Forged In Fire

Mark Knapp said:
Congratulations Theo. Good job, and your joke was pretty good too, but the delivery was just a little week. Joe's actually a friend of mine, that was me putting out the fire he started.
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Oh, hi! Joe actually mentioned you when we went to dinner after taping was over. That fire was wild, good thing you guys kept it cool and put it right out; gotta love pre-heated oil haha

Thank you everyone!
 
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It was pretty exciting. It was a much bigger fire ball, the producers needed to darken it to improve video quality.
 
MarkJeffrey said:
I'm a tattoo artist for my day job. And when it hit TV,. it all went to shit. Busier.. sure.. but when anything goes mainstream, take punk rock music for example (or jeez even country music for that matter.. look what they've turned it into), the people that would have never given it the time of day will all the sudden be all over it because it's "cool". I think a good informative show on bladesmithing would be great, but when it's geared for TV watchers, it's going to get bad real quick, because who wants to watch a couple guys that know what they're doing ACTUALLY just make a knife. I guess that's why I don't have TV.

I find it hard to explain what I'm getting at, but I absolutely love tattooing AND knife making.. these things that once had some mystery and sacredness to them turn into this goof ball circus and have the life squeezed out of them all for buck. We're about to have a lot more members here soon.
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I guess I am one of those guys who is suddenly "all over it because it's cool". I have been making a few knives for the last 3 months or so and it is true that I started because of the show. Not that if was only due to the show but more of the fact that one of the judges is a master smith. That got me thinking that hey, my cousin is a master smith. At the time I didn't really know exactly what that meant so I decided to use trusty ole google. Low and behold there are only 118 master smiths in the world and it is an extremely prestigious recognition.

I was hooked. I spent hours finding out more and more about the american bladesmith society along with how to forge a blade. I convinced my wife to let me buy some very basic tools to make a knife using the stock removal method. I wanted to use this method at first as a sort of toe dipping to see if I even liked the process of making a knife. 3 months later and 2 knives down (I cant work on knives everyday) I am absolutely loving it. I have plans to build a forge and start forging this year.

I have always loved knives. A defining moment was when my uncle let me pick from a few different Case knives that had been my grandfathers. He had passed away and his house had burnt down. In the house was a large collection of older Case knives. Very few survived but what did was badly burned. My cousin, who is the MS, cleaned up the knives to an almost new condition. I still haven't forgot how amazed I was by this and it was one of the things that started my love of knives.

So yes, the show peaked my interest on wanting to make knives but I am sure there was always an urge inside to make them before.
 
Norm brought many to Woodworking and it has benefited the hobby. This may lead to good things for knife making.

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Theo, my family watched the episode tonight over dinner (DVR). I am glad for you! We had fun. ;)

You got quite a few 'lucky breaks', but that's how MANY successful make it: good fortunes (steel pick) and less errors. (I once won a national MC drag race when 4 out of five competitors redlighted and gave it to me! LOL!) Last man standing.

Your intensity is offset with your humor and humble manner. I LOVED how you stated "I didn't want to win like that!" But you did and you deserved it. Very sportsmanlike. That and your work was simply GOOD. Not overcooked or underdone.

When Joe lit that fire, all of a sudden some other HERO is wielding a fire extinguisher and getting it under control. I didn't recognize Mark then, but now I'm planting my palm in my forehead. :D

Joe is a formidable bladesmith! I will look for his work again.

Congratulations! Good show!
 
SharpByCoop said:
.....
When Joe lit that fire, all of a sudden some other HERO is wielding a fire extinguisher and getting it under control. I didn't recognize Mark then, but now I'm planting my palm in my forehead. :D

....
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My exact thoughts too^^^. Congrats, Mark. :) Now you can tell people, "Yeah...I was on Forged In Fire." :D ;)
 
Mark,
I have been watching & enjoying the show, My wife even reminds me when it's on, "She's Hooked"

It looks like there is maybe some kind of added Juice for a big flame/visual for the show?

I could of course be wrong about that, I've just seen so many flame ups on the show and I hope none of the Forgers/participants or set crew people get hurt.

Burns are no fun!
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
Mark,
I have been watching & enjoying the show, My wife even reminds me when it's on, "She's Hooked"

It looks like there is maybe some kind of added Juice for a big flame/visual for the show?

I could of course be wrong about that, I've just seen so many flame ups on the show and I hope none of the Forgers/participants or set crew people get hurt.

Burns are no fun!
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I can't speak about other flare-ups but I can tell you that this particular flare up was not intentional. Because of circumstances beyond Joe's control he was not able to do his build in his home forge on base. The producers asked if they could film at my place with Joe's tools. I remembered what had happened to Haley and Adam DesRosiers when they were forging large pieces like the noginata blade (their' shop burned down) So before they started the quench I casually checked to see if the fire extinguisher was where it was supposed to be and that the arrow on it was in the green. I thought I was ready when the fire went up but I had forgotten to take the hose out of the clip before I tripped the trigger on the extinguisher. My first shot went straight to my crotch. After I knew that area was safe I concentrated more on the fire. The second quench was outside.
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
Mark,
I have been watching & enjoying the show, My wife even reminds me when it's on, "She's Hooked"

It looks like there is maybe some kind of added Juice for a big flame/visual for the show?

I could of course be wrong about that, I've just seen so many flame ups on the show and I hope none of the Forgers/participants or set crew people get hurt.

Burns are no fun!
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I asked that question before, and participants said it wasn't encouraged by the producers, even though several smiths seem to try to force a flare up.
 
Willie71 said:
I asked that question before, and participants said it wasn't encouraged by the producers, even though several smiths seem to try to force a flare up.
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Yep, quit pulling the blade out when its still hot enough to ignite the fumes/vapors. It's quenching 101.
 
Anyone see tonight's episode? Stephen and my daughter went to school together. Had him make her a custom knife last year. A lot of talent in a young bladesmith.
 
It was definitely interesting to see the young guy do so well! Too bad he didn't follow directions at the end.


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I really wish they would have tested it and then dinged him for the lack of recurve. Seemed unnecessarily harsh and it seems more and more like the final tests are either abbreviated or cut short.
 
I bet they test it off camera. I mean everyone is dressed for the party, might as well dance.

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