Forged in fire - safety

Causing accidents by rushing bladesmiths on Forged in Fire equals ratings. That is the fact of the matter
 
knife to a gunfight said:
I wouldn't say the show "glorifies" the practice. I'm not sure I've ever really noticed that they had guards or didn't. It's not as if they are taking air time to show the knife maker removing the guard and throwing it the scrap bin.

Industrial safety is all well and good, but then there's the real world. If you're relying solely on a machine guard to keep you safe, chances are high that you're going to get hurt with or without it. If you use the safety guard between your ears however, the chances of going home the way you came in, rise exponentially.

Don't get me wrong: I think good safety habits and practices should be encouraged, and guards should be used when possible, but I also thing that the typical industrial safety engineer's attitude of "if we install enough rails, guards, safety interlocks, decals, hirac forms, etc..., nobody will ever get hurt again!" is not only naive, but misses the main issue: not so common sense/thinking and paying attention to what you're doing.

At any rate, I think I bigger safety issue they need to address is keeping the contestants cool and hydrated. Those dinky little thermos bottles look like they only hold about one bottle of water, and why are all the forges facing each other? Stagger them or turn them away from each other.
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Agree with all of this. There's no cooler of beer. How the heck are they supposed to stay hydrated? I never get heat stroke in my shop, and there's always cold beer in it. Coincidence? I don't think so. :)
 
kuraki said:
Agree with all of this. There's no cooler of beer. How the heck are they supposed to stay hydrated? I never get heat stroke in my shop, and there's always cold beer in it. Coincidence? I don't think so. :)
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Beer ? They cant show beer, that might be construed as poor example of shop safety practice.
 
On my big angle grinder I have gaurd always.On my small Makita with 1mm cutting disk , no .I need to better see where I cut .I think that small tin disk a not that dangerous , protective glasses required . Anyway , angle grinder is the most dangerous hand tool .............. after polishing disc :)
 
The big angle grinders are a whole different beast than the small 4 1/2" ones.. We have a 15 amp Milwaukee 9" and when it hits a snag it bucks like a chainsaw and wants to come out of your hands.. Ive told this story on here before but I saw a guy with a big grinder and whirly bird(brush) cleaning up welds in a coal bucket. It hit a bad spot in the weld, jumped on his arm and took every bit of the skin off down to the meat. from his wrist to elbow, shirt didn't help a bit. It had a guard on but of course it didn't help either. His arm looked like a side of raw ham.
 
Lieblad said:
Beer ? They cant show beer, that might be construed as poor example of shop safety practice.
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What would be better, water? That's dangerous too. Everyone who drinks it dies. Very sad. :(
 
Forged in Fire is an accident waiting to happen with the Hollywood special effects. Its not a shop but rather a stage. Its beyond dumb to apply flammable substances to the floor so that when a maker drops his work it bursts into flame. The legal beagles are watching the show for their chance to make cash, and they won't have to wait long.
 
Bufford said:
Forged in Fire is an accident waiting to happen with the Hollywood special effects. Its not a shop but rather a stage. Its beyond dumb to apply flammable substances to the floor so that when a maker drops his work it bursts into flame. The legal beagles are watching the show for their chance to make cash, and they won't have to wait long.
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Why assume that if the liquid is placed there, it also isn't closely choreographed/ rehearsed as to when/ where, and by whom the fluid will be ignited? I would suggest this scenario would almost have to be the case, since any common accelerant is going to evaporate fairly quickly on concrete. If they don't have the "dropped work" planned ahead of time, the stage hands would be constantly spraying the floor with kerosene.
 
Kevin McGovern said:
Why assume that if the liquid is placed there, it also isn't closely choreographed/ rehearsed as to when/ where, and by whom the fluid will be ignited? I would suggest this scenario would almost have to be the case, since any common accelerant is going to evaporate fairly quickly on concrete. If they don't have the "dropped work" planned ahead of time, the stage hands would be constantly spraying the floor with kerosene.
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Don't assume the stuff on the floor is a liquid.

Do a stop motion and look, you can see sparkly powder that blends in with the concrete.
 
Does anybody actually know for a FACT that they put combustible substances on the floor and in the quench oil? Or are people speculating?

I'm asking sincerely...I don't know the answer. But it would be nice if 'proof' was more than, "..it looks like..." or "...I heard that...".

Is there any real documented substance to these claims?

If so....I would be highly inclined to think that it would be:

A: Carefully scripted

and

B: Closely supervised by the appropriate persons and/or groups.

It seems that the History Channel and the show producers would take great care to ensure this in their own best interests.


Additionally, not every blade quenched bursts into flames. The ones that appear to be quenched 500 degrees too hot certainly make the oil burst into flames.
 
way back in the day some dubious welders would put a rubber or rubber glove inflated with acetylene under a welding table and just wait for a spark. It made for a real show.
 
J. Doyle said:
Does anybody actually know for a FACT that they put combustible substances on the floor and in the quench oil? Or are people speculating?

I'm asking sincerely...I don't know the answer. But it would be nice if 'proof' was more than, "..it looks like..." or "...I heard that...".

Is there any real documented substance to these claims?
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Credits list a slew of pyrotech folks


If you drop a hot blade on a concrete floor at home, does the concrete floor light on fire ?


Forged%20in%20Fire%20credits_zpsa3uhph8t.jpg
 
12345678910 said:
If you drop a hot blade on a concrete floor at home, does the concrete floor light on fire ?
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No, of course not. I haven't personally witnessed that phenomena on Forged In Fire either. I've seen several hot things being dropped on the floor on the show though. If it did happen on the show, then I guess that probably explains the credits to the pyrotechnics and lends credibility to the assumption that it's scripted in and the History Channel and the show's producers are on top of the situation.
 
I start fires on my concrete floor when I start forging after recently chopping up a bunch of sisal rope I'd neglected to sweep :)
 
One medic ... five pyrotechnicians. That pretty much says it all.

The participants and crew are under severe non-disclosure contracts not to discuss any of the filming, scripting, or special efects. The "proof" won't come from them. I have heard from someone involved with the show that they had to change the "liquid" put on the oil because it flared up too much and singed a contestant.

As for lawyers and suits, I would be pretty sure that the twenty page contract covers a full release of liability for the producers and crew.
 
Forged in the Fire seems to be pretty popular. Last night they had re-runs and I couldn't believe all the commercials. It seems lots of business want to have a commercial on the program.
It's a show and needs to attract an audience. It looks like they are being successful.
The new series starts next Tuesday night on the History Channel.
As a knifemaker there are things about the program I would change, but ratings drive the program and it would seem that their ratings are high with the program the way it is. Money talks and if they can get lots of sponsors they won't see any need to change.
 
I cringe when I watched Jason Knight testing the blade that broke. I am surprise he does this without any kind of arm protection or a face shield. Its going to catch up with them at some point. I have to agree with the marketing thing, the commercials would make the show impossible to watch unless first recorded on a PVR so that the viewer can watch the show without the constant tasteless interruptions.
 
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