[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- My name is stephanie aiuto. I'm 31 years old.
I live in new york city, and I'm a part-time bladesmith.
I've always had an appreciation for knives and armor.
So I googled, you know, "new york city bladesmith"
And I found theo nazz,
Who's a former contestant on "forged in fire."
He won his round back in season three
And then his champion's round.
And yeah, now we're just forging buddies,
And I'm happy to keep making new knives.
♪ ♪
- My name's nathan butcher. I'm 47 years old.
I'm a locksmith from bartlesville, oklahoma.
Bladesmithing is a hobby that I've been doing for 33 years.
But it's kind of dangerous,
So I have plastic lenses in my eyes
From looking into a forge for years and years.
I've had a heatstroke, and...
I can only count to nine.
♪ ♪
- My name is jason lyle. I'm 41 years old.
I live in jonesborough, tennessee.
I'm a part-time bladesmith,
A full-time first responder.
My job helps me cope with things different
Than other people, as far as stress,
So I think it could play a helping role in my challenge.
♪ ♪
- My name is adam till. I'm 39 years old.
I'm from gadsden, alabama.
I got into bladesmithing because
I got tired of paying a lot of money for knives
That would not hold up to the use
That I was putting on them, and I've always been told,
"if you could do it better, do it yourself."
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the forge.
You came here to compete against each other
And against our clock in three intense rounds
Of forging competition. After each of the three rounds,
I'm gonna ask you to present your work
To our panel of expert judges,
Who will then critique your work and make an elimination.
Now, the judges today are
Expert blacksmith and bladesmith ben abbott,
Historic weapons re-creation specialist dave baker,
And edged weapons specialist doug marcaida.
These are the men who will be deciding
Who's gonna be going home with the title
Of "forged in fire" champion and a check for $10,000.
So let's cut to the chase. In this competition,
We want you guys to put together a signature choppe.
But when you're building your choppers,
We want them to fall within the following parameters:
Your blades need to measure between 13 and 15 inches.
But we got a bit of a problem.
You see, the only high-carbon steel
We have available is this.
Just a sliver of 1095.
But we totally understand it is impossible for you
To put together a chopper of the dimensions we're asking for
Using only this high-carbon.
We want you guys to source
The rest of your materials from this.
♪ ♪
Bladesmiths, what we have here is a pile of scrap steel.
Some of it's usable mild and some of it
Is unusable cast iron. What we want you to do
Is source the bulk of your materials from this pile here,
Turn it into a billet,
Forge weld your high-carbon on there as an edge,
And turn it into a blade.
- Wow. This is definitely gonna be a challenge.
The big challenge is setting a weld that long.
It's definitely a hard task for anybody.
- In the second round of the competition,
You're gonna add handles to your choppers,
Turning them into fully-functioning blades,
At which point the judges are gonna check for strength
And durability in a steel rebar chop,
And they're gonna check your edge retention
In a ballistics tube slice.
We've got three hours on the clock
For this first round of competition.
So good luck. Work hard. Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
So it all looks like junk metal to me.
What should they be looking for?
- If it looks structural-- like, angle iron, tube,
Stuff like that, it's generally mild steel.
- First thing comes in my head is find the biggest piece
Of mild steel laying on that table.
I'm looking for something that's gonna be flat
And thick enough that I could insert
A bit of the high-carbon steel into.
I just know the angle iron was made from mild steel,
And the plan is to edge weld to it
And draw out a knife from that piece of steel.
- Well, nathan and adam both have that angle iron.
But that stuff's super thick.
- Yeah. It's a fat 1/4 inch.
♪ ♪
- I'ma go with this piece right here.
I find a basic round stock that I knew was mild steel
As soon as I looked at it. I know I need to figure out
How much I need to make that parameter.
My plan with this mild steel and high-carbon--
Go ahead and forge out somewhat of a shape
With the mild steel,
Cut a groove down it, insert my high-carbon bit,
Forge weld together.
- The smiths more than likely didn't practice this
Before they came here. - [laughs]
- I do this all the time.
I love this method of construction.
♪ ♪
- I need to figure out a way to stick the tiny little piece
Of high-carbon onto a big piece of angle iron.
