[dramatic rock music]
♪ ♪
- My name is josh friend.
I am 33, and I work in aerospace engineering.
I'm also a farmer.
I do leather work, I drive race cars,
And, yeah, I'm heckin' tired. [chuckles]
- My name is bradey peavy,
And I'm from greenville, alabama.
Bladesmithing is one of those things
That I can freely express myself
And put a part of me into every piece that I make.
- Morning, bradey. - Morning.
- This is getting confusing. [laughter]
♪ ♪
- My name is jacie cotterell.
I am a criminal defense attorney.
I'm doing this competition because I'd like
To encourage more female smiths to enter the field,
Because, quite honestly, in the group of bladesmiths
That I smith with,
It's usually me and a whole bunch of dudes.
And I would like some support out there.
[laughs]
- I'm cliff ivey. I'm from fort smith, arkansas.
If you get into bladesmithing, it is work.
You will figure that out real quick.
But my reward for this is the gratification.
I have met the best people
That I never would have met any other way.
- How you doing, cliff? - I'm great.
I can't wait to be turned loose.
- [laughs]
Bladesmiths, welcome to the forge.
The four of you are about to take part
In three extremely intense customize rounds
Of forging competition.
Now, as always, at the end of each round,
I'm gonna ask that you present your work
To our panel of expert judges.
Today those judges are
Expert blacksmith and bladesmith ben abbott,
Historic weapons recreation specialist dave baker,
And, finally, edge-weapons specialist, doug marcaida.
Now, bladesmiths, these guys are the ones who will decide
Which one of you is ultimately gonna be
Leaving here with the title of "forged in fire" champion
And a check for $10,000.
Bladesmiths, we got to apologize
Because we got nothing for you.
We have no idea what you guys are gonna be building today.
And that's because this is a competition,
We like to call "flipping the script."
The four of you are gonna dictate
Everything about the competition.
I'm gonna call each of you up individualy
To grab one of these cards.
And on the reverse side of the card,
There is an attribute to your blade build
That you're gonna have complete control over.
Y'all ready?
- Yeah, let's go for it. All: Yeah.
- Josh, we're starting with you--come grab a card.
♪ ♪
- Which one's a good one? [laughter]
- All right, what do you have?
- I got type of knife.
- Bradey, you're up. Come grab a card.
♪ ♪
What do we have, bradey? - Handle parameters.
- Only two cards left. Jacie, you're up next.
♪ ♪
What else could there be?
♪ ♪
- Blade parameters.
- Well, cliff, last but not least,
Lots of choses out here.
I wonder what it's gonna be. Both: Hmm.
♪ ♪
- Forge technique.
- All right, so we're gonna find out what kind of blae
You're gonna be building.
It's all you. - Oh, yeah.
Y'all have any input on this,
Or you want me to just go for it?
- I do hunters a lot.
- You do hunters? - I like hunters.
- I'm hearing what they want to do,
And it's a friendly competition.
I'm a friendly guy, you know.
I don't want to put anybody
In a position that they can't succeed.
But I've got practice doing uncertain things.
How do y'all feel about recurves?
- I like recurves. - They're all right.
- Yeah. We will do a general recurve blade.
- Next up, we've got blade parameters.
And, jacie, that's you.
- So I'm thinking 11 to 13 inches, okay?
That gives us a nice length
To play with. - I like that.
- I'd like to see a 2-inch belly.
- All right.
- And then let's say inch and a quarter at the thinnest.
Do you guys think inch and a quarter, or do you think
We need up it to inch and a half for strength?
- I'd like to say inch and a half.
- All right, no greater than inch and a half
At the waist, no smaller than 2 inches at the belly.
- Sounds good. - All right.
Now, up next, we have handle parameters.
Bradey, you're up.
- I want to see--I mean, what do y'all want to see?
Like, full tang?
I'm gonna take into consideration
What the other people want, but when it comes to it,
I'm the one holding the card.
All right, then let's do lanyard hole,
Mosaic pin with a full tang.
- All right. [laughter]
It's way worse than we could have thought up.
- Cliff, we still have to hear
What you want to do for your forging technique.
♪ ♪
- Layered damascus? - I'm totally cool with tha.
