Today, we're going to take a look
at some of the most iconic Chinese weapons
seen on "Forged in Fire."
Yeah!
NARRATOR: Relive five of the most amazing "Forged
in Fire" championships--
[victorious laughter]
NARRATOR: --featuring these epic weapons of China--
Whoa!
Watch out!
NARRATOR: --made by some of the Forge's best bladesmiths.
I don't want to go home.
That's a tough test.
I don't know if I'm gonna be able to do it or not.
[bleep]
NARRATOR: This is "Forged in Fire--
Championship Weapons of China."
Now, the Chinese culture has a documented history that
goes back thousands of years.
And in those years, they've developed
a wide array of weapons.
So let's take a look at some of the weapons
we've had on "Forged in Fire."
These are Chinese favorite of mine, the butterfly sword.
[music playing]
NARRATOR: The butterfly sword.
These swords were designed to be carried in one sheat.
They could be drawn and used with one hand.
They could also be offensive or defensive weapons.
The design of the guard on the butterfly sword
has a knuckle bow to protect the hand and the knuckles,
a rear [inaudible] that allows the sword
to be dropped into a defensive position
but also defend from another blade.
Now, the butterfly swords were very popular
in Southern China in the mid-19th century,
where many martial arts forms were built around their use.
As far as short sword design goes,
these give you both an attack and a defense.
Makes for a good blade.
NARRATOR: Who will be the butterfly sword champion?
My name is Shayne Carter, and I'm 55 years old.
Well, I started shoeing horses at the age of 13
with my father.
Once you learn how to forge a piece of iron,
it's endless where that journey will take you.
My name is Andy Alm.
I'm 27 years old.
I've been bladesmithing for about 12 years.
As well as bladesmithing, I worked
in radio for seven years.
Weather on the [inaudible] guaranteed.
Shayne, Andy, now we're sending you
back to your home forges where you
will recreate butterfly swords.
Bad ass.
You will have five days at your home forges
to accomplish this.
Good luck.
We'll see you in five days.
[music playing]
My game plan for these weapons is try to stay as
close to history as possible.
[music playing]
It's difficult to make two identical blades for the fact
of all the elements involved.
I want to test these blades.
I want to know they'll perform.
The blade's hard.
It was chipping a little bit because I
had a pretty fine edge on it.
I'm gonna have to change the edge geometry.
Still a lot of work left to do.
I decided to go with a couple of pieces
of 5160 leaf spring steel.
Only trouble is, I've never worked with 5160 before.
We'll see what happens.
[music playing]
Bleep
I'm gonna build the handles.
I'm gonna fit everything up.
Well, I'll just look cool.
Mother [bleep]!
Ah!
Holy [bleep].
I cut my thumb pretty bad.
It's not a sword until it's drawn blood, so.
You've had five days at your home forges
to work on your butterfly swords.
Shayne, how did it go for you?
I had a few train wrecks.
But I managed to get around them.
In the butterfly swords, it was good for me
to construct something that I would have
never constructed otherwise.
Andy, anything you'd like to tell the judges?
I never even knew what a butterfly sword was.
I learned a lot about it.
I think it went pretty well.
It's all in your hands at this point.
NARRATOR: The sharpness test.
Bladesmiths, the butterfly swords
were designed to be maneuverable in close-quarter combat.
To test the sharpness of your blade,
I will attempt to puncture, slash,
and cut this trifecta of sandbags, sugar cane, and rope.
Shayne, you're up first.
Are you ready.
I am, sir.
[music playing]
Nice.
Shayne, you blade moves nicely.
It can definitely slash and thrust through the sugar cane.
It's sharp enough to cut.
At the same time on the rope, I can
shield and then cut the rope.
This, sir, will cut.
Good job.
Thank you.
Andy, you're up next.
You ready?
I'm ready.
Let's do this.
[music playing]
Whoa.
Smoked 'em.
Well, Andy, definitely you've got a nice point
to puncture and lacerate.
On the sugar canes, nice cut on my weaker side.
And to use the blade as a shield, that feels good.
So I can deliver my power thrust.
And it's sharp.
This, sir, will cut.
Good job.
Thank you.
NARRATOR: The strength test.
The butterfly swords come from Southern China.
Now, though they were used by the military,
primarily they were civilian weapon.
Now, to test the strength of your blades,
I'm going to take six chops into this ice block.
Shayne, you're up first.
