All language subtitles for Forged.in.Fire.S09E16.720p.WEB.h264-KOGi

- Here in the Forge, we have
seen hundreds of smiths

create some of the most feared
edged weapons in history.

Now, in honor of History's
mini-series event "Colosseum,"

we have decided
to transform our Forge

into a Roman gladiators arena.

We are doing
a competition series

unlike anything
you've ever seen.

This is Gladiators of the Forge.

Currently,
we've seen six battles

and our current
gladiator take down

four formidable opponents.

Jesse, that makes you

a four-time Gladiator
of the Forge,

and you have
$20,000 in your pocket.

- I've won four battles
in a row now.

I've come to prove something,
and I want to keep winning.

- Tonight Jesse will face
his toughest competition yet.

Will he have what it takes
to earn number five

and that $10,000 bonus?

The Gladiators of the Forge
competition continues now.

- My name is Jesse Hu,
I'm 19 years old,

and I come from
the University of Michigan.

I'm the four-time reigning
Gladiator of the Forge

and I'm here to hopefully
get my fifth title.

If I win my fifth title,
it comes with an extra $10,000

on top of the $5,000,
which means it'll be

worth three
of my previous battles.

I've done it before.

There's nothing stopping me
from doing it again.

- I'm John Lachie,

I'm 47 years old,

and I'm from Laurel, Montana.

I've been forging
for 20 plus years.

I don't know if I'm more nervous

going against somebody
that has won four in a row,

but it is
a bit of a shock for sure.

To someone who has done
this, he's a proven winner.

And now, to be the best,
you have to beat the best.

My gladiator name
would be Caledonian.

My family's Scottish,
and so that was

the one part of the world
that the Romans didn't conquer.

They built a wall to stay away.

- Bladesmiths,
welcome to the Forge.

This is the seventh battle

in our Gladiators
of the Forge competition.

Now, it will consist
of eight straight hours of

head-to-head competition
that is sudden death.

Now, gentlemen,
in those eight hours,

you will be asked to build
a weapon from our wall

of gladiator weapons here,
all of which have been

featured in History's
mini-series event,

"Colosseum."

Now, guys, at the end of
that eight hours

I will ask
that you stop your work

and present your blades
to our panel of expert judges

who will put your blade
through a series of tests.

Today, it will ultimately
end with one of you

earning the title of
Gladiator of the Forge

and getting a check for $5,000.

Now, Jesse, right now you
have four wins under your belt.

You've got $20,000
in your pocket.

You're fighting for the 5 grand,

but being that this is your
fifth competition,

if you win, you will also
receive that bonus of $10,000.

John, you are the challenger.

If you win today,
you will get your first

Gladiator of the Forge title,
$5,000,

and an opportunity
to move forward

into the future rounds
of this competition.

Are you guys
ready to get into it?

- Let's go.
- Yep.

- All right, gentlemen,
in order to find out

what blade you will
be building and the technique

you'll both use
to build that blade,

we're gonna flip this
authentic Roman coin here.

John, as the challenger,
I'll give you the option,

heads or tails?
- Tails never fails.

- Tails never fails.

Today it did, landed on heads.

Jesse, you get first pick.
Do you want to pick the weapon

or do you wanna pick
the forge welding technique?

- I want the weapon.

- All right,
what are you thinking?

- For all
of my previous competitions,

one of the winning factors
was me picking

a rather complicated-looking
blade

and having my opponent get
scared by it a little.

So I want to pick a blade that
looks scary to the both of us.

I'm thinking
the pair of pugio daggers.

- Holy cow...

- Yes!
- What a bold choice.

The pugio was a popular sidearm

in second
and third century Rome.

Gladiators were known
to battle with two pugio,

one in each hand.

These close-quarter
combat weapons featured

a wide leaf-shaped blade
to inflict deep,

lethal wounds upon an enemy,
both on the battlefield

and inside the walls
of the Colosseum.

However,
the pugio is most well known

as the weapon used
to murder Julius Caesar.

All right, gentlemen,
you need to build

a pair of matching
pugio daggers.

Now, gentlemen,
when you turn your blades in,

make sure they meet
these following parameters.

Each of your daggers
needs to have a blade length

that measures between 7 1/2
and 9 1/2 inches.

You need to have two discs
in each of your handles.

And as you can see here,
gentlemen,

these are leaf-shaped blades
with double edge.

John, you've got a choice
to make...

What forge welding technique
do you want to use

to build your daggers?

- It is a competition,

so I went back to what I know.

