All language subtitles for Forged.In.Fire.S10E11.BTU-The.Kachin.Dao.480p.Eng

- Here in The Forge,
we put hundreds

of smiths to the test.

- It's hot in here.

- But only a select few
have proven themselves

time and time again,
remaining undefeated.

Now three of our
most decorated champions

will put their perfect records
on the line

and go head-to-head
against previous

"Forged in Fire" winners

in some of the most
heated battles yet.

- This is a living nightmare.

- Everything's
right now,

if you know what I'm saying.

- Will anyone have
what it takes to finally...

Oh!

Beat the Unbeaten?

- My name is John Wigger,
and I'm 33 years old.

I first competed in season 5,

and I was the champion
of the bardiche.

Everybody I went against
last time,

it was their first time
in The Forge.

Now, everybody I'm gonna
be competing against this time

has done it,
and they've been champions.

So no one's lost yet.

Someone's gotta lose,

and I know
it's not gonna be me.

- My name is Eric Finch.

I'm 22 years old.

I competed on season 9

and became
a "Forged in Fire" champion

on the episode
"Fastest Blade in the West,"

and I made
the Vaquero machete.

During the last competition,
I made a Western Bowie knife

that was complimented
as the best replicated knife

they'd ever seen on the show.

So standards are set high.

I'm hopefully gonna
come out here

and create something
best they've ever seen again.

- Well, bladesmiths,
champions, gentlemen,

welcome back to The Forge.

Now, you guys know
how this goes.

You're here to compete
and show your skills

in an intense and unique
bladesmithing competition.

Now, this time, it's gonna
consist of two rounds,

the first of which will be

the two of you going
head-to-head

in a straight five-hour round
bladesmithing competition

where you're gonna build
a weapon from start to finish.

Now, when that round
is complete,

the judges are gonna step in,
testing your blades

and ultimately deciding
which one of you

has impressed them the most
and would be

moving into the second round
of competition.

Now, your second round
competitor

will be one of our
Titans of The Forge,

a bladesmith
who has been unbeaten

in this competition
with multiple wins.

All right, gentlemen, let's
talk about the first round.

For this first round,
we're doing a throwback

to one of our favorite
challenges.

This is a challenge that
we call Crazy Crates.

Now, the good news here is
that you guys get to build

whatever blade you want.

The bad news is,
when the clock starts,

you guys are gonna run up
and choose

one of these crates,
not knowing

what the challenge is inside.

There will be steel
and the technique

that you must use to build
your signature blade.

Now, if you choose a crate that
you're not comfortable with,

you will have the option
to come back up

and grab another crate.

But that's your backup steel,

and you're stuck
with that method.

So I highly recommend
you at least give

the first crate a shot.

- It's intimidating
not knowing

what you're gonna
have to make,

or especially what
you're gonna have to make

out of a certain material.

I don't know what's in there.

I don't know
what I'm gonna get,

so it's definitely
very, very scary.

- Now, gentlemen,
when the five hours is up,

like I said,
the judges are gonna step in.

They're gonna test your blades,

first for strength
and durability

in a copper tube chop,
and then check

your edge retention
in a playing card slice.

Now, gentlemen, this is
a very difficult challenge.

And you've only got five hours
on the clock, so good luck,

because your time starts now.

Here we go, off to the races.

These guys have to come up,

pick one of these
mystery crates,

and attempt to build a blade
with what's inside.

- I'm going with this guy.

Feeling lucky?
- Yeah.

- "What's in the box?"

- Oh, what'd he get,
what'd he get, what'd he get?

- Twisted stack Damascus.
- Ooh.

- Twisted stack.

- Eric got the twisted stack
Damascus.

- Oh, man.

- That's the toughest one
out there.

- Nickel Go Mai.

- Nickel Go Mai.
- Oh, yeah, easy peasy.

- So we got
five different layers,

alternating
and forge weld together.

- Ooh, you lucky dog.

- Hey, let's do it.

- John's got nickel Go Mai.

Eric's got the twisted
stack Damascus.

As of right now, as it stands,
you guys think

John's got the harder one,
or Eric?

- I think Eric's definitely
got the harder one

because Eric has to make
Damascus, and then cut it,

twist it, restack it.

And then he can start
making his blade.

And John has one forge weld,
and Eric at least has two.

- I haven't ever really done
nickel Go Mai.

But out of all the other
things that it could have been,

I'm pretty comfortable
with what I got.

I have worked with a little
bit of nickel in the past.

But I kind of make
what the people want at home,

and not a lot of people ask
for nickel in their knives.

- The last time John was here,
he did a cold forge outside,

no power tools, right?
- Yeah.

