The History Channel's Forged in Fire is something I just discovered today by accident.
It has a reality-show format and each episode pits 4 blade smiths against each other in a particular competition. Some past competitions have included forging a katana, creating a "Templar Crusader Dagger," and transforming failed blades into functional cutlasses.
It also introduced me to the American Bladesmith Society, which I know nothing about but which looks worth checking out.
Part of me is fascinated by the skills displayed, but part of me is repulsed by the reality-show format. I dunno. See what you think.
11 comments:
My only criticism is that the early episodes didn't make allowances for the heat of the forge mini furnace and how it dehydrated even experienced blacksmiths that had to work at breakneck pace with no breaks.
These smiths need to be submerged in water every few minutes just to cooldown their overheat. Then it will be closer to a test of skill.
Of course this doesn't apply to those working in their personal forges.
I enjoy the show when I can catch it. What's wrong with the reality show format? It's pretty cool to see people have to problem solve on the fly, and see if the decisions pan out or result in catastrophic failure. And you've got to love the testing, especially the "Kill test".
History also has a new show called "Knight Fight" which is armored combat with blunted medieval weapons, as you've no doubt seen elsewhere, and one of the judges is John Clements.
It's a little odd though trying to mix in history by pitting round one winners against each other in teams of two in historical armor and weapons, like England/Scotland mid 14th c. or Vikings/Byzantines. That part seems a little forced.
Oh, and FOrged in Fire has been so successful, it's already got a spin-off: "Forged in Fire- Knife or Death", which is actually a bladesports competition where you go through a course chopping, slicing, and hacking your way through various obstacles. It's somewhat interesting.
Oh, there's another one I have heard about that may be even more appropriate for the Hall. It's apparently a knight-fighting show on the History channel.
So I hear. I gave up television in 2004, and have mostly never regretted it. I wish I could give up Twitter now, but work requires me to occasionally post there.
So, if a blacksmith gets overheated, does he lose his temper?
He only loses his temper if he gets completely submerged in cold water :)
:-)
douglas, there's something about the way reality shows build drama, then cut to individual comments on private fears or snark, then back to group drama ... I just kept expecting one of the blacksmiths to break down crying.
I get you, but so far, it's all been pretty reasonable and they don't seem to go out of their way to ramp up the drama beyond what the task itself provides (and the decisions the contestants make and have to live with). It seems to me that there is a sense of honor about the production, perhaps because of the community it's coming from and geared toward. Worth noting, and possibly a contributing factor, is that the host is Wil Willis- here's his bio from IMDB:
He was born into a military family in 1975 and lived on military bases until his father's retirement in 1991. He enlisted in the Army after he graduated from high school in 1993, serving with the Army's 3rd Ranger Battalion on active duty from October, 1993 until February, 1998, then in active duty as an Air Force Pararescueman from June, 1998 until March, 2007. He performed one year of reserve duty with the Air Force from August, 2007 to August, 2008.
Yeah, actually, I never thought they really would have one of the contestants break down crying or anything like that. I appreciated the sense of professionalism and respect I saw on the show.
The problem is really mine; I've seen too many other reality shows that were dramatic nonsense and that built my expectations. It's hard to break that.
Somebody in Czech actually dared to make a historical medieval HEMA like fighting simulator. Kingdom come Deliverance.
It's more fun than watching some blacksmiths make stuff or others cutting objects. It is far more interesting to do the cuts oneself or to test one's own skill.
John Clements' name is known in HEMA circles, although I am only an observer of the HEMA work. Enough to notice that somebody put that straight into a game from the gameplay videos.
Much better than the "swordplay" from Hollywood and European aristocratic fencing sport.
They couldn't get everything simulated such as higher level Aries/Mars combat talents people rolled in a Lagna stat chart, but they got surprisingly close.
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