Are you ready? - I'm ready.
All right.
Let's do this.
[music playing]
All right, Shayne.
Well, your edges held up beautifully.
The weapon still feels nice and tight and well put together.
What I do like is the fact that I can
hold this weapon in one hand.
A question for you.
You only sharpened the 2/3 of that blade.
Is there a reason?
The research that I did said that only the bottom third
of that blade would not be sharpened because of the monks
if didn't want to kill somebody, they would want to thump
them and not kill a person.
I learned the same thing.
But it was when you reversed it that,
that-- so you don't put a finger on that edge
when you reverse that blade.
But nice design.
Well done, sir.
Thank you, sir.
Andy, you're up.
Yes, sir.
(CHUCKLING) OK.
[music playing]
A little wet.
Your edges feel great, feel fine.
I really like what you did with the fullering,
Thank you.
A couple of things--
the back arms are just a little tight.
I can't quite get underneath that.
I like what you did carrying them up there
and putting that detail on it, though.
But the biggest concern I have is, I can't--
I can't hold that as one sword.
I wouldn't be able to draw that cleanly from a scabbard.
Generally, though, I mean, they feel good in the hand.
It's a good job.
They held up well.
Thanks, Dave.
DAVE: Nicely done.
NARRATOR: The kill test.
To see how lethal your butterfly swords are,
I will deliver lethal blows on these ballistic dummies.
Shayne, you're up first.
You ready?
I'm ready.
Let's do this.
[music playing]
Nice.
Well, Shayne, the lacerations in here
will go deep into the bone and break it.
At the same time, when you thrust,
it goes deep into the bowels and cuts everything
inside on its way out.
This, sir, will KEAL.
Great job.
Thank you.
Andy, you're up next.
Ready?
Yes, sir.
[music playing]
Nice.
Andy, the design of your blade lacerated
this ballistic dummy deeply, and that would puncture a lung.
And when I thrust the weapon, I completely
disemboweled this dummy.
This, sir, will KEAL.
Great job.
Thank you.
Andy, Shayne, the judges have pored
over the details of your weapons and they've
made their final decision.
Before I announce who the winner is,
they have some things they'd like to say to both of you.
Jason.
Andy, one of the things I really liked about your blades
was the fullers and how you did a hollow grind
with a convex edge.
Man, it is just so sharp.
It just wants to zip through things.
Well done.
Thank you.
Shayne, there are so many elements of your weapons
that I really like.
And the fact that you made it all asymmetrical.
But you really pumped it up by adding
that Damascus guard on it, really, really beautiful job.
Thank you.
Andy, Shayne, you've both done some outstanding work.
In this competition, there can only be one "Forged in Fire"
champion, and that champion is Shayne.
Congratulations.
You are the "Forged in Fire" champion.
Good job.
Thank you.
Well fought battle, bud.
Absolutely.
Andy, you turned in a beautiful blade.
It performed great on the sharpest tests,
on the kill test, and on the strength test.
This has been one of the toughest decisions we've ever
made so much so that we had to look
at more of the historic characteristic of a butterfly
sword.
They're designed to fit together to almost
wield it as one sword, and yours didn't fit as well as Shayne's.
And for that reason, we'll have to let you go.
Understood.
I absolutely believe the judges made the right decision.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
This is the moment I've been waiting for.
The journey is the fun part, you know.
I'm very happy.
Now, these nasty looking things are called hook swords.
[music playing]
NARRATOR: The hook sword.
DAVID BAKER: These weapons are used
in martial arts demonstrations.
Forms like wushu often use these, hooking them,
spinning them, and doing forms.
The hook sword has a hook that's sharpened on the outside,
a blade sharpened on the inside, and that crescent
which protects the hand is also sharpened.
Then on the back, a point, giving him multiple
places to attack and/or defend.
NARRATOR: Who will be the hook sword champion?
My name is Rich Greenwood, and I'm a "Forged in Fire"
finalist from season 1.
I think I need to redeem myself because,
last time, I was just so close.
My name is Dave Roeder.
I was a season 1 runner up.
I'm back to win.
I'm not doing this for anybody anymore,
I'm doing this for myself.
Rich, Dave, now we're sending you back to your home forges
to create the hook sword.
Nice.
You will have five days at your home
forge to complete this challenge.
Good luck, bladesmiths.
We'll see you in five days.
A hook sword.
It's not my style, but we're going to see if I
can manage and make it work.
