Original subtitles

[fire roaring]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[intense music]

♪ ♪

- My name's Henry Walker. I'm 46 years old.

I'm from Hulbert, Oklahoma.

I've been bladesmithing about ten years.

When I started bladesmithing, I had lost my skinning knife.

So I told my brother-in-law,

"I can make one better than this."

And he said, "Nah, I don't think so."

And that kind of got me started.

I pretty much got started to prove my brother-in-law wrong.

♪ ♪

- Oh, wow.

My name is Dotti Derry.

I'm from a little town in California called Woodland.

My sister sent me, as a gift, a knife kit.

[chuckles]

And I just fell in love with it.

That $80 gift, and now I'm into it

for, like, probably $8,000

with the grinders and buffing wheels.

- Morning, Dotti. How are you feeling?

- Well, two hours of sleep is plenty.

- That's what I run on. I've got a two-year-old.

[chuckling]

- My name is Brandon Andreski.

I'm 38 years old.

I live in Provo, Utah, and I'm a full-time blacksmith.

When I was eight years old, I got a book from the library.

It was about Vikings, about their tools

and their smithing and stuff.

And so I said, you know what?

I could probably do that.

I have a lot of friends who are prior military.

And it's heartbreaking to see when they come home

and have trouble.

So one of the things that I do at my forge is,

every veteran gets one free knife class,

getting them to know how to calm themselves.

[tearfully] Excuse me.

And I would like to open up a place to help these vets.

- My name's Matt Danielson.

I'm 40 years old, and I own a small blacksmithing school

in the heart of Salt Lake City.

So I've got my wife and my four kids

at home rooting for me, along with just about

every student that I've taught.

I'm very excited to be on "Forged in Fire."

I hope that I win and that people know that I'm there

to help spread this passion.

- Bladesmiths, welcome to the forge.

Now, the four of you are here to compete

in a high-stakes bladesmithing competition that will end

with one of you carrying the title

of "Forged in Fire" Champion

and receiving a check for $10,000.

Now, this competition consists of three rounds,

and at the end of each one of those rounds,

there will be an elimination made

by these judges behind me.

Now, they are the men who you need to impress.

They're making the decisions

as to who stays in this competition

and who heads home empty handed.

All right, here next to me, I've got a random pile

of assorted household goods.

I've got a mattress, a trampoline.

We've got curtain rods, pogo sticks,

and even clothespins,

all of which have something very specific in common--

good high-carbon steel in the form of springs.

Now, that is exactly what we want you to use today

to make a signature blade in your signature style.

- So I've made quite a few things out

of salvageable scrap steel,

but never anything as fine of a gauge as this.

It is going to be a problem.

- Now, we have chosen at random who's going to select first.

But once an item is chosen, it's off the table.

Brandon, what do you want?

- When I saw the trampoline, I'm going,

that is probably the fastest way

to deconstruct something

and then get it in a can as fast as possible.

Trampoline.

- The trampoline. All right.

The next smith choosing-- Dotti.

- I would like the rusty pogo stick.

Of course, everybody wants that trampoline, right?

And I'm thinking to myself, my second choice

is going to be the old, rusty pogo stick.

- Henry.

- I'll take the clothespins.

I want the clothespins because I know

the spring steel in them is tough steel.

Added with powder,

it's going to make a pretty good canister.

- All right, Matt, that means you're last.

What are you thinking?

- I had the wonderful opportunity

of drawing the last straw,

picking between the mattress and curtain rods.

I know that those curtain rods are just too thin to stack up.

So it's like, well--

I think I'm going to go with the mattress.

- All right, bladesmiths, for the three of you joining us

in round two of this competition,

you will add handles to your spring blades,

turning them into fully functioning weapons,

at which point we'll jump into testing.

To check for strength and durability

in a pogo-stick chop...

and then check your edger tension

in a rubber-tube slice.

Now, you only have three hours.

Good luck, because your time starts now.

[energetic rock music]

♪ ♪

So if you guys had the option to choose any

of those five items, what would you go with?

- Trampoline. - Trampoline? All right.

- Trampoline would be a close one.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind the clothespins.

They're small.

