[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.
- I've never built anything this big.
- Who will rise to this massive challenge
and take home $10,000?
This is "Forged in Fire: Supersized."
[intense rock music]
- My name is Robert Lallier. I'm 41 years old.
I'm from Camden, New York, and I'm a full-time bladesmith.
I am a competitive person.
I coach football, and I always tell my boys on the field
it's never fun to lose.
We don't hand out trophies for second place.
♪ ♪
- My name is Ian Zimmerman. I'm 19 years old,
and I'm from the small rural town of Bedford, Pennsylvania.
Probably what got me started making blades
was just my dad being a carpenter.
We made a lot of wooden blades.
And I looked at him and I said,
"Wouldn't it be cool if this with metal?"
And he was like, "Let's do it." [chuckles]
- My name is Jason Knox, I'm 43 years old,
and I've been blacksmithing for about five years.
I really dislike going to get my hair cut,
and I find that the back of my neck
is much cooler when I wear pigtails.
So if I'm expecting to be in a hot environment,
it's pigtails.
♪ ♪
- My name is Austin Frakes. I'm 37 years old,
from a little town right outside of Houston, Texas.
I'm a Sergeant with the local police department.
Over my professional career,
I've seen a lot of the ugly side of life.
And a few years ago I picked up bladesmithing
after watching "Forged in Fire."
I like to make beautiful knives.
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the fourth
in a series of competitions we are calling
"Forged in Fire: Supersized,"
because everything from the tests, the challenges,
and the weapons will be more outrageous
and more difficult than anything we've done
in this Forge before.
Now, there will be three rounds of this competition.
At the end of each one, you will present your work
to our panel of expert judges
and they will critique, make eliminations,
ultimately ending with one of you leaving here with
the title of "Forged in Fire" champion,
and a check for $10,000.
Now, to kick things off, guys, let's go ahead and talk about
what's on those anvils under that cloth.
Go ahead and remove 'em for me.
[tense music]
Gentlemen, what you're holding there
is a massive amount of W1 steel.
To be exact, it's 12 pounds of W1.
And that's because today, we're not asking you to make
your signature blade in your signature style.
Today, with that W1, guys, we want you to build this.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
This is the hog splitter,
and it is by far the largest and heaviest first round blade
we have ever asked smiths to make in this Forge.
The blade length needs to be between 22 and 24 inches.
This blade needs to have a width of at least
four inches long.
Now, it's not a parameter, guys,
but we recommend that this is around 8 pounds
when you get finished with it.
- OK, a hog splitter.
And it's not just a hog splitter,
it's a giant hog splitter.
These lightweight arms are gonna get a workout
just trying to lift it.
- Now, guys, for the three of you who are fortunate enough
to join us in the second round of competition,
you will add handles to your hog splitters,
turning them into fully functioning blades.
At which point, again, the judges will take over
and test for strength and durability in a bone chop.
And then they'll check your edge retention
in a pork slice.
We have put three hours on the clock
for this first round of the supersized competition,
so good luck and stay sharp. Your time starts now.
Holy smokes, guys!
I know this is a supersized competition,
but this one tops the charts.
What makes this challenge so difficult?
- Well, the biggest part about this challenge is fullering.
You want to get the width.
This blade is 4 inches wide, at least,
and it's 22 inches long.
So if you just smash this two-inch round flat,
you're gonna get something that's like, three inches wide.
And then you're gonna draw it for all extra length
that you don't need.
♪ ♪
- This is a lot of steel to move
in a very short period of time.
Do you want to swap ours out for the big fullering dies?
- Yeah, I think we should.
- My main concern with a piece of steel that large s
if I don't heat it up enough,
I'm just gonna work in stress fractures like crazy.
- Austin, using that first heat to one draw it out of t
and then go parallel to those dies and fuller it out.
- What he's done is he's created two flat surfaces.
Now he can start fullering that out.
Good idea.
♪ ♪
- I've never built anything this big.
Right away, I'm trying to draw it out to length.
I'm terrified to not meet that standard
of a 22 to 24-inch edge.
- Length is easy.
