[dramatic music]
- Here in the forge, we are always raising the bar,
But now we are putting it at an all-time high.
Everything in this competition,
From the steel, the blades, even the tests
Will be some of the biggest we have ever seen
On the forge floor.
- That is a huge knife michael's got.
- That thing is humongous.
Who will rise to this massive challenge
And take home $10,000?
[laughing] you guys look terrified.
This is "forged in fire supersized."
[glass breaking]
[upbeat rock music]
- I'm mark howland. I'm 28 years old.
I got into bladesmithing
By just finding a bunch of guys
Sword fighting in a field with armor on.
One of them happened to be making swords at the time,
And he recruited me
In, like, kind of apprentice-master program.
I had this vest custom-made for the competition
Because I knew david baker shouldn't be
The only one looking this good.
[laughter]
♪ ♪
- My name is john simons from indianapolis.
I have three years bladesmithing,
And most of that's all self-taught.
I love doing this.
Some people want to go to disney world.
I want to come here.
This is my vacation,
So I'm really looking forward to it.
- My name is michael dillon. 54 years old.
Been forging for 30 years.
I started making knives for props in the movie industry.
I'm pretty confident, but I'm worrying
My pants may fall down.
That's why I have a belt and suspenders.
Double up. [laughs]
♪ ♪
- My name is matt cota.
I'm from live oak, texas.
I'm 30 years old,
Been bladesmithing for five years.
I was in the air force, and one of the happiest thins
I get to do as a bladesmith is volunteering
With a san antonio nonprofit called reforged,
Taking veterans and first responders
And giving them a free bladesmithing course.
We also get to use this as a type of art therapy.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the forge.
The four of you are about to take part
In the biggest bladesmith competition going.
Today we are starting the first in a four-competition series
We're calling "forged in fire supersized."
Now, at the end of each round, you will present your work
To our panel of expert judges,
Who will make critiques and eliminations.
Now, gentlemen, under this tarp is not one but two
Of the largest pieces of steel
We have ever asked smiths to salvage the materials from
To make a blade.
- I'm seeing this huge, tarped monstrosity
In the center of the room, and my best guess
Of what's under there is things I'm not gonna like.
- Today, bladesmiths, to make a knife,
You're gonna need this.
♪ ♪
What we have here is 7 feet of railroad.
This railroad is made of hardenable steel.
This is exactly what we want you to use
To make a signature blade in your signature style
Measuring between 15 and 17 inches.
- We don't have to use all of it, right?
- At the end of the first round,
You'll present your work to our judges,
And one of you will be leaving.
But then we'll move into the second round of competition,
And for the three of you who join us,
You'll add handles to those blades,
Making them fully functioning weapons.
When that round is complete, you'll turn them over
To the judges again, and they will check
For strength and durability
In a railroad tie chop,
And then check your edge retention
In a leather stab-and-slice.
All right, gentlemen, you have three hours
On the clock for the first round, so good luck.
Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
- Here? There?
- Let's cut on this side.
- All right. - Okay, you two take that side.
We'll take this side.
- Awesome, yeah.
- This is a big one
In a lot of different ways, guys.
- You know, one of the things about this is,
The hardest part of this challenge
Is harvesting your steel,
Because right after that, it's mono steel.
And there are so many ways you can actually
Cut it to length already
So that it's just about drawing it out.
- I've never worked with railroad track
To build knives before.
Sculpture, but never knives.
Railroad track is very difficult to work
Because of its shape and its size
And being able to cut it.
- A part of the strategy in this is thinking
About what piece of this railroad track
You want to salvage your metal from.
- You can cut a big chunk quickly...
- Mm-hmm.
- And forge that, spend more time forging,
Or you can cut out from the thinner part of the body.
It's less forging.
I like the fact that michael right away grabbed the...
- Yup. - The hot wrench.
- That's the easiest and fastest way.
- I've been using oxyacetylene for over 30 years.
I'm looking to use the bottom half of the railroad track
Just because gravity helps with that cut.
♪ ♪
- It looks like he cut it with tip already in.
- That's almost a blade shape already.
- Just put an edge on it and quench it.
- That's some good thinking there.
- Yeah.
- I take it to the grinder,
Try and get some of the slag off
So I can shape this blade easily in the forge.
