Randy Doucette Custom Knives

By Pat Cascio
Knife Illustrated Magazine

I’m always excited to bring Knives Illustrated readers a fresh new face on the custom cutlery scene. I received an e-mail from a very nice young man, by the name of Randy Doucette, who resides in Canda. The 35-year old Doucette asked me if he could send me one of his knives for a possible article in KI. This isn’t the first custom maker from Canada who’s knives I’ve featured on the pages of KI, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I’m really amazed at the extremely high-quality of knives coming out of Canada, and what’s best is the prices. I honestly think many of the Canadian custom knife makers don’t charge enough for their work - not that I’m complaining about getting a heck of a deal on some outstanding cutlery from these guys.

I have quite a few custom knife makers contact me, asking me how they can get their products featured in a magazine article. I tell them, that the easiest way is to send me a sample or two of their work for me to evaluate. You’d be surprised at how many times that’s the last contact I have with custom makers. Some offer to send me photos of their work, but I tell them that I’ve never done an article based solely on a photo or a press release. The same can be said for some factory made knives - I’ve had several companies contact me, offering to send me photos of their products, and I always turn them down. I refuse to do an article based solely on a photo or a press release, KI readers deserve better! As is the case with many custom knife makers, they rarely are able to deliver a knife when they say they will. Seems like the better custom makers are usually backed-up months, and some times, even years on their orders. When Randy Doucette told me he’d have me a sample shortly after the holidays, I was surprised a sample came within a couple of months after Christmas (2006).

Randy Doucette is pretty much a self-taught knife maker, and to look as his website, you’d never know this young man taught himself how to make knives. Doucette has been making knives full-time for about 5-years now. And, it was a big decision for Randy and his wife, Jackie, to make, to go into full-time knife making. When you’re raising a family, like Randy is, you have to take a lot of things into consideration - especially when you have a little 3-year old daughter like Danielle to care for. Raising a family and taking a giant leap into full-time knife making was a courageous step.

Looking over the website www.randydoucetteknives.com, one can’t help but wonder how anyone could learn to make such beautiful cutlery without the benefit of a mentor or some classes. Doucette said that he did have the benefit of some instruction from another Canadian knife maker, Darren Chard, on how to put together liner lock folders. Other than that, Doucette is self-taught in the art of knife making. All of Doucette’s designs are his own, and his creative juices run faster than he can keep pace with producing the design ideas into the knives themselves. I was impressed to say the least. I told Randy that I liked “big” folders, and I preferred a blade between 3.5” and 4.0” as I think this is a good balance between a knife big enough for all kinds of chores and self-defense, as well as being able to easily carry and conceal the knife in a pants pocket.

The sample I received from Randy Doucette is a brand-new design he calls the “Outsider” and it’s quite a knife, to be sure. The 4.0” S30V stainless steel blade was not a disappointment, nor was the modified hollow-ground tanto-style blade. The Outsider came with extremely thick .090” titanium liners - the thickest I’ve seen on any folder to date. The carbon fiber handle scales are a thing of beauty as well. To off-set the carbon fiber handle scales, Doucette made the bolsters out of gray and black G-10 laminate, they really compliment one another!

It took me a second to realize that the Outsider didn’t come with the usual ambidextrous thumb studs found on most tactical folders. Instead, Doucette added a “flipper” to the blade, which makes for a very fast opening. Without any doubts, this is the slickest and smoothest opening folder I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with - bar none! How Doucette was able to accomplish this, while providing a strong lock-up is beyond me. Another thing that took me a few minutes to figure out was the fact, that the pivot pin wasn’t visible on this knife. Doucette has cleverly hidden the blade’s pivot pin and tensioning screw under the G-10 bolsters. This is really a neat touch! In order to adjust the tension on the knife’s blade, you have to remove the G-10 bolsters, and underneath them, you will find the blade’s pivot pin and tensioning screw. There’s a nicely milled “notch” in the G-10 bolster where the pivot pin fits perfectly. I’ve never seen this feature on any folder, and it makes for a very slick handle grip on the knife.

