[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[mellow rock music]
♪ ♪
- I'm alexander davis. I'm 21.
And I've been forging for 12 years now.
This is gilbert. My fiancée gave me him,
'cause I'm gonna be a first-time dad
in about four months.
It was just a way to remind me of the ones
that are supporting me and I care about.
♪ ♪
- my name is chris gardner.
I am 37 years old, from las vegas, nevada.
At home, I have my two kids. They are four and eight.
They love, you know, coming out in the forge
while I'm working out there.
They can't wait to see me compete.
- My name's damond clark. I am 45 years old.
Started doing brazilian jiujitsu about 12 years ago,
so I think that part of the reason
I'm a pretty decent bladesmith is the discipline
and the strength it takes to be in jiujitsu.
It feels like I'm getting ready got a fight.
Been competitive my whole life, and this is another chapter.
- Feeling lucky today? - I think so.
- My name's johnnie cane. I'm 55 years old.
One day I was flipping through youtube
and saw a gentleman making knives by hand.
If he can do it, so can I.
I came on this competition
to prove I can run with the big boys.
I will try to be the top dog on the block.
♪ ♪
- bladesmiths, welcome to the forge.
I hope you all came ready to test your luck,
because we've got three very intense rounds
of forging competition lined up for you today.
At the end of each round, you're gonna present your work
to our panel of expert judges, who will then critique
your work and make an elimination.
It will all culminate with one of you
taking the house for $10,000 and walking out of here
carrying the title of "forged in fire" champion.
Now, the judges for today's competition
are abs master smith j. Neilson,
historic weapons recreation specialist dave baker,
and edged weapons specialist
and kali martial artist doug marcaida.
Well gentlemen, welcome to the "forged in fire"
gambling house.
♪ ♪
now here's how it's gonna work.
We're gonna spin the wheel of forging,
which is gonna give you a technique
you need to use for round one.
Now, there some that are pretty easy,
like choose your own technique.
Then we've got things as hard as jelly roll damascus.
♪ ♪
now, at the same time, I'm gonna put
five cards face down and flip one of them over.
That's gonna give you a parameter
for your second round handle materials.
Now, if you don't like where the wheel of forging lands,
you can decide to spin it again.
But there's a kicker. Every time you spin this wheel,
I'm gonna flip over another one of these cards,
making your second round a little more difficult.
Now gentlemen, with whatever technique you land on,
you're gonna have to build a signature blade
that measures between 14 and 16 inches.
Now, by the end of round one, you need to be quenched,
hardened, and acid etched, because we want to make sure
that you meet the technique parameters.
Alex, you're up first.
Come on up to the gambling table.
♪ ♪
- I don't want to land on jelly roll damascus.
God forbid I land on anything I'm not capable of doing.
- Let's do it.
Let's see what your round two parameter will be.
You have to add a fuller.
In round one, twist and stack damascus.
Good to go? - Yes.
- That's one of our more difficult ones.
You sure you don't want to spin again?
- Mm. - All right. Fantastic.
Head back to your anvil.
Chris, you're up next. Come on up.
- As I get closer, I can start to make a few of them out,
and then I start seeing just layered damascus,
and, man, bingo, those are what I'm going for.
- Let's see what you get.
You have to add a fuller
in round two of the competition.
In round one, 200-layer damascus.
Are you happy with that choice?
- I'm very happy. - All right, damond.
Let's test your luck.
- I'm just hoping that it's not something
I've never tried before.
- In round two, you're gonna have to add antlers.
In round one, fishhook canister damascus.
How you feeling about that?
- I get fishhook canister damascus,
which didn't sound fun to me.
All right. - I love it.
- So I took a second spin.
- In round two, you are going to add paracord.
- Okay. - Oh!
Extremely close to jelly roll,
but you landed on 100-layer damascus.
- I'll take it. - You happy with it?
- Yes, sir. - All right, bud.
- 100-layer damascus is a cakewalk.
- Johnnie, you are up.
- I'm thinking about taking whatever the first challenge is
that I know how to do.
- Round two, sir, you have to add a mosaic pin.
How you feeling about that? - That's good.
- In round one, we are on raindrop damascus.
You feeling comfortable with that?
- You bet. The only hard part about raindrop damascus
is getting those little round holes
drilled through the steel.
