All language subtitles for Forged.In.Fire.S10E09.IODMasters.of.the.Siege.480p.Eng

- Here in The Forge, we have
seen smiths make hundreds

of weapons throughout history.

But now, we're asking them
to build some of the biggest,

most complex,
and terrifying weapons

ever seen on the battlefield.

The ballista, a battering ram.

- You guys have
taken the castle.

With $20,000 on the line,
four teams of expert builders,

featuring all kinds
of skill sets,

will enter into a completely
different arena,

where they will be put to
the test to construct

some of the most
difficult weapons

ever seen on "Forged in Fire."

- Oh my god, come on.

This is driving me
absolutely insane.

- Holy smoke!

- Whoo!

- This is
Instruments of Death.

- We are The Flying Monkeys.

I'm Daniel Fagergren.

I'm the chief ranger
at Zion National Park.

And this is Kory Heaton.

And he's a cabinet maker.

And this is Brad Groesbeck.

And he's a blacksmith
and farrier.

We're all type A
personalities.

But I think it's an advantage,
because we're

going to get things done.

- Bring it.

- I'm Mark.
This is Freeland.

This is Eli.

We are The Thermites.
Ther--

- Thermites,
Thermites, Thermites.

- Oh God, we're going to
have to practice that one.

- I am a glassblower.

And I design
and build furniture.

Eli is a contractor
and also a glassblower.

And Freeland is the
fabrication lab manager.

It's always been my dream
to be on "Forged in Fire."

So if we were to
come out with a win,

it would be up there
with my wedding.

But I can't tell you
guys that it would be

the happiest day of my life.

My wife would kill me.

- We are Sawdust and Sparks.

I'm Jared.

I'm an engineer by day
and a woodworker by night.

And this is Rich.

He's a farrier.

And Brandon, he's a homesteader
and a jack-of-all-trades.

$20,000 would be great.

We can all use a
little bit more

to grow our shop,
to do stuff with the family.

We're in this to win it.

- My name's Josh.

This is Coleman.

This is Trace.
And we are...

all: Thru-Tang Clan.

I think we're going to
win because these two are

both multifaceted fabricators.

I'm working on a mechanical
engineering degree.

And furthering our skills is
what we're truly here for.

- And Instagram followers.

- Bladesmiths,
blacksmiths, woodworkers,

metalworkers, and engineers,
gentlemen, welcome

to Instruments of Death.

Normally in our forge,
we bring in bladesmiths

to forge knives and swords.

But this is
Instruments of Death.

And in this competition,
we brought you guys in,

teams of expert builders
consisting of engineers,

carpenters,
metalworkers, and so on,

because we'll be asking
you to build some

of the biggest
and notorious weapons

ever used on the battlefield.

We're talking about
massive siege weapons that

altered the course of history.

Now, we're starting off with
four very talented teams.

But only one team can leave
here with the first ever

Instruments of Death
champion title

and get that team
check for $20,000.

Now, since this is
Instruments of Death,

everything is bigger.

And we decided that in order to
find out who's moving forward

in the next round
that we're going

to put your weapons through
a huge round of testing.

Now, this first
round of testing

is all about the gauntlet.

This terrifying
test will examine

every aspect of your weapon's
construction all at once.

Now gentlemen,
to kick things off,

we asked you to build
the war hammer

from the "Forged in Fire"
vault before you got here.

And we asked you guys
to build your weapons

following these parameters.

Your hammerhead must
feature a square face

on one side, along with a
rear spike on the other.

And for the handle,
it must have

two langet covering
no less than half

the shaft on either side.

All right, Jared,
your team is up first.

Please step forward.

Tell us about your build.

- The challenge had
some difficulties.

We had some things
to work through.

- And so we ended
up having an issue

getting the hole centered.

So we decided early on to
scrap that one and start over.

It definitely
affected our morale.

But the second one
came out really nice.

And we were able to
make that one work.

And we're really proud of it.

- All right,
please present your work.

Nice.

Well, gentlemen,
your hammer looks menacing.

But we've got to find out how
it performs in the gauntlet.

Jake, take it away.

- We're a little unsure
about how it will perform.

We didn't want to do a ton
of testing at home just

because we didn't want
to damage anything

before we got here.

And hopefully,
it'll perform well.

- Yeah.

- All right, guys,
I got to say nice job.

A war hammer fan.

And I had fun
swinging this one.

You got a little bit of marking
here on the top of the shaft

and on the head.

That's not a big deal though.

It's very minimal.

Good balance.

It was nice having this steel,
everything nice and smooth

down here.

So when you swing,
drawing it down.

Overall, I like it.

- Thank you.

- Flying Monkeys,
please step forward.

So guys, I got to ask,
why The Flying Monkeys?

- So there's a mesa that
overlooks our community.

And during the 1950s, the
government tested ejection

seats off the end of the mesa.

And they launched the
monkeys off there.

And so we decided to
go with that name.

- Oh, that's rich.

All right, gentlemen,
how did the build go for you?

- It was great.
This was a lot of fun.

Brad made the Damascus.

And then Kory worked
on the hickory handle.

But we ran into a few
challenges on the hammerhead.

I had to heat-treat it
twice, because the first time

around when file tested it,
the spike was soft in spots.

So I reheated it and
quenched it again.

And it turned out
a lot harder.

There you go,
"Forged in Fire."

- All right, gentlemen,
please reveal your work.

Ooh, that is a
beautiful hammer.

But we've got to find
out if it's going

to stand up to the gauntlet.

You ready?

- Let's do it.
- Go ahead, Jake.

- If there's anything on
this hammer that could fail,

it would probably be
the spike.

I had to heat-treat it twice.

And it could crack.

And that does concern
me a little bit.

- Nice work.

- All right,
Flying Monkeys, good job.

You survived.

I like what you did here.

Structurally
everything is fine.

I like the extra effort
on doing the laminate steel.

The Damascus on here
is a nice touch.

Penetrated very well.

The only bad thing I have
to say, when I'm hitting,

it rubs right here
on your palms.

So I get a bit of a
hot spot there.

But overall, nice job.

both: Thank you.

- Thru-Tang Clan, you ready?
Your team's next.

- We are.
- Please step forward.

Now, gentlemen,
how'd it go for you?

- It went really well.

We made two of them.

- Our first try out at the
langets was a Damascus billet.

And that didn't work out.

- It's 4:45 in the morning.

Like, "Oh, man,
we got to like scramble,

like langet material, langet,
go, go, go, go."

Thankfully have this
piece of forklift blade.

So a little cutting, a little
grinding, and off we go.

- We put it together
30 minutes before we left

for the airport
to come here.

So we had a lot of failures.

But in the end,
it turned out good.

- Very proud of
what we did though.

both: Thru-Tang, Thru-Tang.

- All right,
please present your hammer.

Very nice, gentleman.

J., go ahead.

- Our biggest concern would
be breaking the handle.

We do have a little
thinner langet.

So hopefully it can
withstand everything.

- Anything could happen.

J. is so tough on the things.

- Yeah.

- Oh.

- Awesome.
Good job, guys.

- All right,
Thru-Tang Clan, nice job.

Your hammerhead
swung beautifully.

Your tip worked
beautifully on the steel

as far as piercing
it and ripping it

open further on the way out.

The handle is well done.

The only thing I don't
like is these langets.

Normally these actually
have a structural function.

Yours isn't connected to the
hammer physically at all.

It's just wrapped over it.

And these right
here aren't inset.

They're actually springing
away because they're

very thin steel.

And every time I strike
or break something,

that material is getting
trapped between these langets

and the handle as well.

So that is an issue.

But overall nice job.

I liked it.
- Thank you.

- Thanks.
- Thanks.

- All right, Thermites,
please step down.

All right, gentlemen,
how'd the build go for you?

- It went pretty well.

- Yes!

- We got the hammer
forged out.

- I knew I spent a lot of time
carving that handle and making

it feel comfortable.

The langets are welded.

I had a vision, too, for
that texture on the hammer.

And it turned out
exactly the way I wanted.

- I think that's about
as good as it gets.

- All right, gentlemen,
let's see your work.

That is a beautiful hammer.

But can it function and
survive the gauntlet?

You guys ready?
- Yes.

- Yes.
- Yeah.

- All right, J., go ahead.

- I'm concerned with the tip.

It's the only one
that has a curve.

You don't want to
be the team that

did the one weird
thing and then that's

the thing that sends you home.

- Nice.

- All right, guys, I got to
say I like swinging this one.

It was nice.

Your hammerhead, very
simple, but very functional.

Langets, everything's
flush and tight the way

you blend it into the head.

Very nice job.

- Thank you.
- Thanks.

