Forged in Fire: Knife or Death

Ok I've watched the show and it seems like most of those competing ran out of steam swinging those heavy blades around. I think if your going to do this type of competition you should train, train, and train some more until you can go the distance without any trouble.

Also it seems like most blades were getting dull somewhat by time they got to the fish. I think a Smatchet with a double edge might be the best of both worlds. You use one edge ground for the heavy cutting and the other edge ground for the meat slicing.
 
Not one competitor was able to get past the Fish...it certainly was chosen for it's heavy scales. It looked to me that the competitors that took a swing at the fish seemed to "Short Arm" the swing or not follow through with a full sweeping swing?! Physical endurance as much as blade geometry played a role in the outcome.
 
The guy with the competition chopper seemed to have the best knife of the event, but he would have had a hard time if he had to stab a container to let fluid come out. That is a go to test for FIF. I would assume you will need a blade that can do most anything to win the overall. It will be fun to see where this go.
 
I cannot find 3V or 4V thicker than .220 :(

ETA I take that back. Aldo has 3V that thick.

How thick are competition choppers at the spine? Maybe .200ish is enough.
 
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kuraki said:
I cannot find 3V or 4V thicker than .220 :(

ETA I take that back. Aldo has 3V that thick.

How thick are competition choppers at the spine? Maybe .200ish is enough.
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kuraki, contact Niagara. They can get you 3/8" .375/.390" thick. That is the thickness commonly used on competition knives.
Scott
 
kuraki said:
That's even more expensive than Aldo's .275/300 stock. Way more.
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Yes it s. It’s available if one really “needs” it though. I think for our purposes, no one really “needs” it.
 
I have always read that 1/4" was the min for a good competition chopper and sometimes they would go to 3/8". It's part of the reason they are crazy expensive especially if you have to buy a pre cut piece that will have waist.

I'm not sure that you would need something that thick though. Since a longer blade will get you the weight and might be wanted anyway. I would think something 1/4" to 5/16" with some distal taper would be ideal. Maybe even something like a Viking sword for the double edges. It seemed like you should start buy making a nimble slicing blade and then beef it up until it won't fail on the heavy chopping.
 
Nathan said in the other thread he believed Jo (the dude that won) had a blade made from 52100.

If that's the case, I'm thinking a piece of my .250 Cru Forge V would do just fine. I could even laminate it with 15N20 for thickness. Bonus: cheap.
 
I had made some choppers a couple years ago along the lines of a Thai enep from 1/4" A2. Flat ground to about 70 thou and convexed, about a 10-11" blade just under 2.5" at the widest point. That bit of recurve with the wide blade made for quite a powerful chopper, yet it wasn't overly heavy for what it was. I haven't seen the show, but by the sounds of it that sort of knife would be well suited. I might make some more of those for the fun of it one of these days. I didn't keep one for myself, and I've always rather regretted that.
 
Yeah, I think I'm going to do that. Cru V laminated with 15N20. I'm going to do it. Then beat the snot out of it in my little junk yard :D

Worst case I'll call it a zombie smasher and sell it to someone.
 
Geoff Flato said:
I had made some choppers a couple years ago along the lines of a Thai enep from 1/4" A2. Flat ground to about 70 thou and convexed, about a 10-11" blade just under 2.5" at the widest point. That bit of recurve with the wide blade made for quite a powerful chopper, yet it wasn't overly heavy for what it was. I haven't seen the show, but by the sounds of it that sort of knife would be well suited. I might make some more of those for the fun of it one of these days. I didn't keep one for myself, and I've always rather regretted that.
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That probably would work well.
 
I'd seen the trailer for the show and it seemed hokey/corny to me. I watched it late at night cause couldn't sleep and was surfing. I really enjoyed it, it was fun.
 
kuraki said:
Yeah, I think I'm going to do that. Cru V laminated with 15N20. I'm going to do it. Then beat the snot out of it in my little junk yard :D

Worst case I'll call it a zombie smasher and sell it to someone.
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Are you going to do a thread for this? I’ve been meaning to make a couple more choppers and this will give me an excuse. I do a fair bit of trail clearing and brush clearing around here, so it’ll get put to use.
 
Yeah. I have a few projects to clear before I start, then I'll have this and the bowies we talked about on deck.
 
If this is turning into a bladeforums chopper competition/build thing I'd be in. I've been meaning to order some 1/4, and 1/2" A2 for a while anyways
 
Geoff Flato said:
If this is turning into a bladeforums chopper competition/build thing I'd be in. I've been meaning to order some 1/4, and 1/2" A2 for a while anyways
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1/2" chopper:eek:. Good God man, remind me never to shake your hand.

It does sound like a lot of fun. I was going to make some big bush machetes out of 80CRV2. It's only 3/16" but I was going for 24" overall. A2 would be pretty awsome
 
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