Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick Bowles
Howdy Folks,
I'm still alive and scratchin'. I'm honored to note that 2016 will mark the thirty-fifth year of my association with the Randall family. April 23, 2016 will mark the fifth anniversary of the untimely death of my friend Rhett Stidham. His passing also marked the beginning of the end for the forum that Rhett and I started as well as the demise of the Randall Knife Society. From 1989 until his passing, Rhett Stidham worked tirelessly to make the RKS the premier collector group for Randall Made Knives. There is not and likely will not be another organization like the RKS. I can say with complete conviction that Rhett would be deeply disappointed in what has become of his efforts.
Perhaps one day I'll publish the entire story of what transpired after April 2011 to leave us where we are today. Though I'm aware of what our forum has become, for now I take a great deal of pleasure in not dealing with the drama.
For those of us that have been banned (and I was the first), you should wear it as a badge of honor. Rhett would appreciate that. I will say that I find it comical that "the other forum" still carries the banner "A place where EVERYONE is welcome to join in on the discussion of knives and other sharp things". I would add "as long as you don't disagree with the dictator".
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Yeah,...I'm another one wearing that badge of honor. :-) I wasted a lot of time and posted a LOT of threads over there. ...and like you I too found the irony in the BS title that "...EVERYONE was invited to join in..." ...blah blah blah,...as long as you conform and keep your mouth shut if you think their knives could be better!
Some of my threads were of modifying a few of my personal Randall knives to make them into better slicers for EDC and other uses,...and that was taken as sacrilege to the powers that be. Knives with thick blade stock might be "built like a tank" (sort of, but without a full tang on most even that is a stretch),...but then what tank do you find that makes a great slicer for common cutting tasks?
It's been a few years now ,...maybe more as when you are banned you can't even go in and VIEW threads,....a ridiculous stance there. One thread I remember was thinning the blade on my used Model 28 Woodsman Randall knife. Often carried into the woods, in my mind it would be a better tool for tasks often encountered there without the rather thick 3/16" blade stock getting in the way! This model has a mostly full tang (one of the few Randall knives that do), so I thinned mine down to about 1/8" for most of the length, leaving a little more thickness in the stamp area to maintain that. I also removed most of the choil to get more cutting edge length for use as a Bushcrafting and general cutting use.
Talk about getting reamed by the elitist snobs who store their Safe Queens instead of trying to regularly using them! When a $20 Mora Heavy Duty Companion can cut circles around a stock $425+ Randall,...you have to wonder! Geeze..... some of us don't need or want a crowbar in a knife,...but DO want an efficient cutting tool.
At age 61 now, I also don't have time to wait the 4-5 years (last I checked) for an order to get made and delivered. As I bought most of mine as used knives (and now mostly sold off), with a few new from dealers without the long wait. This wouldn't even be necessary if the re-seller's weren't sucking up all the future spots they can,.... limiting the supply and keeping the prices artificially higher than they would be otherwise. IF actual "user's" controlled the market demand, the cutting efficiency would more readily come to light, and Randall would make knives with cutting thickness blades rather than "crow bar thick" blades.
In my case,... ANY talk about a Randall Knife having some "design" traits not the best for the the supposed purpose suggested by the name, such as "Woodsman", is a BIG no-no! As I recall Chris Stanaback (a BIG Randall re-seller), and even Randall Shop Foreman Scott Maynard piled on.
Some comments on that tread regarding modifying my Model 28 Woodsman knife would have gotten most anyone else banned probably. But if you're part of the "collective" you're cut a LOT of slack on what you can say!
In lots of ways Randall's are a "trading" commodity, and a high percentage are "Safe Queens" never to see any actual use in the field. The marketing is geared in that direction, and of course regular sellers like Captain Chris want to protect THAT! The comments made to the original poster in this thread WAS insulting and personal,...and ANY "nobody" using the same words would likely be banned for saying it. But not Captain Chris,... simply remove the evidence, ban the innocent guy,.. and move on,...nothing to see here sort of thing. Geeze...
Were more Randall's actually used in the field,...you'd hear a lot more about their shortcomings when it comes to actually cutting. There's a reason WHY real food prep slicers, general "cutting" tools , and even woodcrafting / bushcrafting blades are made in 1/8" and UNDER thicknesses,...they simply work better for what a knife is meant to do,...CUT!
YMMV
Joe T