[pounding]
This kind of looks like boat pit cane, only made out of metal.
Yeah, that turned out pretty good.
I don't have a quench tank large enough to do the whole thing.
I'll do two heat treats.
I'll do the main post of the sword first.
And then I'll do that hook secondly.
If I do it this way, the heat will just hit this part.
The big concern is overheating the transition part
from the hook.
It's too soft, it can bend.
We shall see.
All right, let's get to work.
Oh, that's hot.
Making this story is kind of tough because it's
the Swiss army knife of swords.
It's got a lot of edges, it's got a lot of points.
Last time around, I got three days into making a katana.
I quenched it.
About three seconds in, I started hearing the ticks
and the sword cracked.
If I was to hear that sound today,
that would be my worst nightmare.
This is it.
Here goes nothing.
I heard weird sounds.
[dramatic beats]
Rich, Dave, you've had five days at your home
forges to create your hooks swords.
Dave, how did it go?
It was interesting to say the least.
It definitely pushed me to my heights of creativity.
The hardest thing for it was that hook.
I've never done that particular style before, so it
was challenging in itself.
Rich, what do you think?
RICH GREENWOOD: That hook was a bitch.
You don't bend a blade backwards normally.
It was very difficult to make that happen successfully.
NARRATOR: The sharpness test.
Bladesmiths, to test the edge and sharpness of your blade,
I will slash one time on each of these satomi mats
filled with rice.
If they're sharp, it should cut cleanly through.
Rich, you're up first.
Are you ready?
Heck, yeah.
I think I'm going to do well.
The sword's sharp, there's no inherent problems with it.
[music playing]
Nice.
[music playing]
Pretty cool.
Well Rich, it is a light and sharp sword.
You can definitely maneuver with it for close quarter,
but as you can see, it can cleanly through these mats.
It definitely will cut.
It will.
Good job.
Dave, you're up next.
Are you ready?
Yes, sir.
Let's do this.
[music playing]
Dave, you blade's a little bit heavier.
It's sharp enough to cut, but not sharp enough
to cut all the way through.
Because of the weight of the weapon, when you're extending
and you have a point pointing back at you,
there's a little bit of concern of how you're going
to be controlling the blade.
But overall, sir, good job.
Thank you.
Rich has a point.
I don't have a point yet, so it's 1-0.
So I have to fare well in the second test.
NARRATOR: The strength test.
So gentlemen, to test the strength of your weapon,
I'm going to take two blows against our terracotta warriors
here.
If your blade is strong enough, it should survive
the impact with minimal damage.
Rich, are you ready?
I am.
OK.
[music playing]
Well, Rich, wonderfully light weapon.
Very, very fast.
You've got a little deformation on the edge, but didn't chip.
Picked up a bit of a bend, but not too far out of true.
Well done.
All right, Dave.
Your turn.
I ain't going to watch this.
It's not going to happen.
So I'm just using my ears.
[music playing]
I'm good with that.
When I see Dave's sword shatter the terracotta dummies,
I'm feeling nervous.
Well Dave, a much heavier weapon.
You can see it just powered right through the terracotta
with no problem whatsoever.
Still bright and tight and true and everything.
Little deformation, but again, we're hitting terracotta.
Well done.
Awesome.
Rich, David, the judges have scrutinized every aspect
of your work and your weapons performances
and they've made their final decision.
Bladesmiths, it was not easy, but
a final decision has been made.
David, congratulations.
You are the "Forged in Fire" champion.
Good job.
You're kidding, right?
No, I'm not.
Rich, unfortunately, your weapon did not make the cut.
Rich, I love what you brought us.
And during the testing, you and David
ended up pretty much even.
Both of your blades flexed during the terracotta strength
test, but yours kept the bend and it
didn't come back to true.
So that's why we're sending you home today.
Thanks, guys.
I'm completely happy with the sword that I made,
but right now I feel a little defeated.
I like the way the edge held up on that.
Didn't take any chips or chunks out of it.
Thank you.
Now I've actually proven to myself that yes, I can do it.
And getting to go home as a champion, that's--
that's pretty cool.
These interesting blades are deer horn knives.
NARRATOR: The deer horn knives.
DAVID BAKER: Designed by the creator of the martial art
Baguazhang, these blades were both defensive and offensive
in nature, consisting of sharpened points
and long curved blades that not only cut and thrust
but protected the hand.
