[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- My name is peter farquhar.
I'm 56 years old
And I took up bladesmithing
When I was 14 years old.
My biggest concern is that I'm gonna do something
Really stupid early on
Because I just had a brain fart.
But I doubt it.
♪ ♪
- My name is jordan jackson.
I'm from rutherfordton, north carolina.
I've been bladesmith for about eight years.
I'm 32 years old. My son is ten years old.
He's made a few knives himself.
He gave me very specific instructions
To make sure that my blades met parameters.
He told me not to quench it too hot.
♪ ♪
- My name's james hatfield.
I'm 42 and I'm a full-time bladesmith.
I specialize in hunting knives,
Bowie knives, just simple blades.
I want to show everybody else
That I got what it takes to be a bladesmith.
I'm here to win.
♪ ♪
- My name is bobby slagle.
I'm 48 years old and I'm a part-time bladesmith.
As far as craftsmanship, figuring stuff out,
I'm pretty reliable, pretty quick on my feet.
The only thing I've ever found
That I'm not good at is playing golf.
♪ ♪
- Um, there's nobody here.
[eerie music]
♪ ♪
- What is going on here?
[distant screaming]
♪ ♪
[chainsaw revving]
♪ ♪
- Holy [bleep].
[chainsaw revving]
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the forge of fear.
♪ ♪
Now bladesmiths, we are very happy to have you
Taking part in our forge of fear competition,
Where we're gonna be paying tribute
To some of the most iconic
And terrifying scenes from cinematic history.
Gentlemen, the four of you are here to compete
In three rounds of very intense
And terrifying edge weapon-making competition.
Now at the end of each one of those rounds,
You're gonna present your work to our mostly kind
And not-so-mentally-stable judges.
Those judges are abs master smith, j. Neilson.
♪ ♪
Historic weapons re-creation specialist, dave baker.
♪ ♪
And edge weapons specialist and kali martial artist,
Doug marcaida.
♪ ♪
Bladesmiths, in this first round of competition,
Your task is to source your materials
From our wall of torture tools.
♪ ♪
[man screaming]
Now, you need to use at least two of these tools
And forge them into your favorite horror blade
From cinematic history.
- I'm already thinking about okay, slasher knife,
Something horror-ish.
I figure I'd try to do something to make chucky proud.
- In the second round of competition,
You're gonna add handles to your blades,
Turning them into fully functioning weapons.
At which point the judges are gonna check for strength
And durability in a haunted tv chop.
They're gonna check your edge retention
In a possessed clown slice.
At the end of each round, there will be an execution.
We have three hours on the clock.
Good luck, stay sharp. Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
- Really hoping we see some horror-inspired blades.
- I would love to see the oversized kitchen knife
Or the paper cutter blade.
- That's a good one.
- I've got more than a passing familiarity
With john carpenter's classic "Halloween."
So I figure, chef knives from hell,
That's going to be my starting point.
I'm gonna go for a canister.
I grabbed a chainsaw and a bracing bit.
- Drill bits, in general,
Are not the greatest steel to make knives out of.
Some of them are just a mild steel
With a hardened steel tip on them.
- Get it back on there.
- In my experience you can get away with using metal
That's a little more on the dirty side in the canister.
So I just shoved my pieces in there,
Sealed it up and off I went.
- Pete's in the forge but I think he's taking a risk
'cause he didn't do much cleaning at all.
♪ ♪
- Chain, I don't really like working with.
But the handsaw and the sickle,
I know that's good usable metal.
Well, my plan today is gonna have to be
I'll have to cut this up in small enough pieces
And get it in a can.
I get the rust cleaned off the sickle
'cause it was pretty rusty.
Dirty metal will not weld.
- Bobby did grind that scythe down
Just so he can chop it up and put it in a can.
- Perfect. - That's good.
♪ ♪
- Jordan's hair is just moving when he's not moving.
- It's alive. - It's possessed.
- My favorite horror movie is probably "Friday the 13th."
Those are like the first ones I got to watch.
And I was hooked after that.
