Matthew “Doc” Martin is the owner, operator, and artist of Martinforged located in Jacksonville, Florida. He can often be found in his home forge or at renaissance fairs displaying his love of bladesmithing. But it is his “second and third job” that keeps him busy. Doc is the creator, producer, and showrunner of the popular social media bladesmithing competition Last Blade Standing.

Season three of the show kicks off this weekend, and we were able to sit down with Doc and get some insight into what it takes to pull off a show like this one.

BRUTE de FORGE: Hello, Doc! We are so excited to talk with you today about the upcoming event.

Doc Martin: Absolutely! Glad you reached out. I want to say that I'm excited to be partnered with Brute de Forge. I love the work you're doing. Obviously, it's near and dear to my heart. But from a journalism standpoint, the articles are incredibly well-written and fun to read. I mean it! I know it's a relatively new organization, but you guys are crushing it.

BDF: Thank you so much! We are glad to be partnered with you as well. Now, we touched on this in the article we posted earlier, but before we get too far into this, can you remind us how Last Blade Standing came about?

DM: Yes. I'm a huge fan of Forged in Fire, which is how all this insanity started. About five years ago, I was watching the first season of Forged in Fire and fell in love with the whole concept of it. I was not a metal worker or bladesmith or anything along those lines. I was actually a woodworker for several years. But I decided smithing was something that I wanted to do. So, once I figured that out, I started building my forge, and then it just exploded from there.

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Then three seasons ago, some friends and I were on a late-night TikTok conversation, and we all had this idea of having a competition for bladesmiths. Nothing against Forged in Fire at all! It's a great show, but it doesn't showcase what each bladesmith can really do because of the condensed timeline. A blacksmith or bladesmith is not going to make their best blade in five hours, or even thirty-five hours, if they get to go home to forge for the championship. Thirty-five hours is still not much time to make something really exotic. So, I thought of starting a competition where the smiths could have, say, ninety days to do their build, which would allow them enough time to make their best blade. That's what I really wanted. I wanted to see the best work that the smiths could produce.

BDF: I know this is season three, but roughly how many years has this been going on?

DM: Right around two and a half years. Our seasons run for about eight to nine months before the next season begins. Every year, I have to look at the calendar to find an optimal time to have it. If you're a professional bladesmith, there's never really a good time! This season we started in October, and that's usually the holiday rush. Then last year, the finale was in April, when everybody was getting ready for a big blade show. It takes a lot of time to figure out where to fit it into the calendar every year. I usually just keep moving around and trying to find the best time.

BDF: What all goes into planning the show?

DM: I was thinking about this today. Imagine planning three weddings at one time with no budget but adding knives, blades, and swords. It's like that, but then I do it during the holidays. In February, I do a medieval fair for Martinforged, my business, but otherwise, Last Blade Standing consumes every free moment I have until we air. And I try to make it bigger, better, stronger, and more exciting every year. We've upped our game this year on YouTube quite a bit. I have multiple high-definition cameras this season, and all the judges will have mics. We've gotten some criticisms on our YouTube feed previously for that.  So, we really upped our game. But it takes time and money. Plus, I'm pretty much a one-person operation. I have some helpers and judges that come and test the blades, but all the videos, all the media, all the social networking, and even the construction of the test jigs are all done by me.  It’s like having a second and third job!

BDF: Not to mention there must be so many snags along the way you have to deal with. Did you face any major struggles this season?

DM: Oh my gosh, I can't even begin to tell you. This season has been very challenging. We have double the competitors compared to the previous season. We bumped it from thirty-two competitors—which is what we had for seasons one and two—to sixty-four just because of the overwhelming interest that we got, which is great! But, with double the competitors come double the amount of chaos that goes into it. We had eight bladesmiths unable to turn in blades, which I expected. I factored that into the equation. I know that there are life circumstances. Things happen. Sometimes a bladesmith will make a blade two or three times, and it keeps breaking, and they just can't submit it on time. It is unfortunate, but it does happen.

