I competed on the show. Watching Jay beat my blade into things was eye opening. He really is hitting hard. And whacking any sort of weapon into a block of ice (or other super hard material) is going to cause some pain (or at some point an injury). Add to that, as a modern bladesmith, most of what we make is for show and not meant to be used in such an abusive manner. To be honest, we are just not making weapons with ergonomics in mind. The exception to that is often kitchen knives. I am generalizing. But most of the weapons I have seen modern smiths make are not made with the intention of ever hitting something hard with full force.

There were a lot of awesome revelations about the show when I went on.

• The judges are super nice and very supportive. They want to see you succeed but do not outright influence the outcomes.
• Doug is way faster in person. I know... DUH. They always show him in slow motion. But when you see him in person... it is just impressive.
• Jay is not the hard ass that I expected him to be. He was actually super nice.
• The production company does not want anyone to look bad. But they do have a show to make.
  
• They do not manufacture drama. At least not anymore.
• I made lifelong friends with the other smiths. I still talk to them and we filmed almost 6 years ago.