- Just in general, so if you screw up,
You don't have to have certain amount of layers.
- Are you sure?
- Yeah. [laughter]
- All right, bladesmiths, the decision has been made.
You're gonna have three hours in the first round
Of this competition to build your custom
"forged in fire" knives.
Good luck, 'cause that time starts now.
♪ ♪
This is an interesting and unique competition.
So each of the smiths ran straight to their work station,
Where they got five bars of 1095 and six bars of 15n20.
♪ ♪
- First thing I want to do is get my steel clean,
Because if I've any oil or any contaminates on the steel,
Then it will not weld.
- You guys think with what they have asked for
That there is any pitfalls?
- There is a lot going on.
Recurves by themselves can be pitfalls for people.
Damascus is a pitfall in and of itself.
All of these design elements are not baseline.
- I'm real comfortable with stacked layered damascus
But I think when you put all the parameters decisions
Together, we may or may not have bit
Off a little more than we can chew.
♪ ♪
- Well, it seems like both josh and bradey
Are already both welded and in the fire.
That was quick.
- I take this time to go ahed and sketch my design--
Kind of a camp knife, kukri mix.
I want to make sure I have enough of a tip
So that if it's used for stabbing
That it can do the job effectively.
My billet is finally getting up to color.
I like to get that first initial forge weld
Done by hand so I can feel the steel compress together.
- Next time I might let that come up another 100 degrees.
It was marginally welding in temperature.
- Not having enough heat in the billet, you might fid
That the core of that billet isn't welded properly.
- I'm super excited to be in front of these judges--
Ben abbott, david baker, doug marcaida,
These guys are truly some of the heroes
That got me into bladesmithing.
- This is gonna be a super-tough challenge.
So I'm here to heat it, beat it, repeat it.
I'm here to win.
All right.
- So jacie is setting her weld using the press.
- Gonna have to set those welds gently.
You know, we see those billets fish-lip out.
- I start pressing it, and...
♪ ♪
It opens up like a new year's eve fire cracker.
- So, with jacie, are there potential issues
Once she's closing that in?
- Yeah, it's wide open to the atmosphere,
And oxygen is just excited to be in there and do its thing.
- Your chances of blowing those welds is a bit higher.
- Don't panic, jacie.
Just put it back in, re-press it.
This may still be salvageable.
She will tell you when its welded.
You know, it'll ring.
If it's not welded, it'll thump.
[metal ringing] it's ringing.
Awesome.
Are you having fun yet?
- I'm having a blast. - Yeah, it's fun!
- Hell, yeah. It's fun! - Hell, yeah!
I do not make a lot of damascus at home
But I am happy with the decision
Of the forging technique
Because I like to be challenged,
And I get gratification back from it.
- You can see that block's popping out.
That's a good indicator
That that steel is binding up with one another.
I'm not even trying to look at the clock--I am focused.
♪ ♪
- So I got my weld set, and I'm ready to start drawing out.
My plan for this damascus is
I'm gonna cut it into three pieces
And then re-stack it.
That way, I've got 33 layer damascus blade.
- I'm really liking what I'm seeing josh do.
He is the only one sitting at 33 layers.
Everyone else is at 11.
- This cut and re-stack is gonna take a lot longer,
But I'm gonna re-stack it
Because I feel like that will help set me apart.
I'll take my time cleaning it.
Gonna heat it up one more time and get it drawn out
And go for it.
♪ ♪
- Oh, yes, she welded up nice.
The parameter I'm most concerned with
Is that 2-inch belly.
That's a lot to pull out of a piece of steel.
I'm trying to make sure that I've enough width,
While trying to make sure that I've enough length
So that I can fit all the parameters.
- He's almost there on length,
But I don't think he has got that belly width.
- Yeah, that's the trick.
Got to chase all the dimensions at the same time.
♪ ♪
- Ah!
- Jacie came up to the barrel and verified the parametes
With what's on the paper
I think that's a really smart move.
- Absolutely.
- The only thing more embarrassing
Than going home on parameters,
Is going home on parameters that I set.
It's a good billet. Right now it's too thick.
So I'm trying to get it down to a quarter inch.
So I'm making a kiss block to try
And help me control this a little bit.
