[Malankazooie]

paran falcon, on 18 December 2020 - 01:47 PM, said:

Malankazooie, on 18 December 2020 - 04:16 AM, said:

First episode this season where J. Neilson appears. Was looking for any indication he didn't like fat Captain America. I couldn't really tell, but chubby Chris Evans' attempt at being witty is falling flat. It was good to see J. back in his ol' asshole form and putting the fear of max agro weapon abuse into the contestants.

Final weapon was pretty bad ass - a honkin' huge ass claymore. The show title is "The Giant Sword of William Wallace." Is that a double entendre about his penis size? And to beat it all (see what I did there), Doug made a comment - "lets talk about your blade here, a pocket knife it is not" - after cutting in half a boar's carcass. Oh My!

Well, if I'm not mistaken, William Wallace was well over 6 feet tall so make of that what you will...
Haven't seen it yet but I'll be very interested in how claymores hold up. Pretty sure they've done a traditional claymore (the exceptionally long version, not the shorter, basket hilt kind) before and I don't think either one completed the final challenges? Or at least, both took significant damage?

I don't recall how the previous claymore challenge went. This one is worth checking out.

The show seems to have gone with the 'contestants must know how to do basic math' approach the last few episodes. Last episode I recall they had to incorporate weighing out their raw materials and in this one they had to make a dagger that was 1/5th scale of the honkin' huge ass one they used for reference.

[Malankazooie]

Hey @paran falcon, programming heads up dude. The next episode is titled "Judges' Home Forge Battle"

Description of the episode: "For the first time, judges Ben Abbott, J. Neilson and David Baker are thrown into the fire for a grueling home forge battle against each other."

Hope it is a good one. We'll get to see the base of operations for these guys. Hopefully we'll get a tour of their work area. That's probably wishful thinking, but it will be cool to see them work at their home shops.

[paran falcon]

Malankazooie, on 30 December 2020 - 07:11 AM, said:

Hey @paran falcon, programming heads up dude. The next episode is titled "Judges' Home Forge Battle"

Description of the episode: "For the first time, judges Ben Abbott, J. Neilson and David Baker are thrown into the fire for a grueling home forge battle against each other."

Hope it is a good one. We'll get to see the base of operations for these guys. Hopefully we'll get a tour of their work area. That's probably wishful thinking, but it will be cool to see them work at their home shops.

Now that should be very interesting!

[Malankazooie]

That was a cool episode. No declared winner, but I think most would agree: Ben > Dave > J.

Hope they do another one like that sometime. Oh, and was Ben making a statement with his shirt? It having a quote from Wil Willis. Maybe just nod to Wil's personal swag he sells and nothing more. Just got me thinking it could be more to it though.

[Malankazooie]

Bummed that Doug wasn't in the episode though. Would have loved to see him wield those masterpieces, especially Ben's.

[paran falcon]

Finally saw this episode and really enjoyed it. If they were selecting a winner, I'd say Ben's sword was it. The intricacy of how to produce that look in the blade was unbelievable, I dont care how much time is allowed. Dave's basket hilt sword would be #2, with Jay's chopper 3rd for me. Not that it wasn't a beautifully made piece, just my least favorite type of knife.


I think there may have been a slight easing of violence in the testing. Not to the point that damage would have been averted, but just enough to tell they were fearful of damage to such hard and beautiful work. I really dont blame them a bit.

[Malankazooie]

Ben won on forging techniques. All the steps to get that design in the blade and his execution of his project plan was c'est magnifique.

Dave would take the winner for intricate, artisan, historian of the craft. That basket and his library he was pulling knowledge from shows how much of a weapons nerd he is.

J. does what J. does. Of the pieces created, his was boring but would have the must utility and function and application in the real world. And you damn well know that chopper would last. Get to the chawpuh! Predewtor J. is bring-eeng owt da bull skoals!

[Malankazooie]

New episode. The final home forge challenge was Russian forces Spetsnaz shovels. Interesting, and cool that they are getting some variety in there. That one set of shovels was pretty wicked. The other not so much.

The new host (I call him fat Captain America) really making an attempt at impressing us with his Tool Time (handy with tools) tie in with some new show on History channel hosted by Tim Allen.

Also, heh, Spetsnaz. Got me thinking about when I used to play Call of Duty Black Ops. The best Call of Duty game series in the CoD universe.

[Binder of Demons]

I'm only catching up on this show now, so I've loads to go through before getting up to where you have this new host.

Just watched an episode from season 5 which had 3 lovely blades made, so the elimination was really tough. In the end you had a 19 yr old vs a 22 year old trying to make a metal crossbow. Really tricky thing to make I thought compared to the various blades they normally get.

They did show some of the Beat the Judges episodes on the channel as well and they were fantastic. Love seeing how good the judges actually are. Was kinda surprised at how good David Baker was, just cruised through his forging, cool as a breeze.

