I was down, I was not able to go fishing for the weekend with some friends as they left on Wednesday and would not be back till Sunday of last week. I could not take that amount of time off so I stayed back. I received an invite from a friend who is a former contestant on Forged in Fire that he was doing a fundraiser and invited me down to see Jason and Burt et al. I am a huge fan so I could not wait to go see these guys forge. Yeah, well that was the plan anyway.
It was the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival in North Wilkesboro, NC. and man everyone was having a good time. I got there early and was setting up to watch and enjoy a day of cider, and seeing the contestants and one judge from the show. Kyle came over and said they were short handed and I mentioned I would do whatever I could to help. They were doing "$40 donation and make your own knife with a knifesmith" as the promotion. And all of the smiths were former contestants. I was already rehearsing my "getyur COLD BEEER HEA-ER" hawk voice to start signing folk up on the clipboard. This I can do.
"Dave, can you take anvil 1?" time kinda slowed down for me. I am an amateur blacksmith and I have only had one formal lesson making knives. "hey, uh, . . . well . . ." I had no idea what to say. I didnt want to let him down, and turnout had been greater than anticipated . . . but these guys were good, the best really, and frick me I am just a fanboy not a knifesmith.
"your good with hammer and tongs, and I can walk you through any questions you have, thanks man"
So I did it. It was one of the longest, hardest, hottest, days I have ever known. It rained a good junk of the afternoon and we did our best, made a bunch of knives for kids, ladies, men, doctors, teachers, fireman, veterans, it was amazing. We raised enough for him to really get the veterans school going and get him on his way.

I hope these links work, he only posted the videos on facebook. But they seem to be public so you can watch them without logging in. I am the guy in the black shirt at the beginning of the first video. This was my first 'student' and I was trying to teach her how to hold the tongs and hammer at the same time. (actually the hardest part for all of them was tong and hammer management)


Video one link to Facebook
Video Two Link
Video Three Link I am not in this one.
Video Four Link This one features Jason Knight one of the judges on Forged in Fire


HMVV RF by David Holder, on Flickr



20171007_084415 by David Holder, on Flickr


20171007_162616 by David Holder, on Flickr
This was my favorite knife that we did. Really loved how the twist came out.



20171007_090912 by David Holder, on Flickr



20171007_091400 by David Holder, on Flickr



20171007_092349 by David Holder, on Flickr
Burt, He is a great guy and just awesome to work with.

20171007_093401 by David Holder, on Flickr
Jason Knight (judge) and Kyle (former contestant, organizer of Resilience Forge)

20171007_174844 by David Holder, on Flickr

Last student of the day, it had been raining for hours but they waited and we got most everyone through.

What a great day. I learned more, both spiritually and in knowledge, made great friends, met a bunch of awesome guys, and got to help some folk create. It was a blessed day.
-Dave

That is so cool. Congrats, I too love the show. My favorite.

An awesome fundraiser too. These are the things that I love to see happen in our country.

Thanks for posting and I am sure you will not soon forget that day.

Just put a smile on my face. Looks like an Awesome day, my family are huge fans of the show. My 10 year old will be excited to see this, and all for a good cause.

Nothing like honest work with good people.

That's really cool!

One of my all time favorite shows too! Very cool you got to attend and help.

quote:

actually the hardest part for all of them was tong and hammer management

The only thing I know about forging is what I see from the show.
I imagine if given the chance, every time I would hit a piece of steel it would drop or go flying.

Your knife, will kill!

That's a great show and what a great day to spend a day! Envious for sure! Congrats.

RMD