[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- my name is will morris. I'm 41 years old.
What I love most about smithing
is just getting into that zen moment.
It's therapy really.
- My name is josh wentz, 31 years old.
I like to consider myself a full-time dad,
part-time knife maker.
There's a lot more time with my son
than there is in my shop.
I'm definitely not complaining.
He's a ball of joy,
and I'm happy every day that I get to be with him.
- My name is menno, m-e-n-n-o,
not like the fish. I sit on the phone all day.
I say, "thank you for calling [indistinct].
This is menno." "like a fish?"
"no, fish don't talk, man." [laughs]
when I saw the show for the first time,
I didn't know nothing about knife making,
so I made a forge.
I made a little sword out of a nail,
cut myself with it, and I was intrigued.
- My name's brad ditty. I'm 23 years old.
Growing up, I always wanted to have a forge,
but my dad would look at me and go,
"I don't trust you with it."
to be a "forged in fire" champion
would make everyone at home proud,
and that would just put a huge smile on my face.
- Gentlemen, welcome to the forge.
We're about to put you through the wringer
in a forging competition unlike any other.
At the end of each round,
you'll be presenting your work for our panel of expert judges.
Those judges today are blacksmith, bladesmith,
and two-time "forged in fire" champion ben abbott,
historic weapons re-creation specialist dave baker,
and edge weapons specialist
and kali martial artist doug marcaida.
Now remember, the four of you are gonna be battling
to figure out who's going home with the coveted title
of "forged in fire" champion and that check for $10,000.
In front of your anvils
you guys have a sealed mission brief.
Go ahead and open those up for me.
We are calling this "mission: Zero."
it's a brut de forge challenge.
In round one of the competition,
I want you guys to build me knives
made out of this scrap metal here,
but only during the salvaging period
can you use tools to cut your steel.
After that, no cutting tools, no grinders, no hot cutting.
And obviously this means
that every hammer strike is important.
Any mistakes you have will end up in your final blade.
So you also see in your mission briefs
there is a volume calculating sheet.
You can utilize that to figure out
exactly how much steel you need to make your signature blades
that meets these mission parameters.
Your blade needs to be between 12" and 14"
and have a full tang.
- I'm european, and they don't mess
with the calculations over there with here,
so this is gonna be a tough one.
- In round two of the competition,
you guys are gonna be adding handles to your blades,
making them fully functioning weapons.
At that point, we will be testing them
for strength and durability in an ammo can chop
and checking your sharpness in a military bed slice.
Now remember, you only have three hours in the first round
of this competition, so good luck.
Take your time. Make your calculations count.
Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
would you guys be figuring out your calculations right now,
or would you be looking at the metals first?
- I would grab something that I knew was oversized
that was not a ball bearing
'cause cutting a third of that ball bearing off
would be a real pain in the neck.
- Look at the choices you have there and roll with it.
- I've seen this competition a hundred times.
Oh, my god. This is the hardest one ever.
Looking at that paper, it's a lot of mumbo jumbo.
It's hard for me because I don't have the skills
in measuring because I'm european,
but I'm getting used to the inches instead of centimeters.
As I'm looking at the table, I can see a piece of steel
and I think it's w4, and that is great metal.
When I make a knife, I'm eyeballing everything.
I'm not great at math, but I can put it in my hand
and weigh it and know that it is too heavy,
so I've cut off at least one fifth.
- The amount of steel they start with is crucial
because everything they start with
is going to be in that final blade.
And if they start with something too big,
it's gonna be a boat anchor.
- And that's it.
- So I'm staring at the table,
and I'm feeling a little bit of angst in my gut.
Which one is gonna be the best steel for me to use?
And immediately I'm thinking it's the leaf spring.
The 7" piece would be more than enough
to do what I'm doing.
- Brad just shot himself in the foot.
He cut off about a 4-inch piece of that.
That is gonna be one lean knife.
- Some bladesmiths that I've seen are very precise
in every measurement in everything they do,
but that's just not me.
- Pretty confident.
Usually I'm good at eyeballing stuff.
I never measure at home,
so going by the seat of my pants.
I know it isn't always the best thing to do,
but it's how I'm doing it right now.
- The whole idea behind a brut de forge knife is no grinding,
so now I'm gonna have to rely on my hammer for everything.
I tried to figure out the equation,
but it looks like chinese,
so I decide to just give it my best guess.
- What is the formula?
- The sphere is 4/3 pi r cubed, and then anything square
is you multiply all three dimensions together.
- Nerd alert. - [laughs]
- I see some round stock that is a little skinnier,
and I think it's going to be perfect for the challenge.
- It looks like josh
is not cutting anything off that round stock.
