Rope Cutting Record

M

mikespens

Joined
Nov 6, 2000
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This past Sunday at the NWKC knife show, Ed Schempp won the rope cutting contest and went on to cut 11 1'' Manila ropes. His previous personal best was 9. Needless to say, this was an incredible achievement.
As far as I know, Ed is the king of the rope and this is a worlds record. Does anyone know of someone else who has cut more?
The rope was free hanging and taped at 10" intervals and blade length for the contest was restricted to 10".
 
Mike,

I don't know if it's the world record or not, but it's pretty amazing that he cut more inches of rope than he had blade length. What was the shape of the blade? Here's one of his competition blades from 2000.

standard.jpg


-Jose
 
Jose, It was pretty much the same but with blue micarta. I think it's pretty much his trademark design. Thanks for posting the pix.
 
Any news about what happened to the guy with the Scimitar-Bowie type knife? He posted a few pics about a month ago. (Is this the same competition we're talking about?)
 
I have a question, (No axe to grind) just for my own interest.

Does the NWKC cutting competition include cutting anything besides Manila rope? If so what are the other things that are included in the contest?

:confused:
 
Ed Schemp has developed rope cutting to a fine science. Total devotion and a tremendous investment of time, rope for practice and study of the physics of cut in this kind of competition.
He shares his knowledge freely and is one of the true icons in the world of the forged blade as well as Damascus art. He earned this status honestly. I tip my hat to him.
 
To spend the time to develope the knife style and technique to cut that many ropes takes tremendous dedication. I would really like to see that. I bet it is awsome. Congratulations Ed. mike
 
Pete,
At the NWKC show, which is actually just a small, local effort (which is GROWING!), the only thing cut is rope. The show hasn't gotten to the size where a cutting exhibition like those at Blade would have enough entrants. This year, as I recall, there were only about 8 to 10 entrants. Everybody made it thru the first bundle of three ropes, several dropped out at a bundle of four, and there were just three who tried 5... And Ed just sailed thru 'em! Since the competition was over so quickly, they did an impromptu attempt at breaking Ed's own personal record... 9 dropped straight down... 10 did, too... and while there was movement of the bundle at 11, it still dropped free and clean... Yup, the show broke out in a pretty wild display of appreciation... at least for such a 'staid' crowd! :D

Walking Man, not sure what exactly you are refering to, but I don't believe the one you are talking about was there... However, there were several young new makers who did try, and two of them actually tried to give Ed a run for his money!

I think the one really interesting thing about the rope cutting event was the similarity in style of the blades most used: most were the banana/sickle (sp?)(see Jose's pic) shape with a slight hook at the tip and a real thin, I believe convex, grind with a lot of distal taper... And Ed would sit there all day long telling anyone that asked about his reasons for that shape and what he did special to forge and finish it. Like Ed Fowler said, this guy is one of the best and nicest of makers to interact with.

This show's event may be small now, but with the enthusiasm shown by all the participants, it wouldn't suprise me to see this event just grow, and maybe even expand to include other items to be cut... I hope!:cool:
 
The show may be small but the cutting contest is set up just like OKCA's and equipment was provided and set up by Tom Ferry. The rope was new and fresh. The contestants included ABS MS Ed Caffrey, JS Jon Christensen (who beat Ed at the Montana show in June), and Tom Ferry.
I'm confident that Ed would have kicked ass at BLADE (as he does at OKCA) if they would have allowed him to compete. But he didn't qualify(?) for BLADE because he didn't compete in any of the qualifying(?) shows back east. Ed is "just a farmer" and so can't make those qualifying shows. These are my opinions so you can flame me if you don't agree. Ed is too kool and has too much class to make a fuss about who's the best. I just want to see that a remarkable achievement gets a little recognition.
 
Mike.

The Blade show competition includes several items along with the rope event.
There is realy no way to compare the two cutting events, NWKC & Blade Show, since they are set up to test seperate sets of knife attributes. Neither is in its self wrong, just too far apart to compare.
:)
 
I agree with Pete in regards to the differences in the cutting competitions. Ed's rope knife would do superb in a few of the events, but the ABS sponsored competitions are more of an all around type, while the other is a specialty. I have no doubt the Ed could be at the top in both, it would just take a different knife.

So much technique is involved with cutting. Technique is at the very least as important as the knife used. Ed has tremendous technique, and along with a wonderfull rope cutting knife, the results prove this.
 
I don't know of the technique Ed or *anyone* uses. But I would imagine that there be better success in a slash that incorporates some sliding down the edge. Unless it's done so, it might be like trying to slice bread or a tomato by simply pressing versus a drawing movement.

I'd think there might be some pretty fancy wrist action to acheive this... :D Who knows a little about the technique? Whatdya know Bailey?

