Chopped...for Blacksmiths!

[greek_jester]

Speaking of fashion choices, I swear Doug's like Jamie Hyneman: always in black and his shirt is always spotless.

I may have an ever so slight crush on Doug...

[LadyofArc]

Yes, that one was fun. Seriously, if you can't remember the numbers, WRITE THEM DOWN OR ASK!

To be fair on these guys, they did have two sets of parameters to work with for the hatchet heads as opposed to one for the knives, but given that the guy drew his blueprint on the floor, he definitely had no excuse. (He did fix the head in the second round so that it did meet the parameters)

Part of the fun is watching Wil's hair fashion choices; he's moved through clipped short and greased back, to long enough for a stubby ponytail, to just above shoulder length (and wavy!) with a short beard, to a bit shorter and greased back again (but less tightly). You never know what you're going to get!

I've been noticing lately whenever the camera pulls back that he has this tendency to wear Converse sneakers (or a similar knockoff) on the show. It's kind of funny actually given he's usually in a nice shirt and slacks.

Speaking of fashion choices, I swear Doug's like Jamie Hyneman: always in black and his shirt is always spotless.

[greek_jester]

We have now. I do love how Wil made it very clear that he wasn't going to ask the vets to "surrender their weapon" (which he does do after people get eliminated), but rather tailored the phrases to the episode. (I know the reason why, but thought it was a very nice touch )

I also watched the lion spear episode recently - gotta love the guy who cannot measure to save his life, as he managed to make both his hatchet head too short (snip) and his hatchet HANDLE too long.

Yes, that one was fun. Seriously, if you can't remember the numbers, WRITE THEM DOWN OR ASK!

I'm currently jumping between series' depending on where I'm watching; History recently re-ran season 1 (interesting to see how it's changed), I've watched all of season 4, and I'm working my way through season 2 on Blaze. I've seen some of season 5 on History, but that seems to have disappeared from the listings, and season 3 is MIA at the moment (I'm hoping Blaze will show it after season 2).

Part of the fun is watching Wil's hair fashion choices; he's moved through clipped short and greased back, to long enough for a stubby ponytail, to just above shoulder length (and wavy!) with a short beard, to a bit shorter and greased back again (but less tightly). You never know what you're going to get!

I've also started watching a spin-off called Man at Arms: Art of War on the History channel (3rd episode's on Thursday). It has professional smiths make weapons from history, taking you through how it's done step-by-step, then they're passed on to experts or stunt professionals who then test them to see how they work. Quite interesting, but slower-paced than Forged in Fire, and more interested in the history of the weapon.

[LadyofArc]

I just watched that episode last week! Seriously, Wil and some of the panel would fit in here so well.

Have you seen the veterans show yet? That one was awesome. Plus you find out that Wil is an excellent marksman; who knew?

We have now. I do love how Wil made it very clear that he wasn't going to ask the vets to "surrender their weapon" (which he does do after people get eliminated), but rather tailored the phrases to the episode. (I know the reason why, but thought it was a very nice touch )

I also watched the lion spear episode recently - gotta love the guy who cannot measure to save his life, as he managed to make both his hatchet head too short (he got put through as someone else did the same thing but theirs was too thin and brittle to be usable) and his hatchet HANDLE too long.

[greek_jester]

I just watched that episode last week! Seriously, Wil and some of the panel would fit in here so well.

Have you seen the veterans show yet? That one was awesome. Plus you find out that Wil is an excellent marksman; who knew?

[LadyofArc]

We're now watching Season 4 and watched the episode where one of the contestants wound up pulling out due to medical reasons. (Not the first time it's happened - both instances were heat exhaustion and in the latter case, the guy was almost white. When it does happen, the remaining contestants still get their blades checked to make sure that they followed instructions and there's nothing that can't be fixed in the next round but they otherwise progress)

Few things became apparent during that episode:

- I hadn't noticed it too much before, but when the camera pans to a full-body shot of Wil, you can see he's wearing red Converse sneakers - it is very jarring to see him dressed in a black shirt and black jeans, then red converse sneakers. It's like a newsreader wearing a suit jacket up top, then wearing pyjama pants from the waist down.

- This particular episode required the contestants to incorporate part of an anchor or the chain from said anchor into the construction of their blade (first round) and then part of a propeller into the handle (second round). David (the white-haired host) just kept making nautical-related puns almost non-stop through both rounds, to the point where J Neilson (who was sitting next to him) had to walk away towards the end . (Wil just facepalmed, while Doug looked like he wanted to bolt!)