If Jesse's not prepared
for using scrap techniques,

it could be a detriment to him.

I'm not trying
to set him up for failure,

but in a competition,
you try to do the best you can

and come out ahead.

Let's go with canister,

and we're gonna have to use
some bicycle chain in it.

- Bicycle chain
in canister Damascus.

All right, very, very
tall order on the plate today.

Now, gentlemen, keep in mind

that 5 1/2 hours
into this competition,

your forges will be turned off.

So make sure that you
have them quenched

and hardened before that time.

Guys, this is going to be
one for the books.

You have eight hours
to complete your pugio daggers,

so good luck, stay sharp.

Your time starts now.

Guys, this has got to be
the most difficult

blade selection

and a very difficult
forge welding technique.

- You got bolster style guards,

you got two discs...

It's a lot going on there.

- And there's two of them.

These guys have a long day
ahead of them.

- Because
this is my fifth battle,

I'm definitely
a little bit tired.

I've hit that bottom plateau
in terms of energy

and the only way I can go is up.

- At 19 years old,
he's got a little bit

of extra stamina,
a little bit more in the tank.

- There's nothing
different about this battle

compared to my earlier ones.

It's the same
order of operations.

I don't plan on changing it.

It worked for me in the past
so it has to work for me now.

I want to win this one a lot.

I used to forge out
chef knives at home

in batches of two or three,

so this is a pretty comfortable
zone for me.

- It would be hard enough
to build one of these

in eight hours,
so now we have to build two,

and that is
going to be a challenge.

So what I'm doing
is taking the canoe,

laying down some
of the powdered steel,

then filling in
with roller chain.

- If you have a canoe canister,
you can see

that you're filling those voids.

When you're in the tallboy

and you're filling it
from the top,

you can't necessarily see

what's going on
down in bottom of that.

- I didn't know
before I got here

that I'm facing the Ken Jennings

of "Forged in Fire."

It's like, wow,
this kid's pretty sharp,

this is gonna be a dandy.

- I think my canister
is up to temperature now.

I think it's the perfect
time to bring them over

to the squaring dies
and start setting those welds.

- Jesse is bringing out
screaming hot cans.

- That's good,
that's what you want.

- I'm not going too
aggressively on the press.

I know that if I press too hard,

I can rip the canister and
just destroy my entire billet.

- Jesse's doing good.

He's taking small bites,
he flipped it.

- I thought I would have to
deal with at least some issues.

However, it looks
pretty much perfect to me.

- I'm looking
for the right color,

and once I have the billet
up to temperature,

I go over to the press,
run through the squaring dies.

Of course the biggest concern
is always going to be

the weld quality,
make sure the welds are good.

I think the welds are all set
and they should be fine.

So the idea that I've got

is that I'm going
to forge the two knives

out of one billet and I'm gonna

stretch out the tang
in the middle.

And I'll cut those in two.

- John's actually impressing
me quite a bit already.

- He's working like somebody
who's been here before.

- I'm feeling pretty
good right now where we're at.

It is kind of an adventure,

and it's amazing
how fast the clock ticks.

- Bladesmiths, you guys
are a quarter of the way

through this battle.

You have six hours left!

- Two... you had to pick two.

You couldn't just pick one.

No, no, pick two.

- The more the merrier.

- The pugio daggers are very,
very leaf-shaped.

I made the Xiphos,

and the Xiphos is just
a really long pugio dagger.

So I definitely have experience
making a leaf-shaped blade.

- So how important is
the symmetry of these blades

as you go into the testing?

- It's quite important because
it affects your accuracy

and affects
how he will be moving

and cutting with the blade.

- Right now I have them
all forged to shape,

fit to dimension,

just wanna get them ready
for heat treat now.

- Guys, would you say
that one of the smiths

is ahead of the other?

- Not really.
- No.

- I think they're pretty
much neck and neck.

- Yeah, I'd say they're
right on top of one another.

- My thought process is
to make these pugio daggers

as exact to each other
as I possibly can.

So I'm clamping the tangs
together

and then I grind them
at the same time.

- John's making a point
of stacking his blades up

to make sure he's got the same
dimensions on both of them.

- Smart move.

- There we go.

Got 'em ground to shape
that I think I like,

and I'm just gonna thermal
cycle them a couple times

before I heat treat.

- Bladesmiths, we are
officially halfway through.

You have four hours remaining!

- It's time for le quench.

Canister Damascus is a much
more non-uniform material.

I definitely think

it's more liable to cracking
during the quench,

so I decided
to do one at a time.

- Oh, we got a quench.

