Primitive knife build on Alaska the last frontier

J

jtwodogs

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Did anyone catch the primitive knife build on Alaska the last frontier last night? It was pretty basic, he did not have a belt grinder so the profile/plunge was ground with what look like a 4 inch hand grinder. He did go into the simple HT about heating to non-magnetic and then quenching in oil. He forged a kitchen knife and hunting knife. Like I said it was pretty primitive, but I did enjoy the fact that it was kinda brought into the main stream.
 
My instinct was to cringe when I saw what steel he had collected, pry bars and what not. Then when they show him doing the forging, it looked like a bar of some steel. Who knows what it really was? But then I immediately go to thinking, "Good for him." He more than likely doesn't know all the intricacies we know. He likely doesn't know the metallurgy that some people here. But he used what he had, and made two decent looking knives. And from what I recall, they were not thick tire iron knives. They had a thin profile to them, if memory serves me right.

Getting critical about his heat treat.....he said magnetic is the temp. I hear that quite a bit on knife forums. And we all know that non magnetic is not hot enough. Not only that, he took FOREVER to go from magnet not sticking to his quench bucket....whatever his quenching medium was. If he would have gone past non magnetic a touch, and have his quench bucket right there ready to go, I bet he would have gotten a much better result.

He actually took the time to make a brass bolster. Something I would not have done, so he went further than what I would have.

Again, all in all, I think he did a good job.
 
I watched the episode. He collected the scrap steel to make the forge, but then it looked like he used a piece of leaf spring to create the knife (it shows him picking it up at one point). Yeah, his comments about the curie point being somewhere around 1400-1500 degrees were close, but it's actually 1414F and many of the steels used in automotive leaf springs harden at a good bit above that. In fact, pretty much the only steel you can do somewhat reliable use the magnet with is 1084, but even it needs around 1450 to get decent results.

Either way, he showed a bit more knowledge that I originally was going to give him credit for, though i cringed a bit when he hot cot the bar to create the tip as well as with how long it took him to go from the forge to the quench.

--nathan
 
Thumbs up for his creation of a usable tool under less than ideal conditions with materials on hand.
 
Fellows - Anyone who thinks these "reality" shows are real is fooling themselves.

Have you forgotten that there is a camera crew, a nice warm actors trailer, cars and trucks, and six fully furnished cabins just off the view of your TV screen. Whatever you saw was created done by the full crew and tech staff and only performed by a "reality actor' who is pretending to be trying to survive. Someone might have taken a bar of 1084 steel and set up the "forging". Any "found" objects were placed there five minutes before you watched him discover it "where it was left in the 1930's". Some scenes are shot in ten or more separate locations.

My favorite scene was from Gator Hunters. I was at a friends house. He watches all these shows and believes every scene as being real. Two women hunters were out in the boat and the motor wouldn't start. It was hot and they started talking about dying out where no one would find them. They got all blubbery and sentimental and started all the "I love you like a sister" talks. My friend was getting noticeably upset. I laughed and said to my friend. "Don't worry, I bet the camera crew will tow them back to the hotel for a nice shower and steak dinner in a little while". He looked at me strange, and for the first time realized that what he was watching wasn't real.

My daughter has an old school friend who is a set builder for Food Network and has worked for the History Channel. He has some hysterical stories about how these things actually get filmed. Suffice to say that when the "Secret Ingredient" is Tripe, it isn't a surprise.
 
Stacy, this isn't a reality survival show. I laugh through most of those, too. I'm sure there are created situations on this one as well, but it's more about how things have been done for 3 generations on this homestead. It's actually one of the more watchable shows for sure.

--nathan
 
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I agree that a lot of reality shows are staged. Pawn stars for one, people have been out to their shop in Las Vegas only to realize it is not big enough to change your mind, not the mega place where the show is filmed.

While I too believe there are some aspects that are "Staged" with ATLF, and I don't doubt there are producers that probably say here is a list of thinks we might want to do on the show. The fact is that the Kilchers are living a primitive life style in Alaska. You can actually research their past and show that their ancestors came from Europe and homesteaded the land. Found it interesting when they interviewed "Jewel" Atz's daughter. She actually related how her childhood was so isolated where she lived on the homestead.

So yes, I believe a lot of it is staged so as to make a show, but I also believe their lives are very similar to what is being staged
 
The people are 90% real. The situations are 90% fake. Is there some "reality" in what you see....yes.....just not a lot of it.


Funny thing is that this very morning I was contacted by Leftfieldproductions about possibly participating in a new blade/weapons related competition reality series. I suspect many others were, too.
 
