[heavy rock music]
♪ ♪
- I'm beau gieson, 52.
I love to forge.
It's just molding metal to whatever you want it to be.
The artistic side of it--
you can just do anything when you can move metal.
♪ ♪
- my name is starlin moran. I'm 42 years old.
♪ ♪
I'm fortunate that my fiancée is super supportive.
My teenager, she's a little more unimpressed with me.
She said I better not get kicked out on the first round.
♪ ♪
my name's kevin adams,
and I am a technical instructor
for the united states army,
and I am a part-time bladesmith.
My grandfather and my father
worked in the same steel mill together.
So their influence enabled me
to be able to pick up the trade fairly quickly.
- My name is aric fontaine,
and I have been bladesmithing now for almost 10 years.
I stay with it because it's a comfort place for me.
And just being able to create something,
it's a really cool experience.
♪ ♪
- all right, bladesmiths. Welcome to the forge.
You guys are here to compete and test yourselves
in three intense rounds of forging competition.
At the end of each round, you guys will present your work
to our panel of expert judges.
Those judges today are
abs mastersmith j. Neilson,
historic weapons re-creation specialist dave baker,
and edge-weapon specialist and kali martial artist
doug marcaida.
Only one of you will be leaving here with the coveted title
of "forged in fire" champion and a check for $10,000.
So let's get into it.
♪ ♪
as I'm sure you've already guessed,
you guys will be salvaging your metals
from this here burned-out suv.
Most bladesmiths will probably go
straight for the leaf springs,
but if you noticed, there's none available.
So you guys will have to be creative
in sourcing your materials for your blades.
All I ask is that you follow these parameters.
Your blades, at the end of round one,
need to be between 12 and 14 inches
from tip to where the cutting edge ends,
in a straight line.
- My brothers and my uncle and I
have always been backyard mechanics.
But I can't tell you what things are made out of.
So I have to get creative and find hardenable steel.
- Now, in round two of the competition,
you guy will add handles to your blades,
turning them into fully functioning weapons,
at which point,
we will be testing them for strength and durability
in a brutal tailgate chop
and for sharpness in a fuel-hose slice.
Keep your eyes on the clock,
because you guys will only have three hours.
And that time...Starts now.
♪ ♪
- off to the races, once again!
♪ ♪
- I don't know jack about cars.
- That why your car's in the shop?
- That's why I dumped three grand on my car yesterday.
- [groans] - you going for that?
- Yup.
- We don't have leaf springs in this suv.
So what are you thinking they're gonna be going for?
- Any kind of springs that are in there.
You got different rods. There's bearings you can use.
- It's medium-carbon steel.
So it's more than good enough to make a knife
that'll hold up in our test.
- There's no leaf springs.
I don't know what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna get under there and start hackin' away.
I go right for the spring on the back tire...
♪ ♪
toss it in the fire, and then I start thinking,
"maybe that's not enough steel?"
I'm gonna go and see what else I can find.
Let's get some more steel.
I crawl down there, and there's some big round bar stock.
- Well, if you get into the front suspension over here,
there are a couple of pieces of round stock.
Heat that up and put it in the press...
- You'd think that'd be the easiest way?
- I think so, yeah.
- I don't need this small coil anymore.
I think I should be okay.
I'm gonna heat this up,
and I'm gonna try out that press.
♪ ♪
- that's the piece I want.
My son used to race motocross,
and I was his mechanic that entire time.
So I know where there's good steel.
♪ ♪
the torsion bar-- it's good, strong steel.
[saw whirring]
[bleep]
- whatever he was doing, it's gotta be hard,
'cause his angle grinder is messed up.
- I'm not trying to rush myself.
Don't worry about everybody else.
Do your own thing.
This is a lot.
- I have no experience harvesting steel
from something like this.
♪ I'm already freaking out ♪
the shackles,
those have to be made out of some hardenable steel
because they can tow cars with it.
♪ ♪
- starlin's over on the grinder.
He's got that-- what looked like the tow hitch,
but it's not sparking at all.
- It's a sign that that stuff's probably very tough.
Doesn't necessarily mean it's hardenable, though.
[whirring]
- I'm grinding away and I'm not seeing sparks.
But I think it's because of the paint on it.
So I think I can still use it.
♪ ♪
calm down. Calm down.
♪ ♪
- I have made knives out of car parts, before.
So I'm immediately looking for springs
because I know those are gonna be 5160.
- He went straight for that piece.
He's got in his mind that
that's already a hardenable piece of steel.
- I got coil springs, and I am elated.
