Originally published in the RKS Newsletter #70 May 2006
Several years ago as my interests in collecting Randall Made Knives changed direction again as they had several times in the past, I started looking for Randall knives that were different. Knives that were different not in the sense of unusual options but different as in true one of a kind knives. Now this wasn’t a major shift that abandoned my first interest in military model Randall’s, but a broadening of my collecting interest.
The knives I was interested in acquiring were few and far between. Just being a one of a kind didn’t mean it interested me. I had seen some over the years at shows and I knew of some in collections but being the picky fellow I am it would take a really special knife for me to pony up and acquire it. This is especially true if the knife was residing in a collection and not readily for sale.
The first “special” item that really caught my eye is an impressive circa 1955 Randall Made Bolo. Some may refer to this style grind as a “camp knife”, but it is much more than that. The blade is nine inches long and 1 3/4 inches wide at its widest point. This is one broad massive blade with a big “belly” made out of ¼” stock. It is a confirmed one of a kind original forging, not a reground something else. I took it over to the Randall shop and was told they had never seen a blade like this knife. There is nothing in the museum with the same grind. It has five medium thick spacers of the period with a nice tapered leather handle and duralumin butt with wrist thong. Notice the tiny RMK stamp used on the large blade.
The only history I have on the bolo follows. As told to me about the original owner(s), “He purchased the knife from a friend in the 1950’s. His friend had bought the knife in a sporting goods store in Newport, Oregon sometime earlier. That friend has since passed away. That is all the fellow I bought it from could remember in regard to when the knife was purchased.”
My theory of how it ended up in this nicely made sheath is simple really. The knife originally being a one of a kind blade grind, it was unrealistic for Bo to send the knife out to H. H. Heiser to have a sheath made. The initial run of Bowie’s with Clarence Moore sheaths was winding down if not done by this time and I am surmising that if any sheath was originally supplied with the bolo, Bo enlisted the help of his old friend Mr. Moore as the maker. So, two possible scenarios present themselves here. The first scenario is the bolo was sent with a Moore sheath that has long since disappeared. Second, the bolo was sent sans a sheath and was a display item in the store. Either way, the second owner upon acquiring the bolo from his friend had a sheath made locally. I would imagine it wouldn’t have been too difficult to find an accomplished leather craftsman in the great state of Texas and he found one in Lillard’s Leathercraft, Friona, Texas. Note that the keeper is off center of the sheath due to the width of the blade.
This bolo was my first real acquisition of a rare and one of a kind Randall of a “different” type i.e. the original forging is what separates it from other Randall’s that are in the “rare and/or unique” category based on age or options. There aren’t too many knives of this type around as RMK began to discourage owner supplied designs as the demand for Randall Made Knives continued to grow. I am sure RMK thought with the number of models they offered and with an abundance of options available, almost anyone could find a knife to suit their needs and tastes from stock grinds.
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