[dramatic music]
- Here in The Forge, we’re always raising the bar,
but now we’re 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.
- I’ve made some big stuff before,
but this is in its own leagu.
- Who will rise to this massive challenge
and take home $10,000?
This is "Forged in Fire" Supersized.
♪ ♪
- My name’s Jason Brigli.
I currently live in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
I’m a retired Army guy who works in Space Force.
Space Force is a unique environment
where it’s a lot about communication with satellites.
That’s all I want to say because, you know,
I like my clearance.
♪ ♪
- My name is David Warner.
I’m 37 years old, and I’m from Kirkwood, Missouri.
I have twins, boy and a girl.
And I would say that raising twins has prepared me
really well for this competition
because I can deal with stressful situations.
[chuckles]
- My name is James Dean, like the actor.
I was a professional chef for 25 years.
The forge environment is much like the kitchen.
It is hot, it is angry, it is dirty,
but I get to create something beautiful.
Just don’t eat it.
You can, it’s just not nutritious,
and you might break a teeth.
- My name’s Robert Shea.
I’m 48 years old. I’m from Kingman, Kansas.
I watched some silly show where they were,
like, making knives and-- oh, yeah, it was this show.
And then next thing you know, I’m like, you know what?
I’m gonna buy a forge.
My wife told me, "You sure you’re gonna
"want to spend that much on something
that you don’t know if you’re gonna want to do it later?"
And it’s later, and I want to do it.
- Bladesmiths, welcome to The Forge.
Well, technically, we’re outside The Forge,
but I’ll get into that in a minute.
You guys are here, selected to take part
in a bladesmithing competition unlike any other.
It’s gonna consist of three rounds.
At the end of each one, there will be an elimination,
but it will all culminate with one of you leaving here
carrying the title of "Forged in Fire" champion
and a check for $10,000.
Now, you are gonna be doing all of your work today
in front of our expert judges here behind me.
They’re doing all the testing, the critiques,
and making the eliminations, deciding which one of you
is coming out on top.
Now, bladesmiths, we are continuing a series
of competitions that we have dubbed
"Forged in Fire" Supersized.
This is a competition series where everything
from the test, the challenges, and the weapons
have a chance of being the largest
and the most difficult we’ve ever done before.
To kick things off, gentlemen, you guys are gonna
to have three hours to build a very large signature blade
in your signature style.
The only thing we ask is that you have a cutting edge
that measures between 16 and 18 inches.
Now, you’re probably still wondering what
we’re doing outside, gentlemen.
Well, that’s because today, you’ll be sourcing your steel
from something so large it was unable to fit
through our bay doors into The Forge floor.
Guys, today you’re gonna be building
your blades from this.
[truck beeping]
♪ ♪
[laughter]
- Yeah, buddy.
- All right, gentlemen, what you’re looking at here
is 5 tons of scrap metal.
Some of it’s steel, some of it’s not.
You’re gonna have to take your time picking out
your materials because that’s what you’re
gonna be making your blades from.
- Oh, crap. This is absolutely insane.
There’s kitchen sinks. We’ve got compressors.
We’ve got everything you don’t want to see
when you’re making a knife.
- Now, once you guys are done with the first round
of competition, you will turn the blades ovr
to our judges, and they will critique your work,
deciding which three of you are moving forward
into the second round of competition.
And those three will add handles to their blades,
turning them into fully functioning weapons,
at which point you will turn your blades over to our judges,
and they will check for strength and durability
in a giant steel pipe chop,
and then check your edge retention in a tarp slice.
All right, gentlemen, you got a lot of work ahead of yo.
We will see you guys inside.
So good luck because your time starts now.
♪ ♪
- There is a lot of junk out there.
- Watch your foot.
- They got 5 tons of trash
to go through before they get a blade.
- Literally, plus the kitchen sink.
- Yeah, really. - It’s out there.
♪ ♪
- They can grab as much of that steel as they want,
but the key is finding the high carbon.
♪ ♪
- Looking at the pile, I don’t see really a whole lot
I can turn into a blade.
I see this crazy-ass, giant, shuriken-looking thing
that seems to be a farm digging tool.
