- Here in the forge, we've seen some of the most
talented bladesmiths battle it out
for the coveted title of "forged in fire" champion.
- Hoo-yeah!
- But sometimes, even the best fall short.
[clattering] we're gonna have to ask you
to please leave the forge.
Over the next two weeks,
we decided to bring back eight smiths
who have proven to have the drive, the skill,
and the determination it takes to become a champion.
This is our second chance tournament.
The smiths will be placed into
four head-to-head competitions.
But only one will come out on top of each duel,
earn them a check for $2,000,
and a spot in a final battle
to finally earn the "forged in fire" champion title.
Tonight, the dueling begins.
Up first, the tough breaks duel,
where two competitors who suffered catastrophic failures
return to the forge.
- I want to win this competition just so that
I can prove to myself and my family and friends
that I am worthy of being a "forged in fire" champion.
♪ ♪
- I'm not here to just win this duel.
I'm here to win this tournament.
- Later, the beat by the clock duel,
where two smiths who failed to turn in their blades in time
get a chance to rewrite history.
- I've been dreaming to come back here
the second I lost my first competition.
- There is no one, two, three rounds.
This is your only shot.
♪ ♪
- the duels start now.
[intense music]
♪ ♪
- name's james mays. I'm 41.
I was eliminated last time
because I was repairing a warp and ended up breaking my blade.
Ahh!
All: Ohh!
- After making the repair on my blade, went to testing,
and during the testing stage,
it snapped, causing catastrophic failure.
I'm tremendously excited to be
in the second chance tournament,
because it gives me the opportunity
to prove to myself and my family and friends
that I am worthy of being a "forged in fire" champion.
♪ ♪
- my name's steve wells. 48 years old.
Last time I was here, my blade broke,
because I missed my normalization process
in the heat treat.
And I want to redeem that.
It's exhilarating being back in the forge.
I guess I'm kind of an adrenaline junkie,
and since I'm too old to ride bulls,
I guess this is my fix.
- Gentlemen, welcome to the forge.
You guys are here for a chance to redeem yourselves
and go for that title of "forged in fire" champion.
This is our second chance tournament.
Because last time you were here,
you both suffered catastrophic failures
with your blades during testing,
we've selected you for our tough breaks bracket.
Now here's how this is gonna work.
You guys are gonna go head-to-head
in five hours of heated forging competition.
Your blades need to be quenched, hardened, tempered,
etched, fully functional, with a handle attached,
by the end of the five-hour round.
- I never make blades in five hours.
That's just crazy.
- At the end of that competition,
you guys are gonna present your work to our judges for testing.
The judges for today's competition
are abs master smith j. Neilson,
historic weapons recreation specialist
dave baker,
and edged weapons specialist
and kali martial artist doug marcaida.
Now, these guys behind me are the ones who will decide
which one of your blades
will come out on top of this duel,
receiving a check for $2,000.
But not only that, it will cement you a seat
in the final round of this tournament
and another chance at getting the title
of "forged in fire" champion.
Sound pretty good?
- Hell yeah.
- But just because we're giving you a second chance
does not mean we're gonna go easy on you.
Today, we want you to build blades out of these.
♪ ♪
bladesmiths, this is a pile of blades
that suffered the same fate as yours.
They broke during testing or they broke during a build.
And we want you guys to build signature blades
in your signature style between 12 and 14 inches,
using at least three pieces of this pile.
- What have I got to deal with in these blades?
Something was wrong with them in the beginning,
so I've gotta find a way to break them down
and put them into a new blade.
- If you guys can manage that, we're gonna check for strength
and durability in the brutal antler chop
and check for edge retention in the pork loin slice.
All right gentlemen, you have five hours on the clock.
And your time starts now.
[rock music]
- looks like the table of j.'s broken bladesmiths' dreams.
- [laughs] the sad thing is I remember a couple of those.
- Oy.
- I want to look at the grain pattern of the snapped blades.
If I can get something with a good, tight grain pattern,
then I know that the heat treat is good.
- I do like what james is doing.
He's looking at all the breaks
and checking that grain structure.
He's looking for steel that hasn't really been destroyed
by growing that grain so large.
