Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Anyone Watch Forged in Fire?

I quit watching Frogged in Far when they got rid of the guy with two first names that had elf ears.

Not the worst show on TV, and better than many.

I used to watch it some but it’s pretty lame. I like to see good work but some of the stuff they want made like swords and obscure weapons made wit ar parts, ball bearings and weird materials is pretty over the hill for me. Their tests are nuts too.

It will KEAL! Love it.

Always wondered why they make damn good and sure to show the hardening of each blade but never the most important part, the tempering?

Basically Project Runway with knives & fire. I like it. And Heidi Klum

These shows are dumb as Fck. The totality of the artisan is determined by the second.

Skill, efficiency and an element of luck wins the contest.

They show blue backing once in awhile, that's it.

We have a common complaint, get the Shïts of being entertained.
Learning is entertainment for me. I'd enjoy a bit of metallurgy, maybe
a bit about steels.

There is no drama in keeping it at 400 degrees for an hour, a couple times.


I have read that Jay Baker does the heat treat himself over night for the
studio built knives. Wonder if that was something added to the show
after production began. The earliest shows had a lot of knives break,
That ended pretty quick. I'm guessing that there were no provisions
for tempering in the original template.

Seriously, the dude looks exactly like a rat. Seriously. Like a rat.

He knows how to shoot.

IIRC he was a Ranger and then AF Para-rescueman

Oh I'm not doubting his bonafides, but he really resembles a rodent. It's uncanny.

I always wondered about the tempering process myself.
I'll watch a hour or so each week, its on all day/evening every Friday here.

Do enjoy it, but would like to see more examples of what many of those guys are capable of without such short time restraints.

The guy who started that show, the Airforce Para Rescue guy, I met him through his old wing commander who was (started out as) one of my troops in the 82nd.

One of my best friends is Mad Scientist Knife Scales ... who has been featured on the show and is considered the top knife scale maker in the world. His scales go on the finest knives being made including many of the champions on the show.

Custom made knives used to be an obsession of mine. These days they are everywhere. This show has done a lot for the craft.

Wil Willis didnt' start the show, he was the host.

Jason Knight who was a guest judge a couple times came up with the idea and then it got complicated.

You are a knife hand aren't you?

Ha, no. I'm a dabbler. But I get a kick out of folks dumping on a show that has no nudity, politics, or religion and is literally safe to watch with anyone.

I can understand where real knife makers mock some of the aspects, but overall it's a damn good show.

But I guess some would rather take the time to bitch about it and tell us how much they don't watch it.

I'm a real knife maker. I've been making knives full time for 20 years. I used to forge knives too. I watch the show on a fairly regular basis and know several makers that have competed. The show is about entertainment/drama for the viewers and selling advertising. If you went to a real knife makers shop and made a show of him/her making the knives they usually make, you would be bored out of your mind in less than an hour. That is not what this TV program is about.

I have served on the Technical Committee for the Knifemaker's Guild for about 10 years and have judged knives by a few of the makers that have participated. These guys are really good makers, like many that have participated.

The show is designed to create difficulties for the makers that result in problems and good TV. The lighting is bad for judging the steel heat, the forges are run wide open, the set is hot as blazes, the steel is mostly a mystery and those guys have no time! All this creates pressure and mistakes are made. Mistakes that most of the experienced makers would never make if they were in their own shop.

The deck is stacked against these Smiths and yet, for the most part, they do very good work with very little time!

I have a lot of respect for all the knife makers that are willing to subject themselves to working at a craft they love under these circumstances....