Original subtitles

[dramatic music]

‐ We've seen the best bladesmiths battle it out

to earn the title, "Forged In Fire" champion.

[flames whooshing]

This time, you're entering a different arena:

Our arena.

‐ You have to beat the judge.

‐ Level one, we're gonna test your signature blades.

♪ ♪

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...

[metal grinding]

To beat the judges.

♪ ♪

[flames whoosh]

♪ ♪

‐ My name's Tobin Nieto,

the season two pirate cutlass champion.

Frickin' won! Yeah! [laughs]

I wanted to come back

'cause when I found out I could face one of the judges,

I though that'd be great to really push my skill set

and see if I have what it takes.

♪ ♪

‐ I'm David Goldberg.

I became a "Forged in Fire" champion in season one

with the katar.

To take on a judge, it feels like a great challenge.

I would like to go up against Dave

because we're both sword makers.

It would be very interesting

with the two of us going against one another.

♪ ♪

‐ I'm Gene Hodges.

I was the Marine champion in the Battle of the Branches

and I won with the Mameluke sword that I put together.

[grunts]

The "Forged in Fire" journey, I would say,

has opened up my eyes to the realm of the possible.

I've actually sold some blades for respectable money.

So the reason and motivation to come back

is I want to prove myself,

and if I can beat a judge, that's the crème de la crème.

♪ ♪

‐ Bladesmiths, welcome back to The Forge.

We're gonna give one of you guys

the chance to compete against and beat

one of our expert judges.

‐ [chuckles]

‐ It could be ABS Master Smith J. Neilson,

historic weapons re‐creation specialist, David Baker,

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

All right, gentlemen.

You've all brought some unique weapons.

Let's talk about them a little bit.

Tobin, we're gonna start with your blade.

♪ ♪

It's a Persian‐inspired recurve blade

made of 80CRV2 with a paracord wrap handle.

‐ All right, David, what do you got?

‐ I did fantasy‐style stout blade

with dished out sides and a sharpened front end

so that it would piece well.

‐ Can't wait to see it perform.

Gene, what do you got?

‐ Her name is Liberty.

She's got an 80CRV2 core with Damascus on the outsides

and sambar stag with two mosaic pins.

‐ Well, gentlemen, it sounds like

you put a little bit of yourselves into your blades.

Now it's time to see who's moving on to level two.

We're gonna run your blades now through our testing gauntlet.

Today, it's gonna be

a choose‐your‐own‐adventure style competition.

And this is how it works.

In our strength test, we have a railroad spike set up

and Doug will be batoning your blades

into that railroad spike.

However, you get to choose

the hardness of the material that's striking your blade.

We've got a hammer, we've got our mallet,

and we've got a wooden baton set up.

If you choose the hammer, the hardest of the objects,

you only have to cut through this thin burlap sheet.

If you choose the mallet,

then you move on to the box of flux in your sharpness test.

If you choose the wooden baton,

which is by far the softest of the materials,

you'll be up against the toughest sharpness test:

These leather bags.

Tobin, you're up first. Choose your striking object.

‐ Do I want to go heavy on the strength test

and then light on the sharpness,

or do I want to go heavy on the sharp

and light on the strength?

It's like asking a painter, "Pick which you want:

gasoline or kerosene to burn your painting?

So I go with the hammer because if I'm gonna fail,

I might as well fail big.

♪ ♪

‐ David, you're up next.

‐ I know that my sword will prevail

and to use a heavy hammer will give it a real test,

so I choose the hammer.

‐ Gene, you're up next.

‐ Everything inside of me is saying don't pick the hammer,

but the Marine inside me says you gotta pick the hammer.

[chuckles] So I picked the hammer.

Go big or go home.

‐ Each of you has chosen the hardest object

to strike your signature blades in our strength test.

I hope that they all survive.

Doug, you're up.

♪ ♪

‐ Champions, welcome back.

Before you get a chance to go toe‐to‐toe

with any of our judges on this arena,

your weapons will have to go toe‐to‐toe in my arena.

Tobin, you're up first. You ready?

‐ [speaks foreign language] ‐ All right.

Let's get hammered. [laughter]

‐ With Doug, it's always about form and function.

You gotta make sure that handle is comfortable,

gotta make sure that blade is effective.

We'll see how it goes.

♪ ♪

‐ God bless.

♪ ♪

‐ [chuckles]

♪ ♪

[chuckles]

♪ ♪

All right, Tobin.

