- Here in the forge, it's all about the blades.
But tonight, we've got the ultimate forging smackdown.
[dramatic music]
this is our first-ever wwe challenge.
Whoo!
Only one smith will claim victory,
earn himself a check for $10,000
and a wwe title from the legend,
nature boy himself, ric flair.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[bell rings]
[intense rock music]
- let's go!
♪ ♪
I am hunter "the vulcan viking" copeland
from broken arrow, oklahoma.
- [chuckles]
- vulcan is the blacksmith
who forged all of the weapons for the greek gods.
So, you know, I got a little viking style here,
and I got a little vulcan blood.
So that's where I'm getting my skills today.
Man, I am stoked to be here on the wwe competition.
- You seem ready. - Yeah.
- Right on, bud.
♪ ♪
- yeah!
My name's josh "black rooster" patterson.
I'm 28 years old,
and I do full armored combat
just for fun.
I have 90 pounds of armor on my body,
and I swing a sword or an axe, full force,
trying to knock somebody to the ground.
[bell rings]
when it comes down to this competition,
I'm confident in my skills because I take a lot of hit.
I don't really go down.
♪ ♪
- oh, yeah, brother!
- Yee-haw.
♪ ♪
- my name is phil, but they call me
"sergeant cheesebadger."
I'm from wisconsin. I'm a former marine.
And I'm here to take home the victory.
I'm not dropping a flying elbow off the top ropes,
but I'm just gonna try to make the sickest blade I can.
♪ ♪
- [laughing] - the best for last.
My name is nick maiden.
You'll know me as "green river."
straight out of kentucky
and up here to absolutely pound some steel, folks.
Green river is my alias in cowboy fast draw.
I do my best with an audience.
When I've got somebody to show off in front of,
that's when I excel.
- You're crushing it. [chuckles]
well, bladesmiths, I hope you guys came ready
to leave it all out on the floor
because we've got three very intense rounds
of edged weapon competition ready for you.
You guys are gonna be doing it all
in front of our very own badass weapons experts,
abs master bladesmith, j. "the bone crusher" neilson,
historic weapons recreation specialist,
"the doctor" dave baker,
and edged weapon specialist and kali martial artist,
our very own kealing machine,
"dangerous" doug marcaida.
[dramatic music]
- [laughs]
- you've entered the "forged in fire" arena
to battle it out for a check for $10,000,
the title of "forged in fire" champion, and today,
also for this...
♪ ♪
wwe title.
[dramatic music]
bladesmiths, today's competition
is all about the wwe.
The challenges and the tests are all inspired
by the most memorable moments in wwe history.
- Ric flair!
- And up first, the cage match.
[engine whirring] - great.
Yeah. - Nice.
[dramatic music]
I've never wrestled in a cage match,
but I will rip this cage and the whole thing apart
if that's what it's gonna take.
- Gentlemen, this is gonna be an all-out battle.
This is our version of the 1998 hell in a cell match.
Trapped inside this cage are stacks of 1095 and 15n20,
which you will need to break free.
Once you get them out, we want you to make damascus billet.
And because the wwe is over 40 years old,
we want those billets to be at least 40 layers.
With those billets, we want you to build signature blades
in your signature styles that measure
between 13 and 15 inches.
Now in round two of the competition,
you will add handles to your blades,
turning them into fully functioning weapons.
At which point, the judges will put them to the test.
We're gonna check for strength and durability
in a steel chair smash
and then check your edge retention
in a turnbuckle attack.
All right, bladesmiths,
you guys ready to kick ass and leave it all on the floor?
- Absolutely. - Oh, yeah.
- We're ready. - Yeah.
- All right, you've got three hours on the clock.
And good luck. Your time starts now.
[intense rock music]
♪ ♪
hey, doug, can you give us your best ric flair?
- Whoo!
- [laughing]
whoo!
- [laughing]
♪ ♪
- on the surface, I might look like this pretty boy,
but in the core, that's where the competitor is.
♪ ♪
blade, blade. Are you [bleep] kidding me?
- Hunter broke his wheel.
- [grunting]
they said smash into it.
I'm like, "okay."
- josh is a beast, man.
He just got straight through that thing.
- When I saw cage matches when I was a kid,
I just thought that was the craziest thing ever.
And now here I am cutting into this cage,
getting after it.
- All right. Philip's in.
[intense rock music]
- I've always been a huge wwe fan
from the time I was a kid.
Basically, I'm walking into my own hell in the cell her.
[grunts]
- nicholas is in.