I can make something out of this [bleep].
So I knew that at one time, this thing spun.
And if it spins, the tines have to be good steel
because it’s ripping up earth.
- James comes through the door, coming in hot.
What have we got here?
- That looks like a tiller.
- What do you think that’s made of?
- Not the best stuff.
- Would it be doable in a can with that 1095 powder?
- Yeah, that’d be the easiest way to do it.
- I’m gonna chop it up into little pieces,
throw it into a can with some 1095.
At least I will know what one of the steels is in the can.
♪ ♪
- You see anything? - No, not a lot.
- Got this guy.
I have to find a piece of metal that’s going
to be large enough for a 16, an 18-inch blade,
but finding something of that size is kind of difficult.
I noticed that there are some pieces of axle.
Due to the nature of what an axle is used for,
I’m pretty certain it has to be good steel.
I got what I need.
- 5160.
I feel like I got lucky.
I find a spring off of some kind of truck.
I’m good.
- We got Jason coming in with--looks like a coil spring.
- You’re pretty much dialed in there.
That coil spring is 5160.
- It’s easy to work with,
and I know it’s a hard enough steel.
Got to get it in the heat. Got to make things happen.
- [sighs]
I’m looking for something that I know by its job
that it does something tough.
Looking for axles and things like that,
something that you can draw out into a bar stock pretty easy.
[scoffs]
Sometimes, you don’t get what you want.
The problem is I’m not seeing those things.
Because everything that I’m finding that I know
is good steel is in really not the shape I want.
I’m seeing, like, chains.
I’ve never used chains before in anything.
I do see a large auger bit, and it could be good stee,
but you never know.
So I’m grabbing them both
because I’m running out of time.
- All right, last but not least,
Robert’s got a large drill bit and some chains.
- I’m thinking of the chains
because I’m probably gonna go canister,
but I’m not terribly confident about making canisters.
So I’m gonna keep the auger bit for my backup.
- Bladesmiths, you’ve got 2 hours and 30 minutes remaining!
♪ ♪
- I felt like I might have a slight advantage
being first inside, but cleaning up the steel
right now is making me feel like I’m behind.
Trying to get it clean,
so I don’t put dirty steel in the can.
It’s taking a very long time, but as any good chef knows,
it’s all in the prep work.
- You know, I’m watching James. He’s a chef, right?
- I’m gonna assume so.
- I’m choosing to wear a chef coat
because I’ve worn one my whole life.
And when I’m chef coat ready, I’m working.
[laughs]
- Doesn’t quite fit.
- The hard part of using the coil
isn’t anything other than unwrapping the coil.
[grunts]
- This is a giant spring.
It’s kicking my butt.
- I think the best we saw on a coiled spring unwrap
was Burt Foster, and it beat the judges.
Oh, that’s what he made.
He made a straightening bar-- brilliant!
- What? - Straightening bar.
It’s not even--yeah.
- That is so cool.
- I get part of it straight, but the other half isn’t,
and then it doesn’t want to fit in the forge for me.
Ah, come on.
It’s like yelling at the lady behind the counter
when your flight gets canceled.
It’s not her fault.
♪ ♪
- He can cut some of that off.
- Oh, he should cut half of that off.
- Yeah. - [bleep]
I’m completely flustered,
but I have to keep trying to straighten it out,
or I’m going home.
[grunts]
♪ ♪
- There’s a reason that that piece of metal
was in the scrapyard.
It might have a flaw of some sort,
some sort of crack throughout the metal
that can be catastrophic for a blade.
So first thing I know I need to do
is start stripping them down.
- Now, I’ve actually made blades out of drive shafts
back in the day when I was using a lot of salvaged stuff,
and it held up very nicely.
- In a salvage competition like this,
if you have the ability to go with mono steel,
it takes a lot of the risk out of the equation.
- I haven’t really been able to focus too much
on bladesmithing in the past two years
because I’ve been busy raising twins.
I would compare the amount of energy
that it took for me to raise my first child
to raising twins,
it’s kind of the difference between raising a child
and owning a cat.
I’m feeling pretty confident at this point.