- Now guys, in round two of the competition,
you're gonna add handles to your blades,
turning them into fully-functioning weapons.
After that, we're gonna go into testing.
We're gonna check for strength and durability
in a roulette wheel chop.
And then we're gonna check your edges
and check the sharpness in a playing card slice.
You have three hours on the clock.
Good luck. Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
this is gonna be an interesting round.
Each smith started off with 12 pieces of 15n20
and 12 pieces of 1095.
We've got 100-layer, we've got 200-layer,
twist and stack, and raindrop.
- Twist and stack is time-consuming,
in that you're gonna have to make two billets, twist them,
and then stack them and weld them.
- I'm doing a twist pattern, which takes an extra step,
which taxes extra time, and if I [bleep] up, I'm done.
I'm gonna make sure the steel's absolutely clean,
no mill scale, no rust.
Welding!
Preparation is key to make sure
I don't get no inclusions, none of that.
♪ ♪
- normally, a 200-layer stacked damascus, I take my time,
make sure everything's prepped right.
I don't have that here.
- Welding!
I stack all 24 pieces together to start with.
- Chris has 200-layer count,
and he's using every bit of the steel you're giving him.
- He's gonna need it. Cutting and stacking like that,
you are gonna burn some steel away,
so using all the steel's the smart move.
- With 24 layers, my billet is gonna be cut into five pieces
to make 120-layer.
Then I'm gonna have to cut that in half and re-weld that.
That will give me a 240-layer billet.
♪ ♪
- I have to make raindrop damascus.
A full tang chopper is what I have in mind.
I only chose 10 pieces of steel to begin with,
because if part of this billet would screw up,
then I would have extra to fall back on.
- To do a good raindrop pattern,
you want a high layer count.
So you're gonna at least want to get it up to about 100-layer
before you drill that raindrop pattern.
I like that johnnie's being very meticulous about his work,
but does he have enough metal there for raindrop damascus?
- I'm betting no. [laughter]
- starting out with 24 layers,
and I need to get to over 100,
so I'm going to draw out the 24 layers,
stack it in three, which will give me 72 layers,
and then stack it again in two, I get 144.
I've made 100-layer damascus a lot,
but it can be a little bit tricky.
I need to make sure that it's welded up real well.
And then I like to just let it sit.
Get it to where I think it's at temperature,
and then give it at least two or three more minutes,
'cause that's the most important part for a good weld.
- All right, bladesmiths, one hour down,
two hours remaining.
- After a few times on the hydraulic press,
the end of the billet's starting to delam.
[bleep]
the first thing that pops in my mind
is it's gonna have to be cut.
- Johnnie's being very liberal with the flux.
I don't think he's happy with the weld right now.
- Cut it into three pieces.
Leave the delam piece on the table.
I'll have to go prep more steel.
- So it was almost halfway through this challenge
that johnnie realized he didn't have enough material.
- I had to grab new steel to replace the steel
that I had lost after I cut off the delam,
or I wouldn't have been able to meet the parameters.
Welding!
- My steel's moving pretty well.
Draw it out to at least 12, 14 inches,
so I can cut into thirds.
♪ ♪
I have three 24-layer pieces.
I need to get 'em cleaned up, so I can restack them
and then stick them back in the forge
and forge weld them again.
- Damond seems to be the only one that, before he restacks,
takes the time to really clean out his metal
each and every time.
- Damond's working smart.
- You guys are halfway through round one.
♪ ♪
- setting that first weld is critical.
And I have to do that several times.
- Look at chris's billet.
Like the bottom third of the stack is a different color
than the rest of the stack.
- Still cold in the center.
- If these welds don't set, I am done.
[bleep] - oh!
- Look at that. - Oh boy.
- Oh! That hurt. - Come on.
- Worst-case scenario,
I'm gonna have to start from scratch.
I've already lost too much time.
But I realize 2/3 of it are a nice, solid billet.
I'm just gonna get rid of the top piece and keep moving.
- There you go. Good. Take it. Get it out of there.
- It's gonna require more cuts and more forge welds
to make 200 layers.
But it's easier than starting from scratch.
- So, chris took his stack of 17,
cut it into seven pieces, welding it together,
and then he's gonna end up with 119 layers.
- Good.
- And he'll just need one more cut and stack.
- I got my billet all squared up.