There we go. - [grunting]
[laughter]
♪ ♪
- there we go. - And hunter's out.
- All right. - All right, four of four
have gotten their steel.
That went a little bit quicker than I thought it would.
So I feel like these guys may have done this before.
- You didn't do background checks on these guys?
- [laughs]
♪ ♪
- my game plan is to make sure my steel stays very clean.
I'm gonna hit it all in the grinder first
before I try to set those welds.
- All right, so we're looking
for at least 40 layers of damascus.
They've got ten layers.
What's the fastest way to get to the 40?
- Take that initial stack, just draw it out,
cut it in four pieces, restack, and reweld it.
Bang--you got 40.
- Now that my steel is clean, it's straight into the fire.
♪ ♪
- I can stack these up and get ten layers,
or I can cut them all in half and start with 20.
I'm gonna go for a high layer count.
- The higher you go,
the more tendency you'll have to shift and maybe shear welds.
- Okay.
- In the forge.
First thing, I make sure that I alternate my steel
and in the forge it goes.
Come on, baby, burn.
The hardest part of this challenge is staying in frot
of three other guys that are clearly younger
than I am and clearly in better shape.
- We've only just started and I already feel like
I'm behind everyone else.
This is my opportunity to jump ahead.
I'm just gonna weld this thing together,
stick it in the forge, and here I go.
- Hunter going straight for the welder.
You think that's a good idea?
- It's a risk. - Come on, baby.
- All right, bladesmiths,
the bell will ring in 2 hours and 30 minutes!
- Coming through.
If I don't nail this forge weld on the first shot,
it could send me home.
[intense rock music]
- when these guys go to set that first weld,
those billets should look like a melting stick of butter.
- So I stretch my ten layer billet out about eight inches,
and that's when I'm ready to cut and stack my billt
so I can make those 40 layers.
I take those four chunks and start cleaning up
those surfaces for a really good forge weld.
My stack took a good weld, and I'm just super excite.
♪ ♪
- all right, big blu, you and I are gonna be friends now.
♪ ♪
I've got this billet drawn out.
I'm gonna try and impress the judges.
They wanted 40 layers.
I'm gonna throw 100 at them.
Once I get five pieces, I'm gonna stack them up.
That'll get me my 100 layers.
Yeah.
- Look, I like what josh has done.
He's taken the time to go above and beyond with the layers.
- Whoo!
I'm no longer josh, "the black rooster."
now I'm josh, "the man of many layers."
oh, that's cool.
♪ ♪
- all right. We're trying it.
Welds look awesome.
This billet's almost as pretty as I am.
Ah.
Now I'm gonna see if I can cut this thing up into four pieces.
Let's set this thing on fire.
[intense rock music]
ha-ha!
One of my pieces is
considerably shorter than the others.
Oh, no.
- Well, if they got uneven layers,
would that make a harder forge weld down the road?
- Those overhangs are gonna try to push together,
leaving cold shuts, bad welds.
- This sucks.
This is bad right now.
But as long as I can get the weld set up on the en,
I can push all that ugly stuff into the handle.
I'm gonna make the pretty part my blade.
Let's get hot.
I've got to get it together and move on to drawing it out.
This one counts.
- All ready.
- Nicholas is setting his weld
with a hammer instead of the press.
- It's not a bad thing to do.
- Instead of cutting my billet into four pieces of steel,
I'm gonna cut in half.
Here we go.
Restack it, draw it out.
Oh, boy.
Cut it in half, restack it one more time.
- You're adding another process.
You're adding another weld.
None of that's necessary.
- I'd rather do it a way
I'm confident in doing it than ruin my work.
Coming out.
So now I've got my 40-layer billet.
Let's make a knife.
♪ ♪
- all right, guys!
You've got 90 minutes on the clock!
[intense rock music]
- I feel good that my billet's solid.
I'm gonna start forming my tip.
Good?
- The billet josh is working on
is pretty lean-looking.
- I'm gonna make that tip just as thick as I can,
basically a very pretty metal spike
that's gonna go right through that chair.
Yeah, that's heating up.
I'm pretty confident in my blade right now.
[bleep] yeah.
♪ ♪
- oh, yeah.
My stack is all welded up.
But I want to do something extra.
I want to throw a little raindrop pattern in there.
- I give him props for trying to get a pattern
when we didn't ask him to.
- I don't know if this is gonna work,
but if it does, it'll look really good down the road.
Oh, yeah, brother!
[rock music]
- I like that.
Let's get my tip shaped up.
My blade is styled after just a basic ka-bar.
