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Forged In Fire - General Discussion

Meredith Quill

By Meredith Quill
in Forged In Fire

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deepfriedcake
deepfriedcake

Amen to this! We still watch this show weekly, but it no longer delivers the punch it used to. Personally, I hate that they keep shortening the forging times and throwing more obstacles at the co

Taeolas
Taeolas

I find the testing is some of the most educational parts of the show. As many episodes will show, the design and physics of the blade edge can have a huge impact on how a blade performs in the challen

Quilt Fairy
Quilt Fairy

You're so right.  After this many seasons (as well as contestants who state they got interesting in blade making from the show), it's ridiculous for someone to say "I've never actually done *insert te

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Quickbeam

Quickbeam

On 1/25/2021 at 11:43 PM, Quilt Fairy said:

Hah!  I'm usually just jealous of the beautiful country settings most of them are in, but you have a valid perspective, 

I grew up in Jersey and as soon as the wee Filipino guy started forging in his back yard, I told my husband: “someone’s going to call the police”. OK, fire department. But calls were made! 🤣

I got season one on Amazon Prime and I’m recording marathons and will record the new season. I miss Will. Gave me something to look at while my husband muttered about tactical folders. 

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Quilt Fairy

Quilt Fairy

(edited)
56 minutes ago, Quickbeam said:

Just watched the second chance tournament. Very satisfying win! If you can see her, you can be her! 🤣

Yeah, I haven't watched in a while and this was a nice change of pace, and I liked the various criteria they used to bring people back.  I wish they had kept up the tournament style through to the last 2 players. 

ETA:  Looks like the new guy is finally relaxing a bit.  He's certainly more animated than he was at the beginning of the season. 

Edited by Quilt Fairy
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KittyMom4

KittyMom4

Did anyone watch the armed forces challenge? I just loved Fermin, so happy he won!! His enthusiasm was infectious!

On 4/10/2021 at 10:35 PM, Quilt Fairy said:

ETA:  Looks like the new guy is finally relaxing a bit.  He's certainly more animated than he was at the beginning of the season.

Grady has grown on me, I haven't given up on my boy Will coming back but Grady is definitely warming up! 

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KittyMom4

KittyMom4

16 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I just noticed that a season of FiF is now on Netflix.  Netflix lists it as Season 1, but in other places it's clearly shown as Season 6 from 2019, so I fear we may be heading for a Great British Bake-off scenario (and if you don't understand that reference, I apologize but I won't even try to explain it). 

Yep, I watched it last week and it was definitely Season 6, I wasn't disappointed necessarily because I love the show but it would have been interesting to see how it was the first season. I've watched earlier episodes and the format with the Judges in a glassed in room while the contestants watch them judge the knives is uncomfortable and boring. I'm glad they reformatted it to get rid of that segment. 

TexasTiffany

TexasTiffany

(edited)

I'm enjoying watching these "Beat the Unbeaten" episodes. I like seeing Ben work in the forge so it doesn't bother me that the show is all about Ben right now. In the last episode Grady asked Ben what he hasn't done yet. He said he hasn't beaten Dave Baker. Dave was like "bring it on". I'd like to see that. I like both of them.

In these episodes, the format has been different. The blade smith left standing and Ben forge their blades on site for however many hours. I like this much better. There's always been a disconnect with sending 2 blade smiths back to their home forge. I'd rather see them compete on an even playing field on site. 

Edited by TexasTiffany
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Taeolas

Taeolas

I like both styles of competition, but the "All forging done in studio" for the Beat the Unbeaten challenge works better. This is intended to be Smiths coming in to challenge the local master (Ben) so it makes sense to give Ben the Home-forge advantage. 

 

On the other hand, the normal episodes where you have smiths going home, I can understand why they do that tactic. Familiarity with equipment can be a big factor on how well you do, so sending them home with extra time gives each smith a local "home field" advantage so they aren't trying to learn new equipment on top of figuring out the challenge smith. 

 

As for the Beat the Unbeaten challenge, part of me does wonder if there might be some "thumbs on the scales" to make sure Ben wins, but so far on camera, all the wins seem legit. Some were closer than others, but Ben's forges ultimately do seem to be the stronger/better blade. I notice they do the initial assessment with the smiths away, which is a good idea. It lets the judges give honest assessments without noticing the reactions of the smiths which would surely give things away. Granted, I suspect they could tell who made which blade just by watching reactions during the testing, but the smith reactions are too priceless to NOT show in person. And I suspect the winning blade choice is usually mostly determined in the first assessment, short of major blade failures changing things up.

