Heat of the moment: UD student competes on The History Channel’s Forged in Fire
Photos courtesy of Lucas Terry.
Tori Miller | News Editor
While swords may not be the weapon of choice for people nowadays, this doesn’t stop blacksmiths from putting their irons in the fire. Sophomore mechanical engineering student and Makerspace facilitator Lucas Terry competed on The History Channel’s beloved show Forged in Fire at the end of October.
Terry ventured into the Forge– the cleverly named set for the show– which was stocked with a wide variety of metalworking equipment for the competitors to craft with, including propane forges, coal forges, grinders and more. At the end of each timed round, the Bladesmith whose weapon is deemed least satisfactory according to the judges leaves the competition.
Terry was thrown into the fire during his appearance on season 9 episode 22 titled Marvel’s Midnight Suns– an homage to the new video game that just came out this year. The three competitors were tasked with recreating a famous digital weapon from Marvel’s video game in pursuit of a $10,000 grand prize.
As a resident Marvel fan, Terry grew up watching and admiring Iron Man’s tinkering. The scene where Tony Stark forges his suit in Iron Man 1 acted as great inspiration for Terry’s interest in smelting metallic creations.
“It’s such a hands-on, sciency, engineering thing,” Terry said. “That is one of the things that launched me into studying mechanical engineering and technology.”
During his introduction on the show, Terry shared that his superhero name would be Metal Bender because it encompasses everything that he enjoys within his craft.
With his eight years of blacksmithing experience and his job at UD’s Makerspace, Terry was confident in his process. He emphasized the importance of planning ahead when crafting and refining those plans to make a well-crafted blade.
Each bladesmith had to follow strict instructions and stay within slim parameters in order to receive high marks on their blades. With only five hours to complete the demanding first task, Terry felt the hydraulic pressure pushing down on him.
“My main goal was just to do my thing.” Terry said. “As long as everything went according to plan I knew I could do what needed to be done and make a high-quality blade. Just had to keep my head and get it done!”
Terry was awarded third place and though he didn’t win the overall competition, he left The Forge with his head held high, thankful for the opportunity of meeting everyone on set. The biggest takeaway from this experience was honing his skills as a blacksmith and a bladesmith, he said. Full episodes of Forged in Fire are available on the History Channel website and certain streaming sites.
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