[fire whooshing]
[hammer impact echoes]
[dramatic music]
- For the past few weeks,
we scoured the blacksmithing hotbeds of America...
[flames whoosh]
To learn the local secrets
and uncover the country’s top smiths.
[hammer impacts echoing]
[metallic grinding]
Now after four intense local competitions,
each hand-picked by one of our judges
in Texas, Montana, North Carolina, and Michigan,
the best smith from each forge
will now head to our home forge
for one final battle.
- Ooh, that’s hot.
♪
- With $20,000 on the line
and $10,000 worth of forging equipment for their shop,
who will be crowned the first-ever
"Forged In Fire: On The Road" champion?
♪
[energetic rock music]
- My name is Blake Maddox
and I’m representing Combat Ready Art
from Kalamazoo, Michigan.
It’s been a long, strange trip.
The first round, my dagger broke in testing,
but I got onto the next round
because someone didn’t meet parameters.
And then I won the next round and now I’m sitting here.
♪
- My name is Jason Bivens.
It’s a great honor to be here at the "Forged in Fire" forge
representing John C. Campbell Folk School
in North Carolina.
Overall, it’s been a great experience.
I’ve met some really great people
and won round one with my pitchfork.
Hopefully, I’ve got what it takes to win this whole thing.
♪
- I’m Jacob Anstaett and I’m representing
the Bill Moran School of Bladesmithing in Texarkana.
I’ve already won two rounds to get here
and going up against three new competitors,
it’s a little nerve-wracking, but in my eyes,
I feel like a "Forged in Fire" champion already.
♪
- My name is Silas Maddox.
I’m here representing the New Agrarian School
in Bigfork, Montana.
I have a lot of skills and experience to draw on
for this competition.
I’m inherently competitive
and one step closer to $20,000.
I’m here to win.
- Bladesmiths and blacksmiths, welcome to our forge.
[suspenseful music]
Now gentlemen, the four of you
have proven yourselves
as a cut above the rest
in your respective
competitions across America.
You are here for the final leg of the tournament,
where only one of you will be left standing
as a tournament champion,
taking home a check for $20,000 to go in your pocket
and up to $10,000 in gear and supplies
to go back to your respective forges.
There are three rounds in this competition.
At the end of each one, there will be an elimination.
And those eliminations will be made
by the judges sitting behind me,
which each one of you will be representing in the finals.
Now bladesmiths, you all have your own very unique styles,
and it’s clear that you’ve been molded into
the blacksmith or bladesmith you are
because of the area of America you came from
and the forges that turned you into who you are.
With that in mind, we’ve decided that
instead of asking you to make a specific blade today,
we want you to showcase your skills
by giving the opportunity to make whatever blade you want
in whatever style you want using this.
♪
In front of me here is a table
chock-full of all kinds of good, high-carbon steel
that you can use to make your blades.
We’ve got springs, we got ball bearings.
You name it, we have it.
Now the only thing we ask
is that you use some sort of forge welding technique.
- This is pretty awesome.
There’s just sledgehammers, springs,
fish hooks, there’s chains, so I’m gonna get my bearings
and I’m gonna go out there and try to create something.
- Now gentlemen, after that second round,
it will be in the hands of our judges
and go through a series of tests.
They’ll check for strength and durability.
They will go through a giant bamboo chop.
For edge retention, our famous playing card slice.
So good luck,
because this first round starts now.
[energetic rock music]
All right, off to the races.
We got an all-out battle here,
and you each have a horse in the race.
J., you’ve got Jake, Ben, you’ve got Jason,
Dave, Silas, and Doug, Blake.
Now, these guys have all impressed me out on the road
and it’s really anyone’s game at this point.
- There’s a lot of steel laying on that table.
My plan is to try to do layered Damascus.
- Jason from John C. Campbell Folk School
in Brasstown, North Carolina--
now Ben, what do you think of him?
- Yeah, we asked the guys to make a blacksmith knife
and put some kind of artistic flair into the handle.
And Jason is really the only one
that did anything really interesting, really fun.
I think that he’s technically and artistically
got a good shot at getting this one.
- Getting a little hot.
♪
- I decide to go with pattern-welded steel.
That’s my bread and butter.
- Expect to see a lot of good stuff coming out of Jake.
- He is the only smith out here
who was required to do 350 layers,
and he knocked that out of the park.
- Jake had no problems with the forge welds he did.
