I love the look and design of the 75th Anniversary Astro.
I have a couple questions about the design of this knife.
Randall's 75th Anniversary was in 2013, and the lottery was announced in June of 2020. Approx when did the design of this beautiful knife begin, and when did they actually go into production?
Also unique for this knife is the turned stamp on the ricasso.
The choice of the vintage American flag was an excellent one too. To me symbolism of the worn look of it reminds me of the hard times our great country has been in the past few years.
A beautiful knife and as always Randall Made Knives great quality.

Regards, Richard
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This came up in the RKCC meeting where they were announced -- June 2021. There was no RKCC meeting in 2020 as there was no Blade Show, thanks to the fallout from COVID.

Anyway, back to the question: The design was underway/completed by 2013. There were assorted delays in bringing them to market, including (but not limited to) retirement of two senior knifemakers and a COVID pandemic.

(Edited to add) My understanding is that 17s are a little more difficult to produce, largely due to the stainless hilt. This is why dealers have a limit on how many 17s they can order each month. I suspect it took some time to make 200 of them during a period where they're trying to catch up on their schedule.

Good to know Rob, thanks for those details. It's a fine knife with a great historic beginning with its original design including our first astronauts.
So the design happened back in 2013, but production, was that 2021 or starting earlier a few at a time?
Thanks again Rob.

I don't know the timeline on the knife production. Someone else closer to the shop would have to speak up on that.