[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- my name's jordan kepler,
I'm from santa ynez, california,
and I'm a full-time graphic designer
and a part-time bladesmith.
I do a lot of camping out of my truck,
out there having one knife
that you can chop wood, make a campfire,
prep dinner, and all that stuff
'cause it's pretty important.
♪ ♪
- my name is eric ulrich. I'm from portland, oregon.
I'm a full-time bartender and part-time bladesmith.
Made weapons since I was a little kid,
and just turned into a knifemaker.
- My name's jesse overton,
I'm 28, and I'm from medford, oregon.
I was in the marine corps for four years.
Being in the marine corps,
one of the biggest things that we pride ourselves n
is being able to adapt and being flexible,
and I think that all those things
really are gonna make me prepared for this competition.
♪ ♪
- my name's marcus wise, I'm 28 years old,
and I'm an american farrier's association
certified journeyman farrier.
I'm expecting my first daughter soon,
and if I win this $10,000,
I think I'm gonna put it in a bank account for her.
- Well, gentlemen,
welcome to ""forged in fire."
you guys are here to compete against each other
and against the clock
in three rounds of forging competition
that will test every aspect of your knifemaking capabilities.
Now after each round of competition,
you guys are gonna be asked to present your work
to our panel of expert judges.
The judges for this competition are
abs master smith j. Neilson,
historic weapons re-creation specialist, david baker,
and edged weapon specialist
and kali martial artist, doug marcaida.
Now remember, guys, we've got not only the title
of "forged in fire" champion on the line,
but there's also a check for $10,000.
Today, before we get started,
you guys have a choice to make,
and that choice is gonna determine
not only your challenge
but your clock.
You guys are gonna have to choose between these.
♪ ♪
this is a challenge we're calling perfect timing.
♪ ♪
you've got the choice between four challenges.
Depending on the difficulty,
will depend on how much time you guys have on your clock.
If you only feel like you need one hour for the competition,
you can go ahead and do the steel ball bearing.
Now if you choose the railroad spike san ma,
you'll get two hours.
If you do a ladder pattern damascus,
you get three,
and finally, probably the most difficult,
if you choose to have four hours,
you'll be doing a stacked cannister damascu.
♪ ♪
make sure you think about it, because you get one choic.
Once you decide your metal and your method,
you cannot restart with another method.
- I don't know what I'm gonna do.
I have no idea which one I'm gonna choose.
- Jesse, you are up first. Come on up, man.
♪ ♪
- I'll go with the three hour clock,
ladder pattern damascus.
- All right.
♪ ♪
marcus, you're up. You ready?
- Yes, sir. - Come grab it.
♪ ♪
- I think we'll go with the three hour clock as well.
- All right.
- I've never actually done a patterned damascus,
but I know how to do layered damascus,
and that's the first part of getting solid steel.
- All right, eric, your turn. Pick your poison, man.
♪ ♪
there was no thought there. [laughs]
- oh, there was thought. It was before I got up here.
I chose doing san mai
because it's what I'm most comfortable doing.
Two-hour parameter is pretty tight,
but I still think I can do it.
- All right, last but not least, jordan.
You are up. Come pick your metal.
♪ ♪
are you a masochist?
- I know, right?
I don't know,
I think I gotta go with something I know and love.
I'm gonna be choosing the ladder pattern damascus.
I think with the three hour time cloc,
that's probably my best chance to finish a blade.
- Jordan, jesse, marcus, you guys will have three hours
for round one of the competition.
Eric, you've got two hours on the clock.
Now regardless of your challenge choice,
you guys need to make signature blades
in your signature styles that follow these parameters:
We wanna see 13 to 15-inch blades
by the end of round one.
Now in round two of the competition,
you guys are gonna add handles to your blades,
turning them into fully functioning weapons,
at which point these guys are gonna test them
for strength and durability in a metal clock chop
and for sharpness in a rubber hose slice.
All right, gentlemen, keep your eyes on your clock
because that time starts now.
♪ ♪
- we've got three smiths
going with the ladder pattern damascus.
- And eric has the san mai.
- This is the first ladder pattern
I've ever done,
but the way that I look at it,
is that you just gotta cut some grooves into it,
smash it out the rest of the way,
and hopefully have a pattern there at the end of the round.
- Jesse has definitely moved pretty quick.
He's got his billet stacked up.
- While my billet's heating up,
I'm gonna prepare everything as much as I can in advance.
I go with just a basic camp utility knife.