Everything held up beautifully.
- Just waiting for my steel to get to temp,
then we’re gonna be gold, man.
♪
- I’m gonna make a simple Damascus billet.
I have 13 layers.
These pieces are all the right size already.
I can just weld ’em together.
- Silas is a really talented smith.
When he came back with that felling axe,
that thing was dialed in.
Polished, the lines were fantastic,
and just fit my hands perfectly.
Spot-on. Great piece of work.
- I got my money on Silas.
- ♪ I want it hotter
♪ I want it to get hotter
♪
- I’m choosing to go with Damascus.
13 layers, which four of ’em, 13, I mean,
you know, the number 13’s just my lucky number,
something I’ve always gravitated towards.
♪
- So Blake’s the last one to go to the welder,
but unfortunately,
he didn’t use a C-clamp to keep his stack together.
He’s kinda welding freehand,
and it looks like the stack’s kind of fanning out.
- You know, we’ve seen this problem in setup before
where smiths go to do that initial weld
and it just doesn’t hold.
- Doug, how you feel about his setup so far?
- He’s got a lot of refining to do,
but there’s no give-up on him.
He had to make a "Macbeth" dagger
and then a "Macbeth" sword,
and it performed very well in the final.
♪
- Hoo.
- It’s crazy to me, guys.
We’ve got four different smiths
from four different places around the U.S.
with four different skill sets and every single one of ’em
appear to be doing layered Damascus.
- It’s like the four of us go to brunch together,
and we all get the cheese omelet.
[laughter]
♪
- My plan is to fold it at least once
so if I had roughly 18 layers,
that should give me at least 30, 40-ish layers.
Uh, I don’t know. [chuckles]
Hopefully, it’ll make the judges have to know,
maybe give me some brownie points.
♪
- Jason, he’s the only smith to re-stack.
Everybody else is playing it very safe.
- You’re out there against three other champions,
so why would you not go above and beyond?
I’ll tell you what.
If we have two knives that perform the same,
and one of them has an outrageous pattern on it,
guess who I’m voting for?
- Man, this is exciting. I love this.
♪
- All right, here goes Jake on the press.
Got the whole billet,
squeeze the whole thing down in one shot.
If Jake doesn’t cut and stack that,
I’ll be very surprised.
- I don’t think he is. - That’s the wrong move.
He’s playing it safe, and in the finals,
safe isn’t gonna get you $20,000.
You want to shout advice out. - Oh, yeah.
- You want to just put a note on there,
tie it around a rock, and throw it at him.
[Ben laughs]
- Bladesmiths, you’ve got two hours left!
- Press.
- [chuckles] Those are going on your tab!
[Jake laughs]
- I’m making a Damascus knife
and I want the pattern to be visible and cool.
Right behind you.
So I’m gonna forge it out
so you would see the layers that’re horizontal lines
going down the length of the blade.
- Wait a minute.
Did Silas start with a stack like this...
♪
And then work it down this way?
♪
- Yeah, that’s actually difficult.
Flip the billet 90 degrees and draw it in that direction.
- As you push those layers down,
they tend to want to open out.
That’s why Silas was taking his time on the hammer.
He’s taking his time on the press,
just being gentle with it.
- When you’re manipulating metal in a pattern
and you have to have it work a certain way
to make the pattern, that takes a lot of skill.
- I am a professional metal worker
and so I have a lot of skills and experience to draw on
for this competition.
Hopefully, it’ll carry me through.
[suspenseful music]
[Blake sighs]
- The other smiths are
definitely pulling ahead of me at this point.
My stack isn’t heating up to the temp that I’m looking for.
I’m losing time.
I am going to go over to the press,
try to speed this process up.
- Okay, here we go with that leaning stack of pizza.
- I’m really nervous.
A lot of things can go wrong with the forge weld.
I don’t have the time to start over.
♪
That seemed to forge weld.
The ends aren’t opening up on me at all.
I can move forward.
♪
[energetic music]
- I’m going with a nice, Bowie-style chopper,
’cause I just want to stick with something
that I’ve done many a times.
[loud clacking]
- That’s aggressive.
[clacking]
- As I look up, I see Grady kind of going like,
"Oh, my God, this guy’s going after it."
[Grady laughs]
You know, it might not look it, I’m kind of a lanky guy,
but I can swing a hammer.
♪
- I can’t imagine that Jake can keep up
that hammer style for long.