You could pack a lot of them in a can.

- But I do have to say, I didn't think anybody was

going to pick the mattress.

But I'm so happy they did because I want to see

somebody tear that thing apart.

- Well, I think the right guy has it.

Matt could rip this thing like a phone book.

- The mattress-- pain in my ass.

[saw whirring]

- Dotti grabbed that pogo stick

and headed straight for the chop saw.

I think that was a very smart move.

- Yeah.

Well, Henry is over here looking

like he's shucking crawdads.

[chuckling]

- Suck the head.

- So when I'm filling my canister,

I'm going to white out the inside

so it don't stick.

Basically keeps the high carbon

from sticking to the mild steel.

- With these challenges, we didn't tell them

they had to remove the can. - Oh, yeah.

- Cans are only 1/8-inch thick.

I wouldn't even mess with the white out.

I would just let this forge burn off much of it

and grind it down.

- So now it's time to get my canister ready to go.

I've definitely never used a pogo stick

to make a knife blade.

I dump some powder in there, just as a little base layer.

Then I start putting my pieces of spring in there,

tap, tap, tap so that the powder filters down,

and there's no gaps.

- The tighter the pack is, the better that

initial weld's going to be.

- I do not think that three hours is enough time

to get a full blade made,

but I'm going to give it hell.

♪ ♪

- As I'm lining that can,

all I'm looking for is an interference layer

between my canister steel and the outer shell.

And so I went ahead and went with paper

because paper doesn't take time to dry.

- My issue with trying to get a carbon layer with paper

is that as you're going through the forging process,

once that paper turns to ash,

it doesn't really stick to the metal very well.

So you're hoping it stays in between.

[sizzling]

- So I practice with scrap.

So when I see the trampoline,

I know that's the thing I'm going to use.

A lot of guys, what they'll do is they'll take the can,

and they'll fill it with something that

will carburize on the outside.

The reason I opted not to do that

is because I sometimes like to put

that mild steel on the spine.

If I can get it nice and thick on that spine,

it adds another softness to it,

which will give my blade a little bit more flex,

so when I do a chop,

that it won't just break or crack.

- Bladesmiths, we are one hour into the competition.

♪ ♪

- Where we usually see failures in these canister competitions

is either the setup of the canister

or that heating process not being long enough.

- I'm waiting for it to get up to what my eyes tell me

is forge-wielding temperature,

because if it doesn't, it's not going to weld

to itself on the inside of the canister.

- So Dotti's on a press.

- Yeah, and it looks like her canister's hot enough.

- I think this is welded.

Hot metal.

And so I'm going to take it to the chop saw

and see what the inside looks like.

[whirring]

Inside is solid, homogeneous steel.

♪ ♪

Ha-ha, That's what we like to see.

[intense music]

- So I put that canister in the fire.

[sizzling]

Oh, my God. - [bleep].

- Look at all those sparks coming out of Matt's forge.

- Yeah, that's the most I've seen.

- Oh!

- That's material that's coming from the inside of the cabin

and burning off,

which is not something I ever want to see.

- He doesn't seem to be too concerned about it, though.

- I always leave a vent hole so that it doesn't explode.

And when that powdered steel comes out,

that's what it looks like.

- This is Fourth of July stuff here.

[chuckling] [fireworks squealing]

- Basically, once that stops,

I'll run over to the press and go to town.

♪ ♪

I'm working in on the press.

I run over to Big Blu.

That canister feels great.

I'm just really happy it stayed together.

- That billet's good and hot.

So now that it's ready, I'm going to take

it over to the power hammer.

- Uh-oh.

- The welds aren't complete on both sides,

so he's losing some powder there.

- I'm pretty sure my steel is welded up in the billet.

It's time to peel the can off.

[dramatic music]

The can comes open pretty easy,

but I realized that I had lost enough powdered steel,

and I got cracks in it.

♪ ♪

[bleep]

- Having that can spray sparks tells me

there was a lot of oxygen inside that can.

- In this situation, I get a little nervous.

So I need to see how deep they actually are.

- I think there are cracks in it.

If you're grinding, you've got some cracks.