Got the idea because me and my dad use his ka-bar
to open cans all the time.
My dad is a former marine.
When I was a pup, we had high and tight flat tops
every time we got a haircut.
And as soon as I was old enough to make my own hair decisions,
boom--I never touched it again.
Whoo!
- Gentlemen, you have one hour remaining!
[intense rock music]
- so I'm drawing out this 40-layer billet.
Oh, look at what I got.
I see this giant bubble on part of the steel.
Like a zit.
- I think he's talking about a blister.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- Somewhere in there, there's a layer
that's got something that's keeping it from welding.
They kind of bubble up as you get the metal really hot.
- God, have mercy.
- Is there any way, by looking at it,
to see how deep it is in the layer structure?
- Not until you bust it open.
- I'm pretty ticked over this bubble
because this is on the surface,
and this has jumped out of nowhere.
- With 45 minutes, he's got to come up with a plan
and just run with it.
- Damn it!
[dramatic music]
- oh, look at what I got.
So I'm drawing out this 40-layer billet,
and I see this giant bubble on part of the steel.
Oh, look at that!
- If it's not on your edge, drill a hole in it.
Put that in your tang. You're done.
- So at this point, there's no getting rid of it.
There's no starting over.
I'm gonna go ahead and just shape the handle
on that part of the area and make it go away.
- Nicholas is using that blister pocket
as his tang now.
- Smart.
- It's certainly not best-case scenario,
but it's definitely gonna be a better fix
than leaving it out on the blade.
[sighs]
- you guys have 30 minutes left!
- Now that I have a rough shape,
I have to go in for the quench
because I'm looking at the clock, and it's running out.
♪ ♪
- there you go. Philip just quenched.
- That's good. - There we go.
- Looking good.
I'm overjoyed that it's not warped
because there is no time to fix it anyways.
- That is nice. Time to quench.
- That's a hot blade.
- Yeah!
- [laughs] he's happy with it.
We'll see when you guys smash a chair into it.
- I clean it up, throw it in the etch,
I pull it out, and it's got
a beautiful 100-layer damascus pattern.
That's fantastic.
- Quenching.
- Hunter went in screaming hot.
- I don't like that.
Smoke. All I see is smoke.
I notice when I pick my blade up that there is a warp.
Oh!
This could be enough to kick me home.
I'm gonna see if I can work out some of this warp
before I have to show it to the judges.
I can make it work.
- Five minutes on the clock!
[intense rock music]
- [exhales]
I'm down to the end of the round.
I know it's time to throw it in the oil.
♪ ♪
pull it out of the oil, grab the file.
♪ ♪
it skated across. I feel great.
♪ ♪
damn it all.
And lo and behold,
there's another giant bubble on the side of it.
- And nicholas's blade looks like the surface of the moon
that's been pounded to death by asteroids or something.
- There is absolutely nothing I can do about it forge-wis.
So I'm doing what I can to grind this delam down.
Anything left, I'll have to do in round tw.
That's all I can do.
♪ ♪
- five, four, three, two, one.
This round is over. Good work.
- [exhales]
I know the cracks along the edges
are gonna be my issue.
Ten more minutes with the grinder
and I'm convinced they'll disappear.
But I've got to get that extra ten minutes in round two.
- All right, gentlemen,
well, you guys all definitely threw down
in our first three hours of the cage match.
But the time has come for the judges to give their critiques
and decide which three of you are moving forward
in this competition, and who's gonna be going home.
Hunter, you're up first. You ready?
- Yes, sir. - All right.
Please present your work.
[dramatic music]
- all right, hunter, right off,
I like the profile you got going here.
It's a nice shape.
It's got a warp in it.
♪ ♪
I would really take care of that issue
more than anything else on this blade.
But again, I like what you got going on here
and interested in seeing what you do with this
if you move forward.
- Thank you.
- Josh, the man of many layers, you ready?
- Yes, sir. - All right, man.
Let's see your work.
[dramatic music]
- all right, so josh, right off,
doing 100 layers without being asked,
that's going above and beyond.
Love seeing that.
You can really see that pattern,
putting 100 layers in there.
It's so much more dramatic than having a low layer count.
As far as design goes,
you've got a long blade that's a little bit lean.
But your handle got even leaner.
So I'd be careful of that, moving forward.
- Thank you, sir. - Philip, you ready, bud?
- Yes, sir. - Let's see what you got.
[tense music]
- all right, philip, I like the shape.
I like the profile of this.
But right here where my thumbnail is,
you've got a crack right there.
It goes across the edge and up both sides.
