They just reached out to me to come on and compete, and that was kind of cool. “In my case, my knife buddies have been on the show. He said would-be contestants have to go through an application process to appear on the show, but he credits his fellow bladesmiths and his social media presence - he has 670,000 followers on TikTok - for landing him a spot.

One of Finch’s blades shows the distinctive patterns of banding and mottling that come by forging two different metals together. But you can’t let anything else stress you,” he said.įinch said he’s not allowed to say how he did on the show before his episode airs, but he can say the show had a Western theme. It didn’t help that while making a weapon is usually a long process, Finch was working both under a time limit and under the eyes of the show’s judges. It is a feeling you can’t explain without experiencing it,” he said. I didn’t feel like that I was part of it. “To go out on the stage, it felt like I was watching the show through my eyes. A KEAL test is an acronym for 'Keep Everyone Alive“ and emphasizes the importance of celebrating the art of forgery without causing harm.įinch, a self-taught blacksmith and bladesmith, said appearing on the show was a surreal experience. The remaining two competitors go back to their home forges and make the final weapon in 35 hours and return for a final test. “The blade goes under a sharpness, strength and KEAL test, and then another is eliminated,” he said. Then you finish the blade you started in the first round. You forge a blade, and then there’s one elimination. “Four bladesmiths take on three rounds of challenges. “The idea behind the show is competitive bladesmithing,” said Finch, the son of Jeff and Rebecca FInch. SUBMITTED PHOTOĪ Butler County man had to be sharp as he competed to make a weapon on the History Channel show “Forged in Fire.”Įric Finch, 20, a 2019 Seneca Valley High School graduate and a senior safety major at Slippery Rock University, will compete against three other bladesmiths on the show airing at 9 p.m. Finch will appear in Wednesday’s episode of “Forged in Fire” airing at 9 p.m. Eric Finch, a senior at Slippery Rock University, hammers out a blade.

Eric finch