Marbles and Randalls?

[TAH]

I asked this question on the RKS Forum, but didn't get a response. So here it is through the magic of copy and paste...

We all know the story of how a Bill Scagel knife inspired Bo Randall to start making his own knives. In fact, Bo's first knives were very similar to the Scagel style we know today. But early on, Bo changed his knives to a style that is more associated with old Marble's knives (i.e. brass guard, spacers, stacked leather, aluminum pommel).

My question is, how much influence, if any, did Webster Marble's designs have on Randall knives?

I don't recall Marbles being mentioned in the Gaddis book, but the knives are very similar in build and material.

Just curious!

Tom

[Melvin-Purvis]

Tom,

After seeing several WWII era Model #1 type 'Fighters' in Marbles styled sheaths at the Chicago area Oak Lawn show a few years back, it occured to me that I'd seen these types of pairings on numerous occasions in the past as well...

I went and spent some time with Tom Clinton at that show, asking him about these knife/sheath pairs..., he didn't seem to think they were originally shipped that way, but mentioned that prior to WWII, Marbles knives had been quite popular, and that quite a few of their larger versions had been sold over the years...

While at that show, I asked the same question of numerous other 'old school' RMK resellers there, and upon returning spoke with Bob Gaddis, BoBlade, Bart Wittrock, and a few other knowledgeable Randall enthusiasts about the subject...IIRC, they all said essentially the same thing that Tom Clinton had...

My original thought was, that when W.D. 'Bo' Randall went looking for additional sheathmakers in 1943 (Gaddis) he may have contacted Marbles for sheaths too, as they had popular large bladed knife products at the time...yet, in retrospect, it looks like I was probably barking up the wrong tree...

That said, Marbles had an undeniable influence on American Cutlery products from the very early 1900's right through WWII, and to me, it's inconceivable that the Randall wasn't therefore influenced by them early on as well. Once precedence had been set, however, RMK just ran with what worked...

I dunno, that's my opinion...but I could be wrong, I've been wrong before, or so I've been told

[TAH]

Thanks Sheldon. I sometimes look at a Randall knife and see a nicer, handmade version of a Marble's knife. Just wondering how much credit should be given to Marble's for the Randalls we know today.

Oh well...have a good weekend.

Tom

[BoBlade]

Hi Tom,

A number of Scagel knives had brass guards, spacers and stacked leather handles. The one thing he didn't use (to my knowledge) was aluminum pommels. When Bo went to stacked leather handles and aluminum pommels on his fighters in late '42 early '43, there were a number of manufacturers making knives with aluminum pommels at the time to include Marbles. I don't think we'll ever know what manufacturer influenced Bo when it came to this feature, but we do know that it "stuck".

Another related and hypothetical question might be "Did Marbles influence any of Scagel's work (brass guards, leather handles and stag butts)? If so, Marbles would have also had an indirect influence on Bo

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Best,

Ron

[TAH]

Hi Ron,

Any idea if Marbles was the first to use stacked leather?

Oh, and I see you're still admiring those old, worn out knives. Come on, Ron. It's time to move on to the super steels, G-10 laminated handles, and Kydex sheaths.

Tom

[BoBlade]

I haven't a clue, Tom! What little I know about knives is pretty much limited to Randalls. I did a quick Google search and came up with zilch. Might be a good question to pose to Mr. Levine on either KF or BF.

Yeah it seems I'm in a (knife) rut! One of these days maybe.................

Ron