[dramatic rock music]
♪ ♪
- My name is tim huff.
I'm 59 years old.
I've been smithing for about ten years.
My grandfather was a diesel mechanic.
One day, we were sitting around,
And he goes, "you know, I need to make myself a knife."
And I was like, "gosh, grandpa, how do you make a knife?"
And he goes, "well, this is how you do it."
He brought out his old torch
And we actually made a knife out of a fender.
♪ ♪
- My name is paul rasp. I'm 42 years old.
I'm a part-time knife-maker
And full-time electrical engineer.
I spent a number of years working with nasa.
As an engineer, I understand physics
And a lot of these processes like heat-treating.
So being an engineer has definitely made me
A better bladesmith, for sure.
♪ ♪
- My name is cody adolphson, I'm 29 years old,
And I've been bladesmithing for two years.
♪ ♪
I actually contacted tyler hackbarth,
The winner of the battle of the branches,
Took a class from him,
And he taught me how to do this.
The craft is so uncommon in north dakota,
I had to go to wisconsin to learn from tyler.
♪ ♪
- My name is gari jimenez, I'm 23 years old,
And I've been a full-time bladesmith for five years.
I'm literally just chaos incarnate
Whenever I'm working in the workshop with my friends.
The blacksmithing and bladesmithing community
In general, we're all just a bunch of nerds.
[snorts]
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the forge.
Now, gentlemen, the four of you have been chosen
To take part in the ultimate bladesmithing competition.
Now, we've got three rounds, and at the end of each one,
There will be an elimination.
Now, all the pertinent decisions will be made
By the esteemed judges sitting behind me.
They're the ones who will decide
Which one of you is gonna be leaving here
With the title of "forged in fire" champion
And a check for $10,000.
So I'm sure you're ready to get the fires going,
So let's get into it.
Bladesmiths, on your anvils, there's a cloth.
Go ahead and remove that for me.
♪ ♪
What you're each looking at are two small cube canisters
And two shots of high-carbon steel.
Now, your task is to make not one,
But two matching knives.
- Here we go.
Making two knives in three hours,
We're making canister damascus.
This sparks anxiety.
- Now, bladesmiths, you need to make
Two matching canister damascus knives
In your signature style
That fall within the following parameters.
Your blade lengths need to measure
Between 7 and 9 inches.
Now, those of you who join us
In the second round of this competition,
You will add handles to those blades,
Turning them into fully-functioning weapons.
I will then ask you to turn them over to the judges,
And they will check for strength and durability
In an oil drum stab and chop.
And then check your edge retention
And your sharpness
In a punching bag stab and slice.
All right, bladesmiths, we have three hours on the clock.
So good luck. Stay sharp.
Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
Two canister blades, not something we see every day.
- Yeah, the key to this is gonna be multitasking.
Personally, I'd fix up one canister,
Get it in the fire,
While that heated, worry about the other canister.
- And each of those cans is more than enough steel
For a 7- to 9-inch blade, easily.
- Oh, my god, 16-inch blade.
- Easily. - Yeah.
- I generally make a knife one a month.
I gotta make two knives in three hours.
This is insane.
♪ ♪
My plan for this challenge is,
I'm gonna mix half and half.
I think if I do that,
I can maybe keep the patterns as close as I can.
I want to make sure that I get
A full weld all the way around,
But I'll leave a little pinhole in there
Because if we don't, then the pressure inside,
It'll pop the top off.
That's not a good thing.
I'm gonna put them both in at the same time.
So I can pull one off, work it,
So I'm kind of always working something all the time.
- Okay.
I'm confident I can get one canister done.
Two canisters, that's another story.
- Cody's cleaning the inside of the can with the acetone.
That's not something I see every day.
- Good idea 'cause if you're not gonna
Peel that can off, then you want that as clean
As the rest of the material that's going in there.
- I put all the ball bearings in one canister
And put all the fishhooks in the other.
I figured if they're all the same,
They'd probably go in a little bit easier
Than trying to mix-match 'em.
But you'll definitely be able to tell
The ball bearings were in one
And fishhooks were in the other.
It's time to throw them in the forge and get them hot.
♪ ♪
- Here we go.
I'm not really a fan of canister damascus.
It's frustrating because if you have a delam,
By the time you already see it, it's too late.