He’s raising that hammer so fast.
It’s almost the same speed up as it is down.
- How does my hair look? [laughs]
♪
- Just gonna make a Bowie kind of chopper
with a little bit of curve in it.
- Look at the color that Silas’ metal at.
It’s at that beautiful melting butter color.
Silas’ energy in this forge is infectious.
♪
- Man, you’re pumped over here, dude.
You look excited.
- Just kinda... [Jake laughs]
Just waiting on the heat.
♪
- It’s still pretty thick right now.
I am a little concerned about any delams in there.
Hopefully I can knock it out on the grinder.
- Doesn’t even have the whole blade on that belt.
You can see he’s only riding it back and forth.
You want to see a good 2 inches of spark
going down that whole blade.
The way Blake has been treating this billet so far,
he’s way behind the other three smiths.
- He needs to speed up the process.
- Right. - Come on, man.
You can do it. - I’m going for it.
- [as Rob Schneider] You can do it!
- Gentlemen, you’ve got one hour left.
♪
He’s in the oil. Jake’s the first one to quench.
- He’s moving that blade up and down.
- The more he takes out, the more chance it may warp.
[Jake groans]
- [sputters] Jeez, Louise, dude.
[tense music]
I see it warp and I’m like, "Oh, my God."
That’s just one other thing I gotta deal with,
so I gotta get this warp out as quick as I can,
knowing that if it were to warp too bad
or crack and break,
I would have to completely scratch it and start over.
- Oh, what the--
[flames whoosh, hammer thunks]
[tense music]
- I gotta get this warp out as quick as I can
knowing that if it were to warp too bad
or crack and break,
I would have to completely scratch it and start over.
I can feel it working out on the edge of my anvil...
and I see that my warp is gone
and it’s ready to grind.
- Here we go.
♪
Bam!
♪
It’s good and straight.
Pretty darn good!
The clock is ticking.
Gotta get over and get to grinding.
- Bladesmiths, you guys have 30 minutes left!
Silas is over here drilling his holes before the quench.
- It’s always easier to drill the holes
before you harden the blade.
I didn’t spend a lot of time laying them out,
and hopefully, it doesn’t come back to bite me.
- Oh, that’s good.
Best color on the floor.
- He’d the third smith to quench.
Now we’re just waiting on Blake.
- I’ve spent quite a bit of time on the grinder,
and it’s still pretty thick,
but I’ve gotta get this thing up to temp
and get it quenched.
A lot of things can go wrong.
You can get twists, you can get bends,
it could bow.
Hopefully, it goes well.
I didn’t hear anything pop. I didn’t hear anything crack.
It doesn’t look warped.
Thank God. What a relief.
- Five, four, three, two, one.
All right, gentlemen.
Turn off your machines, put down your tools!
This first round is over!
- Holy [bleep].
- Good job, man. - Nice work, dude.
- That was awesome.
When the clock hits zero, I look at my blade.
I can see my patterns in my steel.
It might not be the highest layer count
and the most beautiful-looking Damascus,
but I’ve met all the parameters
and I couldn’t be happier.
[suspenseful music]
- Well, gentlemen, we gave you guys three hours
and the choice of any kind of steel you wanted
to make any blade you wanted, and somehow,
you all ended up with layered Damascus.
Now, you all met parameters,
but the time has come for us to decide
which one of you will not be joining us in the second round.
So up first for the critiques,
Blake, please present your work.
♪
- All right, Blake.
So right off, you know, standard knife shape.
I don’t see a lot of pattern,
but unfortunately, what I do see,
there’s a lot of mass in this blade still.
And then a fair amount of delaminations
up here at the tip.
If you go forward,
I’d like to see this blade get a lot of refinement.
But it’s a layered Damascus, so good job.
- Thank you. I appreciate it.
- All right, Jason. You’re up. Please present your work.
♪
- All right, Jason, let’s talk about your blade here.
First up, I commend you,
because you didn’t play it safe.
You folded it over to increase your layer count,
and it shows.
That’s what I like about this competition,
when you go above and beyond.
You have a nice shape here. Just a refined blade.
And keep doing what you’re doing.
- Next up, we got Jake. Please present your work.
♪
- All right, Jake. Did good work out there.
I like the way you did that stack.
The steel looks good.
My big concern right now,
your handle has got a good flare to it,
but you got a lot of handle there.
You might want to do something about that.