I'd address that so you don't want this knife
blowing apart on you during testing.
- Nope.
- But you got the pattern. Good job.
- Thanks. - Nicholas, you're up.
Please present your work.
[tense music]
- all right, nick, first up, that's a nice chopper.
Now let's talk about your metal here.
What I'm worried about is that you have some unwelded sections
on the spine of your blade.
Now when you expose that,
we're not sure if there are cracks
or if there's something that you can just grind awa.
So that's an issue that you have to address.
But overall, it's a nice shape.
Good job.
- All right, gentlemen, we asked you guys
for 40-layer damascus blades.
And all four of you came through with that,
so you should be proud of yourselves.
But as you know, only three of you guys are moving forward
into the next round of our competition,
which means one of you is going home.
The bladesmith leaving the forge is...
[dramatic music]
nicholas.
Unfortunately, your blade just didn't make the cut,
and j's gonna tell you why.
- Well, nick, you fought like a champ.
But between the unwelded sections, the blisters,
and the stuff that we can't even see under the forge scale,
you're gonna have the most work
to try to catch up with your competitors.
That's why we're letting you go.
- All right. - Well, nick,
you should be proud of yourself for that,
but please surrender your work and leave the forge.
- Well, I'm the first guy thrown over the ropes.
It happens.
- Good job, nick. - Great work, man.
- I lost, but I don't feel like a loser.
To know that doug marcaida held something that I made
is alone enough of a reason to have come up here.
- Well, gentlemen, congratulations.
The three of you have made it through round one.
But in our second round, it is no holds barred.
Gentlemen, this round of the competition,
you guys are gonna fix any issues
you have with your blades and add handles to them,
making them fully-functioning weapons.
But since it's a wwe theme competition,
we want you guys to use these.
[dramatic music]
gentlemen, these are some iconic weapons
used by the wwe superstars to bash each other's faces in.
And these are your handle materials.
You've got hammers. You've got brass knuckles.
You've got bats.
It's all up to you to decide what you want to use.
You have two hours in this round of competition.
After the two hours has elapsed,
you guys will turn your blades over to our judges
who will check for strength and durability
in a steel chair smash.
[tense music]
and then we're gonna check your edge retention
in a turnbuckle slash.
Good luck.
Your time starts now.
[intense rock music]
- man, there's a fight out there, all right.
- Oh, yeah. Easiest way to win
a competition is have no competition.
- [chuckles]
- right off the bat, I'm going for that bat
'cause I know I can make a great handle out of that.
♪ ♪
- philip needs to find that crack.
It's visible. - Oh, yeah.
- It's threatening the structure of the knife.
♪ ♪
- for me, the big elephant in the room is this crack.
But I have a lot left to do on this blade
and virtually no time to do it in.
So I'm just gonna fix those later in the round.
♪ ♪
- the first thing I do in round two is
I grab my handle material, I start hacking my stuff up.
- The problem with josh's handle that I see is
I'd like to beef it up
'cause right now, it's so small,
you put scales on it, and it gets too wide.
- As I come back to my workstation,
I realize the scales won't cover it.
I got to go get new scales.
Hello. That's even better.
Man of many layers might be freaking out
just a little bit on the inside.
- These drill holes.
I'm really worried about
drilling these holes in my tang.
Let's see what we got here.
Could be hard, and it could cause me a lot of problem.
Please, god.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
this is just perfect. [laughs]
that's two holes.
♪ ♪
[rock music]
- david baker had some feedback on the handle.
So I make sure that there's a finger groove,
and I have a little bit of a pinky catch.
- That's teeny tiny up around the neck
of that handle, isn't it?
- Oh, yeah.
- I'm hoping when the judges are holding my knife,
they say, "this is a good handle."
♪ ♪
- gentlemen, you've got one hour left.
- So now that my handles are flat,
I go over to the drill press
to start getting these holes put in.
[drill squeaking]
- that's not a happy drill bit. - No.
- It's not cutting. This is bad.
- Philip is still trying to get through that drill.
- [exhales deeply]
I have a ton to do on this blade
and not enough time.
All right.
Not ideal.
[tense music]
- philip is still trying to get through that drill.
- [exhales deeply]
that drill bit is just not cutting.
I know I'm just losing precious time.
But I have an idea.
I'm gonna throw a quick fuller in there
to thin out that material.
So hopefully, I can get through it
a little bit easier.
- Philip's taking some weight off
by putting a fuller down the edge of it.
- Fullering the tang is a good idea.
- So I got the fuller in. I go back to the drill press.