The kiss block is a quarter inch.
♪ ♪
There we go.
I've got it all at a quarter inch,
And I'm already 18 inches long.
So 13-inch blade 5-inch handle, we're there.
- I've always had love for the knife.
My family has put up with me for three years now.
As soon as I get through with work, I'm in my shop.
Lots of long nights, lots of weekends.
So I hope that prepared me for this.
♪ ♪
Right now I've drawn it out as much as I can.
♪ ♪
- Cliff's on big blu, and it got away from him for a second.
- Oh. Ooh.
I take a good look at it, and it's just beat up.
In a competition like this, devil is in the details,
But I'm trying to keep moving.
So, when I'm on the grinder, I'll just clean them up.
- Bladesmiths, you have two hours left!
♪ ♪
I think that josh is happy with that second weld set.
He's over on big blu now.
- I get to 33 layers, and I'm feeling pretty good.
Now it's time to get the curve in the blade.
- Oh, that's smart. - There we go.
- So, guys, how do you define a recurve?
- Curve, recurve.
- So it has to go one direction
And change directions. - Exactly.
- I typically don't forge blades this large.
So going for that recurve is proving to be difficult.
I'd like to not take the blame for this,
But I'm the one that picked recurve.
♪ ♪
- I've got a solid damascus billet,
But I haven't done anything knife-y yet.
So I start forging in the tip
And then I see a slight fish mouth or--
What they'll call it is a cold shut by the tip.
- Oh, no, guys. - Ah, come on.
- A cold shut can end up being
A stress riser in the final blade
Because it's a preformed crack just waiting to get bigger.
- Going back in and hammering out the fish mouth
Is definitely going to be a huge pain,
But I'm figuring I'll just grind that out.
The clock is melting away, and I got to work on that curve.
- Bladesmiths, you have 90 minutes left in this round!
- Here I am, forging out my tang.
♪ ♪
- Uh-oh.
- I notice I have a delam
Running about halfway down my blade.
[bleep].
- That's some serious delaminations
Or cracks in there.
- This can't be happening.
I'm gonna give this one shot.
I'ma flux it and see if I can't fix it.
If there's any impurities in between those steels,
You can get cracks,
You can have your steel split on you.
Just all sorts of things can go wrong.
It just won't stick.
This is an absolute nightmare for me.
I don't know what I'm gonna do.
- I know that I'm going to be fighting
With this delamination the rest of the round
If I don't go ahead and scrap this blade now.
I'ma have to restart.
- Bradey's decided to completely scrap his blade.
- And that could be a good decision.
- Absolutely. - A lot of times you're chasing
A problem until the end.
So what are you turning in? A problem.
[dramatic music]
- Hey, you got this, man. Don't give up. Okay?
- Oh, I came too far to give up now.
♪ ♪
- At this point, I'm very pleased
With the progress of my blade, so I decide to let it col
A little bit and start working on the holes.
I definitely want to drill the holes
While the steel is still soft.
- Good idea to do that, then he can quench.
♪ ♪
- Guys, cliff's the first one in the oil.
- Yeah, that color was beautiful.
- No pops, no tings, no big fireballs.
It's really kind of boring.
She's hard.
- I've got a shape that I'm pretty happy with,
But going into this quench, my biggest concerns are bad weld.
They can start pulling away from each other,
And you could end up with delaminations.
So hopefully these 33 have all been good to each other
And they're ready to not separate.
♪ ♪
- All right, josh just quenched.
♪ ♪
- Blade's straight. I'm happy.
- Jacie got a pretty interesting blade shape.
- Super.
- It's time for the quench.
♪ ♪
- It has a nice color to it.
- Put it right in the straightening just,
Just in case--warps can develop as they cool.
♪ ♪
Aha.
Thank god. I open it up--straight blade.
- Man, we only have 35 minutes left.
Bradey's still trying to catch up from behind,
But he's doing a good job.
- I'm kind of happy with how this blade's turning out,
But I'm still not sure that I can turn out a blade in time.
I'm going to work this blade until I can't work it anymor.
- He's not out of the fight.
- My game plan on the grinder is to fine-tune my profiling.
