"Shoot'n Newton"

Keith Montgomery

Keith Montgomery

Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
29,205
Well everyone, I would like to share with you some pictures of the "Shoot'n Newton" knife from Ron Newton that won the Best of Show and Best of the Rest awards at this years Blade. I have really grown fond of these pistol knives and am wondering if anyone else has taken a liking to them as well.

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This first picture is of Ron proofing the barrel. Proofing is overcharging with a lot more powder than you would normally use to ensure that the barrel with withstand the extreme abuse.

In the next post I show pictures of the finished knife. I think you are going to be impressed.
 
So here we go with the pictures of the finished knife. Enjoy!

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The 9.5" sharpened clip point blade of O-1 tool steel has an S guard. It looks like an oridinary S guard until you pull up on the top part of the S. This becomes the hammer and cocks as it unveils a hidden trigger in a synchronized manuever from beneath the handle. This has been a 6 month engineering quest that all came together to please me well. I checkered the ebony handle and shaped the edges of the handle slabs to provide a pistol type grip and appearance. Once the gun is fired and the smoke clears, it looks like an ordinary bowie again. With the exception of the .32 caliber barrel mounted on the spine of the blade.

Specs on the gun knife:
9.5" high carbon O-1 tool steel blade with satin finish,
Checkered ebony grips with abablone inlays,
Gunblued S guard w/ fileworked conchos,
Engraved/gold inlayed gunblued barrel with round barrel and hexagon breech,
.32 cal. cap and ball.
 
Interesting that he proof-fired it while holding it in his hand. I would have used some kind of rig / vice arrangement for that.
 
I guess Ron was confident that the barrel would hold up.

Just something to add to my first post. For those of you that don't know what the "Best of the Rest" award is, it is for knives that don't seem to fit into any of the other catagories.

My thoughts are that these pistol/knife combinations are very difficult to make. I am sure that Ron will jump in here at some point and fill us in. These have become a real favorite of his.
 
Joss,
I guess my thoughts on holding onto the proof load with my bare hands was "No guts no glory". The proof load was just under 60 grains of fffg blackpowder with a .310" round ball and .010" patch to seal the ball to the barrel. On a barrel this length much of the powder is burned after leaving the barrel rather than inside the barrel.

There were safety guards used protecting my body that aren't seen in the photo. Especially protecting my vital areas. I would get a monkey for test firing these cut'n shooters but I would be afraid he'd shoot me for not giving him enough bananas that day.

I'll admit I was a little nervous and it DID kick like Aunt Sadie's mule! The standard 20 grain load that the charts call for is much more pleasant to shoot. In fact it's a lot of fun. My camera man even had to try his hand at shooting it.

Edited to thank Keith for sharing these photos with you guys.
 
Now if Ron could make a knife out of mini-gun damascus that was also a fully operational mini-gun, that would be cool ...
 
Gabe,
I believe I could pull it off no problem. That would be a cool entry for next years Blade Show in the Yvon Vachon mini category.
 
Well, it's an amazing knife. I still like the Sam Bell better though (although I had expected it larger for some reason.)
 
I think my fit of whimsy may be getting me into trouble. I didn't mean mini-gun as in "small gun", I meant mini-gun as in:

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as used by, for instance, Rob Patton, to make mini-gun damascus.

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If you meant the same thing, then I may have to give you a bunch of money now.
 
This is an amazing knife. Never have really seen anything that had a better fit and finish. Awesome pics too. Thanks Keith.

If I remember correctly from Ron, this is picture of the second proof firing with fully stoked ball ammo, so much so that you could not get any more powder in the barrel and get the ball to seat. The photographer became so interested Ron let him give it a try. I better keep my mouth shut and let Ron tell the story. :)
 
Gabe, LOL, don't tempt him. -:).
 
Totally freakin' awesome. In other words, typical Newton. Anybody got a pic of that Sam Bell Joss referred to?

Cheers,

Roger
 
Gabe,
I think we were on different pages of thought on the mini gun. However, I could be tempted to get on the same page as you. You just had to tempt me didn't you?

Gus was accurate on the amount of powder in the barrel. It's actually the 3rd time the barrel was fired but the first proof load. Since I didn't have a monkey to test fire a proof load I tested the water with two standard loads prior to the mother load which was a full barrel of powder and barely able to get a ball in.

Roger, the Sam Bell repro at the show that won me the A.B.S., W.F. Moran Knife of the Year Award was the small white elephant ivory handled one Keith had posted a while back on a thread with several of my knives. Maybe somone computer smarter than me could dig it up.

P.S. Thanks to all for the compliments on the knife.
 
That is one fantastic knife. Ron, seeing it and speaking with you about it first hand was truly a great experience. Keep up the great work.
 
Keith, I wanted that knife! Someday...if I'm BLESSED...I don't own one of Ron's yet...but it's not that I don't want just about everything he makes. His work is AMAZING on ANY level, PERIOD. He is a 1st CLASS guy and I'm GRATEFUL he is my FRIEND. If I needed him...he would be there; NO DOUBT!


I have a WONDERFUL life!:)
 
Thanks Keith - that is just beautiful. I'd love a framed picture of that for my office.

Cheers,

Roger
 
Roger,
I'm flattered. I'll take care of the picture for your office. I'll get Point Seven to mail one directly to you. Thank you for the compliments on this thread. Everyone!!
 
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