[saw buzzing]
so now I need to get the coil spring straight.
- He got it nice and hot before he went to straighten it out.
- Yeah. - That was smart.
- My next order of business is to go over to big blu
to widen it and flatten it.
♪ ♪
- all right, bladesmiths.
You guys have 30 minutes off the clock.
- Whoo!
- My plan for the round is
to get this thing drawn out with the press.
- That looks like it's maybe 5/8's thick.
- Okay.
- Now, to try to draw that out wide enough
to make a decent blade is gonna be tough.
What he's not doing is fullering it,
making that material wider.
As it is, he's just making it longer.
♪ ♪
- my blade's very thick.
♪ ♪
the judges tend to not like heavy blades.
So all I'm doing right now is just hogging off material.
All right.
♪ ♪
- [laughs] out here, but in here...
[laughs frantically]
- I got my steel in the forge.
Everything's looking good.
That's all right.
I gotta widen the blade
and I'm gonna fine-tune my handle.
- Yeah, so, it looks like kevin is making
a integral bolster and a full-tang chopper.
That's cool.
- I make bolsters on many of my blades,
and that is a good, really strong point in the blade.
So it can handle a lot of abuse.
♪ ♪
- right now I'm trying to get my blade to length,
but the challenge that I'm having
with this piece of steel
is straightening it out.
It will bend to my will!
♪ ♪
- starlin's having a lot of trouble
getting that thing flattened out.
- The press is giving me problems.
So I put it on the anvil to try to hammer it out.
All of the sudden...
[dramatic music]
it breaks.
Ah, crap.
- Starlin just broke his spring.
- So if that ring is cast iron,
if you get it too hot or work it too cold,
it's just gonna crumble.
- I'm crushed. There's no other way to say it.
Oh!
- It looks like starlin broke his steel in half.
So I'm gonna help out.
You got a crack? - My piece just broke.
- I got some coil under my forge, if you want.
- Oh, thanks, man!
[upbeat music]
- I'm gonna give somebody a hand
because I just think that's just part of the trade.
This is how you work.
- Starlin, so panicked right now,
he didn't even look at it or think about it.
He immediately said, "thank you,"
and threw it in the forge.
- Beau, you're a gentleman and a scholar.
I love you? [laughs]
♪ ♪
- I need to get the coil spring flattened out.
So I'm over at big blu, and I put it in at a diagonal.
So not only does it flatten it,
but it also widens it at the same time.
I'm feeling very good.
My billet is almost to the point
where I can start hand shaping it.
♪ ♪
- I can finally start my heat treat.
- Beau's getting ready to quench.
[dramatic music] - leave it down in there.
♪ ♪
- I grab a file. I ran it across the blade.
♪ ♪
[bleep]
not hardened.
[dramatic percussion]
[bleep]
my quench was off.
- The file stuttered on beau's blade,
so he's back in the forge again.
- Gentlemen, there's one hour remaining!
- So it looks like I'm gonna have to quench again.
Lots of stuff can go wrong.
You can get a crack in your blade.
You can bend your blade and warp it.
What the [bleep]?
So I'm worried I'm gonna have to start all over.
[dramatic percussion]
it out a little hotter.
♪ ♪
[bleep]. - There we go.
- Yeah, perfect. - Nice color.
- That's the color you wanna see!
[dramatic music]
- whoo!
♪ ♪
I pull it out of the quench, I hit it with the file.
♪ ♪
okay.
It's good to go.
Thank god I'm finally done with that
and I can get on the grinder
and remove some of this material.
♪ ♪
- I have to grind in a good profile
and get my handle ground in
and get the bolster set for the blade.
- I'll tell you, though,
I do like the profile that kevin has.
♪ ♪
- I got into bladesmithing
because my time in the military--
I also have to deal with ptsd.
Bladesmithing allows you to be creative with your mind
and to keep you focused.
- Please work, please work, please work, please work.
Please work.
♪ ♪
I finally get my second billet straightened.
I have way too much.
Just gotta be very careful.
I just chop off the rest that I don't need.
- What's starlin choppin' off at the chop saw?
He didn't have a lot of metal to work with.
- Starlin's only got...What? Maybe 9 inches of steel there?
And his cutting edge needs to be at least 12 inches.
- He needs every inch of that metal.
♪ ♪
- I'm shooting for a chopper, man.
I love choppers, and, uh,
based off the parameters,
I don't have to have a point, which is perfect.
♪ ♪
it's starting to look like a blade.
So I'm feeling really good.
Yeah!
- My blade is going very well.
I'm finishing up at the grinder,
and I'm ready for quenching.