- I weld my stick to my steel
and then muscle memory kicks in.
I throw it right into the forge.
- He's probably got almost two pounds of metal there.
- [bleep].
It dawns on me that I forgot
to cut any excess material off.
- We always say it's good to have sacrificial steel.
Not in this challenge. We're gonna have to judge you
based on what you actually forge to shape.
- Starting over was not an option for me.
I'd rather have more than enough material
than not enough material.
Just hope it doesn't come back to bite me in the butt.
- I'm gonna pick the round stock,
and I'm looking at the sheet of paper,
and I can tell you right now
I'm not gonna sit here and try to do math.
I'm just gonna go with my gut.
- So it seems like the guys are just going with it.
Do you think
there's something to be said about just winging it?
- In this competition, if you were given the ability
to measure everything, they've got scales out there,
the steel is about 4.6 ounces per cubic inch,
cut 'til you have that exact amount of steel,
and then go for it.
- My gut could be lying to me today,
and I could be way undersized on my steel or way oversized.
It's a risk I'm willing to take.
Let's see if it pays off.
Hot. Whoo-hoo.
- I am making a big chopper. There's just so much metal.
The chopper is the best knife you can make.
But right now I'm going from big blu to the press
back to measuring, big blu, press.
It is very difficult to have no grinders
because you cannot grind it to a specific way
that you want to have the knife look.
But it doesn't matter. This is the big leagues.
I'm super happy with my blade. It's the right size.
It's the right width. It's the right weight.
I think they're gonna love it, and it will cut.
For this challenge,
I'm looking to make a clip point camp knife.
It's gonna have a wider edge.
It's gonna be good for thrusting and for slashing.
- So if I were brad with the steel he's got,
I'd start with the ideal shape for that.
- I got to be careful drawing it out
'cause I can't cut anything off.
So at my home forge,
I don't like to stand there and do nothing,
so sometimes I wiggle, sometimes I dance.
- [laughs] - oh, I like it.
- And sometimes I talk to myself and answer back.
[high-pitched voice] okay. Okay. One more time.
I put it back in this way.
[normal voice] I like to have a lot of fun with it.
[high-pitched voice] we can do it.
- Bladesmiths, you have two hours remaining.
- So now I'm stuck with this huge piece of steel.
My plan is to at least get that to the parameters,
then put all the extra into the handle.
♪ ♪
whoo. [bleep].
I pinched my steel. Bad news is I got a cold shut.
Yeah, it's frustrating that you look over
and you see a perfectly good grinder sitting there.
Any other day
I could go over there and just grind that off,
but we're not allowed to do that.
Luckily I can put that on my spine
early enough to work around it.
- It looks like he has a lot of steel on that working stick.
- He started out with that 6" x 1 1/4",
and now he has 10" x 1 1/4". [laughs]
- I'm hammering in the bevels,
and the steel's not moving the way I want it to.
I'm having a really hard time.
Yeah, like trigger finger.
I'm cramping up like crazy.
I'm throwing gang signs without even trying.
[grunts]
I probably can't even tie my shoe at this point,
but I'm not gonna quit. [sighs]
I'm a very stubborn person, and I don't give in.
So I'm gonna go to the drill press,
and that should give my arms a break
so I can go back to swinging a hammer.
- They didn't lie about the heat.
- No.
- I'm having a blast, but I'm feeling like
a little bit the old dog because these guys are younger.
I think I lost a few pounds today.
- Hell yeah.
- I am very talkative when I'm forging.
- Menno was talking to me a lot,
but I have headphones on.
So there's some things I heard, but most of the time,
I can't hear what anybody's saying,
so I'm just like, "okay."
as I'm in the press,
I'm realizing that I'm not gonna have the width
I need to make a camp knife.
- We got two bladesmiths who seem like
they've got too much steel.
Then we got brad who cut way too much off.
- Do I go to the table and get more steel?
At this moment I realize that my knife depends
on my decision right now.
This is the tipping point for me in the challenge.
Uh...
If I start over, I risk not making it.
I am extremely nervous.
- I'm realizing that I'm not gonna have the width
I need to make a camp knife.
I risk not making it.
If I go through with this,
I have to make sure whatever I do is pretty darn good.
So I need to have something that's gonna have
a lot of strength in the spine but have a good cutting edge,
and immediately what comes to mind is a japanese wakizashi.
A japanese wakizashi has a slight curve to it.
It's good for slashing,
and it's got a very thick spine to it.
I'm doing my very best to create a perfect
and symmetrical edge down the center
and also keep the spine nice and thick.
As I'm looking at my blade now,
I am so happy that I went with the decision.
It looks pretty darn good.
