I Failed My Master Bladesmith Test... 

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Exactly not fun. More American scam qualified my ass ​@@CobraJeans

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1:28 ontop of supporting -BetterHelp- ScammerDen, that part lost me

Man I’m so glad you said it, it shows humility, and an extremely high degree of integrity! He’s doing it, so someone else doesn’t make the same mistake! I respect it immensely. Great job Will, you will get it next time!

Yes, we all know now not to move the power hammer with a pallet jack.😊

Absolutely...too bad current culture has made it so people are both afraid and ashamed of making mistakes to the point of doing everything to hide them instead of learning from them

its not even a mistake the judges had crap in their eyeballs

I'm a jeweler and watchmaker. Came down here to say just that. These boys could use a few weeks in a good jewelry shop to learn some critical techniques and resources that they'd probably go wild with. Oss.

Why you keep having to say damned?

@@jessehemphill9406 He's a jeweler. All jewelers tend to be somewhat angry and pessimistic.

@@jessehemphill9406 Why not?

@@jessehemphill9406 He hates oxygen. All jewelers do.

Or make it out of a ream or a mill bit or something?

or as an instrument....

@@thenakinavy Yes. 🗿

"Your flutes are too pronounced and therefore not flutes. Now get off my lawn!" -A judge probably.

Lmao, no he won't. He doesn't know the chairman.

Chin up and hammer down. I like that!

Even the old masterwork he cites as straight flues was clearly rounded and had more flutes closer together to accentuate the rounding. Anyone would have been DQd these days for what will submitted its stupid but its how far the bar has moved.

Just look at bladeforums and the direction that has gone too over the years. Doesn't help Will is young as well. It is very similar in a lot of these "master" tests. A ton of these old masters wouldn't even come close to passing the standards they set for others.

@@MrGc6asl They absolutely DQd him because he is young, and a popular RU-vidr. There is a lot of gatekeeping in the trades in general. Artisan trades/craftsmen even more so. They bemoan how no young people don't want to get into physical labor but pull this crap. I am also sure part of it is gate keeping their own sales. The VERY least they could have done was look at the other knives and given feedback.

am i not fluty enough for the fluty club... (in reference to Master of Disguise)

@@Aaron_Ada ABS is all about promoting friends of the chairman/vice chair. They decide who qualifies for journeymen and master bladesmith. And they absolutely do not use the same criteria each time, or even anywhere close. To put it another way, the chairman and vice chair, each of them have ONE master-worthy blade on their user profile by the supposed "standards". In neither case is the blade their own work.

@@Aaron_Ada To be honest, that's not what I would consider to be fluting either. With fluted handles, the space inbetween the wire is usually scalloped and the wire is Inlaied on the high edge of the grove. What he made is a reeded handle, not a flutet handle. That said, Rodrigo Sfreggos handle was not fluted either, and even though Rodrigos dagger was all around obviously a lot more complex, which I believe the judges took into account, If they allow it in one case, they should allow it for everyone else or delete the requirement from the rule book. Let's be a bit more realistic here. Will wouldn't have passed in any case. Another requirement is that the wire must be firmly attached to the handle, which it wasn't. The judges don't wan't to trash a blade and won't point out every single thing that is wrong with it. A master piece is not something you rush on a road trip.

yeah. "it has to be fluted, we don't define flue is" is not a good test design. I hope someone submits a handle that is a literal flute

They don't need to clear them up because everybody knows what a flute is. If you don't, you can Google it. Will's handle wasn't fluted. Consequently, he didn't pass.

A drill is a good example of fluting. But...that example that passed 10 yrs previously doesn't seem to meet that criteria either so ya that's screwy. Keep up young man! Your work is fantastic and I'm positive you will be a Mastersmith.

@@twatmunro "a flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group"?

@@twatmunro for a proper designed test on specifications of a thing every word should have a definition of its meaning attached, I just looked up my countries master smith stuff and everything is defined in there from he hours you have to finish a thing up to dimensions and stuff.

His issue is not knife making, his issue is time management and planning. He did the same thing on his Journeyman set and, although very skillful, he was "lucky". I say this as someone who has procrastinated in the past and needs the pressure of a massive deadline to actually start working. If Will learns from this and truly wants to be a master he will start his next knife set now...not ~12 weeks out again.

​@@MrHahaJayumanthat was what I thought to- I'm nowhere near his level and it amazed me he was starting 5 knives 3 months before they were due.. what he accomplished is impressive as hell but if he had given himself more time he def woulda been able to correct this

You must have failed 'mind reading 101', just like I did.

@@MrHahaJayuman Time management and organisation is good to have as a skill, but he did actually get all the blades done to automatically fail for no reason beyond interpretation of exactly what a word means... If you can do good quality work in a short time still it doesn't actually matter if you look chaotic in the process, and at least on camera those blades look very good.

@@spudpud-T67 I took that course...University of Hard Knocks.

Chances are that gatekeepers have started flooding in and are trying to keep everything to themselves, like gatekeepers do. It doesn't sound like the behavior of someone with actual passion about something. People with a passion share passion. Will has a passion, he shares, he doesn't gate keep.

ABS isn't the same group it used to be. The chairman and vice chair aren't even good smiths, and there's a lot of pay-2-play with them. Kind of an open secret in the smithing world at this point. If you're not Kevin's personal pocketbook or a friend of someone on the board, Master Smith isn't just a lofty goal, it's an impossible one. ABS used to be a marketing tool for any bladesmiths. Now it's a marketing tool for very specific bladesmiths, paid for by the hopeful masses. The chairman, Kevin, he didn't even test for Master. He just had it awarded basically on the anniversary of becoming a Journeyman. He doesn't even make blades anymore, his business is, again, fleecing up-and-comers. Charging a grand for a "two week" workshop, come to find out, it's a total of 4 hours (two days a week, 1 hour a day), and he has a habit of missing it entirely anyway. Hell, his user page has two blades made by SOMEONE ELSE.

