Leigh - There's a fine line between hardcore and stupid.

If Dave was attempting to show us that cautery works and can be done with blackpowder, he's about 500 years late. Cautery has been used for centuries, it's an historical fact.

OK, I am out in the weeds, I cut myself, and I am bleeding. I am not going to cauterize the wound, I will use a dressing and direct pressure to stop the bleeding. Hell, I think I would use a tourniquet before cautery. Why inflict a second (and in Dave's case, a 3d) wound on the original?

I say again that Dave's stunt was for ratings. It was stupid to begin with, got dumber, then passed into sheer moronic. And no, I don't for one second believe that he didn't get some first aid from the everpresent crew paramedic.