Yeah, it was
really, really hot.

Plus, they were trying
to reduce

a huge piece of steel by hand.
- Yeah.

- My biggest concern
with this technique

is I'm not 100% sure
what's gonna happen

when I forge weld
this together.

- Now, with the Go Mai,
it's a good idea

to do an anatmospheric weld
to close everything off

so you don't have any
runoff of that nickel

when you're heating it up.

- I don't think he is.

Now, what can happen
if he doesn't

weld all the way around?

- You might get delaminations.

- Yeah, I've seen it
kind of pop out

when on Big Blu when someone
starts their weld.

- Last time
I was at the forge,

I was the young guy going
against the old guys,

and now I'm the old guy
going against the young guy.

So let's see if I can
come out the winner again.

Luckily, I brought
my own power hammer.

- For some reason, I feel like
I know John intimately.

- You bardiche will KEAL.

Oh, it will KEAL!

- You know him very intimately.

- 95.

I've never done
stacked twist Damascus before.

Making any type
of Damascus is difficult.

You're always running the risk
of getting delams

or, you know,
a piece falling off.

Twisted Damascus, because
of how many steps go into it,

and twisting it,
then having to re-forge weld it

and bring it all back together,
it's just multiplying

your chances for error.

- It is a very large difference

between the amount of steel
these guys have.

- Yep.

- Using all the metal
I was given

would have made way too big
of a billet at once.

So I'm deciding
to take it in half

and do two separate billets,
and then combine them

later down the road.

- So Eric decided to make
two separate stacks.

So he's gonna be working
two billets at the same time.

- That's smart
because you can draw one out,

draw the other one out.

And you know, it doesn't
cost you any more time.

- All right, here we go.

Both our smiths have
their billets in the fire.

- As my billet's heating,
I'm looking for handle material

'cause you only have
a certain amount of time

to spend on each object.

- John's already mixing up
some glue.

Is he doing his own slab?

- Yeah, he had a couple little
slabs of G-10 in his hand.

- That's good.

So he's also working
on his handle material.

- I ended up choosing
Micarta because the last time

I was on the show,
I tried to use some wood.

Oh, no!

It cracked.

And every time I put it in
the drill press, it just broke.

Micarta is super strong
and durable,

and I don't want to deal
with any of those

problems this time.

- Eric, with that massive pile
of steel he cleaned up,

first out of the fire.

He's using the press
like a power hammer.

- Oh, I do it all the time.
- So awesome.

- Yeah, yeah.

- So I have to forge out
a billet of Damascus,

cut in half, then twist
each one and then take them

and stack them
on top of each other

to forge my blade out of.

I gotta be really careful here
because if I screw this up,

I'm gonna have to go
get another crate.

- All right, Eric with
the second billet, same deal,

real quick, gentle presses,
parallel to the dies.

- I'm taking a big risk
with doing this.

And if this fails, I have
to go get another crate,

and I have no idea
what's gonna be in it.

But it's "Forged in Fire."

- While my billet's heating,

I'm gonna start
designing my blade

and figure out the steps
I'm gonna take to finish that.

I end up choosing not
to double up my CRV core.

I was worried that
the center may be too thick,

and you wouldn't get a good
contrast in the nickel

and the other metals.

I'm a little worried
because I'm not

gonna have very much material
at the end of this.

- What the hell is dribbling?

- It's gotta be in the nickel.
- I know.

- He's cooked that nickel.

He left it in there so long
it just dropped out.

- It seems like that
anatmospheric weld

would probably have been
a very good idea.

- He's gonna have big voids.

- I don't even think
he noticed it.

- Start forging out the billet,
and I'm getting

a little worried that
I may not have enough material.

If I don't have
enough material,

what I'll probably have to do
is squeeze down

on the sides of the blade
and draw it out.

But I'm worried
about doing that also,

because that's
what causes delam.

So I'm just going to forge it
out as far as I can

and keep a good thickness that

I'm comfortable with
to profile later.

- All right, champs,
you guys are an hour in.

You've got four hours left.

- Now that my final two pieces
of twisted Damascus

are drawn together
and drawn out,

I have to twist each one.

Going into a twist,
you risk having

your end layers start
pulling apart.

So I'm making sure
to clamp down in the vise

my end layers,
and I twist it slowly.

- When you're twisting,
you want to keep

a nice, even pressure on it

because those shocks often
find the weakest link

and then tear it.

- This is definitely
tougher than

I thought it was gonna be.

- That's a very thick billet
to be twisting.

- Yeah, he's gonna be
exhausted here in a second

trying to twist this.