- So I've got about an hour left.
Normally I would step over to the grinder
and start getting that edge thickness down
to where I want it, but instead,
I'm sitting here planishing my steel.
I'm just trying to get all the rough hammer marks
out of her right now.
Definitely seen the judges pick that out.
Last year I made the change to become a fulltime knife maker,
so if it wasn't for my wife,
I would never have the chance to do this.
Win or lose, I just want to finish for my wife.
- I got my holes drilled, so I'm gonna switch gears.
As I'm hammering on the steel, I'm actually planishing out
some of the hammer marks I did prior.
- So you know what I noticed that will was doing?
He was hammering the shape of his blade
when there was no more color to it.
Is there a risk that he could add some cracks to that?
- Certainly cracking is an issue
when you run out of color in a blade.
- Knowing that I'm having a really hard time
swinging the hammer,
I don't think I can really do too much else.
Whoo-ee!
I'm gonna quench it, hope it's hard,
hope it's straight, go from there.
- 20 minutes remaining, bladesmiths.
- Now that I'm getting ready for the quench,
I make sure that my temperatures are good.
[fire whooshes]
- menno quenched that blade way too hot
and then took it out while it was still way too hot.
- [grunts]
in the front it's good,
but in the back by the handle, it's not hard.
[dramatic musical sting]
- he doesn't look like he's happy right now, guys.
- You could see when he was filing, he was biting into it.
- So I make the decision to do another quench.
I hate to do it.
The possibility that it breaks on the second quench
could happen, so it has to be perfect.
- Oh, wow. That's bright.
[laughing] it's gonna burst into flames.
♪ ♪
- that's hard. I'm so happy.
I will be surprised if I don't go through the next round
'cause it's a beautiful blade.
- Now that my blade fits the parameters
and has a nice shape to it, I'm getting ready to quench.
♪ ♪
and it's not hard.
[bleep].
At this moment I am really kind of let down,
but it's not time to give up.
- Brad's back in the forge after he quenched.
- Re-quenching might affect my blade in the testing,
but it's up to god, not me.
♪ ♪
I run the file across it, and it skates.
Thank you, jesus. [laughs]
- I'm ready to finally quench this knife.
- Josh is quenched.
- Before I even look at it,
I run over to the straightening jig.
I let it sit and cool, and luckily it's nice and hard.
It's straight. It's still heavy,
but I couldn't have asked for anything more.
Oh, my god. Whew.
- Ten minutes on the clock, guys.
- I don't have all day,
so it's time to start quenching.
Get it up to critical temp,
and then into the oil for the quench.
No tings, no cracks. I feel really good about it.
- Five. Four.
Three. Two. One.
Put down your tools. This round is over.
- Looking down and seeing what I produced,
regardless of what the judges decide,
I'm happy with what I did. It's been awesome.
- All right, guys, in objective one of mission: Zero,
you were tasked to source your steel,
calculating the precise amount
you wanted to make your end blade.
Unfortunately we're gonna have to send somebody home
before we go into round two.
Let's see what the judges have to say.
Will, you ready? - Yes, sir.
- Please present your work.
[tense music]
- all right, will. You've got a basic knife shape here.
I'd say, though, the one thing that gives me the most pause
is there's a crack right here that comes in,
rolls around the edge,
and comes in a similar amount on this side.
I would be nervous if were to try to test this
of that just letting go.
- All right, josh, you're up next.
Please present your work to the judges.
- So the overall shape of your blade,
I like the profile look,
but there's so much weight here.
It's very thick.
But what I like about it is that you aptly tapered it.
So what that does is it really gives all the weight back here
and not in front of the blade so it's easier to move.
A lot of metal to remove, but overall good job.
- Thanks. - All right, menno, you're up.
Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- all right, menno, let's talk about your blade here.
I do like the profile you have.
Actually I like the dimensions of your handle.
It fits nicely in my hand.
But the minute I pick it up,
I can feel all the weight up here.
It's not evenly distributed.
You could have tapered your blade,
but moving forward, there's a lot of grinding,
a lot of refining, but overall good job.
- Thank you. - All right, brad, you ready?
Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- you played the game to a tee.
You made a great calculation,
and you turned that calculation
into a fully functional blade as it is.
You could grind an edge onto this
and have an absolutely functional blade
without changing anything else.
Moving forward,
I would be careful not to bulk the handle up too much.
As is, this is a really classic,
modern tonto fighter kind of feel to it,
and I think you did just a fantastic job.
Well done.
- All right, you all did very well
in the brut de forge challenge,
but unfortunately one of you will not be moving forward
into round two of the competition.
The bladesmith not moving forward is...
♪ ♪
will.