- That blade is screaming hot at the tip.
♪ ♪
- that's way too hot.
- I think it came out quite well.
♪ ♪
- back to grinding, I guess.
So I'm at the grinder,
and I'm trying to clean this thing up.
And then I realize this is just a rectangle of nothing.
♪ ♪
I'm gonna put a bend in the entire blade
to give it a little more character
and then I'm also gonna grind the tip.
- So basically what beau's just done
is undone his quench.
- He's gonna have to redo it. Just wasted a lot of time.
- A lot of time.
- I'm gonna have to heat-treat for a third time,
which is a big risk.
I could have a catastrophic failure,
and especially after my last quench.
But, you know, this is a competition,
and I've gotta make some kind of details
'cause it's just too boring.
Let's do it.
- Beau's in for his third quench.
- I pull it out.
I get the file. It skates right across it.
We're good.
I'm ready to move on, back to the grinder.
[grinder buzzing]
♪ ♪
- I'm looking at my piece inside the forge,
and I'm getting ready to quench it.
- That looks like a melted stick of butter.
Look at that thing.
- Put her in the quench. I pull my blade out.
I see good color.
The blade does have a little bit of twist to it,
but I know that I can get that out by hand.
♪ ♪
- gentlemen, you have 20 minutes remaining.
- My blade looks good.
I'm about to put it in the quench.
- Ah, that's hot! - Oh, boy.
♪ ♪
- I file-test, and it skates.
It feels good.
Yay!
But I gotta make sure
that I've met the parameters on length.
I look down, and...
I'm a few inches shy.
And my heart just drops.
[dramatic music]
why did I do that?
I don't know what to do.
- Don't quit. Keep going.
- I missed parameter.
- Heat it up and give it one more...
[imitates squirt]
- beau saved me again.
And I'm like, "well, go big or go home."
- attaboy. - All right!
Good job!
- I don't want my kids seeing me quit.
So I have to see this through.
Whoo!
♪ ♪
- I'm checking my blade,
and I have a slight warp near the tang.
♪ ♪
- could that have anything to do with his quench?
- It could be, yeah.
- I put my blade in the vice,
just to try to straighten it out, just a little bit.
It's working...Almost.
I still have ever-so-slightly of a bend to it.
I decide that I'm going to blue back the spine,
to help soften the blade.
- If you notice that warp on aric's blade,
it's not in the spine.
It's the entire blade.
- So would the best course of action right now just be
throw it back in the forge and work it out?
♪ ♪
- if I go too much on the vice,
the blade could snap.
So I decide that I'm not gonna press my luck any further
and I'm gonna grind the rest of it out.
♪ ♪
- five,
four, three,
two, one.
Turn off your machines. Put down your tools.
Round one is officially over.
- I'm emotionally exhausted.
I'm just praying that I met all the parameters,
because it keeps coming back to bite me in the butt.
- All right, gentlemen.
It is time for the judges to give their critique.
See who's gonna be moving to round two of the competition
and who's gonna be heading home.
Beau, you ready? - Ready.
- All right. Let's see what you got.
♪ ♪
- all right, buddy. Your steel looks good.
I mean, you've got some wiggle to it.
I mean, you can see the blade edge...
- Mm-hmm.
- Is like waves on the lake.
But there's more than enough mass on here.
You can clean that up on a grinder.
[laughing] your handle is...
A bit on the large side.
So hopefully you'll take those into consideration
and refine this if you move to the next round.
- All right, kevin. You ready?
- Yes, I am. - All right.
Let's see what you came up with.
♪ ♪
- kevin, first off, your steel looks good.
♪ ♪
I like the integral bolster that you added to this.
Big thing is
this tang is totally cantered off to one side.
It needs some work,
but I like where you're going with it.
Good job. - Thank you.
- All right, aric. You're up next.
You ready? - I'm ready.
All right. Let's see what you got.
♪ ♪
- right off, like the profile.
You drew this thing out.
That's one lean blade.
So hopefully you got your thermal cycling
all dialed in.
There is a warp in your blade.
You got a spinner. - [chuckles]
- love to see that taken out
because I think you've done a really good job.
That's a good design.
- Thank you.
- All right, starlin. Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- well, starlin,
we noticed that you were struggling
to really get the width and the length of your blade.
So now it's time to find out
if you actually were able to get that length.
[dramatic music]
our parameters were 12 to 14 inches...
And you are at exactly 11.
♪ ♪
I really appreciate that you kept on going,
but unfortunately, you didn't make our parameters.
