Members,
I am starting a new thread, regarding and dedicated to this year's Blade Show. Spectacular event, despite all of the "changes" put before us. I took absolutely "0" photos but others did. I am in hopes that they will appear in this topic soon enough.
Not even un-packed yet, but I have to thanks some folks, 1st and foremost.
Dennis Estes, Nelson & Izzy Silva, James Caruso, Aaron Johnson. Daniel, Oriana (& Little Hanna) Maynard, Steve & Cathy White, Wally & Lori Mabry, David Loomis, Doc Workman...thanks for going to the trouble to provide outstanding RKCC club table displays! They were one of the big hits of the entire Blade show!
Gary & Leanna Clinton (more on them later), Buck Buchanon, Danny Corbet, Bill Clausen & yours truly, all being authorized Randall dealers, were all in attendance at this year's RKCC annual meeting...Thanks. Scrimmer, Sandra Brady and her son, Nick (engraver) were also there.
Despite horrid weather, power outages and dramatic "changes" to The Blade Show's format all went quite well! More to come. If anyone cares to share...let's hear from ya'.
Stay Sharp,
Capt. Chris

Looking forward to the info.

Me too since I didn't get to make the show this year.

The Display Gang
Front row; Lori, Izzy, Nelson, James
Back Row; Wally, David, James, Aaron, Dennis, Steve, Cathy, Little Hanna, Oriana and Daniel.
Their was some Great Randall's on display.
The display had a lot less foot traffic this year due to the new location but the people that came in were very interested in the history of RMK and the options available on the current models. Their was also some great knives brought in for us to look at like an early #17 and a rehandled knife that some one passed of as an original to this person. Thanks to the Capt for renting the room for the club and to Aaron and Daniel from the shop for giving up there time to answer the many questions.

Dennis

Sounds like a good show. I hope to go one day.
Dennis mentioned a early model 17 was brought in. Did anyone get a picture of that one?
Maybe some pictures of the displays too.
Thanks

Picture sent to me from Aaron:

I sent this gentleman into the RKCC room for all to see. Nice Trio!
Capt. Chris

Those are some nice astros. The one on the right looks like a NASA astro that went to NASA with the astronauts knives.
Thanks for posting them.

Notable how lo-o-ng those hilts/cross guards are. Maybe because the astronauts would be wearing gloves.

Were either of these three knives rhodium plated?

Recall discussion on another thread about the plating.

Back when I worked with metallurgists etc., they talked about different plating methods. The flash coating of copper stuck to car bumpers etc. better than nickel or chromium did, and the nickel or chromium stuck to the copper very well.

The exception was hard chrome plating, which put chrome directly onto prepared steel surfaces, as in when they told the DoD how to fix the M16.

But one cautioned me when I said I wanted to hard chrome a 1911, that in small parts hard chroming might cause what they called hydrogen embrittlement and if it did it could cause cracks in the part.

Larry

The guards are long. A feature of early Astros? I don't think the astros are plated. Generally the Randall stamp looks more silvery color than black. These stamps look black so I don't think they are plated.
Looks like the owner has every sheath from the early astro period.
Anyone know who's knives they are? I don't believe I have seen them before.

His name is Sam Granade, and Sam along with Gary Clinton of Clinton Knives are 2/3 Astro genius'! They gave probably the greatest Seminar that Blade ever had a few years back on the Randall 17's...

Let me try...

...and another from that seminar...

Thanks Scott. I've seen that photo grouping of astros. Just not those particular astros that were at blade.
If those are Sam's, it looks like he and Gary Clinton have quite a collection.
Thanks for the info and name and photos Scott.

Thanks Scott, great photos!!

In one of the photos below, is that some kind of mega-Astro?

That is a knife the shop made for the Gemini program. Based on the tru balance throwing knife they offered in the catalog.
I think there was maybe 3 of them made. Gemini ended up using machetes I think.

More to come tomorrow. I'm so tired, I can't can't keep my eyes open.

Thank you very much, very interesting

Sam Granade gave us an impromptu seminar about the history of NASA ordering 20 knives for each of the capsules.
He used a book, We Seven, from a 75th Anniversary Display to find the commentary on the order.
The displays were impressive and the collectors were great.
The RKCC club meeting was very special this year with both an empty chair in honor of Michael Randall, and the auction result by LeAnn Clinton and her gift of the knife to John Francis. It is a fantastic community of Randall enthusiasts.

At the RKCC meeting Saturday. When Michael was at the meeting he always sat there.

Dennis

Awesome touch for sure.

Time for me to recall what I can about a great weekend. The club didn't have the display area that had been available before, but Captain Stanaback acquired a room specifically for the member's displays. Having a room afforded us the opportunity to display our collections and enjoy each other's comraderie. It allowed Club members a place to wind down and get off their feet before going back out to tackle the show again. Saturday evening we had a great turnout at the Old South BBQ despite power outages and we were able to celebrate the birthday of Steve White, who has reached the big Seven-O!
Every year at BLADE the Randall Knife Collector's Club has a Saturday morning meeting to bring everyone up to speed on what's happening at the shop and what's new in the Randall world. This was one of the most special meetings ever, one I'll always remember. John Francis, son of David (Chief) Francis, is 15 years old, and turning out to be a fine young man. Unfortunately John was born without a right arm from the elbow down. Two of the Facebook Randall communities had come together and held auctions to raise funds for John, and to top it off Captain Stanaback donated a new model 3 hunter to be auctioned on the morning of the meeting. The winning bid of Five thousand dollars insured plenty of teary eyes in the meeting as a result, knowing that the Randall community came together to support such a fine young man. The word of the weekend was generosity. It really was a great weekend and I can't wait to see what comes next. It never ceases to amaze!

Happy Birthday again Steve. The good folks at Old South BBQ didn't let a little power outage slow them down even if the kitchen got a bit smokey

Steve's Cake.
I don't have a photo of the BBQ. I was hungry.

Dennis

Thought I would make it easier on the eyes, so I reduced down Scott's two photos.

Hope this helps,

A lot of legacy on display!

Larry