Dave baker is gonna tell you why.
- So, will, you did a great job hammering out that blade,
but that large crack running right across
the edge of the blade, as deep as it is,
puts the structure of that blade in question,
and that's why we're letting you go.
- I totally understand. Thank you.
- All right, will, thanks for your hard work,
but it's time to ask you to please surrender your weapon
and leave the forge floor.
- I'm disappointed, but I can't control that crack.
Getting mad over it isn't gonna change the fact
that there's a crack.
The challenge was actually a lot more demanding
than I thought, but you know,
life always has a plan for you. You may not see it,
but it reveals itself over time,
so I'm okay with it.
- Congratulations.
You guys are moving into round two.
In front of you, you've got ammo cans.
Go ahead and open them up and check out what's inside.
♪ ♪
inside is everything you will need to complete round two.
There is a bunch of scales.
You got different handle materials.
You've got your pins. You've got your epoxies.
You will also see a bunch of spent ammo casings.
I want you guys to integrate those into the construction
of your handles in some way, shape, or form.
We will be testing them for strength and durability
in an ammo can chop
and checking your sharpness in a military bed slice.
Best news yet,
you guys have access to the grinders in this round.
You guys only have two hours, so good luck.
Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
- this better turn into grinder fest.
- So many bullets.
I have to include a bullet round casing into my handle.
How am I gonna do this?
- Throwing in the bullet casings,
what would you guys be planning to do with it?
- You can just drill a hole through both tangs
and just cut a casing that fits out flush on either side.
You could also make an actual cutlers rivet out of it
where you crimp one of the casings
and you put it inside the other,
and from both sides smash them together.
- As I'm staring at my table, I notice that there is a short
.22 shell and a long one.
If these can go together, maybe I can pinch the one end.
I can turn this into a tube
instead of a shell and use it as a pin.
- Well, brad's using the caps as a sort of a decorative pin.
We all know how thin the back end of a bullet is,
so he could easily grind that away.
- Ha. Yes. And they fit perfectly.
I couldn't ask for anything better.
All right.
- All right.
I wanted to make the nicest handles
out of the pantry, not with these things.
I immediately see the .22 shells,
and I hope that's gonna be the same size as my holes.
♪ ♪
perfect.
- I saw menno grabbing through the ammo.
It looked like he picked one round up
and it fit almost perfectly.
- Whew.
The bullet shells that I'm using
do three pin stalks in it with glue,
so that is the end of a pin stock.
It's more like a corby bolt.
Then I can go immediately to the grinder.
♪ ♪
oh, my god, I'm so happy that we could use all the tools.
The grinders are, for me, valhalla.
I have to take so much metal off
because it's so heavy.
This has to be perfect.
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
- josh has such a thick tang.
I would love to see that cut in half at least.
♪ ♪
- I'm gonna address the handle length
and then address the handle shape later.
Good.
- Josh just went and cut off the back half of his handle.
- Perfect. That's what he needed to do.
- I've got to adjust my handle so the judges feel more secure
holding that knife in their hand.
- Bladesmiths, you guys have one hour remaining.
- Try this one.
I'm looking, I see acrylic, horn, and micarta.
I could probably cut the micarta
and not worry about any brittleness from it
because micarta is actually very strong.
About halfway through the block, it starts to kick.
♪ ♪
that didn't work at all.
So I grab the acrylic, which I've used,
but however I know is very brittle,
so you got to be very careful with it.
If I could just get this cap off!
The super glue won't open. Well, the top's coming off.
That's not good.
Oh, way too much. Way too much.
And boom, everywhere. It's on my hands.
It's on the painter's tape.
My pieces are glued together. [groans]
I am extremely nervous at this point.
What if I can't get these apart?
If I can't get this handle material to work,
I have no more options.
I've come too far in this challenge,
and the last thing I want to do is go home
because I couldn't get a handle on this.
Oh, god.
♪ ♪ - [groans]
my pieces are glued together. I am extremely nervous.
What if I can't get these apart?
It's acrylic, so I have to be very, very careful.
- My father would be so mad at him right now,
saying something to the extent of,
"a ruler is not a chisel.
Get the right tool for the job, ben."
- it's not working. My alternate thought is,
"well, then you're gonna have to go grab the horn."
I've never messed with that,
and I don't want to try and push my luck today.
Thank god it pops apart. Try that one more time.
[rock music]
- now that's better.
I'm super happy with the shape of the knife.
So I'm done with grinding. Okay.
Get the epoxy resin and handles,
and I'm free-handing the holes.
First hole's perfect.
I want to put in the second hole.
It's too close to the edge.
Oh, [bleep].
My handle cracked.