Getting width out of a blade is where it takes more effort.
- Yeah, the biggest problem
is if you draw that length out first
you could draw it to the point where
you don't have enough material
to fuller it into what you want it to be.
- As soon as I get my bar
to the maximum blade length requirement,
right away I'm like, I need to start getting this thing
widened out a little bit.
- All right.
I've gotta move this piece of steel,
so I'm just squishing the living hell out of i,
getting it out to length.
- Oh, yeah, Robert's got to swap up
and start fullering his. - Oh, yeah.
- And then, once it's out to length,
then I want to work on getting it wider,
meeting the parameters.
- My plan is to draw out a length
for both the edge and the tang.
- Jason's going pretty aggressive on the press here.
And it's not only getting very long,
but things are getting a little bit mangled.
- The work is really turning into a banana shape.
I'd like to keep the blade as flat as possible.
That's almost always impossible
when making an extremely long piece.
It will be a big challenge
to finish this and make it straight.
Starting to get tired.
- Bladesmiths, one hour has elapsed!
- Imagine these smiths coming in here thinking
they're gonna make a competition knife,
and then they go, "Wait a minute.
That's just like a final weapon!"
Look how big that thing is.
- As this thing gets longer, what rapidly becomes an issue
is just fitting it into the forge.
It's hanging out both ends. It's wanting to slide out.
It's just a huge, heavy piece of metal.
But it doesn't require a whole lot of fancy shaping.
It's one big rectangle that I'm just trying to
push in the right direction.
Ooh, get it!
- I know that I have the length,
but I'm still struggling trying to get the width that I need.
OK.
I need at least another inch.
I know for a fact
that if I don't make four inches, I'm going home.
- Something to keep in mind is,
this is a tool, not a weapon. It's supposed to be heavy.
And if you run out of width and you have to gain width
by just making things thinner and thinner,
you're gonna end up with something that's actually
too light for our tests.
- This thing is kicking my butt.
But as I continue to work it,
I really start to see it widen out.
Sweet.
And, boom, four inches. I've hit the parameters.
I know that I at least have a shot.
- Robert's blade's looking like a meandering river right now.
We've got some sections that are clearly four inches,
others that are far from it.
- To get this as wide as I cn to make that four inches,
it's a delicate balance I have to keep
of not hitting the steel too much on one side
and not enough on the other.
But you don't want to thin it up so much
that it's a worthless paperweight.
- OK, Robert is getting some width,
but not the width he needs.
- If I don't get it to four inches, I know I'm done.
So just keep hammering.
[hammer pounding]
♪ ♪
- This is pretty rough.
- Well, it looks like Jason needs to cool off a little bit.
- [groans]
It is quite heavy to have something
three feet away from my body that is that massive.
The straightness of my blade is very bad.
I'm not sure how I'm gonna correct it.
It's just a reality of the situation.
♪ ♪
- Guys, look at Austin's blade. - Yeah, man.
He's got the length, got close to the width.
- Getting the shape that I desire
is taking a lot longer than I had planned for.
As soon as I get that,
I immediately begin checking for parameters
to make sure I haven't overblown anything
or gone way under.
OK, that'll work.
- Right now, Austin seems to be
sitting prettier than everybody else.
- I wanted to compete in "Forged in Fire"
because I always push to do more, to do better.
And I wanted to show my kids, especially,
that when there is a challenge,
when something's gonna make you uncomfortable,
go for it.
♪ ♪
- I'm actually a student athlete.
I pride myself on being a good distance runner.
And the stamina that comes along with
being a distance athlete absolutely helps,
'cause we train to overcome that fatigue.
- Ian's done a good job of getting that width.
Now it's just a question of how thin is this blade
actually gonna be when he turns it in?
- Both this and running require so much stamina.
And you really wouldn't think it,
but it kicks your butt.
- Bladesmiths, you've got 60 minutes remaining!
- As I'm working this hog splitter,
I start sweating profusely.
And my arms are really feeling heavy.
Oh, my goodness.
- Can we get someone to look at Jason?
I'm nervous. He's really, really...
starting to look unhealthy.