- The temperature of my
first blade looked perfect.

Now it's time to put
blade two in the fire.

- All right, Jesse's
got two blades quenched.

- It went perfectly.

There was no warps
in either blade.

It's time to grind these
blades to final dimension.

I slap on a fresh 36 grit
and just start going ham.

- So after I've got 'em ground,
now it's time to heat treat.

- All right, guys, we've
got four quenched blades now.

John just got in the oil.

- Out of the oil, it looks good.

I think I've got what I want.

That's gonna work.

And then I go to the grinder.

The second blade,
I noticed a delam on the edge.

I am concerned that another
could show up while I grind,

but I think I've still
got enough width.

And so now I'm just
going to work that out.

I'm hoping I don't snatch defeat

from the jaws of victory
right now.

So I just
want to make sure I'm doing

the best I possibly can.

- Bladesmiths,
you have two hours left

to finish your blades.

So these guys managed
to forge their blades out,

get 'em quenched, but it's still

a very long road ahead of them.

These are some of the more
difficult handles

I've seen built in the Forge,

and there's two of them.

- I'm deciding to put
the discs in first

because wood
is a lot easier to shape.

This is
a fairly tedious process.

I don't want to create garbage.

I want to make sure
what I create

is as good as it can be.

I know that during battle three,

when Kurt
had a gap in his guard,

the judges were complaining

that it was scratching
their hands,

and that's pretty much
how he got eliminated.

- Well, Kurt, your handle

with sharp corners on the inside

was less refined
than your opponent,

and that's what we based
our decision on.

- I want to learn
from my past experiences.

However, I'm facing a clock.

I don't have time to make
sure that these fits

are perfect,
but I'm going to do my best

to make them look
pretty much identical.

- I now have to assemble
these two handles.

It is going to be a big
challenge all the way around.

I want to use my Micarta
for the bulk of the handle.

It's tougher material.

Agh, it split it.

- Ooh, looks like John just
broke some handle material.

- Just cracked wide open.

- I don't feel that
I wasted too much time,

so time to adjust again.

I find an epoxied block
with some wood in it...

- Oh man!

- And it breaks.

I go back into the pantry
and find a block of maple.

Ohhh!

- Ugh.
- Oh, boy.

The third block cracks.

- Come on, man.

- And I start second-guessing

about everything
that I have done.

- This is where
some of our smiths

tend to get frustrated.

- It really is a race
against the clock and myself.

If I let it spiral me
out of control,

I could lose
the competition easily.

- We're down to the final hour

of our seventh Gladiator
of the Forge battle,

and John has now broken

three different pieces
of handle material.

He's in trouble... he needs
to get this handle on

really fast.

- I know I have
to find a handle,

because the clock marches on.

I've got to find
a chunkier piece.

So I'm going with another maple.

- There we go.
- Whoo!

- This is gonna give me
a heart attack.

- Yep.

- Everything seems to be
just right,

but I glance, and I'm seeing

I've used up
better than an hour,

so I know
I've got to keep moving on.

- Everything is glued pretty
much together as best as I can,

but there's still a few things

that I need to do in this round

including finish
shaping the handle

and then sharpening it.

- God, this is the fifth
competition where we've

gotten to watch Jesse
work in the Forge.

Each one
had their own difficulties

assigned with them.

- And Jesse's risen
to the occasion

every single time.

- If Jesse
doesn't win these tests,

that's $15,000
out of his pocket.

- Ouch.

- I have to sharpen
two double-edged daggers.

I leave myself a lot of time
to sharpen these blades

because I don't want to
run out of time

and have one edge unsharpened.

After forging for 40 hours,

I'm definitely feeling it
a little bit.

I'll be energized
for the next competition,

but it'll just be adrenaline.

I'm feeling good
about the blades.

I wanna prove that even with
only three years of experience,

I can defeat someone with
20 years of experience.

Nice.

- Bladesmiths,
you are down to the last

30 minutes of this contest!

- It's a very complex handle.

I know they have a lot of
moving parts in this.

I know I'm going to have to

to make sure everything
fits properly with it.

- John's got something
completely different going on,

trying to inlay the disc

into a through tang
handle construction.

- What John's doing is
a great idea,

but it's very,
very time-consuming.

- It's not an easy process,
but I do get 'em inset some.

After I get the pommel wood on,

then it's to the grinder.

It looks like
a potato on a stick.

It doesn't look great,
and I need to get this

shaped into something
that is functional.

- What John's got going on
on his handle,

it kinda almost looks
like a dog chew bone.

- I still need
to sharpen the blade.