Let's talk about your blade here.

First up, your handle construction.

If you're gonna wrap it, do a good job,

and that you did.

Everything here is tight and right

and it feels good in the hand.

But, in that test right there,

you can see that you took a little roll

and a little, tiny chip on your edge.

But overall, it is sharp, it feels good.

Great job.

‐ Thank you. [chuckles]

‐ All right, David.

May I have the pleasure of wielding your blade?

‐ Ready.

I don't really feel too uncomfortable

because I know I made a formidable blade.

I'm ready for this challenge.

♪ ♪

‐ All right, Dave, let's talk about your weapon.

First up, it is a unique‐looking weapon.

Hammering on this, your spine here did take some damage,

but on your edge, zero.

In stabbing and cutting down using all its own weight,

it cut easily.

When I cut into this,

there's a wideness in the blade.

It hung up.

It is a strong blade and it's unique.

‐ Thank you.

‐ All right, Gene. [sighs]

Give me liberty, or...

‐ Give me death. [laughter]

‐ Let's test your blade.

‐ Doug smiles with that Doug Marcaida grin.

[chuckling] He's gonna kill my blade.

And I just feel sick inside.

I can't watch. I'm not gonna watch.

♪ ♪

[groans softly]

♪ ♪

[softly] Dang it.

♪ ♪

[chuckles]

‐ All right, Gene.

Not only is this a metal break, this is a heartbreak,

because this was a gorgeous piece.

I commend you on the beautiful Damascus that you presented.

Now, I'm looking at the grade structure you have here.

It's actually not bad.

But I guess a test on this with the fine edge that you have,

a thinner spine, metal‐on‐metal, well,

That's the result right there.

‐ All right. Thank you, Doug.

♪ ♪

‐ All right, Gene,

obviously, your blade has suffered a catastrophic failure

and you won't be moving into level two of this competition.

It may not be a dangerous weapon, but I know

that you're one of the most dangerous guys in this room

any given day. [laughter]

So come on forward, guys.

‐ Oorah, Will.

‐ Good job.

‐ It's not normal to take a blade and take a hammer to it

and bash it into a railroad spike.

Who does that?

It's just the Marine instinct in me.

You want to pick the toughest thing.

May not have been the smartest choice, so I'm not surprised.

If I'm given another chance, I'm not gonna turn down.

I'm gonna come back and face a judge.

♪ ♪

Tobin, David, congratulations.

You guys are in the second level of this competition,

which means that we're sending you guys back

for a complex home forge challenge.

Now, we're not gonna give you

a specific, iconic weapon from history to make.

Nah, we're just gonna tell you we want a short sword

that falls within the following parameters:

The length of your blade

must be between 14 and 16 inches in length

and you must have a handle that includes a D‐guard

that encompasses the entire hand.

‐ Yeah.

Short swords are my favorite thing to make

and it's what I do all the time.

I frickin' love short swords.

‐ And we're only gonna give you

three days at your home forges to do it.

You didn't think we were gonna be that easy on you.

‐ Nah, that sounds like fun. ‐ Right?

In addition to making that short sword

within those parameters,

you must also use one of these two techniques.

Option number one.

[dramatic music]

A foundry to cast your entire handle and guard assembly.

Or option number two.

♪ ♪

You make your entire blade using canister Damascus

from the materials that you see here on this table.

‐ I hate foundries.

Liquid metal scares me because I'm very accident‐prone.

But I'm also not too great at canister.

My heart starts pumping a little bit.

Now I'm a bit nervous.

‐ Gentlemen, you have just a few moments to decide,

When I say "go," move forward and collect your materials.

Go.

♪ ♪

‐ All right.

‐ I'm not a big fan of canister Damascus,

but it's better than trying to use a foundry.

‐ I'm dropping my balls, here. ‐ Yeah.

Let's just go with the canister Damascus.

‐ So David,

I see you're grabbing some of those race bearings, right?

‐ Grab some of those.

Making a short sword is not a big deal.

I've never made canister Damascus before,

but I want to challenge myself,

so I choose canister Damascus.

After all, this is the Olympics of knife making.

Grab some of these.

‐ Little bit of this, little bit of that.

‐ Little bit of that.

‐ One canister should be enough,

but I'm very glad we got two other cans there, just in case.

Just‐‐you never know.

I'm gonna do my best to beat Mr. Goldberg here

and then be on my way

to face one of the judges in the next level.