While packing these cans,
I'm gonna make sure that the powder really settles in
Because I do not want voids in my steel.
♪ ♪
- Gari doesn't take the time to clean off his metals.
He just went straight to the welder.
- That's a big risk.
- Oh, yeah. - I'm optimistic.
We're working. We're doing it.
♪ ♪
- I regularly make identical knives in my forge,
So the thought of making two of them
At the same time is not an issue.
I have the cans packed and I grind down the caps
Because if you just weld the cap to the outside,
There's a danger that the cap pops off
When you start compressing material.
- Some smiths like to have that canister lid
Fit down inside the canister.
That way, when you go to that first press,
It doesn't balloon out and blow that well.
- I think it's worth it 'cause I know
I'll pack them tightly without any voids.
- Bladesmiths, you have 2 hours and 30 minutes left.
- If you don't have the canister
At the right heat, then you won't get a weld.
So you want to get it to that temperature,
Let it go for another five, ten minutes.
That's critical.
- What color are they looking for
Before they go to that first initial weld?
- Oh, a melting stick of butter.
- Give it a nice kiss, all four sides.
- Tim's got the color you want.
- When I take it to the anvil and it gives
That nice solid pink, you're good.
So now I'm gonna jump on the second one
And do the same thing.
♪ ♪
- I've always been told if--
Once you think it's hot enough,
Wait five minutes.
You really need to make sure you got good, even heat
Throughout the whole piece
Because you're coming in from all sides.
You're not just coming in on top.
A bad weld, you could pop open the canister
And your components could fall out.
And luckily, that didn't happen with me.
- Cody's temperature looked great too,
And he was very gentle on that first press,
Which I like to see.
- Doing this with one can is difficult enough.
I'm pleasantly surprised.
With any canister, there's a little bit of luck
In every single one you do.
Don't even know where I am right now.
- Going to the press!
My first weld is the fishhook billet.
Turns out great.
Go to my second billet, there's four competitors
And two presses, and I'm impatient.
Big blue!
- Gari went straight to big blue.
- Is it too early for that?
- Ideally, you get that compression in four directions
When you're on the press, whereas big blue is going
To smash things out and balloon it to the side.
- The texture that I'm feeling is not solid.
If this doesn't weld up, I could have warping,
Snapping, delaminations.
So I decide to get this thing cut open
To make sure that there's not voids in my steel.
♪ ♪
Yeah, that's what I want to see.
I'm relieved because it looks good.
Now I can start drawing out the steel.
All right, that looks good to me.
- Bladesmiths, you have two hours remaining.
- Paul switched out the squaring dies
For the drawing dies on the press.
Now he's starting to pull out his billet.
- But look how cold that piece of steel is no.
- All you're doing is putting stress in the steel,
If you're even forge-welding anything that's in there.
- The only concern that I really have
Is being a dummy and focusing on one knife
And forgetting the other one in the forge.
Everything looks nice. Now I can start shaping it.
♪ ♪
- Metal's moving good for me.
I'm gonna start hammering in the tips.
I'm making, essentially, a drop point camp knife.
Good for stabbing, and it should be really good
For the chopping as well.
Right now, I've got to finish my points,
Get my through tang ready to go,
And start grinding this puppy.
♪ ♪
- Steel's moving good.
Gonna start forming in my tips once I get them
Drawn out long enough.
- He seems very comfortable with the power tools.
- You always got to watch out for the quiet guys.
They tend to sneak up on us during these competitions.
- It's a really labor-intensive deal.
These blades need to match, so I need to make sure
I work them the same.
- Okay, this one's behaving.
My first billet, it's not super happy with me,
But it's working okay.
Press!
But my second billet...
- Ooh, gari, this one's not looking so good.
- I notice a crack.
- You see that seam right in the middle?
- Yeah.
- I think he's got a section
Where the mild steel didn't weld to the guts.
- I am an upsetty spaghetti.
Just gotta keep fighting this one.
If I leave this crack in here without filling it,
I will get sent home.
I don't think I can start ovr at this point in time.
- Things are not looking good.
- The heat's getting to me, the stress is getting to me,
The time is getting to me.
[bleep].
I've got to figure it out as fast as I can.
Well, that sucks.
- If he's got delams,
This is the time to weld that up.