[Malankazooie]

Be looking out for the challenge the judges episodes, those are very good. Any of the episodes where J., Dave and Ben get involved with forging are worth watching. The normal regular weekly grind episodes (and there are a lot of them) are up and down in quality (maybe more down of late, imo). Final weapon challenge is first and foremost the criteria that determines whether I will watch intently. And then the initial competition, if it throws in some neat twists.

[Malankazooie]

Novel approach in last night's episode; allowing the contestants to determine the parameters of the opening challenge. But why would you agree to a more challenging handle requirement? K.I.S.S. principle is the way to go - Keep It Simple Stupid. Final weapon was badass, but I was not impressed with the results. I gotta say though, Doug Marcaida gets down with the knife velocity and slicing that results from his aggro approach during that first segment. Dude outright goes H.A.M. on that shizznit. Surprised the dude hasn't thrown a shoulder out doing that test.

[Binder of Demons]

Still back watching seasons 5 & 6 on the TV here, so i've a long way to go (and ive missed the earlier seasons). Just saw all the battle of the branches eps. (Army vs Navy vs Marines vs Airforce)

I'm still really enjoying it, but that's probably cos they are still introducing enough wrinkles in the opening round to keep it interesting for me. But the quality of the contestants really does vary from episode to episode and that can be frustrating. I always find it amazing that you can have people going on a show who seem to have never watched an episode, and are then shocked by the challenges.

I'll probably keep rationing out the episodes, as I'm finding them very easy viewing when not in the mood for anything complicated.

[paran falcon]

Malankazooie, on 05 March 2021 - 12:41 AM, said:

Novel approach in last night's episode; allowing the contestants to determine the parameters of the opening challenge. But why would you agree to a more challenging handle requirement? K.I.S.S. principle is the way to go - Keep It Simple Stupid. Final weapon was badass, but I was not impressed with the results. I gotta say though, Doug Marcaida gets down with the knife velocity and slicing that results from his aggro approach during that first segment. Dude outright goes H.A.M. on that shizznit. Surprised the dude hasn't thrown a shoulder out doing that test.

I couldn't say how far back, though I think its at least a couple seasons, but I recall Doug bringing his brother out to do the kill tests for multiple episodes while Doug's either arm or shoulder was recovering from an injury/surgery of some kind...

[paran falcon]

Briar King, on 11 March 2021 - 03:22 PM, said:

I guess it's time I admit to myself I'm in the process of quitting this show. For weeks now I am just fast forwarding to Dougs kill test.

Time to let it go.

Its hard to argue your point. I'm not fast forwarding yet but am getting rather disappointed with a good amount of the results being achieved due to lack of quality. And its harder to take now since its happening AFTER they showed us the stellar work in the challenge the judges eps and the challenge between judges eps.

[Malankazooie]

What a mystery that episode was <<< see what I did there?

I'm convinced some of the contestants' only experience with blacksmithing is that shop class they took in high school. And this aint some baking show where the failures can be funny. The failures in FiF are sad, awkward and cringe evoking.

The episode had probably the best failure though; at the hands of David Baker. *GOOOOONG! *boi-yoi-iiiiing!

[ContrarianMalazanReader]

Just wanted to drop by and say that Forged in Fire is currently the only worthwhile show on History Channel, as it actually IS related to history. My favourite part is when the contestants are occasionally made to work without the advantages of modern technology.

[Malankazooie]

That was a weird one for a final challenge - "Elephant Tusk Sword".

Was wondering how they were going to be tested. Would have been cool if they somehow incorporated real elephants.

The winner made a stunningly beautiful piece. Just 19 years old too.

[Malankazooie]

Final challenge in tonight's new episode is something called the "gruesome Bastard Sword." I'll probably watch it.

[paran falcon]

Malankazooie, on 15 April 2021 - 12:45 PM, said:

That was a weird one for a final challenge - "Elephant Tusk Sword".

Was wondering how they were going to be tested. Would have been cool if they somehow incorporated real elephants.

The winner made a stunningly beautiful piece. Just 19 years old too.

We've seen a few 18 and 19 year olds do quite well on this show and even win a couple times. I agree that this19 year old produced a beautiful piece. I was impressed.

[Malankazooie]

Well that was a corny episode - WWE tie-in with Rick Flair.

The final forging for the bastard sword wasn't even really highlighted. Sometimes I think these guys, when they get to their home, just order the piece already prefabricated and only work on the final finish. It was fun to watch David Baker in the kill test though. Those tests in the first round were cheesy. J. Neilson got to smash a folding chair on the knives... ooooh, how creative! /s

Am I the only one who thinks it's sad when entertainers who are known for only one thing are still doing their schtick into old age? Like is that guy who played Urkel going to be saying "did I do that?" well into his 80s?

Also, is Ben Abbott off the show? I like J. Neilson, but we need Ben to break up J's assholery. Need that break and have happy go lucky Ben in there. J. is brutal, but too much can be detrimental. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.