[dramatic music]
- I think it's safe to say this is by far
the hardest weapon we have ever asked smiths to make
in the first round of competition
and I'd say it's showing.
- You OK?
- I'm--I'm getting a little exhausted.
- Oh, no.
- Looks like the medic just took Jason off.
- This is an especially taxing competition, heat-wise.
Not only are they standing in front of the forges
like all smiths are in this competition,
but this is a 4-inch by 22-inch billet
that is screaming hot.
- I feel like I'm making progress as I go.
I mean, honestly, it's a big piece of flat steel
is all this thing is.
You can see it slowly starting to become
not just a hog splitter, a giant hog splitter.
- Robert looks like he's got some decent widt.
- Yeah, but just toward the tip.
Doesn't have a consistent four inches throughout.
- Then it's a little bit of straightening
that you have the time for, and then heat treat.
- Bladesmiths, you're down to the final 30 minutes!
♪ ♪
- All right.
- Stepping outside into a cool spot where there aren't
12 forge burners going, pretty refreshing.
I'm gonna need every second of this clock
in order to make this thing look like a hog splitter.
♪ ♪
- Austin is the first one in the oil.
What kind of things can we expect
to go wrong during a quench?
- Because these ones are relatively thin
and really wide,
there's a lot more opportunity for any part of that
to cause some stress to make a warp.
- [laughs]
That's terrible.
There is indeed a warp,
so I throw it into a straightening jig.
OK, that'll work.
I think we're good.
Overall, I'm really pleased with how it turned out.
I know this is something that I can clean up
and turn into something presentable.
♪ ♪
- Ian is quenched, guys.
- I pull it up and it's pretty darn straight.
It's not perfect, but I mean, I can work with this
and I'm happy.
♪ ♪
- I'm at length. Now it's time to
widen it out to four inches. Don't be dumb.
You've gotta get it to four inches.
It's a parameter.
- Bladesmiths, you got five minutes left!
- There's no time. Just get it heat treated.
You don't want to go home because
you don't have a heat treated blade.
- All right, Robert's quenched now as well.
- My blade looks OK,
but my biggest concern is not meeting parameters.
My boy told me, "Don't be the first one out."
And, hopefully, I can make him happy.
♪ ♪
- All right. Jason quenched, guys.
That's four 22 to 24-inch hog splitters in the oil
in under three hours.
Unreal.
- Look at that warp.
- My blade is pretty wobbly.
I don't have time to make it straight.
- Five, four, three, two, one!
Bladesmiths, turn off your machines.
Put down your tools. This round is over!
- I am fairly confident that I've met parameters,
but the tang looks ugly.
The edge wanders all over the place.
I'm bringing a lot of flaws into this judging.
- All right, gentlemen, in the past three hours,
we asked you to take a massive amount of steel,
12 pounds of W1,
and turn them into hog splitters.
But, guys, the time has come for the first critique.
Austin, you're up first. Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, Austin. Well, it's close, man.
There's some whoopity-doos and stuff,
but your edge is remarkably straight.
Really well done paying attention
to the part that's important. [chuckles]
You really nailed it on the dimensions.
Now it's just a matter of refinement.
Well done.
- All right, Jason, your turn. Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, Jason, you did it.
You turned in a nice profile with this hog spitter.
But the one thing that gives me pause
is that your blade itself has some warps and twists to it.
So if you move to the second round,
you want to straighten that out.
Good job.
- Ian, please present your work.
♪ ♪
- So, Ian, right off,
you've got the profile on its way.
But there's a little bit of straightening
to do with your blade.
And since it's so lean already,
there's no room to grind any of it out.
So if you're gonna straighten that out,
you're gonna probably have to use some heat.
But so far, so good.
Well done.
- All right, Robert, you're up. Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, Robert.
In general, I think you've got a great shape.
But just by eyeball, this looks like
the narrowest blade that I've seen so far.
So we're gonna give it a little look.
So here, you're 3 and 3/4.
And you don't hit 4 inches till that.
So there's a large section of this blade that's under
the four inch minimum that we were asking for.
