Ron Newton - The Forging Of A Knight

[Stephen F]

My apologies now for what will be a long and heavy post, but I feel that this is necessary to do justice to both the maker and resulting masterpiece.

In the custom knife world, and in particular the world of the ABS, Mastersmith Ron Newton needs no introduction. A number of threads on this forum alone have documented and illustrated his wide variety of talents, from the most delicate of folders, through intricate and high art automatics, robust and striking hunters, to that which is my particular favourite, elegant, and massive Bowie's. To my mind his work is characterised by attention to detail, uniqueness of design, and flawless craftsmanship. Having exchanged countless e mails with Ron over the past year or two, one further characteristic you can attribute to him is all round good guy and gentleman, flexible, patient and willing to give up his time for the curious.

It is quite some time ago now that I first approached Ron to discuss some ideas I had for a series of knives. The basic idea behind them was to give a modern or more contemporary twist to classic Bowie designs, in this particular case, the Dog Bone Bowie. Now I had seen many of the classic historical reproductions of these knives, many of which I would love to have grace my collection, but I also wanted to truly embrace, what is in my view, one of the most attractive, and alluring aspects of being a custom knife collector, that aspect being the ability to commission a truly unique and bespoke piece of functional art.

With that objective in mind I reviewed the list of the top makers whose lists I was and was not on, whose work I had examples of and those I did not, whilst at the same time researching the work of various bladesmiths to see if I could match a certain makers style to the type of ideas I had in mind. In no time at all Ron Newton became the name at the top of the list. Tentatively I wrote to Ron outlining a design I had in mind, very conscious of the fact that I was a relative newcomer to the custom knife world, approaching a person with a tremendous amount of experience and skill. I need not have worried, Ron's response was fantastic and very encouraging, and before long I had supplied preliminary drawings and ideas for 3 pieces.

Earlier in 2004 Ron contacted me to say that he was ready to start on the first piece, and that he would like that to be the Dog Bone Bowie we had discussed. As we poured over the final specifications Ron's knowledge and expertise really began to show. He gently and subtly steered me towards a few design changes that have worked supremely well, he brought to the table suggestions regarding finish that had never crossed my mind but which where stunning in their conception. Excitement began to build, and then at a certain point total control was relinquished to Ron. Like an expectant father I had to wait impatiently and nervously for the birth of a child, but very much like the modern day parent to be, technology has made the waiting period a touch easier with the advent of scans and ultrasound. Or, in this case, a digital photo diary of the construction process of a piece we have tentatively dubbed The Knight.

What will follow in the coming posts is The Knights Tale, a photo diary and summarial commentary as supplied by Ron, on how the piece was made. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

 

[Stephen F]

The first photo, Figure. 1, shows the billet of steel ready for forge welding. Ron has tack welded 4 layers of 1084 and 3 layers of 15N20 together, with a handle, in preparation the forge welding process. Regarding the choice of steels, Ron comments that both "1084 and 15N20 perform well in cutting tests. It is a proven damascus steel blend. They forge, weld, heat treat, grind and etch very well". That was good enough for me.

Fig. 2 is an excellent shot of the billet being heated up in the gas forge. Heat is applied until the billet reaches a dull red colour, at which point the steel is removed and fluxed as shown in Fig. 3. In this instance the flux compound is borax, you can see the cherry red glow from the billet as it readies itself for the forge welding process.

 

[Stephen F]

Fig. 4 is another shot from Dante's inferno , sorry, I mean the gas forge. Here the billet is brought up to critical welding temperature, which is around 2000 deg. F. at which point the steel should be a soft lemon colour (ouch!).

Moving from the forge to a 25 ton hydraulic press, shown in Fig. 5, the layers are forged together and bond into one solid mass of steel, and so the working end of this masterpiece is conceived. *Fig. 6 shows the billet being hammered out into a thinner and longer length as it cools. The equipment shown is a 125 lb mechanical power hammer.

 

[Stephen F]

The process of folding and layering steel to develop the pattern in the damascus, and the refined structure now begins. Fig. 7 shows the billet, that is still a dull red colour, after it has been hot cut 95% through so that it can be folded. Flipping the hot billet, the faces to be folded against each other are ground clean as shown in Fig. 8. Before the folding takes place the billet is fluxed again with borax (Fig. 9). Placed into the forge, the steel is heated again to a red colour, removed from the forge and then folded (Fig. 10.) in preparation for the second forge weld under the 25 ton press. This will yield a mass of steel with 14 layers (inital 4+3 layers folded once = 2 x 7). This process is repeated 5 times, and the additional 5 folds yields a total of 448 layers.

