[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[rock music]
♪ ♪
- My name is justin hammond.
I'm 28 years old.
I'm a full-time bladesmith,
And I am from lockhart, texas.
Before bladesmithing, I was a chef for about 12 years.
If I win, I just found out
That my wife lost her wedding band,
So I'm gonna buy my wife a new wedding band.
[laughs]
♪ ♪
- My name is robert miller.
I'm 57 years old from jefferson city, missouri.
I've been bladesmithing about ten years,
And I very much want to win for the bragging rights.
If I win, I would get a tattoo on my am
Saying "'forged in fire' champion."
I hope I am sounding excited enough.
[chuckles]
♪ ♪
- My name is mike lavallee,
I'm from fort polk, louisiana,
I'm 34 years old, and I'm currently
Serving in the united states military.
What got me into bladesmithing is my friend tyler hackbarth,
"forged in fire" champion previously on the show.
We deployed together back in 2007
And been friends ever since,
And I'm just proud to represent.
♪ ♪
- My name's matt gaetano,
Usually go by g,
36 years old from pittsburgh, pennsylvania.
I thrive in turning chaos into order.
Little bit of that chaos.
[chuckles]
Little bit of--well, little bit of chaos, it's over here.
Little bit of chaos.
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the forge.
Now, there are three rounds in this competition.
At the end of each one,
I'm gonna ask you to present your work
To our panel of expert judges,
'cause they're the ones who are making decisions
To decide who's gonna be leaving this forge
With the title of "forged in fire" champion
And a check for $10,000.
- Let's go.
- Now, bladesmiths, you've been chosen
To take part in a competition
We are calling the revolutionary forge.
Now, during my time in the special forces in the army,
There were good times, and there were bad times.
But something that got me through
Each different training iteration was thinking about
All the soldiers who did it before me.
I'm thinking all the way back
To the late 1700s during the revolutionary war.
They had to go for hundreds of miles
Through monthslong campaigns,
And everything they needed to survive
Had to be on their backs in these--knapsacks.
Now, inside these knapsacks are different kinds of steel
And different techniques you must use to make a blad.
If for some reason you cannot succeed
With the first knapsack you choose,
You only have one retry.
- Man, there could be friggin' anything in there.
You know, not knowing what you're gonna get
Until you already got it?
Little nervous, but hey, without nerves,
Wouldn't be evolving.
[dramatic music]
- Being that this is
The revolutionary forge competition,
I'm not gonna ask that you make your signature blade
In your signature style.
Today we've got something much more specific for you to build.
You're gonna be making this...
♪ ♪
The rifleman's knife.
♪ ♪
This is a replica of a blade that was carried
By the revolutionary soldiers.
Now, much like the bowie, there are hundreds if not
Thousands of different variations of this blade,
But we don't want your variation.
We want you to re-create this specific blade.
By the end of the first round, your blade length measured
From tip to where the cutting edge ends in a straight line
Needs to measure between 12 and 14 inches,
And when the time runs out, you need to be set up
For a hidden tang handle construction.
♪ ♪
All, right bladesmiths, moving on to the second round.
You'll be adding handles to your rifleman's knives,
Turning them into fully functioning weapons.
You will turn them over to our judges,
Who will test for strength and durability
In a boston tea party crate chop
And then check your overall edge retention
In a redcoat slice.
All right, bladesmiths, you have three hours on the clock
For the first round of competition, so good luck.
Your time starts now.
[rock music]
Here we go.
We have eight different techniques the smiths
Are gonna have to go for,
But every one of these smiths has the option to come up
And grab another knapsack.
- Let's do this.
- Mike grabbed layered damascus with 1084 and 15n20.
- Pretty straightforward.
♪ ♪
- Oh, sweet baby jesus.
- G's got railroad spike san mai.
- One of the reasons I wouldn't want to do that,
Because you've got, what, half by half square
That you got to try and draw that out
And somewhat match it up to the other steel you have.
It's not a lot to work with, so it gets tricky.
♪ ♪
- Okay.
- Looks like robert's got bandsaw blade and a canister.
If he knows how to do canister, that's a cakewalk.
- How you doing, justin?
♪ ♪
- Oh.
- Looks like justin's got elevator cable damascus,
So he's gonna have to twist that.
