![]() The History Channel show, now in its seventh season, features bladesmiths competing in a three-round elimination contest to recreate some of history’s most iconic bladed weapons. ![]() “He described to me this television program called Forged in Fire,” Ritter remembers. It was a chance meeting with one of his wife’s uncles that led Ritter to begin to forge blades in his garage. You could say we’re the ‘answer site’ to all questions related to hazard analysis.” Becoming a Forged in Fire champion Weapons are our primary focus-although Pantex carries out the hands-on work, we provide guidance on how to carry out that work as safely as possible. “We deal with the safety characteristics of working with nuclear weapons. Ritter says that W-10 is one of the key interface groups with Pantex. “It’s interesting-while at Pantex, I worked on the other end of what we do at the Laboratory, so I had many opportunities to collaborate with the technical staff here.” “I’ve been part of the weapons complex for pretty much my entire career,” Ritter explains. After a short stint as a facility nuclear safety manager at Bechtel Corporation, he came to Los Alamos, where for the past four years he has worked as an R&D engineer for W-10. I just love how the art intertwines with the science of it.” A career dedicated to the Weapons complexĪfter graduating from New Mexico State University with a degree in mechanical engineering, Ritter joined B&W Pantex, where he worked for the next 15 years. “It really appeals to me at an engineering level. “There’s a ton of detail when it comes to forging knives,” Ritter says, eyebrows raised. With his other hand, he uses a hammer to strike at the steel to sculpt what will become a custom blade for culinary use. He takes it out of a blazing hot forge and places it onto an anvil that’s secured to a tree stump by a rusted chain. ![]() ![]() Standing in his garage-turned-blacksmithhovel, Boyd Ritter of the Laboratory’s Weapon Systems Safety Analysis (W-10) group clasps a bright-red steel bar called a billet. To support our local, independent newsroom, please subscribe at. Subscribers can read the full story at the link below. They then went back to their home forges and had four days to craft their weapons before traveling back to Connecticut for the final competition.Ī portion of this story is shared with you as a digital media exclusive. Then we tested the blade’s sharpness with the leather bag chop and the whiskey barrel chop.”Īfter two contestants were eliminated, Finch and McClure were given the assignment to craft a 24- to 26-inch blade with a certain curvature to the blade with a stacked leather grip and eagle claw or horse head pommel. SUBMITTED PHOTOĮric Finch, 20, a senior safety major at Slippery Rock University, won the “Forged in Fire” competition aired Wednesday night on the History Channel.įinch, the son of Jeff and Rebecca Finch, won $10,000 and the title of "Forged in Fire Champion" after defeating fellow blademaster Greg McClure of Utah in creating a machete, in keeping with the episode’s Western theme.įinch said competition in the Stamford, Conn., studios began with four contestants asked to make a Bowie knife.Īfter forging and finishing the Damascus steel, Finch said, “I put on a grip and an S-guard. Finch won the “Forged in Fire” competition aired on the History Channel Wednesday night. Eric Finch works at his home forge in his mother’s garage outside Harmony.
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