So I'm thinking it's gonna have
enough forward weight on it to be a good chopper,
but it's also gonna have that slight curve up towards the tip
for the slicing test.
That's what we're shooting for. [laughs]
- I really want something that is a good chopper
because we're gonna be cutting into these metal clocks,
so I go with a recurved bowie knife
for a full tang.
- A little bit of curvature
accentuates almost all the cutting that a blade'll do.
- I've done a few ladder patterns before,
so I'm comfortable with it.
- The blade I'm designing
is just a traditional chopper.
I think it's gonna allow me to put some meat in the spine
to hold up to the metal clock chop
as well as get a nice edge
to make it through the rubber tube slice.
- I really like it when smiths
design for both the tasks.
- I'm not used to making blades this long.
I'm used to making a 5-inch blade
for castrating cattle in the cow pins.
We call 'em nut cutters. [laughs]
- eric has a chance to be our first smith
to finish a round one in two hours.
- So we got two hours for a railroad spike san mai,
and we've got three hours for the ladder pattern damascus.
What's so different about them
that we're giving them a whole hour difference?
- It's a lot more layers.
- The san mai is generally three layers of steel.
It's soft on the outside
and hardened steel on the inside,
so I have to take my 1095 and keep that in the center.
I put my softer metal from the railroad spikes
on the outside
so that you can get a good flex from the blade
without breaking but still have a hardened edge.
My 1095 shape and the shape of my railroad spikes
is completely different,
so I cut the heads off my railroad spikes
to get a quick, easy square working surface.
[rock music]
- 30 minutes into
the competition!
♪ ♪
- my forge weld is set,
so now I'm gonna stretch that billet out,
get ready to cut it, stack it,
and weld that back together to get 60 layers
so that pattern really pops out of that billet.
- To make a good ladder pattern,
you need a high layer count.
So you'd want at least 50 to 100 minimum.
[dramatic music]
- [groans]
- he's taking a lot of time on that chop saw.
- Jesse could've drawn that steel out further.
It would've been thinner
but easier to chop up and stack.
- [laughs]
I feel so much better now that I'm through this billet,
but I feel like I'm behind,
so I need to step it up and get it in gear right now.
♪ ♪
- now that I got my weld set,
I'm gonna go ahead and start drawing it out
and start cutting my ladder pattern in.
- Marcus has already started
to cut his lines in for his ladder--
just what I don't wanna see.
[country rock music]
marcus is only at about 20 layers,
so the pattern's not gonna pop out,
and he hasn't started forming his blade yet.
If he starts drawing it out,
those ladder rungs are gonna start spreading.
- So what you're gonna have when it's done
is, like, a big mush as opposed to a ladder.
♪ ♪
- I think this weld has taken really nicely,
so I'm gonna cut in the ladder pattern.
- He's doing the same thing as what marcus is doing.
He's trying to put in the lines,
and it's not even formed as a blade yet.
- At the end of this challenge, I wanna see that pattern.
If it don't, then it's gonna hold it against them.
♪ ♪
- the steel's forge welded together.
I have to start shaping it.
I don't wanna give it a chance to develop cracks
or start warping as it cools down.
I just wanna keep it moving and get my shape done.
- He's drawing that out quite a bit,
but it still looks like it's starting to get lean.
- The blade's gonna have to be really sharp
and big enough and strong enough to chop.
I don't know if I'm gonna have enough metal
to make something big and wide and strong,
so I'm gonna have to leave it a little bit thick.
- Eric, you've got one hour remaining!
The rest of you guys still have two hours in round one.
- Time's going by so much faster than I'm expecting,
and all I can think is,
"I should've given myself a little bit more time."
[sighs]
[rock music]
- well, we've got one smith, jesse,
who's actually doing it the right way.
♪ ♪
- I'm grinding my ladder pattern in right now,
and I realize I've spent
way too much time on this billet.
I need to press out all these grind lines
in order to get a blade to turn in.
- You talk about a thick blade, look at jesse's.
- Yeah, holy cow. - Look at that.
- It's, like, as thick as my thumb.
- [laughs]
- this thing's a monster, man. It's like a machete.
I've seen way too many smiths being sent home
'cause they're too heavy,
so I don't know wanna be in that lineup.
I need to get as much material off
as I can right now.
♪ ♪
- I think I got a deep enough pattern into the billet,
so I want to go draw this back out.
- [bleep].
Aw, nuts.
- The end of jordan's is split open.
[dramatic music]
- having the middle of your billet open up
at the very end is very nerve wracking.