Depending on how deep-- is there many of them?

Start over.

- Ugh.

So I'm looking at this, and there is cracks

all the way through it.

There is no way this is going to make a blade.

[clank]

[dramatic music]

- So I'm looking at this, and you can see the cracks

going all the way through the billet.

- If you're grinding, you've got some cracks.

Depending on how deep-- is there many of them?

Start over.

- I don't have time to worry about it or think about it.

I've just got to throw it to the side.

I've got to start over.

- That's got to be so frustrating.

Henry's got probably the most tedious material

to get ready for setup.

- He's got to go through that entire 10-minute process

of prepping this material.

- If I mess this up,

I'm not going to have a blade to turn in

at the end of the round.

♪ ♪

- Brandon is confident that he's got good compression.

Now he's on Big Blu, drawing out his billet.

[thudding]

- So we've got to create a blade of our own design.

And I know exactly what I'm going to do

because there's a chop involved.

My signature blade is a Greek kopis.

It's a great chopping blade.

It's got a nice heft in the head.

And I don't have to worry too much about breakage.

[clanking]

- I'm going to make a Viking seax

because it should do the job of chopping

as well as slicing.

- Dotti's on the press.

But that billet she's got still looks like

it's over a half-inch thick.

- It looks like Dotti's getting a little bit tired.

I think she needs to jump on to Big Blu

and let him do a lot of the work.

- I was determined not to use Big Blu

because I have no experience

with a power hammer whatsoever.

And I'm like, what do I have to lose?

[chuckles] I'm going for it.

And, man, it does a number.

I've got to get one of those.

[chuckles]

- Bladesmiths, you have 60 minutes remaining

in this first round.

- It's bad that I have to start over,

but I work so much better under pressure.

[hammering]

I just get in the zone,

and everything just starts flowing.

- I've got to say, I'm really impressed with Henry.

He set his forge welds, got a workable billet,

and is now starting to shape his blade.

- Good for him.

♪ ♪

- So Matt had the paper in his can,

hoping that it would come off in the forging process.

And some of it did.

But now he's moved over to the grinder,

just to spark everything else away.

♪ ♪

It's crazy how just a couple strikes

can turn a billet into a blade.

♪ ♪

- Here we go. - And that thing was hot.

♪ ♪

- Here we go.

He's going for a quench.

♪ ♪

There we go.

Brandon's finally in.

- I'm listening for any tinks.

No tink. I'm good.

There's a little bit of wobble,

but I can fix that in the grind.

♪ ♪

- Good God, how thick is that piece

of steel Dotti's got there?

- Grinding is removing metal.

But it's just not doing it fast enough

because I have so much to remove.

Time is running down,

and I've got to get this quenched now.

♪ ♪

It's disheartening to see all that mild steel

remaining on the blade.

But I'm going to grind till they tell me to stop.

♪ ♪

- I've forged out my profile.

Now it's time to get this thing quenched

so I can go to the grinder.

♪ ♪

- Holy smokes.

Henry quenched-- very impressive.

- Luckily, no cracks.

It's straight.

Man, it's amazing that I pulled this off

in the time that I did.

[intense music]

- One minute remaining.

♪ ♪

Okay, let's get in the acid here.

- Five, four, three, two, one.

Bladesmiths, turn off your machines.

Put down your tools.

This first round is over.

[applause] - Yeehaw.

- Good fight.

- That is the worst looking--

no, actually, I've done worse.

But it met parameters, and I still have a chance.

♪ ♪

- Well, bladesmiths, over the past three grueling hours,

you took random household items

and turned them into signature blades.

And the time has come for the first critique

and elimination.

Henry, we're going to start with you.

You chose the clothespins. - Yes, sir.

- Please present your work.

♪ ♪

- So, Henry, right off, this is a pretty good job.

Nicely done, man.

It's got a good shape to it already.

As far as things to fix is, your handle kind of meanders

and gets wide to one side.

But other than that, really well done.

You nailed it. - Thank you.

- All right, Dotti, you chose the pogo stick, so hop on up.

- [chuckles]

[suspenseful music]

- All right, Dotti, first off, I commend you

for not giving up and going through all the way

because you did meet the parameters.

