro Knife has a 5 ½-inch drop point stainless steel bladem a stainless steel double hilt and micarta grip scales and wrist thong. A Randall leather sheath, honing stone and soft case are included.

Randall Made Knives produces about 8,000 each year. The company has a museum at its production facility with more than 7,000 knives and other edged weapons. Bo Randall died in 1989, a year after the company celebrated its 50th anniversary.

In that 1975 interview, Randall said of his company’s knives, “I’m glad we make a lot of knives and don’t try to make that one best knife in the world. I’m glad there are that many in the hands of people who use them and appreciate them.”

Randall Made Knives offer an opportunity for one of these hard-to-get blades and avoid a six-year wait.

Randall Knives for Sale

Randall Made Knives are handmade in a variety of models with numerous ways to upgrade them so they are truly one of a kind. Always wanted a Randall knife but don’t want to wait several years to get it? Rock Island Auction Company has 12 opportunities to acquire one in the Aug. 23-25 Premier Auction in Bedford Texas.

RIAC has an exceptional lineup of Randall Knives for sale in our upcoming 2024 auctions.

Sources:

“Randall Military Models,” by Robert E. Hunt

“The Bowie Knife, Unsheathing an American Legend,” by Norm Flayderman

“It’s More Than a Knife,” by Carl Hiaasen, Florida Today

“Handmade-Knife Company Keeps Tradition Sharp,” by Jay Hamburg, The Orlando Sentinel