- I've got one tang with about four inches of blade,
another tang with about an inch of blade,
and then a third pieces that is about six inches of just blade.
- There's steel in there I definitely don't want.
I see some really bad delaminations
that I probably can't make a good, solid blade out of.
So I gotta make another canister.
I can't see another way to do it.
- That's I'd be doing. I'd be canister all day long.
- Yeah, you'd need to add too many pieces
to get a good weld and spend too much time
cleaning up those pieces to get them to stack.
- The last time I was here, I made a canister of damascus,
and I think the amount of canisters
I've made since I left here last time was zero.
I'm a little worried about getting a weld,
a good tight fit inside that,
but I think I'll have plenty of material.
I don't think it's gonna be a lack of material problem.
- It really looks like james is gonna try and do a stack.
- With something like this, gentlemen,
I'm thinking nothing but canister damascus,
to be on the safe side.
- Because of all the process involved in making canister,
I don't want to risk spending that much time on it
and then have a failure that I have to spend more time fixing.
- There's just so many variables
when you're stacking a bunch of mystery metal
and trying to get a weld.
As opposed to doing a canister, where you know that your 1095
is going to work to mitigate any problems
that are in the other steel.
- A stack billet is faster because,
once you make your forge weld, you can immediately
go into forging out your blade.
The one downfall is you get much more material
out of a can.
- That doesn't look like near enough metal
to make a substantial 12 to 14-inch chopper.
- Bladesmiths, you have four hours remaining.
- That took a lot of time.
Feels like I'm behind.
Prepping this can just took way too long.
So while this can's in the forge,
I'm gonna start prepping for my handle work
and get some other stuff together.
I'm gonna do a full tang handle,
and I wanted something kind of cool looking,
but something that's durable too.
So I grabbed some good old wood.
I bring the pin stock over to the drill press,
and I sand it down, just to clean it up.
Copper pins, a lot of times, get real grabby
and hard to get in. So I just try to take
just a little bit of that glaze off of it
to try to get a good fit.
I hope I have enough time to finish.
- I've got my billet welded together,
and I'm starting to draw it out.
- Definitely impressed he's managed
to get that all bound together.
- [bleep].
I give it a little bit too much pressure,
and it just folds my billet down.
- James is getting frustrated.
- I have to flatten it back out,
and because of the way I set my billet up,
I don't have a lot of extra steel.
So I'm gonna end up having a thin blade.
Having a thin blade concerns me a bit,
because you can break a blade during the testing stage,
and I would hate to see that happen again today.
♪ ♪
- I'm looking at that can.
I'm checking it. I'm turning it.
I just want to make sure there's no doubt in my mind
this thing's hot enough to weld when I bring it out.
- Oh yeah. - Now that--that's hot.
- Beautiful.
- That is the nicest looking canister
we have seen in a while.
- I'm feeling pretty good about the can.
I think everything's good.
But sometimes you don't know what's going on inside,
so there's a little apprehension.
My next step is get this thing forged
and make sure I've got a good, tight billet,
and start shaping a knife out of it.
I feel like I'm behind.
I'm probably being too methodical.
I kind of need to ramp it up a little bit.
- Gentlemen, two hours have elapsed.
♪ ♪
- shape's good at this point.
I've got to quench it, so I'm really focused
on getting this thing straight the first go-round.
♪ ♪
- ah, james has quenched.
- [bleep].
- I can see the warp in it from here.
- I'm gonna address that warp before we get any further.
But I don't want to snap my blade again.
- That's how james broke his blade last time.
He tried to straighten it.
All: Ohh!
- [bleep].
- Don't yank on it, man.
- That would be the last thing I would do today.
- If I snap my blade,
I don't have time to make another one.
- Ooh, yeah.
I feel like it's straight enough
that I can grind the rest out.
And I feel like everything's going good at this point.
- Gentlemen, you have two hours and 30 minutes remaining.
- Messing with it.
I think my steel looks pretty good.
I'm not crazy about the forging I did,
but I don't have time to jack with it.
So I've gotta to quench this blade.
- All right, we got another quench.
- Perfect. - Yeah, nice.
