Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacknola
I do not think Astro blades stamped "Randall made" were made or offered for sale until much later... I do think Astros with modified Solingen blades were made and were sold before the knife was catalogued. These modified Solingen blades were all ground down to the point that the original stamped Solingen trademark across the riccaso was removed. The trademark shown below was then etched ... and this etching was continued on Solingen modified blades until 1963..
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Jack, the Astro knives that you are referring to, like the De Salvo knife you posted a photo of, as you noted, were solingen blades with the RANDALL MADE ORLANDO FLORIDA etching on the blades. There were 20 Solingen knives ordered by Nasa in 1960. The first batch was for astronaut training. NASA then ordered 2 more batch's in 1962. Quantities of 25 and 15, for a total of 60 Randall Astro training knives. I believe all these particular knives with the RANDALL MADE ORLANDO FLORIDA etching were designated for NASA, not the public. They were etched this way to differentiate them from the Astronauts personal knives.
I've not heard that the shop continued making them this way for the public.
In Gaddis' book,
Jack, I can't disagree with your statement about "Randall Made" stamped knives coming after 1963, with the exception of the original 7 personal Astronaut knives, but then, other than the NASA knives, I haven't seen any solingen (other than NASA ordered) Astros surface either.
Bill has a Solingen experimental with a brass hilt, and another was published in Pete Hamilton's book, but other than that, I haven't seen any Solingen Astros come out of a public collection.
The subject Astro in this thread without scales, is speculated to have been sent to a dealer, so it's possible that it was made in 62-63.
There are a couple more "Randall Made" stamped knives in double brown button sheaths, and one that I know of pictured with a canteen snap sheath, claiming 1963 manufacturing. There are many "Randall Made" examples in early baby dot, split back Johnson sheaths indicating late 62-66 manufacture. Again no Solingen Astros in any period sheath coming out of public collections.
My Scaleless Astro has a large rivet, baby dot split back sheath. Knowing Johnson started using these snaps in late 62 to early 63, mine could date to then, or perhaps a bit earlier. As the Astro was designed for the astronauts and offered as a replica for the public, mine may have been sent to a dealer to explore interest before it was offered to the public, then fitted with a sheath later.
Or perhaps someone ordered it without scales in the '63-'66 range. It's all speculation.
Here is a photo of a Scaleless Astro above Gus Grissoms head in the Randall shop, photo from Nov 1961. This knife may be the one that Bo Randall used for the photo in the earliest Model 17 Astro offering in the 16th printing in 1963, and in the world famous section of the catalog from 1961 14th printing, thru the 1985 27th printing. The Catalog format changed in the 1988 28th printing and the world famous knives section with the Astro was eliminated.
This photo appears to be of the one above Grissoms head in above photo, and used for the photos in the catalogs
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacknola
The Astro was developed to have a place to safely store matches and survival odds and ends...hence the screw driver to open the scales. it would have made no sense to have a bare handled Astro unless it was supposed to be a kind of "kit" knife, or was opened to illustrate the hollow interior.
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Remember Jack, Gordon Cooper considered keeping it without scales for quite some time in the developmental stage, using nylon fishing line and waterproof tape to wrap the tang and secure the items inside.
We see in a letter from Bo Randall that's in the Smithsonian, to the then Chief Curator of the Dept of the interior, where he writes about the Astros handle.
There is speculation as to whether Alan Shepard carried his with or without scales. Bo claims that Shepard did in the insert that went into the 15th printing catalog in 1963, and the tie clips and paperweight, which were designed and made in 1961 after Shepard's flight were designed Scaleless. So unless someone recovers Shepard's hatch that was blown, and sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic, we may never know.
Bo must have been convinced that it was carried without scales. I guess for now, that's provenance enough for me.