I have to get it etched.

I'm racing the clock right now,

and I don't have time
to make mistakes today.

- Five, four,

three, two, one!

Bladesmiths, turn off your
machines, put down your tools.

This battle is over!

- I am happy
with what I've done.

It's a finished set.

The handle meets the criteria.

I do look over at Jesse's
anvil and see a very nice set,

but I think the blades will
hold up and test pretty well.

- Bladesmiths,
welcome our strength test,

the armor stab and slash.

Jesse, you're up first.
You ready to go?

- I'm ready to go.
- I know you love going first.

- Yep.
- Let's do it, bud.

- This strength test
is probably the hardest one

that I've experienced so far,

and there's some
extra money on the line.

It's steel on steel.

You'd have to be a magician
to make a blade

that can go through this
and keep the same edge.

- All right, Jesse,
you survived, good job.

Your blades look great.
I like the symmetry on these.

They look like a matched pair.

Everything's tight,
everything's smooth.

Your edges are still good.

You do have a few flat spots,

but there's not enough there
where I can catch a nail on it.

The biggest issue
I have is the handles.

They have no grip to them
whatsoever,

enough so,
that with one of the chops,

I actually caught a knuckle,
the knuckle slipped up.

Some contouring
would have made it

a lot easier to hold on to 'em.

But otherwise, great job.

- Thank you.

- It's always fun being
the second guy, right John?

- Sure, why not?

- You ready to go?
- Absolutely.

- All right, let's do it.

- If there's ever anybody
that's going to

break a new toy,
it's J. Nielson.

There's always a possibility
of something failing.

I think it's all glued
together properly,

but we're about to find out.

- If there's ever
anybody that's going to

break a new toy,
it's J. Nielsen.

I think it's all glued
together properly,

but we're about to find out.

All right, John, you survived.

Gotta be happy about that.

You got some glinting
on the edges,

nothing I'm really catching on.

The biggest problem I have...

The contouring you have on there

is basically the exact opposite

of what I said about Jesse's.

They're not sliding anywhere,

but they're
not comfortable at all.

But, overall, they held together

and nothing came loose,
edges survived... good job.

- Thank you.

- Gladiators of the Forge,

this is the sharpness test,
the banner slice.

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

- I'm ready.
- All right.

All right, Jesse,
let's talk about

your matching pugio daggers
here.

That's a beautiful matched set,
they're quite identical,

very close to that.

Now, your edge... your
edges cut nicely,

and overall your weapon...
will cut.

John, your turn, sir.
You ready?

- Yes, sir, let's do this.

- All right, John, let's talk
about your pugio daggers here.

Your edges are sharp,
it's just that it's got

a grind here
that's not razor sharp.

So when cutting with this,
there are some areas to this

where it just got snagged
with the blade,

and it does rip a little bit.

But overall, sir, your
pugio daggers... will cut.

- Thank you.

- All right, gentlemen, after
eight hours of furious battle

where you guys
built your pugio daggers

out of bicycle chain
canister Damascus,

it is coming down
to a final decision.

Only one of you
can come out of here on top

for the title
of Gladiator of the Forge.

Jesse, if you win,
that will be your fifth win,

and you will have
$35,000 in your pocket.

Now, John, if you win,
you'll stop his winning streak,

get your first
Gladiator of the Forge title,

a check for $5,000,

and the opportunity to go
forward into the next battle.

The Judges have discussed
your blades,

and they made a final decision.

Today's Gladiator
of the Forge is...

Jesse, you have done it again.

That is five total wins.

John, you brought us
a good pair of blades,

but unfortunately
they didn't come out on top,

and Jay is gonna tell you why.

- John, you did
a great job out there.

You should definitely be
proud of yourself.

We sure as heck enjoyed
watching you work.

But at the end of the day,

the inner grinds
on your pugio daggers

weren't as sharp
as your competitor's,

as we saw
during the sharpness test.

And you had a great idea
for the handle,

but it kind of went south,

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

- John, there's no question,
you're talented.

I know you had your competitor
here worried for a little bit.

Unfortunately, you didn't
come out on top today.

At this point,
I'm gonna have to ask you

to please
step off the Forge floor.

- I understand.
It's been a great challenge.

Thank you, guys.
- Thank you, John.

- Congratulations.
- Thank you.

- There's no sour grapes at all.

Jesse's a great smith,
and he's a sharp young man.

This is just one more
learning experience.

Take your education
and move to the next thing.

There are so many
things that were used

in the gladiator ring.