But otherwise, you’re on the right path.
Good job. - Thank you.
- Last but not least, Silas, please present your work.
♪
- All right, Silas.
I see a couple of things that are really cool.
One is that you have this nice recurve profile going on.
It’s immediately stunning.
And second is the way that you layered up your Damascus.
To flip it 90 degrees,
it’s a really interesting take on it
and I like what you did there.
Moving back to your handle, it’s really long,
so if you move forward from here,
make it more comfortable to hold on to.
Other than that, though,
I think you’re really on your way.
- Cool. Thank you.
- Gentlemen, this competition started back at your home forge
where you fought against two other peers of yours
and you came out on top.
Now, you all did a great job
in this first round of the final leg,
but we do have to make a decision
as to which one of you is not gonna be moving forward
into the next round.
The bladesmith leaving The Forge is...
[dramatic music]
♪
Blake, unfortunately, your blade did not make the cut
and Doug’s gonna tell you why.
- Blake, from your home forge
of Combat Ready Arts in Kalamazoo to our forge,
it’s been a pleasure to watch you overcome the challenges,
but at the end of the day, your blade is the least refined
and has the most work moving into the second round.
And that’s why we’re sending you home.
- Understandable.
- Blake, we wanna say thank you for coming out here,
fighting so hard, but unfortunately this time,
I’m gonna have to ask you to please surrender your work
and step off The Forge floor.
- Sure thing.
I’m a little bummed,
but also kind of saw it coming.
I would’ve loved to have brought home 10 grand
to Combat Ready Art
and I would’ve loved to have brought 20 grand home
to myself after all the effort that has gone into this,
but I’m proud with what I’ve accomplished
and maybe I’ll make it back again sometime.
♪
- Gentlemen, congratulations.
Your hard work in the first round has paid off
and all three of you are joining us in round two
of this final tournament leg.
For this second round,
you can use whatever handle material you want
to finish your custom blades,
but there is a little bit of a catch.
Instead of having two hours to finish your weapons,
you will only have 90 minutes.
- [softly] What the...
Honestly, I’m more nervous now
than I was at the beginning of the first round.
- Now, when this round is complete,
you’ll turn your blades over to our judges
and they’re gonna check for strength and durability
in that giant bamboo chop
and then check your edge retention
in the playing card slice.
Good luck, gentlemen.
90 minutes is not a lot of time to get these blades done,
and that time starts now.
- Here we go.
- 90 minutes to sharpen the blades,
clean ’em up, add the handles, shape the handles,
get an edge on-- it’s pretty rough.
♪
- Jason’s belly-up to the grinder,
throwing sparks.
- I feel like the judges want to see a finished product,
so I’ve got to hog down the handle as fast as I can,
as quick as I can, and get her done.
I need the money.
- [chuckles] Cutting out that 30 minutes?
Man, that is a ball-buster.
- Is Jake setting up a real thin piece of Micarta?
- Yeah.
- Is that gonna be enough to get a good grip
on a 14-inch blade?
- The kind of handle profile that Jake’s got going there,
I would like to see something a little wider
and some palm swells ground into it.
- Yeah, it wouldn’t hurt.
- I wish I had a little bit more time,
but I’m feeling pretty good.
We can do this. It’s feasible.
♪
- Silas has the issue where his handle is so long,
so I mean, he cut some out of the middle
and re-weld it together.
- That would be the ideal thing to do.
- Ben mentioned that
my handle is a little bit long,
but since we only have 90 minutes,
there’s not a lot I can do at this point to address that.
- Doesn’t look like Silas is gonna cut that handle in half.
He was already grinding hard on that tang.
- I feel like it fits my hand pretty well,
so I’m just gonna try to make it as comfortable
and functional as possible.
Hopefully, it doesn’t come back to bite me.
- So now that I’ve got the thickness that I want,
I’m basically ready to start with the handle.
♪
Is that right? Is that right?
♪
No. [chuckles]
[bleep].
Silly me put epoxy on the wrong side
of my handle material that I got.
Let’s do that again. - Uh-oh.
I think Jason’s had a little trouble with his handle.
- First day making a knife. I’ll get her right in a minute.
- This way, this way, this way. [David laughing]
Glue’s on one face, wipes it off.
- This is why it’s a good time to take a marker,
put an R and an L and maybe an arrow
on your scale before something like that happens.
- Finally figured out the right side,
I put it back on, but it’s kind of embarrassing.
