You should sell some forged knife blanks on your website for a little while and then have the people who purchased the blanks finish them up and submit pictures of what they did for a video. Or at least a segment of a video.
First one would still make a good fruit knife. Second one was lovely. I personally prefer an 8" round belly blade, with a flatter tip for drop cuts. That way you can do rocker cuts and drop cuts with the same knife. For a flat edged blade I prefer a santuku. Gotta say, finish them, and they'll be a very nice kit
20+ years cooking, I know what I like, and it's rarely a new knife. 1 good chefs knife will carry all the way through a 4 course meal, but only if you are familiar and comfortable with it. My victorianox 8 in chef knife is my go to. Decent steal, and it's perfectly worn to my preference
You're definitely not a beginner anymore. You are way too humble Alec, you are at least a trainee haha. In all seriousness though, you are way past the stage of a beginner blacksmith
Finished creation considering the endless possibilities of things to learn in this world you could call everyone a beginner haha, but yes I also think that being eager to learn is a very good thing! I was just giving some positive feedback on his skills :)
As a blacksmith, Alec has been teaching/working for YEARS, which makes him a Professional... It's as a bladesmith and sword maker that he is basically just starting out. Though his skills as a blacksmith blur the lines and make it a lot easier for learning...
Finished creation I don't know if humble people learn more, but someone that is always trying to improve & not be complaisant does. I think being humble, is a little different(though Alec is very Humble), humble is more about being modest, just because your modest, doesn't mean you are willing to learn... but a lot of times they do go hand in hand. Take it easy.
I think you should finish out the 23 minute failure in another video... it might not be a chefs knife, but it looked like it was turning out to be a pretty cool shape anyway... =p
Alec Steele you make incredible stuff and I love watching your videos, something I have always been curious about is your workshop an extension of your house or a separate building you have purchased?
So I was looking at the your store today Alec and I saw your heatin and beatin tank top. Here in America, we call a white tank top a "wife beater." I finally stopped laughing. I am picking up the its not stupid shirt today. Love your vids Alec. Keep up the amazing craftmenship.
hey Alec why don't you have a pedal operated door on your forge so you don't have to move those blocks around every time you want to put some steel in it ore that it out of it, it has really been running around in my head ever since you made that new forge, please let me hear your thoughts on this topic
Huh, the shape on that failure looks a lot like the Kershaw Ken Onion Chefs knife (the tang/handle kind of swoops the opposite way of the blade). You should finish it out anyways. It's a great meat cutter but a bit awkward (because of the bolster; the handle and such is quite comfortable) and heavy for chopping vegis. Remember: amateurs practice until they get it right, professionals practice until they can't get it wrong. Is the speed run video practice for Forged in Fire? hmmm?
Matt Finch Not quite there yet... First he needs to win one. There’s a video on YT somewhere of one of the judges (Jay Nielsen iirc) basically doing the first 3 hour challenge and having it ready to grind in like 11 minutes or so after getting the bar in the forge...
honestly, they need to work on getting judges who can properly swing the blades first, too much stiff arm chops and slapping on the flat of the blade for any of them to retain any legitimacy they may have had prior to the FiF series i dont care if your the G.O.A.T, at making a knife, if your a failure at using it, then have the nutz to admit it and leave the testing to someone better qualifyed, most of the time, thats doug's job as a "kali matial artist" but imho, the coldsteel guy has a better track record of properly aligned strikes
I noticed that the power hammer is moving side to side. Please tighten the hold down screws and your machine will thank you Alex. Peace and out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't know about Alec, but I recently asked for a quote from Mareko Maumasi - a 9" chef knife from him is currently $3,200 with a 2 year wait time... :/
I think for that money you'd need to see it as buying a piece of art. For me, I agree, that's pretty pricey. Knives above all else are functional tools and I don't want to be so worried about them that I don''t use them regularly.
Check the Owen bush website, he has some very nice knives at a good price. Also, if you want a true workhorse that is hand made and looks stunning check 'cutting edge knives', Kurosaki San in particular, he used to work for masakagi but now makes his own knives, they are stunning and very reasonably priced.
Alec, @ approx 9mins. I noticed that your power hammer has, what appear to be, autographs on it. Is that your Visitor "sign-in sheet"? If so, give us a tour! Sorry, carry on.
10:40 why is this background music my favorite song? Maybe because I like electronic house music nobody else likes ... ha ha.but maybe because it complements such great video!
Really enjoying and realizing for the first time really, the camera angles that completely showcase the orientation and squareness of material to anvil and power hammer are beautiful. Even in the montages the angles are on point for a demonstration perspective.
Hey Alec, i might have a challenge for you, what if you did a knife, but you where only allowed to use a minimum amount of hits on the steel? Keep up the good work ;)
All the knives are awesome and that failure was it really a failure you just accidentally made a different type of knife which they all look awesome especially that failure
Do yourself a favour, start from some of the earlier projects and watch through to now. You can see how much he's learnt and progressed along the way and you will learn a lot too.
Hey David Crofts, thanks I have been watching. I might have the go rehab...our just start trying my hand at blacksmithing. ;) Inspiring and creative projects Alec. Keep up the good work!