- Hey, use the--
use the press to squeeze it,

and then you can spin it.

- We'll give it a try.

You know what?
We'll give it a try.

The press is so heavy
that it allows me

to twist it with no problem.

- John just talked to Eric,

and I think he was telling him,
hey, buddy,

we got a press right there,
use that.

- So now that I have my two
pieces of twisted Damascus,

clean, tack up the ends,

and get it right back
in the forge.

- John's already
profiling a blade.

I can see the tang
and the shape of the blade.

- I noticed when
I'm forging this billet,

when I'm trying to forge
on the corners of it,

it's wanting to split apart
a little bit.

- I think he's got
a giant delam.

- .

So I'm a little worried.

- At this point,
if John has to start over,

he better hope that one
of those boxes is monosteel.

- There's no time for this.

I have to make this blade work.

Oh, man.

- So we're 90 minutes in.

Right now,
John's almost got a billet

that is the length
of the blade he needs.

He still needs the tang.

He still needs the tip.

- I think he's got
a giant delam.

- Oh, man.

So I'm a little worried.

But my other side
of my billet looks good.

I think I'm gonna make that
the top of my knife

and get a new edge.

The welds look pretty good,
and I think

I'm gonna be okay with that.

- All right, so John's got
this delamination,

but it's kind of isolated
on one side of the billet.

And it seems like he's come up
with a plan to get past that.

He's just flipping it around

and utilizing that as his tang.

- There you go.

- I'm able to move
my delam to the tang.

But then I look down the spine
and I see a few more delams.

.
- Oh, no.

He's got a delamination
that looks like a crack

all the way down
the spine of his blade.

- I do not have time
to start this all over.

So I have to work
with what I got.

I look at my blade edge,
and there is no delams.

I'm just gonna run
a bead of weld

all the way down
the spine of it

in any spot there's a delam.

And then I know
I can grind that off.

- All right, gentlemen,
you guys have three hours left.

- Now that my twisted pieces
are back up to temperature,

I gotta get them welded up.

If this weld fails,
there's a chance

I might have to restart
my billet.

- He needs to take his time

and be patient
with this forge weld.

- Yep. Nice.

I'm liking what I see.

- Tiny, couple touches.

- Nice.
- Done.

- Yep.

- Dude, he is doing it
by the book.

- I love it.

I love what I'm seeing.

- I have a solid billet,
and now I'm ready

to start drawing this out.

- I would like to see
these blades quenched.

2 1/2 hours left.

- Yep.

- I get the delams worked out.

I get my profile worked in.

And everything's
to parameters, thank God.

I'm just praying
this quench goes well.

- Whoa.

- All right, he's quenching.

- Oh, a little hot.

- All right.

- It wasn't screaming hot.
It was just hot.

- No.
- Whoo!

She's hard.

It's skating like
Nancy Kerrigan.

Whoo, whoo! Pretty sweet.

- For any blade,
going into the quench

is definitely the most
make or break moment.

You risk cracking,
twisting, warping,

especially after doing
a multi-stack twist

Damascus billet.

- All right,
now Eric is in the oil.

This is absolutely insane.

After all that effort, Eric is
now caught up with John.

- It's straight.

I don't see any cracks.

I see no warping.

And man, it feels good
because I think

I'm gonna get this blade done.

Oh.

- All right, guys,
you got 90 minutes left

to finish your work.

- I'm feeling really good
right now.

I'm grinding the profile,

and everything looks
pretty tight.

So now I'm gonna work on
making the handle feel good.

Because I've seen people
go home just because

of the handle,
if it's got hot spots in it,

if it slides
up and down their hand.

So I'm gonna try to make it
kind of tight in my hands

so I know it's good
for everybody.

Eric's got his blade.

It looks great.

So I'm a little worried
about that at the moment.

- Now that my blade
is quenched,

it feels a little heavier
than what I'd like.

So I'm gonna add a big
fuller on the front half,

removing some
of that weight to help

bring it back a little bit.

For one, it's gonna
lighten up the blade.

But it's also gonna
hopefully give me an advantage

in the card slice.

Because instead of the cards
having to go the whole way up

to a thick edge,
they only go up halfway,

enter into the fuller,
and hopefully make it

a lot better of a slicer.

- You know, Eric's blade
is looking beautiful.

- It really is.
- It's got a nice fuller to it.

- He's just kind of got it
running almost down

the middle,
which is neat because

it should expose more
of the pattern.

- John, Eric, guys,
30 minutes left.

- With not much time left,
I need to grind down now

so you're able to see
the nickel

and the different kinds
of metal.