And I realize I have a lot of hammer marks,
And I'm trying to clean them up.
♪ ♪
I'm not happy with the contrast of the pattern,
So I put on a polishing belt and see if I can get it to pop.
- If you have a rough surface and you try to acid-etch it,
It's kind of like screen printing on a sweater.
- The welds look phenomenal. I've got my inch and a half.
I've got the 13 inches, and, thank god,
I got the 2 inches down I needed for the belly.
And now I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel.
♪ ♪
- Bradey's quenched, guys. That is awesome.
- That's great. - Yeah.
- He restarted, he stacked up,
Turned it into the blade that they asked for.
- Good for him.
- Everything looks straight, and it's hard.
I'm so happy.
- I'm honestly really glad he didn't give up.
- I'm absolutely exhausted, but for a blade
That I'm knocked out in an hour and a half,
I'm through the moon right now,
- Five, four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, turn off the machines!
Pull your blades out of the acid!
That's it, this round is over!
♪ ♪
- So I realized I forgot to fix my tip.
My tip still has a fish mouth.
I'm not feeling super confident right now.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths,
In the first three hours of this competition,
You had carte blanche to choose whatever blade
You wanted to build, and I'm happy to say
That all four of you met those parameters,
But the time has come for the critique.
Josh, you're up first.
♪ ♪
- All right, josh.
So you've got a recurved edge here.
Got a nice little aggressive point,
But right there where my hand butts up
Against the choil of the blade,
It would be a good idea to refine that shape,
'cause a finger riding into a corner is usually a problem,
But generally, the steel looks good.
So, well done. - Thank you, sir.
- All right, bradey, please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, bradey good on you to start over again.
Your steel is pretty much solid.
Not really a lot of delams, just a couple right there.
The downside of your blade
Is that you need to refine your grinds right there
'cause it's a little bit on the wobbly side.
You need to do a lot of grinding to refine your blade.
- Yes, sir. - All right, jacie, you're up.
Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- Well, jacie, your profile is interesting
But there's a slight delamination here at the tip.
So pay attention to that, but I think you're
In a good spot to a nice-looking blade.
- Thank you - last but not least,
Cliff, please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, cliff. Good job on this.
I like the curved handle you have there.
It accentuates your recurve, but should you move forward,
I'd like to see a little bit more refinement there.
You have a lot of deep hammer marks in there,
That's not really an issue, so overall, good job.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths all four of you
Fought extremely hard, but in this competition,
Only three of you can join us in the second round.
The bladesmiths that's going to leaving the forges is...
♪ ♪
Bradey.
Unfortunately, your blade didn't make the cut today.
And ben's going to tell you why.
- Well, bradey, I think you did the right thing--
To restart when you did.
Unfortunately, that left you in a spot
Where yours is the least refined blade,
And it's for that reason for sending you home.
- Thank you for having me.
- Well, bradey you fought until the very end,
But, unfortunately, your time in this competition has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you to please surrender your work
And step off the forge floor.
- Good job, bradey.
- Overall, I'm happy with the blade.
I'm glad I got to turn something in,
And, really, that's a win in my book.
I'ma leave here with my head high.
- Well, bladesmiths, congratulations.
The three of you are moving forward into the second round
Of our competition.
Now, in this round, you're gonna fix any issus
That the judges brought up, as well
As add handles to your blades,
Making them fully functioning weapons.
As bradey chose, you guys are going to be adding scales
To your full tang handles,
A mosaic pin, and a lanyard hole.
But you guys probably noticed that in the first round,
I didn't mention anything about testing.
You see here, we have a barrel with a lot of different,
Well, pretty hard materials on it.
What I want you all to do
Is decide what you want your strength test to be.
We have antler, copper, conduit.
We've got mild steel tubing,
And we have rebar as well as some steel barrels.
Now, keep in mind after the strength test,
There is a sharpness test to check your edge retention.
We've decided we are going to do a playing card slice.
So take a minute,
Decide what you want your strength test to be.
- So is there like a teddy bear chop
Or something we could use?
[laughter]
- I would go with either the mild steel or the antler.
- Never had tin balls to account for.
- I mean, I've hammered my blades into mild steel.
So I'd probably say the antler.