This will do.
I'm gonna cut it in half, and I'm gonna put it together
So it will be roughly the sae thickness as my mild steel.
- Nathan just cut his high-carbon sliver in half.
Feels silly. Why would he do that?
- He's probably look at it as too long a weld.
The length of the weld is what's making him nervous,
I would assume.
- I've got my three pieces all tack welded together.
Now I'm gonna put it in the forge and set my forge welds.
♪ ♪
- I need to find something wide enough
So I can set that carbon bit in it.
I see this square tube.
If I can use an angle grinder and cut off one section,
That'll be enough that I can draw out a blade to parameters.
- Stephanie's got tube stock,
Kind of like what we use for the canisters.
- I worry about that tube stock
Being a little on the thin side.
'cause remember, wherever you have that weld,
When you start to hammer that down,
Everything gets thinner and thinner and thinner.
So having some meat where that weld's gonna start
Is a good idea.
- All right.
- Jason's over on the vise with a chisel.
Making a space to fit that high-carbon into?
- Yeah. That's right.
- Once I open it, I'ma try to insert the high-carbon bi,
Put it back together, do a couple of tack welds,
Then try to forge weld it into one blade.
- No problems with potential cold shuts in there?
- No cold shut problems,
But there could be an issue with cleanliness
If he doesn't clean that v out completely.
- My biggest concern is not getting the forge weld
All the way down the high-carbon bit,
And a lot can go wrong with splitting apart.
- That's a nice forge weld temperature.
That's looking good.
♪ ♪
- I look, the knife is coming up to temperature,
So I bring it out, set the first weld by hand.
♪ ♪
I like it. I've got my weld set.
Now, I've got this huge rectangular piece of steel.
I'm gonna have to try to draw it out to meet parameters.
- All right, bladesmiths, you have two hours left!
- My design's gonna be just a basic chopper.
No point on it,
Because we're not gonna be doing any stabbing.
My biggest concern in the competition
Is am I gonna be able to weld this high-carbon bit
To this knife shape?
♪ ♪
Oh, man, I screwed up.
- Adam's back in the welder, and his high-carbon steel
Isn't matching the curve of his blade.
Do you think there's gonna be cold shuts or unweldable spots?
- Yeah, if it's not clean, it just might not weld at all.
- I know I gotta close the gaps.
Can't have any gaps.
So I got two choices-- either to continue working
With what I have or scrap it and start over.
I know what I can do.
♪ ♪
I gotta keep moving forward,
'cause I'm losing too much time at this point.
So I go ahead and throw a little extra flux on there
And try to set the welds by hand.
♪ ♪
Oh, yeah.
I'm extremely relieved and excited all at the same time.
And now I can move on.
♪ ♪
- All right, stephanie's going in the press for that weld set.
- Man, I would set that by hand.
It's a tall weld. She's setting it on the press,
And it can-- it can buckle it over.
- I'm trying to tap it in as gently as I can.
♪ ♪
I see it is just shearing off to the sides.
- Stephane's billet just opened up.
It's not taking.
- Aww, stephanie's having a rough time over there.
- I've messed up my carbon bit.
♪ ♪
Oh, [bleep].
♪ ♪
- There's no chasing it.
The biggest bit of wisdom
That theo gave me before I came here was,
"you see a problem that you know you can't fix,
Abandon it while there's still time on the clock."
So I need to just abandon this right now
And try something new.
My new plan is to do something very similar
To how one would put a high-carbon bit in a hatchet:
Carving in that channel, and placing it in.
♪ ♪
- I've got my welds set,
So I'm gonna basically draw it out into a bar
Until I'm ready to forge the point.
It's gonna be heavy, so I'm gonna forge it heavy,
Because it's easier to remove the material
Than it is to put it back.
I have to make a chopper, but I want it to have a point.
I was told to make it in my style.
My style has a point.
This is starting to look exactly the way I want it.
♪ ♪
- I'm not real happy with the shape of my blade.
But if I can get this thing quenched and hardened,
I can work on the shape.
- Adam just quenched.
- Come straight out of the oil,
And I head straight to the grinder,
Because I wanted to see how much high-carbon steel
I had down toward the edge.