- Looking at John's blade,
you can see the nickel

very close to the edge.

Is there a way to bring
that up in the grind?

- Yeah, you just need
a very, very acute grind,

and it'll come up.

- Yeah, which has
its own problems

in the test that we're doing.

As I'm grinding,
I see there's another delam.

.

It's away from the edge.

I know it's the nickel.

It's too late
in the competition

to try to do anything
to the delam.

If I do that,
I'm gonna ruin my heat treat,

my temper, and all that.

So there's really
no reason to risk

messing up my blade edge,

'cause that's
what's most important.

So I'm gonna try to hide it.

- John put nail polish
on his blade.

He followed the nickel
with nail polish

and made, like,
a secondary shiny bit.

- Camouflage.

- So I want my handle
on my blade to be

pretty thick and comfortable.

These judges are
upping the game

for this champions competition.

I know they're expecting
a lot out of us.

I think the judges are gonna be
really impressed with

what I got done.

- That's a sweet-looking blade.

- I'm really relieved to see
a really cool-looking pattern

and no signs of any delams
or cracking

or any welds in my blade.

All that's left to do
is sharpen.

- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Bladesmiths,
put down your tools.

This round is over.

- It was a stressful
five hours,

but I got everything done.

I'm pretty happy
with how it turned out.

- All right, gentlemen,

it's time
for our strength test,

the copper pipe chop.

John, your nickel Go Mai
is up first.

You ready for this?
- Do what you gotta do.

No turning back now.

- All right.

- I know going
into this pipe chop,

I can't really afford
to take any damage

because I don't know if Eric's
gonna be taking any damage.

And I think that could be
the decision of who wins.

- That'll be enough of that.

- Yeah, that was brutal.

- All right, John,
in your billet,

there are some delaminations.

I think you dealt with them
really well.

For competition, you got that
sealed up in the back.

Didn't open up,
didn't change at all,

so good for you on that.

Handle for me is just
a hair small.

It would have been nice
to have a little more handle

with this much blade doing
impact testing like this.

But the main thing, your edge--

that thing is just as sharp
as when I started.

Nicely done.

- Thank you, sir.

- All right, Eric,
you ready to go?

- Let's do it.
- Okay.

- It's very intimidating
looking at these pipes, man.

Copper is softer than steel,
but it's still a metal.

It's not something
a blade should naturally

get put up against.

I'm just hoping that
it survives it.

- Copper is not something
a blade should

naturally get put up against.

I'm just hoping that
it survives it.

- Oy.

- All right, Eric, right off,
that is a beautiful knife.

It's honestly one
of the best-looking

five-hour knives
I have ever seen,

so good on you for that.

Your handle construction,
that bird's head

back here gives it
a lot of retention.

As far as the edge
of your blade goes,

sharp as it can be.

A beautiful knife,
it's got a great shape

and a wonderful feel.

Well done.
- Thank you.

- All right, champions,
this is the sharpness test,

the playing card slice.

John, you're up first.
You ready for this?

- Do what you do.
- All right, let's do this.

All right, John,
let's talk about your blade.

As I was cutting,
I could definitely feel

that it's a very sharp blade,
except some of the edges

over here weren't
as sharp as the others,

because you could see,
it just tore the cards

instead of cutting cleanly.

Around here, there's
a little indentation in that.

It might have been
the reason why

it didn't cut through
some of the cards.

But overall, it will cut.

- Thank you.

- All right, Eric,
your turn, so are you ready?

- Do what you gotta do.

- Let's do this.

- Holy smokes.

- Oh, my God.

- All right, Eric,
let's talk about

your store-bought knife
right here.

- It is just exquisitely made.

Good job on that.

Now, your edge,
I guess you were all in,

'cause as you can see,
it cut all the way through.

Overall,
your knife, it will cut.

- Thank you.

- Gentlemen,
before we get to the hard part,

I gotta commend both of you.

That was an extremely
difficult challenge,

and you both brought us
great blades.

But as you know,
in this competition,

only one of you can join us
in the second round

to go against our Titan.

The bladesmith
leaving The Forge is...

John.

Sorry, man, but you missed out

by just this much.

And Dave's gonna tell you why.

- Hey, John,
you fought a great fight.

But what this came down to
is your edge geometry.

It was great
for a strength test,

but not quite as good
for that card cut.

Well, those are the reasons
we're letting you go.

- So are you telling me

that I did this for nothing?

- That's the sweetest thing
anybody's ever done for me.

Well, John, before you step
off The Forge floor,

I would love a hug.

- Love you, man.

- Great job.
- Good job, John.

- Thank you.

I knew it could come down
to the fit and finish,

and it did.

I still feel comfortable
with the knife

I made in the time given.

Since Eric's beat me now,

I'm absolutely rooting for him

in this next round.

- Well, Eric,
congratulations, man,

and welcome to the final round

of this Beat the Unbeaten
competition.

Now, it's about to get
a whole lot harder.

Because in order to take home
your second champion title

and a check for $10,000,

you're going to have to go up
against a Titan,

somebody with one
of the highest winning records

we've ever seen
in this competition.

It'll either be Gladiator
of The Forge Jesse Hu,

Super Champ Collin Sage,

or our very own judge,
Ben Abbott.

You ready to find out
who you're going against?

- Bring it on.
- All right, Eric.

You are gonna have to fight
against this guy.

Gladiator of The Forge
Jesse Hu.

- Jesse, welcome back.

- My name is Jesse Hu.

I had to run the gauntlet

in the Gladiators of The Forge
competition,

where I had to face
eight smiths.

- Jesse, you are unstoppable.

- Honestly, to this day,
I still don't know

how I managed
to get through all eight.

And so I'm back in The Forge

because if I have the title
of unbeaten,

and it's never tested,

that title is meaningless.

- So gentlemen, here's how
this second round is gonna go.

In just a moment, Eric,
you've got two choices to make.

I'm gonna open up
the "Forged in Fire" vault,

give you access
to all the weapons

that were built
by previous champions,

and select one that you want
to build against Jesse.

And not only that, you get to
choose the technique as well.

So without further ado, Eric,

are you ready to pick
your weapon?

- Let's do it.
- All right.

Let's get this vault open.

Eric, come choose your weapon.

- You know, I want to choose
something that's gonna

be a challenge for both of us.

But I don't want it to be
something

that I'm gonna end up biting
off more than I can chew

and screw myself over
in the end.

So I think I'm gonna look
for something that is

more of a one-edge knife.

- Ooh.

What do we have here?

All right, Eric,
you chose the Kachin dao.

The Kachin dao was
the weapon of choice

for one of the most feared
headhunting tribes

in the world,
the Kachin of Myanmar.

Known for their deadly
fighting skills,

these fearsome warriors
wielded

this single-edged broadsword

with a widened square tip
to chop,

slice, and decapitate
anyone unlucky enough

to cross their path.

This deadly weapon
has also taken down

smiths in the "Forged in Fire"
arena,

where, back in season 4,
one smith's loose handle

put that smith
on the chopping block.

Gentlemen, in order
to have your weapons tested,

you will have to follow
some very specific parameters.

So listen closely.

Your single-edged
straight blade will

have to measure
between 20 and 22 inches.

Now, that blade will have
to have a spatulated tip.

Moving down into the hilt,

it needs to have
a swelled pommel.

- I've never seen
the Kachin dao in my life.

I didn't know it existed.

It looks like a mix between

a pirate's cutlass
and a competition chopper.

But I could be severely
underestimating

what I have to make.

- Now, there is another
decision to make.

Eric, because you came out
on top of round one,

you get to choose
whatever technique you want.

So what are you thinking?

- He can obviously
pick something

that could be
detrimental to me.

I have no say in anything.

And he knows my work.

And that is
the terrifying part.

- How about we go with some...

- Eric, because you came out
on top of round one,

you get to choose
whatever technique you want.

So what are you thinking?

- How about we go with some...

Damascus San Mai.

- Damascus San Mai,
that's a great choice.

Jesse, how do you feel
about that?

- Little iffy?

It sounds like you made
an excellent choice, Eric.

- All right, gentlemen,

this challenge will only
consist of eight hours.

So without further ado,
gentlemen, good luck,

because your eight hours
starts now.

- Whoo!
- All right, here we go.

We've got Damascus San Mai

with a fairly
straightforward weapon.

It looks like a machete.

- That's basically
what these are.

So it needs to be
a light, fast weapon.

- I've known Jesse
for a few years now.

I've seen his work.
I know what he can do.

It's extremely impressive.

I know he's gonna do
the best he can.

But I gotta stay focused
on what I'm working on.

Similar to the last challenge,

I decided to go
with two stacks.

Doing two stacks allows me to
work on two different billets

at the same time,
so I'm not wasting time

waiting for the one
to heat up.

I'll take those two stacks,
forge weld them together.

I'm gonna turn that
into my core,

jacket 80CrV2 around it,

and I'll forge my blade
from that.

- You know, this is
gonna be exciting,

only because we just saw
Eric submit a beautiful blade,

one that is worthy
of going up against Jesse,

who's won eight times already.
- Yep.

- Winning "Forged in Fire,"

it changed my life
a pretty drastic amount.

People on the internet
are like,

how'd you get such a nice job
at such a young age?

Is it Daddy's money?

I'm just like, no, I just--

I won "Forged in Fire."

Winning again would confirm

that those eight wins
weren't a fluke.

- So Jesse's got 24 layers

of 1095 and 15N20
back at the welder.

- Good.
- Awesome.

- I'm excited.

Jesse has shown us
some very intricate designs

in some of the past
Gladiator competitions.

- My blade looks menacing.

It looks terrifyingly sharp.

The grind lines are
pretty much perfect.

- The look of this is sweet.

The scale is right on.

Nicely done.

- This weapon looks
fairly unassuming,

so I have to find a way
to make mine pop.

So I'm gonna do
a twist Damascus San Mai.

I went for one singular bar,
which I could twist in one go,

cut it in half, and then just
slap it onto an 80CrV2 core.

Whoo-hoo.

- Eric's on the press
with his first billet.

So fast.

That was three seconds
on the press.

- On my first heat,
I want to make sure

I do nice, gentle taps,
just making sure

to set those welds
and not overdoing it

where it's gonna
pull the billet apart.

- Is there some kind of logic

behind Eric doing such quick
passes through the press?

- It does two things.
First, you're not cooling

your billet as much
for each push.

And second, you're not
squeezing as much in each push

and risking delamination.

- Gotta get those welds set.

It's now time to start
drawing these billets out.

- Jesse right behind him

with a much larger
piece of Damascus,

setting his weld
for the first time.

- I make sure my temperatures
are screaming hot.

And I do fairly light presses.

And I think it set together
pretty well.

So I start drawing it out.

- Now, we've seen
Jesse compete before.

He's quick.
But he hasn't seen Eric,

and Eric's moves
at just as fast a pace.

- Perfect.

- Champs, one hour has elapsed.

You've got seven hours
remaining.

- So now that my 12-layer
billets are drawn out,

I'm gonna take them over
to the chop saw,

cut them in half,

giving me four pieces
of 12 layers

that I'm gonna clean up,
restack,

and forge weld
into a 48-layer billet.

This is gonna become
my core piece of steel

for my Damascus San Mai.

- Eric is taking that second
billet onto the press now.

It's forge welded together.

Again, going with those
really small, easy taps.

- Everything looks good
so I think

I'm gonna get this blade done.

- I get my billet drawn out
to around an inch by an inch.

And then I immediately go
straight to my twist.

One of the reasons
I chose twist Damascus

was because I did it
in the past,

but I did it very poorly.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

I want to prove to myself
and the world

that I can do it better.

And it'll look cool.

- Jesse's decided to go
with twisted Damascus.

He took that billet and did
about ten full rotations.

- Jesse is going
above and beyond.

- Perfect.

It's golden.

Like, I feel good about it.

- What's going on
over there, buddy?

- You're way ahead.

- Me?

I see you're getting twisty
over there.

So I make sure to draw out
my 48-layer billet

as wide as the 80CrV2.

That way, all I have to do
is clean up my Damascus,

and I can clad the 80CrV2
on the outside.

- Not a fan.

With the hardcore stuff that
we throw these swords against,

I would have that 80CrV2
as a core no matter what.

- 100%.
- No question.

- It's always gonna be
a tougher steel.

- Of all the forge welds
I've done,

this is the most important one

because this is
what makes it San Mai.

And if it fails,
I don't have Damascus San Mai.

I have a solid billet,
and now I'm ready to start

drawing this out
into my Kachin dao.

All right.

- Guys, we're halfway through.

You got four hours left.

- Now that my Damascus San Mai,
it's all fit together,

I can start working
on the shape.

The example blade has
a much more gradual curve.

So I take it to the anvil,
and I begin

drawing out the material
on the spine

and beveling it a little bit
to give it that nice curve.

- So based on Jesse's swings
right now,

I think he's getting ready
to quench.

- Once I get the blade
to shape,

it's time for the heat treat.

- Whoa!

Jesse's got his blade quenched.

- Oh, .

Perfect, a warp.

I notice the warp.

And it's actually pretty bad.

- Uh-oh.

- It's kicking
to the right quite a bit.

- Jesse, right now,
has a couple of seconds

to try to get a little bit
of that warp out of the blade.

And that's exactly
what he's doing.

We've seen plenty of smiths
break their blades

in jigs like this.

- Better be careful.

- Oh!
- Oh!

Somebody snapped a tang!

Oh!

Robert just snapped his blade.

If this thing were
to fall apart now,

that might as well be me
handing in my unbeaten title.