- Starlin, I wanna thank you for your hard work
and no-quit mentality, but unfortunately,
your blade did not meet parameters.
So I'm gonna have to ask you to please leave the forge.
- Thank you, guys, for this opportunity.
- Well done, man. - Thank you, starlin.
- Good job, man. - Thank you.
- I gotta be honest; it sucks.
I just couldn't draw it out enough
to meet the parameters in time.
If there's one thing
that I hope my daughters take away from this,
it's that you don't quit and you keep moving forward.
♪ ♪
- gentlemen, congratulations.
The three of you are moving forward
into round two of our competition.
Now, in round two of the competition,
you guys are gonna fix any issues the judges brought up
while also adding handles to your blades,
making them fully functioning weapons.
If you guys look over to your right,
you see we've got a pile of burnt-out wood
we found in the suv.
That is all you have for your handle material.
Anybody used burnt wood before?
No? Not yet?
Well, there's a first time for everything.
♪ ♪
now, after you've put your handles on your blades,
we're gonna be testing them for strength and durability
in a tailgate chop
and for sharpness in a fuel-hose slice.
All right, guys. As always, watch the clock.
You will only have two hours
in round two of the competition.
And that time starts now.
[heavy rock music]
- all right.
- This is about 2-inch-thick seasoned oak.
Good, solid wood to make handles out of.
- First thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna grab a sharpie,
kinda draw myself a new profile that I think's appropriate.
And I'm gonna cut off any excess beyond that.
- Beau just shortened his blade up.
- [sighs] all right. What do we got here?
So all this wood looks the same to me.
That's hard stuff.
It sounds solid, so I'm just gonna run with it.
Seems good.
♪ ♪
- I don't think there's anybody else
that burns their wood before they put it on the handle.
That's only something you'll find on "forged in fire."
for me, the big challenge is getting the warp out.
♪ ♪
what I'm gonna do is heat up the spine
and I'm gonna just bend it slowly back to straight.
♪ ♪
- he should be able to warp that thing almost 30 degrees
and have it come back and be fine.
- That's more better, less worse.
I got most of the warp out.
- Did you guys see aric's blade?
- Yeah. It's no longer spinning.
- Now I'm ready to start working on my handle.
♪ ♪
- the problem with using burnt wood is...
You don't know what it is.
- Beau and kevin did a thing where they do a smash test.
Hit it hard on the ground, see if it's solid inside,
and they go, "it'll pass."
- I only see a little bit of charring come off.
I know the rest of the wood is good and solid.
So that's the piece I'm gonna use.
- These are pretty much thick pieces.
If you're worried about the char, just go for the core.
♪ ♪
- the actual edge is not a straight line
or a continuous curve.
It doesn't look very nice.
So I'm gonna have to take care of that.
- J., you were talking about beau's blade.
What can he be doing to fix that?
- I would've liked to have seen him just
put that on the flat--flatten.
That way, you got a nice, even line.
'cause it looked like something had gnawed on the edge
for a couple hundred years, or something like that.
- All right, bladesmiths.
There's one hour remaining on the clock.
- ♪ I gotta hurry, I gotta hurry ♪
♪ I gotta hurry, hurry, hurry ♪
- I get my holes drilled through my handle,
but I'm having a hard time getting the pins to go in.
[groans]
[bleep]
I don't wanna just keep forcing it together.
- See how long those pins are?
Any kind of variation in those holes
puts those pins out of alignment.
So it's easier to start with those pins kind of short,
get things lined up, then push them through.
♪ ♪
- I'm trying to get the pins to go through.
I'm trying to get everything lined up.
It's close, but it's just quite not there.
Hmm...
I don't wanna force it.
So I'm constantly going back to the drill press,
check it again.
That's better.
I don't know what I did differently,
but I get it to go together, and we're in business.
♪ ♪
- I need by tang fixed before I can even put my handle on.
I've got to keep the blade cool
so it doesn't lose my heat treat.
So I wrap it in some wet towels,
heat up the tang from the bolster back
just so I can straighten it.
- Kevin's back there,
putting some serious torque on that tang,
trying to straighten it out.
- I got my tang straight.
There's a little bit of grinding I can do
to get some of the little imperfections out.
I'm happy with it.
♪ ♪
great.
- The way this handle fits
in the judges hands is so important.
They got a lot of power coming down on these chops.
So what I'm doing now is putting these deep contours
in the handle for the judges' hands.
- Is there a point
where contouring and adding shapes into your handle
just gets to be too much?
- If you don't contour it properly,
then you're gonna have a knife that's more comfortable
holding a blade this way as opposed to this way.
