[Malankazooie]

Aw man, I'm totally bummed. I missed the Vikings episode because of Halloween activities (parties, trick or treating, mayhem, you know, the usual Halloween stuff). Anyway, I was hoping they would rerun the episode (they usually have in the past), but they didn't (as far as I can tell). And I looked at my cable box's programming grid and it looks like there are no new episodes (for the next two weeks anyway). What a bummer.

[acesn8s]

Does the History channel website (app) have it?

[Malankazooie]

Not sure. I believe the History channel website has highlights but not the complete episode. It will probably come back around eventually. I know they do this thing where they have "enhanced" versions of previous episodes. I imagine when new episodes start up again, this will return. So I will probably wait until then (and hopefully they will air an "enhanced" version of the Vikings episode).

[acesn8s]

http://www.history.c...on-4/episode-23

[Malankazooie]

Thanks! But it wont let me watch because I have ad blocker enabled. I guess I could turn off the ad blocker, but I'm in no hurry to watch. I think it will come back around as an "enhanced" episode eventually, so I can wait until then. Also, after the epicness that was the Knights Templar episode, I don't want to be let down, because I don't think anything can top that.

[Malankazooie]

HEEEEEY GUUUUUYS! GUEEEEESS WHAAAAAAAAT!

If you were super cool and awesome like me, you'd have known The History Channel had a preview of the upcoming new episode (Wednesday night). Man, that dork had the judges sweating bullets when he was trying to hammer out a warp in his blade after quenching. This new episode has FIF Champion, Ben Abbott, sitting in as judge (with Doug Marcaida and Dave Baker). Dammit, what happen to J. Neilson?! His nerdy smithing knowledge is just the best. I like Jason Knight too, but no one is as knowledgeable as Neilson. It'd be cool if they expanded the judge panel out to four and included both J. Neilson and Jason Knight, but that might be too many opinions talking over one another.

Oh and guys, the final weapon the two remaining have to make is called "The Rhomphaia". I did a image search on it. It looks pretty bad ass. It will be interesting to see the challengers riff on it.

[Nicodimas]

The Swampfather, on 08 March 2018 - 03:17 AM, said:

This episode was really good in the back half and had massive potential in the beginning challenge but they failed on the forging big time. Final weapon was a Romphaia and holy fuck a duck it was a beast!!! Both swords

Spoiler

sliced clean fucking through furred boar carcasses!! It was wicked cool. I know Doug’s brother had fun doing that test for him. The challenge was grand in scope. 6 choices of Damascus with a screw tip hilt(2 failed to even do this bit) but not one of them even came close imo to the excellent sample sheets on display.

@ Briar:
I’ll be at Travis Wuertz shop for an open forge this weekend.. Vince Evans will be doing demos so I’m psyched! + dozens of people on that show
http://www.traviswuertz.com/?p=16826

Vince Evans:
https://m.imgur.com/gallery/HAsEo

[paran falcon]

The Swampfather, on 14 March 2018 - 04:00 AM, said:

Final weapon was the War Golok. Pretty sweet weapon but I would love to see what a more exp smith could do with them. All I could think about in kill test was how

Spoiler

glorious the Romphaia was last week.. these goloks did some damage for sure though but seeing those furred pigs being cut in two last week was epic. This Ep also had my personal most cringe inducing strength test of the eps I have seen so far. 10 chops into oak tree trunks with bark! Holy shit if I was worried I can't imagine what those fuckers felt when they saw what happening...

I enjoyed both new episodes. Was very cool getting to see all the different patterns of damascus and the techniques required to produce them. And yes, that romphaia was wicked with that inward curving blade.

More proof that you actually can absorb some knowledge from this show. In the more recent episode, I totally called that the one guy's 1st golok was nowhere near hot enough to quench just by the color when he put it in. It was dull red with parts of it already going gray. Its got to be yellow/red to yellow/white hot for quenching. I also noticed they didn't show him file test the blade after that quench but they did show it after he quenched the 2nd. No surprise at all that the first one snapped off when he tested it afterwards. The smith that won the whole thing was clearly the best rookie by far.

[Malankazooie]

Wasn't a fan of the Rookies Challenge episode to be honest.