I clamp it down in the forge press and turn it.
- I haven't seen somebody use the press as a vice.
- It's not a bad idea.
- I finish doing my twist, and I am relieved.
Whew.
I cut it in half,
stack those two pieces together, and weld it up.
- Needs to forge weld it together,
then lay it horizontally, and draw it out.
- That seam should be down the middle of the profile.
- Ooh.
- If you don't flip it 90 degrees,
you're just gonna end up one twist on one side,
one twist on the other side, and a seam down the center.
- All right, bladesmiths, you only have 45 minutes
left on the clock to finish your blades.
- I'm really liking the way it's looking at this point.
It's solid, and it's getting to length.
So now I'm at 72 layers. I need to cut it in half,
get those halves cleaned up, get them welded back together.
- Damond was very good about cleaning it really well,
stacking it evenly.
- I'm at 144 layers, and the billet's looking great.
Everything's sticking, and it's drawing out real nice.
I'm good to go for forming up this knife.
- Now that the billet's all put together,
I have to get to the drill press to do the raindrops.
- What makes a raindrop pattern is to have multiple layers.
Once you've forged that down into a bar,
you drill through that steel, and then forge that all down.
So all the layers in that hole
that you've made now come to the surface.
- It's not easy putting the raindrops
into the damascus steel,
because of the hardness of the steel.
So I made the decision just to put a couple in on both sides,
to try to get a staggered formation,
so I can move on to the next step in the process.
It's gonna be big enough.
- Bladesmiths, you have 20 minutes left on the clock!
- Time to start thinking about the quench.
If I get a warped blade,
it's so thick it's gonna be hard to get it out.
- All right, damond's in the quench.
- Had just a slight, little warp to it,
so I put some weight on top of it,
and luck would have it, it ended up straight.
- All right, chris is quenched as well.
- I pull it out, and it's pretty darn straight.
I am very relieved.
- I don't have time to thermal cycle the blade.
- Johnnie quenched his blade.
Hopefully nothing opened up or popped loose.
- I got a slight warp.
You have a short window of opportunity
after a quench to straighten it out.
Now I have to refine the profile of the blade.
♪ ♪
- I've got my billet drawn out.
I decide to put clay on my blade as a heat barrier
before I quench to make a softer spine.
- That clay doesn't work as a very good barrier
unless it has a little bit of time to dry.
- Yep.
- I cannot afford to waste time,
so I just globbed it on the best way I can.
♪ ♪
both: Whoa.
- We have four quenched blades.
- I come out, everything's like it should be.
Get the clay off, and get this steel to bare surface.
It is do-or-die time. Come on, you [bleep].
- Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
Bladesmiths, turn off your machines.
Put down your tools. Round one is over.
- I'm not liking the pattern when I see.
The raindrops just aren't pronounced enough on the metal.
If they're nitpicky about the pattern in the steel,
then I don't have a hope.
♪ ♪
- well, gentlemen, the first round of competition,
we spun the wheel of forging,
and you guys all ended up with your techniques.
But as you guys know only three of you are moving forward
into round two of the competition,
which means somebody is going home.
So it's time for the judges
to take a closer look at your blades.
Johnnie, please present your work.
♪ ♪
- all right, johnnie.
Let's talk about your blade here.
You have the beginnings of a nice chopper and slasher.
Your steel seems solid.
Now, when you drilled the holes in here,
you didn't raise it up,
so it you don't grind deep enough,
you're gonna have dimples in your blade.
If you grind it to flatten it out,
we may not see the pattern again.
Hopefully, if you move forward,
you find a way to bring the pattern we're asking for.
- Thank you.
- Damond, you feel pretty good about what you came up with?
- Yes, sir.
- All right. Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- I like this, damond.
- You know, it's nice to see a blade with some height to it.
Everything looks tight.
There's still some grinding to go.
You've got one little crease up top.
You got a bit of a warp about halfway up,
but well within grinder range.
I can see the pattern.
You did a really good job, man.
- Thank you.
- Alex, please present your work.
♪ ♪
- all right, well, twist and stack is definitely not
the easiest of things to do, especially in a time crunch.
Usually when you do a twist and stack, you twist one bar
in one direction and one in the other,
and then you forge weld them this way,
then lay them flat and draw them out.
So what you did is you forge welded them this way
and then drew them out.