- I keep looking at the clock and I keep looking at my steel.
Oh, where are you, you little sucker?
There it is. Welding!
I take it to the welder and just zap
And fill those voids in.
If I don't grind these welds off eventually,
I may have mild steel contamination on my edge,
Which will get me sent home.
[rock music]
It's far from a perfect situation,
But I can start making the tang.
- Bladesmiths, we are down to the final 60 minutes.
♪ ♪
- Two knives are on the go at all times.
I get the tangs shaped.
The next step is, I need to get my tips put in.
♪ ♪
I take one billet,
Get the tip exactly how I want it,
And scribe it.
Now I can guarantee that my knives are the same.
I am feeling very confident at this point.
Now it's time to make 'em pretty.
- I've got both these blades to a profile that I like,
So I'm gonna get ready for a quench.
This is the make-or-break moment.
Gonna start listening for tings, cracks.
♪ ♪
- Cody has quenched his first blade.
♪ ♪
- [bleep].
I see it start to warp, but it isn't that bad.
I'm pretty sure I can fix it with a grinder.
- Cody has now quenched both blades.
- Everything goes according to plan on that one.
I just can't believe where I'm at
With the time I have left.
I know I can give the judges a good set of blades.
♪ ♪
- Because these have to be identical knives,
I'm gonna grab some vice grips and a c-clamp
And put them together so when I do my grinds,
I'll be able to make sure I keep those grinds perfect.
- Tim's got both of his blades clamped together,
And he's grinding him as one
So he's getting exactly the same profile.
- Oh, you bet.
- I'm going to spend a little time thermocycling
Both these blades because j's here,
He's gonna try to break them anyway,
So I want to get a little bit more
Structural integrity in the blades.
- All right, tim's got his first blade quenched.
- Boom, it's perfect, I'm in love.
Grabbed the second blade,
And they went perfectly.
Yes, yes, yes!
Time to get these profiles down,
Get this stuff ready to go.
One of the things I think that really helps
In being an executive in a large organization
Is pressure.
I was also a professional soccer player,
And you're playing in front of a lot of people,
So you have to have the confidence
That you can make those right decisions.
- I don't know what happened to gari,
He but he has turned those mass billets
Into what look like blades right now.
♪ ♪
All right, gari's got his first blade quenched.
- All right, that looks good to me.
Time to quench the ugly stepsister.
♪ ♪
I don't hear, feel, or see any tinks, no cracks.
Yeah, okay.
I'm looking at these profiles, and they're not perfect,
But my main focus is getting a knife finished.
I don't really have time to fix these issues.
♪ ♪
- All right, paul's in the oil with one of his blades.
- There it is.
No crazy warps.
- Paul's got two blades quenched now.
- Let's polish them up a little bit.
At this point, whatever is gonna happen
Is gonna happen, so I'm feeling really good.
- Five, four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, turn off your machines.
Put down your tools. This round is over.
Well done, guys!
- These are, by far, not perfect blades,
But with all the trials and tribulations
That I've been through, I finished.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths,
In the first round of this competition,
We asked you to make two blades
From cube canisters, and from where we're standing,
You guys all performed extremely well.
But the time has come for the first critique.
Tim, you're up first. You ready?
- Yes, sir. - Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, tim, nice work here.
You know, grinds are a little off.
Got a little bit of a kick here and there,
But it's nothing major.
You've got enough meat on the back to correct that.
You've got one little weird kick
Down here on the edge profile,
But if you happen to move on to the next round,
That could be corrected.
But overall, nice job.
- Thank you, sir.
- Paul, you're up. Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, paul, as a matching set,
Your blades are very close.
And I like that you have fishhooks on one side
And ball bearings.
You've got the yin and yang.
The steel looks solid. Nice grinds on this.
♪ ♪
If you move forward, just a little cleanup,
But otherwise, it's got a good feel to it.
Good job. - Thank you.
- Next we have cody. Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- Cody, you left a good amount of tang on here.
Your blades are straight.
Your grinds are pretty even too.
Your blades are almost dead-on,
But you've got a small blemish here and there.
But overall, it was a pleasure watching you work.
Good job. - Thank you.
- Gari, you're up. Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, so, gari, down along the edge,
You got these nicely welded up.