 

[Stephen F]

After the folding and forge welding is complete the steel is drawn out into a length that can be forged to shape as shown in Fig. 11.

On the anvil the blade is now forged to shape, and the formidable proportions of this blade start to become apparent - anvils ain't small, just look at Fig. 12. In the same picture you can also see the wolfs teeth ladder rungs have been ground into the blade for extra bite. These teeth are ground approx. 1/3 deep on both sides of the blade. The teeth cover more than half the width of the blade, above them will lie a random damascus pattern. The teeth are then forged into the blade leaving only 10% of the ridges to be ground smooth as shown in Fig. 13, in which you can also see that the tang and ricasso have now been forged also.

At this point we leave the blade for a while which will undergo further grinding and shaping, and move onto the Handle construction.

 

[Stephen F]

Looking at Fig. 14 you can see the dog bone shape of the handle frame starting to take shape. 416 Stainless steel has been cut, and is shown here being pre drilled. Ten 1/16" holes are positioned along an inset scribe line ready to accept dome head rivet pins that will help fix the scales of the finished handle. The handle frame is .200 " thick, and will be set either side by anodised titanium liners. *Fig. 15 shows the 0.050" titanium liners being cut to shape.

Having drilled and cleaned the mating surfaces of the handle frame, the tang is now marked out. This area will be sawn and filed away to accommodate the tang. *Fig. 16 also shows how the end of the tang has been tapped and threaded ready to accept a finial as part of the take down construction. Also visible in this image is the ricasso, choil, and Spanish notch of the ground blade which shows a beautiful shape and flow.

 

[Stephen F]

The dog bone handle will have African Blackwood scales, which can be seen being cut to shape in Figure 17. The African Blackwood was chosen in preference to Ebony due to the potential chipping problems inherent in the latter. The top makers and many collectors tend to express their preference for African Black wood versus Ebony, and following this process I start to understand why.

The guard will be classic oval with an element of tapering to the bottom. Figure 18 and 19 show the tang slot being milled out of a damascus blank. The material is then transferred to the band saw to be profiled.

The ferrule will be a 3 piece construction - Damascus, Engraved 416 SS, Damascus. Figure 20 shows the 3 spacers, that have been tack welded together , having the tang slot filed to shape. You can also see 2 dowel pin slots that have been drilled through. Once doweled together the tack welds will be ground away.

 

[Stephen F]

Moving back to the scales, they must be prepared to accept 3 pieces of brown lip pearl inlay each. This requires incredible precision, which is achieved using a dremel router base and a 0.015” cutter as shown in Figure 21. The two slabs with the six inlay pockets finished are shown in Figure 22.

Not content with the level of detail and precision that has already gone into the piece Ron now proceeds to manufacture custom made rivet heads. Figure 23 shows Ron's own homemade die punch being used to individually cut 20 rivet head blanks form 416 SS. Each blank then has a 1/16” hole drilled in its centre, the blank is placed into the domed dap with an alignment dowel and inserted into the dapping block - Figure 24. A hard hammer blow forms the blank into a dome shape as the blank is forced into a dome shaped receiving die in the block. As I said there are 20 of these rivets, imagine how long just this part of the process took., and they still need to be polished! I will never look at a rivet in the same way again.

 

[Stephen F]

Ron does fantastic engraving on selected pieces, and the Knight would be one such piece. In the series of pictures shown in Figures 25, 26 and 27 you see one side of the handle frame undergoing this embellishment. He starts by laying out the vine and leaf pattern on the stainless frame using a pencil, next the base leaf cuts are made and a deep relief is delivered. The veins of the leaves are then inlaid with 24k gold wire. This process requires dovetailed cuts to be made in the steel, the gold is then hammered in, which mechanically locks the wire into place permanently - I had always wondered how they did this! After the gold is inlaid, the detail shading cuts can be applied.