[dramatic music]
- All right, Robert.
Unfortunately, because of that parameter failure,
your time in this competition has ended.
At this point in time, I'll have to ask you
to please step off The Forge floor.
♪ ♪
- I didn't make parameters. It happens.
Just trying to get the metal pulled out
just wasn't gonna happen.
It was a very big challenge.
And the time crunch was just too much
to try to get it all done in three hours.
- Well, gentlemen, congratulations.
You made it past the first round
of this supersized challenge, which means
the three of you are joining us in round two.
Now, as far as handle materials go, gentlemen,
sorry to say the pantry is off limits.
In order to complete your blades,
we have supplied these 5-foot long 2x2s,
and that's all you have available
to make your handle scales.
Once this round is complete,
you will turn your hog splitters over to our judges
and they will check for strength and durability
in a bone chop,
and then check your edge retention in a pork slice.
Now, bladesmiths, you only have two hours in this round
of the competition, so good luck.
You've got a lot of work ahead of you.
Your time starts now.
[intense rock music]
The first three hours of this challenge
was really difficult. They did a great job with it,
but they still have a massive amount of work to do.
- First thing I need to do, I have a warp in my blade;
I want to do my best to fix it.
- Looks like Ian's gonna be using some heat here.
- Yep. If you're planning on
using heat to manipulate the metal,
wouldn't that be something you wanted to do now
before getting the handle on? - Yeah.
- If I'm not careful, I could overheat my blade.
And that would totally destroy the temper in the edge.
So I take it out of the vise real quick,
and I'm just trying and trying to get that warp out.
- Is this too much risk?
- This is a huge risk. [laughter]
♪ ♪
- All right.
It's still not all the way out,
but I need to start grinding this blade.
♪ ♪
- The first thing I've got to do
is get it into the profile that I want.
And, of course, I know that my knife has got to go on a diet.
It's gotta lose some weight.
- If Austin plays his cards right,
he's got a potential of just running away
with this competition, turning in a very beautiful
and functional blade. - Yeah.
Yeah, his profile is looking spot on right now.
- Yeah.
- [groans]
This round, I have two hours.
I don't have time to address the large warp in my blade.
So I'm focusing on my handle.
I am stressed about the time in this round.
I'd be lying if I didn't say that
the fatigue from the first round
isn't affecting me right now.
But maximum effort. It's all I can do.
♪ ♪
- I do not want to rush at the end of this
to put a handle on.
If I do that, the handle's gonna be crap.
On a weapon this big,
the handle is massively important
'cause if it's not comfortabe in your hand,
it's gonna hurt every single swing.
- Nobody is used to gluing up scales of this magnitude.
- This is where you take the top off the epoxy
and you just--sploosh. - Sure, but the thing is,
it just takes a super thin coating of epoxy.
It's not like filling the gap. - Yeah.
- This is pretty easy to just take a popsicle stick
and go-- [squelching noise]
- Very cool.
- Bladesmiths, you are now
halfway through this handle round!
You've got 60 minutes remaining!
- I'm pretty sure that an hour is gonna give me plenty of time
to get a handle on it.
However, pin alignment is very important.
And to ensure that I drill the holes in the right spo,
I use a handy little hairpin that I made for my daughter
to mark the wood.
I made it too thick. It was too heavy.
So I just--I decided to use that one for my shop.
I'm really happy to put some handles on this thing,
and I'm really looking forward to seeing the judges
put it to the test.
Ooh, OK.
♪ ♪
- I'm trying to get these handle scales attached,
and I realize that it's not fitting well.
- I haven't seen Jason deal with that
really wobbly warp in his tang.
That's gonna make fitting a handle really difficult.
- I need to work very quickly
to have this epoxy cure while it's all together.
And this is where some bad decisions come about.
- Now, that's under a ton of tension.
So if that glue doesn't hold 100%,
it'll pop loose.
- I don't feel I have time to wait
on these handle scales to cure.
I have to run over to the grinder
and really start shaping my handle.
♪ ♪
[bleep].
- Oh, Jason's handle just split open.
- Oh, no.