‐ You got what you got.

Remember, three days, gents.

‐ Plenty of time.

♪ ♪

‐ I'm here in Berks County, Pennsylvania.

I've never done canister Damascus.

This is gonna be very challenging.

I'm gonna do a three‐layer piece, so I have enough steel.

♪ ♪

I'm gonna start squeezing these cans.

♪ ♪

Everything is sticking.

I couldn't be happier.

Now it's time to cut the cans off.

♪ ♪

The longer it takes,

the little bit more nervous I get

because I know I gotta cut three of these.

Lovely. All welded perfectly.

♪ ♪

I've been studying making swords and knives

for 30 years.

I've made my mistakes.

I'm not gonna make any mistakes this time.

Awesome.

♪ ♪

‐ Day one is all just about

getting these three canisters welded up.

The plan is to save the third canister

in case something happens to the two billets

I'm about to weld together,

so that way, I can make sure I have extra steel if I need it.

♪ ♪

I'm looking to prove to myself

that being a bladesmith is where I belong,

no matter what happens.

I'm just doing everything I can to make sure that

everything inside that can is stuck together

like a codependent, toxic relationship.

♪ ♪

I think we're ready to start cutting into it.

♪ ♪

[chuckles] Got it.

Oh, that sounds solid.

It looks like metal poop,

but I can shine poop with the best of 'em.

♪ ♪

‐ Today, my plan is take the bars, straighten them out,

cut them, stack them,

forge‐weld them together into a billet,

and forge out the blade.

Here's my sword.

My ultimate goal here is to beat the judge.

That's why I'm in this race.

Not making Damascus like this before

is not a problem for me.

I work from the seat of my pants,

but I take on all challenges.

Looking pretty good.

My plan is to quench the sword at the end of the day.

The only caveat is I need to get holes in the tang

before I harden it.

♪ ♪

They're not going through the tang at all.

This is not working. It's quite hard.

I only have three days to fabricate this sword.

I'm burning up daylight.

I have to hot punch these.

So I put the sword back in the forge,

heat up the tang.

I start to punch the hole through.

Looks like we're through. Nice.

Now I have a blade that's prepared for heat treat,

and no time left.

Happy about that.

♪ ♪

‐ I've got two chunks of steel

that look like they were pooped out by a robot monster

that I need to forge weld together to make a blade.

I would like to go up against David Baker

'cause he's so dapper.

He looks like such a gentleman.

I'm the exact opposite of that.

I think it would be a nice dichotomy.

That's the start of my bevel.

Day three is gonna be all about fit and finish

and making sure that it's ready for final testing.

♪ ♪

‐ I have one day to get everything done.

♪ ♪

I get the sword quenched.

Making the old guard here.

I'm working it, forging it.

[metal clicks] Oh, my God.

The D‐guard broke.

♪ ♪

Today's the final day.

This is the last thing I need right now.

so I run over and I weld it.

So I start on my handles.

I'm putting the pins in the handle.

I'm running out of time, so I didn't glue the handle.

There's no epoxy in it.

I finally get them peened enough.

I wish I would've had a little more time

to finish it the way I envisioned it,

but it's done.

This sword will perform.

‐ So I woke up day three and decided, "You know what?

I don't like what I did

and I'm gonna start on the third,

final canister that I had.

So I had one canister left, one shot

to make a brand‐new blade in one day.

♪ ♪

Hey! [chuckles]

Definitely more steel. Definitely better.

♪ ♪

I forged in a handle,

so I'm just gonna stick with making a full, integral handle.

And then now, I'm gonna make an integral D‐guard.

Yes.

This looks like something I would make. [chuckles]

♪ ♪

Close enough for rock and roll.

So I get the handle wrap done.

Get it to the grinder and start sharpening.

Everything done at the very last second.

[exhales deeply]

Not bad for ten hours.

♪ ♪

‐ Tobin, David, welcome back to the testing arena.

You guys have had three days at your home forges

to make signature short swords.

Tobin, how did it go?

‐ [chuckles]

It was an adventure, to be sure.

Went ahead and did

a, uh, proprietary Damascus short sword

with a nice, little, integral handle.

I call her the Anne Bonny. ‐ Nice.

David, how'd it go for you?

‐ Went really well.

♪ ♪

I did three bars of 1095 powder

and the ball bearing steel.

I feel like my blade's gonna be good.