You're going to be
a jack of all trades,

really, to get any of them done.

It's going
to be a tough challenge

for anybody coming up.

- Jesse,
you are a five-time champion.

You got another check
for 5 grand

and a bonus of $10,000.

Congratulations.
- Thank you.

- So right now, I gotta
ask again,

do you have enough energy
to go back in the Forge

and fight out another battle?

- Put me in, Coach.
- I love it.

All right, man,
congratulations again

on your
fifth win and the $15,000.

We will see you on the Forge
floor for the next battle.

Well done.
- Thank you.

I've faced people
pretty much every round

who've had more experience
than me.

Having won five in a row,

I've proven to myself
that I can overcome

pretty much any level
of adversity in the Forge.

I have five titles.

I'm not ready to give up
this seat anytime soon.

- My name is Matt Brando,

I'm from Jacksonville,
North Carolina.

I'm 36 years old.

I've been blade smithing
for three years.

What got me into smithing
was my eight-year-old son.

He had watched an episode
of "Forged in Fire"

and got excited.

And everything
that we do in the shop,

we do together.

I would compare this as
a battle to the death because

if I stop Jesse, there it is,
I killed his winning streak.

Jesse's already
got a high sum of money

from winning.
I'm ready to take the rest.

- We are about to kick off

our eighth Gladiator
of the Forge competition

with our five-time winner Jesse

and our competitor Matt,

trying to stop
that reign of terror.

Now, Jesse,
you're already at 35 grand.

If you win through
the next three battles,

you will have a total of $50,000

earned in this competition.

Matt, if you win, you'll get
your first $5,000,

and we'll ask you if you
want to move forward

into the next battle.

Gentlemen, without further ado,
let's get into it.

In order to find out what blade

from our wall of
gladiator weapons here

you're going to be building

as well as
the forge welding technique,

we're gonna flip a coin.

Matt, as the challenger, you get

the option as to heads or tails.

What do you want to pick?
- Heads.

- Heads it is.

Unfortunately,
it landed on tails.

That means, Jesse,
you get the first choice

whether you want the weapon
or the forge welding technique.

What are you picking today?

- I want to pick the forge
welding technique.

- Interesting. All right,
what are you thinking?

- My plan is basically
ultimate chicken.

I'm gonna make it super,
super hard for my opponent.

Having gone through five battles

with five different
forging techniques,

I'm not really scared
of any of them anymore.

I'm thinking...

- I'm gonna make it super,
super hard for my opponent.

Having gone through
five battles with five

different forging techniques,

I'm not really scared
of any of them anymore.

I'm thinking...

Ball bearing canister
with a peeled canister.

- Oh!

- Very risky move, all right.

Now, Matt, you lost the coin
toss, you get second choice.

You have a choice
of a few weapons here

on the wall of gladiator blades.

What are you thinking?

- I've done fish hook
canister Damascus,

I've done
chain canister Damascus.

I've never had anything
to do with ball bearings.

Honestly,
I don't even know what type

of metal that it is
without doing research.

So I look at the wall,
and I think we'll keep it

within my wheelhouse.

Gladius.

- The Roman gladius
is one of the most

well-known weapons
of the Roman Empire.

Tracing its origin back
to the second century BC,

this weapon features
a lightweight,

double-edged blade

designed for easier,
more deadly strikes

than other
heavier blades of the era,

which made it the sword
of choice

for both Roman soldiers
and gladiators.

This iconic weapon was featured

on the very first season
of "Forged in Fire"

where both smiths went above
and beyond

with their Damascus blades
but struggled to perfect

the intricate
handle construction.

Now, gentlemen,
when you turn your blades in,

make sure they fall within
these following parameters.

Your blade length,
measured from tip

to where the cutting edge ends
in a straight line,

needs to be between
17 and 19 inches.

You need to include
two edges and a medial ridge

on that blade,
and you need to feature

a wooden guard with a metal
plate and a globe pommel.

This is going to be
a hell of a competition, guys.

You have eight hours
to build a gladius

with ball bearing
canister Damascus

with a requirement
of a peeled can.

But keep in mind that
at 5 1/2 hours

into this competition,
we will shut off your forges.

So make sure you have
those blades quenched

and hardened by that time.

Good luck, stay sharp.
Your time starts now.

- Yee haw!

- This is gonna be
an interesting one.

- It's a ballsy call
from Jesse right here,

asking for a peeled Damascus.

- That's the great thing,

Jesse's always trying
something new.

But does he know that
the ball bearings need to be

at a higher temperature
and soak longer?