So basically, that seam-- and you can actually see it--
runs down the center of the blade
as opposed to down the center of the profile.
Up here at the tip, there's a gap
that I can get a fingernail in.
And then there's a whole section here
that's really not welded together.
But I'll give you props that the vast majority of the steel
here is solid. So, good job.
- Chris, when you spun, you landed on 200-layer damascus,
and that is a tall order.
Let's see what the judges have to say.
♪ ♪
- all right, chris. Your steel looks solid.
There's a couple of delaminations
that you have here,
but it's well within grinder range.
We were worried when you lost a third
of your metal over there,
but you have the unique distinction
of turning in a blade for a round one
with the most layer count.
By our count, you have 224.
Congratulations on doing that.
If you move forward,
I really hope you clean this up, you etch it,
and really be proud of the fact
that you have over 200 layers on this blade.
- Thank you.
- Well gentlemen, this first round of competition,
you all have something to be proud of.
But unfortunately, somebody does have to go home today.
The judges have made their decision.
And the bladesmith leaving the forge is...
♪ ♪
alex. Unfortunately, man, your blade
just didn't make the cut, and j.'s gonna tell you why.
- Alex, you fought really hard, but between the seams,
the separations, the warp in the blade,
and then not forging the pattern properly,
those are the reasons we're gonna let you go.
- Alex, you definitely have a lot to be proud of.
It was not an easy task, but unfortunately,
your time here in the forge has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you to please surrender your work
and leave the forge.
- I fought like hell.
Overall, it was a valuable learning experience.
I am young, I know I still got a long ways to go.
But I hope y'all invite me back so I can give it another shot.
- Well, gentlemen, congratulations.
The three of you are moving forward
into round two of our competition,
where you're gonna fix any issues that the judges
brought up as well as add handles to your blades,
making them fully functioning weapons.
Now, much like round one,
you each have a very unique challenge ahead of you.
Johnnie, you need to use a mosaic pin in your handle.
Damond, you have to utilize both antler and paracord,
because you spun twice.
And chris, you need to add a fuller in your blade.
You guys all feel comfortable?
- Yes, sir. - Yes, sir.
- At the end of this round, we will go into testing,
where we're gonna check for strength and durability
in a roulette wheel chop.
Then we're gonna check that edge retention
in a playing card slice.
So good luck, guys.
You have two hours on the clock.
And that time starts now.
♪ ♪
- I'm gonna have to divvy up my time between the grinder
and the handle material.
The proper edge geometry is critical,
so the knife performs evenly,
straight across the distance of the blade.
I'm aiming for what they call a norwegian bushcraft edge,
which is just a short, sweet dropping bevel.
You can use it for chopping and cutting
and whatever your heart desires.
- Looks like johnnie's bevel is really steep.
- Having that steep a bevel, trying to do a card slice--
it's probably more likely just gonna push or crush the cards.
♪ ♪
- antler is a material that I use a lot.
Antler can be a little bit tricky.
You just gotta make sure you're not flexing it too much,
'cause it can break.
Get it to the rough shape of a knife handle.
And then I cut it into scales.
♪ ♪
- my only round two parameter is getting a fuller in there.
I can't heat this blade up and blow the heat treat on it,
so grinding in the fuller
is kind of my only option right now.
I'm feeling really good at the moment.
- Gentlemen, you got 90 minutes remaining.
♪ ♪
- I'm really happy that my scales look right.
I think I'm pretty much ready to start epoxying.
- I get the first pin in, and it fit just fine.
Go to put the second one in,
and it wasn't wanting to go in.
- Oh boy.
- There's not a lot of other antler materials
out there for him to use. - Yeah.
- The last thing I want to do is go home
because I didn't make parameters.
So I put it in the vice.
I went and got the hammer,
bumped it a little bit to kind of force its way in,
and then I could see it sticking through, so...
All right.
Crisis averted.
♪ ♪
- I move over to the drill press
to start the holes for the mosaic pin.
That's that card that I'd drawn.
I like to dye my epoxy different colors.
Just adds an extra little flair to the knife.
Now I need to try to get the handle together.
- All right, guys, you have one hour remaining.
♪ ♪
- the shape of this handle,
I'm just going something that's easy to index.
Make sure that the judges are comfortable
when they're swinging this.