‐ Well, gentlemen, only one of you can advance

into the next level of this competition,

and to figure out who that's gonna be, our judges are gonna

put your weapons through a couple of tests.

♪ ♪

There will be a sharpness test,

but up first, a strength test.

Now, the judge who is performing the strength test

with your blades will not be the judge

that you have to compete against.

♪ ♪

And that judge is...

‐ So I don't want to see J. walk through that door.

He is a madman when it comes to swinging a blade.

‐ Ultimately, I wouldn't want to go up against Ben Abbott,

so I'm hoping he walks through the door.

♪ ♪

‐ Oh, man, oh, man.

You guys are in big trouble now, it's J. Neilson.

‐ Remember me?

[grunting]

♪ ♪

‐ Bladesmiths, welcome to our strength test,

the antler and post chop.

♪ ♪

I'm gonna take your blades

and with a very tiny amount of mercy,

I'm gonna beat your blades repeatedly

into both these materials.

Tobin, you're the first one up. Ready to go?

‐ [chuckles] No mercy. Let's go.

‐ I can do that. ‐ [chuckles]

I do antler chops and wood post tests all the time

at my home forge.

I think my blade's gonna handle it,

but will it handle J. is the question.

♪ ♪

‐ [grunts] ‐ [chuckles]

♪ ♪

[chuckles]

♪ ♪

‐ Tobin, good job.

I like the piece. It's nice and light.

The handle is a little on the thin side,

but having those knots on the end help make up for it.

Kind of locked my hand in place.

The one thing is the chipping right in here.

Antler loves to chip steel.

Whole rest of your knife is sharp.

You survived, good job. ‐ Thank you.

‐ Hey, Dave. You ready to go?

‐ Ready to go. ‐ All right, let's do it.

‐ This test can ruin a blade.

It can bend the blade. It can break the blade.

It's a tough test,

but I'm thinking my blade's gonna do okay

'cause I forged it right.

♪ ♪

[handle rattles]

♪ ♪

‐ All right, Dave, good job.

Your blade survived just fine.

‐ Thanks.

‐ Edge stayed straight, no chipping or anything.

The problem I have is the handle.

Not having epoxy in here is okay

if you've got the mechanical connection correct,

but look at the bottom scale.

It's just dropping away.

It's actually off the pin,

so if I didn't have a glove on, this would've hurt my hand.

I mean, it's still together. [handle rattles]

Didn't break apart and your blade held up.

Good job. ‐ All right.

Thank you, brother.

♪ ♪

‐ All right, champions.

This is the sharpness test, the water tube slice.

♪ ♪

Now, to find out how sharp your blades are,

I will take your weapon

and try to cut through these water tubes.

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

‐ Let's do it.

♪ ♪

[chuckles]

♪ ♪

‐ All right, Tobin,

let's talk about your blade here.

First up, the handle construction.

It stays in my hand and the dimensions you have there

actually is a perfect fit.

Now, your edge.

Despite taking some damage on the strength test,

it is not an issue in cutting these water tubes at all.

They're very clean cuts.

It is a sharp blade, sir, and it will cut.

‐ Thank you. [chuckles]

‐ All right, Dave. Your turn, sir. Are you ready?

‐ I'm ready.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

‐ All right, Dave.

Let's talk about your blade here.

First up, I like the design and the shape you have.

You can see the Damascus pattern and it cuts nicely.

Those are all very clean cuts. ‐ Nice.

‐ The one issue, though, is your handle.

Literally, the scale, I could pull it out.

‐ Yeah. ‐ It's already falling apart.

It's got a great edge. It will cut.

‐ Thank you.

♪ ♪

‐ All right, gentlemen.

Only one of you can move forward

to go head‐to‐head with one of our judges.

The bladesmith moving forward is...

♪ ♪

Tobin, congratulations.

♪ ♪

David, your blade did not make the cut.

J. Neilson is gonna tell you why.

‐ The big problem is that handle.

It's not connected,

it's only pinned on the back of the D‐guard

and every time we use it,

the handles are just getting further and further off

and that's a problem for the user,

so that's why we're sending you home.

‐ I get it.

I agree with the judges.

When the end user uses the sword,

have to have something to hold on to that holds it together.

I'm in Tobin's corner. He's a fellow smith.

We're up against the judges. I'm there with him in spirit.

♪ ♪

‐ Tobin, congratulations.

You've made it to the third and final level

of this competition where you will face off against

one of our two remaining judges.