♪ ♪
- I'm going for the cutting torch.
I do not have barely any experience using it,
But it's gonna be the fastest way
To get through this track.
- Look at john's flame.
It's way too large to get a good cut.
- It starts out great, but then liquid metal starts
Filling up the cut I just made.
And it's hardening up.
It's a big, hot mess.
- If you know the tools, you could potentially
Get through this in a matter of five minutes or so,
But if you have trouble
Setting up the oxyacetylene torch for one,
This could take you a really long time
To get that steel to start working with.
- I'm not getting a clean cut through this.
It's extremely frustrating, so I'm gonna grab a hamme.
If it doesn't budge, I gotta start
This nightmare all over again.
♪ ♪
Yeah!
Now I can start getting to work.
♪ ♪
- Now--ah, ah.
Mark's made the decision to go with the cutoff wheel.
- If you're going to the cutoff wheel,
I would not go near the top rail.
If you're good with a cutting torch,
That's when I'd go with the top rail.
- It's just not cutting through like I need it to.
I know oxyacetylene's gonna e
The quickest way through this, but I don't know how to run it.
So I'm sitting there trying to get this thing moving,
And I just am looking at the clock, dreading it.
♪ ♪
- Bottom rail, just off to the side,
Should be wide enough,
Thick enough to make the 17 to 15.
- Oh, yeah.
- The reason I'm going with the middle of the I-beam
Is 'cause it's actually the thinnest
And it's the flattest.
- When we're asking you for supersized and big blades,
Get a big piece and have sacrificial steel.
You can always remove metal.
You can't add metal.
Well, unless you start forge welding.
- Cutting this is taking
Much longer than I had anticipated.
I'm able to get the bottom part of my rectangle
Cut off extremely easy.
Unfortunately, the top, flat part of the railroad track
Is in the way of the top part of the angle grinder,
So I don't feel comfortable trying to cut
That piece off upside down.
So I'm just going to get
As close as I can, the best that I can.
The longer it takes for me to cut this,
That's gonna be less time I'm gonna have
To be able to get everything done that I need to
In this short amount of time.
♪ ♪
- After I get off the grinder, I'm on to the forge
And get it under the hammer as soon as possible.
♪ ♪
I'm gonna make a large fighter knife.
It's a drop point, nice, long, sleek, sexy.
Some of the blades that I've made for props
Have been apocalyptic in style.
I think it's somewhat similar.
- Look how long michael's billet's already gotten.
- This blade's looking fantastic.
♪ ♪
- Now that my steel's clean, it's in the forge.
I decided to go with almost a machete--
I think would be the easiest style to go with for this,
And it'd be great for chopping.
Now I have to get this drawn out.
♪ ♪
- I finally get a piece knocked off,
And I throw it in the forge as quick as I can.
♪ ♪
- Matt got his steel finally. - Whoo!
It feels so good to finally get this stuck in the forge.
Even though I'm the last one, I'm still feeling okay
Because of my rectangle.
I've already got something that's roughly a billet shape
That I just gotta stretch out and make
The right length and width.
- What would you guys do, as far as your blade shape?
- I'd go with the apple seed edge,
But I would make a wide blade
Just to get that long, steep profile.
- I've decided that the best overall weapon
That I can make in my own style is gonna be a viking seax.
A viking seax is gonna be fantastic
For the chopping test.
Because it's a straight edge,
I'm able to work that a lot quicker.
♪ ♪
- I think I can get this done.
I'm confident.
I know what I need to do and can't second-guess myself.
As I'm seeing that thing come up to temp,
I see two huge fractures just right on the end of it.
- Mark thinks he saw a crack in there.
That is still way more steel than he needs
For the blade we're asking for.
Draw it out.
If you think there's a crack, cut it off
Or use it for the tang portion of the blade.
- I'm exasperated.
Those stress fractures are gonna be
Throughout the entire thing.
My options here are, hope I can wind up
Getting past those stress fractures,
Or just chuck it and run, see if I can get another piece.
- I don't know.
Mark's just-- he's just standing there.
- Yeah.
- I was finally able to rip off this railroad track,
But I'm looking at the time,
Making the decision to grab another piece.
It's tough. I don't know what to do.
[bleep].