I think the problem is, is that the bend is so big
that there's no way to get the front and the back
together at the same time. - Yeah.
- I need to make these handle scales work
because I don't feel that I have time at all to start over.
So I just grab the gap filling super glue
and start squirting it all throughout there.
And the tang is finally
starting to stick to the handle scales.
- Jason's handle's like, 70% glue
and like, 30% handle right now. - [chuckles]
- I am absolutely worried
this handle's going to come apart during testing.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, you guys are down to 30 minutes left!
♪ ♪
- I've never had to shape a handle this quickly before.
But I'm feeling extremely good with how it's coming along.
I'm constantly pulling it aside from the grinder
and swinging it around, feeling my hands,
feeling the weight distribution just to see what it feels like.
Whoo! We're getting somewhere.
As I get closer to being done, these next couple of minutes.
I just need to get it as pretty and aesthetically pleasing
as I possibly can.
- Ian, taking a little time to use the torch
to apply some color. - It looks pretty decent.
And, like, I--I mean, I would use it.
[chuckles]
- Shaping the handle takes a little bit longer
than I was hoping for.
With the time left on the clock,
I will go for a very rough appleseed edge on it.
- Not only is it how good of an edge
can they put on it to begin with,
it's what edge does it have
after chopping a bunch of bones?
- I mean, sharpen it like an axe.
I mean, that's what these are. It's an axe for cutting pig.
- It's there. It's got an edge.
Hopefully, it survives the tests
and hopefully, I get to continue.
♪ ♪
- As time's running out,
I'm still rounding the edges of my handle scales.
But I also need to get a sharp edge on my hog splitter.
♪ ♪
Ooh! - Oh, snap!
- You all right? - Yeah, yeah.
- You can see how hard he's grinding on it,
that he blew that belt right off the grinder.
- It's got to be hard keeping that wobbly edge
from catching the belt.
[belt thumps] - See?
- Number two.
It's so frustrating to have those belts pop.
- Gotta change something up.
- I'm gonna go edge down.
I come to my senses and turn the edge of my blade downward.
I don't know how much time I have left.
I just got to get through this and hope for the best.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Five, four, three, two, one!
Bladesmiths, put down your tools.
This round is over!
- Based simply on looking,
I can tell that my knife is much heavier
than my competitor's knives.
And I honestly have no idea how testing's gonna go.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, welcome to the strength test:
the bone chop.
♪ ♪
Ian, you're up first. You ready?
- No. [laughter]
- Well, we gotta do it, dude. We gotta do it.
♪ ♪
- These bones are, like, several inches thick.
Like, they're no joke.
I'm not gonna lie. I think I peed my pants a little bit.
How on Earth is my blade gonna withstand this?
♪ ♪
[loud bang]
[intense rock music]
♪ ♪
- Ooh!
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
- All right, Ian.
Blade held up great.
No problems with anything coming loose.
One issue I have is
there's a couple of rolls that happened.
Moving back to your handle, I like a lot about this handle.
I like the shape of it.
I wish there had been a little kick down,
but it didn't really get in my way.
And, you know, it did a great job
doing what it's supposed to do, so nice job.
- Thank you.
- All right, Jason, you're up. You ready?
- Maximum effort.
- Maximum effort, engaged.
♪ ♪
- With the issues I had constructing my handle,
I'm not confident
that my handle scales are gonna stay on.
We're gonna find out.
[suspenseful music]
[intense rock music]
♪ ♪
- [exhales slowly]
♪ ♪
Hope that handle didn't come apart.
♪ ♪
- All right, Jason.
It's all in one piece. Nice job for that.
Your overall shape is rough,
and there's a lot of wiggle.
But the huge issue I've got
is this tiny little burr right here.
It's razor sharp, and it cut my hand.
♪ ♪
This part is supposed to cause damage...
- Yeah. - Not this part.
But your edge held up really well, so nice job.
- Thank you.
- Austin, your turn.
You ready? - Yes, sir.
♪ ♪
The bone chop is a brutal way to test a blade.
But I made this hog splitter specifically to do that,
so we'll see if it works.