Coop
 
Nothing but Respect to ED Schempp from me!!!
Ropes not the only thing Ed knows how to cut.
Too bad one of these so called cutting qualifiers isn't held within
1000 miles of Ed!!
 
I believe that: If the ABS wants to call the event the "World Championship" they should lay down some rules that could be followed at any show anywhere in the world and allow makers to compete at their local shows and the cmapions come to the main event. It would bring in more contestants and make the event much more meaningful if any blade, forged, cast or stock removal could compete. The way it works now, it is simply a southern ABS championship simply due to distance to compete.
 
Ed brings up a great idea. A set criteria for cutting competitions that any show or hammer-in can follow and be sanctioned with the championship.

Coop, you are correct in regards to cutting technique. The edge must move THROUGH the target or it is not a cut, it becomes a chop. There is a lot more going on than just wrist though. Velocity on the edge is another key, and velocity is generated by snaping the hips. This is in regards to a forward cut. A pulling cut is altogether differnt, and is a weaker cut than a forward moving cut. The hips and wrist do come into play, but since they are in a different direction the mechanics are not quite the same. If you watch Ed cut rope, you can see he puts his whole body behind the cut. He is able to develop tremendous speed on the blade and let the edge do the work. Truly good cutting technique takes a lot of practice. In my kenjutsu training, we are expected to do a minimum of 100 cuts per day. Most serious students will rack up 400-500 cuts per day. This is of course just in air, but the mechanics of the stroke don't change if there is a target or not.
 
Originally posted by Ed Fowler
I believe that: If the ABS wants to call the event the "World Championship" they should lay down some rules that could be followed at any show anywhere in the world and allow makers to compete at their local shows and the cmapions come to the main event. It would bring in more contestants and make the event much more meaningful if any blade, forged, cast or stock removal could compete. The way it works now, it is simply a southern ABS championship simply due to distance to compete.
Click to expand...
..."World Championship", "Ultimate Performance", "Science of Cut" , " taken to it's ultimate level", "user friendly", "high performance". Funny how easy it is to bash those kind of remarks when someone else is using the remark at the time.
At Atlanta there were one from Oklahoma, two from Michigan, and two from Arkansas. All Southerners?
Ed; I believe all of us have plenty on our plate just making a good knife without gigging people.
Again; I would love to see Ed Schemmp cut ropes. He can do it, and he proves it. Lots of bullshit and smoke out there; very few who actually step up. mike
 
Actually I believe that a standardized cutting competition would be good for the industry in general.

Perhaps it could include one or two mandatory events like Rope Cutting and timed 2x4 chopping. Then have a list of other events with a requirement to include 3 out of 5 or 6 so that the knife can't be too specialized. Other events can be created by the organizer but there would be 5 agreed upon events in each competition.

I would like to see the competition open to any knife that meets certain minimum length and safety criteria.

I believe that the standard criteria are that the knives are inspected for damage after each event and if the edge is damaged the knife is disqualified from the next event.
 
Hey all,

I agree with Bailey. I own a few of Ed's knives in various styles, so I have no doubt that he could forge a knife that would be competitive under the ABS rules. I don't remember the exact point system used in Atlanta, but he might have won it by cutting 9-11 pieces of rope alone. I noticed some very good technique during the chopping events (especially Fitch) but most of the contestants seemed to have a hard time getting through even a couple of pieces of rope.

Mike, What does gigging mean? Isn't it possible that more people would take that "step up" if it was a little closer to home? :)

-Jose
 
Jose, Michigan was way the hell and gone from everywhere. Ed might have won it with all ropes, the man can cut them. He might have died on the 2x4. I don't know. You don't know. Crap happens.
Some people want to criticize and not do. I think Schemmp is a go getter. He makes a knife to cut ropes and does it real real good. I have no doubt that he can do pretty much anything he pleases in knife design to cut anything he sets out to cut.
Too far; bullshit. Poor guys; bullshit. we need standards; bullshit.
Jose;People can cut anything they want to, anywhere they want to. Hell; just go do it. Step up at your own home. Pointing fingers at someone else is easy, put in the time and energy to do it yourself and and most of this is moot. Anybody can whine and complain, just go cut stuff.
Gigging= Little remarks designed to agitate and stir up while at all time leaving a person an innocent out.
 
Gigging?? What did I do,but suggest that if it was to be called the world cnampionship there would be more competition and more folks taking part if the qualifying stuff was more available. I feel that this is something that could be a serious event in the world of knives.

Knife making will continue to grow as long as we encrourage all who wish to participate to join, and make it easy without sacrificing quality. Like Bob Loveless said, we will gain and know success when there is a knfve maker at every country crossroads. Not an exact quote, but you should be able to get the idea.
 
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