♪
- This is go time.
One of the critiques J. told me
was my handle was too long,
and I have to cut off the excess material
to make my handle more comfortable.
Not gonna half-ass it.
Winning this tournament would mean everything.
I mean, I’ve watched the show for as long as I can remember,
and being on The Forge floor
with all the judges in front of you,
as an ABS member myself, I couldn’t be happier, man.
Now we’re good.
♪
- I’ve got 22 minutes to finish my handle,
and I gotta rush at this point.
I drilled my holes in my handle for quarter-inch pins.
Oh, [bleep]. - Uh-oh.
- The holes are too small.
I’m feeling very rushed.
One wrong move can put a big crack in my steel,
and I don’t have any time to start over.
I’m starting to sweat a little bit.
If I can’t put a handle on it,
I definitely won’t make it to the next round.
Now, I’m starting to freak out.
♪
- We’re now in the final minutes
of the handle round here
in our final leg of this tournament.
Now we’ve got three smiths battling it out,
giving everything they have
in this hour-and-30-minute second round.
Silas, running the risk of having to start over.
- The holes are too small.
If I can’t put a handle on it,
I won’t make it to the next round.
Now, I’m starting to freak out.
[tense music]
Waller out the holes a little bit,
make sure these pins fit through.
Certainly sweating it a little bit.
♪
Yes.
My pins fit.
I’m relieved and we’re all good to go.
♪
- My goal is to have my blade as nice as time will allow,
and I don’t have much time.
We need a good, thin blade,
but you have to have that sweet spot
so it doesn’t take damage in the strength test.
- Jason probably won’t have any hair left on his arms.
- Zero.
Well, he started with his head.
- He’s got a good edge on there.
[Grady chuckles]
- All righty, baby! Let’s get with it.
- Jake’s up on the grinder.
- He better hurry up.
- Gentlemen, you’re down to five minutes!
The playing card slice,
it might seem like one of our more benign tests,
but having learned from you guys,
it’s actually one of the more telling
sharpness tests we have. - Yeah.
The nice thing about it is
the blade that cuts nicely,
you can see a nice, clean cut all the way through.
If it’s not as sharp or the edge geometry is different,
it may skip over some cards.
- I got my blade as sharp as I think I can get it,
so I’m feeling pretty good.
We’re good. I like it.
- Five, four, three, two, one!
Gentlemen, shut it down! This round is over!
- 90 minutes is up. I put down my knife.
I got an edge on it. I got a handle on it.
It meets parameters.
I certainly could use an extra 30 minutes
to refine everything,
but now, it’s in the judge’s hands.
[dramatic music]
- All right, bladesmiths.
We’re gonna start off with the strength test,
giant bamboo chop.
Now it’s gonna be cool to see
what your blades do to the bamboo,
but I want to see what the bamboo,
especially this giant bamboo, is gonna do to your blades.
Jason, you’re up first. You ready to go?
- It’s [inaudible] time.
- All right. Let’s go.
- I’ve made this design many a time,
but seeing past competitions,
I know that bamboo can do some damage,
so I’m worried to death.
♪
[J. grunting]
♪
[chuckles]
[suspenseful music]
- All right, Jason. Nice job.
Everything held together well.
Blade is still straight, everything’s still in line.
Good job. - Thank you.
- All right, Jake. You ready to go, bud?
- Let’s get after it. - Let’s do it.
♪
- J. is notorious for breaking blades,
so I’m nervous right now.
♪
[exhales]
[dramatic music]
♪
[exhales] Damn.
♪
- All right, Jake. Nice.
The steel held up well.
There’s not a thing wrong with this edge whatsoever.
So really nice job on the heat treat on this.
As far as your handle, it’s just enough.
Little bit longer would’ve been better for me.
But overall, good job. - Thank you, sir.
- All right. Silas, you ready to go, bud?
- Born ready. - All right.
Well, let’s keep going, then.
- I’m certainly nervous going into this test.
I do have a very thin blade,
and so my biggest concern at this point
is that my edge holds up.
[dramatic music]
♪
[dramatic music]
- I’m certainly nervous going into this test.
Hopefully, it’ll hold up.
♪
[energetic rock music]
♪
[suspenseful music]
- All right, Silas. Nice.
No damage on the edge whatsoever.
Edge is beautiful. Good job.
- Thank you.
♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the sharpness test,
the playing card slice.