The edge steel looks fine, but you can still see
Up here on the spine where there's some--
Like, a ball bearing or two
That are just kind of not fully welded in,
And then again on the spine of this blade.
The other thing is, we kind of have
Two different profiles here.
They're close, but you have to be careful
'cause they're not that long.
You wouldn't want to lose any length in these blades.
But good job knocking this out.
- Now, gentlemen, you all have a ton to be proud of,
But only three of you can join us in the second round.
Our judges have discussed your blades.
The bladesmith leaving the forge is...
♪ ♪
Gari.
Unfortunately, your blades did not make the cut,
And j. Is gonna tell you why.
- All right, gari, you fought
Your way through this challenge,
So you should be proud of yourself for that.
But your profiles are a bit off from each other.
And the big thing is,
Those delaminations bring into question
The structural integrity inside your blade.
And that would be a lot more to fix than your competitors.
That's why we're sending you home.
- Yep.
- Well, gari, you have zero quit in you, man,
And we want to say thank you for coming out here.
But, unfortunately, your time in this competition has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you to please surrender your blades
And step off the forge floor.
Thank you for coming out.
- I'm a little frustrated with myself,
But also, I'm proud of myself that I didn't give up.
I came in to hang out and have fun
And meet new people 'cause we're a whole bunch of nerds
Who like sharp, pointy, stabby things.
♪ ♪
- Gentlemen, congratulations.
The three of you will be joining us
In the second round of this competition.
You're gonna have to fix
Any issues that the judges brought forward,
As well as add handles to your blades,
Turning them into fully-functioning weapons.
By the end of this second round,
Both of your blades will have to have
A functioning guard and matching handles.
- Oh, [bleep].
Doing two guards and handles is a lot in two hours.
- At the end of the second round,
You're gonna turn your blades back over to the judges.
They're gonna check for strength and durability
In an oil drum stab and chop
And then check your edge retention
And your sharpness
In a punching bag stab and slice.
All right, gentlemen, you have two hours
To complete your blades before testing,
And that time starts now.
♪ ♪
- Off to the races.
- One of the things I like about having challenges
Where they have to put the guard is,
It truly tests your fit and finish skills.
- I am very fortunate that when doug looked at my blades,
They were good to go.
The first thing I do, I grab myself a stainless steel pen,
G-10, and brass.
♪ ♪
When I'm cutting the brass,
This thing's twice as wide as it needs to be.
I'm just gonna let that thing cut curved in the middle,
Run to the drill press,
Pop some holes, hit it,
Break it in half.
Getting one on and then realizing
There's another one sitting there is not very fun.
[laughs]
- Paul's at that frustration point
Where that guard is, like,
Just gonna need a little bit more
And then a little bit more to get that good fit.
- Luckily, I didn't make too many mistakes
'cause I got it done.
♪ ♪
- Micarta's tough to work,
But it's a good, durable, hard material
That's gonna stand up to the tests.
So I'm going back and forth with the file and the dremel.
- Cody's trying to just dial in that tang hole in his guard.
- It's not really sitting how I want it to sit,
So I make the decision to go and weld my guard on.
- So what could happen by welding
Onto the tang at this point?
- You're completely de-tempering it.
- This guard doesn't look pretty.
It's ugly, but it's on there,
And I gotta keep moving forward.
- Bladesmiths, 30 minutes have elapsed.
You have 90 minutes remaining.
- Oh, my god.
I made the decision to go with a simple flat guard,
And I'm gonna weld it on.
I'm excited. I'm happy.
I've got my first guard on. I look down.
[bleep]. Damn it. That's upside down.
I welded it on upside down.
I feel like a complete noob.
Pop off. Pop off. Pop off. Oh, my god.
- That's gotta be nerve-racking when you look at the clock.
'cause, "I gotta finish this blade and another one."
- As I'm welding the second time,
I made sure to get it right,
And it's nice and sturdy on there.
But I'm starting to get that sinking feeling
That I am not gonna finish this thing.
♪ ♪
- So the guards fit, so I draw the tang
On my handle material.
I make my holes at least the width of my tang
And when I fit that last piece up,
I see the gap, 3/4 of an inc.
To hell with it. Let's put a spacer in there.
So I go with a piece of hardwood.
It drills out in just 30 seconds.