- Looks good. Everything's straight.
Next step is getting that can off this thing.
I left too much steel on this knife.
I guess I was a little nervous about being too thin,
and I overcompensated the other way.
So I know I need to get some steel off this thing.
So thick.
- I get my handle traced.
I run it over to the tempering oven,
put it in there, and start the tempering process
and go back to working on my handle material.
- James put this blade in the tempering over,
and while it's in there,
he's working on the profile of his handle.
- That's smart. - Good use of time.
- I had a really good handle in my mind
for the first competition.
And with everything going sideways,
I wasn't able to put a good handle together.
So this time, I want to put multiple pieces together.
- Steve's got his blade in his vice.
Looks like he's about to torch temper. Go quicker.
- Yep.
- I think I spent too much time
trying to get some weight off my blade,
and it's still too heavy.
I just don't have time to go in the oven for a temper.
- Are there any downsides to torch tempering?
- Oh, it's tricky. You gotta watch the color,
make sure those colors don't creep down
to the edge of the blade,
'cause you'll lose your hardness,
and that'll suffer in the strength test.
- So he's gonna have to start at the spine,
heat up the spine, and let that color travel down
but not get all the way to the blade?
- Exactly.
- If I get too much heat in this thing,
it's gonna be too soft, it's not gonna hold an edge.
If I don't go enough, it's gonna be hard and brittle.
Last time I was here,
I walked out with a broken blade.
♪ ♪
I don't want that to happen again.
- I make my three-part handle material,
and I've got it setting and curing.
It's time to go back and work on my blade.
Oh, you gotta be [bleep] kidding me.
- His blade's got a warp going on.
- It's not terrible, but it's noticeable.
I can see it from here.
- At this point, I feel completely defeated.
I don't have enough time to start another blade.
I'm afraid to start pulling and bending on this one.
So all I can do is soften the spine
and straighten the blade.
It's extremely stressful, because I'm taking a chance
of taking all of my heat treat and tempering
right back out of this blade.
But if I don't have it straight,
I might as well forget about it.
I work on it the most I can,
and I get to a point where I have to just go with it.
- Bladesmiths, you have one hour
remaining in this duel.
- It's late in the game.
Next step's get some scales on this thing, glue her up,
and get this thing done.
- Steve's moving on to his handle.
He's already got his pin stock all rounded off.
- Dang it. I ain't got time for that.
Now I'm having some issues
getting these pins to go through that wood.
I specifically tried to avoid this problem by sanding
that pin stock down before I put it in.
But I guess I didn't do enough.
So now I'm tapping 'em in, hoping they don't bend,
hoping I don't break a scale.
If my handles break now,
I really don't have enough time to go back and do this again.
All right.
They finally go through.
I put my epoxy on, clamp 'em in the vice.
It's not great, but they're together.
- So we're getting down to the end of it,
and I'm using corby bolts.
Come on.
I don't know how I managed it,
but my holes inside are too small
and my holes outside are too big.
So I have to grind out the inside holes
so I can get 'em to go together.
- I love corby bolts, but you gotta be careful.
You gotta know how deep to drill 'em out,
so everything connects tight.
We've seen, in the past,
where somebody didn't drill in deep enough,
and the bolt was only, like, touching
by, like, a thread or two... - I remember that.
- And sheared off.
- It feels like the bolts are tightening up
on the tang versus going through the tang.
So I have to just tighten it up the best I can and go on.
I don't have time to mess with it.
- Bladesmiths, you guys are down
to 15 minutes left on the clock.
♪ ♪
- I'm spending my last few minutes
finishing my handle,
getting some weight off my blade,
and I've still gotta get in the acid etch.
- Too damn heavy.
- That's something I haven't seen yet.
James is stropping on his leather boot.
- I pull in a little bit too much
and start shaving my boot.
If I'm fortunate enough to win the competition,
I think I'll have the money for new boots.
- Five, four, three, two, one.
Gentlemen, this round is over.
- So, I did everything I could to complete this knife
in five hours, and it's heavy.
But I'm happy I got something good to turn in.
- All right. James, steve, welcome to our tough breaks
strength test: The antler chop.
