Forged in fire, highs and lows

I watch the show. It is one of the few shows I do watch. While it could be better, I enjoy it. I am glad it is getting sponsors and becoming popular. I like to see the smith's home shops. I wish more space would be given to the work they do in their home shops. They do some beautiful work.
I admire and respect anyone who is on the show. I have noticed that lately there have been smiths with less and less experience. Several of the last smiths had like four years experience. It may be that the more experienced smiths are avoiding the show. It was probably embarrassing when a 19 year old smith was chosen champion over a ABS Master Smith.
I think the show is good for knifemaking.
 
I really liked that episode. I think that goes to help show thy try and not be biast twords makers with more experance. Like has been said the show is about how you handle what's gopiven to you right then and there. Your experance could help or hinder you it seams like. I think the kid did a real good job and really pulled out all the stops when faced with a maker that had much more experance them him.
 
A friend of mine not that long ago was like "oh yeah, I want to be on that show." It was a bit weird for me, to almost be like "but you don't even make knives." I mean, does it really seem to the audience like any metalworker sort can just walk in there? I'm the farthest from being elitist but it was an odd moment, I kinda felt annoyed that perhaps some people get the idea you can compete on Fif to basically learn how to make knives.
 
We get a lot of questions about stuff that goes on FiF..I like the show,we both watch it though just like Salen said Im seeing a lot of guys that think knife making is easy because of seeing a knife banged out in 3 hours.. I don't want to be a jerk about it but theres a little more to it than that..Im afraid a few narrow minded folks are starting to think that know about knifemaking just because they watch the show but that's just part of it..Youtube makes mastersmiths every day;) Some things I see puzzle me but Ive no doubt its one of those things that when the clock starts and the cameras on things just don't go s planned.
Lisa my wife was contacted about being on barnbuilders as their blacksmith for a project. She would have done it but they producer thought we lived closer than we actually did to their film site. They would have used her to reproduce hinges,door pulls and other 17th/18th century house hardware.
 
Carcara said:
Ironic Gabe Bell got knock out in the first round of a Hamon challenge. If he had dipped his blade in etchant before the judging that would of been a game changer.
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It looked to me like the blade wasn't nearly hot enough to austentize.

He worked on the blade for awhile after he quenched, it wasn't like he was rushed for final presentation.

 
Its kinda hard to tell on camera what the temp is. It looks around 1450° ish' to my eye.."If" and I say if that's the case Im not surprised. A lot of Japanese inspired smiths aust' down around 1450°, even as low as 1425° in Howard Clarks case of one particular steel.
 
Kentucky said:
Its kinda hard to tell on camera what the temp is.
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People have complained that their "studio" lighting makes it real hard to tell the temperatures, and I would expect that what the camera and the television reproduce in your home would be even more difficult.
 
Kentucky said:
A lot of Japanese inspired smiths aust' down around 1450°, even as low as 1425° in Howard Clarks case of one particular steel.
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I took a katana class with Howard: we quenched 1086M (pretty damn close to W2) at 1430°F into warm water -- that's the dead center of the W2 sweet spot, but W2 will austentize as low as 1400°F if you're lucky.

Gabe's edge looks like it's barely 1400°F, but like you say, it's hard to tell under set lights.
 
Iirc these last two episodes weren't even supposed to be aired and there was only going to be 8 episodes. I guess the ratings were real good so they decides to air a couple more. So tonight's episode was originally on the cutting room floor, which makes sense as it wasn't very good IMO. I'm sure the next and last episode will be even worse. The preview said that "everything goes wrong."

Some that I wonder about is why folks are always using wood or handle material that is prone to cracking, splitting, or just plain breaking. I would be using g10 or micarta ONLY. This kind of made me wonder if the producers purposely only made weaker handle materials available to increase the chance of problems and therefore, drama.

I'm getting pretty tired of the whole "you must incorporate a piece of trash from the trash pile into your knife" bit. Making a knife is hard enough and plenty entertaining. Just let them make a nice looking knife without having to use a piece of traffic convenience headlight. It's ridiculous and just seems like a lazy way to "add a twist."
 
