Cutting Competition

I have found that cutting green wood requires a slightly narrower 'V' to be cut than with dry or seasoned timber/lumber in many cases. With drier wood, it will tend to split along the grain nicely allowing the cutter to 'blow chips' more easily, but as Donovan says, green wood will often have a little more resistance to this type of splitting along the grain. This means that chips cannot be blown out so easily, especially if the 'V' notch is cut too wide (More length of grain between left and right cuts)

If I know I'm going to be tackling green wood of up to 4" or 5" diameter, and plenty of smaller stuff I tend to take my very old British Army Issue (Burmah Campaign) machete along rather than a working version of my competition knife. This big old beast has a blade of roughly 16" length, 3"width and is about 1/8" thick at the spine with a full flat grind and a covexed edge (edge courtesy of my own workshop) On softwoods I can normally cut straight through tree limbs of green wood up to 4" diameter in a single swipe with it so it makes light work of the task at hand.

If I'm using a large 'camp knife' similar to my competition knife I simply narrow the 'V' notch a little for green wood, and if necessary I cut in from opposing sides of the wood in a way we cannot do in cutting comps on the 2x4.
I often use my old competition cutting knife out in the field for building shooting hides and clearing undergrowth etc. It has proven to be a very useful tool for the job too :) The edge on that old knife was a little too thick for competition, although not my much, but it has proven itself to be very resilient and useful in the field.
 
All this talk about wood chips prompted me to get out and hit it extra hard this morning clearing overgrowth, even brought some water bottles to have fun with. I guess all the members who are really into the chopping were doing the same thing cause I see no new posts.

Thanks again for the info. It seems my favorite factory blades do not meet the criteria for competition so that begs to question...who might be able to find/make a blade that suits my particular needs/tastes? Any help would be appreciated.
 
Mike, as far as I know the Browning is the only one. Here are the regulations for a production knife to be certified by BladeSports. This is off the website.

#13 Production Knives

A knife will be considered a “production knife” if more than 20 of the same design are manufactured in a 1-year period.
Two (2) finished models and one (1) heat-treated blade blank must be sent to a designated BladeSports official for testing prior to approval.
Production knives must conform to all current BladeSports knife specifications.
Each approved production knife will have a certificate designating it as a tested and approved model.
 
GrinderMcgee : As Donovan stated, AFAIK the only 'production knife' currently approved for BladeSports competitions is the Browning Crowell/Barker.

A number of the BladeSports guys make and sell knives for competition. Details of who can be found on the list of Cutters and Instructors on the BladeSports website.

With a forum name like Grinder McGee I'm left wondering why you don't make your own knife to competition spec. It doesn't have to be M4 to do well with. Some of us still manage pretty well with good 'ol 01 ;)
 
Thanks for the info. Without boring you to death, what extra little free time I have is now spent chopping, my few attempts at grinding were a while back.
 
I am wondering what kind of wood those 2x4's are that they use. :)
 
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