You've done very well in this

choose your own path to success competition.

And now, we're gonna let you choose

which one of our remaining judges

you're gonna compete against.

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

or historic weapons re‐creation specialist,

David Baker.

Who's it gonna be?

‐ I wasn't prepared to make all of these choices.

I just came here to make a knife.

I have to choose either Ben Abbott or David Baker.

That's a very intimidating thing for me to do.

♪ ♪

‐ He's the Baker.

And he rocks a vest.

‐ Hey, buddy. How you doing? [laughter]

Good to see you, Tobin.

‐ David Baker is stiff competition.

I'm choosing David because

I know it's gonna be a tough challenge.

‐ I'm competing for the Breast Cancer Research Fund.

Breast cancer is something that's touched my life

in a number of different ways.

I know how devastating it can be,

so the more research we can put towards this,

the better we're gonna be.

‐ In this third and final level of competition,

we're gonna ask you guys to use these to make your blades.

♪ ♪

Those are stacks of 15N20 and 1095 steel.

You will have to use those to make a layer Damascus billet

from which you will forge your blades.

Now, we're not gonna stop with the choices right there.

You also have the opportunity to use those stacked billets

to make one of these.

♪ ♪

Your choice of either a spadroon,

an ida, or a kora sword.

Tobin, you get to pick your poison in this round.

This will be the blade that both of you will have to make.

‐ The thing about the kora sword is that

it is a very wide and heavy sword

and I'm not gonna wrestle a sword like that

without wasting time.

The spadroon has fittings

that I've seen David Baker make before, so

I kind of want

to keep as much advantage to myself as possible.

The thing about the ida is it tapers towards the handle

instead of tapering towards the tip,

and that's actually complex.

It's not an easy choice.

The ida. ‐ The ida.

‐ Mm‐hmm.

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

the ida is an ornate,

leaf‐shaped West African sword.

Aiming to impress, both smiths chose to focus on aesthetics

rather than ensuring their functionality,

a decision that ultimately cost one competitor the title

after a questionable heat treat

caused the weapon to chip during testing.

‐ Your idas must be between 22 and 24 inches in length.

It must be double‐edged, have a medial ridge,

have an integral guard,

and a mechanically‐attached handle.

‐ The ida's a deceptive weapon.

It looks very simple. It's not.

You have an integral guard,

you've got a blade that has a large medial ridge.

That's a tough challenge.

‐ Gentlemen, you have eight hours

to complete this weapon in totality.

Good luck, gentlemen. Your eight hours starts now.

♪ ♪

We've got Tobin versus David Baker making an ida.

What do you think about

the complexity of this challenge, J.?

‐ An ida is very, very, thin,

so you gotta be careful you don't get warpage.

That's gonna be the big thing during the heat treat.

And you have that integral guard.

Smart thing in my mind would be

to leave that mostly just oversized

and grind that in after you get your bevels done.

‐ Tobin chose me to go against,

which I'm very honored that he, uh‐‐

well, I hope I'm honored.

I hope he's not picking me

'cause I thought I was the worst of the bunch.

♪ ♪

We have both 15N20 and 1095.

I cut each one into 4‐inch sections.

I used 18 pieces in alternation.

My plan is to draw this out and cut it into four pieces

and re‐stack so I'm at 72 layers.

‐ Why is it important to have so many layers in Damascus?

‐ 'Cause that makes the pattern pop a lot more.

Soon as that goes in the forge,

I grab handle material

and I start cutting my handle.

‐ So how is it being on this side?

‐ You know, I love it. I just love building [bleep].

Any chance I get to make stuff, I'm there.

‐ Cut my bars of steel at 4 inches,

so that way I can stack them up.

You know, 1095, 15N20.

So I start with the 21 stack billet.

♪ ♪

I chose David Baker and I chose the ida sword.

I hope I made the right choice.

‐ I'm gonna do a spiral cut handle,

so it'll basically be two flutes running down.

Gives you a lot of control and a good grip.

I'm definitely not gonna let the judges kick me to the curb

because the handle wasn't good.

With that long handle, it was just harder to control.

That handle, still‐‐ugh.

I had a bit of a problem with the size of your handle.

For my design, I'm going to use a pommel.

I figure, well,

I got these four extra pieces of 15N20 and 1095,

so I make a four‐layer stack, heat that up, forge weld that.

♪ ♪

‐ Smokin'. ‐ Smokin'!

