Forged In Fire, October 10

[Christopher Price]

My turn.

 

4 of us start out with pipe wrenches, and I'm one of the finalists to go home to build a Tabar-Shishpar, the goofiest combo weapon ever seen in history - an ax on one side, and a mace on the other end of a 3 foot metal pole.

 

Tune if if you like, and let me know what you think after it's over.

 

[GEzell]

Even though the battle has already been fought, I'll be rooting for you...

[Alan Longmire]

Me too!  Darned non-disclosure clauses...

[Vern Wimmer]

DVR set, just in case.

[Jason McEntee]

Wow, that thing is goofy looking, lol. I'll be watching; best of luck!

[Vern Wimmer]

OK, I am amazed that anyone could put one of those together in 5 days much less have them survive that testing intact. On top of that making it look good too. My hat is off to you for managing all of it. A "win" in so many ways that the final "judgement" is rather moot.

[Christopher Price]

Thank you!

[Jason McEntee]

Great job, and it was cool to watch you work. That seax you made in the first two rounds was gorgeous, and your Tabar-Shishbar looked mean! That thing was a devastator for certain.

[Christopher Price]

I will give full credit for the inspiration for the seax to Owen Bush. I was at a conference with him back in 2013, and his lecture and demo on the seax, with Kentish notch, stuck in my brain forever. Prior to going on the show, I was hoping against hope that I could make that knife - it slices, it stabs, and it chops as well as any other design, and has the advantage of letting me show off my historical reproduction skills within the constraints of the show. I got lucky with the challenge, in that there was enough steel in that wrench jaw for me to do what I wanted, and it just became a task of forming it out to shape quickly. I was very happy with what I ended up with.

 

[Alan Longmire]

Just watched it late last night.  You done good, sir!  Snuck in a seax, with the Kentish notch no less; deliberate differential heat treatment, actually tested the steel before HT,  and didn't forget to pein the tang!  What was that going on on the axehead?  I couldn't tell, but in some lights it looked like khoftgari, in others niello, and once like silver inlay.  And I agree, the final judgement was moot.  

[Christopher Price]

Rudimentary electro-etching. Same design, positive/negative space on each face.

 

 

The bright lines are just polished briefly with a stone after hitting the surrounding area with super-blue. The graven side was just done with tape and an x-acto knife, the other was masked with asphaltum. Battery charger, Q-tip, and FC for etchant.

 

[Christopher Price]

The only thing I'm really upset they didn't show, especially since Mark welded a flat-edged ax to the round handle, was me drifting that dang hole by hand.

I had the 10 pound hand sledge shaking the shop off the gravel punching that thing in hot, while my competition just merrily machined his way along never breaking a sweat.

[Vern Wimmer]

Hmmmm.  I thought it was about FORGED  in fire ? Seems they missed the real forging part. Again , HMMMM 

[Alan Longmire]

That's a nice touch that I wish they had asked about.  And Vern, yeah.  

[Joshua States]

Well, now. This almost makes me want to get cable TV or satellite dish, or what ever it is I need to watch this show....almost. Maybe I'll try and buy a few episodes on disc.

Congrats to you. That looks like you had a ball and won too(?) Really sweet Seax Chris. That's one helluva blade there.

I will give the show judges the benefit of the doubt on the forged vs. machined question. Maybe it does count when it comes down to choosing the winner. If both weapons perform equally in the end testing, I'm sure there's some weight given to the methods used. Maybe I'm wrong.

[Christopher Price]

History.com will stream it for free right now.

 

[Vern Wimmer]

2 hours ago, Joshua States said:

Well, now. This almost makes me want to get cable TV or satellite dish, or what ever it is I need to watch this show....almost. Maybe I'll try and buy a few episodes on disc.

Congrats to you. That looks like you had a ball and won too(?) Really sweet Seax Chris. That's one helluva blade there.

I will give the show judges the benefit of the doubt on the forged vs. machined question. Maybe it does count when it comes down to choosing the winner. If both weapons perform equally in the end testing, I'm sure there's some weight given to the methods used. Maybe I'm wrong.

That would be the theory ,but, the worst said about Christopher's weapon was that it was heavier. Well "duh"  it was forged. We have forgotten that those old warriors were tough SOBs. It makes me think about a "one month of the year deer hunting archer" who is very good with his compound bow with pulleys and cams. Hand him a 6' longbow of yesteryear and have him fire a 50 shaft practice. See how he does and how he feels the next morning.

[Joshua States]

2 hours ago, Christopher Price said:

History.com will stream it for free right now.

 

Maybe I'll try and watch tonight

[Joshua States]

Just watched it. Great job Chris. I loved how the hammer end of your axe punched a hole in that suit of "armor". I thought you carried the tests so I was a little confused by the decision. It really seemed like your weapon was more effective. Go figure. It was a pleasure watching you work, even what little that was shown. 

Note to future contestants: Light and fast is preferred over heavy and effective........

[Christopher Price]

Damage to a blade is the reason people get voted off.

 

Dave hated that it was heavy, and took the invisible, but detectable by touch, damage as the reason to kick me out. Doug disagreed, hence the stink-eye during the final feedback where Dave says "we agree..." 

I only reinforced the handle that heavy because I was convinced they'd use the robo-arm to test the mace, instead of holding it by the sharp ax-side and swinging it full power. I was afraid a pneumatic tool might deform the handle, so it was a choice. I stand by it, not knowing how they'd test it and only watching previous tests of similar weapons. If I'd known, I'd still have given it a little reinforcement but not nearly that much, making it easier to wield. And maybe tempered 50-100 degrees cooler to leave the edge a little harder.

 

But that's the game - you don't know what the tests will be, so you have to make choices on how to put it together. Doesn't mean one is wholly better than the other, just better tuned to the tests they choose.

 

That I got that far, and was that close, as a hobby-smith against a guy who's been eating off this for 20 years with a beautiful shop and serious skills, made me very happy. I validated myself as a competent maker, skilled craftsman, and flexible worker in strange environments. That's what I really wanted, even though I could have used the money and wanted to win the show.

[Joshua States]

Well said Chris. I guess when the competition is that tight it comes down to minutia and personal preference. You are a gentleman and an honorable man.

Thank you for your courage. It is inspirational

[Alan Longmire]

3 hours ago, Joshua States said:

Well said Chris. I guess when the competition is that tight it comes down to minutia and personal preference. You are a gentleman and an honorable man.

Thank you for your courage. It is inspirational

If you knew how true that observation is...  Chris is among the best humans I know.  And the strongest, character-wise.  I'm proud to call him a friend and brother.

[Vern Wimmer]

The craft was well represented. So say us one, so say us all.

[Jerseyjim]

Hi Chris,

I enjoyed the show very much. You are a true artist. Did you get to keep your seax? If not, what do they do with all the blades that the finalist make? You are a winner.

[Christopher Price]

All the round 1 & 2 weapons are held by the production company, as is the winning piece. Starting with season 4, they began giving the runner-up their final weapon back, so the Tabar-Shishpar hangs in a place of (dis)honor at home.