[suspenseful music]
[intense rock music]
♪ ♪
- OK.
[dramatic music]
- All right, Austin.
Your edge held up really well.
Here, there's a little bit of glinting
where most of the bone chop was,
but it's minor.
It's a smooth and comfortable handle,
and it swung like a ton of bricks.
Nice job. - Thank you.
- [claps]
♪ ♪
All right, bladesmiths.
Welcome to the sharpness test...
♪ ♪
The pork slice.
Ian, you're first.
Are you ready? - Yes.
- All right, let's do this.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[intense rock music]
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
All right, Ian. It's got a nice feel to it.
It's got a nice profile.
Now, your edge has that cleaver chopping edge.
It's not razor sharp,
but it's sharp enough to chop into this pork slice.
Overall, your hog splitter, it will cut.
- Thank you.
- All right, Jason, are you ready to go ham on ham?
- Oh, maybe?
- All right, let's do it anyways.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- [sighs]
I'm gonna cut another judge.
♪ ♪
[intense rock music]
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
- All right, Jason.
You have a sharp edge,
which is just as sharp as the burr right there.
But in terms of function,
your hog splitter will spit a hog.
- Thank you.
- All right, Austin, your turn.
You ready? - Yes, sir.
- Let's do this.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
[intense rock music]
♪ ♪
- Nice.
[dramatic music]
- All right, Austin.
Now, that's a hog splitter.
Almost split it in half.
Your edge has a cleaver-like edge that cuts deep.
Overall, your hog splitter will split a hog.
- Thank you.
- That was awesome.
Well, gentlemen, in this supersized competition,
you all successfully built the largest first round blade
we have ever asked smiths to make in this Forge.
And you guys all have a ton to be proud of.
But, at the end of the day, only two of you can join s
in the final round of this competition.
The bladesmith leaving The Forge is...
[dramatic music]
Jason.
Unfortunately, your blade didn't make the cut.
And Ben's gonna tell you why.
♪ ♪
- Well, Jason, first off I gotta commend you
for being able to move and manipulate
that huge bar of steel.
But, at the end of the day,
your handle had burrs and sharp edges,
and it cut my hand.
That's why we're letting you go.
- I'm sorry about your hand. - 'Tis but a scratch.
- Well, Jason, you got a ton to be proud of,
but unfortunately your time in this competition has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you
to please step off The Forge floor.
- All right. Thank you very much.
- Thank you.
- The judges made the right decision.
My blade failed in kind of the worst way possible.
It hurt a judge.
It's disappointing, but I feel lucky
to have not burned off a pigtail.
However, if I had burned off a pigtail,
it would've been a great story.
♪ ♪
- Ian, Austin, congratulations. Your hard work has paid off,
and you guys are moving into the third and final round
of this supersized competition.
In this final round, you're going back to
your home forges for four days
to build an iconic weapon from history.
Bladesmiths, we want you to build this.
♪ ♪
The Japanese greatsword.
♪ ♪
- The Japanese greatsword arose in popularity
during the 14th century.
Reaching lengths of up to five feet long,
this massive, single edged, slightly curved blade
was designed to deliver deep, penetrating cuts
upon enemy soldiers on foot or horseback alike.
While this enormous weapon became too impractical
for battle by the 17th century,
it can still be seen in many action films,
including the classic 1954 Kurosawa movie,
"Seven Samurai."
- It is one of the largest swords
in the samurai's arsenal.
And the ones you bring back
need to fall within these parameters.
Your blade needs to be slightly curved, single edged,
and have a length between 42 and 44 inches.
Now, the hilt needs to feature a habaki, a tsuba,
a fuchi, and a kashira,
as well as a traditional Japanese handle wrap.
- I am making a 5-foot long object from hell.
Not only is it a big sword,
it is a very intricate sword
with a lot of handle detail.
- Good luck, gentlemen. We will see you in four days.
♪ ♪
[exciting rock music]
- We're at my home forge in Alvin, Texas.
I'm making a Japanese greatsword.
[forge roaring]
This is going to be an extremely difficult buil.
This is a massive sword.