Otherwise, they're not
going to fuse up in that can.

- I mean,
I've done canister Damascus.

Every time I'd done it,
I peeled the can off.

Didn't seem
to have trouble with it.

I go for the White Out
and I know I've got to get

that White Out to dry prior
to doing anything

from that point on.

- Matt put the White Out in.

Now he put it aside
and is drawing out his plan.

That's a good idea.

- The last thing that I want is
my steel not welding together.

So I get all that powdered
steel settled in between

all the ball bearings,

almost like making
a ball bearing lasagna.

Pack it down the best
that I can and weld the top.

I'm ready to stop Jesse's
winning streak, and I'm ready

to go onto the next,
and then the next.

Plenty of time, plenty of time.

- After forging for 48 hours,

I'm definitely
feeling it a little bit.

I know from watching
J. Nielson's videos that

I'm supposed to let this
White Out dry somewhat,

but I don't have time for that.

I try to go over
to the forge and heat it up

and have it cool
a little bit faster but...

- Oh, boy, here we go.

- It just lights on fire.

- Jesse just went and did
a little burnout on his can.

Once you burn that White Out,

it kind of changes
the chemicals in there

and it doesn't really work
as a resist anymore.

- I decided to risk it
and just go back and pack it

while the White Out's
still pretty liquid.

- Ooh!

- It looks like my forge
just got possessed.

- This could just be him having
some gapping in the weld.

Jesse should pull that out

and reweld around
that gap again quickly.

- That's all material burning
out of the inside of the can.

That creates a void.

- Sparking goes on for a while,
but then it just stops 100%.

So now that my billet's
cooking up, I take this time

to go to the pantry and begin

picking out materials
for my handle.

Let's go!

- Canister comes out,
I think it's ready to go

and we start squaring it off.

- Matt's taking his time,
he's being careful with this.

He's not distorting
the canister much at all.

- I get to the point
where it looks as if I've got

one solid piece of steel.

I'm ready
to take the canister off.

As I am peeling off the can,
I look down at the steel

and there's little ball
bearings on my inside.

It kind of freaks me out.
It doesn't look right.

- Uh-oh, guys,
Matt just put his billet

down on the ground
back by his vice.

- I just make
the quick decision.

I'm starting over.
- Oh, we got a restart!

- My question is
why did he restart?

- He only opened
a tiny little seam.

- That's what I saying,
he didn't open it enough

to see what's going on in there.

- I don't even want
to try to salvage it

and bury myself three,
four hours into this blade.

If my second billet comes out
looking the same as my first,

then I guess I was right
the first time,

but I can't stop.

- The first two welding heats
go very, very well,

but I don't have x-ray vision.

The only way that I can
tell what's inside this can

is to start peeling it open.

It feels solid enough

so I attempt to chisel away
this can.

I expected there to be
a little bit of a barrier

between the can
and what's inside the can,

but it just looked like
one homogenous piece of steel.

- What Jesse's doing
is extremely exhausting.

- And that's on top
of 40 hours of forging

he's done in the past
five competitions.

- I did have a lot
of energy going into

this competition,
but it's all being sapped away

by the most draining process
I've experienced yet.

I wish I chose a different

foraging technique.

This sucks.

- Bladesmiths,
you have six hours left.

- All right.

Second can gets up to heat
and it's heat, beat,

and repeat, same thing
I did with the first can.

- So there's something
about the re-starting.

What are you going to change
to not get the same result?

- It's kind of taking a gamble
'cause with so many steps

in the process, how do you
identify which one went wrong?

- Oh, baby!

- It comes off, easy.

It looks to be one
solid piece of steel.

- Matt's got that
can off his billet,

now he's on the press, gonna
start drawing it out to length.

- He's drawing it
quite aggressively.

This is where you start putting
the cracks in the sides.

- And as I'm hammering...

A ball bearing
actually falls off.

- Oh, no.

- I know I've got
to calm myself down.

I'm doing something wrong.

- Oh, boy, he's thinking
about re-starting.

- This is where Matt needs to
straighten that billet out,

cut it, and restack it.

- It's worth a shot.

- I cannot believe I'm thinking
I've got to do it a third time.

- Oh, wow.

- Are you kidding me, guys?

- So that's two hours
gone out of the challenge.

- Push, push, push,
don't stop moving.

That's all I'm thinking.

- We're over two hours
into the eighth Gladiator

of the Forge battle,
and Matt is struggling

with Jesse's pick
of canister Damascus.

He's already restarted
once and he might have

to start over again.

