Solingen is called the "City of blades", since it has long been renowned for the manufacturing of fine swords, knives, scissors and razors made by famous firms such as RANDALL MADE KNIVES & Wüsthof. Some 90% of German knives are produced in Solingen.

It is an little known fact that the world famed Legendary American knifemakers “Gary and Bo Randall” of RANDALL MADE KNIVES, Orlando Florida used Solingen blades for various models of their fighting knives.

A brief History; With the build-up of hostilities during the mid 1960’s Randall Knives introduced a blade option for its new fighter models in order to relieve the back-up of standing orders from high demand of these combat knives, which was reported to be up to one and one-half years. The blades manufactured in Solingen Germany were designed after the various types that would be utilized on the RANDALL models # 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18. The difference was that these imported highly desireable blades were to be machine forged and preground of High Carbon Steel and Stainless, thereby greatly accelerating the manufacturing process.

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With the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the demand for Model 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 Randall knives made with the factory blades from Solingen, Germany came to almost a complete halt. Also about this time the man in Germany who supplied these forged and ground blades passed on, leaving Bo and Gary Randall without a source for future purchases. With this state of affairs, it appeared that the time was ripe to let the Solingen Randall knives quietly slide into history, which is what they did.

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Randall knives utilizing Solingen blades have etched logos with the wording of "RANDALL MADE SOLINGEN." Such knives are HIGHLY collectible.

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And that is why Woods Custom Made Knives use Solingen Blades.