- I'm definitely
feeling nervous.

At this point, it's out of
our hands and in the judges'.

It's really going to come
down to the finer details.

But we'll have to see.

- Well, gentlemen, I got
to say, all 12 of you

should be extremely
proud of your work.

But in this
competition, we only

have room for three teams
on the top of the hill

for the next round,
which means one team will

be exiting this competition.

Now, after deliberation,
the judges

did make a final decision.

And the team leaving
this competition is...

Thru-Tang Clan.

Unfortunately, guys, your
weapon did not make the cut.

And Dave Baker is
going to tell you why.

- All right,
Thru-Tang Clan, you gave

us an amazing war hammerhead.

But those langets are killers.

They're already starting
to peel off the top.

That's going to be a
hand slicer coming up.

And that's why we let you go.

- Thank you.

- Well, gentlemen,
unfortunately, your time

in this competition has ended.

But before you guys go, I want
to ask you to step forward

so we can shake your hands.

- Good fight, man.

- Appreciate it.

- We got booted for the
tiniest little detail.

And for the rest of my life
I'm going to be like,

"Laces out, Marino, laces out."

I'm just like kicking
myself for like forever.

- Gentlemen,
welcome to the build site.

This shop here is loaded with
woodworking and metalworking

tools, as well as everything
you'll need to build

your instruments of death.

Now, gentlemen,
I told you before,

we had big things to
come in this competition.

And as you can see here,
we weren't kidding.

This is the largest,
in size and weight,

weapon we've ever asked anybody
to build in our competition.

In this second round,
your task is

to build an instrument of
destruction that can take

down what's under this tarp.

A castle door.

- Yeah.

- Your job in the
next six hours

is to build a battering ram.

- All right.

- The battering ram,

the granddaddy
of all siege engines.

Believed to be
used by the Assyrians

some 3,000 years ago,

the design of the battering
ram originally started out

as a log carried by
soldiers with the goal

of battering down doors,
gates, walls, you name it.

As fortifications evolved,
so did the battering ram.

The addition of steel casings
on the head of the ram,

larger wheels to
make it more mobile,

grooves to keep fallen objects
from hitting the soldiers,

and even making them fireproof.

Imagine being the
soldier at this castle.

Suddenly there's a
knock on the door.

You look off the wall,
there's a battering ram.

Now, this is a machine
designed to create

thousands of pounds
of force in one

small spot against your gate.

Ranging from only
a couple of feet

long to over 100 feet,
the battering ram

is one of the most diverse
siege engines in history,

and our builders are going
to have a lot of designs

to choose from when they
come up with their plan.

- Now gentlemen, we've got
two stipulations for you.

Your battering rams
must have wheels,

and you have to have some
sort of forged element

attached to the battering ram.

- A castle door is not like
your interior bathroom door.

I mean, it's built
to stop people

from using a battering ram.

It's going to be a challenge.

- Now you will have six hours
to accomplish this task.

At the three-hour mark,
the judges

will be coming over to each
team to inspect your work.

But there is a catch.

At any given point, only
two members of your team

can be in the workshop
working on your battering ram,

but you can tag team out with
that spare guy as many or as

few times as you'd like.

Now, when the six
hours is complete,

all three team members will
operate it and attempt to bash

through the castle door.

And this is all about speed.

Because whichever
team takes the longest

to get through the
door will be eliminated

from the competition, and
you will not be joining us

in the third and final round.

- Six hours is
not a lot of time.

In medieval times, when
they did battering rams,

I don't think they
did them in six hours,

but we have electricity,
which they didn't have.

- I'll give you 10 minutes of
preparation and planning time

to come up with a design.

So good luck because
that time starts now.

They've got six hours
to get this done.

It's a tall order.

- Sometimes the best
design is simple.

Don't overthink it,
and then tweak it a little bit

as it's being made.

- Because, first of all,
we need a good pressure

point at the end of the ram.

- I think a barrel tip,
kind of like that.

- Well, I'm thinking of just a
flat piece just bent at a 90.

- Are you thinking,
like, a wedge?

- Yes, a wedge.

- Initially, I think
the design of this

would be good for the
battering ram is an arrowhead.

But Rich has this idea
of making it a wedge,

kind of like an axe head.

I think that's a great idea
because the whole weight

of the log and
us pushing on it,

all of that force is going to
go right into that wedge

just like you're
swinging an ax

and hopefully,
just fracture it open.

- Having a teammate with
an engineering background

is paramount for this
kind of competition.

- I think having background
in "Dungeons and Dragons"

is probably even better.

- We need some sort
of head on there.

- We can cut the end of that
and just put the wedge on.

- You don't think having
the actual wedge be a point?

- You're just doing a pierce.

If you do this, the chances of
breaking that door are better.

- OK.

- Think about splitting wood.

- Freeland and I each
have different ideas

of how we should design the
head of the battering ram.

Freeland thinks a wedge.

I think that point is going to
do more damage to that door.

So we need to figure out
exactly what we think

is going to be the most
damage-inflicting thing so

that everybody's
on the same page

whenever we start the build.

- So we want to get this
up as high as we can

so we can get as much force.

- Our idea is to go simple.

An A-frame-type structure.

The ram attached
to focal points

coming down and swinging.

So height's going to be key
for this to work effectively.

- There'll be lots of audibles
in this whole thing, I think.

- Yeah.

- It's going to be an
interesting dynamic to see

how these guys work together.

- It's going to be
controlled chaos

or is it going to
go off the rails?

- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

All right,
gentlemen, design time is up.

The workshop is open.

- Go, go, go!

This is going to
be interesting,

first time we've ever had
large teams building together.

They had 10 minutes to
come up with designs,

and it seems to me that
everybody's designs

are a little bit different.

- Coming through.

Can't see very well.

- Now I don't know how often
or how much these guys have

worked together, but if J.
and I were actually

to work together in the same
shop-- well, we-- more

than anything we'd probably
bump into each other.

- Eli's a go-getter.

He works in construction;
he gets things done.

Freeland is a planner,
like I am.

I know that we're going to
need to build the wheels,

and that's going to eat up
30 minutes of Eli's time.

And, by then, hopefully,
we have a plan for how

to attach them to the base.

- This would be awesome
if I had a compass.

- It comes to
anything woodworking,

planning is pretty important.

So we need to get
on the same page

before we start
building things.

- Kind of concerns me
that Ther-Mighties here--

they're allowed to have
two people in the shop,

and there's only been
one person in the shop

from that team.

- Well, you've got
your two partners

down there sitting at a table
playing poker over here.

- Oh, Lord.

- We've got six hours to
build a battering ram.

So Abraham Lincoln said
that if you give him

three hours to
chop down a tree,

he's going to spend the
first two sharpening the axe.

You never just go in and just
start cutting and winging it.

So I think that a little extra
planning in the beginning

is going to go a
long way as we get

further into this competition.

- Good job, Jared.

- On our team I'm an
engineer and the most

experienced woodworker.

Ow.

Table.

And so anything that
has to do with frames

and structures and wood,
that's my wheelhouse.

And so first thing
I'm going to do

is get that frame
going together.

Got that one.

- We're working on
the bottom frame.

Then, we're going to
put the corners in.

Then, we're going to
work on the top frame.

We're going to do
all the side bracing.

And after the
bracing, we're going

to start assembling the ram
and getting the ram installed.

- When we're building
this battering ram,

we have to keep in mind the
motion of the battering ram.

It's going to be moving
back and forth, like this,

which when you
have a structure,

it's going to want to twist.

And so we have to
compensate for that

by putting in diagonal braces.

The triangles are
key because that

helps to distribute that load
and keep those corners square.

- This is by far the
biggest challenge

we've asked anyone to do.

I wouldn't be surprised
if any of our teams

are going to run to
a bunch of issues.

- Here we go.

I've never built a
battering ram before.

My team has never built
a battering ram before.

But I've seen
enough movies and I

have a general idea of what
a battering ram looks like

and how they function.

And so we decided to start
with our base and wheels

to establish a
solid foundation.

Wheel.

I wouldn't put it on my Buick.

It'll do the job though.

- All right, gentlemen,
one hour has elapsed.

You've got five hours left.

So we've got both
Sawdust and Sparks

and the Flying Monkeys bringing
all their frame work outside.

So we've got two teams in
the assembly portion of

this build.

- Got the wheels done.

- These other guys are
getting way ahead of us.

- This is one of those
times when indecision

is worse than a bad decision.

- Freeland and I each have
kind of different ideas

of how we should design the
head of the battering ram.

- We're going to have to
do probably something else;

it's costing us everything.

- I'm also kind of still going
with the idea of the wedge.