- So, guys, we're halfway through
Our supersized challenge,
And he's thinking about going back to the 7-foot railrod
And starting over--
Not an easy task.
- I see two huge fractures.
My options here are, hope I can wind up
Getting past the stress fractures,
Or just chuck it and run.
- Mark's just gonna change it up
And get a different piece of steel.
You spent all that time cutting that piece of steel,
Letting it heat up, and now you're gonna start over?
- And I don't understand why he didn't even attempt
To draw it out.
- I go for one of the thinner sections.
I'm feeling, like, really under the gun right now.
- Mark's got a second piece of steel now,
Which is considerably smaller than his first piece,
So we're going from one extreme to the other.
- I'm thinking to myself, this is gonna be tight,
But I have to go with my guns here.
- Bladesmiths, you have 90 minutes left.
[rock music]
- This blade, I'm loving it.
I hope everybody loves it as much as I do.
So I'm gonna grab a little piece of rebar.
I'm gonna shape it in a little tiny heart
For my good friend j.
Hopefully he won't break my heart.
- That man loves what he's doing.
[laughter]
- Shame it's not valentine's day.
- I'm feeling good about my ability
To get this thing shaped to what I want it to be,
But this is a thick piece of metal
That I gotta get thinned down.
- And we've got massive pieces of steel
For them to salvage to make their blades,
But hoping we don't have
Boat anchors turned in for you guys to test,
Because that could be detrimental to your shoulders
And their ability to get 10 grand.
- With that in mind, I decide a fuller
Is the best course of action.
- So what's the point of using the guillotine
To put the fullers in and not just going to grinder
With a small wheel?
- If you're grinding it in, you're really not changing
The shape of the blade at all.
But if you use the guillotine, every time you hammer down,
You're widening the blade.
- And I'm able to get a nice straight line.
♪ ♪
- I normally make large knives, but the length requirement,
15 to 17 inches, is insane.
I'm drawing it out.
It's thicker on one side than the other,
So it's starting to banana on me.
Ugh.
It's a bit frustrating.
I'm always having to go flatten it out
Before I can stretch it again.
Once I get the profile forged out,
I look at the clock.
It's about time to get grinding.
♪ ♪
- This is definitely throwing a wrench in my work.
It's time to get this thing shaped up.
The final shape is based on a georgian satevari.
It looks like it's two-edged, but it's not.
It's a single edge running all the way up.
I can have long bevels,
And I'm gonna have a thick spine
For a railroad tie chop.
- I was worried about mark, but he's really catching up.
- I'm a little on the fringes.
A lot of the stuff I make is fantasy-based
With historical thrown in,
But I'm feeling pretty good about myself.
- Bladesmiths, you have 45 minutes remaining.
♪ ♪
- What I like about michael's blade
Is that all it is is a play on scale.
It's just sort of that musso bowie shape.
He's just blown it up.
- A lot. - By 4 inches.
- [laughing] it's huge.
♪ ♪
- All right. - There you go.
He had a nice color going on with that.
- It looks pretty straight.
All I got left to do now is grind away.
♪ ♪
- Since I turned my forge on the first time,
I just fell in love with it.
Making knives is a form of art.
Making something out of nothing is what I like most about it.
The color looks good.
♪ ♪
- John in the quench.
- It looks extremely straight.
I'm relieved, but I have to get back to the grinder,
Clean this up the best I can.
- Gentlemen, you have ten minutes left on the clock.
♪ ♪
Mark just quenched at a screaming hot temperature.
- I'm worried about his blade. It could be really brittle.
- I'm feeling pretty good about being able
To catch up this quick.
I can spend the rest of this time
Getting this blade dialed in.
♪ ♪
- I'm wrapping up the grinding cure,
And I decide, before I quench,
I want to give a little bit of extra razzle-dazzle.
So I use the top of the contact wheel
Just to add in some little divots along the spine.
- Matt doesn't have much time left.
Instead of adding work to his blade,
He should be refining what he's got.
- I'm finally ready to quench this blade.
♪ ♪
- Matt just quenched.
♪ ♪
- Five, four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, turn off your machines.
First round of this competition is over.
- I'm feeling really good about how it looks overall,
And I'm really praying that I'm not wrong.
