Thoughts on Forged in fire

Just started watching/catching up this last week.... At first I wasn't really all that interested in watching, based on how MOST "reality" tv shows are, especially when it comes to "weapons", but people kept asking if I'd seen it, so I sat down and watched 2 or 3 of them.

Honestly, I rather enjoy it... Not so much for the obvious "dramatic" editing/format of course, but if it's a choice between real(ly annoying) housewives, yawn stars, borage wars, or some talented bladesmiths pounding out some raw steel for 50 minutes, guess which show I'm going to pick?

Is it going to be perfect and have everything I've ever wanted in a show about blade smithing? Of course not. It's network television, and they get less than 1 hour to attract as many viewers as possible. It's the nature of the beast. If you want to see an in depth documentary on forging, the history of blades, the science of metallurgy, etc... there's dozens of much better resources to choose from than cable tv.

However, if you just want to take it at face value and be entertained while possibly learning of a new maker or two, then it's not too bad at all. The show is not geared towards knife makers. It's geared towards the general tv viewing public.

Now that being said, it has definitely encouraged me to start looking for an anvil and probably a forge build as well. While I've always been interested in traditional bladesmithing, I've leaned a little more heavily towards the stock removal and machining aspect of knife making, and my money, time and resources have been spent accordingly. That said, I'm gonna take a break from expanding my "machine shop", and for sure focus on the forging side of equipment for the foreseeable future. Watching the makers on this show has been a big contributor to that.

Now, I think it's really cool that a good handful of the makers who were on this show have chimed in to this thread. Thanks for putting yourselves out there and for volunteering a little extra info to those of us who wanted to know.

Now, I must leave with a comment to Ryu Lim:
When you made that comment about safety glasses and a respirator, and donned the aviators and the stogie, I LOST IT. Definitely got a big chuckle.
I enjoyed seeing your perspective on smithing, and congratulate you on your well earned win.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
....

Oh man, they should do a show like this on machinists!

The first five minutes would be everybody pulling quotes out of their ass

The center 90% would be sitting around waiting on tooling to arrive

Everybody would scramble at the very end and almost nobody would be on time

then, you have to wait 60-90 days for the judges to decide

yeah, that's actually a pretty bad idea. never mind...
Click to expand...

spoken like a veteran machinist!
I'd add the first five days are swapping drawings back and forth...
:D
 
I like the show and seems to get a little better every time. And the funny thing is my wife likes it better than i do:D
 
Although I am a nob by anyone standard, have been working at it for over a year. I have never been around an actual black smith, all of my learning has been garnered from the internet.
So this last show were they filled a square tube with different metals, and metal dust to forge a type of Damascus I thought was interesting.
 
No cable here, only was able to catch that one episode that they allowed on youtube, would like to see more, but not getting cable just for that, I'm glad to hear it's getting somewhat better/
Sorry to hear about JD, good guy, hard to believe he was knocked out so quickly!
G2
 
Good show last night. Sad to see mistakes like the ones that took out the first two chaps. 21" is a lot longer than 13"....I don't know how anyone can explain that?
The tang and deep finger groove on the broken knife should have been obvious to a newbie as a potential failure spot....again, I don't know how to explain it in an experienced smith?
 
Yes good show last night! I thought the other guys sword was better, but they didn't really show the handle issues, so don't know.
 
I've watched every episode so far. The show has developed and become better though I felt last nights show was a step backward during the in-studio knifemaking. It would be interesting to see how it develops if they do a second season. It's always hard to go first but, second season competitors would have a little insight and be better prepared to construct something that will be competitive. The type of testing they do on the in-studio knives will really drive the design and you can't help but see a full tang, kukri or harpoon style blade (heavy tip) with good bevel angles is going to prevail. I would like the producers to change up the purpose of the knife and the testing to meet that purpose and they should tell the contestants exactly how the knife will be tested before the design period. A stabbing weapon should be tested in its' ability to stab, it doesn't really matter how deep it can hack into a log.