- I can't think of a way
To get a billet made out of this cable,
And I feel flustered.
- Trickiest part with elevator cable
Is making sure that the welds on the outside are solid
So when you grind down to an edge,
You don't have any of those funny delaminated wires
Right on that edge.
[tense music]
- Starting over.
I'm just gonna start over
And hope that I get something that I know that I can do.
- Looks like justin here went for a different knapsack.
- That could be a critical mistake.
He can't go back to that first one now.
He's stuck with this bag.
- Even if that fails? - Even if this fails.
♪ ♪
- That works.
[upbeat rock music]
To my delight--15n20, 1095.
I won the lottery. I can do this.
I know for a fact I can make layered damascus.
♪ ♪
- My plan is to cut the bandsaw
Down into usable pieces that'll drop in the can,
And then I add the powdered steel.
I don't want to use white out
Because I feel like it's gonna take too long.
You've got to peel the can off.
So I think it's just faster to grind off the can.
I've got three hours.
I don't have time for any mistakes.
♪ ♪
- I know how to make layered damascus.
So I have to clean off the steel.
That's what's gonna make nice solid weld.
- Mike is in the military,
So proper prior planning-- very, very important.
- I'm happy with where I'm at in the process.
I just know I got to get this billet forged out.
♪ ♪
- So the process of san mai
Is low carbon on the outside,
High carbon in the center.
I got to get them all forge welded.
It all needs to be one piece,
And these two materials being high carbon steel
And as thick as it is
And being low carbon steel
With little tiny railroad spikes,
They're gonna be forge welding
At very different temperatures.
So I want to draw out everything
To about the same thickness.
That way, they will take heat about the same tim.
- He seems to be setting himself up to try
To make the length of the blade
And then do the san mai,
Which causes delams, causes cold shuts.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, you have two hours
And 30 minutes remaining.
[tense music]
- I've got my layered damascus up to temperature.
At this point, it's just get a good forge weld.
♪ ♪
- He doesn't really have the option
To screw this up and start over.
He grabbed that second knapsack.
This one has to work for justin.
♪ ♪
- I am confident that my weld is set.
I'm in a rhythm now. I'm feeling it.
I wish my wife was here, man.
She's my biggest support,
And if my wife was here,
She'd just tell me not to [bleep] it up.
[laughs]
- The secret to success with canisters
Is having it hot enough to forge weld.
- Robert's over at the press for his first weld set.
- If I don't have a solid piece of steel,
That could get you booted from the competition.
- He's got a lot of metal there.
It looks consolidated.
- Seems like it's a solid piece,
So I need to get the blade to length
So I can work on my shape.
- Once my billet gets heated up, I set the welds.
I'm a little worried because if these welds don't set,
It's gonna be trash and I'm gonna have to grab
Another knapsack.
- Mike's on the press for the second time.
His billet's looking pretty good.
- I feel like the welds are set.
Back at home, I have my wife
And my three kids rooting for me.
If I win the $10,000, it's gonna fulfill my wife
And I's dream of moving to a house
In montana on her family's property.
♪ ♪
- I got my forge weld set
For my railroad spike san mai,
And now I can start forging the blade.
- All right, well, looks to me like g's got some solid wel.
- I love knives. It's kind of a problem.
My wife will only let me keep one
For every 50 knives I make.
So that's my motivation: Make 50 awesome knives
So that I can keep one.
I love it.
- All right, bladesmiths,
You have one hour and 30 minutes left.
- We are instructed to make the rifleman's knife.
You have very strict detailed parameters,
So I have to make this thing
As perfectly as I possibly could.
Oh, [bleep].
- Oh.
- I see some delams kind of happening on the edges.
If I don't address these delams,
They're gonna open up and ruin my knife.
I can't start over again.
This could very easily send me home.
[bleep].
- Oh, this could be bad.
I don't think they go too deep, so I just peel off the edges.
- He's doing a great job.
I mean, there's issues going on,
But he's not given up.
- Whew!
The delams are going away.
I feel great.
[chuckles]
[rock music]
- I'm trying to pay a lot of attention
To forging the shape 'cause I need to match
The example rifleman's knife.
- Look at robert's shape.
He's got almost a flat spine
With a front edge coming up to it.