♪ ♪
- All right, gentlemen, in the past three hours,
You sourced your materials from a railroad track
And turned them into mono steel signature blades.
The time has come for the judges to decide
Which one of you will not be joining us
In the second round of competition
And which three of you are moving forward.
Mark, you are up first. Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, so, mark, right off,
A really bold choice to go with this handle shape.
We haven't seen it in competition before,
And I really like it.
This is a great-looking short sword,
But you really need to get onto these grinds.
You've got some fairly deep hammer marks here
That I would love to see more refined,
But anyway, good job.
- Thank you.
- John, you're up next.
Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, john, I like the design
That you came up with for a nice chopper.
The handle fits my hand perfectly,
But it seems a little bit small when you have a heavy blade.
So when you pick up, it wants to go forward,
And when you look at that spine, it is very thick.
So if you move forward, I'd really like to see you
Lighten this blade because if you don't,
It might be hard to handle or make it uncomfortable.
But overall, I like the look.
- Michael, please present your work.
♪ ♪
- Michael, first off, you did a really nice job on this.
If I ever get my wish
And get to be in a horror movie,
I want to take this with me 'cause this would be perfect.
You not only gave us enough height--
So if you bring that grind up,
You're gonna have fantastic edge geometry for both tests--
But it's also not really heavy.
You got some deep hammer marks that you need to clean up,
But overall, good job.
- Thank you. - Matt, you're up now.
Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, matt, right off, when I pick this up,
What I feel is a lot of mass
Towards the front of this blade.
Your handle right now is a little on the long side,
In that my hand fits behind that finger well.
Other than that, I'd love to see all this work
You've done up here finished.
Finish those fullers out.
The sort of knapping you did on that spine,
Get that finished out.
There's a light warp up here at the tip.
If you move forward, it's refinement
That this blade needs more than anything,
But solid design.
Nicely done.
- Thank you.
- All right, gentlemen,
The first round of this competition
Was a massive challenge, and all four of you
Rose to the occasion and turned in supersized blades
That meet parameters.
But as you know, only three of you
Can join us in the second round of this competition.
The bladesmith leaving the forge is...
♪ ♪
Matt.
Unfortunately, your blade did not make the cut,
And doug's gonna tell you why.
- Matt, you presented us with a good blade,
But with the warp you had
And in comparison to your competitors,
It is the least refined.
And that's the reason you're not moving forward.
- Well, matt, we gave you a difficult challenge,
And you definitely stood up to it.
But unfortunately, it just wasn't quite enough.
At this point in time, I'm gonna have to ask you
To please surrender your work and step off the forge floor.
- Yes, sir.
Being that this was the supersized competition,
I'm overall very happy with the way I tackled it.
- Good fight, bud.
- I can't wait to get back home and figure out
What my next big project's gonna be.
♪ ♪
- Well, gentlemen, congratulations.
The three of you have made it past the first round
And are moving into the second round
Of this supersized competition,
Where you guys are gonna add handles to your blades,
Turning them into fully functioning weapons,
As well as fixing any issues that our judges
Brought up to you in your critiques.
Now, as far as handle material goes,
You guys have to use wood.
Well, you probably notice, the pantry
Is kind of looking a little empty here.
So for handle materials in this round,
You guys are gonna need this.
Gentlemen.
- Oh, no. [chuckles]
♪ ♪
Oh.
♪ ♪
[laughter]
- When they bring that huge 6x6 out, I can't believe it.
This thing's enormous.
It's gonna be a real struggle.
- Gentlemen, what you see here is a 6x6 beam of wood
That you all must use to make your handles.
The second round of this competition only comprised
Of two hours to complete your blades,
Getting them fully assembled and ready for testing.
Good luck, because that time starts no.
♪ ♪
- What do you say we cut three 10-inch pieces?
- Well, that is one large piece of wood.
- You're gonna have to work together.
There's no way to lift that thing up,
Take it to the band saw, and cut it
Without somebody holding the other end.
- I'll grab it from the back.
This thing is massive.
Obviously we're going to have to figure out
Some way to divvy it up, because there's no way
I'm gonna handle that myself.
We come up with a plan to get that thing
Over through the band saw.
- Well, they're all working together,
And this should go through like butter.