- My first choice is antler. - Antler.
- All right, let's do it.
- All right. You guys are going to be going
Through an antler chop for your strength test.
You have two hours in the second round of this
The competition, so good luck.
Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
They went with the antler chop.
Would you guys have chosen anything differently?
- I would have chosen the copper.
- Really? Copper tends to bite.
- It bites, but not as much as antler does.
And it also gives, it'll crush, whereas antler doesn't.
- I'm gonna drop the tip and pull it back about a half inh
So that I get rid of that cold shut, that fish mouth.
The profile looks great. It's much more "stabbier."
Now I'm gonna I have to put in a mosaic pin.
- Every one of the smiths is working on their mosaic pins
Right now.
Pretty smart move, 'cause it's gonna have to cure up.
♪ ♪
From the get-go, cliff has been working really, really smart.
He's got a very defined shape and a very defined handle.
- But what I saw was that
There were still a lot of hammer marks.
It was still unfinished in there.
- While my epoxy is sitting up in my mosaic pin,
I have a lot of hammer marks,
And I'm trying to clean them up.
Winning this competition would mean accomplishing big goals.
And the fact I made it this far is pretty outstanding.
But I have a lot to do.
Whoo.
♪ ♪
- So josh finished getting his mosaic pin together
And filled it with epoxy,
And now he's over at the grinder.
- I'm real nitpicky, and I try to get everything righ.
And so doing of that in two hours
Is going to be an incredible challenge.
Dave told me that I need to smooth out the intersection
Between the handle and the blade.
Almost there. Almost there.
I'm just going as quick as I can.
I'm gonna have to push it
- Bladesmiths, you are halfway through your handle aroun!
♪ ♪
- Because I drilled my holes in the first round,
I feel like I have an advantage
'cause I can just drill into the scales and move on.
I'm trying to fit my pins through the scales,
And they're not wanting to go together.
So I'm trying to force them, and things are a little tight,
And so I've enlarged the holes some more.
♪ ♪
- I don't have a lot of time,
But I still have to get the handle on.
Just praying that these holes are going to go through.
Holy crap.
The first two holes drilled nice and easy.
Then my lanyard hole...
Are you [bleep] me?
- We've seen that drill press be a stumbling block
For a lot of smiths.
- We're required to incorporate lanyard holes
Into our handles.
So no hole, no hope of round three.
I just abandon the drill press.
I'm just going to see
If I can chew through it with a dremel tool.
I'm not feeling super confident about time right now.
[tool whirring] oh, we're through!
♪ ♪
Yeah!
♪ ♪
- Oh, josh is still really aggressively grinding.
That doesn't have a handle on there yet.
- All right, there it is. Now I got to do the handle.
I grabbed this blue synthetic material.
It's in a big sheet,
So I'm going to get it cut down.
- See if josh's scales fit on here.
- That's really thin.
And it is very thin.
That's not going to work for a chopping test.
- Oh, boy.
- If you swing down and that blade rolls at all,
Oftentimes that's a result of the handle construction.
- Bladesmiths, you have 20 minutes left.
- I'm running out of time very quickly.
I got to find materials to fit my handle.
- Now we come to the panic mode.
I don't know how I'm going to finish it.
That's not gonna work.
So I got to find materials to fit my handle.
So I find this sheet of orange material.
It's not what I would prefer to use,
But it's thicker than the other one.
- He's just running out of time to shape the handle now.
- Oh, my gosh.
I'm not where I want to be.
- Now we come to the panic mode.
- Oh, yeah.
- I don't know how I'm going to finish at this point.
Got to go, got to go, got to go.
- I've got my handle set.
Now I got to sharpen my blade.
- They went with the antler chop, which is pretty bruta.
Is there a specific grind type
That's going to perform best in that test?
- Well, I mean, the convex grind, the appleseed-edge cut,
Because it's a supported yet sharp blade.
- I don't want to bust my knife on antlers.
So I just have to put my convex edge on
And then just hope for the best and pray
♪ ♪
- The kind of shape I'm going for on this handle
Is called a bird's head.
Fits the hands very well.
And it's a nice popular style, and it works.
At this point,
I'm real happy with how the knife is turning out.
