Awesome show
I love this show. Every episode so far has been well filmed and presented in a manner that even a novice can understand, what the competitors are trying to accomplish. never a dull moment.
An old U.S.Marine
frank
A lot of people are knocking it. Look, I don't know too much about blademaking, but the stuff they do seems plausible enough. One of my friends from my local range is also into knives. He has a strong BS detector and loves the show. It's my understanding that the competitors are being forced to make their "in-studio blades" on a timeframe that is a *fraction* of that which master bladesmiths need to bring their work to completion.
Look, the sanest way to look at these sorts of shows is that they are entertainment first, education a distant second.
Discovery, History, Learning Channel, AETV and Bravo have LONG abandoned their missions of delivering educational, culturally enriching programming.
...and Mrs. Taylor sure seems to use a lotta ice, whenever he's away
And who knew there were so many knife and sword smiths out there these days!
Yes, as one competitor stated, "3 hours after a ten minute design? I usually take a week to craft my blade."
Yes, it is timed for short-attention span viewing, but still a better show than 'Big Brother' if you're going to watch a 'Reality Show with eliminations'.
BOHICA America!
What they are doing is more than plausible, they are doing it. It's a contest, of course it will have time restraints. If they gave unlimited time it would just be a knife show, and none of the blades would fail. I know more than a few of the contestants, and some of the judges. They are more than capable bladesmiths. One of the contestants, JD Smith, has been an ABS Mastersmith 10 years longer than the judge J. Neilson. It's no easy task passing the mastersmith test. It's a TV show of course entertainment is first. If you want an education look through the American Bladesmith Society website. Call and set up a visit with one of the more than 100 mastersmiths in the world. Most journeyman smiths would be able to give a good education too.
BTW, the show is heavily edited. The contestants are given an additional 3hrs to finish the heat treating of their blades since a blade that is only quenched is far too brittle to be an edged weapon. Nobody wants to watch a piece of steel sit in an oven for 3hrs though, so it's understandable while that is edited. Those that I know that have competed on the show said the bright lights of the studio were just as, if not more, troublesome than the time restraint. Every bladesmith I know, including myself, uses a dark or dimly lit smithy.
The tempering wasn't done us. We didn't get an additional 3 hours. Just the time you see. It was highly editted, but who wants to watch 4 guys on a grinder for an hour.
shareI really like the show (watched every episode) I am sooooo surprised Master bladesmith murray carter didn't do better.
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