- Having had the
opportunity to make

a couple of different
types of siege engines,

I know that building
something on this larger

scale with this time
frame is no easy task.

But if they don't come up
with a solid plan quickly,

the Ther-Mighties
might be going

home sooner than they think.

- What do you want to do, man?

- I don't know.

We got to do something.

- We're just over an
hour into our Instruments

of Death competition, and we've
got two teams in the assembly

portion of this build.

- And then we got the
Ther-Mighties that are still

trying to figure things out.

- These other guys are
getting way ahead of us.

- You better get in there,
because I'm gonna snake

you and get in there myself.

- Sometimes the best
design is simple.

- Mm-hmm.

- Do you want to
help me get this?

- They just got
to figure out what

the task is, get it there.

And don't overthink it.

- We've already wasted
an hour.

We just need to get
started on the frame

and figure out some of the
smaller details as we go.

- Very clever.

Ther-Mighties
is doing lap joints.

And that's what you want to
see because that's going

to give you
structure that's not

going to allow things to bend.

- Like Lincoln Logs.

- Exactly.

The way you'd
build a log cabin.

It's a solid design,
especially since these things

are massive.

You need a strong structure
so when they actually

put the battering
ram onto that thing,

this whole frame
just won't break in half.

- Can you guys hurry up?

Because I want to do
some choppy cutty.

- Yep, we're going to
leave this all down.

So I have experience
building strong structures.

Time for the top frame.

My wife and I have five kids,
and we have had to build

two sets of bunk beds.

And you've got to make
them strong enough

to handle the abuse.

- So right now it
seems like Sawdust

and Sparks is furthest along
in their structure assembly.

From what you guys can see,
what do you feel about it?

- 1, 2, 3, up.

- Looks like they're
building a tiny home.

But that box
design is a solid design.

- All right, we're up.

This structure is a little
bit heavier than the bunk bed,

but I think we can
compensate for that.

I think it's strong
enough, Brandon.

- So used to when
these guys are working

is hearing in the
forges blasting,

the anvils ringing, and stuff.

Not so much wood saws
and drivers going.

- I think we need
to stay after hours

and make one of these things.
- I think we should.

"Beat the Judges:
Catapult Edition."

- A freak catapult accident.

- It's mostly straight.

- The Flying monkeys
are working on the base

of their structure.

- Is that one good?

- Eh, you're not going
to like it, cabinet man.

Thought that was good.

I'm always against
the clock because I'm

a self-employed cabinet guy.

But we have a total of
six hours to do this.

And there's no calling
clients and saying, "Hey,

we're running behind."

We're just out of
the competition

if we don't get it done.

So we're working fast
and working hard.

- Mark.

- Yeah.

- The wheels were too thin, so
I have to make them thicker.

- Yeah.

- It's frustrating
to be two hours in,

and we're working
on the wheels.

- Man!

- I know.

Calm down.

- Last week was my
first time to be

in the same room as a forge.

I don't know enough
to be scared.

I have no idea what's going on.

- Give it the business, Eli.

- Looks like Eli's getting
to work on that metal tip.

- Freeland and I
came to the agreement

that having that
tiny point of impact,

it's going to break
down some doors.

- I love seeing how
hard Eli's working.

From the moment the
clock started, he was

the first one in the workshop.

He's not a blacksmith.

He's now the one working on the
forging element of this build.

- For all you blacksmiths
at home watching this,

I just want y'all to know, this
is my third time doing this.

- You look like a blacksmith.

- Thanks, buddy.

- The guy has a
lot of grit in him.

- Hopefully,
this is going to be what

will ram through that door.

- Good job, Rich.

- Well, it sounds like we got
a farrier working on the shop

here.
- Yep, sure do.

- For the front of
our battering ram,

we are going to make a
wedge because it will

split the door much easier.

And I feel like a spike could
easily get stuck in the door.

- Nice technique, Rich.

I love it.

- Rich is a farrier by trade,
and so he is going to be

doing all of our forging.

He is the one making
that key part of the front

of our battering ram.

And it's great because he
knows how to do that well.

He can put that together.

And Brandon, he is probably
the best welder

of the three of us.

And he can weld
everything together

so that it's solid and strong.

- Welding!

- The idea of having a
chisel on the end of this

is not a bad idea because
now you've got pressure

hitting a thin line,
but it's not something

that's going to dig in.

- That's so smart.

It looks like all
four of Flying Monkeys

wheels and axles are finished.

- Let's jack this thing up.

- I'm seeing that
Sawdust and Sparks have

their structure almost done.

And so we need to
mount the wheels

and get our frame built
as quickly as possible.

- You're bleeding.

- How am I'm bleeding?

What the heck?

- What'd you do, Corey?

- I don't know.

Brad told me I was bleeding.

- Oh.

Oh, it's on your face?
- Yeah.

- Jeez.
- Sprung a leak.

- I have no idea.

- It's a flesh wound.

- The one advantage
of having three people

is, while one's
getting bandaged,

the other two can keep working.

- Yep.

- The Ther-Mighties
are the only ones that

don't have a structure yet.

All they have is
a base and wheels.

- Yeah.

- That's an issue.

- Starting off a
little slow, but I

think that we got a good plan,
and we're really moving now.

- Gentlemen, you guys have
three hours remaining.

You're halfway through.

Ther-mighties, your guy's
inspection is up first.

- And I'm feeling a
little bit nervous.

We don't have a whole
lot set up right now,

but hopefully, they see that
we're on the right track.

- So how's it going?

- Really good, right?

- Well, look, I like the way
you framed the base together.

- Yep.

- But I'm kind of
wondering how you're going

to build this upper carriage.

- In wall construction,
there's something

called the strongback.

And you put four
verticals on there.

And we're just stacking up.

We can create the
post, put a lintel

in to put the carrier beam up.

- Think it's going to hold
the weight of this monster?

- I think we're going to put
more weight onto it, actually.

- Are you?

- We might try and put some
cinder blocks attached to it.

- Do the one-hit wonder?
- Yeah.

That's the plan.

- You're gonna beef that up?

- Yeah.

That's the plan.

Well, with three
hours left, it sounds

like you got a good plan.

But it's only three hours,
you got some work to do, guys.

So good luck with that.

- He's going to be
talking about the judges'

visit for a long time.

That's like meeting his heroes.

Yeah.

If they want to come back over
here and do another visit,

you know, they can
knock themselves out.

- Sawdust and Sparks,
you guys are up next.

- Dang.

You look like you're
framing a house.

- Oh, we want
this to be strong.

- I mean, you've got it
braced up really well.

- Yeah, and you've
got a lot of room

to hang and swing that
beam, which is going

to give you a lot of power.

The question is, how are you
going to move this thing?

- Well, we're going to put
some wheels on it for sure.

- Well, they're 10-inch
wheels, but we're going

to go three on each side.

- OK.

- You got a ton of work
and not a lot of time.

Good luck, guys.

- All right, thank you.
- Thanks, guys.

- After talking to the judges
we're pretty confident,

but we need to stay
focused because there's

$20,000 at stake.

- All right, Flying Monkeys,
guys, it's time

for your inspection.

- Hey, guys how you
think it's going?

- Good, good.

- Doing well.

- You don't have
a lot of height.

- Not yet.

Kory's working on
these A-frames.

- Uh-huh.

- So these A-frames
are going to be

held together by a beam going
all the way down the center.

That's where we're going to
hang the ram itself from.

And then we're going
to have cross pieces

that tie them together
and hold it

all structurally sound.

- You're familiar with
what used to happen

to medieval churches, right?

- What's that?

They collapsed?

- Where the roof
pushed the walls out.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

- Well, you guys really need
to think about how you're going

to support this beast
and really just put

your heads down and move fast.
- Yeah.

- 'Cause you're running
out of time,

and you've got a lot
of work left.

- Yep.

- Yeah, we sure do.
- Thanks, guys.

- Thank you.

- Good luck.
- Thanks.

- We gotta go over.

- Up, over, on.

- The other teams
look like they

have got a little bit
more done than us,

but I think that
we have a plan.

And I think that
things are going

to start coming
along a little bit

faster, a little bit smoother.

- Looking great, guys.

It seems that the
overplanning is really

paying off for Ther-Mighties.

- 1, 2.

- It might be one
of those situations

where they plan things out
enough to make up for the time

that it took to make the plan.

- You're amazing, Free.

- You are too.

- Hey, I know I was
stressed out earlier,

but we're doing all right.

Feel really good about this.
- It's all part of the games.

- The hardest part
of this challenge

is knowing that I can't
go in there and help.

But I can cheerlead.

L-E-T-S G-O,
let's go, let's go.

