There is a local Southern California club I belong to called Cal Knives.
Jerid Johnson encouraged me to join and I did last year
Every month the club meets at a member's shop and we usually do demo's and some training.
This month's club meeting was held at Marcus Clinco's shop in San Diego.
Last weekend Jerid reminded me of the meeting at that this month was the annual cutting competition.
Jerid suggested I try making a knife and enter. I wasn't that comfortable with this but decided to give it a go.
Last Sunday I put this together in about 6 hours. Forged from a bar of suminagashi white steel.
The handle I redid Friday night. This is the longest largest and thickest blade I've done.
Still it's a light thin chopper. I have hard time making thick blades. It's not beautiful and was made simply to learn and test.
This should have a 64 RC edge and sharpened freehand on waterstones to about 36 degree angle (included)
Jerid's blade forged from 1" W1 bar, the bird's beak handle end proved to quite beneficial. Marcus entered with this thick heavy chopper.
The competition is more of a relaxed exhibition and fun good time and less of a rigid competition . There were guidelines for the blades and points for each test. There were 5 entries.
In general I learned the following, Technique and experience was very important if not more important than a good knife. I had done none of the tests beforehand other than slicing a water bottle and beating up some wood. The angle in which the blade approached and went through rope was important. You want to be more vertical and less horizontal with the slice. You needed to know how to remove the wood in the 2x4, the v-shaped cut you make, the shape of the cut, the width of the cut, were all important. Understanding how to chip away the wood. The water bottle slicing required understanding the arc of your slice and where to center that arc. On the water bottles cutting I did very poorly because I stood too far to the front bottle and couldn't continue my slice arc forward enough. I noticed later if you stand in the middle you had more likelihood of slicing through all.
The tests were, 1" rope cutting, 2x4 chopping, slicing an orange, chopping through hard dowels, cutting a ping pong ball in half, slicing through 10-12 water bottles.
In summary I had a good time, it was fun and I learned alot. My blade performed well and didn't chip or roll or get damaged in any of the tests. The blade wanted to slip out of my hand during the heavy chopping so the handle design needs work. Again my blade was the thinnest and lightest, a heavier design would be more beneficial in such a competition. My did blade did bend during some of the heavy work, but that's softness of the cladding on the laminated steel, I simply bent it back. I was generally pleased with my blade and the edge performed well, I wish I had executed better on a the wood chopping and water bottle slicing which required good technique as well as a good blade.
some pics and videos, I guess I forgot turn the phone to landscape for videos
the rope rig
Marcus cutting three 1" rope
https://vimeo.com/175118661
Me slicing oranges. He who makes the most full slices wins.
https://vimeo.com/175118720
Me through the 2x4. I won't bore you with the whole episode so here's a small clip
https://vimeo.com/175118773
Me against a ping pong ball
https://vimeo.com/175119653
Me against some hard dowels
https://vimeo.com/175118940
we had a visitor at the meeting this month, I let him try my knife and he went through two 1" ropes pretty easily
https://vimeo.com/175119390
Regards
Harbeer
Jerid Johnson encouraged me to join and I did last year
Every month the club meets at a member's shop and we usually do demo's and some training.
This month's club meeting was held at Marcus Clinco's shop in San Diego.
Last weekend Jerid reminded me of the meeting at that this month was the annual cutting competition.
Jerid suggested I try making a knife and enter. I wasn't that comfortable with this but decided to give it a go.
Last Sunday I put this together in about 6 hours. Forged from a bar of suminagashi white steel.
The handle I redid Friday night. This is the longest largest and thickest blade I've done.
Still it's a light thin chopper. I have hard time making thick blades. It's not beautiful and was made simply to learn and test.
This should have a 64 RC edge and sharpened freehand on waterstones to about 36 degree angle (included)
Jerid's blade forged from 1" W1 bar, the bird's beak handle end proved to quite beneficial. Marcus entered with this thick heavy chopper.
The competition is more of a relaxed exhibition and fun good time and less of a rigid competition . There were guidelines for the blades and points for each test. There were 5 entries.
In general I learned the following, Technique and experience was very important if not more important than a good knife. I had done none of the tests beforehand other than slicing a water bottle and beating up some wood. The angle in which the blade approached and went through rope was important. You want to be more vertical and less horizontal with the slice. You needed to know how to remove the wood in the 2x4, the v-shaped cut you make, the shape of the cut, the width of the cut, were all important. Understanding how to chip away the wood. The water bottle slicing required understanding the arc of your slice and where to center that arc. On the water bottles cutting I did very poorly because I stood too far to the front bottle and couldn't continue my slice arc forward enough. I noticed later if you stand in the middle you had more likelihood of slicing through all.
The tests were, 1" rope cutting, 2x4 chopping, slicing an orange, chopping through hard dowels, cutting a ping pong ball in half, slicing through 10-12 water bottles.
In summary I had a good time, it was fun and I learned alot. My blade performed well and didn't chip or roll or get damaged in any of the tests. The blade wanted to slip out of my hand during the heavy chopping so the handle design needs work. Again my blade was the thinnest and lightest, a heavier design would be more beneficial in such a competition. My did blade did bend during some of the heavy work, but that's softness of the cladding on the laminated steel, I simply bent it back. I was generally pleased with my blade and the edge performed well, I wish I had executed better on a the wood chopping and water bottle slicing which required good technique as well as a good blade.
some pics and videos, I guess I forgot turn the phone to landscape for videos
the rope rig
Marcus cutting three 1" rope
https://vimeo.com/175118661
Me slicing oranges. He who makes the most full slices wins.
https://vimeo.com/175118720
Me through the 2x4. I won't bore you with the whole episode so here's a small clip
https://vimeo.com/175118773
Me against a ping pong ball
https://vimeo.com/175119653
Me against some hard dowels
https://vimeo.com/175118940
we had a visitor at the meeting this month, I let him try my knife and he went through two 1" ropes pretty easily
https://vimeo.com/175119390
Regards
Harbeer
Last edited:
