Original subtitles

[dramatic music]

‐ We've seen the best bladesmiths battle it out

to earn the title "Forged in Fire" champion.

♪ ♪

This time you're entering a different arena, our arena.

‐ You have to beat the judge.

‐ In level one,

we're gonna test your signature blades.

[exciting music]

Two of you will be selected to move forward into level two

for a complex home forge challenge.

After we've brutally tested those blades

for the first time,

one of you will be selected to go head to head

with one of our expert judges.

♪ ♪

And if victorious, win $10,000.

‐ Champions, we're gonna find out if you have the drive,

the skill, the determination to beat the judges.

♪ ♪

[rock music]

♪ ♪

‐ My name's Burt Foster. I'm a master bladesmith.

This is my third time here.

I was here in season two,

and I made the shotel, where I was a champion,

and then I was back in season three,

where I lost and gave Ben a chance to be a judge.

Feel warm in here? ‐ No, it's just you.

‐ It's just me? ‐ Yeah.

‐ Hot flashes. ‐ [laughs]

‐ I'm a first‐place winner and a first‐place loser,

so I kind of understand both ends of the bracket.

I'm okay no matter who I face,

but Ben and I have a score to settle.

Is there a way to trade my $10,000

for some sort of alternative prize,

like a physical spanking of the judge?

♪ ♪

‐ My name is Jeff Wagenaar

and I'm the schiavona winner of season five.

I'm back here to beat the judges.

Competing for "Forged in Fire" the first time,

the experience was awesome, except the coal forge.

I hated every minute of it. It just sucks.

I still hate coal, but I won because I didn't quit.

I know I can beat the judge

because I just don't quit.

‐ My name is John McNerney.

I was season seven champion... Oh, yeah!

I won with the General George Patton saber.

I've got three wonderful boys that are home.

They've prayed for me to come here,

so it's been a really neat experience

that I got to come here for them.

Last time I came, I wore a burgundy shirt and I won,

so maybe I should just stick with that color.

♪ ♪

‐ Bladesmiths, welcome back to The Forge.

As previous "Forged in Fire" champions,

you've earned the distinction of being

among the best competitive bladesmiths in the country,

and now we're gonna give you guys the chance

to earn the opportunity

to compete against either ABS Master Smith J. Neilson,

two‐time "Forged in Fire" champion Ben Abbott,

or historic weapons re‐creation specialist

Dave Baker.

There's gonna be three levels.

This is level one: qualify to compete.

♪ ♪

Now, each of you has brought a signature blade

in your signature style from home,

and that blade had to be

between 12 and 14 inches in length.

Now it's time to see if they hold up in our test.

So I give you Doug Marcaida.

♪ ♪

‐ Champions, this competition is all about

beating the judges in their arena,

but first, your blades have to survive my arena.

I will put your blades through a three‐part test,

where I'm gonna test every aspect

of your blade's construction.

I will start out by taking your blade

and trying to cut cleanly on two pork loins.

Then I'm gonna smash and bash on two fire bricks.

Then finally, I'm gonna cut through two water tubes

with whatever edge is left on your blades.

Burt, you're up first. You ready?

‐ Let's do it.

I brought a recurved camp knife

with 120 layers of Damascus, and I'm confident,

but the interesting thing

about the way they've laid these tests out

is that anybody can show up with a sharp knife,

but when you've got a brick in between two sharpness tests,

it's really gonna determine whether your knife

not only got here sharp but stays sharp.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

‐ All right, Burt.

Cutting through the loins, very easy.

No resistance whatsoever.

Now, on the fire brick, there are no glints

and no rolls on the edge of your blade.

With the water tube slice,

it cut through cleanly on the first tube.

You did a great job.

‐ Thank you. ‐ All right, Jeff.

May I have the pleasure of wielding your blade?

‐ Absolutely, sir.

I made a version of a Musso Bowie.

Rubber G10 handle.

I'm very confident that this thing can take a beating,

but Burt took no damage whatsoever in the test,

so I am sweating right now.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[exhales sharply]

‐ All right, Jeff, let's talk about your blade here.

It's a heavier blade.

That edge cuts easily on the pork loins.

When I was cutting into the fire bricks,

no damage whatsoever to your edge.

On the water tube slice, it cut into the first tube

and into the second tube, but not cleanly all the way,

but overall, job well done.

‐ Thank you, sir.

‐ All right, John, it's your turn, sir.

May I have the pleasure of wielding your blade?

‐ Yes, sir.

I made a recurve Bowie made out of 5160,

desert ironwood handle.

I know I worked really hard to make it

really functional and tough,

but I watched the other two guys go,

and they didn't really have any damage to their edge,

so I'm getting nervous. Oh, man, I hope it holds up.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

‐ All right, John. It is very sharp.

As a matter of fact, on the first couple of cuts,

very clean cuts because it's very light.

No resistance whatsoever.

On the fire brick chop, there are no rolls

and no chips on your blade.

On the water tube slice,

it cut through the first water tube.

Overall, sir, good job.

‐ Thank you, sir.

[tense music]

‐ All right, gentlemen.

You've all made beautiful and capable qualifying blades,

however only two of you can move forward this competition.

♪ ♪

John, congratulations.

You're moving forward into level two,

but that's means that you've got to compete

against one of these guys,

and you know that these guys are tough competitors.

The bladesmith moving forwardio

of this competition is...

♪ ♪

Burt Foster. Congratulations.

Jeff, unfortunately, this time around,

your blade just didn't make the cut,

and Doug Marcaida is gonna tell you why.

‐ Jeff, all the blades performed equally,

but yours was the heaviest of the lot,

and that's the only reason why.

♪ ♪

‐ All right, Jeff, so by just a few ounces,

it looks like you're not moving forward.

Come on, my friends.

‐ It was just because of the weight.

I respect Doug's opinion. He had to pick somebody.

And if I was gonna lose,

I would have picked those two guys.

‐ Hey, next time. ‐ Bring me back.

I want my shot at a judge.

[dramatic music]

‐ Burt, John, congratulations.

You guys are in the second level of this competition,

which means that we're now sending you back

to your home forges to re‐create one of the weapons

from our "Forged in Fire" vault.

[suspenseful music]

Butterfly swords.

♪ ♪

‐ Featured in season three of "Forged in Fire,"

butterfly swords

are a traditional southern Chinese weapon.

In our previous competition,

the smiths were challenged

by not only having to forge a matched set

but also making the two swords fit in one scabbard

to appear as a single weapon while sheathed.

This defining historical feature

ultimately led to the defeat of one smith

when both of his weapons could not fit into one hand.

‐ In previous competition, our competitors had five days

to complete these weapons.

We're only gonna give you four,

and they must fall within the following parameters:

the length of the blade must be between 13 and 15 inches,

you must include a D‐Guard,

and your butterfly swords must be a mirrored set,

but don't worry.

We're gonna provide you

with the primary ingredient for success

in this competition,

and that's these.

Two 52100 steel ball bearings,

and it is the only high‐carbon steel

that you can use in the creation of these two blades.

‐ I only have these two ball bearings to work with,

so we can't make mistakes.

I have to be very methodical

and I have to be very precise.

‐ Remember, success in level two means

that you've earned the opportunity to compete

against one of our judges and possibly win $10,000.

Good luck. We'll see you in four days.

♪ ♪

‐ Start of day one.

I'm back here at my home forge.

I gotta build a pair of butterfly knives.

We've got two ball bearings,

and that's the only steel

that we get to use for the blades.

It's 52100.

They're extremely difficult to work with.

The trick with this stuff is not to let it get cold.

When it gets too cold, it just doesn't want to move,

and if it gets too hot,

it just completely falls apart.

So if something goes wrong on forging,

I'm up a creek without a paddle.

We're making pairs, right?

So you've got to work two things at once.

Making a pair is one

of the most difficult things to do as a smith.

So I'm doing both blades at the same time,

so I have both blades in mind as I'm going along.

There we go.

I'm pretty happy with where I'm at right now.

[exciting music]

‐ So it's day one.

Gonna make a couple of butterfly swords.

First thing I need to do is

heat that giant ball bearing up, see what happens.

Dante's fourth level of Hell would be breaking down

three‐inch ball bearings by hand.

The plan today is to completely finish the knives

from beginning to end.

Might as well shoot big, right?

The downside is, if I mess up with these ball bearings,

there's no other high‐carbon steel I can use in this blade.

I'm cutting this bar in half

and then get what I need to out of both ends.

My plan is to get both blades out of the first bearing,

and that leaves an entire second ball bearing as back‐up,

just in case.

I'm in a hurry at the end of day one,

'cause I really want to get these blades quenched,

and if these quenches don't go the way I need them to go,

I'm starting day two right back at the place

I started this morning.

♪ ♪

It's the end of day one and I have

two heat‐treated blades.

‐ Start of day two.

I gotta start working on the Damascus for the guard.

This is a big deal.

I'm going up against the master smith,

so I want to do a ladder pattern

Damascus D‐Guard to really set this thing apart.

I just need to forge it out to the billet

and then turn it into a ladder pattern.

I've got my Damascus billet done for my guards.

It's time to get the blades quenches.

It's do or die time.

I really need this quench to go well.

I don't have any more ball bearings,

and if something goes wrong with this,

I have no idea what I'm gonna do.

♪ ♪

That looks good.

Number two.

♪ ♪

Really good. Really good.

‐ Day three.

I'm gonna get these D‐Guards done

and matched and out of the way.

These D‐Guards have a lot of curves in them,

and I'm having trouble getting them to match.

It's getting so tedious.

I have to basically take it in at every single step,

because it has to be the same.

I am making a hot mess of this D‐Guard.

I'm having to constantly go back and forth

between guard A, guard B,

guard A, guard B.

One of the key parameters of these two sword blades

is that they are perfect mirrors of one another,

and if they're not a perfect mirror, I am screwed.

‐ Congratulations.ese b,

I'm never gonna get them to match.

I think I've got a plan.

If I tack weld them together

so that I can just bend them as a unit

and have them be right on top of one another,

figure it might work,

and it certainly couldn't be worse

than what I've already tried.

It worked a lot better.

I get the D‐Guards to fit on the handle,

and it feel great having all that hard stuff behind me.

‐ Start of day four.

I'm ready to get these butterflies together.

I need to assemble all the handle parts

and then secure it with glue.

I've got some African blackwood.

I also am gonna put a couple of spacers.

One's gonna be brass and the other one's

gonna be silver.

Along with the Damascus,

I think they'll look real pretty.

Think I'm good.

So at this point, they're glued up, scary sharp,

but I think I got one more test.

You ready? Go ahead.

[Western cowboy music]

Give me one more, guys. Oh, wait.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! One more.

Hey! Hey! Okay, okay, okay.

[laughing]

[tense music]

♪ ♪

‐ Burt, John, welcome back.

We sent you guys back to your home forges

to make a set of matched butterfly swords.

Burt, tell us about your blades.

‐ So I've got two mirrored butterfly swords

both made from one ball bearing.

The handles are curly maple, and the guards are mild steel.

‐ John, tell us about your build.

‐ So I used both ball bearings.

I did use Damascus for the guards,

and I really tried to accomplish everything being

a real good pair.

‐ Your blades look beautiful, but now it's time

to see who moves on

to the next level of this competition.

The way that we're gonna determine that,

we're gonna put your blades through a series of tests.

Up first is the strength test,

and to perform that strength test is one of our judges,

the judge that you will not be competing against

in the final level, if you make it there,

and that judge is...

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

David Baker.

‐ I thought it would be anybody

but Dave coming out to test my blade.

‐ [chuckling]

‐ Well, I was wrong. [laughing]

‐ All right, gentlemen. Good to see you both again.

Now, to test the strength and durability of your blades,

I'll be taking your weapons and chopping into this bamboo.

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

‐ Let's do it. ‐ Okay.

‐ My heart's beating a mile a minute.

What I'm most worried about is the balance and the handle

and how does it fit in his hand?

I can't tell.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

‐ Burt, there's not a mark on the blades.

The edge is still perfect. Beautiful blades.

Really well executed. Super strong and well done.

‐ Thank you.

‐ All right, John, you ready for this?

‐ Ready to go. ‐ All right.

‐ I feel pretty good. Still apprehensive.

'Cause I'm looking at dried bamboo

that they're gonna beat my blade up against.

Burt's blades did really good. Mine better do the same thing.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

‐ Right off, John, the blades are still sharp.

There's no marks on them.

They're still straight and true.

Only issue I really have with this blade is that, right here,

on the edge, your handle is just a little

on the sharp side.

I kind of feel it right there.

But they're well‐balanced. Good job.

‐ Thank you.

♪ ♪

‐ Champions, now it's time to test for its sharpness.

To do that, I will take your weapons

and try to slash across these heavy‐duty fire hoses.

Burt, you're up first. You ready?

‐ Let's go. ‐ Let's do this.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

All right, Burt, let's talk about your butterfly swords.

It took three cuts to cut all the way through.

I was expecting more. Those are heavy duty hoses.

What I like about your swords is that

they're equal in balance, and when you're wielding

two swords, you want to feel that.

You don't want one to be heavier than the other,

and as you can see, your edges are very sharp.

Overall, sir, good job.

‐ Thank you.

‐ John, it's your turn. You ready?

‐ Yep. ‐ Let's do this.

♪ ♪

‐ Good job. ‐ Thanks.

♪ ♪

‐ All right, John, let's talk about your butterfly swords.

I like to choke up on the guard,

'cause then I can get full control of that.

If I do so, then I can feel it on one side

there's a little bit of a hot spot there,

but the sword is sharp.

It's got great balance. Wonderful job.

‐ Thank you, sir.

♪ ♪

‐ I'm trying to piece it all together.

Do I have an edge? Does John have an edge?

It's anybody's game at this point.

‐ I could still pull one out.

I did do better in the sharpness test,

and we were the same in the strength test.

[both speaking quietly]

♪ ♪

‐ All right, gentlemen, the reason that we used

champions like you guys is so that

the craftsmanship becomes the determining factor

in the judges' decisions.

So the bladesmith moving forward

in our Beat the Judges competition is...

♪ ♪

Burt. Congratulations.

‐ John, you brought us a set of blades

that performed beautifully,

but that handle just had a hot spot on it

that we just can't look past. It was that close.

Nice job.

‐ Thank you.

‐ John, I have to ask you

to please leave The Forge. Come on forward, guys.

‐ Obviously, I'm pretty disappointed

that I don't get to go to the next level,

but I got to go up against a master bladesmith,

and it was this little issue that got me bumped out,

but I'd never go up against somebody

that I think I can't beat.

So if I get the chance to come back,

one of your judges is going down.

♪ ♪

‐ Bladesmith, congratulations.

You've made it to the final level of this competition,

which means you get to face off

against one of our expert judges

for the opportunity to win $10,000.

‐ I'm thinking it's gonna be Ben.

Last time I was here, Ben won and I lost,

but this time, I'm gonna crush.

‐ You'll be competing against...

♪ ♪

J. Neilson.

‐ [laughs]

Oh, crap.

J.'s got a lot of knife‐making experience,

but I've known him for 15 years.

When he tested for his master smith rating,

I was one of his judges.

‐ How you doing, my friend?

When I see Burt, I'm tickled.

Burt made one of the most beautiful,

[indistinct] weapons I've ever seen

on "Forged in Fire."

I've got my work cut out for me now.

‐ Gentlemen, in the final level of this competition,

you'll be using these.

♪ ♪

5160 coil springs.

You must use a San Mai technique

utilizing your 5160 coil springs

to make a matched set of fighting knives.

‐ 5160 in the coil form can be difficult,

but then, when I have to make two blades,

and I have to make them duplicate,

and then I have to do this against Burt Foster,

then it becomes a challenge.

‐ Gentlemen, your fighting knives must be between

15 and 17 inches in length,

they must have functional guards and handles,

and your blades need to be forged, tempered,

and completed all within eight hours.

Good luck. Your eight hours starts now.

[rock music]

♪ ♪

‐ Oh, that's awesome. Oh!

‐ All right.

‐ We've got Burt Foster competing against J. Neilson.

They have to make two fighting knives in eight straight hours.

‐ These are two big knives. That's a very tall order.

‐ You know, what I like about this is that J.,

sitting from here, has seen how to do things and everything,

but Burt has the actual experience

of working on the forge,

knowing the timing of everything.

‐ I wonder what it feels like for J. Neilson,

the Beast from the East,

competing against the guy

who sat on his ABS master smith testing,

and then for Burt

to be competing next to a guy who kicked him

out of The Forge the last time he was here so‐‐

‐ It's a grudge match.

‐ So here goes J.

right to the hardy hole with his coil

and those pair of tongs.

He's struggling a little bit here.

‐ That's not gonna work.

‐ These tongs aren't taking it. More heat can't hurt.

5160 is very forgiving.

‐ These are 1‐inch diameter springs.

Even orange hot like that,

they're not as plastic as they look.

♪ ♪

‐ J. just stopped his steel on the floor in the back.

Already, exhaustion setting in

ten minutes into the competition.

[laughter]

♪ ♪

‐ All right. Try it this way.

♪ ♪

‐ All right, so J. got a little bit

of movement there on that coil.

‐ I'm looking to get the same experience our contestants do.

So getting that experience and being able to get back

at the judges table,

I might be a little more sympathetic, maybe.

Don't hold your breath about it though.

‐ Burt's moved over to the chop saw.

He's also reducing the size of his coil spring.

‐ I like what Burt's doing, because he's using two coils.

He's gonna work either blade, put one in,

take the other one out.

It's the right way to utilize your time.

‐ Once I get my two pieces heating up,

I know they're gonna take a while.

‐ What is he doing?

‐ Oh, that's what he made.

He made a straightening [indistinct].

‐ What? ‐ Straightening [indistinct],

it's not even a‐‐

Yeah. ‐ That is so cool.

‐ Burt just made quick work

of that coil. ‐ Oh, yeah.

‐ That's a brilliant maneuver right there.

‐ This is my third time here, and if I beat a judge,

what it would say is that last time I lost, it was a fluke.

[laughing]

‐ I have no idea what Burt's‐‐

I don't even know what style knife he's making.

I don't know if it's full‐tang, hidden‐tang.

I have no clue.

‐ I made four. I'm picking the best two.

‐ This is why I don't pay attention to him.

What I've got to do now is clean up the 5160,

cut it in half,

figure out how much platting

I want to put on the sides, and then start my forge weld.

I am competing for the National Melanoma Foundation.

Close family member recently had an issue,

and my wife, being a nurse,

we figured throw them some support.

‐ I don't think J.'s gonna use flux for this.

‐ We've seen, time and time again,

you can just make a nightmare for yourself using flux.

More flux you put on there,

the more of a mess you're gonna make.

It's just more of a mess you got to deal with later.

Let us bow our heads.

Lord, please don't let people

try to use flux as glue this time.

‐ [laughing]

‐ Instead of using flux, I spray lubricant all over it,

and you don't have to worry about occlusions.

It's just gonna burn out,

make that coating, seal that steel up.

‐ That works very, very well. ‐ Right.

‐ Especially when everything's tight.

‐ I give it one nice, gentle squeeze.

Everything seems to be holding together.

‐ So I take a piece of 5160 that's clean,

I stack my 15N20 on it,

and I start welding all the seams together.

The last time I was here,

I had to make a San Mai

that was in more of a taco shape.

This is just three clean layers,

and it's a lot easier to weld and seal

the whole thing up to protect it from oxygen.

♪ ♪

‐ Bladesmiths, two hours has elapsed!

‐ Are you done yet?

‐ No, I'm not. ‐ [laughing]

I started making knives as a hobby,

and it just snowballed out of control.

I had no intention of making a living making knives,

and I sure as heck never intended on being a judge

on a knife‐making TV show.

I'm making my version of the Beast from the East.

I'm doing a full‐tang instruction,

so I need to have two bolt holes.

[grinding]

‐ Oh, oh, oh. ‐ Oh, that's not gonna work.

‐ Come on, you [bleep].

I'm feeling very frustrated,

because in my shop, I'd blow through them

like nothing on a cheapo drill press.

Now, I come here with this nice big drill press,

it doesn't work. There's something wrong here.

‐ You get out there on the floor,

you're trying to do it the way you normally do it,

but it's not the way you normally do it.

‐ Right.

‐ I need to get these holes in.

If I can't figure something out,

my plan is totally shot,

'cause I can't just epoxy scales

and just leave them that way.

‐ Oh, man.

‐ Come on, you [bleep].

‐ I'm feeling very frustrated,

because I've seen hundreds of smiths

out on the floor fighting with drill bits.

‐ Ooh. ‐ If that snaps in that hole,

that's gonna be a nightmare.

all: Oh!

And there, it happened.

Now I'm on the floor doing the same thing.

I would definitely be yelling at myself right now.

♪ ♪

I need to get these holes in.

Otherwise, my plan is totally shot.

So what I do is step down a couple sizes.

I take an 1/8‐inch bit,

drill a hole all the way through,

take the next step up, drill all the way through.

Doing it this way,

it's less material for the bits to fight against.

[stammers]

I finally get through these pins.

Now I can move on.

‐ For me, a fighting knife means ease of offensive use.

Period. It's one purpose: combat.

‐ They have to be matched,

so I can't make them independent of one another.

I need to make them next to each other.

In some cases, I need to actually make them

on top of each other,

to make sure that they're the same.

‐ That's a great idea.

Four hours has elapsed.

That is half the time in this competition.

‐ If I were out there, I would quench right now.

‐ I just did four‐plus hours making these blades,

so if something goes wrong with the warp,

I'm gonna be very upset.

‐ Burt should be going for a quench

just about now.

‐ I may look calm,

but I'm really frenzied inside.

If this blade goes horribly wrong,

it's not my fault. It's the clock.

♪ ♪

‐ And there's a quench for Burt.

There's J. with his quench.

‐ First one's done. Now on to the second.

‐ Burt quenches second blade. ‐ I don't need a file test.

I know I've got them hard.

I'd go home a happy man at this point.

[tense music]

‐ J.'s second blade is quenched.

‐ Sounds hard to me. But if anyone in this room

knows if that's hard or not, it's J. Neilson.

‐ Coming out with two hardened straight blades,

I'm pretty happy.

‐ Burt heading over to the tempering oven,

but J's pulling the torch out.

‐ Okay, so he's gonna torch temper.

‐ Now that the blades are hardened,

at the same time, they're very brittle.

So next thing you need to do is temper them,

and that pulls the brittleness out of the steel

while still leaving the toughness in there.

‐ The advantage to the torch is that the process

is gonna happen a little quicker.

The advantage to the oven

is it's gonna take a little longer,

but I can be doing something else while they're in there.

The tempering process would normally be four hours,

but even though I'd love to do everything

the way I do it at home, I can't,

'cause that red clock is on the wall ticking away.

I'm gonna just leave them in there for about 30 minutes,

and hopefully that's enough.

This is a much quicker,

shorter temper than I would normally do.

So it's a risk.

Now I want to start slotting my guards.

‐ The nice thing about using the tempering ovens

is that the temperature is so finely controlled.

I would do that over J.'s eyeball temperature.

‐ So what I'm doing is bluing everything on the back spine.

The easiest way to check your torch temper

is to just look at the colors on the blade.

You want to get that down to, ideally, a straw yellow color,

right on the edge of the blade.

Good work. Everything looks okay to me.

I think I was able to pull it off in about 15, 20 minutes.

‐ Bladesmiths, you have only two and a half hours.

‐ The guards are in place.

Now it's time to get the handles together.

‐ Now, he's got the added challenge of trying

to get his handle material

butted up against the guard with those welds in place.

‐ Ooh, that's terrible.

I see this gap between the scales and the guard itself.

If I had these gaps at home, I'd take the handle scales off,

toss them, and start with a whole brand new set,

but I have no time for that in this competition.

I'm putting little G10 shims in there,

supergluing them in place, and just contouring

with the rest of the handle to match up.

‐ We've heard a lot of critiquing of the smiths

and their techniques.

Now, we get to see J. kind of put it to the test.

‐ Me being on the floor, I can understand

the compromise you've got to make.

You know, you've got to make sacrifices

and short cuts to get through.

I just don't want anything to break,

'cause I will never hear the end of that.

♪ ♪

‐ Oh, no.

‐ We obviously have an issue.

[laughing]

‐ I've been talking smack all morning,

so, uh, I better come out with something.

I glue my handles on, put the pins in,

and I have two giant chunks of micarta

that don't look anything like a handle.

I've got to completely shape them

and I've got to sharpen this knife.

‐ It is remarkable to see two master smiths

running neck and neck.

I mean, these guys have been right there

on each other's heels this entire time.

‐ So I've got the finger well into my handle to protect you

from sliding your hand up if you're stabbing.

So I've got to blend this whole thing together.

I always tell everybody don't [bleep] up.

Guess what? J. Neilson just [bleep] up.

I was rushing a little too much,

and I just ground this finger well way too deep.

‐ Look at the depth of that finger well.

With a deep finger well, it can be

a little less comfortable and a little less control.

‐ I don't have the time to add material,

so this is what I've got,

and I've just got to try and make it

as comfortable as possible.

Hopefully, this finger well doesn't cost me

the competition.

‐ Now, Burt's handles are really coming

along over here.

‐ The handles are looking good.

I don't want to rush when I'm sharpening.

I want to take my time and do it right.

I need to come all the way to a final edge,

and then I need to go over and finish it by hand

to make sure it's just right.

‐ 30 seconds. ‐ Need WD40 too, Burt?

‐ Thanks, buddy.

‐ Master smiths use every second

that's left on that clock.

♪ ♪

Five, four, three, two, one.

Bladesmith, shut down your machines.

Stop what you're doing.

Congratulations, you guys

have completed our eight‐hour

Beat the Judges Forge. Good job, gents.

‐ Whoo! ‐ Whoo‐hoo‐hoo!

‐ Thank you. That was fun.

‐ Thank you. That was great, man.

‐ I know J.

His blades are gonna perform great,

and I think mine are gonna perform great.

I think it's gonna come down to small differences.

I'm representing all of the guys who have sat

under his critical eye and have thought to themself,

"Yeah, put yourself in my shoes and try it from down here."

♪ ♪

‐ Master smiths, welcome to the KEAL test.

To find out what kind of lethal damage

your dual fighting knives will do,

I will take them

and do some lethal blows on this ballistics dummy.

Burt, you're up first. You ready?

‐ I'm nervous, but that guy looks terrified.

‐ Let's do this.

[both chuckling]

‐ I think my blades are gonna have the long, pointy,

quick geometry that's gonna make them

really effective against these ballistic dummies.

I don't expect all the king's horses

and all the king's men to be able

to put this dummy back together when Doug's done with it.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Sheesh.

♪ ♪

‐ All right, Burt, first up,

the feel of the blade

really feels like a combat blade.

It wants to thrust, it wants to slash.

It just feels like one unit

working in conjunction with the other.

Overall, sir, it will KEAL.

‐ Thank you.

‐ All right, J.,

it's your turn. You ready for this?

‐ Do what you do, Doug.

Going into testing,

the only thing that really concerns me

is those finger wells that I brought in too deep.

Burt's blades are straight on, lighter.

Mine got a little bit more of a curve

and a little bit heavier.

I think my blades are gonna tear this dummy apart.

♪ ♪

‐ Awesome.

♪ ♪

‐ [laughing]

♪ ♪

‐ All right, J.

These are choppers, slashers.

As fighting knives, these are quite effective.