L-E-T-S G-O, let's go!

- Rah, rah, ree.

- Kick 'em in the knee.

- Everyone,
you guys are in the final hour

of this competition.

- . I think we need
to get our eyebolts in

and get the chains.

- We need a ladder.

- I hear "get the chains."

- Yeah.

I think we're going to see
a beam in the air very soon.

- It is a critical
moment in this build.

When these guys take the
supports off the beam

and put all that weight on the
structure, if it doesn't hold,

the whole thing could come
tumbling to the ground.

All the work all for naught.

- And this is a build
with the amount of time

left where there's
no coming back.

- Come on.

- We might see our
first fatality on this.

- Ha.

- Time is running out, and I'm
getting really worried here.

Once we put this log up
here, there's no going back.

So this could make or break it.

All right, this is it, man.

- Whew.

- OK.

- Moment of truth.

- Well, guys,
we're in the final hour

here at the first ever

Instruments of Death
competition.

Right now we've got three
teams up here at the build site

building their battering rams,
a critical moment in

this build.

- All right, this is it, man.

- When these guys take
the supports off the beam

and put all that weight on the
structure, if it doesn't hold,

the whole thing could come
tumbling to the ground.

All the work all for naught.

- Ha.
- Whew.

- OK.

- Yeah!

- It works!

Look!
- Yeah.

- Huh?

- Wow.

- Nice.

- We got swinging.

- That is impressive.

- We got our first beam hung.

- OK, no more testing.

We're good.

- Oh, yeah, Daniel.

- Flying Monkeys has me
a bit confused right now.

- Yeah, exactly.

Put this entire piece together,
right?

Hang this, and then
worry about the tip.

Because honestly, just having
a flat tip on this thing

is going to do some damage.

- But they do have to
have a forged element.

- The most important element
of the battering ram

is the tip.

- I'm building the cap for the
front of the battering ram.

I'm going to mount
the bit that I

forged earlier in the
front of this plate

so it's protruding out.

The beam will house
half of the shaft,

and then the rest of the
shaft will be protruding

in front of the cap.

We're going to pierce
right through it.

- Can you guys imagine
being in a castle

the first time somebody
ever used a battering ram?

It's a cop knock on steroids.

- Brad, good job.

- I'm very confident it's
going to break down the door.

- Gentlemen, you're within
the final 30 minutes.

- Oh, my god, come on.

- Now that we have
the verticals up

and we've got the
headers on the verticals,

we're ready to hang
this beast.

To suspend the
battering ram,

we are going to just wrap
the chains around it

and screw them in straight to
the post instead of worrying

about using eye hooks.

This is going to save
us a lot of time,

and it's just as strong.

- Looking good.

- Oh, yeah, look at the
tension on that chain.

- Holy smokes.

- Oh, there we go.

There goes one sawhorse.

- Moment of truth.

- Hey, look at that;
she dangles.

- Nice job.

Now quit screwing around
and grab the chain saw!

- Go!

There we go; we got a wedge.

- You know,
Sawdust and Sparks,

this is what I expected to see.

They've got a high
enough structure,

and they're making a
chisel point for the front.

Brilliant.

- Which way was up?

- Try the other way.

- Not that way.

- Yeah, try the other way.

- Our structure's solid.

Our log has a great
tip on the end.

We're pretty confident we're
going to destroy this door.

We are super excited
to get into this testing,

but we have some time left.

So we're going to do
some cool styling on it

to give it some character.

- They made a giant arrow.

- Oh, yeah, why not?

- They're showing off.

- They're really
having fun now.

- You guys are ridiculous.

15 minutes left.

- Flying monkeys is really
reaching for the sky here.

- Oh, my goodness,
that's going to be tall.

- Do we want the
rope or a chain?

- I would probably do rope.

- When you look at
the two on the end,

you see all these cross braces.

There's a reason bridges look
like that and not like that.

I understand where
they're going.

They're just missing a lot
of the parts they need.

- Good thing I was a Boy Scout.

That tightens on itself.

- Yeah, it's good.

- OK, Brad, well,
let's hope it holds.

- Height's going to be key
for this to work effectively.

We want it to punch the door
about 38 inches off the ground

so it's hitting the
same spot every time.

- A little bit higher.

- Flying Monkeys has
a lot more height,

but I'm not quite sure
about their structure.

- All right, nice and easy.

- Whoo-hoo, it's hanging, man.

- Whoo.
- It's hanging!

- That's a great sign.

- There's a lot of
times where we've had

five-hour rounds for people
to make just a small sword.

These guys have
built a freaking

battering ram in six hours.

- Color me impressed.

- You got a rocket right here.

You've got the nail, and
you've got a number two pencil.

- Eli, work on getting a
cinder block or two attached.

Now that everything
is together,

now that it's swinging, I am
sizing up the competition,

and they're all way
bigger than we are.

So we want as much weight as
we can to knock down the door.

So we're going to
attach some cinder

blocks to it
to just give it more power

as it's going through.

- Look at these
maniacs over here.

- You know, we didn't
intend for these guys

to use the cinder blocks as
a part of the construction,

but I did technically say
you have full access to all

the supplies and
all the tools that

are in the open-air workshop.

- I say strap the
oxygen tank onto it,

whack the nozzle off of it,
and use it as a rocket.

- The battering ram
has one purpose,

and that's to destroy things.

And I feel like we
should name it J. Neilson

because J.'s really good
at destroying things too.

I'd like for this thing
to be a one-hit wonder.

- Hey, J., can we name our
battering ram after you?

- Sure.

- J. gave us the go ahead.

- It's hard falling
apart inside.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Building team,
put down your tools.

This round is over.

- All right.

- Excellent work.

- Oh, yeah!

- Whoo!

- Oh, that was great.

- We started off
a little rocky,

but the battering
ram turned out great.

But I'm a little nervous
because we named our battering

ram the J. Neilson.

J. Neilson hits hard.

We're hoping the battering
ram hits just as hard.

- Sawdust and Sparks,
Ther-Mighties, Flying Monkeys,

gentlemen,
congratulations to all

three of your teams
for an intense

six hours of build time.

Now we've got three seemingly
functional battering

rams ready to breach
the castle door.

Now, guys, remember,
this is all about speed.

Do not stop fighting
until I tell you

you have successfully
gotten through the castle.

Whichever two teams
get through the door

fastest will advance to
the third and final round

of this competition.

You guys ready to get to it?

Yeah.

- Sawdust and Sparks,
you guys are up first.

Take your position.

- We're feeling really good.

We have a solid structure.

We've got a good design.

We're going right
through this door.

But my biggest
concern in the testing

is just whether we can do it
faster than the other teams.

This is going to be fun.

- Oh.

Holy smokes.

- Whoo-hoo!

- All right, all right.

- You guys have
breached the castle.

Very well done.
- All right, all right.

- We got the city!

- Holy cow.

- The wedge was smart.

The top 2-by
got knocked clean off.

- Oh yeah, the 4-by split.

- Snapped it right in half.
- Oh, nice.

- Cracked that 4-by
right in two.

- Well--
- That's the deal.

- I like it.

- It will breach.
- It will breach.

- Yes.

- All right, guys,
Sawdust and Sprinkles--

--all right, Sawdust
and Sparks, you guys

built a wicked machine here.

It's stout.

You used heavy timbers
so the frame was heavy.

That frame didn't move
at all while you were

swinging the battering ram.

The wedge you put on the front
end of that, by the third hit,

you were breaking
through that door.

The fifth hit, you shattered
that 4x4 on the back of there

and knocked that gate down.

And it only took
you 13 seconds.

That's a good job.
- All right.

- Yeah.

- Sawdust and Sparks,
very, very well done.

That makes a hard
act to follow.

Ther-Mighties,
you guys are up next.

How are you feeling?

All right, come on up.

- A little nervous, just
about the spike on the head

of our battering ram.

It's obviously got a different
profile than the last guys,

and theirs worked really well.

I'm hoping that we just don't
pierce a hole in the door

and get stuck and have to
finagle and jiggle it out.

- Oh, no.

You have successfully
breached the wall.

Well done, Ther-Mighties.

- Whoo!

- I mean, I don't think
they even broke that board.

They just-- they bounced
it out of the brackets.

- It worked out.

- Cool.

- Everything's
still in one piece.

- All right,
Ther-Mighties, nice design

on your battering ram here.

That first hit, the spike
went all the way through.

I thought you were
going to have a problem

getting it out of there.

Second hit, you blew a
chunk out of the door.

You hit that door so hard,
it jumped out of the brackets

and fell over.

But you breached the door.

Great job.

And your time,
gentlemen, 13 seconds.

