Hacker Cinema
Forged in Fire
2015 · TV series · 42 min episodes · 11 seasons
Competitors re-create weapons from historical periods ranging from Japanese katanas to medieval broadswords to ancient throwing blades. Each entry is judged on its artistry as well as its functionality and accuracy.
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3 comments on Hacker News
You’ll probably find that there is a forge near where you live that does one- or two-day courses on blade smithing. It’s a pretty good birthday gift.
Watch any episode of Forged In Fire to get a feel for what’s involved from a hobbyists perspective. The second half of each episode follows the finalists’ progress on the challenge in their own workshops - some have full-blown black smithing businesses, but others are (literally) backyard operations.
The season 8 premiere of Forged in Fire last year got pulled because one of the contestants turned out to be a neo-Nazi with a visible neo-Nazi tattoo.
Agreed, I had been watching old episodes of Forged in Fire[1] while on the rowing machine (and I have taken a couple of blacksmithing classes, so I had some sense of what the challenges were), but Blown Away was disappointing as it emphasizes the 'art' aspect much more than the 'craft' angle, so pieces are made with lots of techniques, in lots of forms (and little real explanation), so comparing them can't really be done in terms of function, and the aesthetic critiques didn't do much for me. Looks fun, though.
1: https://www.history.com/shows/forged-in-fire