Slap it on there, and now I have a handle that fits.
The handle's a dog turd.
There's really no good feeling until the second handle is fi.
- This isn't any fun. - No, this sucks.
This is worse than making the knife.
- Bladesmiths, you have 45 minutes left before testing.
♪ ♪
- Thankfully, I have my holes drilled,
I start tapping this pin in...
Oh, no. And then it bends.
[bleep].
- One of the issues with putting a pin in
The way cody did is, it could get locked up
And jammed in there and cause a nightmare to get it out.
- I can't get it to go in. I can't get it out.
- Things aren't lined up,
Because it shouldn't be that much resistance.
- They need a pin in this handle,
Or they're not gonna test my knife.
[bleep].
- Cody was flying through this competition the first round.
He has just hit a complete brick wall.
- So I decide to cut this pin off,
Go and drill another hole in my tang
Just to make sure I have a pin in my tang.
And hopefully the epoxy will hold this in.
- Oh, man, I wish he'd put more epoxy in there.
Ugh.
- Round two is really kicking my ass.
- You have 20 minutes left!
- My handles were glued together.
Now they're just big blocks.
There's a ton of material.
I know a lot of guys come out and they get kicked off
'cause the handles are blocky or there's sharp bits
Or cut somebody or something.
- Paul's done the flat--flattened,
But he's using that 2-inch wheel at the top
To contour that transition
Where he's got that spacer, which is a good thing.
- My handles are ugly, but they're comfortable.
And whatever they are at the end of 15,
I'm gonna stop and put a edge on these knives.
[rock music]
- I've got a functional knife together at this point.
I've taken the handle
To where I can at least hold on to them.
They're still blocky, but I've got to sharpen
So I can at least do well in the tests.
♪ ♪
- I need to get both these handles
To the same shape in ten minutes.
That's making me panic a bit.
- There's a dust storm coming from cody.
[laughing]
- There's micarta dust everywhere.
I don't even pay attention to what I'm doing.
Ow.
I nick my finger on this belt.
[bleep] damn it.
- You have five minutes left!
- [bleep]. Oh, that's not good.
The medic has to patch me up. I'm bleeding everywhere.
- Injury with the medic on the floor
Is the last thing cody needs right now.
- The medic patching my hand.
I still have another handle to shape,
Plus get these blades sharpened.
And then all of a sudden...
My pin just fell out.
- Uh-oh. Cody grabbed more pin stock.
- Oh, my god.
- He's got an over-drilled hole with a pin that fell out
And epoxy that's not sticking anymore.
- I throw a new pin in there and I hope my pin doesn't
Fall out through the testing.
♪ ♪
- Five, four, three, two, one!
Bladesmiths, turn off your machines.
Put down your tools.
The second round of this competition
Is officially over.
- Whoo, man!
♪ ♪
- This was a difficult round.
I hope they test my knife with that pin in there.
I don't know if it stayed.
I don't know if it's still in there.
♪ ♪
- All right, gentlemen, welcome to our strength test,
The oil drum stab and chop.
Now, to test the overall construction of your blade
And the strength of those blades,
I'll be stabbing into these oil drums.
Tim, you're up first. Are you ready for this?
- Yes, sir, have at it.
♪ ♪
I know the handles are gonna be a little rough on them,
So I'm hoping that it doesn't hurt them
Or anything of that nature.
But I'm a little anxious.
♪ ♪
- So, tim, they're in one piece.
Yay!
One of your blades has lost
Most of its sharpness near the tip.
And then this blade also took quite a bit of rolling.
This blade, not as much.
There's two more rolls up on the edge of the blade.
But the biggest concern I have with these blades
Are the handles.
They're very large and very square,
And then the edges of your guard
Have some sharp spots on them.
- Right.
- But they're still functional, so good job.
- Yes, sir. Thank you so much.
- All right, paul, you're up.
You ready for this? - Yeah.
- Okay.
♪ ♪
- I'm certainly nervous that my knife's gonna break
Or something crazy is gonna happen.
And last thing you want to see is your knife blow apart.
♪ ♪
- Good job. - Thanks.
- So, paul, these are a good-looking set of blades.
Nicely done. - Thank you. Thank you.
- As far as how they held up,
You've got a little bit of rolling
In one spot on this blade, but your tip is fine.
