The Solingen Fighters were available at least through early 1992 as per the following article from the Randall Knife Society newsletter #13 (January, 1992), written by Bob Gaddis.
THE RANDALL SOLINGEN FIGHTER
This non-catalog Randall knife seems to be causing a bit of conversation among collectors these days, so Rhett asked me to shed some light on both its past history and current status. When I spend my hard earned money on an unusual style of Randall knife, I want to know the facts about its origin, and not just somebody's best guess or flight of imagination. Assuming that you all are of a similar mind, I will therefore try to be like the old TV police sergeant, keeping it short and "just the facts, please".
With the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the demand for Model 14, 15, and 18 Randall knives made with the factory blades from Solingen, Germany came to almost a complete halt. Also about this time the man in Germany who supplied these forged and ground blades passed on, leaving Bo and Gary without a source for future purchases. With this state of affairs, it appeared that the time was ripe to let the Solingen Randall knives quietly slide into history, which is what they did. The offering of such knives was dropped from their catalogues and the shop carried on making all future Model 14, 15 and 18's with blades hand forged in Orlando. The only usage of the left over Solingen blades was for the occasional replacement work done under their famous guarantee.
By 1978 or 1979, it was evident that the few hundred Solingen blades on hand were more than enough for any possible future guarantee work, so Gary and a couple of other craftsmen tried their hands at designing knives which could be made from these surplus blades, without too much regrinding. Gary's design of a fighting knife was selected as being the best of the lot, and it was decided to make some for over-the-counter sales there at the shop. The only problem was that the men in the forging room didn't have any extra time to rough grind the Solingen blades into the required new shape. To get around this bottle-neck, about 30 Solingen blades were fanned out to an ex-employee, who still lived in the Orlando area. He had sufficient grinding equipment in his present business and was happy to take on this task. The Randall shop craftsmen were then able to find the time to finish, grind and assemble these first Solingen Fighters. Gary said that these knives did not enjoy a brisk sales at the time, and speculated that maybe it was because they had "a funny-looking, black micarta handle". Whatever the reason, these slow sales ended that project and the idea sort of faded away. The Vietnam era Solingen blades continued to gather dust and the shop went on making new knives from hand forged blades.
In January of 1987, I was in Orlando doing some of my historical research at Randall Made Knives, and one of the subjects under discussion was the blades imported from Solingen, Germany. While talking about the ones left over from the Vietnam War times, Gary mentioned that they had made a few "neat fighting knives from those Solingen blades". Although he didn't describe these fighter's blade shape, he did explain that the tangs were to short for a butt cap on the handles. While they had used micarta on those earlier Solingen Fighters, a stag handle would work just fine, and might look quite nice. Without even asking for a more detailed description of the design, I asked Gary if he would be willing to make a couple for me at Nordic knives. He agreed and said to include them on our nest order for the store. The note that I jotted down that day was short and not very informative: "Spl. Solingen Fighter--no butt caps--short tang--#1 or #2 style hilt and handle". I didn't even know what the blade length was to be! The order that was placed the following February included two of these mystery fighters, but the information on our order was still less than complete. They were both specified only as: "Solingen Fighter--see GTR for design". One was to have a stag handle with nickel silver double hilt (#1 style), while the other was requested with a black micarta handle and brass double hilt. We would find out what they looked like when they arrived! Gary later related that when he received this order, he unlocked a cabinet and located his old pattern knife to use as a model for the shop craftsmen. By keeping these pattern knives locked away he is able to have old style and unusual designs duplicated with great precision. We are therefore able to state that the newest Solingen Fighter is a close match to the ones made about a decade ago.
Three months later the two unknown, non-catalog fighters arrived as part of our regular monthly shipment. It was sort of like a surprise present to be opened, with Dave Harvey and I searching for the packages marked Solingen Fighter. When these were opened, we were more than pleased with the two knives we had bought pig-in-a-poke fashion. The Style of knife received is shown by the lower one in our photo, the top knife being a Randall Knife Society special. We will speak more about this top one shortly. These Solingen Fighters have graceful, somewhat slender blades with double sharp edges and a gently rounded spear point. This design style, where the top edge is not as long as the lower one goes back many, many years. It was quite popular around the middle of the nineteenth century, sometimes being referred to as a "dirk-style" knife. In more recent times this blade configuration was popularized as the U.S. M3 Trench Knife during World War II, with this same blade being carried on through bayonet models M4, M5, M6 and M7 right up through the Vietnam War. For really detailed information about these items of military cutlery, see U.S. Military Knives, Bayonets & Machetes, Book III by M.H. Cole. Our photo also clearly illustrates the less distinct etched blade marking on the Solingen Fighter. Because the factory blades were received fully heat treated, all Randall knives utilizing Solingen blades have etched logos with the wording of "RANDALL MADE SOLINGEN."
Now that we had rediscovered the Solingen Fighter, Dave and I wanted to add it to the inventory of non-catalog Randall knives at our store, Nordic Knives, and happily, Gary said they would be willing to continue making them. He did request that we not order very many at one time, as the blade regrinding did require more time and effort than other models of comparable size. He also reminded me that the supply of original Solingen blades was strictly limited to the few hundred they had, and that some must be kept for any future guarantee work. In fact there were already so few stainless steel blades in the 71/2 inch length that he could not offer Solingen Fighters with long stainless blades. With this information in hand, Dave and I selected Stag, Black micarta and walnut handles on tool steel blades as our regular inventory knives at the store. Stag is usually accompanied by nickel silver double hilts, while brass is used with black micarta or the walnut wood. Nordic Knives offers these at $295, with either a 7 1/2 or 5 1/2 inch blade length, your choice. Stainless steel blades in the 5 1/2 inch length ONLY can be had at slightly higher cost, while other handle materials may also be ordered.
As a final note, it is interesting to see that Gary has continued on this basic design style with The Randall Knife Society's own special model, as illustrated by the top knife in our photo. In this new refinement, he has given the top edge and upper grind line graceful curves similar to their latest catalog knife, the Model 25 Trapper. With brass hilt, plus brass and black spacers of the newest options on the Model 25, this Society knife is a striking addition to the ever-growing family of Randall Made Knives.
Edited by rfcarlin (10/11/17 12:15 PM)
_________________________
Bob Carlin
rfcarlin@hotmail.com
RKCC #622
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