[dramatic music]
finally. Dodged a major bullet there.
Whoo.
[intense rock music]
- my handle's together. Everything is looking good.
I'm going to the grinder.
♪ ♪
I'm really trying to get the spine to straighten p
without taking too much meat away.
- To get rid of that warp,
he would have had to heat that blade up.
With that handle on that blade, he cannot now
add heat to straighten it out 'cause you'll melt the glue.
♪ ♪
- if I have a slight bow in a good strong knife,
I'll submit that.
And I'll be proud about that too.
♪ ♪
- you guys have 30 minutes left on the clock!
- Now that I have my scales all glued up,
I can go to the grinder and start working.
♪ ♪
I know I'm gonna make a ridiculously thick edge
and survive the round.
- You know, I don't get to hit things
with metal chairs very often.
So I'm gonna relish this.
- It needs to survive the test,
not necessarily win a beauty pageant.
- Hunter's handle is just pretty much...
- Yeah.
- We're gonna have some flair around here,
but there's none on hunter's handle.
- I put an index finger groove underneath the blade.
It should lock their hand into place.
This adjustment hopefully will cover me.
- Bladesmiths, you guys are down to 15 minutes!
[intense rock music]
- I feel so good that I got a tight fit
up on my handle scales.
Now it's time to remove a ton of mass on this blade.
At this point, there's not much I can do about the crack,
and I just hope it doesn't come apart.
- Philip's crack, how likely is it that it goes all the way
through the width of the blade?
- You have to grind into it to find out.
- But I would have been
really positive they were ground out
before I go into a testing round.
♪ ♪
- five, four, three, two, one.
This round is over.
- [laughing]
- feel freaking great about my blade.
Vulcan viking from the top rope.
Steel chair doesn't want it. Let's go!
- Bladesmiths,
welcome to our wwe-inspired strength test,
the steel chair smash.
[rock music]
this is gonna be a lot of fun.
Now what I'm gonna do is clamp each of your blades
in this mechanism, take the steel chairs,
and smash them into your blades straight down
over and over and over again.
Now what the knives do to the chair--
come on.
We're looking to see what the chairs do to the knives,
you know that as well as I do.
All right, philip, you ready to go?
- Let's do it. - Let's do it.
[tense music]
- I'm just so worried about that crack
because in my mind,
that thing's just gonna blow apart
as soon as he hits it with the chair.
[tense music]
- [grunts]
[rock music]
[grunts]
- [exhales]
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
[tense music]
all right, philip, you've survived.
I can still see that crack
on both sides going across the cutting edge,
but it didn't come apart.
So great job on that.
You got a little bit of dulling from the steel on the chair.
But you still have edge there. Good job.
- Thanks, j. - All right, josh.
You ready to go? - Are you ready?
- I love it when people try to heckle me.
[rock music]
- I designed my blade for this test.
But I see what j. Is doing.
I'm worried.
♪ ♪
- [grunting]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[steel chair clatters]
- well done, sir. - Thank you.
- All right, josh, you survived. Good job.
The edge of your blade is not super sharp,
but there's still an edge there.
I'm not crazy about the handle though.
It feels like my fingers are getting squeezed
in between these two high points here.
And beefing up the handle would have been a nice touch
but didn't affect this test at all.
So good job.
- Thank you.
- You ready, hunter? - Yeah, let's go.
[dramatic music]
the one thing to be nervous about is a dang chair
flying at your blade.
Uh, I'm worried.
This is really scary.
[exhales]
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
[intense electronic music]
[grunting]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[tense music]
all right, hunter, you survived.
Your edge, you do have some chipping here,
probably from too much heat in the quench.
But your knife's in one piece,
and the chair is toast.
So good job. - Thank you.
- Thanks for leaving me some blades.
[dramatic music]
bladesmiths, welcome to the sharpness test,
the turnbuckle attack.
Now to find out how sharp your weapons are,
I'm gonna take your weapons,
and I'm gonna be cutting, gutting,
and smashing this turnbuckle.
Philip, you're up first. You ready for this?
- I'm ready. Let's do it.
- All right, let's do it.
♪ ♪
[intense rock music]
♪ ♪
all right, philip, let's talk about your blade here.
The areas that you have on your blade
that are on the top here are sharp.
Now it's a heavier blade,
but you know what, it's nicely balanced.
And overall, sir, it will cut.
All right, josh, it's your turn.
Are you ready, sir?
- I'm ready, sir. - All right, let's do this.
[rock music]
♪ ♪
[tense music]
all right, josh, let's talk about your weapon here.