- That's not effective. - That's not as effective.
- I think I put a nice handle on this piece.
I hope I got it sharp enough for the test,
but I feel good.
Whoo!
♪ ♪
- I take the clamps off
and I cut off the excess of my pins.
And I peen the pins
so that they have a more solid, mechanical hold.
- Okay, this is what makes me crazy:
Using a hammer that size to try to mushroom out a pin,
is just a great way to crack handle material.
♪ ♪
- my next step is to go over to the grinder
until I get a shape that feels comfortable.
♪ ♪
my biggest concern right now is, honestly,
my blade snapping when they smash it
into a truck bed.
So I got a little bit of time left on the clock.
I'm gonna make this blade awesome.
I find some clear nail polish.
I paint on the blade, "forged in fire, "
and I go into the acid for a few minutes.
I'm borrowing your acid.
- Go ahead.
♪ ♪
- it is one awesome-looking knife.
♪ ♪
- I pride myself on putting a good handle
on the piece that I make
because a handle on a blade is an interface.
So it's like a keyboard on a computer.
I'm gonna flare out the ends
so your hand stays in a good gripping position.
- Five...Four...Three...
Two...One.
Put down your tools. Turn off your machines.
Round two is over.
- Obviously, my big fear right now is a blade break.
I don't think it's terribly likely that it's gonna happen,
but it's all up to the tests now.
- You guys ready for a tailgate party?
- Not my kind of tailgate party.
[laughter] - welcome to the strength test.
Or tailgate chop.
[dramatic music]
now I'm gonna take each of your knives
and repeatedly and mercilessly beat them
into this suv liftgate.
What your blades do to this liftgate,
I'm not too concerned about.
I wanna see what the gate does to your blades.
Beau, you're up first. How you feeling?
- Get some, j. - All right.
♪ ♪
- I'm nervous about j., how hard he hits these knives.
I did have to quench three times.
I just hope I got my heat treatment right.
♪ ♪
[heavy rock music]
- [grunting]
♪ ♪
I'm not done.
[all chuckle]
[grunts]
♪ ♪
it survived, beau. - It did.
- Good job.
You do have some spots, a little bit of rolling.
There's a couple spots, like right down here,
where there's really not an edge.
- Hmm.
- The handle is still secure.
It's just, right in here, this spot,
even though you've got it contoured,
this kinda digs in.
But didn't fly apart.
Good job. - I'll take it.
Thank you, j. - Kevin, how you feeling?
- Nervous. - I'm not nervous.
Let's do it.
♪ ♪
- I'm very nervous.
Did I heat-treat correct? Is my edge gonna last?
So just gotta hope for the best.
[heavy rock music]
- [grunting]
♪ ♪
- good job. - Phew.
[tense music]
- good job, kevin. - Thank you.
- You got, I mean, the slightest--
I mean, you know, it's barely catch a nail,
little bit of rolling.
It's still straight as it was.
Only problem I have is,
when you're doing an integral,
this tends to become part of your handle
as opposed to a guard.
So there's a lot of handle left over.
But nothing moved.
You survived the tailgate chop. Good job.
- Thank you. - And then there was aric.
- Then there was aric. - Ready to go?
- Give it hell. - That, I can do.
- It's very nerve-racking,
seeing the type of steel
that it's gonna be bashed into.
That's a hard piece of metal.
That's gonna do a lot of damage.
[heavy metal music]
- [grunting]
♪ ♪
- [exhales]
♪ ♪
- all right, aric. You survived.
Good job.
We do have a few issues, though.
You can see you got chipping and rolling
from there to there.
That being said, it held up extremely well.
The handle, I like the contouring you did.
But the problem is, it's still pretty round.
I could pretty easily spin this in my hand.
But that being said, it's still in one piece.
Good job. - Thank you.
♪ ♪
- all right, bladesmiths.
Congratulations for surviving j.'s tailgate party.
But now it's time to find out what kind of edge
you have left on your blades.
This is the sharpness test.
The fuel-hose slice.
[dramatic music]
now, to find out how sharp your weapons are,
I will take your weapons
and try to cut through these fuel hose.
Now, unlike the strength test,
this is all about
what your edge will do to these hose.
Beau, you're up first. You ready for this?
- I'm ready.
♪ ♪
- I definitely got some jitters. I definitely got some jitters. I have some edge r
I have some edge rolling.
That's gonna make slicing those fuel lines very tough.
♪ ♪
[groans softly]
♪ ♪
- all right, beau.
First up, your handle construction.
It fits my hand nicely.