- Chris really made use of time properly.
- Oh, yeah.
- Trying to get it as finished as I can for the test.
♪ ♪
- I'm liking the shape and design of the blade,
but I'm still worried about the raindrop
damascus pattern on it.
The only other work-around I know of
is to drill more holes and stick it back in the forge
and pound it back out some more.
But it's not an option at this time.
So I move on and grind the handle.
- 15 minutes remaining.
- J. Told me that I have a bit of a warp in the spine,
and I wasn't able to get it all completely out,
but I got the cutting edge itself
almost perfectly straight.
Now I have to put the paracord on there.
The only thing I could think of was to wrap it
at the top of the handle.
- Unfortunately, he's using the crazy glue.
- Exactly.
Hopefully he just cleans it off,
or we're gonna have some sharp edges on that.
- So I get the paracord into my handle
and get it in the acid etch.
- Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
Gentlemen, all bets are off. This round is over.
Grab your blades and head back to your anvils.
Good work.
- I played the cards I was given,
and I like my chances to make it to round three.
We'll see what happens. Luck be a lady tonight.
- All right, gentlemen, you know what time it is.
It's time for the strength test, the roulette wheel chop.
Now I'm gonna be taking your blades--
all of them have a damascus construction--
and mashing them into this roulette wheel.
Now remember, this test is not about
what your blades do the roulette wheel.
It's what that roulette wheel does to your blades.
Chris, you're up first. You ready?
- Yes, sir. - Okay.
♪ ♪
- I'm feeling a little tingly right now.
Trying to keep my composure.
This is not a normal thing for anybody to do to blades.
It's a little scary.
[rock music]
♪ ♪
all right, chris, right off, your blade held up perfectly.
There's absolutely nothing wrong
with your handle construction, but it would have been nice
if it was scaled up just a little bit,
'cause there's not a lot of meat there.
Good job. - Thank you very much.
- Damond, you ready? - Yes, sir. Give it hell.
- [chuckles]
- in the fight game, they say don't ever leave it
in the judges' hands,
but in this case I don't have a choice.
I did everything I can do.
It's up to the judges and what they do to our blades.
[rock music]
♪ ♪
- all right, so, damond, this blade is easy to hold on to.
The flare that that antler gives makes perfect retention.
You've got a really nice grind on this.
It's still sharp.
Took one little ding right there.
Other than that, there's no damage to the blade at all.
Nicely done. - Thank you.
- Johnnie, your turn. You ready?
- Be lying if I said yes. [laughter]
I've never put a knife through this type of torture.
And the handle came out a little bit
on the small side in the back.
My biggest concern is it might fly out of his hand.
[rock music]
♪ ♪
- all right, johnnie, gonna start with the blade.
It is sharp. It didn't take any damage.
Your handle-- this curve at the back--
on a blade this heavy,
my hand tends to want to slide down on that.
You did pick up a little piece of wood right there
in that delamination, but nothing came apart.
Held up great in the strength test.
- Thank you. - Good job.
♪ ♪
- all right, bladesmiths, we know your blades are strong.
But are they sharp?
This is the playing card slice, the sharpness test.
♪ ♪
for this particular test,
it's all about your edge.
Are we all-in?
- Yes, sir. - All right.
Chris, you're up first. You ready for this?
- I'm ready. - All right, let's do this.
[rock music]
♪ ♪
- all right, chris, let's talk about your weapon here.
First up, your edge here cut all the cards through.
Nothing was crushed.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it'll cut.
- Thank you. - All right, damond.
Are you ready to play cards with the beast?
- Yes, sir. - All right, let's do it.
[rock music]
♪ ♪
- nice. - Yeah.
- All right, damond, let's talk about your weapon here.
First up, I like the look of your blade.
It's very intimidating.
I also like that you can see all these layers of damascus.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it will cut.
- Thank you.
- All right, johnnie. Your turn, sir. You ready?
- Dave said it was sharp. Prove him wrong.
- All right, let's see.
- If you don't have the right angle on your edge,
the cards are gonna tear and rip.
If my blade doesn't cut through the cards,
I will be going home.
♪ ♪
- all right, johnnie, let's talk about your blade here.
Your edge, you really took a gamble on the kind of grind
that you chose for this.
It was great for the strength test,
but when you're cutting through cards like this,
you need a finer edge.
