1966ish Model 21 "KIT" knife!

Bill,

That is one fantastic Kit Knife!

Tom Flynn

Beautiful knife!
I wonder who did the handle?
Very similar in style to J N Cooper,
but it's not exactly it.

Who ever finished this blade did a nice job. I really like the handle.

Unique and very nice looking.

I recently picked up this RMK Model 21 Little Game knife. The sheath had me puzzled as I had not seen one with this tooling before, and the Model 21 was NOT one of the Andy Thornal Dealer Specials. Once I found and read Rhett Stidham's Randall Lore #41, all was made clear and I realized that for a short while, all of the RMKs sold at Thornal's had the "Special" stamp and the tooling. I'm feeling like I picked up an uncommon piece of RMK history.

Here are the specs on the knife:
-Blade: 3.25” carbon tool steel. Stamped “Randall Made Orlando FLA” with double scimitars. Top of blade in front of hilt notched for thumb placement.
-Handle: Sambar stag. Brass single hilt. 5 spacers (RWBWR).
-OAL: 7.5”
-Sheath: Randall (Johnson) Model A brown leather sheath without hone pocket. Hand tooled floral design on toe of sheath front. Reverse is embossed with RMK logo, “Andy Thornal – Special” and “21”.
-RMK Catalog Description: 4"-4 1/4" genuine imported stag handle. Brass hilt. Especially suited for caping and other delicate cutting duties. Top of blade in front of hilt notched for thumb placement. (Not available with leather handle.)
-Notes: Hand forged/crafted. As per seller, the knife was made in the early 1980s (which would be towards the end of the period of Thornal sheath special stamping and hand tooling).
-As per Rhett Stidham (Randall Lore #41 Andy Thornal Special): “Andy Thornal is a world class, sporting and outfitter's store, in Winter Haven, Florida and has been a RANDALL dealer since 1969. To date they have had three special Randall knives made. [For] Their SERIES #1 knife [100 made which were sold 1974-1985]…The back of the sheath is marked ANDY THORNAL SPECIAL above the regular Randall mark. A floral design is present below the stone pocket on the front of the sheath. The sheaths were made by Johnson. [For] Their SERIES #2 knife [100 made which were sold 1977-1990]…The first knives in this series had sheaths with the floral design also, but later on the floral design was discontinued. Also the ANDY THORNAL mark is on the back of sheath…There was a time when the sheaths for all Randalls sold at the Andy Thornal store had the Thornal logo above the Randall logo on the back of the sheath. The knife shown here [Model 21 with reverse ATS stamp but no hand tooled floral design on front] is one of those non special knives with the sheath marked Andy Thornal. This is not the case today and exactly when this stopped is not known for sure but probably in the early 1980’s.”

Bob,

That's a nice companion to your recent little NDP. Same spacer stack and nice stag on both. A side by side tandem sheath would be a great idea.

Bill

I echo the others comments. That is a great looking knife. Who ever did the work, looks like they did a 1st class job.

I must have slept through your post of a couple of years ago, because I don't ever recall seeing those pics before.

I was told that it was built by John Nelson Cooper, but have nothing to back that up with, other than the fact that it looks like a John Nelson Cooper knife! lol

Thanks Warren.

The Nordic DP stag is a bit darker and 'fatter' but I do have them displayed side by side.

I like the dual sheath idea, but if it happens, it would be somewhere down the road.

Bob