Doucette didn’t send me an art knife, however, it could easily pass for a work or art. Instead, what I received was a hard-working tactical folder, that is done up just “so” with some custom features. Randy added a nice touch on the back of the blade’s spine - he did some outstanding file work - makes for a dandy “friction” groove for placement of my thumb when holding the knife in the fencing grip - I liked it, a lot! The modified tanto-style blade is hollow-ground, and this is also a nice touch, as so many knives made today are flat-ground. Not that there’s anything wrong with a flat-ground knife in the least. It’s just that a hollow-ground blade takes more work and more expertise.

Another nice touch is that Doucette jeweled the titanium liners. It’s not readily visible until you take a closer look at the fine workmanship of this nice. This is a time-consuming process, and it’s rarely done on knives…I’ve seen it done to bolts on bolt-action rifles, but never saw the liners of a knife jeweled like this. Just goes to show how much detail and work Doucette puts into his knives.

Did I mention how smoothly and effortlessly this knife’s blade opened using the flipper? You’ve got to experience to believe it. I was a bit concerned that the blade might accidentally come open in my pocket with the tip-up carry. However, the blade “locks” snuggly in the handle once closed. A nice stainless steel pocket clip is on the butt end of this folder, and it has three holes drilled in it. There’s no worry that this folder will accidentally come loose and fall out of your pocket - which is always a concern with me, when I’m testing a spendy custom folder.

The handle shape is akin to a canoe-style and it fit my hand perfectly! I thought the slick black carbon fiber handle scales and the polished G-1o bolsters would make the knife a bit to slippery in my hand, but such wasn’t the case at all - go figure! There’s not much that I didn’t like about this folder, but I can always find something that I’d like changed or added.

I thought a nice lined lanyard hole in the butt of the knife’s handle would be of benefit - to those who use a lanyard. The pocket clip is set-up for right-hand carry in the right front pocket. However, with the flipper, the knife can be easily carried in the left front pocket and just as easily opened by a Southpaw. I’m sure Doucette could put the pocket clip on the other side of the knife for those who want it there.

The armor-piercing tanto blade is outstanding and second to none when it comes to “stabbing” into things. I did my usual “stabbing” test into a large pot roast, and the knife easily penetrated up to the handle - no problem at all. I also tested the point by stabbing it into a pile of cardboard - once again, it penetrated up to the handle scales. I used the knife for “slashing” into cardboard as well as a leather-covered “arm” that was stuffed with clothing - it ripped right into the leather and down to the material with ease! I’d hate to be on the receiving end of this blade under any circumstances.

I also used the Outsider for all my daily cutting chores for the better part of a month - this meant opening boxes delivered to me by UPS and FedEx. I also used it for cutting poly rope - which is always a good test of a blade’s edge. Most custom knife makers put a highly buffed cutting edge on their knives. The knife would easily pop the hair off my near naked forearm!

Many people won’t carry or use a custom knife in any way, shape or form. Not me! I carry and use custom knives all the time - I’m not a “collector” per se, I’m a user! No matter how beautiful a knife might be, I still consider it a tool, and a tool is meant to be used - all the time! The Outsider is one helluva cutting tool if you ask me, and I’ll be ordering some more knives from Randy Doucette as funds permit.

Speaking of funds, the Outsider will set you back $550.00 USD, and while it might sound like a lot of money (and it is) it’s one heck of a bargain for a custom tactical folder with so many high-tech materials, and so finely made. If a USA custom knife maker were to offer a similar knife, I suspect you’d pay at least half again as much - you get more than your money’s worth from these Canadian custom knife makers if you ask me.

Be sure to check out Doucette’s webpage for other designs. Randy likes to make one-of-a-kind knives, and most of his knives are custom tailored to meet the customer’s needs and requests. The Outsider sample Doucette sent me? It’s not going back…instead, a check will be sent back to Randy - this one is a keeper!

For further information, checkout the website listed else where in this article, or call Randy at: 1-519-756-9040. His mailing address is: 112 Memorial Dr., Brantford, Ontario CANADA N3R 5S3

For ordering information please email info@randydoucetteknives.com.