Now the story is told that the creator of these weapons
was a tax collector, and he used these for personal protection
while collecting taxes for the Chinese emperor.
I think I'd pay my taxes.
NARRATOR: Who will be the deer horn knives champion?
My name is Nick.
I'm the owner and sole smith of the Red Troll Forge.
I do demonstrations on blacksmithing
and try to keep people entertained.
Most people know me as Grendel, the big red troll.
I'm having a good time.
Ah!
My name is Steve Godfrey.
I'm 47 years old.
I have been blacksmithing since 1984,
but professionally, I'm a medium.
Nick, Steve, we will send you home
to recreate deer horn knives.
Whoa.
WILL WILLIS: Good luck, bladesmiths.
We'll see you in five days.
And we go.
There's two basic ways you can make this weapon.
One is to take one large piece of steel, make cuts in it,
and then bend it all out into shape.
What I'm going to try to do this to make it into two
separate crescent shapes.
And I'm going to be cutting the crescents apart
and welding it flat on so the edges will line up.
Day 5.
I feel like crap.
I'm sick and all I have left to do is put the handles on
and sharpen the blades.
It's all nice and sharp now.
I'm used to making straight pieces.
This thing has curves all over the place.
I want to forge this out of one piece of steel.
That's the strongest way you can do it.
[music playing]
It worked.
Everything is coming together.
And then I see it.
I've got a crack in one of my blades.
I've got to test it.
[sighs]
It's day 5, and I have to start over.
I've got one day, I don't know if I'm going
to be able to do it or not.
If I wasn't the underdog before, I definitely am now.
I just want to have something to take there.
I have 3 days of work to do in 10 hours.
At this point, I don't have time for any mistakes,
I just need to stay in the game.
Welcome back.
You've had 5 days at your home forge to work
on your dear horn knives.
Steve, how did it go?
It was an adventure.
Day 4, I broke my blade.
Had to start over again.
Built a second set in 10 hours, so I
wasn't able to do the fancy fit and finish that I
normally would have done.
But I believe it's going to perform well.
Nicholas, how'd it go?
Went pretty well, except I got a cold.
But that's all right.
My blade is 29 layers of Damascus
with G-10 handles with decorative pins.
Little problems, but I could handle it.
NARRATOR: The sharpness test.
Steve, you're up first. You ready?
Yes, I am.
I thought I was going to show up empty handed,
but I asked for some help.
I started talking to my grandpa, my grandmother.
I could feel their presence.
I knew everything was going to be OK.
[music playing]
Well, Steve, the points are sharp.
They lacerate cleanly.
It feels good in the hand, I can maneuver.
This, sir, will cut.
Thank you.
Nick, you're up next.
You ready?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm pretty confident mine can do at least that well, probably
better because my points are more pointier.
[music playing]
Well, Nick, you can see that it penetrates deep,
the angle that you have them in, and lacerates out.
They're comfortable in the hand, and your blades will cut.
Thank you.
NARRATOR: The strength test.
To test the strength of your weapons,
we're going to clamp them into our contraption back here.
Once triggered, a staff will strike the center
section of each of the blades one time
with the force of 2,000 pounds.
Steve, are you ready?
Yes, I am.
I have to admit I'm a little nervous.
And I'm a little concerned about what's
going to happen when they whack that thing with a baton,
especially already having one break.
In 3, 2, 1.
Well, Steve, I don't see any damage,
any rolling of the edge.
So they held up beautifully.
That's great.
Just waiting for it and waiting for it.
In 1, 2, 3.
And it broke the stick.
[laughs]
3, 2, 1.
Woo!
I broke the stick again.
All right.
Well first off, let's remember that the test wasn't
about breaking sticks, it was more
about how your blade reacts to being hit by that stick.
There is no damage whatsoever.
This is still a razor blade.
Nicely done.
Thank you.
NARRATOR: The kill test.
Steve, you up first. Are you ready?
Absolutely.
Let's do this.
I'm really hoping to hear, you know, it will KEAL.
[music playing]
Well, Steve, you know I was surprised being that you only
have a scale on one side for the handle and none of the other,
it is a rustic look.
But nonetheless, it is actually comfortable to hold on to.
Your tips over there, sharp enough
to cut, easy to thrust with a bottom
and deliver a slice at the same time.
Overall, your weapon will KEAL.
Yeah.
All right.
Nick, you're next.
Are you ready?
Oh, yeah.