Worst case scenario with this
is it hasn't welded at all through that entire layer,
and I would have to start from scratch.
I just hope this doesn't go all the way down my billet
because I only have an hour and a half left.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
- so now that I see this delamination,
I really need to make sure
that this doesn't go all the way down my bille.
- It's a good thing jordan had that crucial material.
He could cut it off and not have any worries.
- I notice that there are no more unwelded lines
going up and down the billet.
I'm pretty confident that it actually forge welded.
This is a huge weight off my chest
because I was thinking
I was gonna have to go back and start from scratch.
[metal clanking]
- eric, you've got 15 minutes left!
Everybody else, you guys have one hour
and 15 minutes remaining.
[rock music]
- I've got my shape to where I want it to be,
and now I know I need to quench.
- Perfect.
That's probably the best temperature quench
we have seen in forever.
♪ ♪
- ha ha.
No big warps, no big pings.
I feel great.
Now I have to get this edge cleaned up.
Oh, come on.
[dramatic music]
I find a few inclusions on the edge.
- Eric, you're down
to five minutes, bud!
- I start freaking out,
so I'm gonna spend my last couple minutes
just working on this inclusion.
♪ ♪
- five, four,
three, two, one.
Eric, your time is up.
Go ahead and put your weapon down.
Stay behind your anvil.
Your round is over. Good work, man.
♪ ♪
- I wish I could add a 1/2 hour to the clock
and get it cleaned up.
- The rest of you guys,
you still have one hour remaining.
Keep working.
- Now that I've got the profile forged out,
I wanna get the holes drilled in my handle
before I harden it.
Bingo.
I got my holes drilled.
Now I just need to go to the grinder
and get the profile done.
♪ ♪
- my knife is starting to look like a decent chopper.
So at this point,
I need to heat treat.
- Jordan quenched.
- It's perfectly straight.
- Wow, that's a good looking blade.
- Beautiful.
- So I'm gonna get this blade ground down on the bevels
as far as I possibly can,
and then I wanna make sure that I at least have
three to five minutes to start an acid etch
just to make sure that I can see
the ladder pattern damascus.
[rock music]
- boom, all right, jesse's quenched.
That's a great color.
- It's straight.
Huge weight lifted off my shoulders.
♪ ♪
- I like it that jesse's leaving that blade
in there for a while
as opposed to just dipping it and spraying it
which is what we usually get.
- I pull out of the etch, and I'm feeling really good.
I'm glad now that I took the time in the beginning
of the round to really get that layer count high
'cause I'm seeing a really nice pattern in the stee.
♪ ♪
- all right, everybody is quenched.
♪ ♪
gentlemen, you have five minutes left on the cloc!
- Now I gotta make sure the pattern's showing.
Agh.
Looking down at my blade right now,
I'm worried that my pattern
doesn't have enough of a ladder pattern
to get me through to the next round,
but I can't do anything about it.
- Five, four,
three, two, one.
This round is over. Good job, guys.
[dramatic music]
- I wish I would've had more time
to really focus on the ladder pattern a little bit more,
but I've got a solid blade,
and hopefully function beats prettiness.
♪ ♪
- all right, jordan, jesse, marcus,
you guys opted for three hours and ladder pattern damascus,
whereas, eric, you took two hours
with railroad spikes san mai.
But it is time for the judges to give their critiques
and jordan, you're up first. Let's see what you got.
♪ ♪
- all right, jordan, I like this profile.
Very nice, aggressive looking but functional.
The only issue I see
is your ladder pattern itself.
When you cut the grooves into your ladder pattern,
you did it while it was still in billet form
and not stretched all the way out.
Normally you would draw the billet out
to what you want, then cut your grooves in
that way you'd have more of the ladder rungs in hee
as opposed to what looks like oversized raindrop puddle.
♪ ♪
- all right, eric, you're up. Let's see what you got.
♪ ♪
- all right, eric,
you sir have turned in the first two hour blade
in a first round forge,
but in that two hours,
you turned in the blade-- it has a little bit of a warp,
and also there are visible delaminations
right here close to your edge.
So moving forward that would be
something that we'd like to see refined.
- All right, jesse, you ready? Let's see what you got.
♪ ♪
- there's a lot of material here, man.
I appreciate the fact
that you cut and stacked.
The steel looks solid.
I really like this profile,
but there's so much mass here.
Man, you just gotta put this thing on a diet.
- All right, marcus, you ready? - Let's do it.
- Let's see what you got, man.