♪ ♪
- We might be competing against each other,
But we're all trying to help each other succeed.
Teamwork makes the dream work.
All right.
♪ ♪
- After we get the wood cut, I go straight to grinding.
I just want to get the final form shape down.
I want to lighten this blade up.
- Michael's being very vigilant,
Trying to get all those hammer marks out of the blade.
He had a couple pretty deep strikes,
But it looks like he's making progress.
- Yeah.
♪ ♪
- I could probably make 20 handles
With the amount of wood I'm starting with.
- John's blade, though it needs to lose some weight,
Already has some beautiful grinds on it.
In my opinion, it'd be a really smart idea
For john to put that handle on right now
Because by putting the handle on now,
He can shape it whenever he wants.
- There's two other guys gonna need this drill press.
I don't want to wait for it.
I want to get my handle scales on the machine
And ready to go and get that done first.
- Looks like john might be taking your idea to heart
And doing a handle first.
- Perfect.
- Good to go.
- Mark's still got some pretty deep hammer marks in his blade.
I hope that he can get them out of there without an issue.
- I hope mark can do it without making his blade too light.
- Ah, there you go.
- We got a very aggressive test in the railroad tie chop.
- I came up with an idea to get my fuller in.
Fuller's gonna take up some of the surface area,
Get out some of those hammer marks.
It's gonna give it a nice light feeling,
So it's gonna be nice and nimble.
Happy with that.
♪ ♪
- Michael's gonna break down that block
And start getting his handle material figured out.
- I'm gonna go ahead and take it over to the saw,
Get it close-cut to the profile that I want
So I don't have to spend a lot of time
Shaping it on the grinder.
- All right, michael's doing good work.
I like that.
- I'm gonna want to go ahead and get
This thing ready to glue up.
- Bladesmiths, you have 60 minutes remaining.
♪ ♪
- After the scales look done, I set them aside.
Now I gotta address the weight.
- You can see some really heavy,
Even sparks coming out of john,
So he's definitely grinding to lighten up that blade.
- He's talented on the grinder, for sure.
It's feeling a lot better.
♪ ♪
- That is a huge knife michael's got.
- That thing is humongous.
[laughter] I love it.
- Once the epoxy dries, I gotta shape that handle.
- Michael's over there doing some heavy contouring
On that handle.
- I kind of like the flair he's got towards the front
Of the blade and the back, just to kind of
Lock your hand right in there.
- Oh!
I do have a problem with these belts gumming up.
Come on!
This is getting a little frustrating.
I can't believe I'm at this spot
And I can't get this handle material to come off.
This is the end of the road.
[groans]
♪ ♪
I don't know what I'm gonna do.
♪ ♪
In the supersized challenge,
And michael's running into trouble
With the grinder over here.
- Come on!
I do have a problem with these belts gumming up.
[groans]
- Michael just needs to switch out that belt.
After five hours of competing,
Things just kind of slip your mind.
- I switch belts.
- There you go.
- Now this handle's coming along.
I think it'll be okay.
- It's time to finish this handle up.
♪ ♪
If your handle doesn't feel good,
It could definitely be the difference
Between moving on and getting sent home,
So I'm making sure this handle is comfortable.
- John's handle looks pretty small,
But he's got good contouring.
It's gonna be interesting to see
How that feels in your guys' hands.
- Pine is a really boring, light-colored wood.
I want to make it stand out.
- John's got the mapp gas there.
You think he's gonna put some texture
Or charring on his handle? - Yeah.
- Yeah, I like that.
- Next, put some oil on it to really get this grain
To stand out and look great.
- Gentlemen, you have 15 minutes left.
♪ ♪
- I need to get this handle trimmed and shaped.
The handle shape is pretty unique on this one.
On all four sides, it has to be pretty much symmetrical.
I have to really contour that center handle grip
For a nice, comfortable swing.
- I really love the handle style he's got on there.
It's nothing like we've ever seen.
- Mark's design reminds me a ton of the blade
I carried when I was in the service.
That's got that squid handle.
- After I get this thing shaped,
I'm gonna get this thing sharp.
- Five, four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, turn off your machines!
This round is over.
♪ ♪
- My blade isn't the biggest.
It doesn't have the most mas.
But it's still gonna chop. It's still gonna cut.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to our strength test.