♪ ♪
I have a little sliver of high-carbon there,
So I'm trying to be extremely cautious.
♪ ♪
I seen too many smiths in the past get sent home
For having mild steel that's on the edge.
♪ ♪
- The shape I'm doing is just a standard competition chopper.
It's nothing fancy. It's not hard to do.
I got my width. The forge welds look nice.
I'm getting ready to quench.
♪ ♪
- All right, jason quenched.
- Soon as I pull it out, I see it's already starting to warp.
♪ ♪
I've got to do something about that.
So I went straight over to the grinder
To try to take some of the warp out.
♪ ♪
- All right, stephanie's going in the press for that weld set.
- Not the press. Oh, not the press.
♪ ♪
- [sighs]
I'm having a bit of trouble getting this forge weld to set.
Okay.
- She looks like she's getting pretty frustrated.
- So I'm going to have to beat it into submission
Until I've mushed those two pieces together.
- Stephanie's got on a good finessing touch.
- Wish she would have found this two hours ago,
When she started working on the press.
- I finally get this forge weld to set.
Okay.
There's a little bit of a weld issue at the ends,
But I can always grind those off.
The heart of this blade is one piece.
I'm feeling good right now.
- All right, bladesmiths, coming down to the wire!
You have 30 minutes left! Three zero!
♪ ♪
- It's time to get ready and quench.
I don't know what the stresses will do
With the two different kinds of metal.
It could pop my edge right off.
♪ ♪
- Here we go. All right, nathan quenched.
- I take it out, and once I get through the smoke,
It looks pretty straight.
With the time I have, I'm gonna grind on my blade.
It's heavy. It needs to be lightened a lot.
But I'm happy with the shape. I'm happy with the point.
I'm happy with everything.
♪ ♪
- I'm not real super happy about the shape.
Wish I had a little bit more time to make it prettier.
But it's time to acid etch.
I'm wanting to look for the little brown circles.
That definitely indicates that you had a failed forge weld.
I'm not seeing any red spots coming out from the forge weld,
So I'm really happy at this time.
♪ ♪
- Now we have a knife. It weighs a ton,
Because I haven't removed enough material,
But the knife looks right now.
- Stephanie just quenched.
♪ ♪
- It's mostly straight, but I'm just gonna bring it
Straight to the grinder and profile my blade.
There's not a whole lot of time left on the clock,
But I'm hopeful and I'm happy.
- Bladesmiths, you have five minutes
Before turn in and critique!
♪ ♪
- As I'm working on the grinder,
I seen the seam where the mild steel
Was pulled back a little bit from the high-carbon.
See the high-carbon?
I'm thinking I should go over there
And mig weld it to make sure there's no delams.
♪ ♪
I look up at the clock.
♪ ♪
I don't have enough time to address it.
But that could cost me.
- Five. Four.
Three. Two. One.
Bladesmiths, turn off your tools.
Put down your blades. This round is over.
- Ugh.
Going into judging, I know the seam don't look good.
But now it's all up in their hands.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths,
In the first three hours of this competition,
All four of you were successfully able to take
That high-carbon steel
And forge weld it onto your mild steel blades.
You all have blades that meet our parameters,
But the time has come for the judges
To decide which three of you will be joining us
In the second round of this competition.
Stephanie, you're up first. You ready?
- Yes, sir. - Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, stephanie, you had a problem
Trying to put your hardenable steel on the edge,
But you found a solution. Good on you.
But you still have a delamination.
If you move forward, you should address that
So that in our test, it doesn't open up anymor.
Good job.
♪ ♪
- All right, nathan, you're up next. You ready?
- Yes, sir. - Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, nathan, the shape of your blade is really good.
Just a very classic chopping camp knife.
The big issue I have with this knife is the weight.
This is a very heavy blade still.
A lot of this weight needs to come off of here.
And combined with a big, heavy knife like this,
This handle is on the smaller side.
In general, it's a good-looking piece of steel.
The welds are solid. Nice job.
- Thank you.
- All right, jason, you're up next.
Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- Right off the bat, great shape.
Like a big hog splitter knife.