I know that the chainsaw and the hand saws
Are gonna be a hardenable material.
I get my first chainsaw and everything in there.
Grab another chainsaw.
I know for a fact that it's gonna be plenty of steel.
So I just cut my lid and shove it down in ther,
Good and tight.
- I'm gonna grab a chainsaw and I'm gonna grab
The largest saw blade that I can get.
I'll put this right in the center.
And I know that I'm gonna have good steel on my edge.
But there's not enough for one piece.
It's gonna be damascus or canister.
And I'm like, "this is my worst nightmare right here.
This is it."
- So we've got four cans going.
- And I don't see anybody have any white out
On their table, which is a good sign.
- Yeah, we didn't ask them to peel the cans.
- Right. - Come on, come on, work.
- James has dumped all the powder out of his can.
- Ugh. - Oh, my god.
- I gotta quit rushing. Calm down.
You got this. Pourin' it back in.
I'm trying to get things in there stuffed.
I'm welding.
- James's prep time is taking way too long.
- Finally, I put her in the forge.
- Bladesmiths, you have two hours remaining!
- During the first press, one of those presses
Has got to make it set
'cause if that doesn't happen, you've got no billet.
After I've got a couple of passes,
I've got a square with these little ears on the end.
- Peter's pressing everything down from top and bottom
As opposed to working all four directions.
- That can cause a big problem
Because the material inside is shifting around.
- It certainly could.
- But then I see voids along that edge.
That's worrisome.
I have to make the decision. Do I start over or not?
If I start over, I've lost about an hour.
Welds appearing to be setting at least a little bit.
That's great.
I'm going to just grind the ears off
And hope everything is okay when I'm done.
I'm gonna have less steel than I intended
But I can make this billet work.
♪ ♪
[person screaming]
- She's getting there now, baby.
- There ya go. That's what you wanna see.
- Bobby's is almost hard to look at. It's so bright.
That's--that's good.
- Go ahead and get my first good smashes on each side
Of it and get me a one chunk of steel.
- Bobby and jordan are really working with good temperatures.
- Now that I have my forge weld set and everything,
I just started drawin' it ou.
I wanted to leave the blade pretty meaty,
'cause I know that I still need to grind a lot of that can off.
- You guys have an hour and 15 minutes left!
- As I'm drawing out my canister,
I do start noticing I'm gettin' quite a bit heavy and limp
But I wanted to make sure
That I would have something to waste.
- James's blade is so long.
- Then I see out of the corner of my eye...
♪ ♪
Wh-what is that?
- I'm watching you, james.
- Whoa, whoa, who's that?
- Someone's stalking the room. [laughs]
- I just stay at it, you kno,
Try and make sure he don't mess with me.
- [cackling]
♪ ♪
- You good? - I got it out of my system.
- [laughing] all right.
- I finally got my blade pretty much the shape I wan.
Might as well get the holes in the handle.
I'm using the drifts. That's what I use at home.
- Nothing wrong with old school
As long as you can make it happen fast.
- And I forgot to dunk my drift in the water.
My drift is still hot
And it's riveting itself inside the handle.
- Uh-oh, that's not good.
- Kay.
- If you drive it in too far and don't cool it enough,
The drift can swell and then it will be stuck there.
- This is where the lens goes wee, wee, wee, wee.
[sharp, high-pitched tones]
- This is going to completely defeat me.
♪ ♪
Well, when it doubt...
I could either drive it in further to force the hole
Even bigger, or I could grind it
A little smaller if it's sticking out enough.
How embarrassing.
The grinder is gonna be a hair quicker.
- I appreciate the drifting of holes but it--
It--this has been 15 minutes.
- All right, bladesmiths, you have 30 minutes left!
- There we go. Bobby's on the horn
Of the anvil putting a little recurve in.
- I'm liking bobby's profile.
- Yeah, me too.
- I decided to give a little recurve to it
And make it more of a slasher-style knife.
♪ ♪
- I'm making a machete.
Gotta make something from "Friday the 13th."
- You know what james is working on,
It's definitely got a jason voorhees feel to it.