Now, I'm gonna take your blades
and beat them mercilessly on these antlers
to test your edge retention
as well as the overall construction of your blades.
Now, what your blades do the antlers is second
to what the antlers do to your blades.
Both you guys had blades break last time you were here.
Let's hope that doesn't happen again.
James, are you ready?
- Let's go it. - Okay. Let's go for it.
- My biggest worry going into testing is the blade snapping.
All I can think is I hope j. Don't snap my blade again.
[rock music]
- [grunting]
♪ ♪
- [bleep] yeah.
- All right, james. You survived. Good job.
You took broken blades and made it into something
that can survive an antler chop.
Let's start off with your handle.
You do have the contouring there.
That helps a lot.
But it feels like it tapers down towards the back.
You do have a slight kick to the left now.
And you got some chipping. But it didn't break. Good job.
- Thank you. - Hey, steve.
You ready to do this?
- Does it matter? - Nope.
We're gonna do it anyway.
- Antler chops are tough, 'cause that's some
hard material.
This thing could blow apart.
You just don't know what's gonna happen
with a test like this.
Last time I was here,
I walked out with a broken blade.
I don't want that to happen again.
[rock music]
- [grunting]
♪ ♪
- [chuckling]
- all right. Steve, you survived.
Great job. Everything's tight. Nothing moved.
But you do have a bunch
of chipping and rolling right here.
Your handle's very blocky. Rounding these corners off
would have made it more comfortable.
The other thing is it's just a lot of weight on this thing.
But everything else is right and tight. Good job.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- all right, bladesmiths.
Your blades made out of broken blades
survived a very brutal test
by a judge who's notorious for breaking blades.
But we need to find out how sharp your blades are.
This is a sharpness test: The pork loin slice.
To find out how sharp your weapons are,
I'm gonna take your weapons
and try to cut through these pork loins.
James, you're up first. Are you ready for this?
- Let's go. - All right. Let's go this.
♪ ♪
all right, james, let's talk about your blade.
First up, there's nice balance to it.
It's easy to wield.
Your handle construction is on the smooth side.
But cutting through these pork loins was not hard at all.
Your weapon, sir, it'll cut.
- Thank you. - All right, steve.
Your turn, sir. You ready?
- Yes, sir. - Let's do this.
♪ ♪
all right, steve. Let's talk about your blade here.
First up, it's a heavy blade that you got here.
But your edge here, sir, easy to cut and wield.
Overall, sir, it'll cut.
- Thank you, sir.
- Well, gentlemen, you both broke the curse
with your boneyard blades.
But as you know, only one of you
can move forward in this tournament
and have another shot at the title of
"forged in fire" champion.
So while the judges deliberate,
I'm gonna ask you to please step off the forge floor.
- I'm worried about the judges' deliberation.
Steve turned in a beautiful blade.
But it's not always the looks that make the difference.
- You guys have got two blades that helped
redeem the bladesmiths,
but only one of them can move forward in the tournament.
We've gotta make a decision.
Doug, what do you think? - Both blades performed equally
in the sharpness test.
It's a matter of trying to figure out,
do I like the lighter one or the heavier one?
With james' blade, it was easy to control,
so the handle construction, though smooth,
is not an issue, because it's so light, it cuts easily.
With steve's blade, it's a lot heavier.
It's a heavy blade, but it's also a sharp blade
that cut through the loins.
- Well j., you went hog wild on the antlers.
What do you think?
- In the strength test, they both took
about the same amount of damage.
I like the appearance of steve's better.
It's a little cleaner.
But the weight and that blocky handle just bother me.
James' could be refined a little bit more,
but it's a lot lighter.
You could swing that thing all day long.
- Only one of these guys can move forward
in the competition.
Dave, you made a decision? - Yes, I have.
- J., have you made a choice? - Oh yeah.
- Doug, how about you? - Yes.
- All right. We'll call them back in then.
- I wanna win this competition.
Last time, I was in the finals, and I was close to winning.
I want to finish it this time. It'd be a redemption for me.
- Getting the opportunity to come back to the competition
really has made me happy.
I came here to prove that as long as you try hard
and do your best, you got the opportunity
to do what you set out to do in the first place.
