- Joined
- Apr 1, 2010
- Messages
- 3,273
I have been interested in Bladesports Competition for a very long time.
For several years I have wanted to get into the action but always managed to talk myself out of for one reason or another.
I met Donovan Phillips in person at Blade Show last year and we hit it off pretty good.
Several months go by and many, many messages between us are exchanged on various topics.
One that was always there though was him trying to get me to compete.
Just before Christmas last year Donovan had some business here in Louisville and asked if he could stop by while in town.
Of course I obliged. Again, many subjects were talked about but Bladesports and the knives was where the conversation lingered longest.
What can I say, at this point I was too excited and ordered a piece of steel the next day.
This gave me about 4 weeks to design, build, and test a knife like no other I had ever made before.
Although I managed to get the design finished I had other commitments I had to get finished first.
Fast forward 2 weeks, I finally get to start on my chopper.
Let me sat that sawing 3/8" tool steel on a small band saw is an act in patience i itself.
2 nights of sawing and it's ready for profiling, drilling, tapering tang, bevels, and finally heat treating.
This took place over several more nights.
I finally finished the knife, handle, sheath, sharpened, and lanyard made on Thursday evening before leaving the next Friday evening.
Needless to say, other than a few whacks at a 2"x 4" the knife received no testing.
Here is what I left the house with Friday Evening, minus final edge and lanyard:
Saturday was filled with nervousness and excitement.
I had seen the videos and had an idea of what was involved, but WOW! I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.
My biggest fear was my knife failing, thankfully it did not.
My certification and practice on Saturday went good and I was cleared to cut in the competition on Sunday.
Waiting was the worst part now.
We set the course up, drew names, and waited for the start time.
I drew position number 4.
The video of my run can be found on my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Big-Chris-Custom-Knives-184888911545849/
I won my beginner division and placed fourth overall.
There are a few things I need to work on definitely, moving faster is one of them.
I did not get into a hurry and was just enjoying myself.
I was successful on 10 of the 12 cuts, which was a bonus.
During practice I could not hit the rope between the target zones, so that was my biggest goal for Sunday's Comp.
The knife, on the other hand, performed flawlessly. It would cleanly slice newsprint both before and after my run.
However, it was a little thick behind the edge and not biting into the 2x4 quite as deep as I wanted.
I reground it yesterday and this morning I have ordered some more steel to make another knife.
The addiction has bit me hard.
Thanks for reading and watching.
Questions and comments are welcomed.
For several years I have wanted to get into the action but always managed to talk myself out of for one reason or another.
I met Donovan Phillips in person at Blade Show last year and we hit it off pretty good.
Several months go by and many, many messages between us are exchanged on various topics.
One that was always there though was him trying to get me to compete.
Just before Christmas last year Donovan had some business here in Louisville and asked if he could stop by while in town.
Of course I obliged. Again, many subjects were talked about but Bladesports and the knives was where the conversation lingered longest.
What can I say, at this point I was too excited and ordered a piece of steel the next day.
This gave me about 4 weeks to design, build, and test a knife like no other I had ever made before.
Although I managed to get the design finished I had other commitments I had to get finished first.
Fast forward 2 weeks, I finally get to start on my chopper.
Let me sat that sawing 3/8" tool steel on a small band saw is an act in patience i itself.
2 nights of sawing and it's ready for profiling, drilling, tapering tang, bevels, and finally heat treating.
This took place over several more nights.
I finally finished the knife, handle, sheath, sharpened, and lanyard made on Thursday evening before leaving the next Friday evening.
Needless to say, other than a few whacks at a 2"x 4" the knife received no testing.
Here is what I left the house with Friday Evening, minus final edge and lanyard:
Saturday was filled with nervousness and excitement.
I had seen the videos and had an idea of what was involved, but WOW! I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.
My biggest fear was my knife failing, thankfully it did not.
My certification and practice on Saturday went good and I was cleared to cut in the competition on Sunday.
Waiting was the worst part now.
We set the course up, drew names, and waited for the start time.
I drew position number 4.
The video of my run can be found on my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Big-Chris-Custom-Knives-184888911545849/
I won my beginner division and placed fourth overall.
There are a few things I need to work on definitely, moving faster is one of them.
I did not get into a hurry and was just enjoying myself.
I was successful on 10 of the 12 cuts, which was a bonus.
During practice I could not hit the rope between the target zones, so that was my biggest goal for Sunday's Comp.
The knife, on the other hand, performed flawlessly. It would cleanly slice newsprint both before and after my run.
However, it was a little thick behind the edge and not biting into the 2x4 quite as deep as I wanted.
I reground it yesterday and this morning I have ordered some more steel to make another knife.
The addiction has bit me hard.
Thanks for reading and watching.
Questions and comments are welcomed.