- I'm making a machete.
It's good for hacking limbs off of trees and people
And it's always in a horror movie somewhere.
[person giggling menacingly]
♪ ♪
- Peter just quenched.
- It was looking pretty thin from here.
- And when I take it out, it's still straight.
Well, that's nice.
It's time to start hogging that can off.
But then after a perfectly straight out of the quench,
Now I've got a warp. I'm gonna have to deal with it
In round two, should I make it that far.
- Bobby quenched his blade super hot.
- Pull it out,
I think I'm pretty good with the blade.
I'm gonna try to go ahead
And put the bevels on it and go from there.
- Too hot. Too hot. Too hot.
- There's a quench another. [all groaning]
That's two really hot quenches today.
- I pull it out. Everything looks good.
And I'm just hogging material off the 36 grit.
♪ ♪
- Oh, another quench. - All right.
James came back from the depths.
- I've got just a slight warp.
[bleep].
I just got a few minutes.
There's no going back here. This is it.
I might be able to finish grinding some of it out.
If I make it to round two,
That'll be the biggest thing to address.
- Five, four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, turn off your machines.
- Whoo! - Put down your tools.
First round of this terrifying competition is over.
- Whoo.
- I'm standing there looking down at my blade, thinking,
"you did good. That looks like jason's knife."
I think he would be proud.
♪ ♪
- All right, gentlemen,
In the first three hours of this competition,
You took two tools from our torture chamber
And repurposed them into horrifying blades.
But the time has come for the first execution.
Peter, you're up first. Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- Peter, let's talk about your design here.
I think there's nothing more menacing
Than where you see something pointy
That may thrust and penetrate you.
To me, that's terrifying.
Your blade does have a little bit of a warp.
The handle, a little bit on the longer side
But we'll see what happens if you move forward,
How you can adjust that, but overall,
Good job.
- Jordan, you're up next. Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- First scene of the horror movie,
Old school butcher shop.
Foreshadowing, they put that knife on the thing.
You know they're coming back to that knife.
It's got a really great profile to it.
What I really like is the fact
That you've got some really solid steel here.
You've got some mass steel to work with.
Good job.
- Thank you. - James, you ready?
- Ready as I'm gonna be.
- Let's see what you got.
♪ ♪
- All right, james, I like the old machete look.
It's definitely got
A jason vorhees kind of look to it.
My biggest concern is the way this blade moves.
It's actually kind of snaking.
It's got like an odd twist to it.
If you move forward,
I'd like to see you address those issues.
Good job. - Thank you.
- Bobby, please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, bobby, let's talk about your design here.
The blade's already eager to reach out and cut its victim.
Your steel is solid.
I can see some of damascus pattern that you have here.
But your edge here is wavy. If you move forward,
It needs some refining but it's already terrifying.
Good job. - Thank you.
♪ ♪
- Well, gentlemen, with this first round,
We tried to scare you guys.
And you all came through with great viable blades.
But in this competition,
Only three of you move forward into round two,
Which means somebody is gonna be heading home.
Today, the bladesmith leaving the forge is...
♪ ♪
James.
Unfortunately, you're not gonna move forwad
In this competition.
And dave's gonna tell you why.
- James, in the first round,
We have four blades come in that are all solid.
We have to look at the smaller things.
And with those warps in your blade,
You've just got more things to do in the round two.
That's why we're letting you go.
- I understand.
- Well, james, you're clearly a talented smith.
But unfortunately, I'm gonna have to ask you
To please surrender your work and step off the forge floor.
- I'm definitely the first one taken out in the movie,
That's for sure.
I took a chance on letting the warp go and it was my downfall.
I know that when I go home I'll just keep punching,
Keep trying, keep refining my skills.
♪ ♪
- Well, gentlemen, congratulations.
The three of you have made it through the first round
Of our forge of fear competition.
Now, you're moving to the second round
Where you're gonna add handles to the blades,
Turn them into fully functioning weapons.
Now guys, you see in front of you,
We've given you each a little bit of a gift.