♪ ♪
- Now we only have Robert left outside of the fire here.
How you guys feel about his pace?
- Not good.
- I know I’m way behind.
These welders are much more powerful than anything
I have ever used, so I’m trying not to burn a hole in the can.
- All right, guys, Robert is finally heating his billet.
Holy smokes.
He’s got flames coming out the back of his canister
like a fricking candle.
- I’m just freaking out.
When powder burns out of the canister,
then there’s the possibility that inside there,
you’re going to get voids
because you’re burning out the powder
that’s supposed to be packed in there.
I don’t know, man, is it gonna be burned in there or not?
- It’s a tough call.
As long as your can’s cold, do it.
- Welding.
I decide that I need to go ahead and just try this out
and just pray that nothing happened to it too bad
that it’s lost.
♪ ♪
- I’ve used so much time.
I’m still trying to straighten it out.
I go from the vise over to the press.
I find myself back over to the vise.
I’m trying to heat up a corner.
And no matter what I do, the clock keeps going.
♪ ♪
Okay.
Eventually I get through it.
- Now, that is a manageable piece of steel.
- Ooh, sigh of relief. I’m back on track.
- Bladesmiths, you are now halfway
through the first round!
- Swinging hot steel!
- James has got a super hot canister.
Going for his first forge weld.
- If you season it, it tastes better.
I talk to myself all the time.
A little bit too aggressive.
I have, like, two little devils, and one’s like,
"Do it this way," "Do it that way."
I love this [bleep].
So I try to spit out what I should hear.
I have one big piece of homogeneous steel.
I know I got a good weld.
I feel great.
So now I got to get it drawn out.
I like this thing.
- David and his driveshaft are running away
with this competition.
- Since I know this is gonna go through a pipe chop,
I’m wanting something that’s really beefy and strong.
So I’m making an overgrown chopper
with an integral bolster.
- Saying 16 to 18 inches doesn’t necessarily seem
like that much until you see it.
This thing is massive.
- I don’t think I’ve ever made a knife this big this fas.
I’m pretty surprised and happy with myself.
♪ ♪
- So the parameters that we were given today
is basically a 16 to 18-inch blade.
It’s more of a short sword,
and not my everyday knife I make.
So I decided to go with a 17-inch seax.
Simple knife, simple plan.
I’m looking forward to what
the judges have to say about it.
- Look at Jason’s blade. It’s just long.
It’s still this wide.
- It doesn’t have a lot of profile.
It looks like a ruler.
- That looks great.
- You got to keep it beautiful.
Don’t want to burn it off.
- Robert’s got that massive beard flowin.
Decided to tie it all up after that can
started shooting flames out.
- This beard, probably a year and a half is what it took.
When this all went away, I just decided to migrate it
and just...
I’ve got my welds checked, but now I need
to cut the billet open and make sure it’s
actually forge welded.
All right, let’s find out.
- Well, he did have quite a bit of burnout in the beginning
when he threw his canister in the fire.
Any chance that he had voids in there before he went
for the press?
- Sure. - [bleep]
There’s all kinds of inclusions in there.
There’s no decision at this point.
It’s dead, and I have to start over.
♪ ♪
- No way.
All right, guys, Robert has thrown in the billet.
He’s starting over.
- I’m actually in panic mode.
I just spent more than half a round on nothing.
♪ ♪
- But I’m not gonna quit.
- He’s grabbing the giant drill bit.
That seems like a lot of steel to move though.
- It is.
- Working with strange metal that shouldn’t be put
into a shape, and then figuring out how to do it,
this is what I do.
So I know I just have to straighten this thing out
enough to get a flat piece.
I just keep reminding myself, keep going at your pace,
get it done.
- Bladesmiths, you have 60 minutes remaining!
- Hell yeah.
Now that I have my steel mostly cleaned up
and I’m kind of comfortable with it,
what I want to do is clay-back my knife.
- No way.
- James is gonna do a clay coat.
They use the clay to make a soft spine
on your blade called a hamon.
It’s where the hardened edge is separated
from the softer spine.
- Super good.
It’s time to go into the oil.