Now your edge.
It's not very sharp all the way through.
The fuel hose--it cut it,
but it didn't cut all the way through.
But overall, we know it will cut.
- [chuckles] thank you. - All right, kevin.
Your turn. So are you ready?
- Oh, yes. - Let's do this.
♪ ♪
- ooh. - All right, kevin.
Let's talk about your weapon, here.
First up, I like the handle construction.
I really appreciate the integral part
that you put into your handle here.
It's got a nice feel to it.
I love that you curved it,
because with a heavier front blade like this,
it's nice to be able to have that control.
Now your edge here.
Looks like the strength test really dulled your blade also.
It cut the first hose, but not all the way through.
But overall, sir, we know...It cuts.
- All right. Thank you.
- All right, aric. Your turn.
So, you ready? - I'm ready.
- Let's do this.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
all right, aric.
Now, your handle construction is very smooth.
I like the flair that you have.
I can see where it can rotate a little bit.
Now your edge.
During the strength test, it took some dulling.
But because it is so thin,
it actually works for this particular test.
Overall, sir, your weapon...It will cut.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- we gave you guys a hard challenge,
and you all performed really well on our test.
But the judges have deliberated,
and only two of you can go forward
into round three of the competition.
And the bladesmith leaving the forge is...
[dramatic music]
beau.
Unfortunately, you're not going forward
into the next round of the competition,
and j. Is gonna tell you why.
Beau, you guys performed pretty equally in the strength test.
And then the front end of that handle being uncomfortable
to hold onto to very long
are the reasons we're letting you go.
- Okay.
- Beau, we wanna thank you for all your hard work
and especially your great sportsmanship in round one.
But unfortunately, I'm gonna have to ask you
to please step off the forge floor.
- Okay.
Ah, I'm disappointed.
Even though it didn't go my way,
I'm really proud of the work that I did here
and I'm gonna keep on making knives.
♪ ♪
- well, kevin, aric, congratulations.
You guys are both moving forward into round three
of our competition,
where we will be sending you home
to work on an iconic weapon from history.
And that weapon is...
♪ ♪
the serrated tegha sword.
- Lord have mercy.
♪ ♪
- originating in india in the 18th century,
this intimidating curved sword
was known to be a great executioner.
Its unique design features a nearly 3-foot-long blade
with a split tip
and serrated edges that could easily behead a man.
Its two-prong tip is a powerful symbol
throughout the islamic world
and is inspired by the legendary sword zulfiqar,
which is believed to be descended
from the prophet muhammad.
You guys have a lot of parameters to follow,
so pay attention.
You guys need to make a blade
that is between 24 and 26 inches.
That curved depth needs to be no less than 3 1/2 inches.
You need to have a split at the tip
that goes down between 10 and 11 inches,
followed by a puncture hole at the end of that split.
The curved edge and the back edge of the split
need to be serrated and sharpened.
Now, you guys need to have a khanda-style hilt
with a tail pommel.
- I have never seen anything like this in my life.
It's got these crazy curves. It's serrated everywhere.
It just combines so many different skill sets,
it's gonna be a challenge to create.
- You have four days at your home forges.
We'll see you then.
- Good luck. - Good luck to you as well.
- [chuckles]
♪ ♪
I'm back in my home forge,
and I'm ready to start working on this serrated tegha.
The length and the curvature of the blade
is something I've never had to deal with before.
Start getting my blade forged to shape.
Looks like a hockey stick.
So now I gotta shape the tip.
That's concerning for me
because the only thing I have to cut metal with
is a grinder.
You don't have a lot of control.
Not pretty, but it's a start.
Getting ready to quench the blade.
♪ ♪
she's hard.
The heat treat went good.
It's a lot of work to do yet.
But it's a good start.
[heavy rock music]
- it's good to be back here in my own domain.
I'm gonna be building a serrated tegha sword.
I've never done anything even remotely close to it.
So it's gonna be an exciting build.
I've got the rough shape on my tip.
I'm going to take it over to the vice,
and I'm gonna start splitting it down the middle.
While my steel's heating,
I might as well be doing something else.
This is gonna be the guard.
I grab the metal that I'm gonna be using
for my pommel and the guard.
I start forging those into the proper dimensions.
Right now I feel like I'm in pretty good shape.
Tomorrow I'm gonna finish grinding the blade
and I'm gonna get it ready for quench.
♪ ♪
day two, gonna go through
and trying to get some resemblance
of the final piece.
I'm definitely on schedule,
but there's gonna be a lot of grinding.
As I'm grinding along...