♪ ♪
- all right, right off the bat, marcus,
your steel looks good,
but we have the same issue though with your pattern.
It's more like oversized raindrop puddles
than a ladder.
Still a nice looking pattern,
it's just not exactly what we were asking for.
- Yes, sir.
♪ ♪
- gentlemen, in round one,
you guys all managed to beat the clock,
so great work on that, but as you know,
only three of you are moving forward into round two.
And the bladesmith leaving the forge...
♪ ♪
is eric.
- Eric, I applaud you for taking that risk,
but man, making a knife in two hours
anywhere is tough.
Here, tougher than anywhere else.
Unfortunately though,
your blade's got a lot of delaminations on it.
They're very visible,
and it was just the least refined of all of our blades,
and that's why we're letting you go.
- Well, eric, you've got the fastest blade
in "forged in fire" history, so congratulations on that.
But unfortunately,
your time in the competition has ended.
I'm gonna ask you to please surrender your work
and leave the forge.
♪ ♪
- I completely agree with the judges.
Just from seeing the other guys' blades,
I knew mine was gonna be the one that didn't make it.
Thank you, guys.
Their work was better and cleaner.
I may not be the "forged in fire" champion,
but I did complete a blade in two hours,
and I'm rather happy about that.
♪ ♪
- gentlemen, congratulations.
The three of you are moving forward
into round two of our competition
where you guys are gonna fix
any issues you have with your blades
and add handles to them,
turning them into fully functioning weapons.
Now as far as materials go in this round,
we want you guys to use this.
♪ ♪
aside from pin stock,
the materials in this sundial are all you have
for round two of the competition.
But as always, there's a catch.
If you want a full two hours in round two,
you guys are gonna have to add a mosaic pin,
a guard, and a handle.
If you feel like you don't wanna do the mosaic pin,
you can just do the guard and the handle,
and you'll have 90 minutes.
If you wanna throw away all the fancy stuff
and just do a handle, you will have one hour
to complete round two of the competition.
Jordan, you're up first.
- I think I'm just gonna go with the handle
in 60 minutes.
- 60 minutes, all right. Marcus, you're up.
- Give me the 90 minutes.
- All right, last but not least, jesse.
- We'll do 60 minutes.
- 60 minutes. I like it.
Keep in mind, after this round,
the judges are gonna test your blades
for strength and durability in a metal clock chop
and for sharpness in a rubber hose slice.
All right, gentlemen, good luck,
and that time starts now.
[rock music]
- this feels like a speed round.
Here they start off, and you're already thinking,
"wow, they've only got an hour left."
- should we do this? - Yes, sir.
When time starts, jordan and I help each other out
so we can get this sundial apart.
- You think this'll break right there if you hit it?
- Yep. - Yep.
- Well, that's one way to do it.
- I find a piece of brass
and decide to use this for my guard.
- Marcus is going for a standard tang setup,
putting that whole tang in a big slot...
- Wow. - All the way through there.
- That's creating a lot of work.
A u-guard would've saved him a lot of time.
♪ ♪
- I need some time to clean up what the judges ask me t,
but I don't know how to do a mosaic pin,
so I chose the 90 minutes instead.
I'm happy with my decision.
That really sucks.
I realize I've actually drilled this hole too big,
and it could slide off the front of this blade.
So what I'ma have to do is just use the epoxy
and pray that it holds.
Now I'm starting to regret choosing to go with the guar.
- Gentlemen, 15 minutes is gone.
That means two of you have 45 minutes.
Marcus, you have an hour and 15 minutes remaining.
- I'm choosing the 60 minute option
because I don't wanna mess around with making a guard.
I've already got too much steel on the blade.
I don't wanna add more to it.
- Jesse's blade is heavier than the swords I normally make.
- It's good to see that he went immediately to the grinder.
- I'm hocking off material,
and I realize I don't have enough time
in this round to sit there and just keep doing that,
so I think fuller on both sides.
- The fuller on the blade's a great idea.
That's the fastest way to drop weight off that blade.
- Jordan, jesse, you guys have 30 minutes remaining.
Marcus, that leaves you with one hour on the clock.
- I constructed my knife
so that it has a full tang in it,
and adding a guard would be pretty tough.
So I'm going with the one hour
to just put handle scales on.
Now that I have my pins and wood handle scales set.
I want to epoxy everything together.
[bleep].
- Jordan split one of the scales.
- No way.
- What do I do now?
♪ ♪
- [bleep].
- Oh, guys, marcus just cracked it too.