- Well gentlemen, we gave you a very difficult task
in asking you to build boneyard blades in five hours,
and you both came through.
So be proud of yourselves.
But only one of you guys can move forward
in the next round of this tournament.
And the bladesmith leaving the forge is...
Steve. Unfortunately, your blade
just didn't make the cut today, and j.'s gonna tell you why.
- Steve, I gotta commend you.
Taking those busted up blades and giving them new life.
Throwing them in a canister is exactly the way
I would have attacked it as well.
But what got you was the weight of that blade
and that blocky handle.
That's why we're sending you home.
- I agree. - Damn good job, though.
- Well steve, you definitely redeemed yourself
and you have what it takes to fight in the forge.
But unfortunately, I'm gonna have to ask you
to step off the forge floor.
- Thanks for having me, guys. Good job, buddy.
- Good to see you again, steve. - Thanks.
I left my blade too heavy.
You know, I was erring on the side of caution,
making it good and stout, and I just overdid it.
I just want people to know that this is a tough competition,
and if you think it's not, come and try.
- Well james, you know what that means.
You have won your duel.
You're gonna be receiving a check for $2,000.
And you've gotten your slot
in the final round of our second chance tournament.
Congratulations.
- Thank you. - Very well done, man.
- Thank you.
Whoo!
I am just in utter astonishment.
I cannot believe what happened.
To make it all the way is just unbelievable.
Steve was such an awesome competitor.
I know that this is not over yet.
I know there's there other smiths there
that have just as much want and drive and desire
to be "forged in fire" champions as me.
So I've got a long road ahead of me.
♪ ♪
- my name's gordy knapp. I am 43 years old.
And the last time I was here, the clock beat me.
I ain't going nowhere with this.
I'm gonna have to start over.
- I got eliminated in round one because I kept heating
my steel up too much,
and as soon as I hammered it, it started breaking apart.
I just wasn't able to get a forge weld together.
And I've been dreaming to come back here the second
that I lost my first competition.
My biggest goal today is to make a blade
fully fit and finished to be able to turn in.
It's just amazing to be able to come back and do this again.
- My name is jennifer lyddane. I'm from versailles, kentucky.
So, the last time I was here, the clock beat me.
Could not finish my handle. I totally froze.
The clock got to me.
And I just wasn't able to turn in a weapon.
Coming back this time, I'm really hoping
that I can use my time wisely and finish what I started.
Going up against one person,
got a 50 percent chance of winning
and a 50 percent chance of losing.
- Well, bladesmiths, welcome back to the forge.
It's great to have you here.
Now bladesmiths, last time the two of you were here,
you had a little bit of trouble with time,
and you were unable to present blades to the judges.
So you guys have been entered into
our beat by the clock duel.
Now, the guys behind me
are the ones who will decide which one of your blades
will get you a check for $2,000.
Now, winning your duel means you will have a guaranteed seat
in the final round of our tournament,
which means you have one more chance
at that coveted title of "forged in fire" champion.
You guys ready to get into it?
- Yes. - All right.
You have a cloth on your anvils.
Go ahead and take those off for me.
- Last time, they gave me a one-inch ball bearing
to forge a key.
I cannot even imagine what's gonna be under this cloth.
♪ ♪
what you got there are bars of 80crv2 and mild steel.
With those, we want you to put together san mai billets
and forge us some blades.
You're gonna need to make a signature blade
in your signature style
that meets these following parameters.
They need to measure between 13 and 15 inches.
Now, that's measured from where the tip starts
to where the cutting edge ends.
Your blades need to be quenched,
tempered, etched, and fully functional
by the time five hours runs out.
Now bladesmiths, plan accordingly.
This round is all about being aware of
and managing the clock.
To ensure that you can handle anything that we throw at you,
we're gonna see if your time management skills
have gotten any better.
Throughout this round,
we will be throwing out random parameter changes.
Now don't worry about what they are
or when they're coming, because you will know.
Trust me.
- I'm really concerned about the mystery parameters.
I could be working on something,
and then I might have to reverse it.
- If you're able to beat the clock in this challenge,
we're gonna go straight into testing.