[metal clatters]
[bleep]!
Grinder grabs the top limb of the blade and just snaps it.
[bleep].
I've got a broke blade now.
I'm already ten hours into this.
[sighs]
what am I gonna do?
[metal clatters]
starting over.
Grab my steel. Get it in the forge right away.
I've got to try and get other work done between heats.
So I'm working on my guard pieces.
I know I'm behind a power curve now.
So I get another one knocked out
in about two hours less time than the first one.
♪ ♪
I get it heat-treated.
My guard material is roughed out.
I'm behind, but yet, I still worked ahead.
♪ ♪
it's the morning of day two, here.
My goal is to quench before the night is over.
I'm going to make a exact duplicate of my tang.
It's a dead match.
Now I can get to work on my handle.
♪ ♪
that's how it should look when it's done.
If it fits on the duplicate, it should fit on the sword.
Time to quench.
♪ ♪
it's actually not bad.
Got a lot done today.
Really excited to see where tomorrow brings.
Won't cut yet, but it will.
[heavy rock music]
- yesterday I was able to get the second blade pounded out.
Plan for today is make that cut from the hole to the tip.
This is a butt-puckering moment for me.
If this doesn't work, I'm in deep trouble.
Oh, man, that is way too thin up there.
What can you do?
Now my biggest challenge is the handle and guard.
There's a lot of moving parts with it.
Even though it's a lot of hard work and there's frustration,
I had fun.
That's why we do this craft.
♪ ♪
- I'm a little bit short on the tines.
And I don't know where they're measuring to,
so I wanna make sure there's no question
about whether I'm in parameters or not.
Take it over to the drill press and drill my hole bigger.
I'm already dealing with a hardened blade.
So if I get any sort of a wiggle,
I could snap my blade in half.
That would not make me very happy.
I measured again, and we're within parameters.
We're in good shape.
It's time to assemble this thing.
There we go. That's more better, less worse.
♪ ♪
now that I have a finished blade,
I have a piece of roast beef.
That is a nice, clean cut right there.
♪ ♪
- well, gentlemen, welcome back to the forge.
You guys had four days at your home forges
to work on your serrated tegha swords.
But only one of you will be leaving here
with the title of "forged in fire" champion.
Kevin, how'd your build go?
- I had so much fun that I decided to break it
and start over again.
Went with thicker 5160.
The guard is made out of angle iron,
and the pommel is made out of volkswagen axle.
- That's a quick piece of work, man.
Aric, how'd it go for you?
- Very good. Mine is also 5160.
I got a mild steel guard and pommel,
with rabbit fur for the inside.
- Well, gentlemen, there's only one way to find out
if these blades are as deadly as they look,
and that's with a couple tests.
And up first, the keal. Doug.
♪ ♪
- bladesmiths, welcome to the keal test.
Let's find out
what kind of lethal damage your serrated tegha will do.
Kevin, you're up first. You ready?
- Ready as I'll ever be.
- Let's do this.
- As doug is getting ready to do the keal test,
I can feel my heart rate is increasing.
Is there a flaw in there anywhere?
Did I heat-treat correct?
So I'm feeling not that confident.
[heavy metal builds]
[heavy metal music]
♪ ♪
[thud echoes, fluid squelches]
[laughs]
- all right, kevin, let's talk about your serrated tegha here.
First up,
the serrations you have here are indeed very sharp.
You can feel every cut.
Now, your handle construction is smooth.
A little bit on the wider side on this handle,
but it wasn't an issue in controlling your weapon.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it will keal.
All right, aric. You ready to take a look?
- I'm ready. Let's do it. - All right.
- Kevin's blade performed absolutely phenomenal.
I mean, he cut the dummy's head off.
I've gotta perform at least at that level
to even have a chance at winning this thing.
♪ ♪
[exhales]
- all right, aric.
The serrations on your sword are sharp.
When I ripped through the shoulder,
it cut easily.
Now, your sword is much lighter.
It tapers before it gets to the bend,
making the sword easy to swing one-handed.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it will keal.
- Awesome.
♪ ♪
- all right, gentlemen. Time for the strength test.
Now, to test the strength
and overall construction of your blades,
I will be taking them and smashing these pots.
Now remember, this is not about
how well your blades hold up through this punishment.
Kevin, you're up first. You ready?
- Yes, sir. - All right. Let's do it.
Cern is any breakage.
I already had a blade break.
I don't wanna see that again.
[dramatic music]
- [grunting]
♪ ♪
[tense music]
kevin, your handle, it's kind of fat,
but your distance,
your scale with your guard is great for me.
