Bill,

First of all, thank you for your contribution, enthusiasm, and wonderful photos you bring to the forum. I always enjoy your posts. Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about your all stainless Randall knife and have a few thoughts that I would like to share.

One aspect of RMKs that I have always appreciated is the fact that each knife in their line is well thought out and specifically designed for its intended purpose. This straight forward, no gimmicks, approach makes me question why Bo would add a bottle opener to a UDT/military knife – a knife that would likely be subjected to hard use in demanding environments. Even if this knife started out as a fish knife and was later adopted as a UDT knife, the novelty and limited use of a bottle opener wouldn’t be worth the risk of significantly weakening the blade from the stress riser caused by the creation of the bottle opener - especially on a knife that one’s life might depend on. Also, the blade shape, which is a slender trailing point used for delicate work, is not ideal for underwater or military application. The Model 16 was correctly designed as a dive knife. Its strong, spear point tip is perfect for light prying.

Here is a little more on trailing points from Knife Depot:

"A trailing point knife is a lightweight knife that has a back edge that curves upward. The "trailing point" is named for the point which trails higher than the generalized axis of the spine of the knife blade. Trailing point blades provide a large curved cutting area ("belly") and are optimized for slicing or skinning. They offer the sharpest point for fine, delicate, and small work, such as skinning and caping game or fish. They are most common on skinning and fillet knives. There are several disadvantages to trailing point blades, with the main one being its weak point. Because it is designed for fine delicate work, it will easily bend or break if used on tougher materials."

Not trying to take anything away from your beautiful knife. Again, just wanted to share some thoughts and add to the discussion.