Product Details
Far and away the rarest
catalog model out of the Viet Nam war era, and I would venture to say
the rarest of the era, period. You almost never see these available
(last one I know of sold 7 years ago) as most of the few that were made
are stuck away in collections. Predictably, most collectors are missing
this piece. These are far rarer than tenite and brown micarta pieces.
This 5 1/2" beauty is in near mint
condition. The circa late 1963 to early-mid 1964 Orlando forged blade is
unused and bright. As is typical of the early blades in this model with
sawteeth, the blade stamp is partially removed by grinding the top
bevel in the blade. It took them awhile to get this down and
eventually the length of the top bevel was shortened in part to
accomodate the logo. These early grinds are far and away the best
looking pieces and are a departure from the more familiar "spearpoint" blade grind and actually follows the model 15 blade shape. Quite rare.
The tang comes almost to the end of
the handle as shown in the photos. The full tang models are all of
carbon steel and a light coat of lacquer was applied to the tang to
inhibit corrosion. You can see the yellowish color of the aged lacquer
in the photos.
The guard is small and is made of the thin brass stock of the period used on the model 15 and 5 1/2" model 18 of the day.
The Johnson model "C" splitback
sheath is in excellent condition with signs of slight verdigris around
he harness rivets at the throat. It is uncarried and shows a nice
vintage patina.
All in all, this is a great piece of
an extremely rare full tang model 18 for the collector of super hard to
get Randall Made Knives.