I just hope that whoever tests my knife
Gives me everything they got, 'cause I want to earn it.
- Bladesmiths, you have 10 minutes left!
- Oh, my gosh.
I still got to sharpen my blade.
I've got to shape my handle, and I don't have the time.
So I'm trying to put a convex edge on this blade
To help hold up against the antler chop.
Oh, my goodness.
The judges are going to need a good grip.
So I got to shape this handle as best I can and turn it in.
- Cutting it close.
♪ ♪
- Five, four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, this round is over.
- That was tough.
I just hope that it can withstand the antler chop
And at least cut through some of the cards,
But I'm very concerned.
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the strength test.
You were given a choice of a lot of different materials,
And you chose the antler.
To test the strength and durability of your edge
As well as the overall construction,
I'll be chopping into these antlers.
Josh, you're up first. You ready?
- Kill it. - I think it's already dead.
- [laughs]
- I'm looking at this out antler--it could break.
It could chip, crack, it could roll the edge,
And I slapped that handle together fast.
There's a good chance a piece of my handle
Just fly right off.
♪ ♪
- Nice.
♪ ♪
- All right, josh. You're all in one piece.
Well done.
One thing did happen in this test, and right here,
Your edge, while still sharp,
It took a little joggle over by about a 16th of an inch.
The rest of the blade looks good.
I mean, it's still sharp. Yeah, so, well done.
- Thank you very much. - All right, jacie. You're up.
You ready? - Have fun.
I would be lying if I said
That I didn't have second thoughts
About the antler chop.
The pressure is absolutely huge.
♪ ♪
- All right, jacie, all in one piece--well done.
The edge took some damage.
There's some chipping, and there's a bunch of it
That it's a serrated blade now,
But on the whole, your blade held up nicely, so nice job.
All right, cliff. You're up, man.
- Tear it up. - All right.
♪ ♪
- An antler is no joke.
They are incredibly tough and strong.
Pretty antler like that, I'd turn it into handles.
I wouldn't beat it to death.
[laughing]
♪ ♪
- All right, cliff, your edges held up perfectly.
It's a little bit more obtuse than the other two,
But that worked in your favor on this test.
In general, nice job. - Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, this is the playing card slice.
♪ ♪
Unlike the strength test, this is all about your edge
And how sharp your weapons are.
- Josh, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Take it easy on me. [chuckles]
- I put a final edge on this blade
With, like, seconds left on the clock.
Looking at the cards, my confidence is pretty low.
♪ ♪
- All right, josh,
It looks like you played your cards right.
Those are very clean cuts all the way through.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it will cut.
- Thank you, doug.
- All right, jacie, your turn. Are you're ready?
- Use the sharp part.
- All right, we'll try.
♪ ♪
- Oh-ho-ho. - [exhales deeply]
[sighs]
- All right, jacie, despite having taken some damage
On your edge over here, these chips are still sharp.
They're clean cuts, it cut all the way through,
And it'll cut.
♪ ♪
[laughter]
- All right, cliff. Your turn. Sir, you ready?
- I am. - All right, let's do thi.
♪ ♪
All right, cliff let's talk about your weapon here.
You have an obtuse kind of grind,
But the edges are also sharp.
Initially, there's resistance,
But the edge then gets to cut through.
Overall, sir, it'll cut.
- Thank you.
- All right, bladesmiths.
All three of you performed exceptionally well,
But only two of you can join us in the third and final round
Of this competition, and the judges have made a decision.
The bladesmith who's going to be leaving the forge is...
♪ ♪
Jacie.
Unfortunately, your blade didn't make the cut.
And dave baker is going to tell you why.
- Jacie, I think you did a great job
Forging out that blade and turning in something
That made it through our test quite well.
But your blade took more damage
Than the others did in the strength test.
That's why we're letting you go.
- Understood.
- Well, jacie, you're clearly a very talented smith,
And you have a lot to be proud of,
But, unfortunately, your time in this competition has ended.
I'm going to have to ask you
To please step off the forge floor.
- Good job. - Good fight, jacie.
- The experience of being here was absolutely awesome.
I'd love to see more women in the trade.
It's really fun, and you don't need to be huge to do I.
