Cutting competition forum?

P

Protactical

Joined
Aug 24, 2003
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Now that we have the International Cutting Competition Trail, I think we need a forum for cutting competitions. What other sponsored events are there for knife users. If this takes off it will drive knife collecting, manufacturing and sales.

What do the rest think?

http://cuttingcompetition.com/
 
You aren't wrong there! But on the other hand it has been the province of the ABS for quite some time, the art knife blacksmith boys, so it might draw from quite few strands of knifemaking. They will just be cutting stuff that doesn't bleed, I assume. Rope, 2x4s, bottles, and specialty items thought up for particular tests of edge and technique. Not even as destructive as the logging competitions.
 
I love the cutting competitions and agree that they will be great for popularizing knives with a wider segment of the population. However, I am not sure how popular a forum would be. Could you lay out your thoughts as to what you think would be covered by such a forum, and who would moderate it. In my opinion, this would definitely be a forum that would require input from those involved in the events.
 
I can't really make the "business case" for such a forum, because I don't really know what the overall approach of bladeforums is to these things. Do they like to wait until there is a critical mass, and then be reactive, do they want to be proactive and pic up on a trend the moment it becomes obviously established. And how does any of that connect to their overall interests?

For myself If I want to talk about knives, I come here to do it, and generally my interests fall into the maker category. There has been growing interest in the cutting competitions (CC) with periodic articles in the press and now the establishment of an organization that will take this beyond the interest that some makers had for knife testing. Most of the stuff I would be interested in could probably be handled in the shoptalk forum, but that can't be true for many of the people who might catch on to this. They will want to discuss all the stuff that normally attends to any sport. Competition, personalities, equipment, sponsorship, technique, training, travel arrangements etc..

There are very few things with the potential to give the knife business the profile that this does. It seems family friendly, and has put big mean looking knives on a stage that was built with the best intentions imagineable, quality control. Other than Iron Cheff, what has the potential to normalize knives that this does, if it is handled correctly. I think it has amazing potential. Realistically, however, a lot of these kinds of things like silouette shooting, catch fire, and then stagnate, how far this can go remains to be seen. But I would like to get pushing behind it. Can a forum do more business than the Razor forum? I don't know.
 
I have to disagree about the "Cold Steel-ish" remark.

The ABS Competitions test for all types of qualities that a knife should have (chopping ability, slicing ability, edge retention, edge geometry, etc.). It discourages makers from making "one-dimensional" knives (pure choppers, pure fighters, pure utility, etc.).

The competition events include a timed chop through a 2x4, manila rope cutting, water bottle cutting, etc. There are other bizarre events, but they generally test all the qualities I mentioned in the previous paragraph, and then some. I think it is their hope to that these competitions will encourage more versatile FUNCTIONAL knives.

Mind you that the knives CANNOT be sharpened after the competition commences. Also, any chipping or rolling of the edge or any kind of damage to the knife will immediately disqualify it from the competition.

For myself, I personally would like to own a knife that could do all those things equally well, and with no damage to the knife. I think these kinds of competitions can only improve the quality of the custom knives out there.
 
4 Ranges,
Insightful post. :thumbup: I,too,think these things could improve the quality of the custom knives being made and would get behind the idea of a Cutting Competition forum. :cool:
Doug
 
Leatherbird:

I'm glad that you're in agreement. I think the competitions will create a genre of "competition grade" knives that can handle most, if not all, of a knife's duties.

I'd love to have a knife that was powerful enough and have good enough edge retention to go through a 2x4 in 8 seconds flat, then still be sharp enough (and have excellent edge geometry) to go through 4 filled water bottles in one slash, and not have a chip or roll on the edge whatsoever. That'd be a great knife!
 
I don't think the discussion that a Cutting Comp Forum will generate would warrant a forum of it's own. It can mostly be discussed in Blade Discussion Forum.
 
4 Ranges, great post. Here are some cold steelish things about it:

1) this isn't the ABS competition, so it is irrelevant what ABS does. Obviously the hand made part may stay very close to the original, but whether the commercial part does or not is another mater. Whatever the case just raising ABS standards as not cold steelish doesn't finish the argument.

2) Obviously the initial cold steel remark is relative to their interest in demonstrating their knives' superiority through cutting and other uses of competition like combat. I can't see why they wouldn't participate in this kind of competition. Some people dissing CS have pointed out their "better knives" like CV knives may cost as little as 6 bucks to manufacture. I have no idea, but imagine the margin they have to play with in bringing a knife that meets a fixed set of criteria to market. This seems like a natural for them. You only have to win or place well in competition, it doesn't mater what else your knife is bad at, that's an easy challenge. And if this takes off, entry level folks will be looking for the Model 700 of knifes that does well, but isn't too expensive. CS could step up to that, or let others pass them by.

3) I've heard it said from the forging side that if you want to study a convex grind bowie to get the idea of what it should be, look at the CS Trailmaster. I've heard it said they pass them around at ABS forging schools or some such. I haven't had a chance to see one myself, so I have no idea. I'm not suggesting ABS members are in awe of CS, far from it. I took it to mean it's something people are familiar with that can get you on the right track. If there is any truth to that, then all CS has to do is beef up the kind of knife they already make in areas like the grip and tang, thin the edge geometry, change the heat treat, etc... Not something they aren't smart enough to figure out. Some of the best knives of this type use extremely cheap steel the largest quantities of which are now being made in Asia. It's totally doable for CS.

By the way, some of these knives aren't that great for anything other than competition, and that is likely to get even moreso as race knives take hold. Some folks who have bought them with "camp knife" in mind have had bad experiences, the edges are too fragile if pried on. But no question a knife made by a manufacturer that has raised it's game to this level but morphed the cutting knife for other uses would be a great knife.

Is this the right place to raise forum issues like this? Or is there a different area?
 
Ken is right. :thumbup:
This can be further discussed in this forum.
Race knives is a good analogy,A.G. is selling them,the Crowell's.
I'm tired but I will say,IMO,with steels it's a tradeoff,you gain something,you lose another performance aspect,you sacrifice something.
:)
 
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