quote:

Originally posted by DMCI*:
Those of you that enjoy custom knives may find the subject show of great interest. It seems that every week they bring in four Blacksmiths that are more or less skilled in the art of forging custom knife blades out of steel. They keep throwing what they call little twists into the process making people use everything from Damascus steel (forged welded) to cutting parts off a car or a large ball bearing or railroad spike. After doing their own heat treat and installing a handle, they have a martial artist come in and test the blades against each other on various subjects like pig cartridges, bamboo trees, large fish, or even several large bags of sand.

http://www.history.com/shows/forged-in-fire

At the end of all this, the last person presenting the best knife received a check for $10,000. Needless to say they are well motivated. I highly recommend this show if you can make time for it.