Overview
This Shaw-Leibowitz Special by Randall Made Knives features a satin finished blade with notched thumbrest, .203" blade stock and 1.336" blade depth, hidden tang construction. The handle has a nickel silver guard, hand checkered walnut grip with a walrus ivory inlay that has scrimshaw of a trout, duralumin butt, red/white/blue spacers. Comes with original brown leather sheath marked LF on the back. Comes with a zippered case. Has a couple very light scratches, otherwise excellent condition.
The Shaw-Leibowitz Special. Shaw-Leibowitz stopped production of the Lewis and Clark 1805 etched blades at 125 to 150 knives since this is what was ordered at the time. Randall dealer, Jack Crider, was able to get the jump on the other blades and had them made up in many different handles, but these knives were not etched. THIS IS ONE OF THOSE KNIVES THAT WERE NOT ETCHED, PART OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 300 BLADES.
Info from Rhett Stidham: A total of 300 blades for these knives were made. Gaddiss book states 125 knives were finished with the Shaw-Leibowitz etching. (THIS KNIFE IS NOT ONE OF THOSE, BUT ONE OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 300 BLADES) I wrote an article in 1990 for the RKS newsletter in which I stated 144 knives were made with the Shaw-Leibowitz etching. These figures were from talking with Jack Crider and Leonard Leibowitz. Which is correct? Let us be happy in saying about half of the 300 original blades had the Shaw-Leibowitz etching.
The Shaw-Leibowitz Special was advertised by them in the late 1970's as "The Lewis and Clark Commemorative", but is known on the collector's market usually as the, Leibowitz Special. This is probably due to the fact that most of the Johnson sheaths are marked on the back with "LS".
This offering started out to be 300 knives but only 144 knives were etched by Shaw-Leibowitz. The etching on the blade was to commemorate the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 to 1806. Guided by the Indian Princess Sakagawea, they made a daring trip from St. Louis up the Missouri River and onto the Pacific Ocean in 1805 opening a new frontier for the young country. The advertising reads, "Randall Knives has designed and made a New Bowie style knife, and Shaw-Leibowitz has created a new scene, to commemorate this great historical event". (AGAIN, THIS KNIFE WAS MADE AFTER THEY STOPPED ETCHING THEM)
The knife, advertised as a bowie knife, is more aptly described as a 1-1/4 to 1-3/8 inch wide 6 inch long clip blade with a Model 6 style grind. The knife, which does not appear in the Randall catalog, features a handle of selected walnut, a guard of nickel silver, and a butt cap of duralumin. The total length of the knife is a fraction under 11 inches. This knife has its own leather sheath with stone pocket and LF is stamped on the back of the sheath. This knife was not offered in stainless but offered in Swedish tool steel only.