- Uh-huh. - Is that what you have?
- No. - No, oh.
- And that's what's driving me crazy.
Bring it to the sample.
♪ ♪
- To save some time,
I'm gonna cut the shoulders into my blade.
- Looks like he cut deeper into the tang.
- That could be a weak spot now.
♪ ♪
- So once I got my damascus built good,
I was ready to start profiling.
- I do like to see mike continually
Coming up to the example
And checking his blade against it.
- I have to make parameters.
I have to make sure it's good.
♪ ♪
- After getting the whole billet all manufactured,
Got a nice happy san mai billet,
It's friggin' huge.
More meat than I need.
It's really heavy,
So I really don't want to turn in a blade
That doesn't meet the parameters.
That means a lot of grinding.
♪ ♪
I have been a fan of "forged in fire"
For a long time.
I do feel like I not only deserve to be here
But deserve to win.
- All right, bladesmiths,
You are down to the final 30 minutes.
♪ ♪
Robert has now quenched the first one in the oil.
♪ ♪
- It's not hard. I am a little panicky.
The can is mild steel, and that type of steel
Is not going to hold a cutting edge.
I'm gonna etch it and see where the mild steel is.
I just hope it's the can.
♪ ♪
So I see some can on the edge.
♪ ♪
That's okay 'cause I can grind that off right now.
♪ ♪
- Bam! All right. - Great color.
- Justin just did a quench at the ideal color temperature.
- Quench went great.
Dead straight.
- Bladesmiths, you have ten minutes left.
Mike's still sitting at the grinder.
- If there is a warp or any problems,
He won't have the time to fix it.
- I got the measurements within parameters,
But it's a little thick,
So I have to get this blade thinned out
Because it is awfully heavy.
- I get my profile in, it's real rough,
But I'm feeling pretty good about it.
I'm real nervous about this quench.
If my san mai is gonna fail,
It'll be in the quench
And then I'll be the first one sent home.
♪ ♪
- G in the oil.
♪ ♪
- Damn.
♪ ♪
- That's a warp.
♪ ♪
- I got to go back in the forge.
- G's back into the forge
Trying to get that warp out with heat.
- That second quench, super stressful.
Stress on the metal, stress on me,
But it's got to be done.
[tense music]
- The definition of down to the wire.
- It's straight and it's hard,
So I'm good to go.
♪ ♪
- That second one was hotter than the first.
♪ ♪
- Even after the second quench,
Blade still has a little bit of a warp to it,
But I feel like I got enough meat
To be able to still grind that warp out
Before the time runs out.
♪ ♪
- Five, four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, the first round of this competition is over.
♪ ♪
- I'm feeling good that I actually
Got the parameters in.
I was really hoping that I could get
All that warp out of there,
But I still feel like there's enough meat on there
To finish that out in the second round.
♪ ♪
- Well, bladesmiths, I want to say, first off,
Congratulations in this first round of competition.
You all took mystery steels from your knapsacks
And turned them into blades that meet our parameters.
But the time has come for the judges
To take a closer look at your blades
And decide who's gonna be staying with us
In the second round.
So, justin, please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, justin, you decided not to go
With the elevator cable.
You took a chance, and good on you
Because it paid off.
No delaminations whatsoever,
And your rifleman's blade right here
Is very close to the shape of our sample.
Good on you on that.
Overall, I really like where your blade's going.
Good job. - Thank you, sir.
- Robert, please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, robert,
The patterning you got really popped out and shows wel.
You have to modify the tip a bit.
Biggest thing I would complain about is
The thickness you have, so it's heavy.
Big thing to be careful is, when you cut in your shoulders,
You have 90-degree angles here
That can become stress risers,
But overall, nice job.
- Thank you.
- All right, mike, please present your work.
♪ ♪
- Mike, really nice job on this.
You really got that profile dialed in.
If you move forward,
What I'd really like to see happen is
To lose a lot of the mass of this blade,
But I think you're well on your way.
- Thank you.
- All right, g, please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, g, first of all,
Having one letter for your first name is kind of weird,
But we'll let it slide.
As far as your blade goes,
I like the thinness of the blade,
But it's a bit wide on the profile, though.
That would definitely need some modification,
Obviously more tang as well.
And you do have quite a pronounced warp
In this blade.