But I'd like to see what's hidden inside that

you can bring out the shape.

All of that is hidden in here

because you didn't peel the can out.

You will need to do a lot of grinding,

but you never gave up.

Thank you for that.

- Now, Brandon, you had the trampoline springs.

Please present your work.

[suspenseful music]

- All right, Brandon, the steel looks good.

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

You've got a little bit of a wave here and there.

Some of this needs to be evened out.

And the handle's on the thin side.

Just keep in mind, some contouring to this

would help a lot.

But other than that, nice job.

- Thank you.

- All right, Matt, you chose the mattress.

Please present your work.

[suspenseful music]

- All right, what I do like about this is,

this is kind of an aggressive fighter shape.

It's got a lot of handle, though.

Something to think about if you move forward

is adjusting this to make it to when you grab it,

everything indexes, and it's right where you want it.

But it's a good-looking knife.

It's very clean, so well done.

♪ ♪

- All right, bladesmiths, right off the bat,

all four of you should be really proud of your work.

But as you know, only three of you can join us

in the second round of this competition.

The bladesmith leaving the forge is...

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

Dotti.

Unfortunately, your blade did not make the cut,

and J's going to tell you why.

- Dotti, you fought, and you fought hard.

But at the end of the day, your blade

needs more work and more refinement

than your competitors'.

That's why we're letting you go.

- Understood.

- Well, Dotti, I'll speak for all of us

and say thank you for coming here

and let us watch you work.

But unfortunately, your time in this competition has ended.

I'm going to have to ask you to please surrender your work

and step off the forge floor.

♪ ♪

- I absolutely agree with the judges' decision.

A little sad, but I thought the fact

that I was able to present a blade is a big victory for me.

This elimination from the first round

does not discourage me at all.

And the one way to get better is to keep doing it.

And that's what makes me happy anyway.

♪ ♪

- Well, gentlemen, congratulations.

The three of you are joining us

in round two of this competition,

where you're going to add handles to your blades,

turning them into fully-functioning weapons,

as well as fixing any issues that the judges brought up.

Now, before you spring into action,

let's talk about materials.

Gentlemen, you have full access to our pantry here.

The only thing we ask is that the handles are two-toned.

We want two separate colors on both sides of your blades.

And, no, liners do not count.

When this round is over, you're going to turn your blades

over to the judges, and they're going to check

for strength and durability in a pogo-stick chop

and then check your edger tension

in a rubber-tube slice.

Good luck.

We've only got two hours in this round of the competition,

and that time starts now.

[energetic rock music]

So two-tone handle construction--

how would you guys go about this task?

- Go with a through tang.

Stack whatever material you want.

Drill a hold down the center.

Glue it up.

Get some compression on it--done.

- Fortunately, there's no big issues with my steel.

So I can take my time on doing my handle,

and make sure everything comes out right.

Epoxy my bloodwood and hard maple,

and while it's drying, then I can go work on my blade.

[grinding]

♪ ♪

- It looked like Matt's going to take your advice

and trim down that tang.

- Oh, good.

- If you don't have a good handle,

you have a dangerous knife.

There's no way around it.

[whirring]

- That belly was really big.

He had enough room to cut the tail of that blade off,

and then re-grind that belly

and still have plenty of handle.

♪ ♪

- I was concerned with some of the things

the judges brought up.

My handle was too small.

So I'm feeling pressure to make sure that I get this handle

thicker and wider, which is why I decided

to strip some leather.

I'm filling that extra space on the inside

between the wood and metal.

♪ ♪

- I'm trying to drill through this tang,

and drill bit's not drilling through.

Ahh.

But no worries. I got a plan B.

♪ ♪

Plan B is to blow holes through with a torch.

♪ ♪

[sparking]

- It's so fast. - Yeah.

- That beats the drill press, 10 out of 10.

- This is an effective way of making pinholes in the tang

if you know what you're doing.

[chuckles]

♪ ♪

- So Brandon's trying to straighten his blade.

It doesn't have a ton of sacrificial meat there,

so he needs to put some heat

to straighten it, if he's going to.