The biggest thing I take issue with
Is there are a couple places
Where you've got sort of that delam ridge line.
I mean, down here, I can get a fingernail in there.
But as a chopper, it's a great shape.
♪ ♪
Good job. - Thank you.
- All right, adam, you're up next.
Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, adam.
You've got an interesting shape going on here.
This is another blade where the steel was welded
Directly down onto the mild steel.
So you really can't do all that much profiling
With this edge without, you know,
Kind of grinding into the mild, but in general,
I think you're set up for
An interesting-looking chopper.
Nice job.
♪ ♪
- Well, bladesmiths, first off, I want to say
You guys all have a lot to be proud of.
We gave you a very difficult and unique challenge,
Asking you to take a tiny bit of high-carbon steel
And somehow turning it into a functional chopper.
But in this competition, only three of you
Can join us in the next round.
The bladesmith who's gonna be leaving the forge is...
♪ ♪
Jason. Unfortunately, your blade
Didn't make the cut today, and doug's gonna tell you why.
- Jason, first off, I want to thank you for battling through
And turning in a pretty good design
For a competition chopper.
But your blade has the most visible delaminations
Along the weld line.
For that reason, we're sending you home.
- Totally agree. Thank you.
- Well, jason, you had the process all down,
But unfortunately, man, you're not gonna be joining us
In the next round of this competition.
I'm gonna have to ask you to please surrender your work
And step off the forge floor.
- I practiced for weeks on all my canister,
Regular damascus, san mai, and then they threw a curveball
Of putting a small piece of high-carbon
Down a full-length blade into mild steel.
But I have no regrets.
I had a blast, and I'll keep on bladesmithing.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, congratulations.
The three of you are joining us
In the second round of this competition.
Now, in this round we want you to fix any issues
That you have with your blades as well as add handles to the,
Turning them into fully-functioning chopper.
When this round is complete,
You're gonna turn your blades over to our judges,
Who are gonna check for strength and durability
In a steel rebar chop.
Then they're gonna check your edge retention
In a ballistics tube slice.
All right, bladesmiths, you have two hours on the clock
For the second round. Good luck.
Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
All right.
So they're all--seem to be fairly well set up.
We got a couple minor issues that need to be attended to.
- Yeah. Stephanie is really nicely set up.
She could fill that one gap with some weld, clean that up,
And put a handle on it, and be ready to go.
- Stephanie's taking care of that gap
She's got in her blade between the mild and high-carbon steel.
- Great. That's great. - That's a really smart move.
- Put a few drops of beads in, build up a base,
That way I can bring it to the grinder,
And then grind it flat and be fine.
♪ ♪
- Nathan has maybe a pound to take off of that blade.
- First thing I'm gonna do, I need to lighten the blade.
It's heavy. It's thick. I need to thin it down.
And then I'll start the handle.
- Look at that mound of sparks
That nathan's got by the grinder.
- I've been grinding on the blade
For about 30 minutes.
It feels good. I'm happy.
♪ ♪
- First thing I want to address right off the bat
Is the shape of the knife.
I'm gonna mark where I want to cut at,
And then I'm gonna wrap it in a paper towel
To try to keep the tip from overheating.
♪ ♪
I can make this thing look pretty decent
For the kind of work I do.
- Well, look at that. Look at the difference in that knif.
That's really impressive.
- I'm pretty happy with the shape,
And now I can move on to putting the handle on.
- Going over to the pantry, the first thing
I want to make sure is that my block of wood
Is going to withstand the football spike test that I do.
♪ ♪
- [laughs]
- That's one way to find out how hard it is.
- I'm at the bandsaw, and it's taking time.
I know it's going to take time.
- You see how long it's taking stephanie to cut that wood.
- I would really be using the portaband
Instead of that bandsaw.
The portabands have a more aggressive teeth,
And they've got a long enough throat
That you can make this cut.
- It's just so slow, and I'm looking at the clock,
And 30 minutes are already gone.
- You got time.
- Slow and steady. - [laughs]
- I finally get two pieces that are usable.
I can keep moving forward. Let's do this.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, you are halfway through this handle round.
You have one hour remaining before testing.
- I need to make my handle bigger
To make the judges happy.
