Thoughts on Forged in fire

its not scripted Stacy, its a hard fricken gig, I honestly heard the requirements wrong, it was only said once with forges running behind me, and I don't hear very well anyway, that's my mistake that cost me dearly. Now, with a six inch blade hunter and nothing but huge stock or low carbon stock on the table of junk, I thought I might be able to stretch the existing knife, I did, it was thinner than I would ever make a knife, with the uncontrolled environment and no time to normalize or see temperatures at all, I cracked it , said it was parks 50 but don't really know what oil it was, SHIT, ok now what 20 minutes left, only thing on the table ONLY thing on the table small enough to work down was a spike, I was spent so I had that little giant humming wide open and got a nine inch blade with handle out of that spike but ran out of time to finish, they actually said I should have quenched it and I might have went through, really a low carbon spike? Anyway its tv. There are several interviews not being shown explaining that I don't think spikes make good knives, and I would never let a piece like that leave my shop but it was a hail mary. So as easy as it is to arm chair quarterback, cut the guys on the show some slack because its not insight to our work or skills cause once you get under those lights with four three burners running flat out everything changes.
 
hardingknives said:
its not scripted Stacy, its a hard fricken gig, I honestly heard the requirements wrong, it was only said once with forges running behind me, and I don't hear very well anyway, that's my mistake that cost me dearly. Now, with a six inch blade hunter and nothing but huge stock or low carbon stock on the table of junk, I thought I might be able to stretch the existing knife, I did, it was thinner than I would ever make a knife, with the uncontrolled environment and no time to normalize or see temperatures at all, I cracked it , said it was parks 50 but don't really know what oil it was, SHIT, ok now what 20 minutes left, only thing on the table ONLY thing on the table small enough to work down was a spike, I was spent so I had that little giant humming wide open and got a nine inch blade with handle out of that spike but ran out of time to finish, they actually said I should have quenched it and I might have went through, really a low carbon spike? Anyway its tv. There are several interviews not being shown explaining that I don't think spikes make good knives, and I would never let a piece like that leave my shop but it was a hail mary. So as easy as it is to arm chair quarterback, cut the guys on the show some slack because its not insight to our work or skills cause once you get under those lights with four three burners running flat out everything changes.
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I felt bad for you. I too have poor hearing and thought you might had missed the instructions. There does seem to be rules communication problems at times. Thanks for your efforts.

Gary
 
I thought they said there were lawn mower blades on the table. I would have thought that would have been The fastest/crudest way to get a blade done quickly.
 
Knife making is kind of an introverted craft(for me at least). Sure we talk on here and share info and whatnot, but when you're actually in the shop making knives, you're solo. I'm sure it's hard to perform at a high level when you're taken out of your comfort zone, with none of your own equipment, bright lights, people watching over you, and you're racing the clock. To top it all off you're competing with others for 10k. I could tell how it would be tough.

Also add into the mix, you have your reputation to worry about. You know that millions will be watching you and forming an opinion about you and your abilities. I can't imagine how stressful that would be. It takes some big brass ones to even be on a show like that.
 
hardingknives said:
only 32 guys out of the knife world opted to try, 50/50 chance look foolish or a pro[/QUOTE


I see what the production team was trying to do but I really wasn't paying attention to the "contest" angle.
I know nothing about forging metal...well a little.
All the contestants showed me skills and interesting material to learn from.
I ended up feeling bad for the removed contestants and hoping the prize winner would share his spoils with his peers.

Gary
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I will keep watching too.
You guys that are competing had the cajones to give it a shot, hats off to ya that's a big risk. There does seem to be alot of Monday morning quarterbacks :)
The only thing I didn't like was the final weapon the 2 had to make....kind of lame would alot rather them stick to knives and swords.
 
Good to hear from one of the actual contestants. I don't really believe that it was scripted. I also watched the intro more closely and a couple faces seem familiar. I've watched one of them make a decent knife at a hammer-in in a couple hours, so I'll be curious to see how well he does.
 
The show was entertaining.

If a person is clueless on how they edit a show and what you are seeing is not necessarily a linear time line, and how many things are cut out they will be confused.

Sit back and relax and enjoy it because it is about knives and making these guys jump through hoops :)

In cooking competitions I have seen world class chefs mess up on making rice, eggs or meat. It is not they do not have the skill it is the pressure of the competition that makes everything go to hell.

Hey maybe watching the show is actually a good test on seeing who is wound to tight to enjoy a little show on knife making? :D
 
AVigil said:
The show was entertaining.

If a person is clueless on how they edit a show and what you are seeing is not necessarily a linear time line, and how many things are cut out they will be confused.

Sit back and relax and enjoy it because it is about knives and making these guys jump through hoops :)

In cooking competitions I have seen world class chefs mess up on making rice, eggs or meat. It is not they do not have the skill it is the pressure of the competition that makes everything go to hell.

Hey maybe watching the show is actually a good test on seeing who is wound to tight to enjoy a little show on knife making? :D
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^ This is good!^ :D
 
Justin Presson said:
I will keep watching too.
You guys that are competing had the cajones to give it a shot, hats off to ya that's a big risk. There does seem to be alot of Monday morning quarterbacks :)
The only thing I didn't like was the final weapon the 2 had to make....kind of lame would alot rather them stick to knives and swords.
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^This also^ :D
 
Chad,
I was really sorry to see that happen to you, and thought it just looked too unlikely for an experienced smith. I stand corrected, and apologize for implying that it was set up in advance.

I found it entertaining, but in a different way than most will.


I may well submit again after my hand heals a bit more.
 
I cringe watching it too Stacy, but its tv for the masses and good or bad its spotlighting our craft to the general public who don't know we still forge hot steel into blades. I take no offense at any comments, only retaliate to convey truth about the situation. It was an incredible experience, I never would have went to New York with out the show, my wife went with me, while I was in the studio, she got on the TODAY show with her sign for the kids, and while in the gift shop, was picked to be on the Merideth show--twice! I was glad to come home I missed my kids and couldn't have afforded two more weeks without pay
 
It is what it is Don, responsibility for your actions. you shake your head because of the "what if?" and then you shake the winners hand.
 
Chad,
I felt bad for you. Your knife was coming right along. I wish they would have said something sooner to you. Making a knife in front of a small camcorder or two isn't easy. Making a knife under a time constraint in a strange shop with people watching and full film crew shooting you as you work is probably as tough as it gets.


I am enjoying the show and I think it's the best show on TV about knife making. I am convinced it will bring more people into the craft and help everyone sell more custom knives no matter how it's portrayed.
 
Crap, does this mean there's a chance that "Moonshiners" is real?

Chad, could you explain where in the process you were when you discovered the crack, and just how badly was the guy shaking when they stopped the clock? Did you consider, given the short time limit, TIG welding the crack instead of starting over? Were you informed of the time limit prior to filming, or was it just dropped on you? I know, so many questions, but rarely do you get a chance to actually ask these type of questions.
 
After the quench I ran a pass over the grinder, saw a spiderweb crack, had no idea what was going on with grant to far away from me. Cracked blades go in the bucket not on the bench. I forged three full knives and ground two out I was spent
 
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