Go ahead and open those up for us.
- [chuckles]
♪ ♪
- What you guys have there are vampire-hunting kits.
Gentlemen, for the second round of competition,
That is all you have for handle materials.
The pantry is closed aside from using pin stock.
- Um, the holy water is not gonna do me too much good.
But the stakes--the stakes
Are made of some good serviceable wood.
- Now, after this round is complete,
Judges are gonna check for strength and durability
In a haunted tv chop and check for edge retention
In a possessed clown slice.
Bladesmiths, you have two hours on the clock.
So good luck, stay sharp. Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
I think all the smiths are gonna end up
Using the spike for the handles here.
- Either that or they could take that hammer head
And just slice scales out of that also.
♪ ♪
- The stakes are definitely my go-to because they are oak.
I make handles out of oak all the time back home.
I'm gonna go ahead and get the blade shaped out first.
Split it down the center to get me two scales.
- Bobby's still got issues with his edge.
Is that something he could do after adding the handle on?
- Guess that's what his plan is.
♪ ♪
- [humming]
- I see peter getting ready to fix that warp.
- Correcting a warp is a danger 'cause there's always a risk
That you're gonna make so much heat
That you're gonna ruin the heat treat at the edge.
As I'm doing it, I'm watching the colors change
From heating up the blade.
I got my warp out of the blade.
It's time to get my handle stuck
And go on with what I was gonna do before.
[person screams]
- I'm sitting here working on the blade.
I've got plenty of meat so I'm not really worried
About gettin' too thin at all.
- Bobby's got kind of this toothy edge.
So he's got some cleanup work
That really needs to happen to that blade.
- Got--oh, [bleep]!
- Okay.
I'm gonna do a dry fit to the handle.
- All right, let's see how peter does with this.
- The hole through the wood, they're a little bit tight.
I'm just going to make the holes a little bit bigger
So the pins will slip in.
Everything fits. All right then.
♪ ♪
- I need to start getting some holes in my tang
So I can attach my handle scales.
I get up closer to the blade and get that third hole.
That bit ain't going nowhere.
[bleep].
- Jordan is having some trouble.
You can hear that drill press screaming right there.
[drill press whirring]
- I don't have time for this right now.
- Bladesmiths, you have 90 minutes remaining.
- [bleep].
So I finally decide.
I get the map gas torch and soften up that tang,
Just draw a little bit more of a temper on it
So I can actually get through that.
But I've got to be careful
Because I don't want to ruin the heat treat.
But I finally get those pilot holes drilled
And I started dropping everything together.
I'm a little behind the gun here,
But I'm trying to catch back up.
- I'm finished grinding my handle.
It feels really good. So I'll go to burnin' it.
- So bobby's doing a little scorch.
I like that look.
- I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.
It's got the nice dark stripes in it.
It's kind of slasher-ish. Whew.
- Bladesmiths, you have 30 minutes before testing.
- There's definitely a substantial
Chunk of wood on there. I didn't really have time
To go back and trim it like I normally would.
And so I just start hogging material off.
- Oh, the smell of burnt epoxy.
- 15 minutes, guys.
- Okay. Doug's criticism of the handle is correct.
It should sit more snugly in the hand.
So I thought I would deepen the part of the scales
That kind of represent a pommel.
- Peter has a gap where his tang really should be.
- Well, if he doesn't fill that gap,
That's gonna be a hotspot swinging at night.
- Yeah.
- I think I've got an edge I can work with.
I got to do something about that gap.
There's not really enough time to mix up more epoxy.
So I decided to go with plan b.
I decided to just smooth out those areas.
It may not be ideal comfort,
But it's not gonna harm anybody.
I'm okay with that.
- Five, four, three, two, one.
Put down your tools.
Second round of this competition is officially ove.
- Five hours ago I started the competition with jack[bleep].
And now I've got a badass slasher blade.
♪ ♪
- [eerily] ♪ twinkle, twinkle ♪
♪ little star ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to our strength test.
The haunted television chop.
