#181329 - 07/07/19 09:26 AM
Pete Hamilton
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 10/31/07
Posts: 7376
Loc: Garden Valley, Idaho
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Administrator, please move if not appropriate here. Pete left RMK for a while and went to Colorado. While there, did he make any knives, and if so, does anyone have examples? I believe he was gone around 2 years in the 80's, and returned to RMK. Thanks.
Pap
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Mike Allen RKCC-CM-086 True West Magazine Maniac Randall Collector Behring Made Collector Ruana Collector Glock Fan NRA- Life Member since 1975 mikenlu99@aol.com
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#181344 - 07/07/19 04:00 PM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: pappy19]
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 09/13/05
Posts: 2261
Loc: central fl.
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Pete left shortly before I was hired in Aug. of 1983....was gone only about 6 months...and to my knowledge he did not make any knives on his own at anytime.
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---DW---
Scott RKS #014
HE IS RISEN!, HE IS RISEN INDEED!
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#181346 - 07/07/19 05:11 PM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: Dirty_Water]
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 10/31/07
Posts: 7376
Loc: Garden Valley, Idaho
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Thanks Scott, couldn't remember the details.
Pap
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Mike Allen RKCC-CM-086 True West Magazine Maniac Randall Collector Behring Made Collector Ruana Collector Glock Fan NRA- Life Member since 1975 mikenlu99@aol.com
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#182796 - 08/25/19 11:46 AM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: pappy19]
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Just dropped in
Registered: 10/05/13
Posts: 1
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Mr Hamilton sold me my first Randall Made knife, a model 8 that I carried thru my career as a Forest Ranger and still do.
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#182805 - 08/26/19 08:13 AM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: Robert Highhawk]
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 02/04/08
Posts: 2833
Loc: Georgia
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HELLO Robert!!!
:-)Rocky
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Rocky Whitaker RKCC#25
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#184146 - 10/25/19 01:13 AM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: Dirty_Water]
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 09/15/05
Posts: 2079
Loc: Think Snow
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Haven't been here for a while and stumbled across this thread. Thought the following info could be of some interest to some.
Sometime after Pete retired from the Randall shop I spent about a week with him and Betty as their guest at their home in Havana FL. Pete was going to teach me how to make knives. That did not go well at all, more on that later. I really liked Pete, though he was a bit of a curmudgeon; however, he was a much better friend than a teacher at that point in his life.
Anyway, among some of the very cool things he showed me were a stack of blades that he had made. The blades all had a logo he had designed and etched or stamped into the blades. His logo was a stylized chair on rockers but it did not look like one of those granny rocking chairs with which we are all familiar. It was more like a straight back dining room type chair on rockers. I asked Pete if I could take pictures of the blades but he declined. I did not ask him when he made them and if he told me I do not recall.
The blades were about 7 inches long, kind of shaped like an RMK Model 14 but definitely not a duplicate of them, and had a full tang. If he had completed any of the knives I did not see them when I was visiting. I asked if he had completed any. I am not positive but I think he said he had not.
I had brought with me a Randall Kit blade for a model 12 Heavy that Tom Clinton had given me years earlier. I had soldered one of my pure silver lugged hilt blanks on it and had brought along a huge chunk of pure silver for the butt cap, some pure silver sheet for spacers, and a honking big center section piece of elephant ivory for the handle. The idea was that after Pete taught me how to make knives, I was going to complete the Smithsonian under his watchful eye.
As I mentioned, the lessons did not go well at all and my career as an apprentice knife maker came to a screeching halt while practicing on some scrap steel and chunks of 2 x 4. Not wanting to send me home to butcher the Smithsonian, Pete put the parts together and let me watch as he turned a collection of carbon steel, precious metal, and one humungous piece of ivory into the prettiest Smithsonian on the planet (in my humble and unbiased opinion).
So...did Pete Hamilton make any knives? If you run across a knife with a blade that could be a distant cousin to a Model 14 with a stylized rocking chair logo on it, it just might be one of Pete Hamilton's, and I have a Smithsonian Kit knife that he might have made over the course of many years, blade first and then the handle, if he ever worked in the forge at the Randall shop. I never asked him if he did, but I think I know who might know. DW ??
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#184172 - 10/25/19 04:41 PM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: silverknife]
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 02/13/11
Posts: 2255
Loc: NW Mississippi
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How bout a picture Doug.
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Ronnie RKS#2166
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#184176 - 10/25/19 08:37 PM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: silverknife]
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 10/20/05
Posts: 1621
Loc: Blue Ridge Mtns. Va.
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Doug I go to a site that says how to resize pics, it is on Windows 10 and I hit resize and it shows the pixles I change them to 750 and the bottom number comes up without having to do anything. I may not have given you enough info., but hopes this helps some.