I think I’m, like, gonna pray.
Baby Jesus, chef Jesus, kitchen Jesus,
please don’t come apart.
[dramatic music]
- James with the sword in the stone action quench.
- It’s pretty damn straight.
The thing’s hard.
It’s a win.
♪ ♪
- Oh, we got a quench.
♪ ♪
He’s making really, really quick work out of this.
- It seems to be hard all the way up and down.
For the rest of the round, I’m gonna try
and refine everything as far as I can with the blade.
- I got to say, regardless of what happens here,
I’m extremely proud of Robert here.
- Oh, yeah, man.
Yeah, to see him take that huge drill bit,
hammer it out into a knife shape.
- In less than half the time left.
♪ ♪
- I can’t believe it.
It’s looking like a knife, but I need to quench it.
But I’m not sure what kind of steel this is,
so I don’t know how to heat treat it properly.
You only live one.
- Way too hot.
He quenched that blade at--
- Temperature of the sun? - Yeah.
- It’s straight-ish, and it’s hard.
♪ ♪
I’m relieved.
- That will work.
- Jason quenched.
- Nope.
Oh, crap, there’s a warp, a pretty significant warp.
Oh, come on.
I’m literally shaking, and I want to scream on the inside
because I don’t have enough time to fix the warp.
Of course I don’t want to hand
a warped blade in to the judges.
But if I move into the next round,
I could fix this no problem.
- Five, four, three, two, one!
Bladesmiths, turn off your machines,
put down your tools!
This round of the supersized competition’s over!
- [sighs]
I feel good that I got this finished,
but I feel like my chances are slim.
It’s definitely gonna be the roughest one out there.
[exhales sharply]
- All right, gentlemen, you guys just completed
the first three hours of our supersized challenge
and, guys, that was impressive.
The time has come for the first critique
followed by an elimination.
So, Robert, you’re up first. You ready?
- Yep. - Please present your wor.
♪ ♪
- All right, Robert.
First up, with an hour to go, this is what you turned in.
That’s impressive,
but there’s a lot of steel that you have here,
but good job for not giving up,
and I like where you’re going with this.
- All right, up next we got James.
You ready? - Yes.
- All right, please present your work.
♪ ♪
- Hi, James.
That’s a cool-looking blade,
but the big thing about your blade though,
is that it’s really thick.
But in all, I think you’re on your way here.
Just put this thing on a diet and get a lot
of this meat out here.
- David, you’re up. You ready?
- I am. - Please present your wor.
♪ ♪
- All right, David.
You, sir, have skills.
That is beautiful all the way through.
To put an integral bolster there,
the handle construction, even the way you tapered it.
Moving forward, I love where you’re going
with this already, so I’d really like
to be able to make sure that that handle stays
comfortable with the way you have your blade,
but nicely done.
- Thank you.
- All right, Jason, last but not least.
You ready? - Yes, sir.
- Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, Jason, I think you made a really good choice
in the steel you chose,
but there’s a warp and a twist to the blade.
But what’s killing me is, it’s just a straight bar.
There’s no refinement. There’s no shape to it.
So if you move into the second round,
defining this blade is the important thing.
- Thank you, sir.
- Well, gentlemen, these supersized competitions
are built to be tough.
But in this competition, only three of you
can join us in round two.
And after discussion, our judges did make
a final decision.
The bladesmith leaving The Forge is...
♪ ♪
Jason, unfortunately your blade did not make the cut,
and Ben’s gonna tell you why.
- Well, Jason, the combination of the shape of your blade,
warps and twists add up to be more problems
than those of your competitors.
It’s for that reason we’re letting you go.
- Well, Jason, it was a monumental task,
but unfortunately, at this point in time,
I’m gonna have to ask you to please surrender your work
and step off The Forge floor.
- This challenge was huge.
- Thanks, man. - Thank you, Jason.
- Thank you. - Thank you, Jason.
- This was the biggest knives ever asked
to be made on this show.
So I’m really proud of the work I’ve done,
and I would do it again.
♪ ♪
- Well, gentlemen, congratulations.
Your hard work and perseverance have paid off,
and you are all three moving into our second round
of the supersized competition.