♪ ♪
- I can't believe that this happened.
[bleep].
I gotta start over with a new handle material.
- The clock is ticking down,
and I have to start all over again.
- So we got two bladesmiths in trouble now.
- [bleep], [bleep], [bleep].
[dramatic music]
- jordan split one of the scales.
Marcus cracked it too.
- I grab some c-clamps,
tighten it just a little bit too much,
snap.
We don't have time to cry about it,
just gotta get a new piece cut
and get this handle back on there.
This handle's not gonna be great,
but I think it'll stay on
and at least allow it to be tested.
- I grab new handle scales,
and then I pound in on the pins already that are in thee
to transfer some divots into the wood
that I can then go drill out.
♪ ♪
it goes right on.
That was close.
[rock music]
- after I get those fullers in,
it's time to epoxy this thing up.
- Jordan, jesse, you guys are down to 15 minutes.
- So I'm rushing through this handle,
and before I know it,
this grinder's taking out way too much handle material
towards the inside of the tang.
So now I've got metal exposed,
and that's really dangerous for a user.
I've gotta get this tang back underneath the scales
where it should be. [laughs]
- jordan, jesse, you guys are down to ten minutes!
- So I think I have the handle where I need it to be.
I'm just gonna start getting this thing sharp.
- Jesse and jordan are probably wishing
they picked a little more time at this point.
- Five, four, three,
two, one.
Jordan, jesse, you guys are done with this round.
Good work.
- I hope I got it sharp enough.
We'll see when it comes to the rubber tube slice.
[dramatic music]
- marcus, you got 30 minutes on the clock.
Keep on going, bud.
- I look up, and I realize
I'm the only one out here.
- Well, this is a first for one of our competitions,
us just watching one person.
- With the time that I have left,
I know that a sharp, strong edge
is gonna be more important
than a comfortable handle.
- Marcus has now moved on
to working on his blade.
That leads me to believe
that he thinks he's done with his handle.
- Oh, boy. - Yeah, well...
- Five, four, three,
two, one.
Round two of this competition is over.
♪ ♪
- I didn't get a great edge on my blade,
but I'm definitely proud of what I put out.
To do it in that kind of timeframe
is pretty tough for anybody to get done.
♪ ♪
- all right, gentlemen, in the first two rounds of competition,
you cut time from the clock,
and now it's my turn to cut time from the cloc.
This is the strength test, the clock chop.
[clocks ticking] now I'll be taking your weapons
and chopping into our clock faces here
pretty much as hard as I can,
and we'll see what happens.
Jordan, you're up first. Are you ready for this?
- Yes, sir. - Okay.
♪ ♪
- that clock is a steel clock
that they're gonna be bashing my knife into.
I leaned towards the thinner edge,
and I'm really nervous whether or not
that edge is going to hold up.
♪ ♪
[rock music]
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
- dang. [laughter]
♪ ♪
- all right, so right off,
for a four hour blade, I'm really impressed.
You took some really minor
rolls on this blade,
but I wouldn't run my finger down this edge.
I'd wind up bleeding.
All in all, in the strength test,
you held up beautifully. Good job.
- Thank you.
- All right, jesse, your turn. You ready for this?
- I guess you could say it's time
to test this blade. [laughter]
[dramatic music]
I'm feeling pretty nervous.
I feel like my stomach is in my throat right now.
Those were some sharp edges on that wheel,
so I am pretty worried
that my blade's just gonna snap when he hits that clock.
♪ ♪
[rock music]
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
♪ ♪
[metal dings]
- [exhales] - good job, dude.
♪ ♪
- all right, jesse, I'm gonna start with your handle here.
Contouring on this for my hand is pretty much spot on.
Well done there.
As far as your blade goes,
this might be only the third time
we've seen in competition
where a smith used fullers to lighten a blade
without being prompted to do it.
So really good idea.
It's still heavy, it's got a fat edge,
but hey, man, it held up beautifully.
- Thank you. - Good job.
All right, marcus, you ready?
- There's nothing natural about this.
[laughter]
[dramatic music]
I'm super nervous of what these judges
are gonna do to my blade.
My biggest fear is that this guard's gonna pop fre
and fly across the room.
[sighs]
♪ ♪
[rock music]
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
- well, at least it didn't snap.
[dramatic music]
- all right, marcus.
The big issue I have with your blade is this handle.
It tapers to the back
to the point where retention on this is just not there.
As far as your blade goes,
this section that's been hit
has taken some pretty serious rolls,
but the blade's still in one piece, so good job.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- all right, you guys survived the brutal strength test.