So my plan is to take a piece off of a mild steel angle iron
And weld that onto the bottom side of the handle.
That is never gonna cut.
The portaband is not cutting.
Hell, no.
- Looks like nate is really struggling
To cut a piece of mild steel at his portaband.
- Well, nathan's using the right tool,
But he's just not moving fast enough.
He's gotta get this done now.
- It's pissing me off. That is awful.
The clock is ticking,
So I've gotta figure out something else right now.
Uh...
So I abandon that and go to the welder.
- Nathan is taking mig wire and building up,
Slowly, in layers, to make his handle wider.
- That'll have to do.
♪ ♪
- I got about a half hour left,
And I still got to shape my handles, sharpen my blade,
And then I have to get it ready to present to the judges.
The handle, to me, is really important.
It's just as important as the edge on the blade.
So I don't want it to feel like a broomstick.
I want it to feel comfortable
And like it's not gonna slip out of their hand.
- Adam's taking a ton of material
Off his handle scales.
- Yeah, adam's handle seems a little bit narrow.
- My handle's looking good at this time,
And now I can move on.
- All right, bladesmiths,
You are down to 30 minutes left.
Keep on working.
- I've got my handle on. I've got my pins set.
Now I've gotta shape the handle,
Try to get rid of any hotspots,
Round it up, smooth it up, try to make it fit the hand,
Because if I was to give them the handle that was just round
There's a chance that it will roll in their hand
And it could cause a bad test or somebody to get hurt.
And the last thing I'd want to do is to hurt a judge.
I've got my handle done. It feels good in my hand.
It's time to move on.
I need to put an edge on this thing.
Okay.
- I look up at the clock, and I'm like,
"oh, my god, I gotta sharpen this blade."
♪ ♪
I still have a little sliver of high-carbon there,
So it should retain its edge.
But I kind of wish we had a little bit more high-carbon.
I don't want to take away any high-carbon steel.
Then we got a mild steel knife, which isn't quite a knife.
- Five. Four.
Three. Two. One.
Bladesmiths, put down your tools.
This round is over.
- I feel pretty proud with the work
That I was able to accomplis.
Given what I had,
I'm pretty happy with the work I've done.
[sighs]
- All right, bladesmiths, welcome to the strength test:
The rebar chop.
To test the strength and durability of your edge
As well as the overall construction of your blades,
I'll be chopping into these rebar.
Adam, you're up first. You ready?
- Might as well be.
- All right.
♪ ♪
- Last time I checked, I really didn't have
That much high-carbon left out the edge of my blade.
I'm just really hoping to make it through the strength test.
♪ ♪
- All right, adam.
First off, this is a tough test.
I think we all know that.
And you brought your edge down to a really fine edge,
And the test won a whole bunch of times.
Everywhere I hit on this blade left a piece in that reba.
The handle, it's on the small side,
And a couple of times,
That blade twisted in my hand as I was hitting.
But blade's all in one piece,
And it's got a good overall shape to it.
Nice job.
All right, nathan, you ready for this?
- You bet.
- Cool.
♪ ♪
- Rebar sucks.
There is no reason to be chopping on rebar.
My blade could break. The edge could fall off.
It could just-- it could--it could be over.
♪ ♪
[knife clanging]
♪ ♪
- [chuckling]
♪ ♪
- Well, nathan, first off, you did a really good job
Of taking most of that weight off
And bulking up your handle to make it comfortable.
Moving on to your blade, three hits did minimal damage.
But in all, I think you made a good knife for this test.
Nice job.
- Thank you.
- All right, stephanie. You ready for this?
- I don't have a choice. - [laughs]
That's true. That's true.
♪ ♪
- I had a big struggle getting those
Two pieces welded together, so there's a big possibility
That I could end up with two blades after this--
A little carbon bit and a chunk of mild steel.
♪ ♪
[knife clanging]
♪ ♪
[exhales]
♪ ♪
- All right, stephanie.
Well, your edge took some damage.
Right at the very edge,
There is some chipping from the test.
There's a couple of spots that I see
Some of the unwelded steel right here,
That's just moved a little bit in this test.
But in all, it held up well.
All in one piece. Nice job.