There are areas here that took some damage
during the strength test that are not sharp.
But the areas that are sharp cut nicely on the turnbuckle.
Now your handle construction is just so narrow
that there are times when it wants
to spin around in my hand because there's space inside.
But overall, sir, your weapon, it will cut.
- Thank you, doug.
- [laughs]
- all right, hunter. You ready?
- Yes, sir.
- Let's do this.
[tense music]
[rock music]
♪ ♪
all right, hunter.
Your blade cut deeply on the turnbuckle.
And that is because your blade has the thinnest grind
among all the other blades.
Now, your handle construction,
it is wide enough that I can be comfortable with the blade
and slashing and controlling your weapon.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it will cut.
- Thank you.
[tense music]
- all right, gentlemen. Well, great job.
You all made it through the bashing and the slashin,
but the time has come for the judges
to talk about your blades,
decide who is gonna be staying in this competition
and who's gonna be heading home.
So while they discuss, I'm gonna ask you to please
step off the forge floor.
♪ ♪
all right, gentlemen, well,
it seems that there's pros and cons
to everybody's blade.
- I think philip's in a good place.
He took some dulling in the strength test,
but his knife held up overall.
It's well balanced, and the handle's comfortabl.
- Okay. - Out of all three blades,
hunter's has maintained,
even with the damage, the sharpest edge.
- Now josh's blade, the handle is just so narro,
it spin in my hand.
Also, it cut the least among all three.
♪ ♪
- all right, well, dave, have you made your decision?
- I have, yes.
- J., have you made your decision?
- Oh, yeah. - Doug, what about you?
- Yes. - All right.
I'm gonna call them back in.
♪ ♪
well, gentlemen, the three of you guys
battled it out in the cage match.
But as you know, only two of you guys are moving forward
into round three of the competition.
And the bladesmith that's gonna be leaving the forge is...
[dramatic music]
josh.
Unfortunately, your blade just didn't make the cut.
And dave's gonna tell you why.
- Josh, I got to tell you, 100-layer count, unprompted,
never happened before.
And you should be very, very proud of that.
But that obtuse grind on your blade
lost a lot of its edge in the strength test.
And that spindly handle,
it's just not big enough for that knife.
And that's why we're letting you go.
- Thank you.
- Well, josh, man, you fought hard,
but unfortunately, your time here has ended.
I'm gonna ask you to please step off the forge floor, bud.
[tense music]
- I'm very disappointed in the outcome.
- Good work, josh.
- I designed the blade
to survive the strength test.
I should have put a little bit more
into the sharpness test.
But there's nothing I can do about it now.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
I'm so glad I came and did it.
♪ ♪
- hunter, philip, congratulations.
The two of you have beat out the competition,
which means you're moving into round three.
Now with the "forged in fire" title, $10,000 check,
and the wwe title on the line,
this challenge is far from over.
In this last round, we're gonna send you
back to your home forges
to build a wicked warrior's weapon from history.
You guys ready to rumble?
- Oh, yeah. - Ready.
- All right, gentlemen,
you guys are gonna be building this.
[dramatic music]
the bastard sword.
- The bastard sword was widely popular throughout europe
during the middle ages and well into the renaissance.
It's so well-known, a version of this deadly blade
was wielded by the famous bastard, jon snow,
in hbo's "game of thrones."
while its blade length varied from 36 to 40 inches,
the name came from its uniquely sized handle
that was between one and two hands long,
earning it its alternative name,
the hand-and-a-half sword.
Lethal in battle, the sword could easily deliver
devastating blows with two hands
or quickly inflict slashes
in close-quarter combat with one.
- Gentleman, the bastard sword is a beast.
And you guys have a lot of parameters to follow.
Your blade length needs to be between 35 and 37 inches.
You need to have at least 9-inch fullers on both sides.
You guys have a cross guard, a side ring,
a finger ring, a counter guard,
and top the whole thing off with a pommel.
- Oh, I'm so excited to make that sword.
♪ ♪
oh, yeah, brother!
Nothing can stop me now.
Certainly not the vulcan viking.
- Gentlemen, you got four days at your home forges.
Good luck. We'll see you then.
- Good luck, brother.
- "brother."
[rock music]
- all right, so it's day one.
We're back here at my home forge.
So my plan with this build
is to make the blade out of damascus.
It's probably enough. It's probably too much.
The reason why I want to make damascus is,
I want my blade to be over-the-top.
And I think it's gonna look awesome.
It's very close to being ready.
Almost halfway there.
We're at the end of day one, and the billet is solid.