I felt the guy who got eliminated before the contestants even earned a place at the forge got screwed. He was first for the blade strength test and that Ben Abbott dude really bore down on wreaking that block of ice with his blade. The blade broke on the last strike. You could tell Abbott exhausted a lot of his striking strength because the ice blocks that followed were no where near as decimated as that first one. That is probably a test they should hook up to a machine that is acutely calibrated so any human inconsistencies can be eliminated.

The final weapon was boring AF too.

[Malankazooie]

Woot! Woot!

The History Channel did another "sneek peak" at the upcoming episode.

- Damn, glasses nerd needed the paramedics to come in and check him out.
- Two other contestants couldn't get it hard. <<<<< see what I did there?
- The final challenge is the "Sica Sword. Should be some bad ass testing for this one. We'll see though. Stay tuned.

[acesn8s]

The Sisca was no joke. You don't often see a weapon do that much damage to a ballistic gel dummy.

I wish the judges would have given us some commentary on how the smiths could have better heat-treated their knives.

[Malankazooie]

I checked the description of tonight's episode and it says:

Quote

Smiths must forge functional friction folders and find the critical junction where skill meets resiliency . . .

I gather that means they will be crafting a folding blade/knife ?

The two that advance will re-create a Japanese trident called the Jumonji Yari - "A weapon of unparalleled strength."

Looks like there could be a lot of thrusty/stabby/stabby/thrusty with that one. Should be a hoot and a holler.

[acesn8s]

Bachelorluver, on 04 April 2018 - 03:34 AM, said:

Holy shit! What a blow! That Jumoni Yari shaft broke in half on the 1st hit... the blade itself looked so good to. I bet that was embarrassing as all fuck for that guy!!!

On challenge round with folding blades..I hate the look of these each time they do them. They just look...off?

I always envisioned folders as small pocket knives, not something that large. I think it's the scale that makes them look odd.

[Malankazooie]

Beardie said he was going to have to "peen all the pins." I thought that meant you take your dick out at a bowling alley run down the lane and start jackhammering away until a strike has been declared.

[Malankazooie]

Thought I recognized one of the contestants. It's interesting because he starred in another History Channel show about forging, although this one had more of a "Duck Dynasty" approach in that it centered more around the characters and personalities framed by the traditional forging he would perform during the show. I guess that show didn't do too great.




He is really good. As was evidenced by that blade (2nd iteration) he made and the final weapon (even though the handle size was his downfall). He did really sublime work on his own show. Really excellent at adhering to old timely (maybe almost lost to time) techniques that have an aesthetic and style that you don't ever get from modern forging. And holy shit is he a hard worker.

Oh and guys, next week will air the premier episode of Forged in Fire: Knife or Death. They showed more footage. It looks like it's a mash-up of the knife tests they do from the original FiF meets America Ninja Warrior. Could be cool or a huge flop, imo. We'll see.

[acesn8s]

I was amazed that Dan was able to finish a 2nd knife in an hour.

[Malankazooie]

acesn8s, on 11 April 2018 - 12:04 PM, said:

I was amazed that Dan was able to finish a 2nd knife in an hour.

It was probably one of the most beautiful 1st round knives made in all seasons of FiF too. I just wish the other contestants knives wouldn't have failed on the durability test so we could see it in the sharpness test. The judge was amazed at how sharp it still was after the durability test so I've no doubt it would have excelled. Also, the sharpness of his Kabyle Flyssa was evident when it tore through that ballistic dummy. Ye gods that was a display of utter disembowelment of a foe.

I know the judges have to adhere to certain criteria and parameters when judging, but Dan's Kabyle Flyssa far out-shined the other contestant's in looks and performance, I would have given the win to him.

[Malankazooie]

Here is the handle of the Kabyle Flyssa that Dan made. Pretty bad-ass isn't it? Too bad it didn't index all that great in the hands of the judges during testing. Still I would have gave him the win.

[acesn8s]

I was surprised that no one finished the Knife Fight course.

This show reminds me of the early UFC, lots of different styles and techniques in the beginning. I imagine lots of peoples favorites (e.g., katanas) being shown as not the best tool to use in this contest. I loved the cowboys ice technique, lots of little chops.

[Malankazooie]