RELATED: HOW TO WATCH EVERY EPISODE OF FORGED IN FIRE

Then, our final events had issues. We booked park locations with the City of Jacksonville around September or October, and they ended up revoking them because of the nature of our competition. Specifically, the blades. So, we have had to scramble. We are doing round one and round two preliminary tests on my property now instead.

Our finale is still in Salisbury, North Carolina, but there have also been some issues with that. Leading up to it, we were cooperating with Norse Forge and Grievous Gallery to put on the finale, but Norse Forge was shut down. That threw a wrench in our plans, and we had to scramble and start getting all our legal paperwork and everything together. We ended up incorporating LBS at the beginning of the year, so we are officially a 501(c) Nonprofit.

But with everything from trying to secure the judges, booking transportation, and figuring out, logistically, how we're going to get everything to North Carolina, plus losing some smiths along the way, it has been a challenging season. I question myself every year and ask myself why I do this. Then I always end up doing it again! Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but I enjoy doing it.

BDF: How do you decide who competes?

DM: I usually do an initial sweep of people I want to see compete. I have a rule that if I invite you and you fail to submit, I don't invite you next season. I skip over you for a season to make it fair for other smiths that want to compete but maybe didn’t get a chance. I'm not trying to punish anybody. It's more to open up a slot for somebody else.

But I really strived to cover the country. This season, we have thirty-three states represented in our competition, which is incredible. Everywhere from Alaska to New Jersey, from California to Florida. I mean, all four corners and everything in between! We've got a really good cross-section of bladesmiths from the US. That's what I strive to do.

I bring favorites back, people that did well. I like to bring people back that got close but didn't quite make it and give them another shot. But, then, I also want to inject some new blood and give those folks a chance to play.

It starts as an invitational, and then, as it progresses, we expand the field. We get applications and people that reach out and want to be part of it. I review their work to see if they're ready for competition. I don't do it with a magnifying glass, but I check to see if the person has been making blades for a while and if they are serious about it.

I've got an extended network now with Forged in Fire. I reached out to them, and this season we have around fifteen Forged in Fire competitors, including eleven champions. That said, I want a mix of very experienced folks and people who have never really competed before because I want to give them a shot! I hand-rank them and then do some randomization to mix things up a little bit. That is a lot of work in itself, and not everyone is always happy.

Sometimes I have to remind some competitors that this is for fun and charity.

BDF: That is one of the neatest parts of this competition, I think. Several competitors that I have spoken with have been so proud that their blades are going to a good cause.

DM: I always love talking about the charitable aspect of LBS because it's incredible to me. As the blades get showcased, you will see in the next few weeks all the talent and work that went into making these blades. These folks are not doing it solely to get recognition and be on social media; these smiths have huge hearts. The fact that they're willing to take something very difficult to do, that they could sell for thousands of dollars, and say they will donate it to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation makes it all worth doing to me. The bladesmiths benefit from getting some recognition, but it also goes to a good cause. It’s a win-win, and that's my goal as the organizer of this.

BDF: Who chooses the charity?

DM: I put up a list of about ten charities, and then I let the smiths vote on the one they would like to support the most. The charities are chosen from A-rated charities, but the smiths can also write in a charity for consideration. We do that part after we have selected our smiths.

BDF: What direction would you like to see Last Blade Standing go in future seasons?

DM: I can see it going in a few different directions. I'm not going to be cagey and tell you that I don't know. By showcasing season three, I would love to see if we can gain some network interest for season four. Not because I want to get rich from doing this; believe me, that's not the point. If a production company backed us, and I was still a co-executive producer, we would have much more financial backing to produce the show in the way I always envisioned. It's hard to do that on a shoestring budget, so if we had studio backing, this could really be elevated. It's in the same vein as Forged in Fire, but it's not in direct competition. Our competition is fundamentally different. We could spend more time with the bladesmiths in their forge, showcasing what they're capable of doing when given a longer period of time. And, of course, there is plenty of drama to show!

So, I've got a concept for the show, and we have a couple of professional producers coming to the finale to film and do one-on-one interviews with the smiths, which will be great. I want to compile all that together, throw it into the universe, and see who is interested. But I want to do it without removing our charitable aspect of it. That's one thing that I'm very passionate about.