So I'm feeling pretty confident about it.
All right.
[rock music]
- day one, we're here in broken arrow,
and we're gonna start working on the bastard sword.
And we're hot.
My blade is gonna be made out of 5160.
It's a spring steel.
It's really close.
My blade's forged to shape,
and I'm ready to move into the guard.
So this is the top. My handle will be down here.
This is kind of the part of the sword
that's gonna wow the crowd.
I want this piece to look good.
I want my finger to just wrap
around right there nice and comfy.
I like it.
Day one is a huge success.
Oh, I'm just-- I'm leaps and bounds
beyond where I thought I was gonna be.
This is great.
♪ ♪
- my plan for day two is to refine my blade shape,
get it quenched and heat-treated.
I got the profiling right where I want.
And I'm getting ready to quench my blade.
Anything can happen when you go into a quench.
It can crack or bend or warp.
And I really don't want that to happen.
-It's time to go in for the quench.
[dramatic music]
I don't hear any pings. I don't hear any tings.
All right.
Everything looks great.
We might have a good sword.
I have enough here to grind a straight blade,
which is awesome.
- Day three.
Yesterday went fantastic. The blade is quenched.
I feel great. I'm a little ahead of schedule.
I have a little extra time right now.
So I'm deciding to temper on the clock.
Yes, sir.
Which pulls some of the hardness out of the blae
and gives it the flexibility and the strength
that it needs to put up with j.
Oof.
My blade's getting too hot in this one area.
It spells trouble.
This is the thinnest part of the blade.
I should have thought of that. Let's see what happens.
This is a big problem.
In any of the testing, if something wants to fail,
it'll be this area.
I want to leave a little thickness in this area.
And I think I can kind of compensate for this.
It's not perfectly ideal,
but I think this thickness is the answer to this problem.
[rock music]
- my plan for day four is fit and finish.
I have to fit up my pommel.
Mild steel is so soft,
it almost just drills like wood--look at that.
So I'm going through my tap and die set,
and I'm realizing that the smallest set
that I have is a 1/4 inch,
and my tang is nowhere near that wide.
If I had five more hours,
I would definitely thread that tang.
It's just a tighter construction.
But I need to move on.
So I'm going with the peening
because I'm running out of time.
Hopefully, it all stays tight.
It's gonna have to do.
- Day four.
Just have a couple things to clean up,
and we're pretty much done.
This is kind of the point of no return.
So here we go, putting the handle together.
The epoxy sets.
But I've started to notice that I have a large gap
right here underneath the guard.
This is bad.
I just want it to not come loose
and start jingling around in their hand.
Let's see what I can do.
I'm gonna kind of wrap wire
nice and tight all in there and epoxy it down into place
and just kind of hide this little mistake I have.
Oh, that's perfect.
It doesn't look the way I wish it looked.
But it's really not that bad.
I'm not gonna let these guys have all the fun.
So I'm gonna do a little bit of testing.
[rock music]
[yells]
yeah!
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- well, bladesmiths, welcome back to the forge.
Guys, I got to say, your bastard swords look fantastic.
We're gonna get into them, but first,
I got a special guest I got to introduce.
Please join me in welcoming an absolute legend,
a wwe hall of famer,
and one of the most prolific and I'd say most stylish
wwe superstar of all time,
"nature boy" ric flair.
- Heavyweight champion,
"nature boy" ric flair!
[rock music]
[applause]
- whoo!
♪ ♪
you guys ready to play?
- Yeah, ready. - Always.
- There's $10,000 on the line
plus an opportunity
to carry the big gold.
I don't know how cool that is to you guys.
It's very cool to me.
- [sputtering]
this is crazy.
- Well, gentlemen, before we get into the testing,
I want to hear about these beautiful bastards.
So, hunter, how'd the build go for you?
[dramatic music]
- I used 5160 for the blade, mild steel guard,
and a hickory handle
covered with a galvanized steel wire wrap.
- All right, great. Philip, how'd it go for you?
[dramatic music]
- so for my blade, I used a mix of 15n20 and 80crv,
mild steel guard and pommel,
and a leather-wrapped hickory handle.
- I'm really looking forward to seeing
how your swords perform.
First thing up is the keal test.
I'm really looking forward to seeing that.
Dave, are you ready, man?
- Good to go. - Let's do this.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- all right, gentlemen, you know what time it is.
It's time for the keal test.
I'm gonna take your swords.
I'm gonna attack this gel torso here,
see what kind of damage we do.
Hunter, you're up first. You ready?
- Yes, sir. - Okay.