- So we're halfway through our
Beat the Unbeaten competition.

We've got our two smiths,
Eric going up against

our unbeaten champ,
Gladiator Jesse Hu.

Jesse over here has got
a warp to the right.

If this thing were
to fall apart now,

that might as well be me
handing in my unbeaten title.

No matter how much each turn
of the vise scares me,

I have to get this warp out.

It's workable now.

I get it most of the way out,

but it's still not
perfectly straight.

But I have enough meat
on my blade

to where I can
grind it straight.

I'm fine with it.

- Now that I've got my blade
roughly forged out,

it's time to get over to the
grinder and start grinding it.

. I got a little
surface delam up there.

- Seems like Eric does have
a little bit of a delam

toward the tip of his blade.

- He's gotta be very careful
with that.

- I'm gonna weld it
just in case.

I don't know how deep
this delam runs,

so I'm gonna take it over
to the welder

and weld over it
just to secure it

and make sure it doesn't
become an issue.

The last thing I need
is that delamination

opening up any more.

Let's go. Let's go.

- Jesse's going for
an integral bolster.

- That's cool,
some extra embellishment,

a little harder process.
- Yeah.

- The example blade doesn't
have an integral bolster.

But they're cool
and hard to execute.

I think it would add
a lot to the piece.

- So this is the part
right now,

it's difficult to do
in this kind of competition,

is make that nice,
flat transition

from handle to bolster.

- I'm gonna put
a brass spacer there

because I think
it'll look cool.

And I managed to get

the back of the bolster
fit up to that brass

pretty much perfectly.

And now that
that's all fit together,

I can start working on
the wood and the pommel.

- It's time to get my blade
into the quench.

- Look at that.
Look at that middle.

- Wow, that is hot.
- Look at that middle.

- Oh, my God.

- That was all over the place.

- I did not expect a quench
color like that from Eric.

- Pretty good.

It's straight,
and I am so relieved.

- Eric's really happy
with how his blade came out,

but he's not questioning
that quench at all.

That kind of heat, the chance
of the blade being brittle,

maybe taking
some serious damage

during the strength test,
are probably pretty high.

- At this point,
I'm at a crossroads.

It's the time
where I have to determine

what my final
mechanical connection

is gonna be for my handle.

The choices are either
peen it or weld it.

And I feel like by peening it,
it would take long enough

to where the heat can travel
through the tang.

But if I were to weld it,
I would make a smaller

pool of heat, and I can
just immediately cool it

because that weld bead
is all mild steel.

Welding!

- Is Jesse gonna weld
his butt cap on?

- Yep.

- I'd do it.

I don't think it's
a terrible idea.

- There's a very applicable
Bruce Lee quote here.

"Be like water.

If there's a cup,
the water becomes the cup."

If you pour water
into anything,

it becomes that thing.

So you have to adapt.

That will work.

- Jesse's blade is
pretty much formed.

He just needs to start etching
that and sharpening the blade.

- Gentlemen, you got
60 minutes left.

- It's go time, and I gotta
get this blade done.

One of the requirements
for this blade

is to have
a mechanical connection.

And the way
I constructed my handle

is a through tang,
so my tang goes through

every piece
of handle material.

It comes out the end,
where I'm gonna peen it over

and secure it all together.

There we go.

- Eric's about to peen it over.

- We should see the flames

from the epoxy
in just a second here.

- There.
- Yeah, there it is.

- And now he's just heating
that butt cap

and burning away material
in the connection point.

That's not good.

- One of the downsides of using
the torch to heat the tang

is it heats up all the metal
and melts my epoxy.

So to make sure I have
an extra strong connection,

I'm gonna drill a hole
through my handle

and throw a pin in as well.

- Smart move.

- All that's left
to do is sharpen.

I'm not gonna worry about
what he's doing over there.

I think he should be worried
about what I'm doing.

- I don't know what tests
they're gonna do with this,

so I choose an appleseed edge
as my edge geometry,

because it's strong enough
to survive anything,

and I can make it sharp enough
to cut through anything.

Now that my blade's
all finished, all oiled,

all looking pretty,
I feel quite confident in it.

Ooh.
- Oh!

- Oh, no.
- Jesse just cut himself.

- At least it's sharp.

This blade has drawn blood
before any of the tests.

So now it's enchanted.

I'll take it.

- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Gentlemen, turn off
your machines.

Put down your tools.

This round is over.

- Good job, man.
That was a tough one.

- Yeah.

- I'm looking at my sword,

and there's a couple things

I might go back,
if I could, and change.