[tv buzzing]
I'm gonna take each of your horror-themed knives.
I'm gonna beat them mercilessly
Into our poltergeist-infested television.
What your blades do to the television,
I don't care about that. I want to see
What our haunted television's gonna do to your blades.
And today, I brought some friends with me.
♪ ♪
- The hell?
- They're here. Bobby, how you feeling, buddy?
- I'm scared to death.
- Might get better, might get worse.
Let's find out.
♪ ♪
- I feel really confident about my blade
Going into the strength test.
I should have no chipping and no rolling.
I'm pretty sure the edge geometry that I put on
There should hold up against the chop really wel.
♪ ♪
- [grunts] man.
♪ ♪
All right, bobby, you survived.
There's no damage on the edge whatsoever.
The handle's comfortable.
Nice job on the scorching just to give it a little effect.
Overall, good job. I like it.
- Thank you.
- All right, jordan, how you feeling?
- A little creeped out but I'm ready.
- That's all right. I'm used to that reaction.
[laughter]
- Dave's kinda looking at my blade a little harder
Than I sort of expect.
So, you know, really, I--
I felt like I was gonna [bleep] my pants a little bit.
♪ ♪
- All right, good job, jordan. Still got a good edge on ther.
I don't see any glinting. Everything's straight.
The handle was very comfortable to hold on to.
Overall, I like it. Good job.
- Awesome. Thank you.
- Okay, peter, how are you feeling?
- A little queasy.
- Eh, it'll pass.
- I'm worried about that gap I had in the handle.
If I had just five more minutes,
I could have made that go away.
I really hope this works.
♪ ♪
- All right, peter, nice job. No problem on your edge at all.
You got most of that warp out, which is nice.
Your handle is a bit on the thin and long side.
But it wasn't a problem to hold on to.
I was worried about this gap that you had left back there
But never even became an issue.
Overall, good job. I like it.
- Thank you.
[thunder booms]
[person giggling]
- Bladesmiths, this is the sharpness tes.
The possessed clown slice.
To find out how sharp your weapons are,
I'm gonna take your weapons,
Try to cut cleanly on this possessed clown.
Now, unlike the strength test,
This is all about how sharp your weapons are
And how clean our cuts are gonna be.
Bobby, you're up first. You ready for this?
- I reckon I am. - All right. Let's do this.
- I'm thinking, "all right, you need to cut cleanly for me
To get through this round."
But I'm worried about the edge geometry that I put on there,
Just couldn't get the edge on it like I wanted.
♪ ♪
[softly] oh.
♪ ♪
No.
♪ ♪
- All right, bobby.
First up, I like the profile that you have.
Your handle construction is smooth.
Your edge, you've cut through the arms,
Into the foam but not into the rope.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it will cut.
- Thank you.
- Jordan, your turn. So are you ready?
- Yeah, man. - Let's do this.
♪ ♪
- [chuckles]
- All right, jordan, let's talk about your blade.
Your handle construction is smooth.
Your edge, it cuts nicely.
It cut through in the drag and the leg.
And when we're cutting into the stomach of the clown,
It cuts very deep.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it will cut.
- All right. Thanks, doug.
- Peter, it's your turn. So are you ready?
- I'm looking forward to this.
- Me, too.
♪ ♪
[person cackling]
♪ ♪
- All right, peter. First up, your handle construction.
It is a little bit on the narrow side
But I can wrap my hand around it
And the flare right there gives me good retention.
Your edge, it did cut the arm right there.
In the legs, it also lacerated.
And we came to the bowels, it emptied it out.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it will cut.
- Thank you.
[eerie music box music]
[tv buzzing]
- Bladesmiths, in the first two rounds of the competition,
We asked you to repurpose torture tools
Into functioning blades, and you all delivered.
But this is a competition and there will be an execution.
The judges have made the decision.
And the bladesmith leaving the forge is...
♪ ♪
Bobby. You fought hard.
You brought us a great blade but unfortunately,
You're not gonna move forward in this competition.
And j. Is gonna tell you why.