[dramatic music]
- oh, I'm just stoked.
This is a lifelong dream of a bladesmith to make a sword,
whack one of those ballistic dummies.
I'm just gonna be lopping limbs
or something off of this thing.
I'm so excited for this moment.
[whispers] come on, baby.
- [grunts]
[rock music]
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
[grunting]
[grunts]
♪ ♪
- whoo!
Very cool, man.
[tense music]
- yeah, I think he's done.
♪ ♪
- [chuckles]
- all right, hunter, right off, it's a performer.
It cut deep on each one of those cuts.
As a matter of fact, that one downward diagonal
goes all the way through the rib cage.
Handle could have been just a little bit longer.
I'm winding up with about a hand and a quarter
instead of a hand and a half.
But you've definitely got a lethal blade here.
- Thank you. - All right, philip.
You're up. You ready?
- Ready.
I am pretty nervous going into testing.
My main concern is that my blade
is just gonna fly out of my handle.
The only thing holding it together is epoxy
and a little bit of peening over with the hammer
to hold that pommel on there a little bit.
This is terrible.
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
[electronic music]
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[grunting]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
♪ ♪
- oh, my gosh.
- Very cool. Very cool.
- So, right off, I like the scale of your blade.
I mean, it's very large,
and it's got a lot of weight to it,
but the balance is nice.
You can see all these cuts are so deep.
I was actually worried on that last one
that I would hit the post that's holding that thing up.
But as far as being a cutting sword, this thing is lethal.
Good job. - Thank you.
[dramatic music]
- you having fun doing this?
- Oh, yeah. Great so far. - Making history?
- Feeling good. - So what's up next?
You ready for this?
We're gonna test the strength of your swords.
You ready, j.?
- Oh, yeah. - Very cool.
- Thank you, sir.
[rock music]
- [chuckles]
- bladesmiths, welcome to our strength tes,
the wwe bash fest.
To test the edge-holding ability
and overall construction,
I'm gonna go through a series of wwe weapons.
We're gonna destroy the table, puncture and bash
through the garbage can,
and just tear that ladder to pieces.
Hunter, you're up first. You ready to go?
- Yes, sir. - All right, let's do it.
[tense music]
- j., steal the show, brother.
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
- dang.
[rock music]
♪ ♪
[grunting]
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
[dramatic music]
[blade clatters]
♪ ♪
- oh, man.
- Hunter, you started out strong, man.
- Oof.
- It was actually very comfortable,
even though the handle's a little bit short.
But you look at the grain, it looks like sand.
- Mm-hmm. - So that caused a weak point,
and a shockwave went all the way down
and snapped it at this weak point.
Sorry, man.
- My heart.
[tense music]
- hunter, it's painful to see, man.
You put a lot of work into that thing, and it looks great.
But unfortunately,
you did have a catastrophic failure on the ladder,
which means we can't test your blade any further.
But you are not out of the fight yet.
Philip, in order to claim the title,
you've got to make it through the table.
You got to make it through
all the swings through the trashcan.
And you've got to make it through at least one bash
into the ladder.
You prepared for it?
- I'm nervous, but I'm ready.
- Whoo! Get in the spirit, man.
- All right, let's see what your blade can do.
J.?
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
damn.
[rock music]
♪ ♪
- [grunting]
[dramatic music]
[grunts]
♪ ♪
- well done.
♪ ♪
- hunter, man, you fought hard.
The first round, you excelled.
But unfortunately, during the testing,
you did suffer catastrophic failure.
And for that reason, your time in the forge has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you to please
step off the forge floor, bud.
- Thank you, hunter. - Thank you, guys.
- Good job, man. All right, good work.
- Thank you very much.
Oh, it hurts. It hurts a lot.
When I went to fit my guard up,
I actually welded at the base of the guard.
That ruined my heat treat right there.
I'm willing to look for the brighter side.
Uh, optimistic is the word.
That was one of the best snaps I've ever had in my life.
Wow. Just learned how to snap.
Look at that. [scoffs]
- well, philip, you know what that means, man.
You are the "forged in fire" champion.
- Philip, congratulations, man!
Whoo!
- That comes with a check for $10,000
as well as a wwe title.
- Here we go, man.
You've got 10 grand.
- Get out of this man's way.
- Whoo!
- "forged in fire" champion, brother.
This title is going
in the most obnoxious spot of the living room
that I can find, probably taped onto the tv.
- Let me hear it one time.
Both: Whoo!
- [chuckling]
[intense rock music]
♪ ♪
[bell rings]