- Thank you, sir.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, this is the sharpness test:
The ballistic tube slice.
Adam, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Yes, sir. - All right, let's do this.
♪ ♪
All right, adam, let's talk about your weapon here.
Right here on the edges, where you took some damage,
It's actually still sharp.
And during the cut, it cut cleanly.
Overall, sir, it'll cut.
- Thank you.
- All right, nathan, your turn, sir. You ready?
- You bet. - All right, let's do thi.
♪ ♪
All right, nathan, let's talk about your weapon here.
Despite having those rolls, it actually was not an issue
In cutting on these ballistics tubes.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it will cut.
- Thank you.
- All right, stephanie, your turn. You ready?
- Yes, sir. - All right, let's do this.
♪ ♪
All right, stephanie, let's talk about your chopper her.
Despite taking some damage on the strength test,
It was not a factor in cutting these tubes.
Overall, ma'am, your weapon will cut.
- Thank you, sir.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, the time has come
For the judges to decide which two of you are gonna join us
In the third and final round of this competition.
So while they discuss,
I'm gonna ask you to please step off the forge floor.
♪ ♪
All right, guys, we got three blades
That took damage in the strength test,
But only two of them are going in the final round.
Dave, what do you think?
- Adam took a fair amount of damage on that edge.
And then we've got stephanie's blade.
She's taken damage,
And it looks like those welds are cutting loose.
- Ben, what are your thoughts?
- Adam's blade, his handle was a little small up
Around the first two fingers,
And I lost control a little bit a couple of times
While I was swinging it.
And it really got eaten up.
Every time it hit the rebar,
It took a big ol' chunk out of the blade.
- Doug, what do you think?
- It's really between stephanie and adam,
And adam's seemed to be bigger damage than the other.
- Well, a decision has to be made.
Dave, you made yours? - Yep.
- And ben? - Yeah.
- How about you, doug? - Yes, I have.
- All right, guys, we'll call them back in.
♪ ♪
All right, bladesmiths, the judges have deliberated,
And they made a decision.
The bladesmith who's gonna be leaving the forge is...
♪ ♪
Adam.
Unfortunately, your blade didn't make the cut,
And ben's gonna tell you why.
- Adam, you ground a really acute edge on there,
And every time I hit that rebar,
It left pieces of your knife in there.
That, coupled with the smaller handle,
Which was more difficult for me to control,
Really just added up to the reason we're sending you home.
- Thank you.
- Well, adam, we want to say thank you
For letting us watch your work, but unfortunately,
You're not gonna be moving forward in the competition.
And at this point, I'm gonna have to ask you
To please step off the forge floor.
- I agree, for the most part.
A little disappointed, myself.
But at least doug said "it will cut."
♪ ♪
- Well, stephanie, nathan, congratulations.
It is now down to the two of you moving forward
Into the third and final round of this competition.
Now, in this final round, we're sending you back
To your home forges to build an iconic weapon from history.
We want you to build this.
♪ ♪
Sergeant hayden's sword.
♪ ♪
- Sergeant william hayden, one of the first
English colonists in 17th century connecticut,
Is best known for his heroic actions
During the pequot war of 1637.
After rising tensions between the colonists
And the pequot tribe erupted,
Hayden and a group of english settlers
Were sent to capture territory
In modern-day mystic, connecticut.
During the battle,
With a sharp swipe of his single-edged,
Slightly-curved blade,
Hayden famously cut the string of a pequot warrior's bow
That was taking direct aim at the english captain,
John mason, saving his life.
The original historic sword is still on display today
In connecticut's historical society museum
In hartford, connecticut.
- It is a very intricate blade,
And the ones you return should also be intricate,
But make sure they fall within these parameters.
You need to have a slightly-curved blade
That measures between 23 and 25 inches.
You need to have fullers on both sides of your blade.
You need to have a symmetrical guard that has piercings in I.
- I've never made a blade like that before,
But it's something that I'm so looking forward to attempting.
- All right, bladesmiths,
When you come back to this forge,
We want to see two blades that are worth at least
$10,000 each, 'cause that's what one of you
Is gonna be walking out of here with.
So good luck. We will see you in four day.