So that kind of cut basically pushed some cards aside,
and some of the cards it did cut,
it's more of a shred rather than a clean cut.
So overall, sir, your weapon,
it'll kind of cut.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- well gentlemen, this is a high-stakes competition,
and you all turned in blades
that tested well in their own way.
But as you know, only two of you
can move forward in this competition,
which means one of you is going home.
The judges have made the decision,
and the bladesmith leaving the forge is...
♪ ♪
johnnie. Unfortunately, your blade
just didn't make the cut, and j.'s gonna tell you why.
- Johnnie, you worked really hard,
and we appreciate that.
There's some issues with your handle.
And that skinny bushcraft grind on the chopper
really didn't help you in the sharpness test.
That's why we're letting you go.
- I understand. - Well johnnie, you made
a blade that smashed through the strength test,
but the cards don't lie.
Unfortunately, you're not gonna be moving forward
in this competition.
I'm gonna have to ask you
to please step off the forge floor.
- Thank you very much. - Thank you, johnnie.
- Good luck, guys.
- Good fight, johnnie. - Thanks, man.
- This was a tough competition.
It's not as easy as it looks.
I'm not making no excuses. There are none.
It's just luck of the draw.
- Well, chris, damond, congratulations.
You guys are moving forward in the third and final round
of our competition.
Now gentlemen, in this last round,
we're gonna be sending you back to your home forges
to build one of three iconic weapons
from our "forged in fire" vault.
We've got the pandat,
the boa-zande,
and the kelewang.
Now gentlemen, we've got to keep with the casino theme.
So we're gonna spin the wheel of forging again.
But here's the deal.
If you don't like where you land,
you have an option to press your luck and spin again.
But those four days total to 35 hours.
If you choose to spin again,
we're gonna be deducting two hours from that total time.
♪ ♪
ready to find out what you're building at home?
- Let's do it. - Let's do it.
- Chris, you're up first. - All right.
♪ ♪
- oh, all right.
Chris, you landed on the pandat.
How you feeling?
- I'm from vegas, so I've seen the roulette wheel
spin enough times to know it might not get better.
I'm not gonna press my luck. I'll keep it.
I don't want to get that thing.
[laughter] - fair enough.
- The pandat is a two-handed war sword native
to the dayaks of borneo in indonesia.
Exclusively used in combat, the weapon's single-edge blade
weas uniquely angled and featured a wide, flat tip.
The ornate design made a very effective lethal weapon,
delivering devastating chops through the armor
of an opponent.
This fierce sword was featured
in season three of "forged in fire,"
where the smiths both turned in beautiful weapons,
but ultimately, the better balanced blade won the title.
- Damond, you ready? Let's go.
♪ ♪
the kelewang.
- So of course I get the kelewang.
I don't have a quench tank that would fit something like that.
The odds of it landing on kelewang again
are not too high, so I'm willing to bet
to get one of the other two.
Hit me again.
- All right, that means we're gonna be taking
two hours off your 35 hours.
You will have 33 hours to build whatever I land on.
♪ ♪
the boa-zande. You happy with it?
- Oh, yeah.
- The boa-zande sword is a central african weapon
that features a long pierced ricasso
and a wide, leaf-shaped blade
that tapers to a steep, sharp tip.
The razor-sharp edges were designed to deliver
devastating stabs and slashes into an enemy.
The boa-zande was previously seen in season seven
of "forged in fire,"
where, while both smiths faced challenges
achieving the width of this weapon,
victory went to the lighter, more comfortable sword.
- All right, chris, you're gonna have 35 hours
to build your pandat.
Damond, you've got 33 hours to build your boa-zande.
Gentlemen, don't forget, these are high stakes.
The house is putting up $10,000 and the title
of "forged in fire" champion for the winner.
Good luck. We'll see you in four days.
- Good luck, man. - Good.
♪ ♪
- day one.
Welcome to my home forge here in las vegas.
I'm ready to get started.
This is gonna be a challenging build.
I mean, the shape is kind of an oddball for my equipment.
The judges said that I had the highest layer count
in any round one competitions.
I wanted to kind of keep with that theme.
I wanted to go even higher.
I'm doing a sword with a 327-layer billet.
Looks like I have enough steel.
I'm pretty happy with how it's going.
