A Randall & a Blackjack

[rcmodel]

Randall #1-7”
Actually closer to 6 7/8” though.
I got this one at a little gun show 15 years ago for $75.00.
It was laying on a table just inside the door, and the seller said people had been walking by it all morning without stopping to look!







Near as I can determine, it is an early 1970’s knife with transition Johnson rough-back sheath and smooth snaps?
The stone is a grey Norton only used from 1973 to 1976.
(if it is the original stone?)

Sure would have made things simpler dating them if Randall had used serial numbers like Gerber, or date stamps like Puma!


Blackjack #5 - 5 ½” Classic Skinner.
Kinda a poor man’s Randall #5!

Right side blade marked Carbon Steel, Made in USA, Effingham Il.
Left side marked Classic Blades with Skinner under it.
They sold new for $109.95 in 1995.





I have had this one for a long while, paid around $75 bucks for it on eBay, and have never actually used it at all.

1995 Blackjack pamphlet:




It has been fun digging them all out, cleaning them up, and documenting them for my kids.
And of course posting about them on THR.



Now, "Th-th-th-that's all folks!"
I’m outta knives!

And I'm outta here on my knife collection threads! ,.,,.,.,.,.;,.;,;;;

Gonna be one heck of a good tag-sale when I die and the kids sell them though, I betcha!!!!

rc

 

[hso]

I used to deal in Blackjack knives and many a Randall owner sent post cards to me telling me that they were as happy with their Blackjack as their Randall and had put the Randall up and carried and used the Blackjack.

Good knives in their time. Underpriced for what they provided. They were ahead of their time in that they cryogenically treated each blade.

 

[Gordon]

I am another fan of Blackjack knives HSO.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Nice finds of cold Steel!

 

[RatDrall]

Randalls are so well known, and Blackjack not so much, I don't understand why.

I've run into people with a few $400+ Randalls who've never heard of Blackjack.

If I liked stick tang knives, I would have a Blackjack way before I'd pay 3 times as much for a Randall. The design is the same, the handle material is the same, the only real difference that I can see is the grind, and I'd prefer the Convex edge of the Blackjack...

 

[Sulaco]

Wow RatDrall, you do get around on the forums eh?

I like the current Blackjack knives even better and I bet you can guess why.... made by Bark River!

 

[hso]

Sulaco,

You have the cart and the horse slightly reversed (or is that inverted/mirrored/moebused ?).

RC and I have Effingham BJKs and you're thinking about the current incarnation of the BJK "Classic" line. Mike Stewart was involved in both, but while he probably grinds some of the current BJK Classics he had several folks working for him cutting, grinding, heat treating, cryo-treating and assembling in the IL shop I poked around in.

 

[22-rimfire]

The current rendition is the 125. It is my favorite woods knife at the moment.

 

[kBob]

When the Blackjacks were first coming out and appeared in Soldier of Fortune magazine I handled one in Orlando of all places. I did not at that time think they compared all that well with the "local" brand. Not picked one up since so I can not say what later ones are like.

Interesting that the comparison in this thread is with a 7 inch Randall and a shorter Black Jack....on my brief visit with Bo Randall he took the opertunity to opine that too many of his customers asked for knives that he felt were too long.

The most exciting part of the visit was when the nephew of Mr. Randalls first knife making employee commented that he had always liked Mr. Randalls "bowie knives." We then got a rather animated and detailed talk on the differences between a bowie knife and a Randall Made Number One.

-kBob

 

[Steve H]

Now you guys have go me thinkin'...........back in the mid 90's I bought a Black Jack. Put it in the gun safe and there it has sat since. Maybe it's time to dig it out and see if it's a user or not.

 

[rodinal220]

Blackjacks are muy beuno!!Very underrated knife.

 

[22-rimfire]

The Blackjack 1-7 is an excellent blade. I bought one, but decided that the blade length was a bit too long for everyday woods use for me. That's when I bought the M125 and have been very pleased with it. There are the current Blackjack Classics made by Bark River in A2.

My Randall's sit in the safe un-used.

I have been looking at the current Blackjack M5, but I don't see much real benefit with it over the 125. They did make some new prototype M5's earlier this year that were sold rather quickly via Ebay.