- Good luck. - Good luck.
♪ ♪
- I'm back in my home forge.
I'm gonna make sergeant hayden's sword.
I've got a big day ahead of me.
All right, we're gonna get started.
Plan is, first day,
We're gonna try to get the blade forged out,
Try to get it to shape.
Heat, beat, repeat.
I like it so far.
I think we're gonna harden it.
If I don't get this heat treat right,
I'm gonna have to start over. I need it to stay straigh.
♪ ♪
The edge sounds good, feels good.
I like it.
I feel like today has gone
Absolutely as good as it could've.
♪ ♪
- Back at my home forge in industry city,
And I'm super excited to get started
On sergeant hayden's sword.
Let's do this. By the end of day one,
I want to have a quenched blade,
So I know the rest of my time is focused on
Making sure that that is a perfect blade.
My blade's the right length. Curve is the right depth.
I'm feeling good, and I'm ready to quench.
This is the moment of truth.
♪ ♪
Just like glass. Successful quench.
I am feeling good. I am feeling tired.
But good.
♪ ♪
- Day two. I like my blade,
But I just feel like it's a little narrow.
I feel like I need a little bit more mass,
Which unfortunately means
I'll have to forge another blade.
All right, this is the beginnings of blade number two.
Hopefully, I can make it through.
Nothing like having to do it twice.
I'm getting ready to go for the quench
And hopefully get it straight.
Well, I'm nervous.
♪ ♪
Whew, watch out now. Watch it.
And it's straight.
[laughs] I'm happy.
I have successfully made two sword blades in two days.
♪ ♪
- It's day two. I'm feeling great.
I'm gonna be working on
Getting my guard shaped out and drilled in.
I've got my mild steel bar in the forge,
Bringing it up to temp.
Once it's at the right temperature,
I'm gonna be pressing it down,
Trying to turn a long tube into a short pancake.
I'm a little behind where I'd like to be.
Barely made a dent.
I spent a couple of hours working on my guard,
But it isn't doing what I want it to do.
I've gotta scrap this and start fresh.
[sighs]
Time is running out.
I gotta change now or the whole day's gonna be sunk.
That might work.
♪ ♪
Okay.
It's the end of the day. I'm looking at my guard.
It's a little fugly at the moment,
But there's nothing tlc can't fix,
And that's all gonna happen tomorrow.
♪ ♪
- Day four. The last day.
I gotta put it together.
I hope it goes good. I'm about where I want to be.
I think I've made a decent replica
Of sergeant hayden's sword.
I've got my sergeant hayden sword completed.
I feel like I've done the best that I can.
I hope they like it.
- Day four. Let's get it done.
Today, I want to focus on fit and finish.
Let's do it. Slow and steady.
Don't want to break anything.
- All right. - Hello, boys.
I am ready to show my friends, theo and justin,
Two former "forged in fire" contestants.
- Well, that's looking deadly.
Very proud of you. That looks great.
- Thank you, thank you.
I'm just excited to see the judges use it.
♪ ♪
- Well, stephanie, nathan, welcome back to the forge.
So you just had four days to both work
On your sergeant hayden swords, and they look fantastic.
Before we get into testing, though,
I want to hear about these blades.
So, stephanie, how'd the build go for you?
♪ ♪
- The sword went smoothly.
Built with 80crv2 for the blade,
Mild steel for the guard and the butt cap.
- Good choice. Nathan, how about you?
How'd the build go? - It went pretty good.
♪ ♪
Blade's 5160.
The butt cap and the guard are made out
Of etched wrought iron and with a cocobolo handle.
- Well, smiths, it is coming down to this:
We've got a strength test, we've got a sharpness test,
And up first, the keal.
Doug?
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the keal test.
To find out how lethal your weapons are,
I'm gonna take your weapons and deliver some lethal blos
On this ballistics dummy.
Stephanie, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Go have your fun.
- You bet I will.
- I'm super excited to see it get tested.
Making chef's knives, they don't really
Get the same test that you do here at the forg.
I can't wait to see what doug does with it.
♪ ♪
Cool.
[dummy squelching]
[laughs]
♪ ♪
- All right, stephanie, let's talk about your sword her.