Jason, you’re up first. You ready for this?
- Yes, sir.
♪
[energetic rock music]
- [whistles]
[all chuckling] - That was crazy.
[suspenseful music]
- All right, Jason. This is a sharp blade.
The geometry of your edge was really set up for sharpness.
Well done. - Thank you, sir.
- All right, Jake. You ready?
- Let’s do it. - All right.
♪
[energetic rock music]
♪
[tense music]
All right, Jake.
First off, let me say this is a sharp knife.
But I had a little trouble starting the cut,
and that has to do with the inconsistency
in the edge geometry.
Here, it’s a very fine edge.
As you get towards the swell here,
it gets a little fatter, it’s a little more obtuse,
and just didn’t bite that first card,
and once it doesn’t bite the first card,
it kind of starts pushing over other cards
until I ended up in that super sweet spot right there,
and then the rest of ’em just got cut right through.
But think you did a good job.
- Thank you.
All right, Silas. You’re up, man. You ready?
- Let’s do this. - Let’s do it.
[suspenseful music]
♪
[energetic rock music]
- Thank you.
[suspenseful music]
- All right, Silas, you did a good job
of balancing a strong blade with a sharp blade.
The edge is fine all the way along.
Your handle, it’s really comfortable,
and you’ve designed well for the test.
Nice job. - Thank you.
♪
[dramatic music]
♪
- Gentlemen, very, very well done.
Guys, it’s been a long road to get into this final leg,
but the bladesmith leaving The Forge is...
♪
Jake, unfortunately, your blade didn’t make the cut
and Doug’s gonna tell you why.
- Jake, this is not a regular competition.
This is special.
All of you had to win to get here,
and it shows because
the standards are very high with the blades presented.
But your blade underperformed on the sharpness test,
and that’s the reason why you’re not moving forward.
- Thank you. I appreciate it.
- Jake, from Texas to here,
it’s been an absolute honor watching you work,
but unfortunately, your time
in this specific tournament has ended.
- You know, this whole experience has been awesome,
and it is an honor to be a part of this
and to represent the Bill Moran School.
You win some and you lose some,
but I still brought home a victory in the past round,
and this whole experience has been awesome.
♪
- Gentlemen, we started this tournament
with 12 smiths from around the country.
We’ve ended with Ben’s pick
from Clay Spencer Blacksmith Shop
and Dave’s pick from the New Agrarian School in Montana.
Guys, you’ve both proven yourselves to be worthy smiths,
and you’ve earned your spot
in this final round of the competition.
And you guys are not only fighting for $20,000
to go into your pocket,
but up to $10,000 in gear and supplies
to go back to the forge where we met you at.
And in this final round, we’re sending you back home
for four days to build a menacing blade from history.
We want you to build this...
♪
The Moplah sword.
- Whoa.
♪
- The Moplah sword traces its origins
back to 17th century South India,
where it has been the weapon of choice
for the Moplah community.
Featuring a broad, lightweight blade
and a concave edge that flares to a pronounced point,
making it an extremely lethal battle sword,
capable of delivering deadly slashes
and destructive blows upon its enemies.
While it’s distinguished by its ornate wood
or bone handle, this brutal blade
also played an important role
in the Moplah rebellion of the early 20th century,
where it was used to take up arms
against occupying British colonists.
♪
Now gentlemen, listen closely.
There are quite a few parameters
you guys are gonna have to follow.
Now starting with the blade,
it will need to measure between 15 and 17 inches
and swell to no less than 4 1/2 inches up toward the tip
and finished off with a bird’s beak-style handle.
How you feeling?
- Not too good.
Moplah sword?
What the heck is a Moplah?
I’ve made swords, I’ve made axes,
but I’ve never made anything this wide or funky-looking.
- Well, guys, we know you’re both very skilled.
We’ve seen that proven through the work you’ve shown us.
But over the next four days,
we want to see your absolute best work.
Gentlemen, good luck.
We will see you both in four days.
♪
- Day one here at my home forge.
I have to put my best foot forward,
so there’s a lot at stake here.
All right.
It’s first place or nothing, so let’s get ’er done.
[energetic rock music]
I’m going to try to separate my blade from Silas’ blade
and do San Mai Damascus,
so I’m going to make two billets of Damascus.
Fire in the hole.
I’m going to sandwich the two billets of Damascus
with a piece of 80CrV.
Getting there.