[music playing]
Well, Nick, your weapon is very sharp.
Grabbing your handle, it feels smooth with both scales
in there.
The angles you have really lacerate deeply.
And overall, your weapon will KEAL.
Good job.
Thank you.
The judges have made their final decision.
But before I announce that, they have comments for both of you.
Jason.
Nicholas, I liked that your blades were Damascus.
I like the way it looked, it cut really deep,
well designed as a weapon.
What I didn't like was the forge dwelling
you had to weld the welder.
But they were wicked sharp.
Thanks.
Steve, first of all, you have to be commended
that despite the problems you had at your home forge,
you were still able to turn the blade.
I like the way you designed your blade to resemble antlers.
Very creative.
The fact that it's made from one piece seal,
it's also impressive.
Given your setbacks however, this is a championship round.
There are visible gaps and glue in your handle and chisel marks
left on the inside edges of the steel.
You've both done commendable work,
but there can only be one "Forged in Fire"
champion in this competition.
Nick, congratulations.
You are the "Forged in Fire" champion.
That's me.
I won.
This is the Tai Chi sword.
NARRATOR: The Tai Chi sword.
DAVID BAKER: The jin, the jin dao, the scholar's sword.
One of the oldest sword designs in China
and one of the oldest sword designs
still in use on the planet.
It consists of a long straight double-edged blade
with a thrusting point, a small guard for the hand,
and a single hand handle.
These blades were designed to be light and fast.
There are many martial arts built around this blade,
the biggest being Tai Chi.
Now, these swords became a status symbol
in the late 19th century and were
carried by educated gentlemen and often used
in self-defense or in dueling.
And that's how they got their name, the scholar's sword.
NARRATOR: Who will be the Tai Chi sword champion?
My name is Neil Kamimura.
I was asked to come back and I would never say no
to my "Forged in Fire" family.
What I feel I've come back for is
to represent the people just starting off
and show them that you can do this.
My name is Theo Nass.
Winning "Forged in Fire" allowed me
to turn my hobby into a full time career in knife
making and teaching.
I think I feel nervous, but I'm pretty sure it's
actually just eagerness.
Neil, Theo, you have to go back home
and recreate the Tai Chi sword.
Good luck, bladesmiths.
We'll see you in five days.
Best of luck, man.
NEIL: This is the first time I've
ever made something this long.
I guarantee you mine is going to be heavier than Theo's.
I don't like skinny little things,
I like things with some stout.
[laughing]
[bleep]
I can feel it want to bend because
of the weight of the tip.
If something goes wrong, I won't have time to fix it.
[music playing]
THEO: Here we are at my forge.
Please go right.
The biggest obstacle is getting the guard to forge
weld to the blade itself.
How important are guards on swords?
They can be integral.
Should have practiced this motion with this new setup.
If things go wrong right now, I got to start again.
So no pressure.
Theo, Neil, welcome back to the forge.
Theo, tell us about your blade.
THEO: It went very well.
It did an integral guard and pommel by forge welding
on both of them.
The blade's handle is relatively simple construction
so that it can be [bleep].
You sound monotonely excited about that.
Neil, how did it go for you, man?
NEIL: Same recipe as the last time I was here.
Go to the junkyard, get some stuff because I didn't
expect to make it this far.
NARRATOR: The strength test.
I'm going to be hitting this bamboo five times.
Remember, it's not what your sword does to the bamboo,
but what the bamboo does to your sword.
Theo, you're up first.
How are you feeling?
A little nervous.
Let's go for it.
[music playing]
Well, Theo, this is a brute of a sword.
The edge held up perfectly.
I don't see any problems, still straight as an arrow.
The handle is a little bit difficult to really control.
I would have liked a little bit more
meat on it, but very well done.
Thank you.
Neil, you're up next.
Boy, that's a tough test.
[laughing]
That bamboo set up it's literally just blunt force
trauma.
I don't think a lot of blades can survive that kind
of jarring and punishment.
[music playing]
Well, Neil, your sword is heavy.
I wouldn't want to be running around with it.
There's a little bit of damage that the bamboo
gave back to your sword, but it's still straight.
Very well done.
Nice job.
Thank you.
NARRATOR: The sharpness test.
All right, gentlemen.
I'm going to be chopping through these tatami mats
using both edges of your sword.
Let's see if your blade still have an edge.
Theo, you're up first.
Ready for this?
Yeah, sure.
I'm very nervous at this point.