Like I said I am kinda a geek and actually love the show. Reasion number one is becaus I LOVE making knives and it's a show that has knife making in it. What I enjoy the most is seeing how other people do things. Some times it gets me thinking about how I do things and I relize I could change for the better. Other times I'm yelling at the tv, nooooooo don't hammer that pin into the keronight scales it's going to, oh to late it broke. But when all is said and done it's entertaining to watch non the less and honestly I have no idea how I would handle it. It's easy to be an arm chair bladesmith especially for all thoes YouTube graduated master smiths lol. What's funny is the more I learn and experance as a bladesmith the more forged in fire scares the shit out of me.
 
Actually those episodes were going to be aired... 16 episodes were filmed and were to be aired in two segments one set of eight for this iteration and another set of eight after the holidays and I assume because of ratings History decided to extend it by two episodes before taking their holiday break. The other episodes are supposed to be out sometime near the beginning of next year.
 
after watching the live broadcast of foster / knight yesterday, i think it would be fun to see a forged in fire episode with 4 teams of two smiths that have never met instead of 4 singles. the clashes of style, technique, personalities and decisions would raise the difficulty even higher and add to the entertainment.
 
john april said:
after watching the live broadcast of foster / knight yesterday, i think it would be fun to see a forged in fire episode with 4 teams of two smiths that have never met instead of 4 singles. the clashes of style, technique, personalities and decisions would raise the difficulty even higher and add to the entertainment.
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That would distract from the skills of knifemaking is my opinion - it would be so easy to turn into a version of "Orange County Choppers" with all their staged bickering. Naw, just keep it honest like it is.

Ken H>
 
I enjoy the show for what it is. Only thing that bothered me so far is the judges sit back and watch the knife makers do their work and comment as they go along. There have been at least two instances involving glue where the knife makers have made mistakes and the judges comment on it but didn't say anything to the knife maker. Which I think is correct because it wouldn't be fair to the other knife makers. There also have been instances where the judges are commenting on safety issues and do not say anything to the maker. The one instance is where the blade was to hot and the judges commented that it would flair up and burn the maker which, according to the show, it did. I guess ratings are more important then the knife makers safety.
 
I would be careful about statements like your last one. No one is responsible for working safely but oneself, contrary to what an entire self promoting industry would have you believe. But attitudes like, "they didn't stop him from hurting himself" is how we lose shows like this, and that's the best possible, least overreaching outcome.
 
I enjoy the show for what it is "Entertainment". Being inexperienced as I am it has sparked me to do some research on many aspects of blade making that I know nothing about. I hope that it may inspire more shows or a spin off that would show more of what could be done with good steel and a smith that has the time to work his magic.
 
LARRYZ10 said:
Those of you who see my posts here know that I make knives by stock reduction but I watch the Forged in Fire show just to see what the show will throw at the knife makers this week. I know that it is entertainment but I feel bad for the knife makers sometimes because they so constrained by time and often given a scrap pile( of terrible steel in some cases). If I was timed on making a knife I would not start because it would be no fun for me but I guess the contestants have their own reasons to compete including exposure and money but I still feel bad for some of them. Some of these brave souls have looked like they were getting heat stroke or about to have a heart attack. I would love to see the judges have to produce a knife from the pile of scrap they give the contestants...I would pay to see that. Larry P.S. I also thought that having 24 hour epoxy on the shelf was a lousy thing to do. LL
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David Baker makes one before each competition. That example you see on the table? That's it. Made using the exact restraints they're given to make sure it IS possible to do. Same steel. Same everything.

IIRC, there are even videos of him on set making the weapons using the exact tools they use on YouTube, Bakers Facebook and Instagram account, I believe.

And they put 24 hour epoxy to make sure you're paying attention to what you're doing. Make them concentrate that much more. It's a competition. Makes perfect sense, IMO.
 
I remembered reading that somebody made the example, but didn't realize it was David Baker. If so, my hat's off to him. A bladesmith for sure!
 
Sorta glad this thread was brought up again. I do enjoy the show, but realize what it is....entertainment. As a maker, some of it is frustrating. Quenching techniques. Geez. What had me scratching my head recently was the last episode...the final challenge was to make a sword/rapier. One guy forged it....the other guy did stock removal. I thought for sure if/when the judges reviewed the video on how their process went, that the guy who made his by stock removal would have been immediately disqualified. But nothing was even mentioned.
 
Ken H> said:
I remembered reading that somebody made the example, but didn't realize it was David Baker. If so, my hat's off to him. A bladesmith for sure!
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I think J. Neilson was also making some of the pieces.
 
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