Good job. - Thank you, sir.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, only three of you
Can join us in the second round.
Our judges have discussed your blades,
And they made a final decision.
The bladesmith who's gonna be leaving the forge is...
♪ ♪
G.
Unfortunately, your blade didn't make the cut,
And dave baker's gonna tell you why.
- G, you did a great job pulling off that san mai,
But you had things working against you:
One, that profile being so wide
And, two, that big warp.
That's why we're letting you go.
- I understand.
- Well, g, we want to say thank you
For coming to the forge, but unfortunately,
Your time in this competition has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you to please
Step off the forge floor.
- I thrive in chaos,
But that was definitely a big challenge.
I have two awesome kids, mia and cole,
And watching them work hard,
That's my inspiration.
I want to work as hard as I can
To show them there's nothing that you can't do.
You can do anything.
[sniffles]
♪ ♪
- Well, gentlemen, congratulations.
The three of you will be joining us
In the second round of this competition,
Where you will get to fix any issues
That the judges brought up
As well as add handles to your blades,
Turning them into fully functioning weapons.
But you will also have to add a steel scroll guard
And make sure you have a flare
At the base of your blade for retention.
♪ ♪
All right, gentlemen, when this time is up,
You will turn your blades over to the judges again,
And they're gonna check for strength and durability
In a boston tea party crate chop.
Then they'll check your edge retention
In a redcoat slice.
♪ ♪
So good luck. Your time starts now.
[rock music]
So walk me through what issues we've got going on.
- Robert's big thing is the mass.
- My blade is much too thick,
But I want to start with the guard
'cause I want to get it right.
- So robert went straight for the oxyacetylene torch.
- He's got a piece of angle there
To use for his guard stock.
♪ ♪
- Okay,
You want to get the symmetry as close as you can.
- Is that a matter of having a dead-center spot
Where your slot is?
- It helps, yeah.
If you're gonna have your slot
And you measure it fairly evenly on either end,
You should be able to curl them up fairly easily.
- I'm forging this scroll
With the oxyacetylene torch as a heat source
So I can bend it up to make the scrolls in the guard.
Right away, this round is going so much smoother.
♪ ♪
- At the end of round one, the judges had critiques
To get some weight off the blade.
This [bleep] is [bleep].
This is taking forever.
I'm gonna have to hustle.
So now after I get some weight off the blade,
I need to get working on the scroll guard.
♪ ♪
- I think we can work with that.
I hate making scrolls mostly 'cause I suck at them,
But I got to make a scroll guard.
- Before I started curling anything up,
I'd make a hole in the center of that.
- Yeah. - You need to leave yourself
Some room to fit the blade in it.
- I need to put the slot to fit over the tang.
♪ time to do some sketchy [bleep] ♪
♪ doo-dah, doo-dah ♪
- If that guard's not sitting against those
Shoulders properly,
It creates a flex point that can be really,
Really tough on the blade.
- Ah, I don't think that's gonna work out so good.
Wouldn't you know it, the scrolls are in the way.
If I don't get the guard flush against the blade,
The guard piece under impact could cause breakage.
- The key to making a strong knife
Is having that junction without any gaps.
- I hammer those scrolls down to give me
Just enough room to fit over the tang.
Got it, okay.
That was a huge sigh of relief.
I know I wasted some time.
I am certain I can get this done.
Okay.
- Gonna clean this up, put it on a diet.
The judges were concerned
The blade is much too thick
And I cut the shoulders too thin.
So I've ground the weight off of it.
So now I've got to take the time to fix the shoulders.
It matters because if I leave those,
They could cause a stress riser
And cause the blade to break.
It's looking pretty good.
I still don't have a handle on it,
But I feel like I can still get it done.
- All right, gentlemen, you have one hour left.
- Ah!
- So now I got this handle and guard prepped.
So now it's time to fit up my pins.
During round one, I made sure I drilled my hols
For my tang before the blade was hardene.
So I just got to hope that they're gonna line up.
Putting my first pin in,
Whew, it lines up.
Now it's time for my second hole.
[bleep].
It's not quite fitting.
- One of the tricky things
When you drill the holes in the tang first,
If it doesn't line up,
Then there's more problems to fix.