Now only time will tell
if your blades will survive this sharpness test:
The rubber tube slice.
I'm trying to cut through these rubber tubes
in one clean slice.
Jordan, you're up first. You ready?
- Yes, sir. - Let's do this.
♪ ♪
nice, nice. [laughs]
♪ ♪
all right, jordan, let's talk about your blade here.
First up, I really like the designs you have here
in its profile.
The edge is sharp,
and there were no issues
cutting through these rubber hose at all.
Overall, sir, it will cut.
- Thanks.
- All right, jesse, your turn. You ready?
- Let's do it. - Let's do this.
♪ ♪
- it's a pretty hard test
to get through those tubes on one strike.
Way to set the bar high. - [laughs]
- I purposely made my edge really thick
so that way it could stand up to the strength test,
but I'm a little bit concerned it might be too thick.
It might not be able to cut through all of them.
♪ ♪
[dramatic musical sting]
[sighs]
♪ ♪
- all right, jesse, let's talk about your blade here.
Your edge, being a very thick blade,
you can tell it's uneven in its grinds.
So it barely cut the first tube, didn't cut the rest.
Overall, sir, your weapon will cut.
- Thank you.
- All right, marcus, your turn. You ready?
- Swing for the fences. - Let's do it.
♪ ♪
- [sighs]
♪ ♪
[exhales]
♪ ♪
- all right, marcus, let's talk about your blade here.
Despite the fact that you took some damage there,
it is sharp.
Now your handle construction,
I'm not a big fan of it at all.
- [laughs] I don't blame you.
- It is not comfortable to hold onto,
and the spot that I do find comfortable,
actually has a hot spot in that.
- Yes, sir.
- But your weapon, it will cut.
- Awesome.
♪ ♪
- all right, gentlemen, you guys all clearly made it
through the strength test and our sharpness test,
but as you know, only two of you guys will be moving forward
into round three of the competition.
While our judges deliberate,
I'm gonna have to ask you to please step off
the forge floor.
♪ ♪
all right, guys,
well, that last test made it a little interesting.
Seems like we got a pretty clear frontrunner.
Jordan did pretty well. - Mm-hmm.
- All right, so he's safe. Now let's talk about jesse.
- Jesse put a lot of work into it.
The way he lightened that blade was very smart.
It worked as a chopper,
not so great on the sharpness test...
♪ ♪
but at least you can hold onto it comfortably.
- Now we're down to marcus.
- That blade took more damage than any other blade,
and it's almost impossible to hold onto
if you're doing a heavy chop.
♪ ♪
- okay.
Dave, you made a decision? - Yeah, I have.
- How 'bout you, j.? - Yep.
- Doug, what do you think? - Yes, I have.
- Okay, I'll call them back in.
♪ ♪
all right, gentlemen, as you know,
only two of you are moving forward
in round three of the competition,
and the judges have made their decision.
The bladesmith leaving the forge is...
♪ ♪
marcus, and dave's gonna tell you why.
- Marcus, your blade took more damage
in the strength test than any of the other blade.
Now it did manage to cut those pipes,
and we all agreed that your handle construction over time
would really be difficult to use.
That's why we're letting you go.
- Marcus, you fought extremely hard,
and so, commend you for that, but unfortunately,
I'm gonna have to ask you to please step off the floor.
- Thank you, guys. It's an honor and a privilege.
- Well done, bud.
- Good job. Good luck, guys.
Well, damn.
Obviously I knew that the handle
wasn't gonna be very comfortable,
so I can completely understand
why they made the decision that they did.
[somber rock music]
even though I didn't win,
it was an opportunity of a lifetime,
and I'm tickled pink that I came.
- Jordan, jesse, congratulations.
It is now between the two of you
to figure out who's going home
with the title of "forged in fire" champion,
and a check for $10,000.
Now in the final round of competition,
you guys are going back home
to work on an iconic weapon from history,
and that weapon is...
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
the headhunter's axe.
♪ ♪
- the headhunter axe
is both a tool and a weapon of the native igorot tribe,
who hail from the mountains of the philippines.
Featuring a sharp spike on one side
that is used to pierce shields and armor,
it also contained a wide, lethal axe head
on the other side designed to swiftly decapitate enemies
in the heat of battle. An intimidating weapon,
tribes would display the heads of their victims
to strike fear into their enemies.
The legacy of this deadly axe lives on today
and can be seen in the video game
"state of decay: Breakdown."
