Capt. Chris and others--

This post was prompted by some of the comments made in the other thread that is currently online regarding what to carry in the handle of a Model 18. Somebody asked about the bonding of the blade to the handle on these knives.

I was once told by another RMK dealer that he once had a Model 18 returned by a member of the military that had been curved over its total length when a tank drove over it. He said the blade-to-handle bond showed no signs of cracks or weakening, and otherwise the knife was not damaged. He replaced the Model 18 for the soldier, but I failed to ask him what became of the curved 18. RMK can be proud of that knife--maybe it should be on display in the museum.

That RMK dealer remembered that RMK had been concerned about the strength of the blade-to-handle bond when they started desinging and making the Model 18, and they put a lot of work into developing a bond that would hold up. As you know, the tang was shortened inside the handle tube over the years, I guess as their experience demonstrated the strength of this joint. This gives a lot more room to stuff "stuff" into the handles of the newer knives.

I was also told by the same RMK dealer that over the years he only had one or two other 18's returned to him for replacement due to stress cracks forming at the base of the notch of a tooth in the sawback. That type of notch forms a natural place for stress to concentrate.

He mentioned one way they test the 14's, 15's, and 18's in the "14 room" when they are doing the teeth, and I took it that they were looking for potential cracking at the teeth.

Just before his death, Pete Hamilton was talking to a member of the American Bladesmith Society about differential hardening. I don't know what was behind this, but differential tempering along the back of the sawteeth blades might help solve any problem with stress cracks--but I doubt that this is a very common problem in these knives.

I doubt that many if any of these knives will fail in normal use, and my impression is that the RMK military designs were tortured by them in the development phase and refined based on user feedback. It would be very interesting to learn more about the lore associated with this process, but it would be unfortunate to see people start expecting "indestructible" performance from a tool that is designed and constructed for a specific range of use. (For example, I saw another post on the forum yesterday about a Busse and a Model 14 being put to hard use by somebody who was comparing them, and who finished by hacking at a cinder block. If I have to hack through a cinder block wall for any reason, I won't blame the knife for any damage it might incur--but would be grateful for its service because I assume it would be saving my life.)

Larry

Larry,
And "whom" might this Randall dealer be? Are you not at liberty to say? Interesting information. I all but "expect" folks to bring my name up when I talk to them about Randall "stuff". I just wondered which dealer you were referring to. Good information.
Best, Capt. Chris
P.S. I agree with you about cutting, chopping, chipping, whatever cinder blocks. I don't think much was meant by Whiteman's comment except to show all of us that Randalls hold their own...CCS