- Yeah, that's not ideal when you only have

90 minutes to finish a blade.

- I grabbed the C-clamps.

I start heating up the back, making sure not

to get to the blade itself.

♪ ♪

I got the warp mostly out.

I can fix the rest on the grinder.

I feel good.

[grinding]

[squealing]

- Matt's having some problems at the drill press.

- Oh, yeah.

♪ ♪

- I've got a hard spot right up front.

- Yeah, Matt's doing some head-shaking.

- Time to heat it up and soften that metal.

My question is, does he have enough time?

[dramatic music] [squealing]

- Matt's having some problems with the drill press.

[squealing]

- Oh, yeah.

- I've got a hard spot right up front.

- Time to heat it up and soften that metal.

- I've got to make sure to keep that edge under water.

I'm making sure that I don't over-temper that edge.

And I can't break this blade.

[scratching]

It worked out pretty well. I got lucky.

- All right, gentlemen, you've only got one hour remaining.

♪ ♪

Henry's now gluing up his handles

with an hour left on the clock.

- And with no stress or strain.

Really, really great work on his part.

- My epoxy should be dry, so I'm going

to start shaping my handle.

Making a comfortable handle is 90% of making a knife.

I wish I would've had another hour to actually finish it

like I do at the house.

[chuckles]

♪ ♪

- Nice. Look at that bolster.

That's great. - Yeah, looks good.

- If you're doing a two-tone handle,

sometimes you can have a little bit of weakness

there at that seam.

But that bolster adds a little bit of strength

and gives you a nice, solid wear point.

- I think he's done a really good job,

made a really good choice.

- I'm feeling pretty good about my handle.

But that clock is ticking.

And I've got to make sure that it is comfortable

and safe to wield.

[whirring]

- There's a lot of concerns going through my head

at the moment.

- And we recommended with Brandon to actually

thicken it with swells.

- Mm-hmm.

- And now his handle's getting thinner and thinner

all the time. - Yep.

- Steak knife.

- I grind it smooth as much as possible.

But I'm really worried about time at this point.

And I need to make sure that I get

the whole thing razor sharp.

- Gentlemen, you've got two minutes.

♪ ♪

[whirring]

Five, four, three, two, one.

- Gentlemen, put down your tools.

Turn off your machines.

This second round of competition is over.

[suspenseful music]

- It's done. I'm ready for testing.

The blade's as good as I'm going to get it.

I'm nervous.

♪ ♪

- Bladesmiths, welcome to our strength test,

our pogo-stick chop.

♪ ♪

All right, I'm ready.

Matt, are you? - I am.

[suspenseful music]

The blade is a little thin.

It's a little light.

And I don't think I'm coming out unscathed.

♪ ♪

- [grunting]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

All right, Matt, we're in one piece still.

That's good.

You've got enough flair back there.

It locked the back of my hand in place, so nice job.

But your blade--

you've got some heavy chipping here

from those strikes.

A little bit hot on the heat treat, possibly.

But overall, everything's still tight-- good job.

- Thank you very much.

- Brandon, it's your turn. You ready?

- Yeah. - Cool, let's do it.

[suspenseful music]

- I'm nervous.

Pogo sticks--those things are pretty brutal.

They're made of steel too.

Please don't break.

♪ ♪

- [grunting]

♪ ♪

All right, Brandon, good job.

You survived it.

With that flare, it gave me enough retention

to hold on to it.

You've got compression on your edge,

but I can run my finger up and down here without an issue.

Other than that, the knife held up good.

Good job.

All right, Henry, you're up.

You ready to go? - Yes, sir.

[suspenseful music]

J. really swings hard when he tests the knife.

So biggest fear going into testing

is my blade's going to break.

- [grunting]

[intense metal music]

♪ ♪

- [exhales]

[suspenseful music]

- All right, Henry, it was actually

very comfortable to swing.

I didn't have to worry about this moving at all.

Your edge took some compression damage.

But considering what I'm whaling away on here,

that's pretty darn good.

So overall, good job.

- Thank you.

♪ ♪

- No.

[laughter]

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

the rubber-tube slice.

♪ ♪

Matt, you're up first. You ready?