In the fourth hit, no head.

Your handle construction is interesting.

That's a deep finger well that you have in there.

But actually,

because you have the flare there,

I'm able to control it,

but more importantly, sir, your weapons will KEAL.

‐ Thanks, sir.

♪ ♪

‐ Bladesmiths, to test the strength

and overall durability of your edge

and tips as well as the overall construction of your blades,

I'll be stabbing and chopping into these logs.

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

‐ Let's do it.

My one concern might be that the knife didn't sit in temper

nearly as long as I would like it to.

So the knife could be a little bit more brittle than I wish.

My heart's racing. The whole blade could crack.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

‐ Good job, bro.

‐ Could have been worse. [scoffs]

‐ Well, Burt, your edges look wonderful.

During that extreme tip flex, your blades held up.

Obviously, they're all still in one piece,

and the handles are very comfortable.

Great stabbers and great choppers.

Well done. ‐ Thank you.

‐ All right, J., you're up. How you feeling?

‐ Ready to go.

‐ Last chance for anything to break.

[snickering]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

‐ Well, J., your blades held up perfectly.

But there's one thing about both these blades

that I just really don't like, and it's that finger well.

It put my finger so far out of the game

that I was swinging with these three fingers,

and this finger was rattling around in there

and actually getting battered.

But, uh, there's no denying your edge and tips held up

really well in this test, so congratulations.

‐ Thanks.

♪ ♪

‐ All right, gentlemen,

it's time for the sharpness test.

I'll be taking your weapons and slicing into these bags.

This test is all about what your weapons do to that target.

Burt, you're up first. You ready?

‐ Yep, let's do it.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

‐ All right, right off, Burt,

I just love the look of these things.

The aggressive point, the grind,

the shape of the grind.

As far as being sharp goes,

these just passed through the bags.

There wasn't any resistance to them at all.

And I think you did a great job.

‐ Thank you. ‐ Hey, J.

Now I get to play with your stuff.

‐ Go for it. ‐ [laughing]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

‐ All right, J.

A lot of weight in these blades,

but I like the shape for that chopping.

I'm really familiar with this handle shape from you,

but this is a lot deeper than you usually put it.

My finger falls into that hole,

and everything else kind of wants to follow it.

The first two bags, the cuts weren't good,

and that was really my hand position

more than anything else.

Everything just kind of bunches up.

Definitely sharp blades.

Held up beautifully. Good job, man.

‐ Thanks.

♪ ♪

‐ All right, judges.

J. Neilson faced off against Burt Foster.

Now I need you guys to tell me who's taking home

the 10 grand and the win. What do you think?

‐ In the strength test, when I was using J.'s,

this finger ended up banging against the guard

because of that really deep finger well.

It just didn't have any grip to it.

‐ Burt's knives,

the handle for me feels very, very comfortable.

It's a light, fast blade, and it cut beautifully.

‐ Burt's blades here are lighter.

It's faster with the cuts, so we can move around with it.

J.'s is a demolisher. This cuts so much deeper.

‐ Okay, have you guys made your final decision?

‐ Yes. ‐ All right.

Gentlemen, the judges have deliberated.

They're made their final decision.

This has been an incredible competition between you two.

It's been a long road for you, Burt.

You've done a lot of work to get yourself back

into a position to earn some money.

J., you stepped into this forge

and you really put on a good show for us.

But there can only be one winner,

and that winner is...

♪ ♪

Burt Foster.

Congratulations. You've won,

and that comes with a check for $10,000.

Good job, brother.

‐ Thank you. ‐ It was a good challenge.

Good competition. Burt made beautiful blades,

and if I'm gonna lose to anybody,

I'm more than happy to lose to Burt Foster.

‐ Good job, man. ‐ Thank you.

Appreciate it.

I'm a master bladesmith,

I'm a "Forged in Fire" champion,

and I just beat a judge.

Thank you. Appreciate it.

I commend J.

This was just millimeters apart.

Man, we were neck and neck.

Doesn't get any better than that.

Group hug? ‐ Group hug!

[laughter]

♪ ♪