- I'm stressing 'cause I'm a little worrid
That without two pins in this knife,
It might come apart during testing.
Come on, baby.
Attempting to grind out the hole a little bit,
But the steel is just not cutting.
[tense music]
I'm in trouble.
So I don't have time for this.
I just need to go with the one pin I got
And hope it holds.
This has to work.
- Looks like justin's gonna do a burn-through.
- Uh-oh.
- Or a burn-in. [laughs] - here we go.
- I know y'all hate this, but I'm doing it anyways.
They are right: Anytime you do a burn-in tang, it's a risk.
Come on, baby.
But this is the fastest way
That I know of getting a tang to fit.
- What are the benefits of doing a burn-in
Or a burn-through?
- Well, when done properly,
You can get a very, very tight fit.
- Here it is.
I've got my handle burned in.
I think it's okay.
See if it works out.
- Bladesmiths, you are down to the final 20 minutes.
- I got my handle shaped out
So I can start sharpening the blade.
The knives are gonna be tested really hard.
So in my edge geometry, I've got a flat grind
And then a convex grind.
- That's a pretty good-looking blade there.
- I mean, that's pretty close.
- Yeah, except for that tip profile.
- Except for the tip.
- Everything's fitting up.
I'm confident in my knife.
Time's almost out.
I'm gonna make the blade as perfect as I can.
♪ ♪
- I feel the pressure building up.
I got this blade glued up,
But I'm pretty stressed out because I got 15 minutes let
To shape this block of wood on here.
- Mike still has a lot of handle material
To take off of there.
- So my handle's not quite where I want it to be.
I know it's still thick,
But I know this blade has to have an edge.
♪ ♪
- Gentlemen, you only have five minutes left.
- I got my handle glued up. Now I have to shape it.
Anytime you do a hidden tang,
You have a chance of running into the hole.
Oh, [bleep], [bleep], [bleep], [bleep].
Sure enough, I accidentally grind into my tang hole.
This could come down to fit and finish,
And this could very easily send me home.
- Oh, no. - Son of a bitch.
I don't have a whole lot of time to waste.
My only option is to fill this hole
With some superglue.
This isn't gonna work so great.
- Two minutes, guys.
- So I've got this hole fixed
To the best of my ability.
I've only got a couple minutes left.
I'm gonna spend every last second I have
To put as clean and sharp of an edge as I can
On this knife.
- Five, four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, the second round of this competition is over.
♪ ♪
- All my parameters are met.
I think I did a well enough job,
But that hole could be what sends me home.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome our strength test,
Our boston tea party crate chop.
I'm gonna take each of your rifleman's knives here
And stab and beat them into these wooden crates.
♪ ♪
Justin, you're up first. You ready to go?
- Don't suppose it matters, does it?
- Not really, no.
♪ ♪
- J. Is not easy on a knife.
The back side of my tang could easily just poke through
And my handle could fail.
I'm starting to get a little nervous.
♪ ♪
[dramatic rock music]
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
♪ ♪
[tense music]
Good job, justin. Your edge held up fine.
Your tip held up fine.
When I picked this up before testing,
There was an offset on the blade, and it's increased.
But survived the test. Good job.
- Thank you, sir.
- All right, robert, it's always fun for the second guy.
You ready? - Yes, sir.
- All right, let's get to it. - All right.
♪ ♪
I normally would feel confident that
My blade can handle the wood,
But of course, you got j. Swinging the blade,
So it's gonna possibly explode.
I'm worried.
[dramatic rock music]
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
♪ ♪
- All right robert, it survived, good job,
But you did get a bend on the tip here
During the thrusting,
And the profile is off.
But that being said, the tip is still intact.
You got a couple very minor rolls,
But you survived the test.
Good job. - Great, thanks.
- All right, mike, time's come. You ready?
- I'm ready.
- All right, let's do it.
[tense music]
- So I am a little bit worried about my handle.
There's just one pin holding it together.
So I'm hoping to have a good connection
And that nothing breaks loose during testing.
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
[dramatic rock music]
♪ ♪
[tense music]
All right, mike, you survived. Good job.
- Thank you.
- Handle is a little bit on the big side for me,
But overall, good job.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths.
This is a sharpness test, the redcoat slice.