‐ ♪ Smokin' ♪ ‐ [laughs]

Just lost a little arm hair there.

♪ ♪

‐ Took the steel out,

gave it a couple of quick, little passes,

and everything looks nice and welded.

I'm hoping I can stretch it out, fold it,

stack 42,

The first time I came on "Forged in Fire"

was just to have fun.

I didn't expect much.

‐ A cutlass.

‐ Ooh. ‐ [laughs]

[pirate accent] Arr, me hearties.

We get to make a cutlass!

I'm very excited about that.

[normally] If I'm able to win,

then it's gonna prove to myself

that I'm doing the right thing right now.

I get distracted by Dave

because he's doing such awesome work.

I'm like, "Ooh, I wanna watch."

But you know, I gotta focus on doing my stuff.

[laughs]

‐ Bladesmiths, two hours has already elapsed.

♪ ♪

Dave heads over to Big Blue.

He's forge welded those four stacks together.

‐ Yup.

‐ And so he should have a pretty high layer count.

‐ So I'm at 72 layers.

Next few steps are to isolate what's going to be my guard

since we have to have an integral guard.

And then I'll draw metal away from that in both directions,

giving me a tang and a blade.

Tobin's a very talented smith.

I want to see him succeed.

I want to see him do everything but win.

[laughs]

In a nice way, you know what I mean?

♪ ♪

‐ Two hours have gone,

and I'm so freaking tired.

This is entire competition is gonna be based

on how I can do physically.

Let's be honest.

I am not in the greatest physical shape, as you can see.

‐ Tobin, how you doing out there?

‐ I'm good.

Sweating a little bit more than I'm used to, but hey.

I know it's gonna be tough,

but I'm just gonna push my way through it as best I can.

‐ The blade's got a rough shape,

so it's grinder time.

First thing is to profile,

so I take away any of the extra material along the edge.

So now, I've honed the medial ridge with the contact wheel.

‐ And there's Dave demonstrating

that diagonal grind.

‐ By going diagonally,

what you wind up with is an angle that drops,

and then flattens out towards the edge.

And that way, you get that flattened cross section,

which supports the edge very nicely,

but also has that strong high medial ridge.

‐ Dave's medial ridge looks fairly straight

and symmetrical as well.

And that's tough to get right,

especially in an eight‐hour challenge.

‐ Oh, yeah.

♪ ♪

‐ The length of the blade has to be

between 22 and 24 inches.

[bleep]. I think I [bleep] up.

I'm measuring and I'm double‐checking

and I'm starting to realize that

crap, I don't have enough steel.

[sighs]

If I don't hit those parameters,

there's no chance of even beating Dave at all.

‐ Tobin's in trouble.

I don't think Tobin's got enough steel.

He's gotta come up with a plan.

‐ With my limited steel that I have,

I'm gonna upset the steel,

which means I'm gonna push it back on itself.

That'll allow me to stretch it out a little bit wider,

so I can meet my length parameter.

Hopefully, I think it's gonna work out.

‐ Bladesmiths, fours has elapsed.

That is half the time in this level of competition.

‐ Super duper.

♪ ♪

‐ All right, so Dave's in the quench.

And nice color to that.

‐ Yeah. ‐ Yeah, baby.

Now my blade's pretty good.

It looks really straight,

maybe just a small warp towards the tang.

I put it in the vise, straighten it.

That's what we're talking about.

Not complaining about that.

‐ Sounds hard.

‐ I get to the grinder, and I do some basic grinding,

just to clean up the surface.

I preheat my oven to 450 for the temper.

Normally, you do at least two one‐hour cycles,

maybe three.

I don't have the time to do multiple cycles,

so I put my blade in for about an hour and a half.

Is it the way I would heat‐treat a blade at home?

No, I would do that second cycle,

but it should be good.

♪ ♪

‐ I'm getting the bevels forged in,

and then at that moment,

my fingers in my left hand are starting to go numb.

♪ ♪

‐ Oh, boy. Tobin's in trouble.

Tobin's in trouble.

‐ My fingers in my left hand

are starting to go numb.

I think I need the medic right now.

‐ Do you feel any pain going anywhere else,

throughout your chest, throughout your back?

‐ No, it's literally right here.

‐ Just right here?

‐ Tobin is with the medic right now.

‐ Yeah. ‐ Oh, boy.

‐ You ready? Just take deep breaths for me.

Okay?