- Yeah.

- I can't believe we
both got 13 seconds.

It's hard to say who has
the advantage between us

and Sawdust and Sparks.

But hopefully, the Flying
Monkeys don't do as well.

We just have to find out.

- Flying Monkeys,
you guys are up next.

How are you feeling?
- Great.

- Great.

- All right,
gentlemen, mount up.

- Flying Monkeys
are the last team to go.

And having just witnessed
the other two teams go

through the door
in 13 seconds,

it's making us nervous
if I'm telling the truth

So we want to get through under
13 seconds that's our goal.

That's our goal.
- Yep.

- Nice.

- Oh, my.

- Yeah!

- Whoo!

- Wow.
- What?

both: Whoo!
- Storm the city.

- Yeah!

- Whoo!

- Good job, guys.

- I hope that castle had
breacher's insurance.

- Height is might.

- Wow.

- You know what
helped is this--

it's the extra two feet.

- Mm-hmm, yeah.

I knew this was
going to be fun.

- All right, Flying Monkeys,
you did a great job.

We were all second-guessing
your construction idea

and technique, but by building
it as tall as you did,

you had two extra feet
of rope hanging there.

And with all three of you
pulling that back,

you got so much momentum
in that ram,

it just blew
that gate through.

You did a great job.

Not only that,
it only took six seconds.

- Yes!

- Great!
- Whoo-hoo!

- Yeah!

- Building teams, gentlemen,
congratulations to all of you.

We had three separate
designs of battering

rams and three successful
breaches of the castle wall.

Now, Flying Monkeys, you
guys got through in only six

seconds, which means
you earned yourselves

a spot in the third and final
round of this Instruments

of Death competition.

But Sawdust and Sparks,
Ther-Mighties, gentlemen,

with both your teams coming
in at exactly 13 seconds,

we have a tie, which makes
for a difficult decision

for the judges because
they've got to go over

every aspect of your builds and
decide which one of your teams

have earned your spot into
the third and final round.

So if you'd please
give us a moment

and step off the
testing grounds.

- I thought 13 seconds was
going to be a good number,

but now we're tied.

And we're a little
bit nervous on this.

But I think our
design is probably

the most robust one up there,
so it's up to the judges now.

- Well, that was awesome.

But only one of these teams can
make it into the next round,

so you have a decision to make.

Doug, what are you thinking?

- Both of these battering
rams have a nice solid frame,

but I love the wedge that you
have on Sawdust and Sparks.

The Ther-Mighties have a spike.

It did get stuck.

- Oh, no.

- They got it out,
but it still got stuck.

So as a design of
a battering ram

that gets your weapon
stuck on your opponent,

not a good idea.

- I got to kind of
agree with Doug.

Sawdust and Sparks, they've
got a really great design.

The wedge, the wider base,
the extra wheels,

it moves actually fairly
well for its size.

I think it's just
a better setup.

- Then we get over
here to Ther-Mighties,

it's a little bit on the
lighter side, so they thought

they had to weight it out.

So they added
more blocks to it,

they added more ballast to it.

Tells me that they were
questioning their own design.

- Doug, have you
made your decision?

- Yes, I have.
- J., how about you?

- Oh, yeah.
- Dave?

- Yeah, definitely.

- All right, guys,
we'll call them in.

All right, teams, first
of all, you should all

be extremely proud of
yourselves for completing

the largest,
heaviest weapon we've

ever asked anybody to build
in any of our competitions.

You crushed it.

Now, Sawdust and Sparks,
Ther-Mighties,

it was so close,
but we only have room

in the next round of this
competition for one more team.

And the judges did make
a final decision.

And the team leaving
this competition is...

Ther-Mighties.

Unfortunately, your batting
ram just didn't cut it,

and Doug's going
to tell you why.

- Ther-Mighties, the decision
to forge your tip into a spike

instead of a
wedge-shaped tip caused

it to get stuck and lose time.

And that's the reason why
you're not moving forward.

- Now, guys,
it was a hard decision

and it's definitely
a tough break.

You should be proud
of yourselves,

but unfortunately, your time
in this competition has ended.

But, guys, before you
head down the hill,

I'd like to ask you to come
forward and shake our hands.

- Oh, I'm extremely
proud of what we

were able to do in six hours.

That was-- that was impressive.

I was a little bit
disappointed

the J. Neilson didn't perform.

- Next time,
let's name it after Doug.

- And then there were two.

Flying Monkeys, Sawdust
and Sparks, gentlemen,

congratulations on
making it through two

grueling rounds
of this Instruments

of Death competition.

Now it's down to your two teams
to battle it out and find out

which team will be taking
home the first ever

Instruments of Death
champion title and $20,000.

Gentlemen, how are you feeling?
- Good.

- Good.

- All right, guys,
in this final round

you're going to be
building a weapon that

was first designed and
built by the Romans

thousands of years ago.

And its intent was
to launch these.

- Oh.
- Yeah.

- Oh, yeah.
- Oh, yeah.

- Gentlemen, these bolts
are loaded and launched

by an enormous,
torsion-powered, crossbow-like

weapon called the ballista.

- Oh, awesome.
- Awesome.

- The use of the ballista
on the battlefield

was a total game changer.

Originally made of
wood and iron plates,

this weapon was
designed to hurl bolts,

spears, even stones
with an amount of force

never before seen.

Combine that force
with its accuracy,

this weapon was notorious
for hitting enemies

over hundreds of feet away.

Its compact size
and light weight

made the ballista
highly mobile,

making it one of the
most popular siege

engines on the battlefield.

Our builders are going to
have to come up with a plan

to build a ballista
that generates

enough power to pierce
targets but, most importantly,

do so accurately.

- I've never built anything
remotely close to this before.

The concerns are in the
details for me and the team.

It's going to be challenging.

- Now gentleman,
all three of your teammates

can work on the ballista
at the same time this round.

When it comes to testing, this
is all about functionality

and how well
your ballistas perform.

You will have 15 hours over
the course of three days

to complete your ballistas.

Now, on the beginning
of day two,

I'm going to be adding
a parameter that

will be a requirement in order
to have your ballistas tested.

Is everybody ready?
Yeah.

- I'm excited.

We get to build something
that will launch

something across the field.

This is going to be fun.
- This is gonna be awesome.

Game on.

- Round three, here we come.

- All right.

- All right, guys,
we will be giving you

10 minutes of design
and preparation time.

And after that,
your 15 hours will begin.

Good luck, your design
time starts now.

- Ballista.

- OK.

- I built one of these,
a much smaller version,

as a school project
with my son.

So I've seen kind of the
mechanism a little bit.

I know the concept.

I understand what needs to
happen, but on this scale,

it's a lot more complex.

So the basics are we've got the
frame, the torsion box here.

And then we need to
have a way to put

tension on those...
- OK.

- Like, as we're
just wrapping them straight.

- OK, what about the
back mechanism here?

We need to have something
that will pull this back.

Kind of a ratcheting mechanism
that can hold that in place.

- We can make, like,
a toothed gear,

so it just has a little
bit of hook on it.

- They've got three guys
building completely separate

components for a
puzzle that has

to fit together at the end.

- That's going to be
the interesting part.

- Mm-hmm.
- And let's get it done.

- OK, let's do it.

- I'm going to sketch
out sort of my vision

of how we should proceed.

I'm really excited.

I've never built anything
remotely close to this before.

We're going to
need a base post.

We're going to have to create
some sort of swivel mechanism

here to allow for the
ballista to rotate.

- Rotate elevation.

- The most critical
part of this weapon

is the torsion box.

That is what will hurl a bolt,
because this

is going to be kind of
the crux of the machine.

This is what's
going to allow it--

- It's the power.
- The power option.

- That's the engine, yeah.

We're concerned about the
ability to torsion this thing

without it collapsing the box.

And we're gonna have to start
working on

a steel frame for this.

I don't want to
make it out of wood solely,

because the
steel can reinforce it.

- Well, we gave him 10
minutes to design and plan.

How detailed do they get?

- I don't know.

You give me 10 minutes
to design a knife,

it'll be a triangle
with a stick on the end.

That's about it.

- Yeah.

- Let's do it.

- All right, gentlemen,
preparation time is over.

Day one of the ballista
build starts now.

- Whoo!

- All right!

- Hey.

- Here we go.

This is, hands down,
the largest projectile weapon

we've ever asked
anybody to make.

- There are a lot of
interesting things

with the ballista.

One, the arms
are fired by torsion.

So the box that holds your
skeins of rope,

that needs to have
a ton of support in it.

- Do you want the threaded
end or the non-threaded end?

- We don't need threads on it.