Now, in this round, we’re gonna ask that you fix any issues
that the judges brought up, refine your blades,
and add handles to them, turning them
to fully functioning weapons.
As far as handle materials go, if you take a look
over to our pantry,
you see it is in quite a bit of disarray.
We asked the junkyard to give us as much
handle materials they could find.
Sorry to say that this is what they came up with.
♪ ♪
Now, when this time runs out, you will turn your blades over
to our judges, and they will check
for strength and durability in a giant steel pipe chop,
and then check your edge retention in a tarp slice.
♪ ♪
We’ve got two hours on the clock
for the second round of competition,
so good luck because that time starts now.
♪ ♪
Guys, we’re here in the second round
of our supersized competition.
Lots of work to do. - Oh, yeah.
- This is a tough one because they have to pick through junk
and still be a blade that will do our task.
- Yeah.
- By looking through the pile, I can tell that there are
some types of wood that aren’t exactly up to snuff.
It’s important that I get a piece of wood
that’s going to perform for the testing.
Otherwise, it could have problems like breaking apart,
and that would be catastrophic.
- So it looks like David grabbed
a long piece of-- what is that, ash?
All right, how’s that for handle material?
- Great.
- I think with the amount of tasks that I have,
I can get done in two hours if everything goes right.
- Time to get skinny, baby.
- Right off the get-go, both Robert and James
have headed back to the grinders
to remove a ton of material, and both of them needed it.
- During the critique, Ben said,
try to lose some weight.
I’m really concerned because two hours
is not a lot of time, considering that I have
to grind half of my blade away.
♪ ♪
- Ah, you gonna be ugly.
- I guarantee Robert is a little shaky
in his boots here.
He thought he was going home
after starting halfway through the first round.
- But Robert’s got this beautiful canvas.
Just bring those bevels up on that thing,
and he’s dialed in.
- The blade is beefy.
I like beefy blades, but not everybody likes them.
So I’m gonna have to thin it out.
I’m probably gonna take enough metal off there
to make another knife.
It’ll do.
- David’s just cruising along.
If he continues that fast pace through this handle round,
he’s set.
- So now that I’ve got my scales
and the pin holes drilled,
I can get the pins into the handle material.
[bleep]
But I’m having a hard time getting the pins through.
I need to make sure the handle is securely fastened
to the blade with pins.
Otherwise, it’ll probably fail in testing.
So the only way that I can get the pin to go through
is to tap it with a hammer.
- Oh, boy, here we go.
Big hammer for a little job.
- [grunts]
- If I go too hard too fast,
I could end up splitting the handle material.
I hope they don’t crack.
- Oh.
♪ ♪
- I think I’m gonna make it to the third roun.
- There we go. Looks like David got throug.
All right, guys, you got 30 minutes left
in the handle round!
- So, knife, we have a minute alone together.
Do you want to talk about your weight?
Are you feeling better about your weight?
I like it, I like it.
I like it, I like it, I like it.
I’ve got half of my total blade weight off,
but it took a lot longer than I wanted,
so I’m feeling rushed.
So many choices.
- James grabbed what looks like an ax handle.
That gonna be useful?
- Yeah, oh, yeah. It’s gonna be hickory.
- Hickory is typically used for ax handles, shovels,
and baseball bats, suitable for a challenge
when you have to slam a knife into a steel pipe.
[dramatic music]
- This is gonna be the hard part.
I’m the last to this pile of junk,
and there’s not much left.
Most of it’s really soft, nasty stuff.
There’s hardly anything here that’s worthwhile.
It’s all pine.
It’s got knots in it, but there’s a pickax handle.
That’s what I’m gonna use.
It’ll do.
- So Robert’s grabbed a pickax handle.
That gonna be useful?
- It’s a good choice,
but Robert should definitely move it.
- I don’t have a lot of time, but I’ve got a plan.
I’m just gonna follow it and hope for the best.
- I’m pretty well satisfied with what I have as far
as the handle is concerned, but I want to make sure
that I’ve got the blade as sharp as I need it.
If you’re not nervous about testing,
you’re foolish.