- this is a pretty complex weapon, gentlemen,
so listen up.
You're gonna need two concave crescent blades
on the head of the axe,
with an overall length between 15 and 16 inches.
Now the overall height of your axe
needs to be no more than 25 inches,
and you also need to include a protrusion
on the front of the handle.
Now, gentlemen,
in keeping with the beat the clock theme here,
we're gonna raise the stakes a little bit.
Instead of having four days at your forge,
you only have three days to complete your axes.
- Making this blade in four days is tough.
Three days, nearly impossible.
- Good luck. We will see you in three days.
- Good luck, man.
[rock music]
- we're back, day one, at my home forge
here in santa ynez, california.
I'm gonna be making a headhunter's axe.
Today, I'm just gonna be doing a random pattern damascus.
I know that damascus is a little risky,
but I'm hoping that I'm gonna have enough time
to get this thing done.
We're getting close to forge welding temperatur,
but this is definitely a pivotal moment
to know that my forge welds are set,
and they're really nice,
and it's a homogenous piece of steel
all the way through.
But if I'm grinding through,
and my billet pops open like that,
that's, I mean--
so this has gotta be perfect right now.
I'm really excited to see that it actually forge welded.
♪ ♪
- I'm back at my home forge here in medford, oregon.
I only got three days to make this weapon,
as opposed to the regular four,
so I don't really have any time to make mistakes.
Kinda my strategy is to draw out the spike end first.
That's gonna be the hardest and longest thing to draw ou.
I call that the brain poker.
So we're gonna check that real quick.
It looks like it's finally starting to take shape
on the brain poking side.
All right.
And now we're gonna be working on the neck chopping side.
♪ ♪
so I get done forging,
and now it's time for the quench,
and I'm feeling pretty nervous.
I feel like my guts are in my throat.
♪ ♪
aw, yeah.
We did it! It's hard!
♪ ♪
- this is day two.
Today the biggest hurdle
is gonna be that heat treat.
It's a weird shape.
Let's hope everything goes well.
That thing just doesn't fit in there very well.
This is a little nerve wracking,
making sure that it is perfectly heated
across the board.
There we go.
♪ ♪
[bleep].
We got a definite warp right there.
[dramatic music]
I need to run in to my straightening jig,
straighten it, and let it sit and wait.
♪ ♪
aw, man, it's perfectly straight.
Yes! [laughs]
[rock music]
- so yesterday,
I got a lot finished,
so we're sitting pretty good for day two.
I'm getting all the final touches on the axe head.
I really wanna make sure that I get this axe nice and sharp,
but one thing I did notice right here
is that it's separated a little bit more from sanding.
I see a giant gap in the weld,
and I don't know what I'm gonna do.
That open spot's just a weak point for it to fail.
I'm gonna have to do something to fix it
'cause at this point,
I definitely don't have time to start over,
so I'm feeling pretty nervous right about now.
- I opened up a seam
where my weld had met the actual socket,
so now I'm freaking out
because that's gonna cause a failure,
so I'm gonna have to do something to fix it.
I'm probably gonna...
Weld that up a little bit.
If I weld on this for too long,
then it's gonna ruin my heat treat.
I think we got it.
The bladesmithing gods have looked out for me.
The gap is gone. So relieved right now.
- This is day three. Only one day left.
We're gonna try and get some pins through here
to make sure that not only we have a chemical connection
to the blade, but we have a mechanical connection.
We're through!
[sighs]
now I'm gonna get everything pretty much to final finish.
♪ ♪
that is looking mean.
Yep, she's sharp!
[laughs]
[bird cawing]
- so the start of day three,
the plan for today is work on the finishing touches.
I was doing a little bit of research
on the warriors of this tribe,
and I noticed that there's certain tattoos
that they give warriors after they behead somebody,
so I'm going to incorporate
some of those designs into the handle,
that way it'll give some good traction but also look badass.
A nice thick coat on there.
It's looking really nice,
but I really wanna see if my edge geometry is there.
So I decide to do a cut test.
♪ ♪
[laughing]
oh, I feel so much better.
On round two with my knife, it did not cut very well,
so to know that I'm actually able
to make something that can cut and do it well,
it feels really good.
I'd say it's a pass in my book.
[dramatic music]
- gentlemen, welcome back to the forge.
You guys only had three days to work on your renditions
of the headhunter's axe.
Now you guys are one step closer
to the title of "forged in fire" champion
and a check for $10,000.
Jordan, how'd you build go? - I think it went well.