Today we'll be doing the railroad tie chop.
♪ ♪
Michael, you're gonna go first.
You ready? - Don't break my heart.
- I won't break your heart. Maybe your knife, though.
- [laughs]
♪ ♪
I'm not too concerned about my blade,
But I'm not really sure
About the handle material staying on.
This soft wood seems rather absurd
For a big knife like this.
♪ ♪
- [grunting]
♪ ♪
[laughter]
- That was fun. Can I do more?
[laughter]
♪ ♪
- Michael, great job.
The handle, the way you contoured it
On the top and the bottom, my hand never moved.
And the fact that you've got such a big blade
And it doesn't weigh a ton--
You can have a big blade without it being a boat ancho,
And this is a good example.
Nice job. - Thank you.
- All right, john, you ready to go?
- I am. - All right, let's do it.
♪ ♪
- I'm definitely worried j. Is gonna break this.
J. Has a great reputation of not holding back.
Got me a little nervous.
- [grunting]
♪ ♪
- All right, john, I'm starting to think
We're making this testing too easy.
Razor edge-- this is like a razor blade,
And it's still just as sharp.
Didn't do any damage to the edge at all.
Otherwise, great job. - Thank you, sir.
- How you feeling, mark?
- Uh, pretty good. - Good? Okay.
Don't bust any buttons on me, all right?
- Keep them to my chest.
- [laughs]
♪ ♪
- The fact that I got to testing is one thing.
Now I have to see j. Wailing with my knife
Onto a piece of railroad tie?
I'm gonna be biting my teeth the whole way.
♪ ♪
[gasps]
- Now I have to see j. Wailing with my knife
I'm gonna be biting my teeth the whole way.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[gasps]
♪ ♪
- All right, mark, a bit of a problem here.
When you quenched your blade, you quenched it pretty hot.
If you look at your grain structure,
It's basically silver sand,
And if you look right here, on this spot right on the edge,
You got that dark mark.
It means you had a stress fracture
That was already there.
And on the second piece,
You had another one up at the spine,
So those are your two break points.
Definitely a heat treat issue.
- [sighs]
♪ ♪
- Well, mark, you turned in a beautiful blade
With an extremely unique handle.
Wish it would have made it all the way through testing,
But unfortunately, because it broke into three pieces,
We consider that a catastrophic failure
And I'm gonna have to ask you to please step off
The forge floor.
Thank you. - Good job, mark.
- Appreciate the work, man.
- My blade shattered on first strike.
If I could've done anything differently today,
It would've been to slow down
And just make sure my temps were right.
I came here to have fun, and that's what I did.
I'm still absolutely proud of the work that I put in.
♪ ♪
- John, michael, gentlemen, congratulations.
The two of you have made it through the first two rounds
Of our competition and are moving forward
Into the final round, where you're heading back
To your home forges to build an iconic weapon from history.
This is the supersized competition,
So I'm sure you didn't expect to come into this final round
And build something small.
Behind this curtain is not only a blade
Too large to be standing next to me,
This is the largest blade we have ever asked
Bladesmiths to make in the final round.
Gentlemen, in four days, you will have to build this.
♪ ♪
- [exhales sharply]
- The grutte pier sword.
- During the 16th century, a larger-than-life warrir
In the netherlands, known to the locals
As grutte pier, or the giant pier,
Wielded this massive sword in battle.
Pier's size made him
The subject of folklore and legend,
But the physical size of his sword speaks for itself.
The 15-pound, nearly 7-foot-tall sword
Is the largest european sword ever to be used in combat.
As a mercenary and pirate, grutte pier is believed
To have wielded this weapon with ease,
Delivering devastating blows
To any enemy that got in his way,
And it can be seen today
At the fries museum in the netherlands.
- This massive sword measures in at nearly 7 feet tall.
[laughing] hey, you guys look terrifie.
[laughter]
- That's a beast.
This is gonna be taller than me.
- Now, bladesmiths, your blade length,
Measured from tip to where the cutting edge ends
In a straight line, needs to be between
59 and 61 inches.
It needs to be double-edged with a medial ridge.
The cross guard and handle both need to be
Between 18 and 20 inches long,
And it needs to have a disk pommel
With a diameter of at least 3 inches.