 

Setting up an ultimate showdown between Ben and Dave would make sense, and I'm not sure who I'd want to win, but it would certainly be epic. :) 

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TexasTiffany

TexasTiffany

The blind judging is a good idea. So far, it's easy to pick out Ben's blades though, imo. His workmanship, fit and finish, and blade balance are masterful. 

I came across this show and became fascinated seeing blade smiths do what they do. (I'm not into weaponry and don't care for the carcass chops.) In the last episode I watched, Ben made a twisted damascus blade. The pattern was so beautiful with so much definition. It reminded me of jewelry, like this wheat chain.

Mens%20Sterling%20Silver%20Round%20Wheat

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KeithJ

KeithJ

35 minutes ago, johntfs said:

Did I miss something in the initial parameters?  Because I thought the smiths were supposed to have the sawback put in before the end of the first round and two smiths (the finalists) didn't do that.

I was a bit confused too because normally a parameter like that has to be done in the first round.

What bothered me the most was adding the weight parameter in the second round.  It just didn’t seem fair to me.  If the smiths knew about that parameter they would have forged lighter blades in the first round.

johntfs

johntfs

1 hour ago, Quickbeam said:

Watching the “Out to Sea” episode. Any explanation why they only started with 3 contestants? They didn’t say anything that I heard.

Presumably because there was no "handle" round since the "Blacksmith's Knife" was all metal with an integral handle.  There's no reason they couldn't have had four contestants and eliminate two at the end of the first round, but they're going to do what they're going to do.

I was glad that Felicia won.  She was really cute and fun.

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JTMacc99

JTMacc99

On 7/1/2022 at 10:50 AM, Quickbeam said:

Watching the “Out to Sea” episode. Any explanation why they only started with 3 contestants? They didn’t say anything that I heard.

My guess was that the fourth person had to bail out and they didn't have a backup plan. Given that it was on site and not in the usual place, it's possible that there simply was no way to bring somebody else in at the last minute.

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JTMacc99

JTMacc99

On 7/30/2022 at 8:00 PM, johntfs said:

Jesse's kind of fun as the "Ken Jennings" of FiF.

The kid is really good!  They should put him up against Ben for the final battle, just so we can have the other judges cracking up the entire 8 hours at not one, but two guys running around like their hair is on fire and then churning out excellent weapons.

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johntfs

johntfs

On 8/2/2022 at 1:33 PM, JTMacc99 said:

The kid is really good!  They should put him up against Ben for the final battle, just so we can have the other judges cracking up the entire 8 hours at not one, but two guys running around like their hair is on fire and then churning out excellent weapons.

Well, they didn't put him up against Ben, but if they did another "Beat the Unbeaten" with Ben, I could see them bringing in Jesse because "Beat the Unbeaten" would go both ways.

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CoderLady

CoderLady

2 hours ago, KeithJ said:

My DVR is showing that Forged in Fire is back for season 10 on October 4th.

It is! Can't wait!

They're also doing something different and travelling to other forges around the country for the competitions, at least initially. That could be interesting, but I hope they're not completely abandoning their original format.

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JTMacc99

JTMacc99

The older seasons are available on all sorts of different streaming services. I've been watching a bit of season three. This is when we started seeing the interesting blend of part-time smiths and the show starting to dial up some more interesting challenges. A LOT of the work done by the guys in the early seasons is really impressive. 

CoderLady

CoderLady

(edited)

They're back, and they're started off excellently.

It's a tournament that spotlights the schools across the country that teach metalworking, some of which are over a century old and have rich histories in their communities. Each of the four judges (J, Dave B, Ben & Doug) chooses a school to sponsor then he and Grady go on site for the qualifying competition. Three students forge a complete object in a day and after testing, one gets eliminated. The remaining two go home and build awesome weapons which are judged at the Forged in Fire forge by the sponsoring judge, the winner advancing in the tournament. The winner gets a cash prize as usual, but the school is also given $10k to spend along with this valuable exposure.

This being the History Channel, there's perspective on the role of metalworking in these communities. From each school, a driving force member is participating throughout the competition providing observations and opinions and who stands with the two final contestants as a silent competitor. 

I like that they're making it easier on the contestants by meeting them locally instead of making them haul ass across the country for the initial competition, just for the final. It's odd seeing only one of the judges per episode, but they'll probably come back together after each school's contestant has been chosen and they have to compete against each other.

I'm enjoying it. It's the same good vibe but with a little extra for now.

