Black Micarta SS |
Over the years the author has acquired a special interest in the Divers of early vintage (late 50s-early 60s) and retains several knives of this period in his collection. Besides the handwork exhibited in these early examples, the handle material used varies greatly, due to the transitional period that saw tenite replaced by Micarta. Although most will agree that the Diver blade does not have the interesting lines of perhaps the “Attack” or the “Survival” models, there is one aspect of interest that they share and that is the various stainless steel stampings found on 1960s vintage steel. One particular stamp, the “ss” or double “s” for stainless steel is recognized as quite collectible. Although not rare on Model #16s one has to concede that many Divers of early production were stainless, notwithstanding the absence of any indication on the blade. Why? For two reasons, the first; the knife was created for underwater use and second, its origin and introduction preceded the use of a stamp on any model, due to the circumstance that RMK was using carbon steel throughout its line. This would create some confusion later when these blades were offered in carbon steel as well and RMK undoubtedly made the decision to begin to differentiate between types of steel with a blade stamping. Most Randall enthusiasts know the stamp progression, as it has been written about and depicted in many publications. Brief restated; initially came the double “SS”, next one “S” was dropped and that stamp was located low on the ricasso, logo side of the blade. Following that, the low “S” was moved up adjacent to the trademark, but separate from it and finally the “S” was included in the logo itself. This progression covered a few years, with the initial stamping (SS) first appearing about 1964 and remaining unchanged for a brief period; perhaps less than a year. |
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This time frame was one of handle material transition. Tenite had been around the shop since 1954, with dramatically increased use seen during the Vietnam buildup. This plastic handle material was bolted onto the tang and grew problematic in the humid climate of Southeast Asia and the resulting search for a replacement substance led to the introduction of a “new” type of green tenite, no longer bolted, but glued onto the tang. It is during this time, 1964, that the “SS” stamp first appeared on the Diving knife. But the search for a better handle material was not concluded as the second green variant was also susceptible to warp age. Micarta was introduced to the full tang line, after having been used (tan color) just prior, on a limited production of Astronauts knives. The type utilized was not tan, but reddish-brown in color and may have actually preceded the green epoxied tenite material, as there are extant examples which are bolted onto the tang and exhibit the double “SS” on the ricasso. In any event it does appear that the two types paralleled one another in time to some extent. The author has such an example without the stamp, while collector Tom Clinton has a similarly handled diver with the double “SS”stamp. This early red-brown canvas type Micarta was, like its contemporary green epoxied tenite, never depicted in the RMK catalogs. What was depicted is the type that we have come to recognize as Brown Micarta and illustrations are to be seen in the catalogs for several years, although none show a double “SS” stamp. The Diver so illustrated does carry the low “S” stamping however. Following this brown material came black Micarta in various shades and tones and eventually it became the standard for all Randall Made full tang knives. The image depicted here is of a black Micarta handled Diver with a blade stamping of double “SS”. Since we can attribute that stamping to about 1964 and since the low “S” stamp accompanied the stainless blades handled in Brown Micarta, a material that preceded black, we ask, how did this occur? Obviously Black Micarta saw some use earlier than its ultimate adoption in 1966. My personal research on the question includes discussion of this rare stamping with many serious collectors and no one to date has indicated that they have observed any full tang models handled in black micarta, bearing the double SS” stamp, save one and that was reportedly also a Diver. This circumstance does not preclude future discovery, but until that time the statement holds true.
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