We're gonna test for strength and durability
and in a clock chop
and check for edge retention in a tatami mat slice.
Well bladesmiths, how do you feel about that?
- Good. - Feel good? How about you?
- Mm-hmm. Yeah. - Good luck.
Your duel starts now.
♪ ♪
this one is brutal.
- When was the last time we gave people
three pieces of pristine steel and said make san mai?
Start throwing these audibles in and change things up,
that's gonna be the trick of things.
- First thing I'm gonna do
is cut my steel down by three inches,
because stacking the three billets together
gives me a thickness that I know
I can stretch up to 15 inches.
Welding.
- Why would you sacrifice the material
before you need to sacrifice the material?
- Especially because they know
we're gonna be throwing parameters.
- While my steel is heating up,
I would love to be cutting out my scales
and getting the holes drilled and everything,
but they could throw another handle parameter at me,
you know, hidden tang or whatever, you know,
so I would just be wasting my time.
- Both our smiths here have had a history
in not finishing with the clock.
With gordy, it was a cold forge.
- Oh, man. Everything's splitting, opening up.
- With jennifer, it was all about that handle.
- I've gotta go chopping with this thing?
This could just break loose and just go flying.
- I want to make sure that I put the high carbon steel
in the center of my blade and the mild steel on the outside.
San mai kind of acts like shocks on a vehicle.
It will give a little bit of recoil.
While I let it soak in the heat,
I want to use my time wisely,
so I draw out every step that I need to make,
'cause I do not want to forget anything.
- Bladesmiths, you have four hours and 30 minutes
remaining in your competition .
♪ ♪
- you really only have one or two shots
of getting those forge welds,
and if any oxidation gets into it, you're done.
- Gordy decided to go and set his welds with the press.
- It's a very smart move.
- Now that my welds are set,
I'm going to stretch it to the parameters.
- All right, bladesmiths, your first audible is up.
For the next 30 minutes, your presses are off.
- [groans]
having no press as the first parameter is pretty bad,
because me and gordy have to take turns using blu.
I don't like using the power hammer.
I feel like it hits too hard.
So I have to be careful when setting my welds.
- I'm feeling really good at this point.
- I've got it stretched to 14 and a half,
and I've got plenty of room to work with.
I feel like I'm doing great on time.
I've already got something that looks like a knife.
- Everything was forge welded. But this is such a huge billet,
so I'm gonna have to shorten it.
- Bladesmiths, one hour has elapsed.
The presses are back online.
However, we got another audible for you.
♪ ♪
you guys must forge in a fuller.
- Okay, I got it.
Forging a fuller is a lot harder
than grinding in a fuller.
It's not quite as symmetrical as it could be,
'cause you're bouncing around,
as opposed to grinding it out
with a small wheel contact.
♪ ♪
- has to be a better way than using a fuller.
- Jennifer does not look happy about the fuller.
- No. Most knifemakers don't calmly do fullers.
- Thanks a lot, grady. - [laughs]
- the fuller is tripping me up,
because I've never done it before.
I used the peen of my hammer, because I felt like
I had more control over where the fuller was going to be.
So if I can just forge in a rough fuller,
I can clean that up at the grinder.
Looks like a fuller to me. [laughs]
- at this point, I've got my tang,
I've got my pinhole, I've got my forged fuller in it.
So I'm ready to go for the quench.
There we go.
Oh no.
I see a big warp going over to the side.
- Gordy's trying to straight it out a little bit.
- So I'm trying to be as gentle as I can,
but I got a pretty big warp.
This thing could snap at any time.
Still [bleep] warped.
I decide that I'm just gonna go back and heat it up again
and re-straighten.
[bleep].
- Bladesmiths, you guys have three hours remaining.
♪ ♪
- I marked the style of blade that I want.
And I need to get it nice and smooth.
I need to get it shaped up.
I have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time.
But I feel pretty confident that I can do it.
- Jennifer's got a pretty good looking blade going.
- Wow. Look how bright gordy's--
all: Ohh!
- I did not expect that. Super hot quench.
- Yep.
[clacking] - oh. Did you hear that?
Man.