On this build, I'm going
to be doing most of the wood

because that's my
area of expertise.

Rich is going to be
doing forging,

and then Brandon is going to
be doing both metal and wood.

- Right now,
I'm making the frame

for the main torsion box.

Trying to get some
extra strength

in that because of all
the load that it's under.

So we're gluing it on
here and screwing it,

so that gives a lot more
rigidity between it.

I'm basically turning two
boards into one thicker board.

- Gluing it before
he screws them in.

Smart man.

My experience with
building one of these

is that the power that's
in these machines.

If you don't overbuild it,
it'll break itself apart.

- Yep, seems right.

- It seems like everyone
is working with purpose.

There's not a lot of chatting
around or guesswork going on.

Everybody is so focused
on what they have to do.

- Well, the Flying
Monkeys looks like they're

building crosses
for the competitors

right now when they bury them.

- So this is the
base to the ballista.

So anyway, we're going to go
up like this, center point.

That's where our ballista
is going to be mounted.

We're going to support it both
ways so it's super strong.

- Going up.

- Flying Monkeys are
starting from the ground up.

They're going to
build that stand

and then start attaching
parts together on top of it.

- I think that's a good plan.

- Yeah, I agree because
you building something--

having something
and then trying

to build the stand underneath
it, it's kind of rough.

- I mean, you don't start
a house with the roof

or the walls, you know?

- These braces
are going to make

sure this thing goes nowhere.

If your ballista falls
over when you're firing it,

it's a bad weekend.

- At this point, the torsion
box is pretty much done.

I'm going to start
working on the sled.

- The actual bolt
sits on the carriage,

and you hook that carriage to
your window, so your crank,

to pull it back,
putting the tension

on the bowstring itself.

And then when you fire
it, the bolt goes,

the carriage doesn't.

- The Sawdust and Sparks are
on the table saw over here.

It looks like they're
using it to cut

out a giant dovetail slip.

- Good idea.

- Yeah.

- We're doing a
dovetail because that

is kind of the gold
standard of two

pieces sliding on each other.

They don't come out.

It's been used for drawer
slides for hundreds of years.

It's a tried-and-true joint.

This joint has to
be really smooth

because when you're
shooting something out,

you don't want any resistance.

Look at this guy,
smooth like butter.

Nice.

- This is the beginnings
of a torsion box.

- It looks to me like
Flying Monkeys

is using a smaller box.

- Is bigger necessarily better
when launching these bolts?

- Honestly, if you made it a
little bit taller this way,

you've got more rope.

More rope, more tension
when you pull it back.

- Hoping for both torsion
apparatuses right here

and then our center shot.

- --just so we can
fit a lot of rope

in there so we can get maximum
torque out of these arms.

- Gentlemen, day one
is coming to an end.

You have 30 minutes.

- So at this point, we don't
think a 4-inch hole is going

to provide enough support, so
we're going to go ahead and go

down to a 3-inch hole,
which will

make the sidewall's thicker.

The reason why we're doing that
is so when the torsion crushes

together, when the ropes come
together, we want to make sure

there's enough ability
to resist the flex.

- Now, is that hole big
enough for the ballista?

- I'd want a 4-inch hole.

- So really, the smaller the
hole, the less reps you're

going to be able to get, which
means the less torsion you're

going to be able to create.

- Yeah.

- That's good.

- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Builders, pack it up.

This day is over.

Gentlemen, we will
see you tomorrow.

- Good work today.

- Gentlemen, welcome to the
second day of this final round

of Instruments of Death.

We do have an
additional parameter

to add at the beginning
of the second day.

By the end of this
round, you guys

are going to have to build
eight bolts that will

be shot from your ballistas.

Oh, man.

- And on top of that,
they each have

to have a hand-forged tip.

- The bolts
are time-consuming.

And that's a lot of forging.

Rich is going to be
basically doing that all day.

That takes him out
of the equation.

So we're down to two people
doing the rest of the build.

Why couldn't we just
make three bolts?

- Your day two starts now.

- Let's go.

- Cruel.
- That's rough.

- Did you see--it's like
I kicked their puppy.

- Kind of did.

- Top of day two,
we're feeling pretty good.

We've got a good base;
we've got our torsion box.

We were right on track.

Grady piled on eight bolts.

That's going to be
a lot more work.

The plan to make these
bolts is for Brad and Kory

to continue to work
on their portions,

and I am going to start
cranking out the bolt heads.

I made the determination to
make them out of 5160 spring

steel and forge them
down into a pyramid

shape with four sides.

And that way they'd
have the durability

to hold up for whatever
testing they're

going to be put through.

- I really like the design
that Flying Monkeys are

going with for the bolt heads.

- Yeah.

- Power hammer would be
nice right about now.

- We gave each team the ability
to have all three members

working at the same time, which
turns out to be absolutely

necessary in the second round.

Both teams have lost a
member making those bolts.

- Decided to use the coil
spring for the spearheads.

So right now I'm just going
to cut these into sections,

straighten them out, and
then start to shape them.

- It's always good
to see someone

forging on "Forged in Fire."

- We're already 30
minutes into this,

and I've already felt like
I've spent a whole day working.

- He's doing a lot of
swinging with that hammer.

It gets tiring quick.

- Ready when you are.

- That's a hammer.

Go with like an 8-pound sledge.

- There you go.

- That's a really good idea.

- This is called
the power hammer.

This is Big Green.

My role in this whole process
is to go up and down.

We'll let this guy
actually move

the metal where he wants it.

- OK, nice.

- Sawdust and Sparks went with
the dovetail for their sled

to make sure it
didn't have any rise.

Flying Monkeys are just
going with a T cut.

- Easier to build.

I mean, he cut all those pieces
in the time it took to cut

a half of that dovetail.

- This is the sled.

This is going to be the
bolt track eventually.

The reason we build it like
this was to lock everything

in so, basically, the
sled, when it's released

and it releases
all that tension,

that thing doesn't fly
back and hit the guy

in the head or elsewhere.

It would hurt no
matter where it hit.

Yeah, then it's going
to slide this time.

I like it.

- For our tips,
we're doing an integrated tip.

So what we're doing is,
we're going to sleeve it

into the pipe,
and then the pipe

will go on to the wood dowel.

So we have one cohesive piece.

- So we're doing a good
oil quench on these

to make that tip nice
and hard, so hopefully,

whatever it impacts
will destroy the impact

site and not the tip.

- All right, we got
ourselves some torsion rope.

.

- The Flying Monkeys are
trying to unwind the rope,

and the whole bundle
just fell apart.

- This is a spaghetti pile.

- You ever try to uncoil
an extension cord?

- Yes, I have.
- Christmas lights.

- It gets tied up.

- Doesn't matter how you put
the Christmas lights away,

they're tangled when you go
get them out the next year.

- We're putting the
V12 in this thing.

Got probably about
120 feet of rope.

- So if you think of these
machines as an engine,

that torsion bundle
is that engine.

So the smoother that runs,
the more power you

can get out of that, the better
that machine is going to work.

- All right, I'm gonna start
coiling these things in here.

Building our engine, doing
it the way the Romans did it.

- We finally have
a bundle in place.

The Flying Monkeys have one
going, two team members.

And guys, there's a ton
of wraps on this thing.

- Yeah.

- And that's what you want
to see.

- I hope we can pull
400 or 500 pounds

out of this torsion bundle.

- Yeah, that would be ideal.

- So Dave, how does
this rope system work?

- So if you got a rubber
band, there's your rope.

You put a stick in it and wind
it and have one end sticking

a little bit further out.

Now you pull this
back under pressure

and it's going to snap forward.

- OK.

- And so if you've got
a line tied to this,

it's going to pull
that line forward.

That's what's making
that bow work.

- All right, I'll get
the other rope prepped,

and we'll do this again.

- Here we go.
Finally.

- S and S is pulling out rope.

- This is ridiculous.

It's really,
really enjoyable to undo.

My arm is cramping
from pulling the rope.

Lucky me, living the dream.

Stupid son of a--

- Oh, and man down.

- Nailed it.

You all right?
- .

- Get that on camera?
- Oh, yeah.

- No cameras, right?

- That's going to make it.

- At this point, we're
going to start putting

the rope into our torsion box.

So we're going to
go back and forth,

back and forth
around some pipe,

so that we can go
ahead and torsion it

and get this thing flying.

I'm hoping for 20 loops.

OK.

- It's good to
finally see Sawdust

and Sparks getting the
wraps in their bundle done,

but it's a tight fit.

They're not going
to be able to get

anywhere near as many
wraps in the bundles

as the Flying Monkeys can.

- Oh, that's my finger.

- What's the logic behind
putting more wraps of rope?

