Jack, I didn't suggest that Shepard's knife was taped. Only suggested that it may not have scales. If taped, the tape could be below the hole. Hard to tell.
It's cool to have found these training photos, especially in the 50th anniversary of man setting foot on the moon. These guys started it all. And to see the Randalls strapped to them makes it all the more important to the brand.
Below illustrates the area I am looking at. The space between what looks like the bolt hole and the edge of the tang. Just speculation, and maybe someone has a program to cleanup/sharpen these pictures?