See?
♪ ♪
- Well, guys, congratulations. Your hard work paid off.
And the two of you moving forward
Into the third and final round.
Now, bladesmiths, in the first two rounds
Of this competition, you got to choose your challenges,
But we are taking back control.
We want you two to build this...
♪ ♪
The tibetan sword.
♪ ♪
- The tibetan sword, also called the dpa'dam,
Traces its origins back to the kham region
Of eastern tibet during the 18th century.
This straight single-edged blade
Features an oblique tip
Perfect for delivering fast fatal slashes
And deep deadly thrusts on an enemy combatant.
While warriors carry this fierce sidearm into battle,
It was most commonly worn
By tibetan chieftains and royalty.
While the tibetan sword is no longer used in combat,
This weapon can still be seen today
At the metropolitan museum of art in new york city.
- Now, bladesmiths, you need to have a single-edge blade
That measured between 23 and 25 inches.
You need to have a circular guard,
A wire-wrapped handle, and clover-shaped pommel.
- None of this blade is like anything I've ever done.
I'm confident in my ability to make it,
But it's going to be a trial by fire.
- Well, guys, you will only have four days
At your home forges to build your tibetan swords.
One of them is going to be worth the title
Of "forge of fire" champion and a check for $10,000.
So good luck, gentlemen. We will see you in four day.
- All right. - Good luck, man.
- All right.
♪ ♪
- I'm ready to get started on this tibetan sword.
All right, let's get welding.
I like to challenge myself.
I'm hoping to do something a little different
With some feather damascus.
So one of the challenging things involves splitting
The billet down the center
Without splitting it completely
And then welding it back to itself.
So I've got this thing drawn out.
It's time to cut it and reset.
At the end of the day,
I wish I could be a little further along,
But I set myself up
To be able to hit the ground running tomorrow morning.
♪ ♪
- Today I will be making a tibetan sword.
All right, let's get this show on the road.
I'm gonna be working with 5160. I'm familiar with it.
I just haven't gone this many inches.
This thing is getting heavy.
Weight is a concern
Because I want a weapon that can be used properly.
Oh, yeah, there we go.
I'm moving and grooving.
I actually luckily have gotten to the point
Where I can quench.
♪ ♪
I feel great. Quenched on day one.
Yeah, baby! [chuckles]
- Going into day two,
I got a lot of work ahead of me.
I've got these welds set, but the more difficult part
Is going to be cutting the feather into this billet.
♪ ♪
As I'm forcing the feather tool through the billet...
Oh, that's not good.
I worked it too long that it just broke loose.
If these welds come apart, I don't know what I'm gonna do.
♪ ♪
That's a whole day's worth of work down the drain.
I need to figure out another plan as quickly as I can.
The billet is useless. It's time for plan b.
Oh, my gosh.
I take a piece of 80crv2 to make a mono steel blade.
♪ ♪
Day two has been one heck of a day,
But I got my mono steel blade forged and shaped,
And I'm ready to call it a night.
There it is.
- Day three.
Yesterday was good. The handle is excellent.
All I got to do is figure out the pommel.
♪ ♪
I want a weapon that's light.
So what I'm gonna do is go with a wood pommel
Instead of a metal one to keep the weight down.
It's simple, it's effective, it's gonna work great.
Hmm, looks good.
♪ ♪
- Day four. This has been one heck of a journey.
Yesterday I got started on my guard and pommel.
All right. That should be good.
Now it's time for the handle.
I've never done a wire wrap before,
So I'm just gonna figure it out as I go.
♪ ♪
I thought I was going to be that guy
Turning in an incomplete blade,
But with seconds to spare, I finish it.
There it is.
♪ ♪
- Day four.
Got a little bit more to do, wrap some things up.
Want to blue-back it one time, and then I'll be sharpening.
♪ ♪
After four days of hard work, I learned a lot.
Win or lose, I'm ready to see it in action.
♪ ♪
- Well, josh, cliff,
Welcome back to the forge, gentlemen.
You guys had four days to work on your renditions
Of the tibetan sword, and they look deadly.
So, josh, tell us about your work.
♪ ♪
- The blade is built out of 80crv2
With a wrought-iron guard and pommel
With a bronze wire-wrapped handle.