It’s the end of day one.
I’ve got two billets that are 200 layers each,
so I guess, I don’t know, 400 layers,
but I ain’t much of a mathematician.
[chuckles]
♪
- It’s the beginning of day one.
It feels great to be in the final round.
I would love to win this competition
and bring home the accolades for the New Agrarian School.
This is it.
The plan for today is to get my Damascus billet forged out,
but we’ll see how far I get.
♪
That’s the business right there.
I don’t really make Damascus,
and I have never made something like this before,
so, uh, this is a little bit of a new experience.
But you gotta risk it for the biscuit.
That looks pretty good.
♪
- Morning of day two.
Two, huh? [laughs]
My goals for the day is to have the blade
completely forged out, if possible.
I’ve made lots of Damascus,
but nothing this big,
so drawing it out and making it real wide--
that’s gonna be a task.
I’m at 3 inches. I need another inch and a half.
I don’t know if I got enough.
Yeah, they’re making me earn this 20,000.
♪
Dang it. It’s not getting there.
[growls]
If I don’t get the width parameters met,
I’m out of this competition.
Yeah, I ain’t gonna make it.
I’m starting to panic,
and I know that I can’t start all over
’cause I’ve spent all this time on it.
I ain’t got enough.
I don’t know what I’m gonna do.
♪
[flames whoosh]
- Dang it!
I don’t have enough meat to spread out.
If I don’t get the width parameters met,
I’m out of this competition.
[sighs] I don’t have enough steel
to spread out,
so I gotta do the unthinkable
and just weld up a bunch of stuff on the spine
to meet parameters.
It’s about my only option right now.
It’s a chancy move, lots that can go wrong,
but I have to do something to fix it.
♪
We’re there.
And that weld is ugly,
but it’s gonna be what it’s gonna be at this point.
End of day two.
My parameters are all met,
but this blade is gonna be
a big pile of hot garbage when I’m done.
- It’s the morning of day three.
Yesterday, I got my blade all forged out
and hardened.
Looks good.
[metal cracks]
[bleep].
I just gave it a little flex, and a crack opened right up.
You can see the crack right there
in the edge of the blade.
And the crack goes past where I could grind back
to meet parameters,
so looks like I’m starting over.
That’s a huge setback. I lost two days,
and I’m feeling a ton of pressure right now.
I took a big risk going with Damascus,
and unfortunately, it didn’t pay off.
♪
But got some 5160. I’m gonna forge a new blade.
♪
5160-- it’s not as beautiful,
but I just need to churn out a finished weapon.
Pretty good.
- Morning of day four.
[yawns]
I’m tired.
Yesterday, I got the blade quenched.
[laughs]
I also have all the parts made.
I just gotta put it all together.
Oh...
This is the last step
in a very long and difficult competition.
I’ve put my entire heart and soul
into this whole project,
and if this don’t make it,
then I get nothing.
I think, overall, the blade will make
Ben and Clay Spencer Blacksmith Shop proud.
- It’s the morning of day four,
and yesterday, I got my blade quenched
and ground
and ready to put it all together.
Okay, I think it’s-- this is it.
I feel pretty good about my progress.
I had a pretty major setback,
but I gotta rush at this point
to finish my handle.
Hopefully, this will perform well and look good.
Things didn’t work out like I had hoped,
but kept my head down,
and proud of what I’ve done so far,
and hopefully, I can bring home the win
to Jeffrey for the New Agrarian School.
Hwa!
[dramatic music]
♪
- Jason, Silas, what a road it has been to get here, guys.
We started this "On the Road" tournament
with 12 talented smiths,
and now we’re down to the two of you guys.
Jason, you were chosen by Ben Abbott
to represent the Clay Spencer Blacksmith Shop
because of your skills.
Silas, because of your skills, you were chosen by Dave
to represent the New Agrarian School.
And now it comes down
to this final round of testing, gentlemen.
One of you guys will be leaving this tournament
$20,000 richer,
and you’ll also be bringing back
up to $10,000 worth of gear and supplies
to go to your home forge.
Now, before we put your blades through those serious tests,
I wanna hear about them. Jason, let’s start with you.
- Well...
♪
It’s not the prettiest blade I’ve ever made,
but I made it out of Damascus,
80CrV in the middle,
burl for the handle,
and also checkered the handle.
- It looks good. Silas.
Let’s hear about yours.