I need to move it 19 inches by hand
'cause I don't have any power equipment.
That first heat really showed me
just how difficult and long this is gonna take
with a hand hammer.
I've gotta switch over to a lighter hammer,
'cause I'm just worn out.
This thing is absolutely ridiculous.
It's huge. It's obscene.
I'm nearly at the end of day one,
and I've got almost a foot to go in length.
I've gotta pick up some time in day two.
♪ ♪
- We're back in my home forge in Bedford, Pennsylvania.
It's day one.
I'm excited. [chuckles]
First thing I'm gonna do is just
try to forge out this blade.
It is a monster of a blade,
and I just want to get it all roughed out.
Oh, yeah.
I'm so glad I have a press.
I know that I can draw material quickly with that.
All right, so we are pretty much
at length to where I want to be.
I'm pretty much done,
and I'm ready to get it up to temperature and quench it.
So my gas forge isn't actually big enough
to do the heat treating.
So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna dig a ditch
and make kind of like, a redneck coal forge.
I have the blade in there.
I'm just watching the temperature
and just making sure I don't overheat it.
Things are definitely heating up,
literally. [chuckles]
[dramatic music]
[file scraping] It's hardened.
I am really happy with how it came out.
End of day one.
Today, I got a lot farther than what I thought I would.
My brain's, like, fried. [chuckles]
Sweet. [chuckles]
- Today is the start of day two.
It's frustratingly slow progress from yesterday.
Hoping I can get it to length quickly
and get this thing quenched as quick as possible.
It's right in between the two parameters.
Perfect!
Almost like I planned it.
The heat treating process is going to be difficult,
due to the extreme length
and the fact that I've only got an 18-inch long forge.
♪ ♪
We are skating.
I know the blade is good and hard.
I feel pretty good about today's progress.
Not quite what I originally had planned for,
but still on schedule.
Happy dance.
All right, that's enough of that.
- Day three.
So next thing I need to do is I need to shape this handle,
and get it actually ergonomic and feeling good in your hans
'cause this handle's pretty big.
All right.
It's starting to fit my hands really good.
I really like it.
It is now a fully functional sword.
This thing is a beast. [chuckles]
[cackles] Evil laughter.
- We are at day four. Ready to get this over with.
I am putting on faux, not real, alligator skin,
to give this sword a little bit of my Texas heritage
down here on the dirty third coast.
Everything looks good so far.
Now it's just time for the handle wrap.
Just trying to make it so that it's not uncomfortable
for the judges' hands.
My hands are now cramping severely
as I'm doing this nearly 21 inches of braid.
As I finish it up, I think it looks pretty cool.
It just needs an edge, and then it's test time.
I did grind the blade thin.
And I'm hoping that the lighter weight and the thinner profile
will help it cut better
while still being thick enough to retain its edge
during the damage test.
Whoa!
[chuckles]
- It's morning of day four.
First thing that I'm gonna do is start working the kashir.
That's really the biggest thing I have to work on now,
and I just need to get that done
so I can focus on the handle wrapping.
So I got the kashira put on. It's shaped.
I really like it.
I am ready for-- yeah, making it look cool.
I start wrapping this handle. It's going really nicely.
The brown and black contrast is awesome.
It's starting to look like a finished product.
Here we go. Very nice fit.
♪ ♪
Cool. [chuckles]
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome back to the final round
of our supersized competition.
Both your blades look absolutely stunning.
But before we get to testing those blades,
we want to hear about them. So, Ian, tell us about yours.
♪ ♪
- It was an absolute beast to make.
The whole blade was forged out of 5160 spring steel.
- Absolutely stunning.
- Now, Austin, how about you? How'd it go?
♪ ♪
- The blade has been forged from 5160 spring steel,
with mild steel for the fittings
and copper for the habaki.
- Guys, I got to say, these are absolutely stunning pieces.
But, gentlemen, as you know,
in order to find out which one of you
is coming out on top in this competition,
we've got a couple supersized tests for you.
To start things off, I'm gonna hand you off to Doug.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the dynamic KEAL test.
