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The idea of a scaled-down commemorative was replaced by that of adding a new style of drop-point hunter to the Randall line. The only drop point Randall offered was the Model 11 Alaskan Skinner from the early 1950s, and Gary had a new design in mind. It was one based upon a noncatalog knife made in small quantity in the early 1970s and was also similar to one his dad had made back about 1940 or 1941.

Once again, it was a case of forging a couple of rough blades, taking them to a grinder, and designing by removing metal and making sparks. While Gary did most of the grinding, Bo, Pete, and six or eight other shopmen gave their opinions at various times.

"We messed around with that for a couple of months, until we found something everybody liked," Gary recalled. After they obtained a satisfactory blade, they needed to come up with an appropriate handle to go with it. While crown stag was out, they still were after a pre-World War II look. They decided to try polished stag with leather and fiber spacers at each end, something like the earliest handles of Bo's back in 1938 and 1939. The first knife must have been assembled with brass hilt and butt cap because Gary said, "We had a weight problem with the handle, so we decided to use nickel silver on the hilt and aluminum for the butt cap." In fact the butt cap was made somewhat thinner than had previously been the rule on Randall knives.

The design of this newly completed knife appealed to everyone, so it was given the name "Trapper" and added to the regular line as the Model 25. It was the only new addition to the Randall catalog during the 1980s and was first offered in the twenty-eighth printing of the catalog in the anniversary year 1988....

Within the first six months of production, Gary got requests for knives with the rough outer portion of the stag, usually referred to as the bark, left in place. Handles made in this manner looked quite nice, so this became a regular option, although it wasn't listed in the catalog. Each end of the stag section on these handles was ground and polished so as to taper smoothly into the section of fiber and leather spacers. All in all, this gave then handle both a handsome appearance and a good nonslip grip.

About a year and half later, during 1989, another noncatalog style of this knife became available, which Gary termed "one with brass furniture." Here the knife had a brass hilt and thin brass butt cap, and the normal colored fiber spacers were replaced by ones of very thin sheet brass and black spacers. A Model 25 Trapper with brass furniture on the stag section yields an exceedingly good-looking knife. We should also mention that from the very first, this model has been offered with either a 5- or 6-inch blade made from stainless steel or the regular 01 tool.

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