- I am. - Let's do this.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

All right, Matt, I like that you chose to use copper

because it gives it that accent that

nicely melds into the handle here.

This area right here that did actually

take some chips acted as some kind of serrations

because it cut it, but it also is not a very clean cut.

But overall, it will cut.

- Thank you.

- Brandon, you ready? - Yes, sir.

- Let's do this.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

All right, Brandon, your handle construction

is nice and smooth.

Now, your edge took some damage during the strength test.

And when I swung at these rubber tubes,

some of the tubes, you can see where

it's not a very clean cut.

There are some jagged edges in there.

But overall, your weapon-- it will cut.

- Thank you.

- Henry, your turn, sir. You ready?

- Yes, sir.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- All right, Henry, first up, that is one

of the prettiest handles I've ever seen--

very clean in the fit and finish of it.

But during the strength test,

you suffered some damage in this area.

So you did cut through two tubes.

The third one didn't cut all the way through

because it's dull in that section.

But overall, it'll cut.

- Thank you.

♪ ♪

- All right, gentlemen, the time has come

for the judges to decide which two of you will be

joining us in the third and final round

of this competition.

So while they do that, I'm going to ask you

to please step off the forge floor.

♪ ♪

All right, guys, three good blades,

but one's got to go. Doug, let's start with you.

- So I'm looking between Henry's blade and Matt's blade.

Let's talk about Matt first.

His edge cut because it's chipped.

And because of that, it acts like a serration in there.

Now, Henry's blade-- the edge took some damage,

but it's a rollover, as opposed to a chip.

- Dave?

- Henry's blade's really well constructed, I think.

It took some rolls on the edge,

but there aren't pieces missing.

Matt's blade-- he's actually missing

about a 4-inch section of blade.

The edge is gone.

Basically, it's been broken off.

- Okay, fair.

J., what do you think?

- On my end, the strength test, they all performed equally.

But Matt's took the most damage.

- Okay, I think I know where you guys' heads are at.

But just to be clear, Dave, you made a decision?

- Yep. - And Doug?

- Yep. - J., how about you?

- Oh, yeah.

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

[suspenseful music]

Gentlemen, right from the beginning of this competition,

it has been neck and neck.

All three of you are very talented smiths.

And you all performed very well during our tests.

The judges did have a very difficult decision to make.

But they made that hard choice.

The bladesmith leaving the forge is...

♪ ♪

Matt.

Unfortunately, your blade did not make the cut,

and Dave's going to tell you why.

- Matt, first off, I think you gave us a great-looking knife,

and I really like your choice of using

that copper for the bolster.

That was really slick.

But it came down to the strength test,

and your blade took more damage than any of the other blades.

And that's the reason we're letting you go.

- I understand.

- Well, Matt, unfortunately, the competition

was too stiff today.

Thank you for coming out, but your time here

in this competition has ended, man.

Thank you. - Thank you.

- Very well done.

- I agree with the judges' decision.

That is a brutal test.

And I'm a little bit disappointed

with how much my edge chipped.

This was a very tough experience.

What gets thrown at you to test your skills

is as bad as I expected it to be.

[chuckles]

♪ ♪

- Well, gentlemen, you've proven your worth

and earned your spot in this competition.

But in this final round, we're sending you home for four days

to build an iconic weapon from history.

Gentlemen, we want you to build this--

♪ ♪

The Napoleonic presentation saber.

♪ ♪

The Napoleonic presentation saber

is one of the most popular weapons in France

and most feared across the European battlefields

in the early 19th century.

Featuring a deeply curved single-edged blade

and a forward balance towards the tip,

the sword was designed to deliver maximum force

on every deadly slashing cut.

The weapon was so effective in the hands

of Napoleon's mounted troops, it's believed to have been

part of the reason his army was one of the most

victorious fighting forces in history,

including a momentous charge of the cuirassier

to defeat the Russians at the 1805 Battle of Austerlitz.

Now, gentlemen, listen closely

because there are quite a few parameters

you're going to need to follow.

Your blade length, measured from tip to the hilt,

needs to be between 28 and 30 inches.