And you've got, again, some rolling
And some compaction along the edge here on this blade,
But there's no rough spots that I'm feeling in my hands.
So great job. - Thank you.
- You bet.
All right, cody, it's your turn.
You ready?
- You're gonna do it anyway.
- I am going to do it anyway. [chuckles]
♪ ♪
- The thing that gives me pause is my handles.
I'm nervous one might not be tested
If that pin happened to fall out
Or there's too much of a hotspot.
That would be devastating
If I didn't even get the chance
For my blades to be tested.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[exhales]
♪ ♪
- All right, cody, so right off,
Biggest issue I have is that pin standing proud.
It really creates a snag spot where my--
The pad of my finger lays.
Your blades held up nicely.
This one's got a couple of rolled sections,
But your tips are still there, so good job.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, this is the sharpness test,
The punching bag stab and slice.
♪ ♪
Tim, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Let's go. - Let's do it.
♪ ♪
- All right, tim, I can really see
This part right here took a lot of dulling,
But you have the front part here that is very sharp
Because in cutting these bags,
Both knives cut deeply and stabbed as well.
Overall, sir, your blades, they will cut.
- Thank you, sir.
- All right, paul, your turn, sir.
You ready? - Yes.
- All right, let's do this.
♪ ♪
- All right, paul, the areas where you suffered
A little bit of rolling were not an issue
Because in stabbing and cutting, it did its job.
Overall, sir, your blades, they will cut.
- Thank you.
- All right, cody, it's your turn, sir.
Are you ready? - Yep.
- Let's do this.
♪ ♪
- Good job, cody.
♪ ♪
- All right, cody, your edges are very sharp.
Barely took any rolling,
And overall, sir, they will cut.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- Well, bladesmiths, I want to commend all three of you.
We gave you a very difficult challenge,
And all of your blades stood up to our test.
But, unfortunately, one of you is not gonna be
Joining us in the final round of this competition.
The bladesmith leaving the forge is...
♪ ♪
Tim.
Unfortunately, your blades just didn't make the cut,
And dave's gonna tell you why.
- Tim, I think you did a great job
Forging those blades out.
This came down the amount of damage
That one of those blades took,
And those really blocky handles were just uncomfortable to use.
- Yeah, I understand.
- Tim, all four of us want to say thank you
For coming here, working so hard in this forge,
But unfortunately, your time in this competition has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you to please step off
The forge floor.
- Thank you, sir. - Thank you, tim.
- Good luck, guys. Tear 'em up.
- Be well, tim.
- A little bummed out, but, you know,
Winning is a momentary time and learning is forever.
Smithing is always in my blood. I'll smith until I die.
[chuckles]
I'll probably die with a hammer in my hand
And a guinness.
- Well, paul, cody, gentlemen, congratulation.
The two of you are moving forward
In the third and final round of this competition.
We are sending you back to your home forges
For four days to build an iconic weapon from history.
Gentlemen, you're gonna be building this.
♪ ♪
- Oh. - The cinquedea sword.
- The cinquedea sword was used by noblemen
In northern Italy during the 15th and 16th century.
While the name cinquedea means "five fingers,"
Referring to the width of the blade at its hilt,
The weapon's most distinguishing feature
Is its double-edged triangular blade
With multiple fullers on both sides,
Which makes the massive sword lightweight enough
To deliver deadly thrusts and slashes.
A smaller version of this sword was featured
On previous "forged in fire"
And beat the judges competitions
Where these fullers have also presented a challenge
To many of our smiths,
Including our very own unbeaten judgment, ben abbott.
- When you're building your swords,
Make sure they fall within the following parameters.
Your blades, measured from tip
To where the cutting edge ends in a straight line
Needs to measure between 26 and 28 inches.
That blade needs to be double-edged
And both sides of your blade need to have six fullers.
You need to have a curved, upswept guard
And a crescent pommel.
- I haven't made anything quite this long before.
Those six fullers are gonna be
Pretty hard to put into that sword.
Well, 12. 6 on each side.
- So good luck, gentlemen. We will see you in four day.
♪ ♪
- We're in homer glen, illinois,
And I'm going to build a cinquedea sword.
I'm gonna do a layered damascus.
Cody makes a lot of really nice damascus stuff.