- Bobby, it was great watching you create
Your horror-themed blade and you produced a great piece.
But at the end of this dark, moonless night,
Your blade just didn't have the edge the others did.
And that's why we're sending you home.
- I understand.
- Well, bobby, we want to thank you for your hard work.
You clearly have what it takes to be in this forge.
But unfortunately your time in the forge of fear competition
Is over. I'm gonna have to ask you
To please step off the forge floor.
- Thank you, guys. It was awesome to compete.
- Good job, bobby.
- Good job. - Thank you.
- Well, clearly I got outperformed
In the sharpness test.
I absolutely see me making more spooky slasher-style blades
When I get back home.
They look cool when you're done with them.
So I'm good to go.
- Peter, jordan, congratulations, gentlemen.
You're moving forward into the third and final round
Of our forge of fear competition.
Now, on this last round,
We're sending you back to your home forges
To work on an iconic weapon from cinematic horror history.
You're gonna be building this.
♪ ♪
The fireman's axe.
- [laughs]
- The fireman's axe is a weapon of choice
For some of the most terrifying psychopaths
In the horror genre,
From patrick bateman in "american psycho"
To jack torrance in stanley kubrick's "the shining."
Ironically, this notorious slasher was actually designed
As a robust life-saving tool
Used by brave firefighters around the world.
Featuring a strong stout axe blade on one side
And a sharp spike-like pick on the other,
It's designed to break throuh doors and windows,
Pry through obstacles, and clear debris
To rescue people trapped in raging fires.
Your axe heads need to feature a spike and a sharpened edge.
Now, this axe head is a beast.
It should come in at around six pounds.
- I have a fair bit of experience making axes.
I've made a few smaller ones.
It's definitely gonna be a challenge,
But I'm confident I'll knock it out.
- Gentlemen, you have four days to build your fireman's axes.
Good luck. We'll see you then.
[both chuckle]
[upbeat rock music]
- I'm back in my home forge in l.A.
And I'm looking forward to making a fireman's axe.
That works.
Doing a forge weld with it will be quite difficult
So I'm gonna try and forge it in one piece without a weld.
Well, we've penetrated about a quarter inch,
So it's time for me to go to a narrower chisel
That can take more manageable bites out of the steel.
I only got to do this about 24 more times.
It's gonna be tough beating jordan but I think
I've got some things in my bag of tricks that he doesn't have.
It's not much daylight but we got daylight.
♪ ♪
- Super excited to be back in my hometown
Of rutherfordton, north carolina.
Time to get to work on this fireman's axe.
Eight inches should be plenty.
I've made tomahawks and axes,
But this is a little bit different
With the spike and everything.
So my plan today is to get my billets cut of the 80crv.
That way I can forge weld the two pieces together
And I already have my eye for my handle.
So you can kind of see what it's starting to turn into.
I've got my slot started there
So I can drift out my handle hole.
At the end of day one,
I'm feeling like I'm a little bit behind.
I'm worn out so I'm just ready to get some rest
And get ready for day two.
- Plan for today is number one, get all the engraving done.
I'll do it the quickie way.
I've got an extensive arts background
That includes a lot of jewelry-making skills,
So I'm going to do my own take on it.
I'm going to clad it with brazing rods
So we'll have a nice inlay effect.
One side of the blade, I have a chinese dragon
In memory of my father, and on the other side,
I did a norse-style dragon in memory of my mother.
♪ ♪
I think I'm done with this thing for the day.
- Day three, going into the heat treat,
I'm not really concerned about warps that much.
My biggest concern is any of these forge wels
Where the pommel is.
It's a very delicate process.
Yeah, if the welds aren't successful,
It's gonna to have to go all the way back to square one
And start all over.
I go with the spike first.
And then I flip it over and quench the blade.
♪ ♪
Oh, yeah.
File skates and it's absolutely beautiful.
Tomorrow, I want to really focus on
Just gettin' a really good fit up
And some final design work on the axe.
It's a lot better.
- Last day.
All right, ready to attempt to build I.
I spent a lot of time trying to make it a bit of an art piece.