@@Fatespinner I have been told by multiple ABS masters that the purpose of the ABS is not what it once was, and one of them flat out said it had outlived its original purpose and that there was a great deal of 'pulling up the ladder behind you' going on.

Regarding the lack of comments on the set - it's seven (I believe) judges, they all have to look at five knives from every single candidate, and really, really, REALLY get into the details. It's a long process, and it may have just not been practical to do those hours of work for a candidate that has been disqualified. I've helped a friend who also went for their masters by doing a very rough look over his blades (well before final finish, I'm not that good) to get an idea of any mistakes before going too far. Even that took half an hour per blade, and I was looking for stuff that was pretty "big" in comparison to what the final examination is chasing. Not defending either side here (I think the MS rules are overly strict and limiting in terms of design and cater to the old school Seppo aesthetic and designs more than modern and even international styling), just adding clarification.

Anything that can give an automatic DQ should have very clear definitions.

Funny part is, the juges don't even know what fluting is. Rodrigo Sfreddo's dagger doesn't feature fluting either, the handle has reeding, which is the exact opposite of fluting (if you carved fluting in a foam bloc with a hot wire in one cut, you'd get two halves of your foam sheet, one with fluting and the other with reeding, reeding is the motif that fills the gaps of fluting).

I winced when he was talking about finishing the handle on the drive down, but I understand why they didn't look at the other knives. Regardless of whether the fluting was a legit DQ reason, if the judges thought it was, then why would they look at everything else? I imagine some people have passed their exams even after a technical DQ because of the sheer quality of everything else, but that would be a one in a million shot. From a purely time/judging perspective, unless everything else about the knife screamed master quality, I don't see why they should look at everything else when the knife doesn't qualify. In creative writing terms, it would be like being told to write a poem in one meter system but you did it in another. It sucks for Will (and other applicants), but it's a logical decision.

If the juges are smart (or as smart as people who ask for fluting but don't actualy know what fluting is because Rodrigo Sfreddo's dagger dodesn't have fluting either, it has reeding) they'll change 1 specification for each knife each year so new knives have to be made.

Exactly this. I don't think some arbitrary nitpicking stands in the way of a professional at work, we can all see the skill Will has. Having that stamp would be really helpful I imagine, but he's a master in my mind.

To play devil's advocate, would a master screw up the wire like that? would a master be mistaken about fluting? I am not for a moment disregarding the quality of the work, but in the context of claiming masterhood? I understand being brutal

​@@ciarangale4738 Those are great points. I suppose I hadn't considered it that way. Masters do still make mistakes being human and all, but in a testing situation like this one, it's understandable that they would be held to a higher standard. Didn't he say something about the rules regarding the fluting being vague though? It's been a while since I watched and can't remember exactly. Either way, I appreciate your insight!

@@Lolloolollool Apparently the rules were vague, which I fully agree is bullshit. However, I have seen others say that not even the thing he was using as a reference was considered fluting, so it's a rather complex issue.

Resources and prestige. It used to be a lot more important before the Internet let everyone put their name out there for people to see.

@@DH-xw6jp Sound to me like a pompous self righteous association. Basically "cool guys club" with no added benefits other than you can call yourself "master blade smith". I'm sure some random 20yr old Bozeman blacksmith, surely does not need any fancy titles from a weird organization to be able to earn a living. His work is decent, he can produce top quality products with or without any "seal of approval" from any "wannabe blade smith police". Its not like hes gonna be hired to make a blade for king of England or something.

Okay say you normally sell your knives for $3500.00. Having a Master Bladesmith title attached to that $3500.00 knife. Now it makes a $10,000.00 knife. That's a $6500 difference.

@@hillbillyswamprt Why would having worthless title to my name raise the value of a commodity I sell by triple its original cost. His work will be the same with or without the title. Do people in America buy stuff based on actual quality or just because a bunch of old farts circle jerking each other said so? Its like a freemasonry title for blacksmiths :D, At least being a freemason has some historical value, the ABS was founded in 1976 :D.

If you look at woodworking definitions, that was indeed not fluting at all, at best it's reeding. But Rodrigo Sfreddo's dagger is also not fluted, it is textbook exemple of reeding. Reeding is the opposite motif of fluting. Fluting is semi-circular carvings with narrow ridges. Reeding is semi-circular ridges with narrow carvings. They are like a positive and negative of a carving.

He will be a year older, so the judges may be friendlier next year.

Ai bots smile

I appreciate the kind words. I’m not ABS affiliated though, and won’t be…

actually laughed out loud and had to explain myself to the wife.

It has to be that strict otherwise it wouldn’t mean as much to be a mastersmith.

@@Rosewayforge I am not a blade Smith, but I participate in competitions for other hobbies. For me if I was in a climbing competition for example, and the judges disqualified me for breaking a rule that was something like "climbers must touch the starting holds before beginning the climb"and I only touched it with my hands and not my feet. In my opinion, for something so serious as a disqualification, the rules should be crystal clear and 100% defined with no wiggle room.

@@Trainwreck1123 anything but clearly defined rules means it is a boys club and not a technical achievement.

@@Rosewayforge arbitrary is not the same as strict.