That's why I've decided to do some damascus
So that my piece stacks up to his.
♪ ♪
So I have the front of the billet
All drawn down nicely,
And I'm moving the back end, and--
Oh, [bleep]!
Big crack develops.
There's no way to save time now to make a new one.
I'm just gonna skip the damascus blade.
That's gonna eat up too much time
Trying to do that again.
I'm not real happy, but I'm gonna go mono-steel.
I have a nice piece of 80 crb2.
It could be worse.
I could have no sword, so it's not that bad.
♪ ♪
- The game plan for today is to go with two billets.
One's gonna be twisted damascus for the guard and pommel,
And then I'm gonna go with a big billet
To start off the sword build.
I love doing damascus
And I want to push the envelope.
Twist damascus is pretty tough 'cause you got to make sure
You're working it when it's really, really hot,
And you could twist it off.
I get my damascus twisted and move on to the blade steel,
25 layers of 15n20 and 1084.
Looking good!
Didn't quite achieve where I wanted to be,
But tried my best, and we'll finish her up in the morning.
That's it for day one.
- Yesterday was a bit rough. I abandoned the damascus.
So if I'm gonna turn in a mono-steel blade,
Then my mono-steel better be shiny
And fit and finish better be perfect.
Once the forging was done, I heat-treat it.
♪ ♪
The sword comes out straight.
Hard as glass right now.
With 12 fullers, that's quite a process.
End of day two, I still have to fit a guard and a pomml
And all this kind of stuff, but I'm in good shape.
- It's the beginning of day two.
Today, we're gonna finish forging out the sword
And get the fullers ground in.
I don't do a lot of fullers, especially this many fullers.
You got to make sure you're holding the blade straight
And making sure you're not going too deep.
If I go through my blade, that's not good.
♪ ♪
So I got my fullers in. Everything's looking great.
And now it's time to get ready for the quench.
My oven's only 27 inches deep,
And this blade is 32 inches long
So I'm gonna have to leave the door open
And wrap it with fiberglass heat blanket
To keep the heat in.
When I put the blade in,
The temperature's not going back up
As I close the door and wrap it.
[bleep].
I could get a bad quench,
And it's gonna end up costing me.
That's not good.
So I put another piece of blanket over the top corner
Of the door that I saw that there was heat escaping out of,
Get it nice and tight so there's no leaks.
Seems like it's working.
Here we go.
[rock music]
Don't hear any tings, pings, or cracks.
Looks like we had a good quench.
Hopefully I can just finish this up
And make a good sword.
Perfectly straight.
♪ ♪
- I'm feeling really good this morning.
The blade's essentially done,
So, you know, plan for today is to work on the handle.
I'm planning on incorporating materials
From my round one knives,
So I'm gonna use two canisters,
One ball bearing and one fishhook,
For the pommel and guard.
♪ ♪
Cinquedea means five-finger sword.
The sword should be as wide as your five fingers.
So that's what I did
To try to maintain that historical accuracy.
Think that's gonna look good on tv.
- Beginning of day four,
I've just got to finish up the final touches of the sword.
Oh, yeah, nice deep etch.
♪ ♪
I got my handle all profiled and contoured,
And I think it's time to sharpen the blade.
♪ ♪
Paul's got ten more years of experience than I do,
But I'm feeling pretty confident what I have made.
I know I've got good strong steel
And just got to see what happens.
♪ ♪
[chuckling]
♪ ♪
- Well, paul, cody, gentlemen, welcome back to the forge.
Now, leading up to today, you guys just spent four days
At your home forges
Building your very best cinquedea swords,
And, guys, they're both beautiful.
They look strong, they look sharp, they look deadly.
But before we get into testing,
I want to know about these blades.
Paul, how'd it go for you?
- It went okay.
♪ ♪
That blade's built out of 80 crb2, full tang.
I did the handle the same as my round one knives
With ball bearing damascus and fishhooks.
- Well, it looks great. Cody, how about you?
- Everything went according to plan.
♪ ♪
My blade is 155 layers of 15n20 and 1084,
Restacked with 80 crb2
And twisted damascus for the guard and pommel,
Ancient bog oak for the handle.
- Guys, both your blades look amazing,
But the best way we know how to find out
Which one of you is gonna leave here today
With the title of "forged in fire" champion
Is by putting them through a few tests.