Oh. My world collapses.
I had to start all over. [grunts]
I still have a bit of the micarta,
but I've never worked with it before.
♪ ♪
yeah, man. And it works.
Oh, my god. I'm so happy.
[laughs]
♪ ♪
- I'm addressing my weight issue.
I'm running fullers down the length of my blade.
- That's smart because it reduces the weight
coming out of the entire blade
without really changing the strength.
- Okay. Okay.
I'm not worried about my handle material being perfect.
I just need to get the holes in there.
So the holes I'm just going to use 5.56 rounds
as the pin stock.
They're long enough to fit through my handle,
and I know they're long enough
to grab on to the handle material.
- To do that right,
you really don't want that whole casing sticking up.
That's what we call a "hotspot."
- good. - Yippy.
Now that my handle's all clamped up,
I figure it's good enough time for me
to go over to the grinder.
My edge is just about to the point where I want it to be.
I start shaping my handle.
If I were to win the $10,000,
I'd give $2,000 to the church right away,
but the other $5,000 or whatever the--
whatever how it goes, shakes out in the end,
I'd probably just put it in the bank.
I'm really not good at math. I told you that. [laughs]
- it's all finished. It could not have been better.
♪ ♪
I'm done with the handle
and try to make it as sharp as possible.
Normally I like to sharpen my knives into the bathtub
because after a long day of work,
we're all black and dirty,
so I sit in the bathtub with my sandpaper
and finish up the knives that I make.
My wife thinks I'm nuts, but I'm dutch is the thing.
- Gentlemen, you've got five minutes remaining.
- Running out of time. - So I'm feeling pretty good.
I'm doing my rough shaping of my handle material.
Okay.
I've watched this competition enough times
to see people go home for uncomfortable handles.
It's something that you need to be thinking about.
Winning this competition would change my knife-making career.
I'd be able to step up to that next tier.
It would definitely change the quality of my work.
- Five. Four.
Three. Two. One.
Place your weapons down. Turn off your machines.
This round is over.
- I have faith in my skill.
But having to put my blades through something like this,
I want to see 'em use it. I want to see 'em break stuff.
But I don't want to see them break my blade.
- All right, gentlemen, I think you know what time it is.
It's time for the strength test.
Now, to test the strength
and overall construction of your blades,
I will be swinging into these ammo cans.
Josh, you're up first. You ready?
- Let's do it.
I'm the first to go, and I see this
big, old 40mm can,
and my confidence slowly starts to dwindle.
This is gonna be a lot more brutal
than I thought it was gonna be.
♪ ♪
whew. [chuckles]
♪ ♪
- all right, josh,
when I grab your handle right off, it's comfortable.
Your use of the shells for the holes is great.
It would've been nice to file the insides of them off.
The weight of your knife, it's good.
It feels pretty right.
On your edge, you've got a couple spots up the tip
that are more chips than rolls.
And then down here you've got rolls.
But good job. - Thank you.
- All right, menno, you're up. You ready?
- Cut it in half. - [laughs] I'll try.
♪ ♪
- I know these canisters because I have these canisters
at home. I know how hard they are
because they dropped on my foot one time.
What will it do to my knife? I'm super scared.
♪ ♪
- all right, so, menno, I'm not a huge fan of finger grooves,
but this is sized beautifully for my hand.
As far as the blade goes, we have chips here
as opposed to a roll where it's too soft,
this is--it's just brittle.
It leaves some question about the heat treat.
You can see the grains are really big.
I mean, it looks like more of a sand than that velvet
you want to see, but all-in-all, good job.
- Thank you.
- All right, brad, you're up. You ready?
- I'm glad I wore my brown pants.
[laughter]
♪ ♪
my heart's beating out of my chest.
Did I get the right edge on it?
Is it gonna be strong enough? Is it gonna break?
Did I do something wrong? My palms are really sweaty.
I'm just hoping there's not mom's spaghetti. [laughs]
♪ ♪
- all right, brad, first off as far as your handle goes,
pretty much right where I want it.
Having that palm swell there, it sits in.
It fits my hand really nicely.
On the blade, you've got primarily rolls here.
There's a couple of chips, but good feel.
Well done. Good knife.
- Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
♪ ♪
- all right, bladesmiths, this is the sharpness test,
the military bed slice.
To find out how sharp your edges are,
I will take your knife and do some slices
on this canvas military bed.
Josh, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Let's do it.
♪ ♪
- all right, josh, let's talk about your blade here.
First up, when I grab onto your handle,
there are no sharp edges at all.
It's comfortable in my hand.
Your edge, you have a really rolled spot over here
that took some material with it,
but the rest of the blade is very sharp.