- Why can't they just get
away with one or two wraps?

- It's not going to
hold the arms in place.

You're not going
to get the tension.

- We only were able
to get 9 and 1/2

wraps, so we're going to
have to make that work.

- So are they going
to rely on more twists

to get that torque?

- They're going to have to.

- Have to.
Yeah, I think so.

- Around and around we go.

- Kory and I are
building a trigger plate.

- We're going to need
something down here to give

us a pivot, but not that big.

Maybe like a quarter inch.

- So it sits flush,
is what you're saying?

- So the connection between
the windlass and the sled

is probably the most
important connection

you can think
about at this point

because it's pulling
back all that torsion.

- OK, ready.

- Yay.

Bye, bolt.

We're going
to install this bad boy.

We have this lined up centered
on the rail on this bolt,

and this mechanism
is centered on there.

If this isn't
aligned correctly,

it's not going
to probably throw

the bolt out as far as we
would like it to be thrown.

This build,
everything's got to go right

or it's not going
to work right.

- Looking sweet.

- Yeah.

- Just like candy.

- Builders, you guys
have one hour left.

- Lift up.

- Oh, here we go.

- Looks like
Sparks is lining up

their ballista on the stand.

This is what we're
talking about.

These guys have been working
on so many different components

of the ballista over
the past two days,

and now, as we're coming
to the final hour,

they're starting to
actually take shape.

- We are clearly
progressing quickly

on this, which is great.

We need to put
the back winch on,

and we're putting the arms
in, hook the bowstring on.

- Sawdust and Sparks is trying
to put tension on their

ropes now.

- This is very big.

The more twists they get in
the ropes, the more torsion

they get in the bundles.

And if they don't have
torsion, the bolts go nowhere.

The amount of torsion
they can get in this thing

is going to be the deciding
factor whether they

win this thing or lose.

- Oh.

- Oh.
- .

- Oh, come on.

- The idea on this
was that we would

be able to turn these pipes
at the top, which would

tighten the ropes inside.

But they don't want to turn.

Nope.
Not moving.

- They have more torsion,
more strength in the bundle

than that rebar can handle.

- I don't know what
we're going to do.

This is the only thing
that fits inside the pipe.

- So we're well on our way
into day two of this ballista

build, and the guys are
making a lot of progress

it seems, but Sawdust and
Spark has to find a better way

to get more torsion in these
bundles or they're done for.

- I'm really frustrated.

I'm at the end of my rope here.

- You want to come
here and hold this?

I have an idea.

- OK.

- I made a big rod.

- Sawdust and Sparks
just made a cheater bar.

They're going to
try to get even

more torsion in these bundles.

- Oh, that's good.

- 3, 2, 1.

- OK, good, good.

- OK?

- Holy smokes, look how
much faster this is going.

- Yep, big difference.

- There we go.

We're moving.

- Brandon, he totally
saved the day on this one.

- OK, 3, 2, 1.

- We got 20 minutes left,
and we're finishing our bolts.

We got the fletchings in.

We're pinning them
and gluing them now.

- OK, let's go.

- So Flying monkeys are
moments away from mounting

their ballista on its stand.

- Here we go.

Oop.

- Go back your way about--

- An inch.
- --3/4 of an inch.

Not so much.

- Forward, forward.

- I'm so excited for this.

- Send it.

- You there?

- Yeah.

- We're there.
- All right.

- Come on.
- They're doing a dry fire.

- Come on.

- Go ahead, Brad.

- They're not going to
shoot it with the bolt,

but they're identifying
how far back,

making sure everything's right.

I can smell their
nerves right now.

- Let's go.

- If this breaks,
it's lights out.

- All right.

There is about where
we're going to need to be.

All right,
on the count of three,

everybody grab hold of it.

We'll do it all
together back here.

- Whoa, dude.

- Ready? 1, 2, 3.

Whew, boom.
- It works.

- I'd call that
a successful test.

- Oh, yeah.
- Yeah.

- It will shoot.

- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

All right, gentlemen,
that's the end of day two.

Tomorrow you will
have two hours

to finish up your builds.

And we're going
to start tomorrow

with an inspection
from the judges,

so I hope you're ready.

- Whoo!

- Gentlemen, you got
two hours remaining.

Sawdust and Sparks,
step outside the

build site for inspection.

- Hey, guys.
How's it going?

- Good. Doing good.
- Doing good.

- Everything looks
pretty solid.

I mean, right off,
I see the biggest problem.

Can't really move this.

That's going to hit wood.

- Also, I see that this
isn't really affixed to it,

so that every time
you draw on this,

you're going to
lose some tension.

So maybe you can
find a way to make it

a little more taut in there.

- And how's this system work?

- Yeah, so this one
we're going to have--

you'll have a pipe
that you put in--

- OK.

- --rotate it, take it out,
put it in the other hole.

- Well, I like the
fact that that's

not going to be
there once you've

got everything at tension.

- Yeah.

- Having this cut loose
and having a giant--

- Right.

- --a giant beater
right next to you there

trying to rip your arm off.

All right, guys, good luck.
- Thank you.

- Have fun with this.
- All right, thanks.

After talking to Dave
and Doug,

we feel better about this.

We have some things we can
tweak and things we can do.

But I think we're
not that far off.

We almost need to cut a
hole in the front of it.

- OK, we can do that too.

- Flying Monkeys, gentlemen,
put down your tools.

It's time for your inspection.

- Man, this thing's
almost together.

- I know.
- We're getting there.

- It looks good.

- Thank you.

- I mean, this looks solid.

OK, I got a question for you.

- Yes, sir.

- Do you have one
of your bolts?

- Yeah, grab one.

- Oh, those look great.

But here's what I'm--

because of this
plate being high,

it's going to slap
the top part of that.

I've seen these things
when they go wrong--

you know, it slaps and
the arrow just lifts up.

- Oh, that would be fun.

- And if it hit that, it
would rip this thing apart.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- So, yeah,
I'd take care of that.

But other than that,
it looks like you

just got some minor
things to dial in,

and you're ready to go.

- All right,
gentlemen, good luck.

- Thank you.
Appreciate it.

Dave and Doug had some
valuable feedback.

Dave points out that
there's a gap between where

the bolt rests and the rope.

So we got to get it fixed.

OK, so that can come off.

- How we looking?

- Good, but there's
a lot to do.

I'm confident that both
these teams can get it done.

The question is, is, how well
they're going to function.

- That looks good.

- Hey, look at what
Sawdust and Spark has done.

- Very, very good.

- They've gone to drilling
a hole through their arm

for the rope.
- Very good.

- Smart maneuver.

- That's going to create a
lot more tension for them.

- Let's do a quick dry fire.

- All right, here we go,
Sawdust and Sparks

trying to get some tension.

- All right, ready, aim, fire.

- All right, we've got
a functional ballista.

But I hope they
realize that they need

more twist in their bundles.

There's not anywhere near
as much torsion as they

could get in this thing.

- No.

Brad from Flying Monkeys is
over here on the floor vise

cutting out the
notch in the trigger.

So they're going to have
that bolt sitting right

up against the bowstring now.

- I'm glad they
heard what I said.

That's definitely
a game changer.

- We want full contact for
propulsion right out the gate.

Super grateful for the input.

- OK, are we clear?
- We're clear.

- All right,
I'm going straight up.

- Yep.

- One of the things
that Dave brought up

was that our arm,
as it was rotating,

was hitting the
back of the shear wall,

which was decreasing
some of the tension on it.

One access hole.

OK, other side.

So in order to do that,
we're going

to cut a hole
in the front of that

so that the arm can
actually rotate out.

OK, good?

- Gentlemen,
you have 30 minutes.

- This is final
tension right here.

- Both teams are upping
the ante, adding more

torsion to their ballistas.

How critical is
this step right now?

- Oh, I think it's
hugely critical.

I mean, you want to have
enough power on there to throw

that bolt as far as
you want to throw it,

not as far as the
machine can throw it.

- This is going to have an
immense amount of force.

- I can't wait.

- Let's go.

- Down.

- Come toward me.

Yeah, right there.

- Gentlemen,
you got two minutes left.

- Oh, yeah.

- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Teams, put down your tools.

This third and
final round is over.

Whoo!

- Good work, guys.
- All right.

- Got this done.

- Now that the time
is done, I feel good.

I'm glad we
finished it in time.

We had a little time to put
some stain on the outside,

put some character onto it.

We're ready to test this thing.

- Nice work; nice work.

- Sawdust and Sparks,
Flying Monkeys,

gentlemen, congratulations
on a job well done.