‐ The ridiculous part is, this is a sword

that we've seen made in four, five days at their home forges,

and here, in this arena,

they have to do it in eight hours.

‐ My blood pressure's up. My heart rate's up.

Just trying to calm down.

I'm not even worried about what David's doing.

I gotta take care of myself.

♪ ♪

‐ So I grab a piece of mild steel.

What I'm making is mock tang.

That way, I can work on the handle and pommel

while my blade is in the tempering oven.

‐ Is he gonna weld on the mock‐up tang‐‐

‐ I think he is, yeah.

‐ See, that's even more brilliant

because it's already there. It's already made.

‐ Exactly.

‐ I've already got a tang that fits.

So I go weld on my mock tang.

My handle slips on, fits beautifully.

Anybody who ever tells you that building a sword

in eight hours is easy needs to be slapped.

‐ Does your arm feel better?

‐ It's gone. I mean, the tingling's gone‐‐

‐ Yeah?

Okay. ‐ How you doing, bro?

‐ I'm doing okay. ‐ Take this, and take‐‐

‐ Yeah.

‐ It got all quiet, and I started worrying.

‐ [laughs] Me, too.

‐ Can I get him some water?

‐ I'll see you back out there. ‐ All right.

Everything feels okay. It's time to get back to work.

‐ You good?

[applause]

All right. Come on.

‐ Nice. ‐ All right, bud.

‐ I'm not gonna quit.

I'm just gonna keep doing what I can

with the time that I got,

and just go from there.

♪ ♪

I've got three hours left on the clock.

I know that my time has diminished,

and I'm getting a little nervous.

I still have to heat‐treat.

I still have to get my blade to shape.

I still have to get my medial ridge.

I still have to get my handle on.

I have a lot to do in a little amount of time.

‐ Give Tobin credit, though, he didn't quit.

‐ He looks like he's hanging in there.

He's staying with it.

We know this is physically exhausting for him.

He's already taken a break off to the side,

but he's on the comeback.

‐ The best way to get this thing done

is just to call upon all the skills that I have,

and just keep going.

♪ ♪

I got my blade shaped out.

Time to work on my tang.

‐ So Tobin's tang is stretching out pretty good.

‐ It's ready to go into the oil.

♪ ♪

‐ That thing is so thin.

If it comes out of the oil not warped,

I'd be very, very surprised.

‐ I've already set up a couple of pieces

of angle iron in the vise.

That way, I can use a straightening jig

to make sure everything stays straight.

‐ Really good idea for the thickness of that blade.

‐ I'm gonna leave it there

until it gets cool to the touch

to make sure I get no warpage whatsoever.

‐ Got two hours remaining to finish your work.

♪ ♪

‐ My blade's looking good.

So now, I'm going to work on pommel.

♪ ♪

I do this for a living,

so yeah, I know how to make a sword

quicker than most people.

That all changes when you're on the floor

and there's a clock there and there's judges here.

It's a different arena.

‐ Man, that thing looks slick.

♪ ♪

‐ Dry faster, dry faster, dry faster, dry...

[laughs]

♪ ♪

‐ Take out my blade from the jig.

Everything looks good and straight.

We're good.

How am I gonna temper this blade?

I can temper it in the oven, which will take too much time.

‐ Is there another way that he can get away

without heat‐treating it in an oven?

‐ Yeah, you can torch temper.

‐ Go over, pick up a torch,

and then I just go to town on the center of the blade,

trying to get my color to the best I can.

This is not the ideal way to temper,

but you do what you gotta.

‐ Torch tempering actually can work really well,

but Tobin has such a thin blade,

it's gonna be really hard to control

where that heat goes.

‐ I got about an hour and a half left.

I figure I can grind it out in about 30 minutes,

and then use the last hour to fix up my handle.

It's going to be intense.

‐ Tobin has a laundry list

of chores to accomplish to get this blade up to par.

Meanwhile, Dave's got plenty of time to refine his edge.

‐ My blade's assembled. Everything looks good.

So it's time to sharpen.

I started out as a bladesmith making swords.

I didn't start with knives.

I wanted swords. I couldn't afford swords,

so I made swords, and now here I am

as a judge on this show.

This whole experience, it's just changed my life,

and it's been fantastic.

♪ ♪

‐ 15 minutes.

‐ Four hours into this competition,

I wasn't sure that Tobin

was gonna walk across the finish line.

You gotta give him a huge amount of props

for being where he is right now.