And there’s more - to frame the beautiful engraved handle frame the Knight will wear file worked titanium spacers. Using round and triangular jewelers files the vine and thorn pattern is worked on to the edge of the liners as seen in Figure 28. The finishing touch on the liners is a gold bath ... well they undergo a gold anodising process, being placed in a glass jar with distilled water, and trisodium phosphate, voltage is then applied. The set up is shown in Figure 29.

 

[Stephen F]

The handle is now put together, having had the pearl already in laid, Figure 30 starts to show the magnificence of all this work. Here you see the final domed rivets being fixed. Ron installs one 1\16” pin, two rivets, and then hammer peens the ends to form a permanent lock. After this the rivets must be polished flush and the other finished surfaces protected as shown in the insert.

Of course any Knight must have a suit of armour to protect him in battle, and ours is no exception. A sheath formed from .040” 416 SS had to be made. Ron does this by hammer forming two pieces of steel around a piece of thick micarta. The micarta has been cut to the blade profile and will withstand the punishment of the hammer forming process. Figures 31 and 32 show the micarta mandrel and one half of the sheath already formed.

The two halves of the sheath are clamped together and microscopically tig welded together. To do this Ron uses the set up shown in Figure 33, he views the weld through 40 times magnification equipment. In a wonderful insight into Ron's skill base he adds “ This is a welding process barely visible to the naked eye. It’s an old trick I gained from welding on nuclear reactor components back when I had a real job!” - Figure 34 shows a completed weld ready to grind and polish flush. There will be no visible seam as with Silver and Nickel silver sheaths.

 

[Stephen F]

Figure 35. Not content with “just” a metal sheath Ron proceeds to complete a separate sheath tip using the same process. The two piece tip is a complicated feature that requires exacting standards and tolerances to achieve the tight fit required. The sheath will then have its final finish applied before being engraved and more gold inlaid at the throat and tip. Figure 36 shows the throat still awaiting the final detail shading on the fourth leaf. The tip sits beside, accompanied by a damascus Frog button to be fixed to the centre of the flower. The sheath is to be lined with blue velvet.

Well the photo diary is complete, but before showing the final piece lets go back to the blade. Figure 37 shows the blade after it has received its final etching and finish, which reveals the blades hidden secret. As the light glances off the blade the shimmering wolfs teeth are bared and a simmering warning given to all potential predators.

 

[Stephen F]

There you have it, the making of a Knight - the piece is currently at a case makers and I hope to take delivery in the coming weeks, at which point I will add my thoughts and feelings as I coo..... (sorry I am an English, I can’t say it, it really doesn’t sound the same).

Until then all that is left to do is thank Ron Newton for sharing this process with me, and allowing me to share it with you, I hope you have enjoyed it as much I have.

Ron has delivered to me so much more than I asked for and was expecting, he is in a class of his own. He sent the Knight to Coop who worked his usual magic - Thanks Coop. To have this history and Coops images to go along side this magnificent masterpiece really is a wonderful position to be in.

Stephen

 

[Stephen F]

....oh yes, nearly forgot. Ladies and Gentlemen ... The Knight, and if you were wondering that blade is a few whiskers over 12 inches. Am I happy? I haven’t stopped grinning for weeks .......

Stephen

 

[LongRifle]

Fantastic! That is a great knife and an even better thread . Thanks for taking the time to post it Stephen, certainly shed's some light on how a mastersmith makes a knife .

Matt

 

[30-30 Cal.]

WOW! and WOW! Fantastic! What workmanship! Thanks for sharing, Stephen.

Dave

 

[ptgdvc]

Stephen,

You are hereby awarded my personal Triple Crown.

Best Knife , Best Photography , Best Thread

WOW,

Peter

 

[Bruce Bump]

Im awestruck! I have always loved Rons work. Thankyou so much for an eye opening look at how it is done and with such outstanding photos.

 

[northgull]

Truly an educational experience, Stephen. Thanks so much for the trouble of posting all this. It makes one most appreciative of what a fine knifemaker goes through to produce our blades. Awesome!
Frank

 

[RogerP]

It is only because you were kind enough to give me a sneak preview of this tremendous work of art that I didn't fall out of my chair this time. A bankruptcy of superlatives prevents me from giving just commentary on the knife itself. So I'll just say WOW!!! Thanks for the engaging and detailed write-up. There are few feature knife magazine articles that I have enjoyed so well.

Roger

 

[Tom Militano]

That is one hell of a post!! Thanks for taking the time to put it all together.