- The [bleep] is going on?
I hear a big ping,
which means that something opened up on my blade.
I'm worried right now. It's just all up to grinding
and seeing what you find out with your blade.
Ah!
- Oh, snap. It completely peeled wide open.
- Oh, my gosh.
- I can't believe that this is happening
at this point right now.
One of my mild pieces of steel did not forge weld.
It's just utter devastation.
- Gonna be a nail biter watching gordy.
♪ ♪
- you got this. Just keep going. Get a new one.
- Gordy cut his original pieces of steel in half.
- Yep. - Now he's taking
the other half, and he's starting over.
- This is a reaction, as opposed to a makeup plan
- a bad reaction. Absolutely. Yeah.
- The san mai doesn't have to go from tip to tail.
You can grind it back a little bit.
You can weld it up.
- Welding.
I didn't quit last time, and there's no way
I'm quitting this time.
It may not be pretty, but I'm gonna turn something in.
♪ ♪
- she's quenched it. - Whoa!
[laughter]
- [laughs]
flames just come from out of nowhere and scared me to death.
♪ ♪
my blade is hard.
So I've got to get my blade into the tempering oven.
- Hey, bladesmiths, time for another parameter.
You guys need to include a mosaic pin in your handle.
- I've never done a mosaic pin,
so I'm really just crossing my fingers.
I like the thought of having a square hollow stock
in the round hollow stock.
And I'm gonna fill it with pink resin.
- That's a neat looking pin.
- While my second billet's heating up, I figure
that I'm gonna run over and start my mosaic pin
so the epoxy can harden and I already have it
for when I'm ready for it.
Last time, the clock beat me, and this time
I'm gonna beat the clock.
- I don't think there's any question
that gordy's gonna work till the last second.
Last time he was here,
he worked every minute of the way.
- I got my mosaic pin curing over there.
It's not the most prettiest thing,
but it's still a mosaic pin.
And I know that my billet is ready to go set my welds.
- One hour remaining.
♪ ♪
- I'm going with the scales.
I'm really hoping and praying
that grady doesn't yell out a hidden tang,
because I am doing a full tang.
- Well right now, jennifer's handle looks like a brick.
I mean, it's just a box.
- The pressure's on for the handle.
The last thing that I want to do
is a repeat of what I did last time.
I want it to be durable, usable, and pretty.
- Hey bladesmiths, I got another parameter for you.
Your handles must be made of natural materials.
- Whoo! Thank goodness.
- I'm definitely not thinking about the handle.
I'm just making something that's gonna hit parameters
and be able to get tested.
I start grinding in a tang and a tip.
Now, I have to hammer in my fuller again.
I actually have a chance again, because I actually
have something that looks like a blade now.
♪ ♪
- 30 minutes remaining in your five-hour competition.
Gordy quenched again. - Good.
- I know, at this point, I don't have time
to make a beautiful wooden handle or anything like that.
I've just gotta wrap it with something
and I've got to get the mosaic pin in.
- Not the natural material
I would think about grabbing, but--
- hey, it's cotton. It's natural.
- 15 minutes on the clock.
- I know I've got to temper,
and I have no time for the heat treat oven,
so I just decided to go with turning down the forge
and getting it in.
Hopefully, the cotton twine won't set on fire.
- That's different. - Yeah. It'll work.
- Five, four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, the first round
of the second chance tournament is over.
- Regardless of what happens, I had to restart a blade
with two and a half hours,
and I was able to crank that out.
So I'm not ruling anything out yet until it gets tested.
- All right, bladesmiths, welcome to the test floor.
♪ ♪
now, there's one thing that every bladesmith
who has stepped into our arena had to face:
That stinking clock.
So today is payback.
Our strength test is a clock chop.
I'll be taking your weapons,
cutting into our digital clock here, and tearing it apart.
Now this isn't about what your blades do to that clock,
but what that clock might do to your blades.
Jennifer, you're up first. You ready?
- Yes, sir.
♪ ♪
last time I was here, my blade wasn't even tested.
And as he is getting ready to lay into the clock,
I'm holding my breath,
and I'm just waiting for my blade to fall apart.