- I've got my second
billet drawn out,

and as I'm hammering...

a ball bearing
actually falls off.

- Oh, no.

- I cannot believe I've
got to do it a third time.

- Oh, wow.

- Are you kidding me, guys.

- Too aggressive
on that first pass.

- I think you're right.

- Giving up is not
going through my mind,

it's "how do I succeed?"

I've gotta hurry.

Finally, holy.

After 45 minutes
of chiseling away,

the last side
of the can comes off.

I am ridiculously happy,
but I just barely got started,

and I need to make
a full-blown sword.

- Usually, at this point,
Jesse's

already got a billet drawn out.
- Right?

- There's not a single inch
on this billet

where there's no cracks.

I could end my win streak here.

I could turn in a cracked blade,

and the judges
won't even test it.

I can try to fix these cracks
in my billet,

or I can restart.

But there's no way I'm
peeling off that can again.

So I employ all of
my fluxing powers

and try to fix these
forge welds.

- This was the issue
we were worried about

because that White Out
wasn't dry,

so it could have gotten
mixed in there,

and that's in the middle
of all that consolidation.

- I get most of these cracks
ground out of the billet.

Super lucky.

Now it's time to take it
to old Big Blue and completely

draw it out and get
ready for beveling.

- Bladesmiths, three
hours down, five hours to go!

- Come on!

I've completely lost track
of the clock.

My only and main focus
is on this third cannister.

I've gotta get this to
work for me.

This is my last chance.
- There we go.

He had the heat up nicely,

did one pass,
slipped to 90 degrees,

did another pass,
put it back in the fire.

- I get to the point
where I feel I can take

the can off...

and this thing
fights me tooth and nail.

- Did he spend more time
consolidating the welds

because he's
worried about having

those cracks
and delaminations in it?

- I think so, and I don't
think that was a bad idea,

but what it did was
probably weld that can

onto that billet
in several places.

So now
he's got to deal with that.

- It's just me in that third
can, and I am going to win.

- There you go.

- When the last piece pops off,

oh, my God, it's time to work.

We gotta work,
and we gotta work fast.

- Jesse seems to be going
right along on his profile,

so I guess whatever issues
he had on the edge are gone.

- After I'm done forging
out my blade, I need to get

some good normalizing cycles in.

- It's gotta be very
disheartening for Matt

when he's just trying
to forge out a shape

and Jesse's
already thermal cycling.

- I want there to be
as small a chance as possible

of the blade cracking
in the quench.

- Jesse quenched.

- Nice color all throughout.

- The quench goes perfectly,
and I don't see any

cracks on the blade.

It's time to hog off
the most material I ever had

and get this blade
to its final shape.

Ugh, it's hard.

- Big Blue,
that's my time saver.

I shape it just to give
myself a blade profile

that I can work with.

- Matt has really got
to get over to that forge

and get that blade quenched.

- 15 minutes till
the forge is turned off.

- Matt went right
back to the grinder.

I thought
he was gonna go to the forge.

- And then this idea
that you can't grind

after you quench,
I don't know what...

- This is where you'd
wanna shout out, are you sure?

- So I know the forge
is going to cut off

at the 2 1/2 hour mark,

but quenching it
without a thermal cycle,

I've got the chance
of some catastrophic failures.

So I'm going to use
the oxy-acetylene

to do my heat treat.

- This is literally
risking everything.

- Five, four...

- No way...

- What the hell?

- Bladesmiths, you have
two hours and 30 minutes left!

You gotta be me.

- Matt made a very
questionable decision.

- It is not a way to go.

- There's no way
that quenching with the torch

could be faster
than quenching with the...

- No.
- It can be done,

but it's not faster.
- It's also not as accurate.

- Right.

- This handle construction
is infinitely easier

than the last one I did.

- Jesse has an advantage
right now because

he's built a handle like this.

- But the handles have
always been the thing

that could possibly
send Jesse home,

so is he gonna spend
enough time on this?

- Glad I'm not paying for this.

After all my experiences,
I just want to make sure

that the judges
have no reason to yell at me

for a bumpy handle.

I'm gonna make sure
there's nothing that

they can complain about
in how the handle is built.

I want it to be
the most comfortable thing

they've ever felt.

- You have 90 minutes remaining.

Now, this is a huge deal
because a quenched blade is

a parameter in order
to get your blade tested.

- So I know the forge is cut
off, so last minute decision,

I said let's do an edge quench.

With the oxy-acetylene torch,

the only thing I have
to work with

is a very small flame
that's only going to

get concentrated areas
on that steel

hot enough for a heat treat.