I’m feeling pretty confident about my blade.
- Starting to feel like a knife.
Kind of looks like a knife.
So handle shape, it’s got to be comfortable.
It’s got to be functioning.
It can’t hurt the user, or the knife is useless.
Okay, that’s looking pretty good.
If it’s not something I don’t want to use
and it doesn’t feel good to me, I’m not gonna turn it in.
♪ ♪
- The scales are on,
and I have to finish shaping the handle.
It’s actually pretty easy right now to shape this handle.
It’s moving well, and I’m getting it done really quick.
Again, I’m down to the last few minutes.
Pretty or not, I have got to get it finished.
- Five, four, three, two, one!
Bladesmiths, put down your tools!
This round is over!
Well done, guys.
- I’m feeling really good about going into testing.
I did everything I could,
and I think my knife is--actually,
I know my knife’s gonna cut
because it cut me multiple times.
♪ ♪
- All right, gentlemen, welcome to our strength test,
the massive steel pipe chop.
All right, Robert, you’re up first.
You ready? - Yes.
- Good answer.
♪ ♪
- In round one, when I restarted,
I was rushing so hard.
I don’t know what’s gonna happen with this blade.
I’m just hoping that I survive.
♪ ♪
- [whistles]
That was nuts.
♪ ♪
- All right, Robert, that’s a hard pipe.
- Yeah.
You can see that that grain size is pretty big.
So what this comes down to is the heat treat on that blad.
You got this blade way too hot before you quenched,
and that makes for a brittle blade.
But I really like the fact that you drew that thing out
so quickly and got that done the way you did,
and it turned out to be a pretty good blade here.
Nicely done. - Thank you, sir.
♪ ♪
- Oh, buddy.
All right, Robert, your blade did
suffer catastrophic failure.
You’re not out of this fight yet.
Now, gentlemen, you will both have to survive three striks
on these giant steel pipes in order to move
forward into the final round of competition.
James, you’re up first. You ready?
- Yes. - All right, let’s do it.
♪ ♪
- After watching Robert’s test,
I’m super nervous.
I need to survive David Baker belligerently smashing
my blade into these massive pipes three times,
and I’m not feeling hot about it.
♪ ♪
[exhales sharply]
Almost puked.
- So, James, I don’t know what the tiller blades
are made out of, but with that 1095 powder,
it’s certainly made a strong blade.
Nicely done.
All right, David, you ready?
- Yes, I am. - Okay, let’s do it.
♪ ♪
- I noticed that the tubes are absolutely enormous.
There’s not gonna be a whole lot of flex in them.
I just hope that I can survive three blows.
♪ ♪
- [exhales sharply]
♪ ♪
- Well, gentlemen, congratulations,
your blades survived this insane test.
That means both of you are moving forward
in the third and final round of the supersized competition.
Now, Robert, because your blade suffered
a catastrophic failure, we cannot continue with testing.
You’re a talented smith, you fought hard,
but unfortunately your time in this competition has ended.
I’m gonna have to ask you to please
step off The Forge floor.
- Great job, Robert. - Well done, guys.
- It was fun watching you work, man.
- It was great, thanks.
I hated seeing it break,
but I got to take part in something
that’s really amazing.
And for me especially, it was extra fun to do this,
but also get to make something really huge,
and that’s what I love doing.
♪ ♪
- James, David, gentlemen, congratulations.
You are now moving into the final round
of the supersized competition.
But in this final round, gentlemen,
you will be building the largest weapon
we have ever asked smiths to make
in "Forged in Fire" history.
Bladesmiths, in the next four days,
you will be building this.
♪ ♪
The 9-foot-long Friauler Spiess.
♪ ♪
- [laughs]
- Friauler Spiess dates back
to 16th century Northern Italy.
The massive polearm features a 37-inch-long central blade
with two curved side blades.
The shaft can measure up to 6 feet long,
perfect for delivering lethal thrusts and slashes
upon enemy cavalry.
Over time, this enormous weapon took on
a more ceremonial role, and at its longest,
spanned more than 10 feet.
Today the Friauler Spiess can be seen on display
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York City.