This is the make it or break it moment.
I have to perform well in this test.
[music playing]
All right, Theo.
Definitely a sharp blade.
You can see the nice clean slice and then
burying into the second.
I like the design.
It's definitely a solid piece, and that's one
of the nice things about it.
I don't feel like it's going to go anywhere.
Well done.
Thank you.
All right, Neil.
You ready?
Yeah.
[music playing]
So the biggest thing is all that weight,
about twice what it needs to be as far as weight goes.
It's difficult to swing.
And then the edge of this blade, it's
got a very stout profile, almost like an ax.
Just kept it from cutting all the way through.
Theo, Neil, there can only be one "Forged in Fire" champion.
That champion is Theo.
Congratulations.
Neil, unfortunately, your weapon did not make the cut.
Neil, you came up and showed us that you had the heart
to make it to the finals, but your sword took some damage
to the strength test.
But more than that, it's heavy.
A Tai Chi sword is known to be strong, sharp, and light.
For those reasons, we have to let you go.
NEIL: I 100% agree with the judges.
Theo earned it.
I [bleep] won.
This is the Chinese dao.
NARRATOR: The Chinese dao.
DAVID BAKER: The very first Chinese daos
were made of bronze and use during the Shang Dynasty.
The handle of the Chinese dao in combat
was often wrapped in silk.
It was believed to bring luck and bravery to the user.
In martial arts movies, the dao is often depicted as having
this wobbly flexible tip.
Though flexible, these blades were stout cutting machines.
NARRATOR: Who will be the Chinese dao champion?
My name is Joe Carleton, I'm 39 years old,
and I'm from Cheyenne, Wyoming.
I'm Casey Purdue.
I like working with Joe.
He lets you make your own mistakes,
but he also shows you how to correct them.
He said a master smith means nothing other
than you made all the mistakes and figured
out how to fix them.
My name is Mark J Hopper.
I teach smithing in Atlanta, Georgia.
My name is Jessica D. Collins, and I've been apprenticing
with Mark for four years.
Eventually, I got good enough to help him
actually design the classes.
This is almost at that point when
a master turns to his apprentice and goes,
it's time to become a journeyman.
WILL WILLIS: All right, bladesmiths,
we're sending you back to your home forges
to recreate an iconic weapon from history, the Chinese dao.
You will have five days at your home forge to accomplish this.
Only one of you can work at the end bill at a time.
Good luck, bladesmiths.
We'll see you in five days.
Casey's never forged a blade this length.
But just because you've never done something before,
it doesn't mean you can't do it.
I'm really excited to build this Chinese dao.
It's an oversized chopper with an elegant pretty handle.
I like working by hand more, I feel like I have more control.
But the best thing about the power hammer
is that it saves time.
JOE: Now, that's a problem.
We busted that off.
We've only got five hours to work today,
and the power hammer failing, that kind of
threw a monkey wrench into it.
CASEY: Joe gave me a rundown of how to fix a power hammer.
Instead of me pounding out my hand,
I'm glad he did because that was kind of a stupid thought.
I think I left Joe in a pretty good spot.
We're going for the gorgeous girl next door
look with a touch of makeup on?
That's right.
I think the job of every good apprentice
is to sit in the easy chair, eat trail mix.
Isn't that what we're supposed to do?
I'm very excited to see Joe take this blade to the next level.
Can't wait to see how it's going to turn out.
What do you think Casey?
Bad for an amateur.
Really?
[music playing]
[laughing]
I've never made a precision weapon like this before.
[music playing]
MARK: This is strange for us because I
literally can't do anything.
[inaudible]
No, you cannot.
Driving me nuts.
It's the hardest day's work that I've ever had in my life,
and I haven't picked up a ruddy hammer.
Here we go.
Finally in hands.
Jessica has put me in a fantastic place,
now I would like to get working into the guard.
I've got a belt buckle.
I'd actually like to use that as the guard,
but turn the knot inwards towards the blade
so it's almost invisible.
It would be like one of those little peak details.
It's so straight.
Oh, yay.
Bladesmiths, welcome back to the forge.
Joe, Casey, tell us a little bit about how
your blade is constructed.
JOE: Our blades had a 5160.
We put a hidden Tang handle on it
and then a ring pummel with eight brass pins in it.
It's smooth and easy.
All right.
Mark, Jessica, how did it go for you all?
It was a little bit of a mad scamper at the end,
but it went pretty smoothly.
