His & Hers CPK/Keffeler Bladesports Comp Choppers

[Matthew Gregory]

Not sure if this really qualifies as either 'custom' or 'handmade', as they're made with as much machining as humanly possible - Nathan the Machinist and @Jo the Machinist are machinists, after all - but I happen to know for a fact that each and every one of these choppers requires steps that are ONLY capable of being achieved by hand, and so hopefully the mods will cut me some slack...


@Dan Keffeler , former four-time Bladesports World Champion, created a knife which he feels is the pinnacle of Bladesports cutting competition performance, and he and the team at Carothers Performance Knives worked hand-in-hand to make an iteration of that knife for anyone to be able to purchase and use, including a modified verison designed with smaller hands in mind. After attending the "Keystone Cut" event last year, which you can see my thread on here, my bride and I toyed with the idea of giving it a try, and about that time discussion of this project came up.

...so we ordered a pair.

These comply with BSI competition specs, and are ready to compete right out of the box. Steel is Bohler Vanadis 4 Extra, with the proprietary heat treat protocol developed by Dan and Nathan, and performed by Peters Heat Treat.


Next step for me is building event stage tables, apparently.



...and before anyone asks "why didn't you just make your own?", I'll say: who's to say I won't?

 

[Lorien]

some knife makers use files and hacksaws, some use forges and hammers, some use various powered hand tools, some use cnc machines. As long as it's the knife maker making the knife, it's all good, imo

 

[Casinostocks]

Wow, just wow! Kicking myself now for not getting on-board with these, but very happy for all: Nathan, Jo + Dr. Dan for seeing in that their collaboration and hard work has come to fruition with these very handsome patterns. Congratulations Mr. + Mrs. Gregory in scoring these two beauties

 

[Dawkind]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, sooo...........that's what the local's are packin' in your Neck of the Woods?!!!!

That IS an extraordinary pair of the finest in Cutting Cutlery, congrats to you and Mrs. Gregory on such fine tastes and acquisitions.

Oh, yeah, Great picture buddy....

 

[Wild Bill 1]

They look great but witch is for the guy and gal?WB

 

[Matthew Gregory]

If you look closely at the handles, you can see they’re very different. In fact, I can’t even get my hand into the one for Jill.

They look great but witch is for the guy and gal?WB

 

[john april]

nice stuff !! the one on the right has a shorter and slimmer handle.

 

[v8r]

So does it take any less skill to run a Mill or Lathe properly? i would say let the naysayers give it a shot before they make a blanket assumption as to the ease of running such equipment.

 

[Matthew Gregory]

So far, no one has done any such thing in this thread. It’d be really cool if we could keep this about the knives.

So does it take any less skill to run a Mill or Lathe properly? i would say let the naysayers give it a shot before they make a blanket assumption as to the ease of running such equipment.

 

[parfums95]

Still a fan of Dan's work, congratulations for this work ...

 

[TRfromMT]

I love that knife. I have zero need for one, and cannot see myself making room for the sport in my hectic life, but a guy can dream. What is just amazing about the knife is that you instantly know what it is for just by the look of it. It's one lean, mean, wrecking machine. It is clearly meant for one, singular purpose - chopping chit up! The hooligan in me just wants to take one for a test drive!!

 

[SharpByCoop]

I love how specific the designs have developed. All elements which don't contribute in the actual test performance have been eliminated: Rounded recurve blades, and pointy tips have made way for dead straight edges and uber-grippy handle control.

WAYYYY too much handwork and brainwork involved to even give me pause on origin.

Good thread. Matt, you will need to find the deficit to improve, if at all. At this point it becomes one of building to personal technique.

 

[Jsega51]

Looks like a pair of futuristic sawed off over-under shotguns in a way lol...and that’s a good thing. All business and no horsing around with these suckers. It’ll be interesting to see your take on it if you ever build one Matt.

 

[kuraki]

Waiting for the husband wife competition video

 

[Josh Rider]

Very cool! What are the handles, terotuf?
The knives look comfortable and menacing at the same time!

 

[Lorien]

I feel like one of these knives might give my chainsaw a run for its money.
By the way, it must be said that Dan Keffeler has a real genius for design.

 

[BFS]

Good score Matt. I also picked up two. One with a training edge and one with a race edge. I came in third in my first competition with the training edge. For a 60 year old, I'll take it.

I just finished building my first table. I've got the specs on the various cuts and table dimensions if you want me to email them to you. Also some tips on things not to do when building the table.

 

[BenR.T.]

If you look closely at the handles, you can see they’re very different. In fact, I can’t even get my hand into the one for Jill.

It’s ok Matt, lots of guys have small hands. I’m sure the ladies version will work great for you.

 

[Nathan the Machinist]

Well, to be clear, it isn't a men's and a women's. It is a full size and a smaller one. Obviously, the ladies are going to gravitate towards the smaller one however it is not a "ladies" knife. It is my opinion that women do not need a smaller or lighter knife in this particular context, the constraints of a competition Chopper already limit the size.

The full size knife is based exactly off of a Dan Keffeler handle. The smaller one is 80% of that. Dan hands are within one standard deviation of a 50th percentile male, but a little on the larger side.

We went with this particular handle itteration because a lot of different people have used it with different hand shapes and have found it to work pretty well across a pretty wide spectrum of hands.


Edit to add: perfecting the handle on a competition Chopper is 90% of the work. Dialing in the design so that it indexes consistently and does not shift around much in use and always returns to the same position without looking at it is key.

Dialing in a blade shape almost boils down to math, it's pretty predictable figuring out the ideal geometry for particular application and metallurgy. Dialing in a handle however is more of a black art and requires more iterations and experimentation than the blade.

 

[Matthew Gregory]

Yup!

What are the handles, terotuf?

Nice! I think I have these plans, as I got them from Mike157, who I believe got them from you. MUCH better than the pencil drawings I had previously. Hoping to start on one of them tomorrow.

Good score Matt. I also picked up two. One with a training edge and one with a race edge. I came in third in my first competition with the training edge. For a 60 year old, I'll take it.

I just finished building my first table. I've got the specs on the various cuts and table dimensions if you want me to email them to you. Also some tips on things not to do when building the table.