- Wil can be a damn troll when he wants to: once he finishes his spiel for the second round, he turns away as if he was going to tell them to get started, then turns back and says "Oh, I almost forgot, you also need to include this in your handle somehow," then lifts up a huge f@$ing propeller and drops it on the bench for them (normally that sort of thing is under a dropcloth) .

- Related to both things mentioned above, after one of the contestants blades has a huge-ass failure after the second round (the blade actually bent after the first test due to a huge crack that opened up), Wil keeps up with the nautical puns for the rest of his spiel: J looked like he was about to throttle him by the end of it.

- In the final round, after Doug's first round of testing with the contestant's weapon (a kachin dao), he goes to test the other contestant's blade and finds some safety issues which prevent him from doing so (as the contestant put it "[She] didn't use enough rice glue," in the handle). He delivers the reasons for doing so and at one point indicates towards the ballistics dummy that he's just finished killing with the other contestant's blade. In a case of near-perfect comedic timing, the skull from the ballistics dummy in question falls off and lands on the floor. And to make it better, the winning contestant actually walked off with it as a trophy

[Stormraven]

We watch FiF regularly, and love it. We've also watched every episode of Face Off, and for the same reasons. It's a competition, but the vast majority of the competitors are perfectly willing to help each other out or give advice.

Love Man At Arms: Reforged, too.

[LadyofArc]

So my partner just pointed out one thing (we're watching season 4 at the moment).

David Baker (the white-haired judge) is a dead ringer for Colonel Sanders if you changed the glasses

[LadyofArc]

I've now started watching it and I may be slightly addicted... I could do without the Dramatic Music (TM) but that seems to be an American vs British thing. The slow-mo is quite fun, though.

I do like the commitment to safety over drama and the teamwork between rivals;

I think the drama can come from some of the catastrophic failures as well - like for instance, the episode where they had to make claymores and both of them had issues (one actually bent around the pig they were cutting, the other one actually snapped)

The slo-mo is actually quite cool to watch.

The Japanese had a similar technique for sword-making.

There have been a few smiths on the show who did learn in Japan or who learned Japanese techniques. There was also one guy who drove my partner and I nuts because he would NOT stop bringing it up.

[Nunavut Pants]

They were making Damascus steel, it's known for its distinctive patterns.

And also for its sharpness and toughness. At least originally, it was a way to put hard brittle steel and softer resilient steel together so that you would get a blade that was both hard and tough.

The Japanese had a similar technique for sword-making.

[greek_jester]

I've now started watching it and I may be slightly addicted... I could do without the Dramatic Music (TM) but that seems to be an American vs British thing. The slow-mo is quite fun, though.

I do like the commitment to safety over drama and the teamwork between rivals; the episode I watched last night from season 4 had them in the dry moat of an old fort cold-forging seax knives from broken swords. One of the contestants grabbed a solid pommel sphere and couldn't hammer it out. Another contestant gave him the remains of his own broken sword so that he wouldn't have to go up the other end of the moat and start rummaging around.

[Cia]

I think I've watched an episode of this, or something similar. I remember two or three contestants working on a soundstage to make knives. They were given an assortment of materials to work with. One chose to make his knife with recycled chain. Another, ball bearings. I think they were trying to make the sides of the knife look cool. But I only watched the one episode. I'm just not that into reality tv.

They were making Damascus steel, it's known for its distinctive patterns.

My daughter loves the show. I like it because of the lack of bitching between the contestants.

[AccountingDrone]

I also loved the episode where they were given coal forges and an anvil to work with in the first round and nothing else (no power hammers, grinders etc.). They were very sportsmanlike and one guy even showed another guy (who had never used one) how to get it working correctly because his flame kept going out.
.

Hubby and roomie don't use power tools, also there is a great society, ABANA Artists Blacksmiths Association of America that comes highly recommended, friendly folk. Phlip will be at Pennsic end of the month and they always have a bunch of smiths willing to teach there.

[greek_jester]

Absolutely fascinating.

It was. I'm glad I went on my own, though, as my mum and my sister would have been bored after 10 minutes and wanted to leave. At least I was able to stay as long as I wanted, and was able to ask questions without my mum shushing me.

[Marmalady]

Yes it did! Have you been?

I have indeed, though some years ago when they were still at the 'L' that they took their name from, rather than where they are now. Absolutely fascinating.