And our own dave baker made this one,
So it can be done.
Now, guys, good luck.
You have four days to complete your massive swords.
We will see you then.
♪ ♪
- It's day one.
We've got to build a grutte pier sword.
My main focus is to turn a 50-inch piece of 5160 steel,
Stretch that as long as I possibly can,
And getting that length parameter met.
This blade is so long, I can only heat up
About 8 inches at a time and press it,
And by that time, it cools off too much.
So back to the forge again.
Just a very repetitive process.
As the steel's getting thinner, it's drooping down.
Gravity is bending this.
♪ ♪
Now I just gotta hold it till cools off enough,
'cause I'm scared to even move it right now.
End of day one, I've got the blade length to size.
Plan for tomorrow, get it refined and quenched.
That was a struggle.
♪ ♪
- I think this challenge will be difficult
Because of the size of this blade.
But the tools that I have are industrial-sized,
So I'm hoping this gives me quite an advantage.
I'm gonna use the 500-pound hammer
To draw the shape and thin out the blade.
♪ ♪
I'm used to building big stuff.
Some of my sculptures weigh up to 6,500 pounds,
So this is in the realm of what I'm used to working on.
My quench tank's buried 6 feet in the earth.
Here we go up this ladder.
This thing is huge.
♪ ♪
I think today went really well.
I'm ready to go have a beer.
♪ ♪
- Today I have to get it quenched.
Prepping for this quench is gonna take a little time.
I have three forges.
I can get nearly all that sword in the forges at once.
This is a supersized quench tank.
I've never used it yet.
We're gonna test it out today.
Quenching this, I've never had to climb
Five rungs of a ladder.
Everything needs to go right
Because there's not enough time
To do it all over again.
Hope for the best.
♪ ♪
- Quenching this, everything needs to go right.
[dramatic music]
I didn't feel anything abnormal when it quenched.
It is hard, and most importantly,
It is straight.
I'm at the halfway mark.
I'm getting there.
♪ ♪
- Day three.
I got a lot accomplished yesterday.
Guard, done. Pommel, done.
The plan for the day is to grind a pound and a half
Off this blade.
When you grind, that tends to warp the blad.
So I was back and forth to straighten the blade.
Grinding, grinding, and straightening, grinding.
That's what I got.
- It is the morning of day four.
All the components are made.
Dry fit-up looked good.
Today's agenda, some fine-tuning,
Glue up, and put an edge on it.
I like to epoxy and clamp my handle on.
As far as this goes, I want to do it vertical.
Being 6'3", apparently that's not tall enough.
Let's put john on a ladder.
I got the pommel on.
All the components are there.
They just need some finishing touches
And put an edge on it.
The blade, it is 100% complete.
I'm exhausted, but inside, it feels wonderful.
The mother of all swords.
- Today I'm gonna get going on this handle.
♪ ♪
Everything's coming out, nice shape,
And I'm gonna start the finish of the blade
And the guard and the pommel.
This includes a patina to blacken the steel
To give it an aged look.
Everything's gonna look like it's been used.
I just feel like, being a pirate,
I mean, I don't think he would have nice stuff.
I'm really happy with it.
I really got to hit something with this.
I just can't let it pass.
♪ ♪
Nasty.
♪ ♪
- Well, john, michael, gentlemen,
Welcome back to the forge.
You've spent the past four days working
On the grutte pier giant sword.
And it just shows how large they are--
We have to use four anvils to display these blades.
Now, before we get into testing,
We want to hear about your blades.
So john, how'd it go for you?
- Ah, it went great.
The blade is 5160.
It's got a forged cross guard, walnut handle,
And mild steel pommel.
- Awesome. Michael, how about you?
How'd it go? - It went excellent, thank you.
♪ ♪
8670 for the blade, some 1045 for the guard,
And a forged bronze pommel in 655.
- All right, gentlemen, keeping in the supersized theme,
We're gonna put your blades through a series
Of supersized tests, and up first,
The keal test with doug.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the keal test.
John, you are up first.
Are you ready? - You know I'm ready.
- All right, let's do this.
♪ ♪
- It's so big.
- I recall probably three swords shorter than this
Breaking on a pig,
And now we get to go through two of them,
So hopefully nothing terrible happens
To the blade, just the pigs.