It will cut. - Thank you.
- Menno, your turn. So you ready?
- Yeah.
After the strength test,
I'm not that confident anymore.
Right now my stomach is in my throat.
I see that my knife is not destroyed,
but it probably won't cut anymore.
It's a nylon cut. I'm really scared of that.
♪ ♪
- menno, your turn. So you ready?
- Yeah.
After the ammo chop,
I'm not that confident anymore,
so right now my stomach is in my throat.
♪ ♪
- all right, menno, let's talk about your blade here.
First up, it's a forward-heavy blade,
but the construction that you have for the handle
actually locks it in.
I have a very good grip on this.
Now let's talk about your edge.
The areas where these chips actually hit the canvas,
it ripped rather than cut,
but the edges that did make contact
that are sharp cut easily.
Overall, sir, it'll cut.
- Thank you.
- All right, brad, your turn. You ready, sir?
- Not as ready as you. - Let's do this.
♪ ♪
- [chuckles]
♪ ♪
- all right, brad, let's talk about your blade here.
First up, it's light, but it's strong and it's easy to wield.
Your edge here had some rolling earlier in the strength test,
but the movement of this blade allows me to move it
to where I can get the cuts in.
Overall, sir, it'll cut.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- gentlemen, we gave you a very hard task in mission: Zero,
but you all proved your worth in the forge.
Unfortunately, one of you will not be going forward
into round three of the competition,
and that bladesmith is...
♪ ♪
menno.
Ben abbott will tell you why.
- Well, menno, your blade took significant chipping
in the strength test, exposing large, brittle grains.
Those big chips
also affected its ability in the cutting test,
and it's for those reasons that we're letting you go.
- Okay. Fair. - Menno, I want to say
thank you for all your hard work,
but at this time I'm gonna have to ask you
to leave the forge floor.
- Thank you so much.
I did not expect that my blade would crack
or that it was that brittle.
I'm gonna go home.
I'm gonna go sit in the bathtub with a knife
and kiss the puppies, hug the wife.
I'll keep on forging.
That's not the end of the world.
I loved doing this.
♪ ♪
- all right, guys, congratulations.
You both made it to round three of the competition
where we will send you to your home forges for four days
to make this iconic weapon from u.S. Military history.
And that weapon is...
♪ ♪
the springfield 1905 bayonet.
We will be providing a springfield 1903
replica rifle to you.
Your bayonets must fit
snugly and securely on your rifle.
- [bleep].
- Developed in the early 1900s,
the m1905 springfield bayonet
was used by american infantry for nearly 70 years
from world war I through the vietnam war.
These versatile weapons were designed
with a mechanical device in the pommel
that attached securely to the rifle
while also featuring a comfortable handle,
making it a very effective weapon in hand-to-hand combat.
Featuring a sharp single edge, a long fuller,
and a false edge, this lightweight bayonet
could quickly deliver stabs and slashes to an opponent.
The bayonet is still used today
during military ceremonies
and can be seen in several classic war films
like 1998's "the thin red line."
- all right, gentlemen,
when you guys build your bayonets,
I want you to follow these parameters.
Your blade needs to be between 15" and 16"
with a fuller and a false edge at the tip
as well as a muzzle ring guard.
- I'm a little nervous with it.
I've never done a guard on a knife before,
let alone with a keyhole, and I know with the bayonets,
they usually have a place in the back of the handle
where it locks into the rifle.
There's a lot of firsts. [laughs]
- all right, gentlemen, good luck.
We'll see you in four days.
- Good luck, man. - Yeah.
♪ ♪
- it's beginning of day one. I'm a little nervous,
but I'm ready to get in the forge and get to work.
So for day one, my main plan
is to get the whole blade forged out.
I guess I could grind this to shape,
but then it's not forged in fire.
[laughs]
♪ ♪
so I'm forging out my blade,
and this one's getting far too thin.
And I'm really worried if they do any type of really
strenuous durability tests, it won't hold up to it,
so I'm just gonna scrap and start a new one.
I'm starting a second piece. I have this one pretty much
already drawn out to the right size.
I just got to get to work again.
♪ ♪
this is my second attempt.
Overall, I'm much more pleased with this one.
I have everything forged out.
Fuller's are in, rough dimensions are there.
I'm happy.
♪ ♪
[bird caws]
- so I'm back in lancaster, ohio at my home forge.
I've never made anything this big before.
The closest thing that I've come to of this size
is what I did in round one.
Starting to get there.
♪ ♪
all right, so I got the edges cleaned up fairly well.
Overall my knife is pretty straight.
It's got some little wobbles in there, but that's from forging.