♪
- The blade I submitted is forged from 5160,
the ricasso cover is forged silicon bronze,
and then the handle is wenge.
- From where I’m standing, they both look phenomenal.
Guys, first up, we’ve got the dynamic KEAL test,
and for that, I’m gonna hand you over to Doug.
♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to our dynamic KEAL test...
♪
The ballistics dummy and sheets of ice chop.
Jason, you’re up first. You ready?
- Yes, sir. - Let’s do this.
♪
- Chopping an ice block-- that’s pretty grueling,
and I’m worried about my edge retention.
[exhales]
Hopefully, mine will go through all this.
♪
[exhales]
♪
- All right, Jason,
let’s talk about your Moplah sword.
In hitting the ice blocks,
no damage on your tip and edge.
It stayed true.
In chopping through the ballistics dummy,
very deep, deep cuts,
and overall, your weapon--
it’ll KEAL.
- Thank you, sir.
- All right, Silas, are you ready?
- Yes, sir. - Let’s do this.
- I am absolutely nervous.
I only had two days to make my blade,
and ice is really hard on blades,
and so, hopefully, mine will hold up.
♪
[dramatic music]
- I only had two days to make my blade,
and ice is really hard on blades,
so, hopefully, mine will hold up.
♪
- Good job. - [chuckles]
♪
- All right, Silas, let’s talk about your Moplah sword here.
First up, this thing is light.
I can use velocity
to cut cleanly on the ice blocks,
and those are one of the deepest cuts
we have on the ballistics dummy.
But in the test, you have two spots here
where I can get my fingernail into that,
but that’s because you have
a very, very acute and sharp edge here.
And it’ll KEAL.
♪
- [chuckles]
All right, gentlemen, welcome to our dynamic strength test:
the chain mail and skull chop.
♪
Jason, you’re up first. You ready?
- Yes, sir. - Okay.
♪
All right, Jason.
This thing’s a beast.
Everything’s still right and tight.
I really like what you did here.
This is really just beautiful work.
It’s a great-looking weapon,
it did the job, and it held up,
so nicely done. - Thank you.
- Silas, you ready?
- Let’s do this.
- I’m going to.
[laughter]
♪
[tense sting]
♪
- Good job.
♪
- All right, Silas, your handle--
issue I have with it is that this--
the handle is rounded in a way
that it wants to turn in my hand when I impact things.
♪
I couldn’t maintain a grip.
That’s a big issue.
- Thank you.
♪
- Gentlemen, it’s been a wild ride, guys.
I’ve been honored to travel across America with these guys,
visiting all four of the forges we went to,
watching you two work the entire time
through this competition,
and I can guarantee that both Jeffrey and Bell’s
will be extremely proud of your work,
but unfortunately, only one of you guys
can take home the $20,000 for yourself,
the $10,000 to go back
into the forge you’re representing
and the title of "Forged in Fire" champion.
The judges did make a decision,
and today’s "Forged in Fire" champion
and the winner of the "On the Road" tournament is...
♪
Jason. Very well done.
Now, Silas, you crushed it throughout the competition,
but unfortunately, just missed it by that much,
and Dave’s gonna tell you why.
- Silas, you gave us a great blade
with a lot of beautiful craftsmanship.
This came down to two things:
one, your blade took damage in the strength test,
and two, the shape of your handle
made it harder to control.
♪
- Silas, it’s been an honor to watch you work.
You’re an unbelievably talented smith,
but unfortunately, your time in this tournament has ended.
I’m gonna have to ask you to please step off
The Forge floor.
- I feel disappointed.
I certainly made some mistakes during my home forge,
and in a close competition, mistakes are what matter.
But I’m still really proud
of representing the New Agrarian School.
I wish that I had been able to bring it home for them,
but that’s competition.
- [exhales deeply] - Jason, congratulations.
You are now a "Forged in Fire" champion.
You came out on top of this "On the Road" tournament,
and you’re getting a check
not only for $20,000 going in your pocket,
but you’re bringing back $10,000
for gear and supplies to go back to Bell’s
and the Clay Spencer Blacksmith Shop.
Very, very well done.
- I am a "Forged in Fire" champion,
and I’m in shock and awe and disbelief.
It’s been an honor and a privilege
to go this far, to be the winner,
and to be bringing 10,000
in equipment and gear for John C. Campbell,
and my wife will be happy.
I’m coming home with 20 grand, hon.
[laughs]
♪