It's with great disappointment
that I have to say that I will not be able to
wield your weapons to test it.
But Dave Baker will be enjoying and doing your tests.
Ian, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Go for it.
- Take it away.
- I have no fear it's gonna go through the pi.
My fear is the bamboo.
I'm terrified of it just, like, shattering,
and just the blade being in two pieces at the end of this.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
[intense rock music]
♪ ♪
- [whispering] Oh, my gosh.
- [grunting]
♪ ♪
- [quietly] Oh, man.
- [grunting]
- [exhales]
♪ ♪
- So, Ian, right off,
scale-wise, perfect for my hand.
The wrap is really well dialed in.
Your blade, every single one of those cuts was deadly.
Your edge is still a razorblade.
It lost no edge, whatsoever.
Nicely done. - Thank you.
- All right, Austin, you ready?
- Yes, sir.
♪ ♪
Going into the tests, I have concerns that
my bevels are too thin,
and that I will take edge damage in a strength test.
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
[intense rock music]
♪ ♪
[grunting]
[dramatic music]
- All right, Austin.
Right off, your sword has a lot of height to it.
And it's got a lot of mass to it.
But it's really nicely balanced, which I like.
An issue: there are some dull spots on your blade,
dull enough that I can run my finger back and forth on it.
But I really like the look of this blade.
Nicely done. - Thank you.
[suspenseful music]
- All right, bladesmiths, welcome to my dynamic test,
the steel wind chime and fish slice.
♪ ♪
Ian, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Not really.
- Well, get ready. It's comin'.
[intense rock music]
♪ ♪
[clattering]
- Oh.
[clattering]
♪ ♪
[clattering]
[dramatic music]
- All right, Ian, first things first.
I'm impressed.
This edge doesn't really show much of any indication
that it had been smashed into steel wind chimes.
You know, you could see the cuts on all these fish
are nice and clean.
The handle wrap is really comfortable.
The dimensions are good.
All in all, nice job.
- Thank you.
- All right, Austin, you're up, man.
How you feeling? - Let's get it over with.
- All right. [chuckles]
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Phew.
[clattering]
♪ ♪
[clattering]
♪ ♪
[clattering]
♪ ♪
[groans]
[dramatic music]
- All right, Austin.
Well, you're all in one piece. Well done.
Where I was hitting the wind chimes,
each time I hit them,
you lost more and more of your edge.
There's some rolls that I can get a fingernail underneath.
So as I was progressing through the fish,
they became more and more difficult to cut through.
But, all in all, I think you did a great job.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, you both impressed us
the entire competition.
But at the end of it, only one of you can come out on top
and earn the title of "Forged in Fire" champion
and a check for $10,000.
Today's "Forged in Fire" champion is...
Ian. Very well done.
Austin, unfortunately, your blade did not make the cut
and Doug's gonna tell you why.
- Austin, what it came down to is the dulling you took
during our test.
It just underperformed
on the dynamic KEAL and sharpness tests.
And those are the reasons why you didn't win today.
- I agree completely.
- Well, Austin, it's been an absolute pleasure
watching you pound steel in The Forge
and come out with two massive blades.
But, unfortunately, your time in this competition has ended.
I want to say thank you for coming out,
but I'm gonna have to ask you to please
step off The Forge floor. - Thanks, y'all.
I don't like to lose,
but Ian's a great guy to lose to.
That definitely makes it easier.
I made a mistake when I sharpened the sword.
I thought my bevels were far too thin,
so I put a fat edge on it and it cost me.
I'm gonna get right back into it,
and probably crank out a few swords.
But they're gonna be normal people sized sword.
♪ ♪
- Well, Ian, congratulations, man.
That makes you a "Forged in Fire" champ,
and you'll be getting a check for $10,000.
Very well done. [applause]
- I'm still kind of in shock, still a little shaky
but really excited and really thankful.
- How you feeling, bud?
- Pretty good. [chuckles]
Thank--thank you guys.
The amount of people that I've met,
the knowing what I can do in such a short amount of time,
it's just--I learned so much.
[intense rock music]
♪ ♪