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Old 03-06-2016, 01:48 PM
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cut_n_run cut_n_run is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 144
Thanks, Jack. Will try to answer your questions one at a time?

Do you still have the sheath?
Sheath was stored (knife in it) along with uniforms & medals in basement of former home in New England. Flooding rotted uniforms and sheaths. Eventually, Greg Gutcher made me a duplicate of a riveted sheath (pic-ture), and years ago I bought a period riveted sheath (picture) from Perry Miller.

Thinking back 50 years, we passed a catalog around the barracks, wrote a letter to Randall, sent money. We couldn?t just dial a phone back then, long distance costs money.
That?s pretty much what I experienced, except did it through a Randall dealer (story below).

How did you become aware of RMK in the Navy?
Became aware even before enlisting, when a friend wore the most beautiful hunting knife I had ever seen. I lat-er understood that it was a Model 11, and it easily outshone the ?ordinary? Buck knives and Case knives I had seen.

How did you decide on a Model 14?
If you remember the Randall catalog in the 60?s, Bo described the Model 14 as, ?This knife was designed to meet the demand for an almost indestructible all-purpose knife, though it is especially suited for combat and survival purposes.? (50 years later, the catalog uses the identical description.)

and [how did you] order it?
Ordered it by mail, from Randall dealer Dick van Sickle catalog (picture).

where was it delivered?
As best I can remember, it was delivered to me between deployments to Vietnam, while we were in home port San Diego.

The interesting thing about my purchasing of the Model 14 is that I really disliked the idea that handles were removable with screws (the tenite version), so waited until they were available epoxied (micarta). Had I bought the tenite version instead, it probably would have a much greater monetary value, even though a low-S brown filled handle knife is actually rarer!



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