It's a full Tang construction, and then
we have a small spacer and a threaded rod
holding the ring on.
NARRATOR: The strength test.
Bladesmiths, I'm going to take each of your swords
and deliver one Herculean strike on this piece of sheet metal
to see how it affects your blade.
Joe, Casey, you're up.
You ready?
Oh, yeah.
We love to test blades, and it's killing us
right now to not run over to Ben and grab
the sword from his hand.
[music playing]
That's pretty good.
True.
This is a beautifully light sword.
It's very well balanced.
I like the string wrapped handle.
It's easy to keep a good grip on it.
The edge took a little bit of dulling.
There's a piece of the sheet metal
almost welded onto your blade from the impact.
But it's still very well done.
Thank you.
Mark, Jessica, you guys are up.
Are you ready?
Indeed.
All right.
[music playing]
Mark, Jessica, this is a beautiful sword to wield.
It's so comfortable, it's so well balanced.
The steel did a little number on your sword, though.
There's a chip right there.
But for such a light and fast weapon as both of these
are actually, it's amazing that they got away this unscathed.
Very well done.
Thank you.
NARRATOR: The sharpness test.
To test the edge of your blade and see
if it retains that edge, I'll be cutting
through these water tubes.
Joe, Casey, you guys ready?
JOE: Oh, yeah.
Let's go for it.
[music playing]
Joe, Casey, your sword has a great feel to it.
I like the shape of the grip, but there's that section
where that edge is rolled.
And that's where the cuts started.
And you can see that first tube kind of crushed.
Then, it starts to cut as I get up into the sharper
section up in here.
But then everything had pushed over,
it kind of crushed that last tube.
It's a beautiful piece.
Well done. - Thanks.
Thanks.
All right.
Mark, Jessica, you ready?
Indeed.
OK.
[music playing]
Good job.
So Mark, Jessica, you've maintained
a bit more of an edge here.
You can see that cut travels through there,
they're clean across the tops, didn't
blow out any of the tubes, didn't crush any of them.
Anyway, a beautifully made peace.
It's definitely a cutter.
Nicely done.
Thank you.
NARRATOR: The kill test.
Joe, Casey, you're up first.
You ready?
Oh, yeah.
I'm just kind of at the moment.
It's all been boiling down to it and I'm
excited to see how it performs.
We're psyched.
I would love to wield your weapon,
but I'm still healing from an injury.
So I'd like to bring in Anthony Palmer.
And today, he will be my arm.
Have fun.
[music playing]
All right.
Joe, Casey, off the bat, it is light.
You got the weight perfect.
On the draw cut right here, you can
see that it lacerated easily.
The cut here with the spine, you can see all the nice pieces
of bacon that we're going to make later
on with this particular carcass.
Your blade, it will KEAL.
Good job, gentlemen.
Thank you.
Mark, Jessica, you're up next.
You ready?
Absolutely.
Let's do this.
Joe and Casey got right up into the ham.
- That cut into the ham. - Yeah.
Yeah.
That went deep.
That was all the way to the bone.
If we can perform as good as that, I'm happy.
[music playing]
All right.
Mark, Jessica, now your blade is wider but the balance is light.
In this particular slice, almost cut in half,
but definitely on the final cut, glided easily.
Your blade is curvaceous and sexy, and it will KEAL.
Thank you.
Bladesmiths, your Chinese dao have been tested
and the judges have evaluated the finer details of your work
and they've made their final decision.
The "Forged in Fire" champions are Mark and Jessica.
Congratulations.
You are the "Forged in Fire" champions.
Joe and Casey, your weapon did not make the cut,
David Baker is going to tell you why.
Joe, Casey, you brought us back a Chinese dao that I
personally would be proud to own,
and it was a real pleasure using it.
But in our kill test on the boar carcass
and on the sharpness test on the water tubes,
your weapon just didn't perform as well as your competitor.
And for that simple reason, we've got to let you go.
We lost fair and square, but I couldn't have asked
for a better week of learning.
Casey is an amazing apprentice.
I have no doubt he'll be an amazing master also.
It's the finish of the biggest roller coaster ever.
The training that Jessica has gone through
works, and it can turn somebody into one heck of a smith.
It's amazing.
It's going to take a while for this to sink in.
Bow to that.
Well, there you have it, some of my favorite Chinese weapons
featured on "Forged in Fire".
[music playing]