It needs to be a single-edged curved blade

with spine-side fillers on both sides of the blade.

The hilt features a spine-side quillon longe,

a knuckle bow, and a handle

with a backstrap and butt cap.

- I'm a little nervous about it.

I think the most difficult part is the handle

and guard construction.

Because I've never done that type of guard before,

it's going to be very challenging.

- There's a lot going on with this blade, gentlemen.

But you've both shown us that you're talented smiths.

So good luck.

We will see you both in four days.

- Good luck. - Yeah.

[upbeat rock music]

- Today is the beginning of round three.

The game plan is to do twist Damascus.

And you'll be able to see a really nice,

wide pattern in the steel.

When you're twisting a billet,

there's the chance of over-twisting it

and twisting it in two.

So I left it thick enough.

♪ ♪

It's the end of day one.

I got the billet together.

I got it twisted.

A little behind schedule, but not too bad.

♪ ♪

- It's day one.

I've got this chunk of 80CrV2.

Because of its length,

I have a nice, comfortable handle

to hold on to while I forge it.

I'm just getting the basic shape and curve on it.

Keeping the curve of the sword within the tolerances

is definitely the hardest part

about forging out this blade by hand.

I'll get it sizzling.

[clanking]

It's the end of day one.

Got the blade forged out,

and everything's measuring great.

Tomorrow, I can finish up grinding the blade

and do a quick heat treat.

Mm.

That'll be decent.

♪ ♪

- It's morning of day three.

Yesterday, I got my billet finished up, drawed out.

I got all my components made for the handle.

I feel like I'm pretty close to on schedule.

♪ ♪

So it's time for me to start heat treating and quench.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

Here's the moment of truth.

Is it straight or not?

♪ ♪

No, it is not.

That's horrible.

My quench went horribly wrong.

[scraping]

It's hard.

It's just got a hell of a warp in it.

I don't think I'm in trouble yet.

I can still reheat treat.

I'm ready to quench again.

I really hope this time goes way better.

♪ ♪

Thank you, Lord, it's workable.

There's a couple of little wiggles,

but I think I've got enough room to grind them out.

♪ ♪

- Morning of day three,

and I'm a bit concerned about my blade.

I quenched it in cold oil yesterday--

not the best thing to do.

Cold oil tends to stress out the steel a little bit more.

I forgot to preheat the oil.

So the plan for day three is to re-quench

and work on the handle and the guard.

All right.

♪ ♪

Whew.

♪ ♪

So I take the blade out, and I love it.

It's perfectly straight.

I am so glad I quenched a second time.

For my handle materials, I'm choosing hickory

and bronze for the back plate.

And for my guard, I'm choosing this nice piece of W2 steel.

♪ ♪

This is going to be that knuckle guard.

In this case, I'm going to have it probably

flare out just a little bit.

♪ ♪

End of day three.

Whew, what a day. [chuckles]

Now I just need to assemble the handle, and we're set.

♪ ♪

- It's beginning of day four.

I've got a lot of handle work to do--fit, finish, etch.

While it's etching, I'm going to work on the handle.

I've never leather-wrapped a handle before.

It actually come out better than I expected it to.

I pulled the blade out of the acid,

and the etch came out really nice.

Looking good.

♪ ♪

Now that I've got it all finished up,

it's time to send it back and hope I win the $10,000.

I'm feeling pretty good right now.

♪ ♪

- Day four, last day.

I've got a ton of work to do.

I've got to put my handle together.

I'm going to do a copper wire wrap.

Copper wrap will also give a decent grip.

With the leather, you've just got to do it real tight.

And it will make it look aesthetically pleasing.

♪ ♪

Nice and pretty.

I absolutely loved building this thing.

I'm really happy with what I did.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- Well, gentlemen, welcome back to the forge

and welcome to our third-round testing.

Now, over the past four days,

you guys were tasked with building

Napoleonic presentation sabers.

And, guys, from here, they look like they'll get the job done.

But in order to find out which one of you

is going home with the title

of "Forged in Fire" Champion and that check for $10,000,

we have to put your blades through a series of tests.

But before we get into testing,

I want to hear about your blades.

So, Henry, tell us about yours.