Now, unlike the strength test, this is all about
What the edges of your blade do to the redcoats.
♪ ♪
Mike, you're up first. You ready for this?
- I'm ready, doug. - All right, let's do this.
♪ ♪
- I didn't have enough time
To really even check my edge,
So I hope it's sharp.
Hopefully it's not gonna eliminate me.
♪ ♪
[rock music]
♪ ♪
[tense music]
- All right, mike, your edge is sharp.
As you can see, for every slash I had, it cut nicely.
The tip punctures nicely and cuts on the way out.
Overall, sir, your weapon,
It will cut.
- Thank you, doug.
- All right, robert, your turn, sir.
Ready? - Yes, sir.
- Let's do this.
♪ ♪
[rock music]
♪ ♪
[tense music]
- All right, robert, let's talk about
Your rifleman's knife here.
Your edge here, even though
It took a little bit of a roll, was not a factor.
It cut cleanly.
But it's a little bit off on the look
In terms of the profile of the knife.
But in terms of performance, your weapon, sir,
It will cut.
- Thank you, doug.
- All right, justin, your turn, sir.
You ready? - Yes, sir.
- Let's do this.
♪ ♪
[rock music]
♪ ♪
All right, justin, your blade is a little bit offset,
But in terms of thrusting, it was not an issue.
It thrust nicely, and it slashed on the way out.
Overall sir, your weapon,
It will cut.
- Thanks, kuya.
[tense music]
- Well, bladesmiths, that was a tough challeng,
But every one of you performed extremely well.
But unfortunately, one of you will not be joining us
In the final round of this competition.
The bladesmith who's leaving the forge is...
♪ ♪
Robert.
Unfortunately, your blade didn't make the cut.
- Robert, you presented us with a fine rifleman's knife,
But during our tests,
Your blade took slight damage on the edge,
And it's the furthest from the sample that we provided.
And for those reasons, you're not making it through.
- Had a great time. I appreciate the opportunit.
- Robert, for myself and the judges,
We want to say thank you so much for coming to the forge.
But unfortunately, your time in this competition has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you to please
Step off the forge floor.
- Well done. - Good job, robert.
- Good luck. Good luck, mike.
- Thanks.
- It's disappointing, but I had a blast.
I would come back in a heartbeat.
If nobody's looking,
I'm gonna go through those doors
And I'm gonna hide until you start again tomorrow.
[chuckles]
♪ ♪
- Justin, mike, congratulations.
Your hard work has paid off in the first two rounds
Of this competition, so that means two of you
Are moving forward to the third and final round.
We're sending you back to build an iconic weapon from history.
♪ ♪
And that weapon is this...
♪ ♪
The continental cavalry saber.
♪ ♪
- The continental cavalry saber was an iconic sword
Used during the american revolutionary war.
While this style of sword was originally built
For british soldiers, american bladesmiths started
Reproducing them for the continental soldiers.
These long, curved single-edged blades delivered
Lethal cuts against british soldiers
As the continental army ambushed them from horseback.
These american swords were famously wielded
By revolutionaries during the battle of princeton
In 1777,
Where george washington defeated the british,
Retaking new jersey
And forcing the british retreat into new york.
- All right, guys, your blades
Measured from tip to where cutting edge ends
Needs to measure between 33 and 35 inches.
It needs to be curved with a depth of curve between
1 1/2 and 2 inches at its deepest.
And you need to have a pierced stirrup guard
And a flattened pommel.
- I've made one sword but never done a guard like that before.
And so this one's gonna be the most involved,
But let's get her done.
- All right, guys, well, one of you is gonna be
Coming back here with a blade worth $10,000,
So we want to see your very best work.
So good luck.
We'll see you in four days.
♪ ♪
[country rock music]
- We are in lockhart, texas, and today we start
On the revolutionary war continental saber.
I'm gonna build this sword mono steel.
No complaints thus far.
Biggest challenge is getting the curvature just right.
This is a long [bleep] sword, man.
I have to be perfect with parameters.
If not, that could easily send me home.
I've got my blade parameters met.
It's time to quench.
Taking my time.
Anything can go wrong when you heat treat.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
Ha!
And she worked,
So I'm more than happy with the first day.
[country rock music]
- We're back here at my home forge in fort polk, louisiana.