My goal for Last Blade Standing is to elevate everybody and show off what these folks can do. I look at some of the pieces that come in, and I have no idea how they did what they did. They are that spectacular. That’s why I try hard to make these dramatic, cool videos to hype everybody up!

BDF: Let’s keep our fingers crossed that that happens because I am sure many people would love to see it come to television.

DM: I feel like maybe they [studio networks] haven’t really noticed us yet. I know Forged in Fire is aware of us because I have a relationship with a couple of the judges. Dave Baker and I are friends. I've talked to Ben Abbott; he's a competitor this season. But David and I have established a good relationship, so I know that that network is aware of us. And I think it's a symbiotic relationship. I don't think they view us as competition because I certainly don't view them as competition. Fundamentally, we're very different. I want to keep that friendship. What was really exciting for me was watching season nine of Forged in Fire and seeing all of the competitors that have already been on Last Blade Standing!

RELATED: CONVERSATION WITH FORGED IN FIRE JUDGE DAVID BAKER

BDF: What can we expect from this season? Besides the outstanding craftsmanship of the contestants that you mentioned.

DM: The preliminary testing begins Sunday, February 12th, 2023, at 10 a.m. eastern time. It will run for five or six hours, and we will live-stream everything on YouTube and TikTok. As I said, we have tried to up the game this year, so we have good cameras and microphones, and the audio will be better. It's a smaller space with a smaller crowd, but it should be a lot of fun.

Then, we have a big event for the finale on February 25th, 2023. We've got eight vendors coming down that will be selling handmade goods. They will have everything from leather sheaths to handmade soap. David Baker and Jason Knight are going to be there. It is going to be a lot of fun! We will have live music with Open Wire, a local Salisbury, North Carolina band. It is going to be a big fun party! And, again, that will all be live-streamed on YouTube and TikTok.

RELATED: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH MASTER BLADESMITH JASON KNIGHT

BDF: Can you tell us about the judges? Who will be there?

DM: The Florida group is different from the Finale group, but there is some overlap. I've got a guy for the Chop Test, or Strength Test, who has done this before. His name is Jeff Koors, and it is his second season. He's an outdoorsman and hunter who always uses knives and recognizes their quality.

The second guy I just met recently is Chris Knight. I had been looking for someone, and he is a professional swordsman! He goes to exhibitions, and he's a professional martial artist that takes European-style swords and does shows and exhibitions with them. He will be doing our Sharpness Test or Slice Test, so there will likely be a little flair to his style.

Last but not least, we've got my buddy, whom we call Power Hammer Bill. He is a big ol’ bear of a man and a good friend of mine. He is also an active, working blacksmith bladesmith out of Jacksonville. He's a FABA or the Florida Artisan Blacksmithing Association. They've got chapters all over the state. Most states have similar associations. I am also a member of FABA, so that’s one way I know Bill. But Bill has huge hands. I have really big hands, and his hands are significantly larger than mine. He can’t fit his hands into any of the blades, so we've got him doing the bend test. He is also going to come to Salisbury for the finale.

For the finale, we'll have Dave Baker doing the Chop Test and the owner of the Grievous Gallery, Tim Demers, doing the Sharpness Test. Tim is a former professional knight. He worked for Medieval Times for a long time, so he knows his way around a sword. We've got some unique talent to do the tests, but they are also relevant and knowledgeable!

As for the tests, I devise them each season based on what did and didn’t work well the previous season. We pared the tests down to only three this season due to the volume of blades!

BDF: That is great! Thank you, Doc. I appreciate your taking the time to discuss Last Blade Standing with us. I’m sure I’ll be talking with you again soon. Good luck this weekend!

DM: Thank you! With any luck, I’ll be able to check back in before the finale!

You can follow Doc on Facebook at Martinforged and and at his website martinforged.com. Last Blade Standing is all over social media, @lastbladestanding on IG and Facebook at Lastbladestanding. Don’t forget to tune into TikTok and YouTube this weekend to watch the preliminary rounds for this season of Last Blade Standing. Planning to be in the Salisbury, NC area on February 25th? Purchase tickets to the Season 3 finale here.

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