Edited by CoderLady
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johntfs

johntfs

I suck at remembering names, but this episode kind of went by the numbers.  For the first guy out, dude, if you have 15 minutes left, unless your blade is ready to sell in a market, keep working.  I admit that was a mild surprise.  I thought Ben had the most to do, but I guess deciding to relax those last 15 minutes annoyed the judges like crazy.

The second guy out was much less of a surprise.  He was half-assing his pins.  He knew that.  And still did it.  So yeah, his handle fell apart in testing.

And for the final part, Travis seemed to get that his handle wasn't working but still didn't bother to redo it and that was pretty much that.  Ben made a superior weapon that was comfortable to wield.  Plus, damn.  Double pig slicing.  Cut the carcass in half and then cut it in half again.

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Quickbeam

Quickbeam

Hey guys, make knives out of crap we had lying around on the floor. I am really missing the regional tournament since that was interesting and not the same old formula. My spouse is a knife guy so we watch but even he is getting tired of the weird weapons that only one group in southern India ever wielded, maybe. He did love the pitchfork episode since that was more useful. 

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johntfs

johntfs

On 11/3/2023 at 2:33 PM, Quickbeam said:

Hey guys, make knives out of crap we had lying around on the floor. I am really missing the regional tournament since that was interesting and not the same old formula. My spouse is a knife guy so we watch but even he is getting tired of the weird weapons that only one group in southern India ever wielded, maybe. He did love the pitchfork episode since that was more useful. 

The weird weapons are part of the main draw for me.  The first part is generally 5800 version of "Okay, camp knife, bowie or seax?"  But then we get examples and histories on weapons we've never heard of plus get to see them tested/wielded.

Turning to this most recent episode, Willow was adorable and I was so glad she won.  As for the other guy, I mean, sucks that he didn't even get tested... but when parameters are a thing, measuring tape is your bestest friend.  Use it.

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Quickbeam

Quickbeam

No, not the first time a woman beat a man. The farrier from California beat men. I’m terrible with names. And it was a while back. I think there have been others. 

i just love seeing women on this show and especially if they have decent skills. I thought the guy in the end that Willow went up against was sort of arrogant like the parameters didn’t matter. 

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johntfs

johntfs

10 hours ago, Quickbeam said:

No, not the first time a woman beat a man. The farrier from California beat men. I’m terrible with names. And it was a while back. I think there have been others. 

i just love seeing women on this show and especially if they have decent skills. I thought the guy in the end that Willow went up against was sort of arrogant like the parameters didn’t matter. 

Kelly, who made a falchion with an actual horse head pommel!  Who noted in one of the championship episode (where she placed third out of five) that she'd gotten mad at her malfunctioning washing machine so she turned it into a knife.

Honestly you could tell that Willow's hog-splitter looked huge compared to the other guy's.  Doug could probably tell that at a glance but he still wanted to test Willow's so he could split a hog.  And he did.  Twice.

I did like the hug at the end when J. denied that he was big but completely owned that he was scary.

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Dr Spengler

Dr Spengler

On 1/15/2024 at 8:06 AM, rlc said:

This show could also double as a show about regrettable facial hair without any editing.

The fact that most of them don't catch on fire is pretty impressive. They're constantly sticking their faces in forges and leaning over quench tanks with fireballs coming out of them.

When I find seasons of this show streaming, I always check to see if there are any episodes where David or Ben compete. They manage to crank out stuff with fit and finish that wows me. 

Maybe I'm just used to what "part-time bladesmiths" are capable of doing.

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johntfs

johntfs

So the Collin Sage vs Steve Koster competition was kind of awful.  No one looked good at the end.  Collin Sage is "Unbeaten" with a blade in three pieces during the KEAL test.  Steve Koster looks like a spoilsport for being pissed about failing to meet the parameters of the weapon that he picked for the challenge.  And the judges remind us with their "Rules are rules" stuff how often those rules have been arbitrary guidelines in the past.  I recall multiple episodes where multiple participants have failed to meet parameters but have been allowed to continue because [insert dumb justification in this space].

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Quilt Fairy

Quilt Fairy

1 hour ago, johntfs said:

Steve Koster looks like a spoilsport for being pissed about failing to meet the parameters of the weapon that he picked for the challenge.

He should have been embarrassed, instead he was steaming.  "I will never say anything good about Forged in Fire again!"  I would feel more sympathy for him if they did not show us the normally BTS scene where they have a PA go over the specs in detail with them, including how they will measure the length.  I would also be more likely to hand-wave an 1/8 of an inch too long, which could be adjusted by a quick sanding, but even I could see that it didn't have a clip point. 

This has to be the most bizarre episode of FiF I've ever seen.  I'm surprised they even aired it. 

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