Today we're gonna build the continental cavalry sabe.
I'm going with random-pattern damascus
'cause I want to bring my a-game.
31.
It's a healthy stack.
This is, like, the most stressful part
Is just getting initial welds to set.
After smashing repeatedly, these welds are set.
It's time to start cranking up the heat,
And let's get this thing drawed out.
♪ ♪
Drawing out 42 inches
Is a little harder than I expected.
End of day one, I got 31 inches of a 42-inch billet.
Feeling the clock a little bit,
But tomorrow I'll get into profiling the blade.
Still going pretty good.
♪ ♪
- Day two.
That's what I wanted to see.
My plan for today is to get my handle
And guard and pommel roughly fitted up.
So I want to start getting some measurements taken.
I'm about 1/8 of an inch shy on my curve.
[bleep].
The only way for me to get the length I need
Is to stick her back in the fire.
Goodbye, heat treat.
I need to try and get this curve to parameters.
Puts a lot of stress on a sword.
Could pick up a crack, but I don't have time
To make another one.
This quench has to be perfect.
[tense music]
As long as there's no cracks, that should be okay.
Oh, yeah, mm-hmm, quenches went well.
Very relieved to see that.
Who gets to be so lucky as to have two successful quenche?
[rock music]
- It's the morning of day three.
I have all the parameters done.
Can't complain with that.
So today I have to get my heat treat in.
Make sure I get it evenly as heated as possible.
There's always a warp is a possibility that may happe.
I've spent two days making this sword.
There we go.
I need this quench to go right.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
All right, that'll work.
So the quench went good, so now I just got to
Get my handle together and make a guard.
I just need to get this thing together.
[rock music]
- Rolling straight on into day four.
I'm feeling very, very, very good with my progres.
I'm good to go.
I finished the blade yesterday,
So there's nothing left to do but fit and finish.
♪ ♪
Love it when I finish up a blade on Wednesday
'cause I get to do all my hand sanding
Whilst watching one of favorite tv shows.
The sword is assembled. It's complete.
It's sharp.
So let's go ahead and test it.
[tense music]
[bleep].
It just kind of barely glinted
Into my hand a little bit.
The guard hitting the judge's knuckle
Is certainly something that could send me home.
Man, I've got to fix this.
I don't have time to make another one.
[sighs]
This could be a problem.
Well, [bleep].
Might be able to just bend this out a little bit
And just weld it a little bit higher up.
♪ ♪
It's comfortable.
I can't wait to see it tested, though.
I absolutely love this thing.
♪ ♪
- So it's the morning of day four.
I just got to get this blade put together
And get an edge on it.
There we go.
End of round three, I'm feeling good.
I was a little worried I wouldn't have enough time
To finish, but I was able to do it,
And the blade's a little heavier than I wanted,
But I'm happy with how it turned out.
And will it keal?
I think it would. [chuckles]
♪ ♪
- Justin, mike, gentlemen, welcome back to the forge.
You guys had four days in your home forges to build
Your very best continental cavalry sabers.
♪ ♪
Justin, how'd it go for you?
♪ ♪
- Hand-forged out of 80crv2,
Mild steel for the guard,
And the handle is a little, short, thorny tree
We call mesquite.
- Awesome. Mike, how about you?
♪ ♪
- Did 31 layers of alternating 15n20 and 108.
I used mild steel for my guard and pommel as well
And yellow cedar burl for the handle.
- Well, gentlemen, both your blades look amazing,
But the only way we know how to find out which one of you
Is going home with the win today
Is by putting them through two dynamic tests.
We're gonna start off with doug.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the dynamic keal test.
♪ ♪
To find out just how durable your weapons are,
I'm gonna cut through this pig carcass
And these drums.
Justin, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Let's do it.
♪ ♪
Want to see that pig get obliterated,
But any weak point in my blae could cause breakage.
Hope my blade holds up. [chuckles nervously]
♪ ♪
[laughs]
♪ ♪
- All right, justin, let's talk about your saber here.
First up, your handle construction.
It is nice and smooth.
It's ovoid enough to where I have a very good grip.
Now, for a saber design,
I usually see the curves a little bit up front over here,
But it wasn't an issue.
Overall, sir, your saber,
It will keal.