♪ ♪
- All right, john, let's talk about your sword here.
What I like is that you used a nice, hefty counterbalanc,
Because despite being a heavy sword like this,
It's wieldable.
The edges are sharp.
It cut deeply.
I like that the guard also is not so massive
That it gets in the way, and overall, it will keal.
- Awesome. - All right, michael.
Your turn. You ready, sir? - Yes, sir.
- Let's do this.
- I feel a little nervous going into testing.
Worst-case scenario is, it's gonna break.
♪ ♪
- I feel a little nervous going into testing.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- All right, michael, that's a beast,
But that's a beautiful beast.
Now, your edge is sharp.
That really cuts deep into the pig carcass.
It is a nice, heavy weight, but controllable,
And more importantly, it will keal.
- Thank you, sir.
♪ ♪
- Gentlemen, it's time for our strength test,
The sheet metal chop.
Now, there are three layers of 20-gauge sheet metal
In each one of these things, and, john, you're up first.
Are you ready for this? - I am.
- Okay.
♪ ♪
- [grunting]
♪ ♪
All right, john, very nice job on this sword.
It's got a good weight to it.
The blade itself, there are some slight rolls,
But it's still plenty sharp.
One comment I might have is that the blade's lean enough
That it's very flexible.
When I pick it up, that tip kind of drops,
Maybe 3 inches of flex.
You start to swing that blade,
You don't know where that tip's gonna g.
It's flopping around, but it did its job.
Well done. - Thank you.
- All right, michael, you ready for this?
- Give it hell. - Oh, good,
'cause this is so much fun.
[laughs]
♪ ♪
[grunting]
♪ ♪
All right, michael, balance point,
Right where I freaking want it.
It's a little bit more of a firm blade.
It doesn't quite wiggle as much.
As far as damage, just the very edge has rolled,
But I would not drag my finger down that edge.
It would still open me up.
You knocked it out of the park. Well done.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, this is the sharpness test,
The watermelon and water jug slice.
♪ ♪
John, you're up first. You ready for this?
- I am. - All right, let's do thi.
♪ ♪
All right, john, let's talk about your blade here.
The edge, it cut the first watermeln
Cleanly, and then just wobble--
So much wobble in this.
As dave said, there's just so much flex in this blade,
You don't know where the tip is gonna go,
And that's what happened in the watermelon slice.
On the water jugs, clean cut.
Even the tops are still there wondering what happened.
Overall, your grutte pier, it'll cut.
- Thank you. - Michael, your turn, sir.
You ready? - You bet.
- All right, let's do this.
♪ ♪
All right, michael, let's talk about your blade here.
First up, on the watermelon slice,
Much easier.
Not much flex on the blade here,
So it's easy to just keep it and just let it drop
And let it do its work, and it cut all the way through.
On the water jug slice, it did cut.
Overall, your sword, it will cut.
- Thank you.
- That was pretty rad.
♪ ♪
All right, gentlemen, in this supersized competition,
We gave you a task on a scale
Unlike anything we've ever seen before in this forge.
And the blades you brought back here impressed all of us.
But as you know, only one of you can take home
The title of "forged in fire" champion
And get that check for 10 grand.
And the judges did make a final decision.
Today's "forged in fire" champion is...
♪ ♪
Michael. Congratulations.
But john, you gave us an unbelievable blade,
But it missed by just this much,
And dave's gonna tell you why.
- John, this decision really came down
To the extreme flexibility of your blade.
That's why we're letting you go.
- John, you are an unbelievable smith,
But unfortunately your time in this competition has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you to please step off
The forge floor. - I had a blast.
Thank you, guys. - Thank you, john.
- I'm happy it made it through all the tests.
This being the supersized challenge,
I didn't want to make an ordinary sword,
And this obviously blows ordinary swords
Out of the water,
So it was fun to get the opportunity to make thi.
♪ ♪
- Well, michael, that makes you the "forged in fire" champion.
You're taking home a check for $10,000.
Well done, man. - Whoo!
I'm "forged in fire" champion!
This is the first blade I've ever forged of this size.
I'm very proud of my performance.
It's very important to me to share the craft
And to educate people and make some badass swords.
[laughs]
♪ ♪