‐ I need to have a mechanical lock,

so I drilled through the wood, drilled for my tang.

I'm trying to get my pin in. It doesn't want to go in.

Come on.

I finally get the pin in, but now I need it to come out,

because I forgot to put epoxy inside.

[grunts] Really?

‐ It's jammed in there. He can't get it out now.

‐ And then as I'm trying to pull the pin out...

[loud snap]

‐ Uh‐oh. ‐ The pin just broke.

♪ ♪

‐ This is bad because the only thing

holding my handle to the blade right now

is half of a brass pin.

‐ Come on, kid. Kick it into gear.

‐ I can punch this out later. I gotta go grind.

I gotta get the handle shaped.

I'm gonna turn in something, no matter what.

‐ Five, four, three, two, one.

Bladesmiths, stop what you're doing.

This level of competition is over.

‐ Hey. ‐ Come here, brother.

‐ [laughs]

[applause]

‐ Oh, man. It's an ass‐kicker, isn't it?

‐ That was fun, though. I mean‐‐

[both laughing]

Today, I feel like I did really good for myself.

I didn't stop.

And I wasn't gonna stop until I heard time's up.

[exhales]

♪ ♪

‐ All right, bladesmiths.

This is the KEAL test.

To find out what kind of lethal damage your weapon will do,

I'm gonna take your weapon, deliver some lethal slashes

and cuts on this ballistics dummy.

Dave, you're up first. You ready, sir?

‐ Oh, yeah.

‐ Let's do this.

‐ I'm a little worried.

I don't think it matters who you are

when you're in competition.

You know, you can think you nailed it,

then you're there standing in front of your judges,

and you're like... [inhales deeply]

[intense music]

♪ ♪

‐ [laughs]

♪ ♪

‐ See ya.

‐ [laughs]

‐ That's nasty.

‐ All right, Dave, let's talk about your weapon here.

The pattern you have here is beautiful.

Your handle construction is clean.

I can wrap my hand around it, and when you swing with this,

it's balanced enough to where it's a chopper and a slicer.

Your edge is sharp.

It chops and cleans cleanly.

Overall, sir, it will KEAL.

‐ Thank you, Doug.

‐ Tobin, you're up next. Ready?

‐ No. [both laughing]

‐ We're gonna do it anyways.

‐ Okay. Sounds good.

[laughs] ‐ Good luck, brother.

♪ ♪

‐ I know by blade is light.

I know it's fast.

But I also know that I made my handle very quickly,

and it's not my best work,

so it's in the judge's hands now.

♪ ♪

Gentlemen, take a look at this.

Hear all that movement?

And as I'm trying to do that, I can swing it.

It wants to pop out.

‐ Yeah, the pin doesn't go all the way through.

The pin's only going through one side.

‐ I just see the judges whispering

and holding the handle shaking the blade.

Yeah, I don't think it looks good right now.

‐ Do you have confidence in this weapon to test it?

‐ No, I do not.

‐ Absolutely not. ‐ Not at all.

‐ All right, let's let him know.

♪ ♪

Tobin, you put in a lot of work,

but I think you know what's coming down the pipe.

The judges have given your weapon a vote of no confidence.

Doug Marcaida's gonna tell you why.

‐ Tobin, lot of props for you

for pushing through eight hours,

going through the health issues and everything else.

You did a good job of finishing you blade.

But your handle construction is loose.

Even just if I'm moving it in the air,

I can feel it already loosening up,

and you can hear some slight cracking on the handle.

To swing that with impact,

definitely it's gonna be a failure,

and safety is always first.

‐ Yep.

‐ Tobin, unfortunately,

your blade is unsafe to test.

That means that you cannot win this competition,

and, Dave, you win.

You win the $10,000

that's going to the charity of your choice.

And what charity is that, my friend?

‐ That's the Breast Cancer Research Fund.

‐ All right, man. That sounds fantastic.

Come on forward, guys.

‐ I agree 100% with the judges' decision.

And I'm not disappointed at all.

‐ Lot of hard work. ‐ Thank you, sir.

I came here because I had to test myself

to see if this is the right way I'll be going.

And the fact that I didn't quit,

that I persevered and pushed on to the very end

tells me that being a bladesmith

is what I want to do.

‐ You know, Tobin is a great smith.

He had a bit of a health issue.

But he came back from that, and he kept fighting through.

I have a feeling if he hadn't lost that time,

we would've been testing two blades.

♪ ♪