I'm pretty happy with it.
Took a lot of effort to get brass inlay
Of the two dragons on there
But that came out pretty well.
Now I'm gonna get the handle ready.
♪ ♪
My handle has developed a crack right up the middle.
♪ ♪
That's worrisome.
I don't know if I'm gonna be able
To get this blade done in time.
That's worrisome. It's from the main wedge.
It split all the way down there.
The judges could give me a hard time with that.
I could try and feed some epoxy in there
To hold that end together.
But I do not have time to make another handle.
♪ ♪
Big brass collar might be fun.
So I didn't want that to travel anywhere.
So the next thing I did was I made a brass ferrule
That will hold everything together.
Structurally, I'm not worried about it.
But I am still upset with myself that I, you know,
Made that little mistake. After that, I wanted to o
Something interesting with the handle, too.
I wound up making a couple of branding irons
And laying a scale pattern on by burning it in.
I don't know if I'm gonna win or not,
But I know nobody is gonna forget this thing.
- Day four.
I wanted to add a little bit of design to the handle
So I did some tally marks for a body count.
I think it's gonna look cool.
So I'm getting ready to put the axe head onto the handl.
I slide it on there, tap it onto the handle
To make sure that everything's set good.
Cool.
So now I want to go back on that hickory handle
And sort of char it a little bit
To make it look like it's a really old found murder weapon.
You don't see an axe murderer walking around
With a brand new axe
They had just picked up at the hardware store.
[laughs]
Look at that.
I'm really happy with how that came out.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- Well, peter, jordan, guys,
Welcome back to the forge of fear.
We sent you back to your home forges to build your renditions
Of the fireman's axes and guys, they look menacing.
But before we get into testing, I wanna to hear about them.
Peter, how'd the build go for you?
- Threw me some curves. Had a hard time.
Got through it, though.
The handle is hickory with a brass color.
And the blade is made out of a single piece of 5160.
- Well, it looks fantastic, man.
Jordan, how'd it go for you?
- Everything went pretty smooth.
The blade is 80crv2,
The handle's made out of hickory
With some hash marks there for a body count.
Copper fittings and a walnut wedge.
- Body count.
Are you like admitting to something right now?
- Don't know what you're talking about.
- [laughs]
Well, guys, there's really only one way we know
How to figure out which one of you
Is gonna leave here with the title
Of "forged in fire" champion and a check for $10,000.
We have three terrifying tests for you.
We've got a strength test, we have a sharpness test,
And up first, the keal.
Doug.
[thunder booms]
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the keal test.
Today I'm gonna to take your weapon
And fend it against this horned demon.
Peter, you're first. Shall we feed off its soul?
- Oh, please.
- All right, let's do it.
- I hope my axe just decimates this demon.
♪ ♪
[person snickering]
- All right, peter, let's talk about your axe here.
The axe handle you have here is wide enough to where
I can get a very good grip in wielding this weapon.
Your axe head is very sharp.
More importantly, sir, it will keal.
- Thank you.
- All right, jordan, you're up next.
Are you ready for this?
- Oh, yeah. - Let's do this.
- Peter's digs deep, it's very sharp.
It does exactly what it's supposed to.
And then I'm reminded that this is the--the forge of fear.
♪ ♪
[thunder booms]
[high-pitched screaming]
[chuckles]
♪ ♪
- [laughs]
- All right, jordan, let's talk about your fireman's axe.
I love the feel and the shape of your handle.
The head you have here is heavier
So it really penetrates deep into this demon dummy.
Your edge took no damage, whatsoever.
And I think now we can add another notch to your handl.
Overall, sir,
Your fireman's axe, it will keal.
- Thanks, doug. That's what I needed.
♪ ♪
- Hi, guys.
[chuckles]
Well, bladesmiths, welcome to our strength test.
Our horror door chop.
Now, what the axes do to the door is secondary
To what the door does to your axes.
But regardless, it's gonna be a hell of a lot of fun.
Peter, you ready to go?
- I'm ready. Let's go.