♪ ♪
All right, mike, your turn, sir. You ready?
- Ready. - Let's do this.
♪ ♪
- Seeing the pig strung up, I'm excited.
I didn't have enough time to really test it
Before we left the home forge,
So it's exciting to see what it does.
♪ ♪
- All right, mike, your blade is beautiful.
I really like the damascus patterns that you put on it.
It's a little bit on the heavier side,
So when I'm striking with this, on the recovery,
It wants to shift a little bit
On the handle construction here.
But in the beating and cutting of the drum,
Your edge stayed true.
Overall, sir, your saber,
It will keal.
- Thank you, doug.
♪ ♪
- All right, gentlemen,
It's time for our dynamic strength test.
To test the overall construction of your blade
As well as how it feels in my hand,
I'll be attacking our british warship here.
♪ ♪
Justin, you're up. Are you ready?
- Ready when you are. - Okay.
♪ ♪
- My heart is thumping.
I see wooden posts, I see barrels, and I see ropes.
That can mess a blade up.
Damn, I really hope this thing doesn't break.
Fingers crossed.
♪ ♪
[rock music]
♪ ♪
- So, justin, first off, everything's in one piece.
Blade's still just as sharp as it was.
But having that curve here as opposed to out here,
The weight is kind of behind where I'm expecting it to be.
But it did a great job. It held up beautifully.
Nicely done. - Thank you, sir.
Ready to go, mike?
- I'm ready. - Okay.
♪ ♪
[rock music]
♪ ♪
All right, mike, right off, really nice job.
The pattern on this is really pretty.
But this is a heavy weapon.
With all that weight,
It's very difficult to stop that blade.
But it held up. It's in one piece.
Nice job. - Thank you.
[tense music]
- All right, bladesmiths,
Well, both of your blades performed extremely well.
But the time has come for our judges to decide
Which one of you is leaving here with the title
Of "forged in fire" champion and a check for $10,000.
So while they discuss, I'm gonna ask that you both
Please step off the forge floor.
All right, guys, two high-performing blades,
But only one of these guys can go home with the win.
- Both of our smiths brought back great swords.
I love mike's, the damascus,
But that weight when you're swinging that,
You're gonna feel it back there.
- I'm torn, because justin's performed better
Because I can control it.
It's much lighter, though it's a weird curve.
You know, that bothers
Because it doesn't feel like a saber does.
- I mean, they both performed fine.
I'm just torn between, is that curvature enough
That I can't work around it,
Or is that weight too much to work around?
- Doug, you made a decision? - Yes.
- J., how about you? - Oh, yeah.
- And, dave? - Yeah.
All right, gentlemen, we'll call them in.
♪ ♪
Well, justin, mike,
In this revolutionary forge-themed competition,
You both have a ton to be proud of.
But as you know, only one of you can leave here today
With the title of "forged in fire" champio,
Carrying a check for $10,000.
And our judges have made a final decision.
Today's "forged in fire" champion is...
♪ ♪
Justin, congratulations.
Now, mike, you did an extremely good job, but unfortunately,
Your blade did not make the cut,
And doug's gonna tell you why.
♪ ♪
- Mike, it wasn't an easy decision
Because that's a fine blade that performed quite well.
But at the end of the day, the sheer weight of your blade
Made it hard for us to control.
And for that reason, we're sending you home.
- Okay. Thank you.
- Well, mike, myself and the judges would all lie
To say thank you so much for coming to the forge,
Showing us your craft,
But unfortunately, your time in this competition has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you
To please step off the forge floor.
- Okay. Thanks for having me here.
- Thank you so much. - Good job, mike.
- Good job, brother.
- I feel like the judges made a good call.
My weapon was a little heavier than I would have liked it.
Actually being able to make
The continental cavalry saber was, like, an honor
Because I'm in the military, so it was a good experience.
♪ ♪
- Justin, buddy, congratulations.
You are the "forged in fire" champion.
You just got yourself a check for $10,000.
Well done.
- Ah, damn.
- How you feeling?
- [bleep]damn!
[laughter]
I just won "forged in fire."
Man, what are people at home gonna say?
I can't wait to get out of here,
Give them a phone call,
'cause I can't wait to tell them.
[bleep], [bleep]damn!
[laughs]
♪ ♪