Bob
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Good show last night. Sad to see mistakes like the ones that took out the first two chaps. 21" is a lot longer than 13"....I don't know how anyone can explain that?
The tang and deep finger groove on the broken knife should have been obvious to a newbie as a potential failure spot....again, I don't know how to explain it in an experienced smith?
Click to expand...
Heat of the moment and bright lights,camera,panic.
 
Stacy - I agree with you on both comments, only thing I can thing is the heat of being in front of camera much of the skill these folks had gets forgotten.

Bob, your comments are exactly what the wife and I have discussed several times. The type of testing SHOULD be given before the design phase. AND major design points given on a note card to each contestant. Something we should remember, NONE of the contestants have seen any of the episodes before doing their work. All were filmed in advance. Next year's contestants will have a BIG advantage over all the contestants of this year.

I sorta think it might have a second season, I've heard several none knife folks make favorable comments about the program.

Ken H>
 
One of the finalists was using a curved platen for hollow grinding which I thought was pretty cool. I've heard of them but never actually seen one.
 
When approached to make a custom knife the first question I ask is " what is the intended use/purpose of the knife". The intended use should drive the design. I agree they should be given some guidance as to what performance challenges are ahead of them.
 
Take a ball bearing and hammer a knife out of it. Amazing!!
I can see how a show like this can make kids today try their hand at making their own knife and maybe even tearing them away from the video games.

A anvil for Christmas?:)
 
Don Hanson III said:
Yes good show last night! I thought the other guys sword was better, but they didn't really show the handle issues, so don't know.
Click to expand...
I agree, I liked the other guys better and it seemed to cut better. I think the martial arts guys liked it better too. The first time I disagreed with the judges.
 
Yeah, I thought for sure that Mareko would win, especially given the warp in the blade. Although, I would have flunked both of them for using layered steel in a gladius.

Chad: Was there an aftershow filmed?
 
I agree that Mareko's sword was better. Unfortunately his handle started to come loose and the segments separate as well as the tang bend in the impact test. You could see the separation in the last shots as they examined the two side by side. If it hadn't separated, I am sure they would have made him the winner.

As to the bright lights and cameras, that is true, but 13" and 21" are a huge difference. He even measured it to check...and then cut off some of the tang. Not chopping the blade nearly in half and grinding a point on it was his mistake.
 
MTURBO said:
Take a ball bearing and hammer a knife out of it. Amazing!!
Click to expand...

That's not really that uncommon. It's a testament to a skilled smith being able to take nearly any shape of good steel and manipulate it to what he wants. Ball bearings are very often made of 52100 (or other high-quality alloys which are excellent steels for blades)... but for a long time it was difficult to find in nice flat barstock, so many bladesmiths started with large bearings like that.

jtwodogs said:
So this last show were they filled a square tube with different metals, and metal dust to forge a type of Damascus I thought was interesting.
Click to expand...

"Canister" damascus is a fairly well-known and well-respected technique. :thumbup:

Don Hanson III said:
Yes good show last night! I thought the other guys sword was better, but they didn't really show the handle issues, so don't know.
Click to expand...

It may have had to do with the "losing" gladius only having about 3" of tang, which may have been tempered too soft and just twisted... unless he welded an extension onto it and they didn't show it. It's hard to guess from what they showed... but it was definitely coming apart pretty quickly.

I'm with Stacy and RangerBob... lots of seemingly rookie, glaring mistakes last night that any first-year maker should know to avoid. Sharp shoulders, skinny little rat-tail tangs, complete failure to measure/layout properly, broomstick handles, flat-out ignoring obvious cracks and warps, grinding a convex when asked for a hollow, no mechanical means holding a handle together... :confused:

Also, general bad shop practices... I was just waiting for someone to break a bit or to lose control trying to drill through a block without a vise... and sure enough, I was not disappointed in either case :D I did notice one of the makers wearing a respirator for (I think) the first time on the show, though.

I'm being picky, because, well... it's easy to "armchair-quarterback". I still like the show and look forward to a second season, and I still think it's good for the craft overall.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top