A New Oxford man is taking a stab at an unconventional sport.
BladeSports, to be exact, is the international competition series in which participants show off skillful knifeworkby chopping their way through challenging obstacles. Dwayne Unger, 43, has found rapid success in just over a year of competing.
Unger will take his knife-wielding prowess to the national stagewhen an episode of the new History Channel show, Forged in Fire: Knife or Death, airs on May 8.
With $20,000 on the line, the show gathered bladesmiths, martial artists and knife experts from across the country to "slice, stab and chop their way through a blade-shattering gauntlet," according to the History Channel website. Unger was one of the lucky 40 selected to compete among thousands of applicants.
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"It was more fun than any person should have," he said.
The small town man is getting ready for the spotlight, and he is excited for friends and family to see him in slice-and-dice action.
"To get a chance to see yourself on TV — not just on a local channel but on a big scale, like the History Channel — to compete to represent yourself and kind of your hometown, I'm looking forward to that," Unger said. "It should be a good time."
How does one get his start playing with knives?
Unger, who sells and fits hearing aids ashis day job, always had a passion for bushcraft and survival skills. He developed an affinity for knives, specifically how they could be used as tools, not weapons.
He became friends with Scott Gossman of Gossman Knives, a custom knife maker in Whiteford, Maryland, and Gossman recommended the sport to him.
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"Scott always knew that I was a competitive person and that I knew how to wield a big knife and do some heavy chopping, so he thought maybe I'd be interested in it," Unger said.
At Gossman Knives, Unger designed the knife he uses for competition, which he nicknamed “The Black Mamba” because of its dark tint.
Also, it “sounded kind of tough,” he said.
In BladeSports, the knives can be no longer than 15 inches with a blade that cannot exceed 10 inches. The blade’s height must be shorter than two inches. To promote the blades as tools, not weapons, none of them have points.
Unger designed his knife to complement his swing rather than forcing himself to adjust his swing to the knife. He believes that “The Black Mamba” is one of the heaviest knives used in BladeSports.
"I'm able to wield that to give me the power that I need so I've been able to get through two-by-fours in four hits in the past," Unger said.
BladeSports competitions consist of a series of 10 to 14 cutting events, an obstacle course of chops, and it often begins with a two-by-four cut to start the clock.
“A lot of people see the videos, and they think that it’s just taking a big knife and just hacking through a bunch of stuff, and it’s a lot more technique involved than what you can imagine,” he said.
The competitor’s time is added to 100 points, and each obstacle has a point value. The cleaner the cut, the more points come off, and, like golf, the lowest score wins.
“Ideally, you want to make your cuts very clean, very concise and then do it in the fastest time possible,” Unger added.
Cutting events that Unger has faced include rope cuts, rolling tennis and golf balls, dowel rods, water bottles, paper and even bendy straws where competitors must cut them in two pieces, above the bend and below the tip, in one motion.
“It's a good combination of power and finesse to really showcase your abilities on how to use a knife in a lot of different applications,” Unger said.
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In Unger’s first competition, he placed third and quickly rose through the ranks, taking first place in two local competitions. He nabbed fifth place at a national competition in Dallas, where all the competitors who placed in front of him were previous world and national champions.
Unger is planning to compete for a world championship in June at the BLADE Show in Atlanta, the world’s largest knife show.
Unger called it surreal that he is getting a chance to compete on the biggest platforms after starting in the sport a year ago.
Forged in Fire: Knife or Death was filmed in Atlanta in February, and Unger called it “unlike anything” he has ever done.
The show is hosted by the famed wrestler Goldberg and Tu Lam, a U.S. Special Forces veteran and weapons expert. Unger said it was a treat for his stepson to learn that he got to meet Goldberg.
“Seeing how these things go on behind the scenes and just what all goes into the production of it was pretty eye-opening,” Unger said. “You don’t realize until you’re actually on set how much goes into making a show like this.”
Because of the mystery surrounding the competition, there was not much Unger could do to prepare. He brought “The Black Mamba” because it was the blade he felt most comfortable in facing the unknown.
“You’re going to have to watch the show to see how I did with it,” Unger said with a laugh.
Going into the competition blind, Unger was forced to strategize along the way. Each obstacle presented a unique challenge, but Unger felt confident in attacking them.
“Being able to dissect each of those obstacles was going to be my biggest strength — knowing what was going to have to go into each one of those cuts to complete it properly,” he said.
Five episodes of the show will airwith each episode crowning a winner. The sixth and final episode will feature a “champion’s run” among the winners and one alternate and award the $20,000 cash prize.
Unger said it's been killing him to watch other participants compete in the episodes that have aired, but it has been interesting to see how they have approached obstacles differently.
There is a camaraderie among the competitors, whom he described as a tight-knit group. They all keep in touch and root for each other to perform well.
“Win, lose or draw for anybody, it was just — we all walked away with huge smiles on our face,” Unger said.
For Unger, the anticipation is growing as the date of his episode draws near. He is planning a viewing party at Buffalo Wild Wings in Hanover.
Friends and family have seen Unger’s skills on social media videos, but Unger is excited for them to watch him in competition.
“Whether they’re really that into it or not, they find it fascinating that I do what I do sometimes with a knife,” he said.
Unger has surprised himself with his speedy progress over the past year. He already has many unforgettable experiences from competing, but Knife or Death was a cut above.
“That was an experience and a half,” he said. “I think I could speak for probably all the other competitors in saying that if we were given the opportunity to go back and do it again, we would all do it in a heartbeat.”
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