First it must be said that this show is going to appeal to smiths, forging buffs, and metalsmiths everywhere. People are going to watch it and enjoy it, as demonstrated by the rather high rating this show is given.
But I've worked as a bladesmith myself. Judging this from a professional, entertainment and documentary standpoint, it has all the "tested recipe" elements of similar "challenge" type reality shows. The contestants are given too little time to perform projects that are too difficult, resulting in rather poor results overall (kind of like a cooking show where the contestants are given far too little time to prepare a gourmet meal).
This results in weapons that barely squeak under the time limit, an excessive number not passing the quality test, while others pass the test but look like amateur hour because the contestants simply weren't allowed enough time to do a halfway decent job.
In an episode I watched the smiths were given random metal parts that are unmarked as to quality and hardness, and without professional testing tools that would ordinarily be used to ascertain such. What is that nonsense all about? No professional smith would try to forge a blade under such conditions. Did I miss a subtitle on this show, "Guess Your Materials"?
Then there's the aspect of "testing" the blades, during which unwarranted gore is added to the show by filling the gel test torso with fake blood and bone. While I'm sure this appeals to gore freaks, others will not be so impressed at such a "cheap thrills" tactic that further draws attention away from the professionalism of the craft. Not a show for the younger set.
As a result, instead of seeing smiths produce fine blades that are a credit to the industry, the audience is presented rushed, unfinished projects that (in one episode) wound up with only one blade actually standing up to testing. These men are professional smiths. In real life, given enough time a failed blade would be rare. That the majority of the blades fail indicates the fail level of this series. The contestants are just too rushed to be able to demonstrate their craft properly. Given such parameters in real life, any sane smith would reject the job and send the customer packing. Show excitement doesn't warrant forcing professional smiths to produce garbage work.
There have been better blade-making shows than this. And wile I understand why people gave this high ratings, I judge this solely on the professionalism of the series. The show fails to bring true blade smithing to the public eye. Only amateurs would rush a job and make blades this cheap (well, not really. Even amateurs wouldn't blunder on this level). The series doesn't represent blade smithing properly... and that's why I give it a mediocre 5 stars (almost gave it 3 for making the majority of the smiths look so bad).
But I've worked as a bladesmith myself. Judging this from a professional, entertainment and documentary standpoint, it has all the "tested recipe" elements of similar "challenge" type reality shows. The contestants are given too little time to perform projects that are too difficult, resulting in rather poor results overall (kind of like a cooking show where the contestants are given far too little time to prepare a gourmet meal).
This results in weapons that barely squeak under the time limit, an excessive number not passing the quality test, while others pass the test but look like amateur hour because the contestants simply weren't allowed enough time to do a halfway decent job.
In an episode I watched the smiths were given random metal parts that are unmarked as to quality and hardness, and without professional testing tools that would ordinarily be used to ascertain such. What is that nonsense all about? No professional smith would try to forge a blade under such conditions. Did I miss a subtitle on this show, "Guess Your Materials"?
Then there's the aspect of "testing" the blades, during which unwarranted gore is added to the show by filling the gel test torso with fake blood and bone. While I'm sure this appeals to gore freaks, others will not be so impressed at such a "cheap thrills" tactic that further draws attention away from the professionalism of the craft. Not a show for the younger set.
As a result, instead of seeing smiths produce fine blades that are a credit to the industry, the audience is presented rushed, unfinished projects that (in one episode) wound up with only one blade actually standing up to testing. These men are professional smiths. In real life, given enough time a failed blade would be rare. That the majority of the blades fail indicates the fail level of this series. The contestants are just too rushed to be able to demonstrate their craft properly. Given such parameters in real life, any sane smith would reject the job and send the customer packing. Show excitement doesn't warrant forcing professional smiths to produce garbage work.
There have been better blade-making shows than this. And wile I understand why people gave this high ratings, I judge this solely on the professionalism of the series. The show fails to bring true blade smithing to the public eye. Only amateurs would rush a job and make blades this cheap (well, not really. Even amateurs wouldn't blunder on this level). The series doesn't represent blade smithing properly... and that's why I give it a mediocre 5 stars (almost gave it 3 for making the majority of the smiths look so bad).