This past round we asked you
to build the largest projectile

weapon we have
ever asked anybody

to make in any of our
competition before,

and you six got it done.

Now we've got to find out
if these ballistas are

functional to determine
which one of your teams

will leave here
as the first ever

Instruments of Death
champions and take

home a check for $20,000.

We've got two tests set up
for you, the first of which

is all about
functionality, and it will

be performed by Dave Baker.

And because this ballista
is such a unique challenge,

after that first test,
you will have

one hour to make adjustments
before the second test begins.

All right, Sawdust and Sparks,
gentlemen, you're up first.

Please, arm your ballista.

- Got this.

We're a little
apprehensive because this

is the first time
we've ever fired

this thing with a bolt in it.

I know I'm nervous,
and these guys

are nervous too, because
we really want to win this.

- Oh, .

- All right, gentlemen,
first bolt, not so hot.

Why don't you come and reset,

and we'll fire
your second bolt?

- It is frustrating
to see such

an underwhelming performance.

- This next round, we really
hope this is something that we

can launch across the field.

- Whoo-hoo.

- All right.

- All right, it got through.

- All right.

We'll take it.

- All right,
Sawdust and Sparks,

I love the fact that you've got
that trigger system in there.

I love that you've got
that ratcheting system.

You made it through two of the
layers, the two linen layers.

And I think the biggest
issue this machine has is,

there's just not enough
tension on those ropes.

If you could get those
skeins of rope wound tighter,

I think this whole thing would
function actually pretty well.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

- All right, Flying
Monkeys, you guys are up.

You ready?
- Ready.

- All right, lock and load.

- We've got a lot of
torsion on our ropes.

My gut feeling is
it's going to punch

through all of these barriers.

- Pull.

Oh, it popped up the arrow.

- So gentlemen, what happened--
your rope sits on top of this

1/4 inch plate,
which puts it at like

above the middle of the arrow.

So when it released, I
have a feeling this--

it rises a little
bit with your trigger

and it slid right over
the top of that arrow.

- OK.

- So you got one more bolt.
So let's reload this thing.

- Our rope and
trigger assembly are

sitting higher than the bolt.

Some fine tuning
needs to happen.

- Same thing.

Three days' worth of work,
and it doesn't fire.

- It doesn't fire.
- Devastating.

- All right, Flying Monkeys,
your machine, I think

it's designed beautifully.

Those skeins of rope
are still rock hard,

but there's a little problem
with your trigger system

in that the plate
that it's mounted on

is raising the rope so it's not
dead center on your bolt here.

- All right, gentlemen,
now that you've

seen your weapons fired and
heard your feedback from Dave,

we're giving you one hour
to make any adjustments

before that final team test.

This test is going to
determine who's walking away

with that $20,000
and the first ever Instruments

of Death champion title.

So good luck because
that time starts now.

- Let's put this on
the ground and see

if we can get some more torque
on the top of these ropes.

We need to put a lot more
tension on these ropes

and try to tweak it and get
it going how we anticipate.

- Tremendous amount of force.

So it is a real possibility
that these ballistas

could snap in half.

- It's a possibility.

- OK.

- We definitely put on as much
tension as we could on that.

- That's good.

- Well, what we saw is the
rope going over our bolt.

- As it currently sits,
we're not shooting anything.

It's totally ineffective.

We know that we have to raise
the shooting platform up.

The fastest way to
do that is to raise

the rail up to match the height
of the trigger and the rope.

- That's sitting dead end.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to
take a marker and make a line.

Because you start
cranking it back

and you're looking at
the crank and you're

looking at the string.

- Yeah, do not move past here.

- OK, we're good.

- I like that.

Now we're to the edge
where if we go any further,

we may be a little concerned
about the structure.

- In our normal
competitions, I love

watching smiths
work out details

so all their fit and
finish is really nice.

You know what I like better?

- Finished weapons.
- Yes.

Yes.

When they get it
done and it works.

- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Gentlemen, your build
time is finished.

- We tackled the
priorities first,

and we got them done
and it will fire.

- Well gentlemen, it comes
down to one final test.

This is the team battle test.

You will be manning your
ballistas going head-to-head

against your competitors.

This is all about
how many targets

you can take down
with the eight bolts

you have in your arsenal.

Sawdust and Sparks,
you guys are up.

Man the machine.

- Let's go, guys.

- We're definitely
disappointed with

the performance
of that first test.

We were hoping to have
much more power behind it

to be able to shoot
it a lot harder.

After tensioning this,
I think we definitely have

a much better shot at this.

I just hope it fires.

- Oh!

- All right, all right!

Whoo!

Reload.

- Man.

- All right! Whoo!

All right.

- All right.

- Whoo!

Yeah!

Nice shot.

Oh, close.

Whoo!

Yeah!

- Builders,
this is your final shot.

- All right! Whoo!

The gut shot.

- Good job, guys.
Nice, nice.

- All right.
- Wow.

It buried the whole bolt.

- The whole...

Still a solid piece.
- Yeah.

- Sawdust and Sparks,
way to make adjustments.

But most of the arrows,
they kind of lobbed in.

But trigger system
works fantastic.

It's got tons of tension.

Nicely done.
- Thank you.

- Thank you.
Thank you.

- All right, Flying Monkeys
this is your chance, gentlemen.

Knock down all these targets.
You guys ready?

- Yeah.
- Ready.

- All right, gentlemen,
arm your weapon.

Going into the test, if these
adjustments that we've made

don't work, we are going home.

Sawdust and Sparks
are real competitors,

and they set the
bar really high.

- We made the adjustments, but
we still haven't seen it fire.

- Ohh.

- A little slow,
but it's working.

- Oh, ho-ho!
- Yeah!

- Mm!

- You gotta really aim high.

- Yeah!

- Nice, got it.

- Get it high.

- Nice!
Direct hit.

- That's beautiful.

- Yeah!

- Whoo!

- Ooh.

- This is your final shot.

- You got this.

- Ohh!

- Nice work.

- Are you kidding me?

- That's it.
That's it.

I'm making one.

They're flying true.

All right, Flying Monkeys
great battlefield fix on that.

By putting those rails
on there,

your bowstring
was even with the arrow,

which gave it a lot more power
just going down the rails.

That fix on the trigger
turned that into a weapon.

Nicely done.
- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Gentlemen, I think it's
safe to say this competition

is neck and neck,
but the judges

have a decision to make.

So if you please
give us a moment,

we need to talk about
the results of the test

and make that decision.

- We feel really good going
into the judges' deliberation,

because we hit all the targets.

- You guys have a
huge decision to make.

- This is close.

For me, what it comes
down to is performance.

And I think the
Flying Monkeys just

had an arrow that traveled
in a flat trajectory

to the target as opposed
to lobbing into the target.

- All right.

- Comparing performance,
Sawdust and Sparks

hit their targets five times
and missed three times,

whereas the Flying
Monkeys missed two times.

- I'm really
impressed with both.

That being said,
I prefer the construction

of the Flying Monkeys.

Things like framing the box in
metal so those pipes will spin

around easier as opposed to the
crushed wood that's on Sawdust

and Sparks right now.

As they tension that,
that's just getting crushed

and it's going to
disappear over time.

- All right, gentlemen.

J., you made your decision?

- Yeah.
- Doug?

- Yes, I have.
- And Dave?

- Yeah.

- All right, gentlemen,
I'll call them back.

Well, gentlemen, this has
been a heck of a ride, guys.

It has been an honor
watching your two

teams working through
our three intense rounds

of this competition.

And we ended with
giving you guys

an unbelievable
task of building

an ancient Roman weapon.

But we can only
have one team come

out as the first
ever Instruments

of Death champions.

And after a long
discussion, the judges

did make a final decision.

The winning team of
Instruments of Death is...

Flying Monkeys.

- Oh.

- Gentlemen, congratulations.

- Nice job.

- Good job, guys.
- Good job.

- Now, Sawdust and Sparks,
unfortunately,

your ballista did
not make the cut,

and J.'s going to tell you why.

- Sawdust and Sparks,
some of the wooden components

are being crushed
and disintegrating,

and your bolts were hitting
at a steep arc as opposed

to flying flat and true.

Those are the reasons
we're sending you home.

- Good job, brother.

- Overall, this is a
great learning experience.

We definitely learned a
lot about each other,

about building stuff,
and about medieval weapons.

- I absolutely had the
time of my life here.

I would do this all over again.

- Well, Flying Monkeys,
guys, congratulations.

You are going home
with an extra $20,000

and the title of
Instruments of Death champions.

Guys, well done.

both: Whoo!

- Whoo!
- Whoo!

- We made bolts fly,
and we won $20,000.

Flying Monkeys
flew those bolts.