As far as your blade goes,
I mean, you've taken some pretty big hits
and lost a lot of the tips of your serrations.
- Right. - The blade is in one piece.
It's still solid. Nothing loosened up.
Well done. - Thank you.
- All right, aric, ready to get ugly?
[laughs] - tear it up.
[intriguing music]
[guitar chord building]
- [grunting]
[heavy metal music]
♪ ♪
- well, I wasn't expecting sparks.
- So, aric, right off, up here on your blade,
you've taken some damage on these serrations.
You've lost a bit of this edge.
It's still in one piece. You did a good job.
Congratulations. - Thank you.
♪ ♪
- all right, bladesmiths,
it's time to find out how sharp your blades are.
This is the sharpness test: The jackfruit slice.
To find out how sharp your weapons are,
I'm gonna take your weapon
to cut the rope and release this jackfruit.
Then I'm gonna slice through it.
Now, unlike the strength test,
this is all about what the edge of your blade
does to the jackfruit.
Kevin, you're up first. You ready?
- Yes, sir.
- Let's do this.
[dramatic percussion]
[music building]
[heavy metal music]
♪ ♪
all right, kevin.
Let's talk about your edge, here.
So the sweet spot that we have right here for this sword
took a lot of damage during the strength test.
So in the initial cut on the rope,
it didn't cut.
Now, on the second cut,
we use a little bit other parts of the blade,
where it is sharp.
It cut the rope and it cut the jackfruit.
So overall, sir, your weapon, it will cut.
- Good.
- All right, aric. Your turn, sir.
You ready? - Let's do it.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
- all right, aric. So it's the same thing.
The sweet spot on this blade
took some dulling on the strength test,
and it did affect cutting the rope on the first attempt.
On the second attempt, cut that rope
and it also cut the jackfruit in half.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it will cut.
- Excellent.
♪ ♪
- all right, gentlemen,
well, both your tegha swords performed
exceptionally well during our tests,
but the time has come for them to decide
who will be leaving here
with the title of "forged in fire" champion
and that check for $10,000.
While they deliberate,
I'm gonna have to ask you to both
please step off the forge floor.
♪ ♪
doug, what do you think about the tegha swords?
- Both swords did very well on the keal test,
but aric's was just easier to control.
Kevin's is a little bit heavier.
The handle, it's just so wide,
so it opens up my hand.
Both blades took a lot of damage
during the strength test,
but when you look at kevin's,
his has really taken a big dulling on that spot.
But they both cut.
- Well, dave, you're the only one
who's built one of these things.
- The damage kevin took, to me,
indicates that he just didn't get that blade hard.
The teeth are just rolled off.
They just got flattened.
As far as aric's blade goes,
the damage it took in the blade,
a little bit of dulling.
It really deflected a lot
and came back to true.
So I think he did a good job on the heat treat
and the temper on that blade.
They both performed fairly equally, I think.
The telling is the damage.
- Okay. You need to make a decision.
Dave, you know who you choose? - Yes.
- J., you make your decision? - Oh, yeah.
- Doug, how about you? - Yes, I have.
- All right. We'll call 'em back in.
♪ ♪
well, gentlemen, we gave you
an extremely difficult blade to build in the tegha sword,
and you both performed exceptionally well
in our tests,
but the judges have made their decision,
and there can only be one champion.
And the "forged in fire" champion today is...
♪ ♪
aric. Congratulations.
Kevin, unfortunately, you didn't make the cut,
and dave's gonna tell you why.
- Kevin, what this came down to
was the heat treat in that blade,
not getting it hard enough,
and so many of those teeth just got pounded
back into that blade.
That's why we're letting you go.
- Okay.
- Well, kevin, you did exceptionally well,
but unfortunately, your time in the forge has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you to please step out.
♪ ♪
- that was probably the most challenging thing
that I've ever done.
It had about half a dozen things
that I'd never done before.
I gave it my all.
So I'm pleased with what I've brought to the table.
And I'm ready to get back at it again.
♪ ♪
- aric, congratulations.
You are today's "forged in fire" champion.
Feeling pretty good? - I'm feeling amazing.
- You definitely impressed us. Good job, man.
Without further ado, there is a check for $10,000
waiting for you out that door.
Go grab it. - Thank you.
♪ ♪
[laughing] I don't even know how it happened.
Oh, man.
That is-- it's a surreal feeling.
Still hasn't even kicked in.
I recently got engaged,
so I will be putting the $10,000
towards my wedding and my honeymoon afterwards.
Love you, baby.
♪ ♪