- All right, let's do it.
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
Becky, I'm home.
♪ ♪
All right, peter, nice job. Everything's still tight.
♪ ♪
You got a couple little small splits there from wedging I.
Your spike, still perfectly sharp.
And same with your edge. Still razor sharp.
Good job. - Thank you much.
- All right, jordan, you're up.
You ready to give this pup of a door its medicine?
- Oh, yeah. - Let's do it.
- I'm kinda worried about this door chop.
It's just a solid wood door.
Hope my handle holds together.
♪ ♪
- All right, jordan, nice job.
It's a much heavier axe, wider handle.
Edge still razor sharp.
Nothing loosened up. Real nice job.
- Awesome. Thanks.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to our sharpness test.
The arm chop.
Peter, you're up first. Are you ready, sir?
- I am ready. - All right.
Let's have some hand chops.
♪ ♪
All right, peter, sharp edges.
And these are all very clean cuts, sir.
Overall, your weapon. It will cut.
- Thanks a ton.
- All right, jordan, your turn, sir. Are you ready?
- Oh, yeah. - All right. Let's do this.
♪ ♪
All right, jordan, even though it's heavier,
It is the weight that's expected of a fireman's axe
Because just let the weight fall into this
And it cut cleanly on the arm.
Overall, sir, your weapon,
It will cut.
- Thanks, doug.
♪ ♪
- Well, gentlemen, we tried to scare you guys away in this
Forge of fear competition but you both stood up
And showed us you guys have the skills it takes to be here.
But the time has come for the judges to deliberate
And decide which one of you is gonna go home with the win.
So while they chat, I'm gonna ask you both
To please step off the forge floor.
♪ ♪
It's been a wild ride, guys. J., what do you think?
- Both beautiful pieces.
They look like they tested evenly on everything.
- Doug, what do you think?
- What I see in peter's design, though beautiful,
I'm looking at the finer details.
Toward the axe head, I see a crack on both sides.
Now this didn't happen during the test but it's there.
- Dave, where do you stand?
- Peter made a beautiful piece but jordan's weapon
Is the weapon we're talking about.
I mean, it's the tool
That we actually sent them home to build.
- Okay, so, dave, have you made a decision?
- I have.
- J., how about you? - Oh, yeah.
- And doug? - I have.
- All right, guys, we'll call them back in.
[thunder booms]
♪ ♪
- Well, bladesmiths, it's not often we have a competition
That's as close as this.
Now looking at your fireman's axes,
The raw talent that went into 'em is phenomenal.
But in this competition, only one of you guys
Will be going home with the title
Of "forged in fire" champion and a check for $10,000.
The judges have discussed it.
It took a while but they made a decision.
Today's "forged in fire" champion is...
♪ ♪
Jordan. Congratulations.
Now, peter, you did a phenomenal job.
But unfortunately, your blade's not gonna end up
On the wall today. And j.'s gonna tell you why.
- Peter, you did a fantastic job.
And you brought us an axe that I would take home
And use in a heartbeat, but we have a handle issue.
We do have a crack that goes all the way through.
And jordan's design is much closer
To the example of the traditional fireman's axe.
And that's why we didn't choose your weapon today.
- Peter, you crushed it in the first couple rounds
Of this competition.
And you did phenomenally well in the last round.
But unfortunately, your time in this competition has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you
To please step off the forge floor.
- Thank you, gentlemen.
- Thank you. - Good job, peter.
- You did great. - Fantastic job, man.
- If I had another piece of wood lying around,
I would have junked the handle and started over right then.
But I respect the decision they made.
And I loved this experience.
One of the things I'm taking home is friendships.
I-I made friends with everybody I competed against
And we're going to remain friends.
- Jordan, congratulations, man.
That means you are the champion of "forged in fire"
And you just won yourself a check for $10,000.
Congratulations.
- I'm super proud of what I was
Able to accomplish, and you know,
I just wanted to make my family and my community proud.
- That thing is a beast.
- My name is jordan jackson,
And I'm the "forged in fire" champion.
♪ ♪