- Guys, it needs to fall within these parameters.
The main blade needs to be between 31 and 33 inches,
double-edged.
It has two secondary blades that are curved.
It needs to connect to its pole with a socket.
Your overall length from the base all the way
to the tip needs to be between 107 and 109 inches.
- I’ve made some pretty big stuff before,
but nothing quite this large.
This is in its own league.
- When you come back here,
only one of you is gonna earn the title
of "Forged in Fire" champion and get a check for 10 grand.
So good luck. You’re gonna need it.
We will see you guys in four days.
♪ ♪
- It’s the beginning of day one.
I’m ready to get started on the Friauler Spiess.
♪ ♪
This is a huge build.
I’m kind of nervous about making something
that’s this size.
And then to put a spear socket at the end of it,
that’s also a challenge.
I think that that along with budgeting enough time
to be able to forge out the side blades
and then get them to attach to the socket, you know,
it’s gonna be a pacing challenge.
That’s that.
♪ ♪
- We’re in Rochester, New York.
By the end of today, I hope to accomplish
stacking up 230 layers of Damascus.
I want to do something to kind of really elevate my build.
Typically, I make chef knive.
I’m working on a blade that is gonna be 40 inches
with a handle that’s somewhere around 6-foot.
So this is gonna be a challenge.
- So the beginning of day two, and today,
I need to start shaping the handle.
I’ve made some spears before, but nothing quite like this.
So I need to make sure that the handle
will actually fit inside the socket.
I’ve got to make sure that there’s a pretty precise fit.
So I think what I’m gonna do is heat up this guy
and try and use that heat to press this in the post vie
around there to get a nice seal on that shaf.
[bleep]. That’s what I was going for.
It’s the end of the day two, and I’m feeling pretty good.
This is the coolest toy. [laughs]
- It’s the beginning of day three.
Yesterday I got my handle done,
and I’ve got a socket drifted out,
so I’m feeling pretty good about it,
but I got a lot to do today.
First thing I’m gonna do is cut in my little spikes.
♪ ♪
Now that the pikes are shape, I gotta quench.
For something this big, there’s chances it might warp.
♪ ♪
Push.
It’s got a little bit of a warp.
It did take a little bit of a warp,
but nothing that’s not within grinder range.
The blade is hard. I’m super pumped.
♪ ♪
- It’s the beginning of day four.
Yesterday I got the blades quenched.
I just need to assemble everything and sharpen it.
Because of the size of this blade,
I’ve got a bit of a difficulty trying
to get the contours of those smaller blades
onto the belt grinder without having anything come
into contact with the belt grinder that shouldn’t,
but I think that the edge is gonna be
pretty good on the blade.
♪ ♪
I think this blade has got a pretty good shot
of bringing home 10,000 bucks.
Who’s hungry?
♪ ♪
- Day four, when I tempered last night,
my warp got a little bit worse,
so I’m gonna try grinding it out.
♪ ♪
Ended up shattering the tip off in the process.
Don’t know.
♪ ♪
Don’t know.
I just wasted three whole work days
and 233 layers of Damascus.
I’m heartbroken.
This is day four.
I don’t know how to fix the failure in time.
♪ ♪
Don’t know what to do.
I have no time left, but I’m starting over.
♪ ♪
Being that I only have nine hours,
I have to try to make the build out of a mono steel
just so I can get it done in time.
♪ ♪
Since my time is short, I have to rush the heat treat.
♪ ♪
I really didn’t get much of a warp.
I’m feeling pretty good about this.
I had a huge comeback. I’m the comeback kid.
Who builds the biggest weapon in "Forged in Fire" history
in nine hours on the last day?
I dare you.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome back to The Forge, gentlemen.
You are here for the final round of testing
in this supersized competition.
Now, at the end of this, one of you will earn a title
of "Forged in Fire" champion and a check for $10,000.
But before we do that, I want to hear about these blade.
So, David, tell us about yours.
♪ ♪
- I forged my blade out of L6.
I made the central blade and socket out of one piece,
and made the side blades out of L6 as well.
- All right, awesome. Now, James, how about you?