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Sidney Redford NRA Endowment Member RKS #84 NRA Life. Shag # 11
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#184186 - 10/26/19 03:22 AM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: silverknife]
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 02/13/11
Posts: 2255
Loc: NW Mississippi
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Doug you can email them to me and I will load them for you.
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Ronnie RKS#2166
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#184248 - 10/28/19 12:42 AM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: silverknife]
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 02/13/11
Posts: 2255
Loc: NW Mississippi
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Here is Doug’s beautiful Randall Bowie. Thanks Doug.
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Ronnie RKS#2166
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#184250 - 10/28/19 07:15 AM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: Ronnie]
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 09/13/05
Posts: 2261
Loc: central fl.
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The knife looks awesome Doug! Better skills than I remember him with!!
And no, Pete never did work in the forge...
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---DW---
Scott RKS #014
HE IS RISEN!, HE IS RISEN INDEED!
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#184251 - 10/28/19 07:58 AM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: Ronnie]
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 06/02/08
Posts: 2039
Loc: NJ
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Awesome knife.
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Steve Rinda RKCC #CM157 RKS #5715 SHAG #006
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#184252 - 10/28/19 08:03 AM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: Oldvetnam1]
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 02/09/16
Posts: 5791
Loc: Central New York
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Now that's a Kit knife with a story. Amazing outcome Doug.
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Warren
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#184275 - 10/28/19 04:18 PM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: silverknife]
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 09/14/05
Posts: 1745
Loc: The Desert Southwest
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Doug, I don't know whether you ever saw my 8-inch Model #2 wearing your pure silver. (Not as massive a blade as your knife, nor as big a chunk of ivory, but still a substantial knife.) Anyway, here it is:
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-Steve RKCC CM-066 RKS #258
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#184276 - 10/28/19 04:54 PM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: Holzinger258]
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 10/20/05
Posts: 1621
Loc: Blue Ridge Mtns. Va.
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Both are great knives without cracks as far as I can see. Knives to be proud of!
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Sidney Redford NRA Endowment Member RKS #84 NRA Life. Shag # 11
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#184286 - 10/28/19 08:21 PM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: Sidney_Redford]
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 02/13/11
Posts: 2255
Loc: NW Mississippi
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Yes those two are beautiful knives.
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Ronnie RKS#2166
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#184292 - 10/28/19 10:49 PM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: Ronnie]
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 09/15/05
Posts: 2079
Loc: Think Snow
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Ronnie, Thank you very much for posting the pictures and the kind words for Pete's work. I wanted to take pictures of him making it but he nixed that. No smart phones in those days.
Sidney, thanks for the info on how to resize the pics. I will try that next time. Nope, no cracks or checks in the handle after all these years. I keep the knife in my safe in Robbins' soft case with the handle wrapped in a paper towel soaked in baby oil with saran wrap around the paper towel. That's also how I ship ivory handled Randalls when I can bring myself to parting with one. I have had very good luck shipping that way...so far!
DW-I'm sure Pete appreciates your left handed compliment. :-) Thanks for the info on whether he ever worked in the forge. I never asked him that but sort of assumed that he had since I thought that back then new hires worked their way up from sweeping the floors to cutting fibers, and so on through the various operations. Well, it was kind of fun imagining that he might have forged the blade too. Oh well. When the kit blades were being sold, were they made by several craftsmen? Is there any way of knowing who forged them?
Steve, that #2 is awesome! nice Ivory and gorgeous silver. I recognize Ron Scaggs' engraving. Nicely done! Silver engraves beautifully, but then I'm not entirely objective! I've got #2 in fossil walrus with a silver lugged hilt, silver spacers and silver butt cap that needs to get engraved one of these days. I think it's an older knife since it has thicker than standard spacers. The shop tolerated that in the early days, but later on asked me to keep the spacers the same thickness as the brass and aluminum that they were using.
Regards, Doug
Edited by silverknife (10/28/19 10:59 PM)
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#184293 - 10/29/19 12:00 AM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: silverknife]
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 02/13/11
Posts: 2255
Loc: NW Mississippi
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Doug you are welcome. Glad I could help show this awesome Bowie.
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Ronnie RKS#2166
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#184326 - 10/29/19 07:26 PM
Re: Pete Hamilton
[Re: Ronnie]
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Knife Enthusiast
Registered: 09/13/05
Posts: 2261
Loc: central fl.
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Doug, all the blades were made in batches, Bowie's a little less than the standards, but then etched with the KIT just before shipping out...there really is no way of telling who forged them back then as the personnel changed frequently...
Not all of the employees start in the forge first anymore, we place them where they are needed at that time...if the forge is running well with current employees we'll set them where needed. Of course sometime during the first few years they may be placed there for a short period to learn how to grind as I was for about a week, but I also never worked in the forge to learn the ropes there...
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---DW---
Scott RKS #014
HE IS RISEN!, HE IS RISEN INDEED!
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