Probably true on that Stacy.
When I was young I dreamt of moving to Alaska and homesteading. I am now to old to do that, so I guess I am living vicariously through their show. :)
 
The Kilchners are a very real family. Their lives surviving on their land in Alaska are very real. So what there is a camera crew? I for one don't see how that detracts from what Ivan did one bit. He made a simple forge, he gathered some steel, he forged out his knife, put a handle on it, and made a knife. Not fake at all. It was a very primitive knife, built with basic materials with basic knowledge.

Are there events that are set up or over dramatized on these shows? Uh.....yeah. Did that come into play when Ivan was forging his knife? I sure don't think so.
 
I think it's an entertaining show, but I think it's cheesy too. Still, it's one of the better ones. Hard to fake a charging bear that gets shot dead, hard to fake getting scoped when the shooter doesn't know how to shoot a rifle, etc.

My favorite reality tv gag is when you see the starring character walk into a store/house/whatever, and the person inside (where the crew is filming) is surprised to see them. Always watch the camera angles.

Reality tv has more uav's than the military, and atlf has that goofy song by pop star Jewel (related to the family). Fun to watch, but I don't take any of it too seriously.

Anyone see the guy re-ht the axe on Live Free or Die? He walks from his heating source (where he gets the axe sort of red hot) and takes about 20 seconds to dip it in the swamp. Lame, although it's possible he thinks it's possible...
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
The people are 90% real. The situations are 90% fake. Is there some "reality" in what you see....yes.....just not a lot of it.


Funny thing is that this very morning I was contacted by Leftfieldproductions about possibly participating in a new blade/weapons related competition reality series. I suspect many others were, too.
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I was contacted by the same group about two weeks ago as well Stacy. I figured it was probably some joke or scam so I simply ignored the whole situation.
 
I think Stacy summed it up very nicely:

The people are 90% real. The situations are 90% fake. Is there some "reality" in what you see....yes.....just not a lot of it.
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As mentioned most of it is staged and the rest of it is tricks on the eye by the camera effects. The places these shows are shot are not much different than the isolated communities around here. Discovery could easily make a show here in our remote community with the few residents we have in the area living self reliant and some without internet let alone hydro.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
The people are 90% real. The situations are 90% fake. Is there some "reality" in what you see....yes.....just not a lot of it.


Funny thing is that this very morning I was contacted by Leftfieldproductions about possibly participating in a new blade/weapons related competition reality series. I suspect many others were, too.
Click to expand...

Disagree with you on ALL your points regarding this show. These guys don't have a lot of time to waist to cater to what the production crew would like to see. They barely have enough time as it is to prepare everything for winter. It's easy to cast out what you THINK may be happening when you are completely isolated from that type of lifestyle and what you are failing to recognize is their responsibility to survival on the HOMESTEAD.

If there is 6 completely outfitted cabins just off the camera view, you can grantee that doesn't do anything to help the Kilchers prepare for the winter months....
 
Cajun Kamikaze said:
If there is 6 completely outfitted cabins just off the camera view, you can grantee that doesn't do anything to help the Kilchers prepare for the winter months....
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Sounds like the life of every farmer on the planet, I would be willing to bet those big fat paychecks help them prepare for winter more then anything else ;0)

I read an interview with Bob Denver once, He said pretty much everyday someone would either write in or call the television studio and tell the folks there they needed to mount a rescue mission to get those people off Gilligan's island ;0)
 
John Katt said:
I read an interview with Bob Denver once, He said pretty much everyday someone would either write in or call the television studio and tell the folks there they needed to mount a rescue mission to get those people off Gilligan's island ;0)
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That's pretty damn funny. They were def living the lavish Island lifestyle on that Island. And who would want to be rescued from a deserted Island with the Honeys they were stranded with anyway...
 
I did a google search on Shelby from Axe Men several years ago. It gave his net worth as $400,000 +. Not bad for someone portrayed as a poor river rat! Jess
 
Jesse Latham said:
I did a google search on Shelby from Axe Men several years ago. It gave his net worth as $400,000 +. Not bad for someone portrayed as a poor river rat! Jess
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Shelby is off his rocker for REAL. He lives about 30min east of me in the Bedico. While his Net worth may be 400,000+ that's not really that much considering the operation he runs, basically that's all of his land and equipment to pull the logs and the business. He lives like you see, where you see. Same with Troy Landry except he has really capitalized on his show and is raking in Millions, but he still lives the same life as always, just has more land, boats and toys. I really enjoy going down to PP and hanging with his family. Always good food and good times.
 
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