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
♪ ♪
- all right, jennifer. First off,
your blade has held up nicely.
It's a little on the heavy side,
but for a blade this big,
it's not out of what I would expect.
The handle--this side's kind of comfortable.
But this side's very squared off.
But that's probably the nicest mosaic pin
we have had in competition, so congratulations on that.
All in all, your blade held up beautifully.
Well done. - Thank you.
- All right, gordy. You're up.
You ready? - I'm ready.
- Okay, let's do it.
♪ ♪
- I'm worried about the delams.
I'm afraid that it's gonna just split apart at the seams,
just like my first attempt.
♪ ♪
- all right, gordy. Watching you work,
I was really worried that the clock was gonna get you.
But you got the clock, man.
The handle construction is not pretty.
But honestly, it's really comfortable.
The other thing that's happened is this opening here
has gotten larger.
But it survived the test. You did a good job.
- Thank you.
- All right, bladesmiths,
do you know what time it is?
I don't, because dave broke our clock.
But I'm guessing that it is time to find out
how sharp your blades are.
This is the tatami mat slice.
Now, unlike the strength test, this is all about
what the edge of your weapon does to these mats.
Jennifer, you're up first. You ready?
- Yes. - All right. Let's do this.
♪ ♪
all right, jennifer, let's talk about your weapon here.
First up, your handle construction.
Though it does look a little bit blocky,
it's actually comfortable.
The finger well you have right here
allows me to grab on to it.
I can index where the edge is.
And your edge here cut cleanly on the first tatami
and almost through on the second one.
Overall, it'll cut.
All right, gordy. You're up next. Are you ready?
- Yes, sir. - Let's do this.
♪ ♪
all right, gordy.
This is what I would call a true survival knife.
Your handle construction, though rough,
is comfortable.
Now, the delaminations, you can see, are quite open.
But despite the issues that you have there, it'll cut.
- Thank you.
- All right, bladesmiths.
Well, the testing is now complete,
and the time has come for the judges to decide
which one of your blades is gonna take its smith
into the next round of our competition.
While they deliberate, I'm gonna ask you
to please step off the forge floor.
♪ ♪
all right, gentlemen. We got two blades that beat the clock,
but only one of them can go forward.
- Gordy's--the handle is comfortable.
It's, like, very squishy and comfortable to use.
But the blade, it just has delaminations all over.
Still sharp. But overall, it's really unfinished.
- Dave, what do you think?
- Jennifer's blade held up beautifully.
The handle's not what I would call comfortable,
but it's not bad.
- Okay. - Dave, you made your decision?
- Yes, I have
- j., how about you? - Oh, yeah.
- Doug, you on board? - Yes.
- All right. We'll call them back in.
♪ ♪
well, bladesmiths, you both fought very hard,
and your blades tested really well.
But as you know, only one of you can move forward
into the final round of this tournament.
And the bladesmith that came out on top
of this duel is...
Jennifer. Congratulations.
You have come out victorious in the beat by the clock duel.
Gordy, unfortunately that means you're not moving forward,
and doug's gonna tell you why.
- Gordy, you not only brought us a blade,
you brought us a two and a half-hour blade.
The spirit of competition is strong in you.
It performed well in the sense of
it still cut all the way through.
But in the strength test, the delaminations started
to open up on that blade.
For that reason, we're sending you home.
- I understand. - Well, gordy,
you fought really hard.
Great work out here. But unfortunately,
I'm gonna have to ask you to please leave the forge.
- All right. - Good job.
- Thank you. I'm a little sad right now, but it's okay.
I wanted to go all the way, you know.
But I agree with the judges' decision.
I'm just happy it got tested.
I would definitely do it again.
- Well jennifer, that means you are the champion
of the beat by the clock duel,
which means you'll be receiving a check for $2,000,
and you've cemented yourself a seat in the final round
of the second chance tournament.
So congratulations. - Thank you.
This time, I beat the clock.
The clock did not beat me.
It was a ton of work. I'm proud of myself.
But now I'm gonna have to step up my game even more.
I know that I'm going up against other smiths
who won their duels, just like me.
And so I feel like this is the calm before the storm.