A little less than 1/8"
to remove from this thing, and we're good.
♪ ♪
- so it's beginning of day two. Today I'm looking to assemble
the butt pommel, ring attachment cap deal.
[laughs]
so right now I have my groove cut.
These are gonna be the rest of my pommel.
They are going to go like so and then be welded like that,
so I have to use my angle grinder very, very,
very carefully and scribe this line in
thick enough that it fits on those rails.
Line everything up.
♪ ♪
hey, hey, hey! It works.
♪ ♪
- so my plan for today is I'm going to quench my knife.
I've never done a knife like this before.
There's a lot of things that can go wrong in this process.
Let's do this.
I could have warping coming out of the quench.
It could crack.
So if this blade breaks, I'm screwed.
♪ ♪
- let's do this.
I could have warping coming out of the quench.
It could crack.
So if this blade breaks, I'm screwed.
♪ ♪
so I'm not hearing any weird noises or any pings,
so I think I'm in good shape.
The biggest challenge of this build
is getting that locking mechanism to work.
I cut an l shorter, my bolster piece
that would slide over the rail the bayonet attaches to.
I'm gonna have to widen these a little bit more
to fit around the thickness of that,
which is something I can do fairly easily with a file.
♪ ♪
so now we're going to test with this.
♪ ♪
there she is.
♪ ♪
- beginning of day four.
Today the process is gonna be
a lot of cleaning up and grinding.
I've got my scales all cut out.
They fit relatively nice,
and now I'm working on getting my pin,
but that's gonna look pretty cool when it's done.
I have my knife all glued up.
Now that it's dry, I'm ready to take the clamps off
and I'll start profiling the handle.
At the end process,
it's probably one of the best things I've made.
I'm pretty proud of this.
- It's the final day. Almost to the finish line.
Yeah, let's do this. Say "hi."
[laughs] you're so silly.
Got the handle all glued up last night.
I'm just gonna cut off all these pins
and get a rough shape.
Clean everything up. If I didn't know any better,
and I found this sitting in my grandpa's attic,
I'd think that this was from world war ii or something.
I try to really pride myself on my fit and finish,
and I'm pretty confident in my knife.
I'm really happy with it.
I wouldn't want to be on the other end of this thing.
Let's see what it does. Yeah.
This thing is sweet. Let's see.
♪ ♪
[laughs]
♪ ♪
this thing is sharp.
Dude, that didn't even make any noise.
It just stabbed right through it.
♪ ♪
- well, guys, welcome back to the forge.
The two of you came out on top in mission: Zero,
and we sent you home for four days
to work on your renditions of the springfield bayonet.
Now, we can only choose one of you
to be the champion of "forged in fire"
and go home with that $10,000,
but first we absolutely want to hear about your builds
and how they went. Josh, how'd it go?
- It went pretty smoothly.
It's made out of 1084.
The handle is vintage micarta
with high-carbon guard and pommel.
- And brad, how'd it go for you?
- It went pretty well.
The blade is made out of 5160 leaf spring,
and the handle is oak.
- All right, guys, let's get into it.
And up first, the keal test. Doug?
♪ ♪
- bladesmiths, welcome to the keal test.
The first mission today is to take your bayonet
and affix it to the springfield rifle
and deliver some killing blows on this ballistics dummy.
Then I will dismantle the blade from the rifle,
and let's see what kind of lethal damage
it will do on its own.
Josh, you're up first. You ready?
- As ready as I can be. - All right, let's do this.
♪ ♪
- my biggest concern is the back of the handle
where it locks into the rifle.
If it wants to move around or slide,
it could, you know, break my handle,
so that's really got me nervous right now.
♪ ♪
- [laughs] - that's pretty badass.
- All right, josh, let's talk about your bayonet here.
When I affixed this onto the rifle,
it had a very nice match with the railing in there,
and your pin, it was very secure.
Now, your edge is very sharp.
It definitely lacerates deep into the bone.
On its own, the handle construction
matches nicely on my hand.
Overall, sir, it will keal.
- Awesome. Thank you. - All right, brad, your turn.
So you ready for this? - Let's go for it.
I'm a little nervous because the last thing I want to do
is have a blade that goes up
and just whacks the dummy and bounces off.
♪ ♪
give him the old stab-and-poke.
♪ ♪
oof.
- All right, brad, first up, the handle construction.
It is a little bit on the smaller side,
but there are no sharp edges,
and the flare you have here aptly gives me good retention
and I can get all the way to the guard.
At first, I was a little bit worried
about your cotter pin right here.
It looked flimsy,
but the minute I put it on, it wasn't an issue at all.
It stayed affixed to the bayonet quite tightly.
Your weapon is straight.