But you know, time's up,
I made this weapon,

and I'm proud
of what I'm presenting.

- Champions, welcome
to the dynamic KEAL test.

I'm gonna find out
what kind of lethal damage

your weapons can do,
how sharp they are,

and how they wield
in my hands--

not a Kachin dao, a Kachin now.

Eric, are you ready?
- Let's do it.

This KEAL test,
it's a little scary.

You know, that's a big pig.

It's a massive target
to try to go through.

There's a lot of bones
in there.

You know, it's
a hard challenge.

I'm just hoping
that it survives it.

- You know, this KEAL test,
it's a little scary.

You know, that's a big pig.

And it's--
it's a massive target

to try to go through.

There's a lot
of bones in there.

I'm just hoping
that it survives it.

- Ugh.

All right, Eric, let's talk
about your Kachin dao.

Your edge is sharp.

Even though it didn't cut
on some of these vines

that may have just collapsed
when I'm cutting through it,

look how deep the chops are
on this pig carcass.

So in all fronts, I think
it's a very sharp blade.

The wieldability and comfort
in my hands works.

And overall, it will KEAL.

- Good to hear.

- All right, Jesse, your turn,
so are you ready?

- Sure.
- All right.

- Going into the final test,

there's a couple things
I'm scared of.

It might not have
the sharpness

necessary to get
through those vines

because I don't know
what they're made of.

There's a chance that
it doesn't get through those

and he can't even
swing into the pig.

- Damn, dude.
That was sick, dude.

- That last vine though.
- I know.

- All right, Jesse, let's talk
about your Kachin dao here.

Looking at your Damascus
pattern,

I can really appreciate the
layers of your twist Damascus.

Now your edge--
your edge is sharp.

It cuts the pig carcass,
and it cut most of the vines.

It is wieldable.

And overall, it will KEAL.

- Thank you.

- Bladesmiths, welcome
to the dynamic strength test.

I'll be chopping into multiple
targets in this arena,

testing the edge, the strength,
and the overall construction

of your Kachin daos.

Eric, you're up first.
You ready?

- Let's do it.

- All right.

- Oh!

- .

- Wow.

- Well, Eric--

- Little bit of an issue.

- Yeah, I mean it was
a catastrophic failure...

- Yeah.
- Unfortunately.

The grain size in here
is not terrible,

but it's not the best
I've ever seen.

It's still--
it's still looking like

400-grit sandpaper instead
of, like, velvet, you know?

I don't see any weld flaws
or anything like that.

It just--just came apart.

- Yep, it happens.

- Oh, I hate this.

You're telling me.

- Well, Eric, your blade
blasted through the pig.

But unfortunately,
the moose antler got

the best of your blade,
and it broke in two pieces.

This is considered
a catastrophic failure.

We cannot continue
testing it safely.

But you're not out
of the fight yet.

Now, Jesse, you will have
to survive five strikes

in this dynamic strength test.

Are you ready?

- Let's do it.

- All right, let's do it.

- I'm excited, but also,
like, a teeny bit nervous.

I want to win super bad.

If I lose, I lose
the title of unbeaten.

Forget about money
at this point.

It's my honor on the line,

and my title.

My heart.

- Well, Jesse,
you can breathe now, man.

You made it through
all five strikes

on that grueling test.

Congratulations.

Now, unfortunately for you,
Eric,

that means your time here
in this competition has ended.

You fought hard.
You gave us two great blades.

But before you step off
The Forge floor,

I think we'd all like
to shake your hand.

- I appreciate it.
- Thanks, buddy.

- This was a good time,
seriously.

- Good to see you.

- Obviously, the blade broke.

I still made
the best blade I could.

It would have been pretty cool
to take him down.

But you know,
you gotta be happy for him.

I think this came down to just

a little error
within the steel.

So maybe next time I'll be

a little more careful
with my heat treat.

Jesse, glad to be your friend,

and I'm glad to be able to
continue watching you succeed.

You know, unfortunately, I had
to be one of those people

that, you know,
rose you up even higher.

But you know,
it's kind of cool to say that.

- Well, Jesse, you put
your streak on the line.

But you brought your talent.

You gave us a blade that
made it through the test.

Congratulations.

You, again,
are a "Forged in Fire" champion

with an unbeaten record.

That makes number nine.
Congratulations.

Get over here, man.

- Winning again feels great

because it validates
everything

that I've been thinking about
since I last competed.

Because I won again,
I've really proven to myself

that those eight times
weren't a fluke.

I'm still unbeaten,

I'm ready to come back
and defend my title,

and I could not be happier.

Ben, I'm 9 and 0,

so I'm coming for you.