So, I forged this thing to shape.
Everything meets parameters. I'm pretty happy.
It's look pretty good so far.
♪ ♪
- day one. So back here in my home forge.
I got the boa-zande. It's looking good so far.
I'm gonna draw out the basic blade shape for now.
I gotta worry about getting parameter lengths.
We'll just see how things go.
Chris is a phenomenal bladesmith.
He set an all-time record for layers of damascus,
so I know that his game is on point.
The hardest part's just gonna be building something
that is just a tiny bit better than what he's building.
So 243 layers, that's what I was shooting for.
- Day two.
First thing I'm doing
is getting this blade cleaned up a bit.
I need to get a lot of this forge scale off
before I get it heated up and get it quenched.
It's always stressful,
especially on something this big.
If something goes wrong with the quench,
that could basically destroy my blade.
Planning for the worst, hoping for the best.
If this sword warps or breaks, I could have to start over.
So I need this to go as smoothly as possible today.
All right. Here we go.
I get it over to the quench tank,
and it comes out straight.
That's good.
It's hard. We're ready to close up shop.
Ready to get some rest and then start work tomorrow.
- Day three.
I'm feeling really good about how things are going.
Yesterday, I got my blade quenched by the end of the day.
Now it's time to get started on the handle.
I really like the look of bronze,
so I'm gonna put a bronze guard and pommel.
So I've got my pommel tapped,
and now I need to thread my tang.
Shoot, I don't think this is gonna work.
I see that the threads are not right.
- With the threads as shallow as they are,
it's not gonna grab the pommel,
and it's not gonna be tight.
There's something wrong with my die.
I should have checked it first. Teeth are all broken on it.
So my solution is I have to cut a new piece of bronze,
re-thread it, and I'm going to have to tap that.
I build the new pommel. I get it on the handle.
Everything looks good. It's tight.
That's gonna work just fine.
Now I'm ready to start moving forward.
♪ ♪
- day four.
This blade is a little awkward.
It's a weird shape.
I need a specific edge on this thing
that's gonna hold up during these tests
and still stay sharp.
Damond, he's an excellent smith.
Can't wait to see what he brings,
but, you know, I hope mine's just a little bit better.
[chuckles]
- day four. Final day of the competition.
I got a lot to do, but I think I can get it done.
It looks great, the pattern's really showing really well.
So now it's time to get the final edge on it
and get this sucker sharp.
Losing two hours didn't really change my plan of action.
She's a winner.
I feel really good about what I made.
♪ ♪
- well, chris, damond, welcome back to the forge.
In this last round of competition,
we sent you back to your home forges for four days
to build your blades.
Now chris, you had the pandat.
And damond, you rolled the dice
and ended up with the boa-zande.
Chris, how'd it go for you?
- Went really good.
I made a 327-layer blade out of 80crv2 and 15n20,
ebony handle,
and a silver wire twist wrap on the handle.
- Damond, how about you? - Went really well.
I also made mine out of 80crv2 and 15n20.
243 layers, two piercings, bronze guard,
desert ironwood handle, and a bronze pommel.
- Guys, your blades look to be museum quality.
But in this forge, the only way we know how to figure out
which one of these blades is gonna end up
earning one of you guys $10,000
and the title of "forged in fire" champion
is by putting them through a few tests.
And up first, the keal. Doug?
♪ ♪
- bladesmiths, welcome to the keal test.
I'm gonna take your weapon
and deliver some lethal strikes on this big carcass.
Because these are two different kinds of weapons,
with different designs,
they may cut differently or perform differently.
But overall, the feeling
and the way I wield them should be the same.
Chris, you're up first. Ready for this?
- Yeah, let's do it.
I'm really proud of what I made.
But there's a giant spine on these pigs.
I'm just hoping that I can get this pig cut in half.
[dramatic rock music]
♪ ♪
- ooh.
[chuckles]
- all right, chris, let's talk about your pandat here.
When I picked it up, it felt so light.
A little forward-heavy,
but that's what it's supposed to be, 'cause it's a chopper.
Your handle construction is smooth.
I can fit both hands perfectly there.
No extra space.
Overall, sir, with the function of a chopper like this,
it will keal.
- Thank you.
- Damond, you're up next. You ready, sir?
- Yes, sir. - Let's do this.
- I definitely feel a lot of pressure going second.