Up first, the keal.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the keal test.
To find out how lethal your weapons are,
I'm gonna take your cinquedea sword
And deliver some lethal slashes on this goat carcass.
Paul, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Oh, yeah. - Let's do this.
- The hide on that goat is really thick.
All that hair and hide makes it really hard
For a sword to penetrate, but we'll see.
♪ ♪
All right, paul, let's talk about your cinquedea.
When I grab onto it, I've got a good grip,
Which is very important
Because it's a very forward-heavy blade.
When I'm swinging this, I'm really focused
More on stopping to control it
As opposed to just letting it go.
But the edge is very sharp and those are very deep cut.
This is a very lethal weapon,
And, more importantly, it will keal.
- Thank you.
- Your turn, cody. Ready?
- Swing away. - Let's do this.
- Going into testing, I'm eager to see
What my sword's gonna do.
I don't know how my edge is gonna hold up.
I mean, I know it's sharp, I tested it at home,
But I guess anything can happen here.
♪ ♪
[dramatic rock music]
♪ ♪
- All right, cody, first up, your handle construction.
When I grab onto that, ooh, it's perfect.
Your edges are very sharp,
As we ran out of goat carcass right here.
It's also manageable as a one-handed sword.
Overall, sir, your cinquedea, it will keal.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, welcome to our strength test.
Our clay pot smash.
I'm gonna take each of your swords
And separate these clay pots
Into a bunch of little teeny tiny pieces.
Now, paul, you're up first. You ready to go?
- Yep, I'm ready. - All right, let's do it.
♪ ♪
All right, paul, nice job.
It is very well done. Still a little heavy, though.
Your edge, no damage at all.
Everything was tight and strong when I started,
And it's still that way when I'm done.
Good job, man. - Thank you.
- Hey, cody, ready to go, man?
- Let it rip. - Let's do it.
♪ ♪
- [exhales]
♪ ♪
- Cody, nice job.
The steel came out great,
And there's nothing wrong with this edge at all.
It's tight, it's sharp, it's beautiful.
Good job. - Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, this is the sharpness test,
The sandman stab and slice.
Paul, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Yep. - All right, let's do this.
♪ ♪
- All right, paul, let's talk about your
Massive beast of a cinquedea sword.
It is razor sharp.
Every cut delivered cuts very deep.
The thrust, even coming out,
You can see that long line that it cut.
Overall, sir, it will cut.
- Thanks.
- All right, cody, your turn, sir.
You ready for this? - Yep.
- Let's do it.
♪ ♪
Oops. [laughter]
♪ ♪
All right, cody, let's talk about your weapon here.
The grinds you have here are a lot thinner,
So it's razor sharp.
It cuts so deep, it pretty much dropped this sandman.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it will cut.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- Well, paul, cody, gentlemen, we've got two beautiful blades
That stood up to our brutal testing
And came out without a scratch.
But only one of you can leave here today with the title
Of "forged in fire" champion and get a check for $10,000.
Today's "forged in fire" champion is...
♪ ♪
Cody. Congratulations.
Now, paul, this was a close race,
But unfortunately, your cinquedea did not make the cut,
And doug's gonna tell you why.
- Paul, you should be very proud of your craftsmanship.
From tip to pommel, that's a beautiful blade.
But at the end of the day, it's much heavier than tht
Of your opponent's, and it requires more effort to wield,
And that's the reason we're letting you go.
- Okay.
- Now, paul, we want to say thank you so much
For coming and trying so hard in this competition,
But at this point, unfortunately,
I'm gonna have to ask you to please step off
The forge floor.
- Thanks for having me. I had a lot of fun.
Great job, cody. - Great job, paul.
- Thanks.
It was the right decision.
I built a good blade and cody built a better blade.
I feel like I went down swingin'.
I'm proud of my sword,
And the experience was fantastic.
I'd start another round tomorrow if they let me.
- Cody, man, congratulations.
You are the newest "forged in fire" champion
And you just won a check for $10,000.
Congratulations.
- Thank you.
Winning this is just icing on the cake.
Smithing came way down the road,
But it found me, and it's my passion,
And I'm gonna keep doing it.
Thanks, tyler--I'll never be able to thank you enough,
And appreciate you.
♪ ♪