Every cut was very deep into this ballistics dummy.
Overall, sir, your weapon will keal.
- Thank you, sir.
♪ ♪
- bladesmiths, welcome to the strength test,
the steel can stab and barricade chop.
This test is all about what happens to your bayonets
and not what happens to the targets.
Josh, you're up first. You ready?
- Nope. No.
[bleep]. [clears throat]
I see this steel drum sitting there.
Immediately my heart kind of hits my stomach.
It could roll my entire edge. My heat treat's off.
If I don't have an edge on my knife,
then in the sharpness test, it's not gonna perform,
so yeah, I'm a little nervous. [laughs]
or maybe not a little nervous. I'm a lot nervous.
♪ ♪
- I see this steel drum sitting there,
and my heart kind of hits my stomach.
It could roll my entire edge, so I'm a little nervous.
♪ ♪
there goes my finish.
♪ ♪
whew. [bleep].
- All right, josh. Well, you survived really well.
There is sections on here that are now
not as sharp as they were, but nothing rolled over.
Nothing chipped out.
Your point is still nice and sharp.
It performed really well on the strength test.
Nice job. - Awesome. Thank you.
- All right, brad. Are you ready for this?
- Well, my nan said don't break it, but go for it.
[laughs]
♪ ♪
- well, brad, what you got here,
your blade edge took some damage.
The blade's taken a bit of a bend to one side here.
It's cheating to the right,
but your point didn't take any damage.
It's all in one piece. It's a nice sturdy blade.
Nice job. - Thank you.
♪ ♪
- all right, bladesmiths, this is the sharpness test,
the military bag slice.
To find out how sharp your edges
and point of your bayonets are,
I'm gonna take a stab at these military bags.
Josh, you're up first. You ready?
- Let's go for it.
♪ ♪
- all right, josh, your bayonet right here
had no problems puncturing the bag
and slicing it to pieces. It'll cut.
- Sweet. Thanks.
- All right, brad, your turn, sir.
Shall we do it? - Of course.
Have at you. [laughs]
♪ ♪
- pew-pew-pew. [laughter]
♪ ♪
all right, brad, let's talk about your blade here.
Wicked sharp.
It punctured easily in the military bag,
at the same time the edges cut like hot steel on butter.
Overall, sir, for this test, it will cut.
- Thank you, sir.
♪ ♪
- gentlemen, both your blades performed extremely well,
and your bayonet's fitment was better
than anything I've seen, and I've used quite a few,
but it is time for the judges to make a decision.
For that I'm gonna ask you to please
step off the forge floor.
♪ ♪
- all right, guys, we've got to make a decision.
So, dave, what'd you see?
- It's a difficult challenge because
it's a mechanical challenge as well as building a weapon.
Brad's blade had that cotter pin,
which I thought was a better connection.
But at the same time, it's a pretty weak connection.
- Ben, how 'bout you? What'd you think?
- Brad's bayonet, the first thing I notice
when I pick it up is the handle is small.
It really did affect how I felt
when I was holding onto it in the strength test.
- Doug, what do you think?
- Both blades performed very well,
but one blade took a bend on it.
It was noticeable the minute I put it on the bayonet.
Whereas the other knife, I really like the profile.
It has almost a right scale and dimensions.
- Okay, so it sounds like you're all in agreement?
- Mm-hmm. - Okay, we'll call 'em in.
All right, gentlemen,
while you both brought us amazing work,
only one of you will go home with the title.
And the "forged in fire" champion is...
♪ ♪
josh.
- Holy [bleep]. - Congratulations.
- [laughs] - brad, unfortunately,
you're not going home with the win today,
and doug's gonna tell you why.
- I commend you on your work.
Your knife performed very well on our test,
but it was also the only knife
that took a bend on the strength test.
And for that reason, your blade did not make the cut.
- Brad, unfortunately that means I'm gonna have to ask you
to please leave the forge floor.
- I understand. Have a good one, guys.
- Pleasure, man. - Thank you.
When it comes to the judges' final decision,
I can't argue with it at all. I'm extremely proud of my work.
That was probably the best blade
I've ever made so far.
This has just been a dream come true,
and I'm just so grateful to be where I am right now
even if I am going home.
- Well, josh, that means
you are the "forged in fire" champion,
and you're going home with a check for $10,000.
How does it feel, bud? - I feel awesome.
- Congratulations.
[applause]
- I don't even know, man. [laughs]
I'm still trying to sink in that I won this--I won.
It's a little overwhelming. I can't wait to tell my wife.
She had a lot of confidence in me from the very start.
I'm excited to let her know that,
"hey, you were right, you know? I won."
♪ ♪