- So I broke my blade on the last day of the build.
♪ ♪
I made that thing in under nine hours out of 80CRV2,
hickory for the handle, textiles, paracord,
and some copper inlays on it.
- Regardless of what happens here,
you got to be proud of yourself.
- Super proud of it.
- Both your blades look absolutely menacing.
They’re massive, but only one of you
is gonna come out on top of this competition.
In order to find out which one of you that is,
we’re gonna put your blades through a series
of dynamic tests.
To start things off, I’m gonna hand you over to Doug.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the dynamic KEAL test.
♪ ♪
But as massive as your weapons are,
it’s not as massive as my disappointment
that I can’t wield them today because of my injury here,
but I leave you in capable hands
with the man with plan who’ll be my hand,
Dave Baker.
David, you’re up first. You ready for this?
- Yes, I am. - All right, let’s do this.
♪ ♪
- I know a lot of people would be nervous,
but honestly, I’ve had so much fun getting to this point
that I’m just excited to see what my weapon can do.
♪ ♪
- [whistles]
- [chuckles]
♪ ♪
- So, David, when you’re swinging a 9-foot weapon,
it’s pretty wild.
It went into the pig with no resistance whatsoever.
The blade, it’s all still true, it’s all still sharp.
Nicely done.
Doug, you got anything to add?
- Your weapon, it will KEAL.
- [laughs]
- All right, James, you ready?
- Slice, dice, and bacon. - All right.
- Home forge was challenging.
I broke my blade the final day that had to build it
because I had an issue with my heat treat.
I hope I don’t have the same outcome again.
♪ ♪
[exhales shakily]
- All right, James, right off,
it did what it’s supposed to do,
but there are some spots that are dull.
I can literally rub my finger on it,
and we picked up a significant bend in the blade.
But having said that, Doug...
- Your weapon, sir, it will KEAL.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the dynamic strength test.
♪ ♪
To test the strength and overall construction
of your weapons, I will be pushing on these poles,
snapping all ten of them,
and then piercing these steel drums.
David, you’re up first. Are you ready?
- Yes, I am. - All right.
♪ ♪
All right, David, well, your blade held up great.
In piercing the drums, it took some serious flex,
but came right back to true.
The side blades here, they penetrated that barrel,
and I don’t even see any indication
that they were in there.
All in all, I think you did a great job,
and your weapon held up great.
- Thank you.
- All right, James, you’re up, man, you ready?
- Pick it up, fire it up. - All right.
♪ ♪
- [exhales sharply]
- All right, James, it looks like your tip held up fine,
but your blade took a pretty significant warp.
It’s kind of doing an S-curve now,
but all in all, it held up pretty good.
Nice job. - Thank you.
♪ ♪
- Well, bladesmiths, this has been a hell
of a competition from the beginning,
but at the end of this competition,
only one of you can come out on top,
earning the check for $10,000
and the title of "Forged in Fire" champion.
Today’s "Forged in Fire" champion is...
♪ ♪
David.
Congratulations.
Now, James, you fought hard, but unfortunately,
your blade did not make the cut,
and Dave Baker is gonna tell you why.
- James, let me commend you on making that in nine hours.
That’s a great job.
But your heat treat’s starting to fail,
and it’s starting to bend.
Eventually, it’s gonna be a detriment to the user,
and that’s why we’re letting you go.
- Understood.
- Well, James, you’re a talented smith.
You’ve been talented all the way through this competitio.
We want to say thank you for coming out,
but your time here has ended.
I’m gonna have to ask you
to please step off The Forge floor.
- Thanks for the opportunity. - Thank you.
- Thank you, James. - Thanks, James.
- I feel devastated after the test.
I really wanted to win, but, I mean,
I made the biggest blade in "Forged in Fire" history
in nine hours, and I’m proud of it.
♪ ♪
- David, that makes you a "Forged in Fire" champion, man.
You’re gonna be getting a check for $10,000.
Very well done!
- Thank you.
I’m still kind of just processing
that that just happened.
A big chunk of this $10,000 is gonna go
toward getting my kids their education.
I’m just excited.
♪ ♪