[rock music]
the blade I brought today is 40 plus layers of damascus.
It has a full tang construction
and a maple handle.
- So, man, well, looks great. Jesse, how 'bout your build?
- It went really well.
I chose to go with 80crv2 for the axe head,
a mild steel socket with a mosaic pin,
and a stained hickory handle
with warrior tribe tattoos engraved onto the handle.
- Fantastic, guys.
Well, both your blades look absolutely deadly,
but there's really only one way
we can find out if they are as deadly as they look.
We've got a strength test, a sharpness test,
and up first, the keal.
♪ ♪
- bladesmiths, welcome to the keal test.
♪ ♪
the igorot headhunter's axe,
a weapon that I've always fantasized about
because it's very close to my filipino heritage.
To find out what kind of lethal damage
your headhunter's axe will do,
I will take your weapon and deliver some lethal blows
on this ballistics dummy.
Jordan, are you ready? 'cause I am!
- [laughs] I think so.
- Let's do this.
- Right now, I'm pretty intimidated.
If that spike hits the backbone,
or the skull, or anything like that,
that thing could snap right off.
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
♪ ♪
[grunting]
♪ ♪
ha!
- [laughs]
[dramatic music]
- all right, jordan,
let's talk about your headhunter's axe here.
Your edges here are very sharp.
With every strike,
it dug in very deep
into this ballistics dummy.
The spike you have here,
even digging into the skull
did not bend.
It feels good in the hand,
and more importantly, sir,
it will keal.
- Thank you.
- All right, jesse, you're up next.
Are you ready? - I'm ready.
- Let's do this.
- I'm feeling nervous.
I'm worried about my axe head flying off the socket
'cause those bones are dense.
You know, going into a human skull is not an easy task.
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
[rock music]
[grunting]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
ooh, he headbutted me.
[laughter]
[dramatic music]
- [laughs]
- all right, jesse,
let's talk about your headhunter's axe over here.
First up, the handle construction.
Somebody did some research on some polynesian tattoos there.
Looks good and it feels good in the hand.
Your edges here penetrated very deep
into this ballistics dummy.
Now your spike here,
not only did it penetrate the skull,
but it also cut it,
and it stayed true.
Overall, sir, your headhunter's axe,
it will keal.
- Thanks, doug.
♪ ♪
- all right, gentlemen, welcome to our strength test:
The bamboo and skull chop.
Now you get totally different materials here.
You got the springy bamboo
that likes to bounce things back,
and the skulls that like to break edges.
So we're gonna test both ends
and the overall construction of your headhunters' axes.
Jordan, you're smiling, so you're up first.
How 'bout that? - [laughs] yes, sir.
- [laughs] okay, let's do it.
♪ ♪
[rock music]
- [grunting]
♪ ♪
[grunting]
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
jordan, nice job. Take a breath now.
- Okay. [laughter]
- now, everything held up nicely.
Everything's tight, doesn't look like anything moved.
Your edges are still sharp.
I mean, the fact that you made this thing light,
tough, and in damascus in three days,
that's a heck of a feat. Good job.
- Thank you.
- All right, jesse, how you feel after seeing tha?
- Not good. [laughs]
- not good? It'll be fine.
Don't worry about it. - Okay.
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
[grunting]
♪ ♪
[grunting]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
ooh.
- [sighs]
last one, man.
♪ ♪
- all right, jesse, on the plus side,
it felt great in the hand,
and your edges held up just fine,
but just all the shockwave
from the force of those strikes
split the handle almost in half.
So definitely not gonna be able to continue testig
with this weapon.
♪ ♪
- well, jesse, we absolutely hate to see that happen.
Phenomenal job on your blade itself,
but unfortunately you had a catastrophic failure
when your handle broke, and for that reason,
we can no longer continue testing your weapon.
I'm gonna have to ask you to please leave the forge.
[somber music]
- I felt a little heartbroken seeing something
that I put so much work into be broke,
but I came onto this competition just to prove
that I can compete
with some of the best bladesmiths out there,
and I know I've already accomplished that,
so I still feel like I'm going home a winner.
♪ ♪
- well, jordan, you survived the tests,
and your blade came out on top.
So congratulations, you are the "forged in fire" champion,
and there is a $10,000 check
waiting for you outside that door.
Very well done. [applause]
- [laughs] I just won "forged in fire."
I don't really know what to say right now.
Sasquatch is kinda my mascot,
and so I feel like that's a sasquatch worthy axe.
♪ ♪