♪ ♪

- Mine is low-layer Damascus,

80CrV1084, 15N20 blade,

the quillon, knuckle bow, and pommel

are all fish hook Damascus, leather-wrapped handle.

- All right, well, looks good.

Brandon, how about you?

♪ ♪

- Blade is 80CrV2.

The handle's kind of a Frankenstein of copper,

bronze, and leather.

- Well, gentlemen, your blades look great and functional.

But we have to find out if that is, in fact, true.

First up, we've got the dynamic KEAL test with Doug.

♪ ♪

- Bladesmiths, welcome to our dynamic KEAL test.

♪ ♪

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

- Yes, sir. - All right, let's do this.

[suspenseful music]

- I'm really not sure how my blade's going to do.

I made my blade real thin so it would be light.

So, yeah, I'm nervous.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

All right, Henry, first off, this is a very light saber.

Good job on that. It's easy to wield.

Your handle construction, that gives me a better grip

and retention on your blade.

Now, your edge--

man, this cuts and performs very well.

Overall--

[in French accent] Your saber, Henry, it will KEAL.

- Thank you.

- Brandon, your turn, sir. You ready?

- Yes, sir. - Let's do this.

- Because it is a longer blade,

I am a little concerned about the strength and durability.

But I want to know how well this will do

against the sugar cane.

So it's the make or break, quite literally.

♪ ♪

[suspenseful music]

- Coming into testing, because it is a longer blade,

I am a little concerned about the strength and durability.

So it's the make or break, quite literally.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- All right, Brandon, first up,

the "Frankenstein and his bride" handle.

The bronze you have here actually

is comfortable for my palm.

But your blade is offset from the longes here,

tilted to the side, so that every time

I'm slashing with this, with the added weight you have

because you have a thicker blade here,

it tends to roll a little bit every time I strike.

But overall, your weapon, it will KEAL.

- Best words ever.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- All right, gentlemen, it's time

for our dynamic strength test, the watermelon and skull chop.

♪ ♪

Henry, you're up first. Are you ready?

- Yes, sir. - Okay.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

[intense metal music]

♪ ♪

- I think I made a mess. - [chuckles]

All right, Henry, way to go nailing

the weight on this blade.

Scale on the handle-- really well done.

I've got plenty of room for my hand.

There's one little spot that there's

a teeny little roll that I can snap my fingernail against.

But other than that, it's definitely a cutter.

Good job. - Thank you.

- Brandon, you ready?

- Yes, sir.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

[intense metal music]

♪ ♪

[clattering] - Oh.

- That's terrible.

♪ ♪

- So a couple things going on--

grain's pretty big.

I mean, you can probably see it sparkling from there.

The other thing is, is there are multiple dark spots

where the blade broke.

So it tells me that there were a lot of micro-fractures.

May have been quenched too hot,

maybe not thermocycled quite enough

to bring that grain size down.

But, yeah, I mean--

[chuckle]

[suspenseful music]

- Well, Brandon, you gave us an absolute slicer.

But unfortunately, the stress from the strength test

did prove to be too much.

Your blade is now in pieces.

And we consider that a catastrophic failure.

We cannot continue testing your blade.

I want to say thank you for coming out,

but your time in this competition has ended.

I'm going to have to ask you to please

step off the forge floor.

Thank you, sir. - Thank you.

It's bittersweet.

I think my main problem happened

within my quench itself.

But Henry came out with an amazing blade.

The whole experience here has been awesome.

It's been uplifting,

and at no point in time do I regret any of it.

- Well, Henry, the last man standing, congratulations.

You are the "Forged in Fire" Champion.

You'll be receiving a check for $10,000, bud.

Good job. [applause]

How do you feel? - Surprised.

[chuckling]

- It's a beautiful piece. It performed well, man.

Congratulations. - Thank you.

It's pretty exciting.

It really hadn't sunk all the way in yet.

But I feel like my blade performed really well.

♪ ♪

The feedback I've got was great on the blade.

And I'm proud of what I turned in.

I'm Henry Walker.

I'm a "Forged in Fire" Champion.

That feels great.

♪ ♪

[clank]