His pandat performed perfectly on the keal test,
so I know that mine needs to do just the same to stay in this.
[dramatic rock music]
♪ ♪
[chuckles] yeah.
- All right, damond, let's talk about your boa-zande here.
Your handle construction fits my hand perfectly.
I like the palm swell there, 'cause it locks my hand in.
Your edges are sharp.
They cut deeply and thrust nicely through this carcass.
Overall, sir, your boa-zande, it will keal.
- Yeah.
♪ ♪
- welcome to our strength test--
the porcelain pot chop.
It's gonna be a lot of fun
to see what your blades do to the pots.
But I'm more concerned about what the pots
do to your blades and their edges.
And, chris, you're up first. You ready to go?
- Yes? - I'll take it.
[laughter]
- porcelain is not forgiving to anything.
I'm just hoping that my blade makes it through this.
[rock music]
♪ ♪
ohh.
- Chris, you survived. Good job.
You got a little bit of glinting.
And you got a couple slight rolls,
but they're very minimal.
Everything's still straight, sharp, sturdy.
Good job. - Thank you.
- Damond, you ready to go?
- Can we just talk this out?
- No. [laughter]
[dramatic rock music]
♪ ♪
- [sighs]
♪ ♪
[chuckles]
♪ ♪
damond, you survived. Good job.
Some minor glinting. A couple rolls on the edge.
But still, overall, a very sharp blade.
Nice job. - Thank you.
♪ ♪
- all right, bladesmiths.
This is the sharpness test-- the vine slice.
To find out how sharp your weapons are,
I'm gonna take your weapon and slash through these vines.
Chris, you're up first. You ready?
- I'm ready. - All right.
[dramatic rock music]
♪ ♪
- [chuckles]
♪ ♪
all right, chris, let's talk about your pandat here.
Your edges easily cut through the vines, sir.
Overall, your pandat, it'll cut.
- Thank you. - All right, damond.
The final gamble. Are you ready, sir?
- Yes, sir. - Let's do this.
[dramatic rock music]
♪ ♪
- phew.
♪ ♪
- all right, damond, the edges are sharp
and cut cleanly through the vines.
Your weapon, too, sir, it will cut.
- Thank you.
- Well, well, well.
Both of your weapons performed extremely well
in all three of our tests.
But in this competition, we have to have a winner,
which means one of you has to go home.
While they discuss, I'm gonna ask you guys
to both please step off the forge floor.
♪ ♪
well, this seems pretty close, but you guys are the judges.
Curious to hear what you have to say about it.
- Chris', in my opinion-- the handle work and the fact
that it's a two-handed weapon
and it's even lighter than damond's,
that just pushes it a little bit ahead for me.
- Okay. - But at the same time,
what damond did-- he has a deeper etch
that really brought out the damascus pattern in that.
- When two weapons perform equally,
I'm looking at that fit and finish,
like the handle detail and guard work.
One smith went above and beyond.
- Dave, you made your decision? - Yes, I have.
- How about you, j.? - Oh yeah.
- And doug? - Yes, I have.
- All right.
♪ ♪
well, guys, it doesn't get any closer than this.
But the judges have made a decision.
And the winner of today's
"forged in fire" competition is...
♪ ♪
chris. Congratulations.
Now, damond, unfortunately,
your blade just didn't make the cut,
and j.'s gonna tell you why.
- Damond, you've got everything in the world to be proud of.
They tested equally.
Fit and finish and the finer details is what it came do,
and chris just squeaked a little bit ahead of you.
That's it. - Cool.
- Damond, up against any other blade,
it would have won.
But unfortunately, you did come out with the win today.
I'm gonna have to ask you to please
step off the forge floor, man.
- Thanks for having me, guys. Good job, buddy.
- Good job, man.
- I know that, with what they told me about my weapon,
that there really wasn't a loser here.
I'm taking home just a fantastic experience.
This competition is amazing.
I am humbled by this. It's been wonderful.
♪ ♪
- chris, you are the "forged in fire" champion,
and you're gonna be taking home a check for $10,000, man.
Congratulations.
- Thank you, guys. Thank you so much.
I'm, like, in disbelief.
This title of "forged in fire" champion means a lot to me.
It's something that I can always take with me.
I am the "forged in fire" champion!
♪ ♪