Potato Servant *this may be wrong* so grain of salt. Most likely its the carbon atoms trapped in the shedding scale is being released into the air as a fine mist, that along with the heat of the blade makes the flare ups. I want to say the pressure from the blow does something, but I don't know.
Possibly carbon from the steel? I know the act of forging actually reduces the carbon content of the steel, so they have to start out with a higher carbon content steel than they need in the finished product.
IDK, but I think it has to do with the power hammer. The metal is under a lot of pressure and friction so the oxide in the metal causes small fires that quickly go out. No idea its just a theory and it's probably wrong.
I'm not liking the music choices of these last few episodes. It's still good, but the more artistic music choices were better and also what made this special in comparison with a standard evening home improvement tv show.
My 2-yr old watching this video with me, let's call her P. P: What that guy name? Me: Alec Steele P: I don't like him, he not my favorite Me: YOU ARE DEAD TO ME!!! (okay, I didn't really say this to her lol, but the rest was legit).
Great practice Alec. You shouldn't be too hard on yourself about the time spent on the Damascus work, while practice and proficiency go hand in hand, you seldom do the same project or process twice. So you usually don't get the chance to do it the most efficient way, and unless you always do a practice piece with raw stock, you should be pleased with works that had their due attention. Great video
Hi Alec, i was just wondering, what happens to all the practice metal you use? are they reforged into another thing? Do you throw them away? Melt them to make another billet? Also what happens to all the shavings from all the cutting?
he's just been putting the mark onto the sheathe, but ya, id like to see it on the bolster or the handle as well its difficult to atribute it to a show of respect, cause he's been not marking knives since the kriss? (the past 4< projects iirc)
I have a CHALLENGE with a purpose: take a small chunk (1 sq inch or so) of the discarded Damascus from a previous project and see how thin and long of a wire you can make. Etch it and use it as a wrap on a new project (axe, hammer, throwing knifes,...) as decor.
You, sir, are one of the coolest people I have ever discovered. I absolutely love your videos, and all of the sweet projects you do. Just curious, do you edit your own videos??? Your blacksmithing is amazing, but your video editing is also fantastic! Usually someone who is so great at a physical trade is much less comfortable with the computer-side of things, but if you're the one doing all of the editing and filming, clearly you've mastered both sides of the coin! And that's awesome :)
I began watching when you had only 200k subs. You've evolved quite a lot since then. The only trouble I see is that you declare failures quite fast instead of perfecting them "on the go". You see, and already know that, NO ONE has a "before-hand" knowledge of anything, all of us need to go through the trial and error phase. Great vid though! Keep up!
Dude buddy, you’re almost to 1 million subs!!! I can’t believe it. I’ve watched your amazing channel grow since 100k subs. You and your attitude deserve every bit of 1 million. Can wait to see you at 10 million.
Seeing such a master fail and immediately learn and improve is inspirational. I love your work, Alec. Keep up the amazing work. I'm learning with you 💪🏼😎
My bestie showed me your channel yesterday....and since then I have watched... 32 of your videos. I daresay you have a new fan and follower, and watching your videos has made me miss the forge SO MUCH from when I went to Fleming for it a few years ago. Your energy makes these videos go from purely educational to thoroughly entertaining, and I would have loved to have you as a teacher. (I am, however, stuck across the pond in Canada. :P) Keep up the awesome work!
7:06 what causes these flames? I've seen spark rain from flux before, and glowing chips of scale, but flames like these is a first I think... Amazing video! Thank you for doing daily videos, it's a tremendous effort that is greatly appreciated!
Holy samolians! That was interesting. How about a challenge? You typically use cut steel for your billets, what about making a knife quickly out of nuts & bolts canister Damascus? Kinda “Forged in Fire” style. Keep the great videos coming!
The blade isn't necessarily too short. Chefs knives / cooks knife come in a variety of lengths. I have a 3" chefs knife A 4" chefs knife A 6" chefs knife An 8" chefs knife A 10" chefs knife A 12" chefs knife And a 14" chefs knife.
Well done Alec, amazing to see the improvement between those knives. Maybe one day you can try to make a damascus santoku. It would definitely be a good lesson and it’s a very versatile knive. Also, amazing work on your chef’s knive project! I’m very curious for the finished piece. I’m pretty sure you’ll love cooking with it!
I discovers you the 29th november 2016, It was my birthday and I was unable to sleep and start searching youtube for some nice video and find you. You had like 20k sub at that time and watching you now having almost 1 million made me emotional. Your enthusiasm and thirst of learning are phenomenal. Keep up the good work, I'm sure you'll conquer youtube 1 sub at the time :)
Hey alec, would be really cool if you, maybe gave away one of the blanks you know.....hint hint maybe the guy who came up with the idea hint hint....even the "failure" hint hint 😂😂
I bet there are some youtubers (and others) out there who would love to finish those up for you. Kind of an impromptu collaboration opportunity. Great to see your learning process. Cheers. Edit: also, idea for a Halloween project, a grim reaper scythe.
