Can anyone explain the history of how competition knife specs where chosen?

Cobalt

Cobalt

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So comp knife specs are 15" OAL, 10" blade length and 2" or less blade width. Does anyone know how or why those parameters where chosen, by who and when?
 
Not sure who was on the committee to decide the parameters but I do recall they were attempting to level the playing field. Early cutting competitions saw a wide range of blades brought in and some were clearly gaming the blades to get unfair advantage in the games. Once the rules of the blade and some standardized cut scenarios were established, the game was more centered on skill.
 
Cobalt said:
So comp knife specs are 15" OAL, 10" blade length and 2" or less blade width. Does anyone know how or why those parameters where chosen, by who and when?
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A really excellent question. I too want to hear all about them; not that I have any illusions about competing but I'm fascinated non the less.
I want to hear about edge geometry as well. Behind the edge thickness, angles and is it called "hang" ? when talking about the relationship of the handle to blade. What handle shapes are preferred ?
etc., etc. . . .
 
probably need to go back to the early ABS days for the beginning of an answer- a history of how blade competitions came to be would be interesting
 
I totally understand that they did it to standardize, otherwise you get what happens at the new forged in fire show, where the guy with the larger blade wins every time. I just think it would be good to know why the specific parameters where chose and by whom. I can't believe I am the only one that would like to know this story and a history of how it came about. I would also think some of the bladesmiths here would have that knowledge.
 
Have you tried contacting the folks at Bladesports? Pretty sure someone there has the history.
 
No I incorrectly assumed that something so basic would be common knowledge here. But yeah that will be next venue for my owb interest. Take care
 
Those are the dimensions for an ABS performance test knife. Most of the early cutting comps happened at ABS hammer ins, etc. Guys like Jerry Fisk came up with the events. The early comp knives did not look like the current cleaver profile knives. They tended to be camp knives, bowies and such. A good example of an early comp knife pattern is the Browning Crowell-Barker model.
 
Scott, when the Guild Show first went back to Orlando and was at Sea World, I went and talked to some the guys who were among those who pioneered that cleaver style, the use of CPM M4 and the forward mounted lanyard hole. IIRC, Gayle Bradley was one of them. They explained the logic behind all. The reason for the forward lanyard hole is that one of the guys had a knife get away from them and it swung around and cut their forearm. With the forward hole, it would just drop and flop, so to speak. The most interesting part of the discussion was about why they chose CPM M4. We know why now, but it was new and cool back then. M4 was highly abrasion resistant and would take and hold an extremely fine, stable edge. They would take it down as far as they could and then "thicken it up" until it wouldn't fold in routine use. I seem to recall that 15 thousandths was the typical thickness. Pretty darn thin for a hacking tool!!!!!! They also said that one you hardened up that M4 to the levels they did, you had better forget about any "fine finish" beyond a basic belt finish because of the abrasion resistance of that steel at high hardness.
 
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I started the competitions because years ago a number of smiths knives failed because they were not testing them theirselves. Also the hammer ins were dragging and needed a boost. For a while I paid for all the materials used out of my own pocket. The reason for the size is that was the max size of ABS testing guidelines. I encouraged different designs because anyone participating had to make their own knife. It was a good idea. I even had "open class" often in the fall time. That was..anything that did not have a motor on it. Good platform to test if done right. I personally don't care for the cookie cutter designs to use on set cuts that you know is going to be there. Years ago, they never knew what they were going to cut till 5 minutes before cutting. I did it that way because if the customer may not know what they are going to cut and no maker could special grind or make. There is more to test on a knife than just an edge.
 
Thank you. I appreciate the history lesson. I guess now the question is why/how did the ABS guidelines get those dimensions.
 
fisk said:
I started the competitions because years ago a number of smiths knives failed because they were not testing them theirselves. Also the hammer ins were dragging and needed a boost. For a while I paid for all the materials used out of my own pocket. The reason for the size is that was the max size of ABS testing guidelines. I encouraged different designs because anyone participating had to make their own knife. It was a good idea. I even had "open class" often in the fall time. That was..anything that did not have a motor on it. Good platform to test if done right. I personally don't care for the cookie cutter designs to use on set cuts that you know is going to be there. Years ago, they never knew what they were going to cut till 5 minutes before cutting. I did it that way because if the customer may not know what they are going to cut and no maker could special grind or make. There is more to test on a knife than just an edge.
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thank you for taking the time to post, Jerry:thumbsup: That was factual and informative, and I also appreciated your expressions of your opinion. I was hoping you'd chime in
 
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