- Cliff, how about you?
- The blade material's 5116,
Guard is wrought iron, and lingam is the pommel.
- Well, gentlemen, there's only one way we know
How to find out which one of you guys
Is gonna take home the title of "forged in fire" champion
And that check for $10,000.
We have a strength test, a sharpness test,
And up first, the keal.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the keal test.
It's time to find out what kind of lethal damage
Your tibetan swords can do.
Josh, you're up first. You're ready for this?
- May as well. - All right, let's do this.
- Cutting through a hog like this,
The skin is really thick and, of course, bones.
We kind of saw what antlers did to our weapons
In round two.
It's nerve-racking, to say the least.
♪ ♪
- All right, josh, in swinging your blade,
The edge you have is sharp.
Each chop and slice in there is very deep.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it'll keal.
- Thank you, doug. - All right, cliff, your turn.
Sir, you ready?
- Oh, yes, let's do it. - Let's do this.
- Pigs are no joke.
It'll absorb a blade and snap that sucker off.
♪ ♪
- All right, cliff, your pommel looks great,
But if it was metal, it would help with the balance
To bring it back a little bit,
Rather than be very forward heavy.
The edge you have here is very sharp,
And with the weight pushing it,
It cut the pig all the way through.
Overall, sir, your tibetan sword, it'll keal.
- Yeah.
♪ ♪
- All right, gentlemen.
Welcome to ceramics with dave, our strength test.
Remember, it's not about what your blades do to these pots
But what these pots do to your blades.
And, josh, you are up first.
- Break the pots, not the blade.
- [chuckles] I'll do my best.
♪ ♪
[laughter]
- Oh, wow. - All right, josh.
Very nicely balanced weapon, but that extremely acute ede
You have there has taken some damage.
It's still completely available blade--good job.
- All right, cliff, you're up. Are you ready?
- Smash and bash. - [laughs]
♪ ♪
- All right, cliff.
Without the counterbalance, it's very forward heavy.
It makes it a slower blade to fight with and control.
Now, getting up on your blade here, very similar damage,
In that there are a lot of very small nicks
And chips out of your edge,
But it's still in one piece.
So, well done. - Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, this is the sharpness test,
The rug slice.
Josh, you're up first. Ready for this?
- May as well. - Let's do it.
♪ ♪
- All right, josh,
As you can see, this section that took some damage--
It cuts, but you can feel it get hung up on the rug.
But overall, sir, it will cut.
- Thanks, doug.
- All right, cliff. Your turn, sir. You ready?
- Yes, sir. - Let's do this.
♪ ♪
- All right, cliff.
In the areas that took damage on the strength test,
You can see that they rip some pieces of the rug.
The forward weight of this you can see easily
Lends to coming down, but when you're cutting up,
It's harder to wield, but overall, sir, it'll cut.
- Thank you.
- All right, josh, cliff,
We wanted you to bring tibetan swords that were sharp,
That were strong and wieldable.
And both of you did exactly what we asked,
But in this competition, there can only be one
"forged in fire" champion.
Today's "forged in fire" champion is...
♪ ♪
Josh.
Congratulations.
Now, cliff, unfortunately,
Your tibetan sword didn't make the cut today.
And doug's going to tell you why.
- Cliff, both weapons took the same damage,
And we had the same results on the tests.
So it came down to the wield-ability
And feel of your blade.
Your blade is a lot more forward heavy with the balance
And it was more difficult to wield.
- Cliff, you clearly have what it takes
To fight in this forge, but, unfortunately, your tie
In the "flip the script" competition has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you to please step
Off the forge floor. - Thank you for having me.
- Thank you for coming. - Good job, cliff.
- Am I a little disappointed? Yes.
But I've been challenged in a really, really good wa.
So I have a lot to be thankful for.
- Well, josh, you are
The newest "forged in fire" champion.
You got yourself a check for $10,000.
Congratulations.
- Thank you, guys. - How do you feel?
- Fantastic. I never thought I would be at this moment.
It's truly a blessing to be where I am right now.
It was hard-fought, and I'm incredibly grateful to be here.
This has been an unreal experience.
♪ ♪