Off Topic Why do people test blades by chopping blocks of ice?

G

Green Dog

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Sep 1, 2017
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I see it in most YouTube videos where someone makes a blade and even in forged in fire on the history channel. Why do blades get tested against blocks of ice? Is it just the hardness of ice? Or lack there of? Does it just look cool? Is it just cost effective? I want to understand.
 
A shower of sparks frightens a snowflake but a shower of ice doesn't ! :rolleyes:
If they would carve a figure with it I would understand but otherwise it's meaningless . :)
 
It is somewhat flashy and only requires water and cold.

Honestly I think it's kind of messed up though, there are so many polar bears who could use that ice.
 
Isnt it to show what damage is or is not done to the edge, and not what happens to the ice? Like J Neilson said himself.

Same thing with Nathan Carothers showing us the block breaking; it's not to show how the block gets owned, but how the edge holds up. If it can handle that, odds are you have yourself a great cutting tool to hold up to two weeks of wood carving and skinning/fileting in the woods (or whatever you're up to).
 
Obviously that is what they are trying to display.

But you are wrong about it heing strictly about what happens to the edge. They care about what happens to the ice insofar as they need it to explode spectacularly and have a neat video!
 
It's a low cost, renewable prop that puts on a good show. The end line user will equate the stunt with edge retention and toughness even though the stunt doesn't test for that. It does get clicks and makes great optics especially when shirtless, sweaty, bikini clad, and a slow motion.
 
It makes a great spectacle and it's next to free to do. In the winter I chop a lot of ice off of my cattle's water sources and ice chopping doesn't seem particularly damaging to the edge on an ax as long as there's no rock hidden under it. I can't imagine high end super steels wouldn't fare at least as well.
 
After studying the Navy and Coast Guard's efforts at destroying ice bergs , it's a whole lot harder than I thought !
 
On "Forged in Fire"...they chop blocks of ice...and then will use a mechanical "swing" to clunk the knife edge into a piece of iron. The ice provides a more dramatic effect, of course. Voila!
 
Ice chop for show I rekon. What I like is the antler chop, now that will definitely tell what's up with an edge.
 
They are just trying to find the next set of weapons to fight the ice monsters on the next season of Game of Thrones.

Forged.in_.FireJNeilsonChoppingIce.jpg
 
Because it’s ‘Cool’

G2
 
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