Your edge is sharp.
I mean, that's one of the cleanest decapitations
I've done with a sword.
Overall, your weapon, it will keal.
- Thank you.
- All right, nathan, are you ready?
It's your turn, sir. - You bet.
When doug takes the head off of the dummy
With stephanie's sword,
My sword is gonna have to keep up with this.
Everything can go wrong hitting the ballistics dummy.
The blade could shatter.
It could break off at the guard.
It could just cause a catastrophic failure
In every way.
♪ ♪
[dummy squelching]
♪ ♪
- All right, nathan, let's talk about your sword here.
Those are very deep cuts. Every swing penetrated deep.
Every thrust went all the way through.
Your weapon, sir, it will keal.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, you know what time it is.
It's time for the strength test.
To test the strength and durability of your blades,
I'll be attacking our wooden palisades here.
Stephanie, you're up first. You ready?
- Oh, yeah. - Yeah? All right.
♪ ♪
[sword thunking]
♪ ♪
All right, so, stephanie, in the test,
Your blade held up really well. There's one small chip it took,
And then maybe a little bit of a glinting spot here,
But it's still sharp.
We get back to here, your tang kind of kicks this way
And then sort of curves back this way,
And what that does is every time I hit,
It kind of rides forward into that guard.
Didn't really hurt my knuckle,
But over time, it's gonna be an issue.
But everything's tight.
It held up really well in this test. Good job.
- Thank you.
- All right, nathan, you're up. You ready?
- You bet.
♪ ♪
[sword thunking]
♪ ♪
- So, nathan, really nicely done.
I ran my fingernail down that blade,
And I cannot feel any deformation,
Any knicks, nothing, so it's pristine.
Your handle shape--comfortable. It's got that nice flair to it.
The guard's out of my way, so I'm not hitting it.
Nicely done. Good sword.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, this is the sharpness test:
The fish slice.
Now, a sharp edge should be able to cut
All the way through this fish,
And that's what I'd like to see.
Stephanie, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Go do your thing.
♪ ♪
- All right, stephanie, let's talk about your weapon here.
When cutting through the salmon, no issues at al.
It cut all the way through.
Now, when we got to the grouper,
Which is a scalier and thicker fish,
You went more than half.
Overall, it will cut.
- Thank you.
- All right, nathan, your turn, sir. You ready?
- You bet.
♪ ♪
- All right, nathan, let's talk about your weapon here.
Your edge, when cutting through the salmon, no resistance.
Easy cuts.
On the grouper, you cut in more than half.
Overall, your weapon, it will cut.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- Well, bladesmiths, in this third round, we asked you
To go back to your home forges for four days
And come back with strong, sharp, sergeant hayden swords,
And you both did it. Now, in this competition,
Only one of you can go home the champion,
And our judges have talked it through,
And they've made a decision.
Today's "forged in fire" champion is...
♪ ♪
Nathan. Congratulations, man.
Now, stephanie, unfortunately,
Your blade did not make the cut,
And dave baker's gonna tell you why.
- Stephanie, you made a blade you can be proud of.
It tested fantastically.
But in the end, this came down
To a matter of fit and finish and feel,
And basically, your opponent just beat you by that much.
But you did a great job.
- Thank you.
- Well, stephanie, we want to say thank you
For your energy in the forge
And fighting through to the very end.
You gave us a beautiful blade.
But it did not come out on top today.
Unfortunately I'm gonna have to ask you
To please step off the forge floor.
♪ ♪
- This has been a crazy journey.
I'm very proud of my work,
But coming so close that you can almost taste it,
I definitely want to come back and give it one more go
To see if I can be the "forged in fire" champion.
♪ ♪
- Well, nathan, you know what that means, man.
You are the "forged in fire" champion,
And you just got yourself a check for $10,000.
Congratulations.
- I cannot believe I won.
I know it happened. It doesn't quite seem rea.
- How do you feel?
- I have no idea.
[laughter]
Making this weapon, I put everything I had into it,
Trying to make something nice, and I'm overwhelmed.
I cannot believe I own.
I'm nathan butcher.
I'm the "forged in fire" champion.
♪ ♪