SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The competition for 'Forged in Fire' promises to be cutting-edge this summer.
The 2020 Summer Forging Games will feature two bladesmiths from the Sacramento area, Gary Bird and Matt Bingaman, as contestants.
"It's nothing I was prepared for," Bird said.
The four contestants of the Summer Forging Games compete for $15,000 dollars and, perhaps most coveted of all, the 'Forged in Fire' champions title.
"It was surreal," Bingaman said. "It was basically every spectrum of every emotion I've ever experienced because it was surreal."
In the competition, contestants have to make a variety of metal weapons using often unconventional materials in a short amount of time. The blades are tested and the smiths are ranked.
During a second round of forging and testing, one contestant of the four is eliminated.
Part two of the Summer Forging Games will feature the three finalists battling for championship.
The two-part blacksmithing battle begins on August 12 at 9 p.m. and will end with the finale on August 19 at 9 p.m. on the History Channel.
"It's a tough, really tough experience," Bird said. "Tools you're not familiar with, trying to forge these knives to their specs. I usually make it what I want, you know, and I can change depending if I made a mistake or something."
When testing the blade, a judge will expertly use the knife, stabbing or slashing an object to test sharpness, strength, and other important qualities.
Thick blocks of wood or chunks of meat are usually the test subjects for the makers' knives.
"The tests are extremely brutal and destructive, and it appears as if they are attempting to destroy what you've worked so hard to make," Bingaman said.
Under the eyes of the judges, Bird and Bingaman experienced the pressure cooker-like atmosphere of 'Forged in Fire.'
Neither contestant had realized how difficult it was to keep clear-headed when watching the show at home.
"I was quite the armchair quarterback, thinking 'What are you doing? You can’t do it this way, you can't do it that way!' My wife looks at me a goes, 'Oh, you think you can do better?'" Bingaman said.
Bingaman says the armchair expert in him is gone now, knowing what it actually takes.
"Yeah, I panicked," Bingaman said. "When they say go, you know you're losing time…I found myself walking in circles a couple of times."
Even with the stressful environment, it is not all knives out between contestants on the show, say Bingaman and Bird.
Their cohort of four contestants, themselves plus two other bladesmiths, still keep in touch.
"We're all real supportive of each other. We still talk to each other, show each other our knives and give each other ideas," Bird said.
Bingaman and Bird say that this encouraging atmosphere is part of the maker's community as a whole.
"You know, we're all artists in one aspect or another," Bingaman said. "Everybody on that forge floor has a lot of that, creative juices running in their veins."
Bird and Bingaman have even recently teamed up with 8 other bladesmiths to make knives that will be auctioned off for the benefit of Black Horse Forge, an organization that instructs and supports veterans and active duty personnel, first responders, law enforcement and their families in blacksmithing.
The maker's community has grown since stay-at-home orders and quarantining have driven people in search of a new niche.
Since the coronavirus pandemic began, "there's definitely been a boost in interest" in knife making, says Bird.
If you're looking for a new hobby, it doesn't hurt to tune into 'Forged in Fire' on the History Channel, August 12 at 9 p.m. for the first episode of the Summer Forging Games.
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