- How long will it
take him to get this

up to temperature
for a proper quench?

- Way too long.

- I've lost 15 minutes,
and my steel

is not up to temperature.

- Matt's torch is just
not as hot as it can be.

It will take way too long
to heat this blade.

He has not got the gas
mixture on that right.

That should be
a screaming hot blue flame

about a quarter inch off
the end that rose bud.

- Maybe underneath all the soot,

everything that's there,
maybe the blade is a little

bit redder than what I think,
so I quench.

There's not even any
smoke coming out of there.

I don't know what I'm gonna
do, but I'm gonna push.

I've got to move on.

The blade
is just gonna have to do.

I've got to get a handle on it.

- Bladesmiths, you have
20 minutes remaining.

- Jesse's handle looks great.

A really nice globe
on the back of it.

- In the past,
the judges have said that

they wish that I etched
my blade a little bit more.

- I wish you'd had time
to etch a little bit more

so I could see the pattern.

- When I pull it out,
it literally looks like

enlarged dragon scale Damascus.

I'm really happy,
and now it's time to put

an edge on this thing.

I need to make sure
that it cuts and slices

through anything that
the judge can throw at it.

- I'm mentally exhausted,
physically exhausted,

but I get my handle on.

- He doesn't even have
a way to affix the handle.

We're looking
at incomplete blade.

- I'm not stopping until
somebody tells me to stop.

- Five, four, three,

two, one!

Gentlemen,
turn off your machines,

put down your tools,
this battle is over!

- I'm just mad at myself.

They were simple mistakes
that I made that cost me.

All I know is I came
and I gave it my all.

- Gladiators of the Forge,
welcome to the kill test.

Let's see if you're
glad to have a gladius.

Jesse, you're up first,
you ready for this?

- I'm ready.
- All right, let's do this.

- With this being my
sixth time going into testing,

I wanna win this one the most.

I want the title just
as much for this round

as I did for any other round.

If I wanted it less and less,

what kind
of a gladiator would I be.

- With this being my
sixth time going into testing,

I wanna win this one the most.

I want the title just
as much for this round

as I did for any other round.

- All right, Jesse,
let's talk about your gladius.

Looks like sixth time's
the charm,

because this is the best handle
you've presented us.

Everything is nice and tight,
it is smooth,

and it's a void to where
I can get a really good grip

on this, fits nicely in my hand.

Your tip is pointy enough
to puncture nicely

and your edge is sharp enough
to cut the big carcass down.

Overall, sir, your gladius,
it will KEAL.

- Thank you.

- Matt, your turn, sir.
Are you ready?

- Ready.
- Let's do this.

- My blade has so many issues.

My biggest concern is because
of the heat treat on my blade,

it's going to hit a bone
that's just gonna shatter.

- I have my questions
about this handle.

I don't really see
a mechanical connection.

I think it's just held by glue.

What do you guys think?

- My biggest question is,
is that thing hard?

It was quenched at
such a low temperature.

- It can't be. Let's find out.
- The only way to check is...

- The file's
grabbing pretty good.

- It's not skating at all.

- I mean, you can see
where it's just moving metal.

This blade's just not hardened.

- All right, Matt,
unfortunately, after doing

a file check, we've determined
that your blade is not hard.

Now, we consider that
a parameter failure

and cannot continue testing
your blade fairly

against your competitor's.

I want to say thank
you so much for coming out,

fighting so hard,
and never giving up

in this competition,
but unfortunately,

I'm gonna have to ask
you to please step off

the Forge floor.

- I understand.
- Thank you, Matt.

- Thank you, Matt.
- Thanks, Matt.

- I'm just happy that I
was able to finish a blade.

It's a life lesson.

Overall, I'm proud,
I fought to the bitter end.

I never stopped the whole time.

Jesse, I wish you
the best of luck.

- Well, Jesse, man,
I know this is probably

not the way that you
wanted to win a competition,

but you have taken
down six competitors.

You have $40,000 in your pocket

and six Gladiator of the Forge
titles, man, congratulations.

- Thank you.

I didn't expect to win
even half of this much.

Everything is still a blur,

everything is still a surprise.

- Again, congratulations.

We gotta ask you,
do you want to go back

into the Forge
for another eight-hour round

and battle it out
for another title?

- Uh...

Of course.

- Right on, man.

All right,
well, congratulations, man.

We will see you for another one
on the Forge floor.

Well done.
- Thank you.

I'm Jesse Hu, I'm the six-time
Gladiator of the Forge,

and I'm not scared about
the next competition.