[dramatic music]
- Tonight in the forge, we are bringing back
Some of "forged in fire's"
Best bladesmiths and toughest american warriors
To battle it out in four head-to-head duels.
This is the armed forces tournament.
♪ ♪
Eight former competitors and u.S. Service members
Will be redeployed to the forge to battle it out,
Building a blade from start to finish in one five-hour round.
The winner of each duel will take home a check for $2,000
And earn themselves a seat
In the final battle of our tournament,
Where they will face tough competition
And battle it out for a check for $10,000
And the ever-coveted title of "forged in fire" champion.
Tonight, the dueling begins.
Up first, the e-4 mafia duel,
Where a corporal from the marines
Will go head to head with a specialist from the army.
- The e means enlisted.
So I was in enlisted men, and I got to the fourth rank,
Which is corporal in marine corps.
Marines, you know, they teach you to adapt and overcome.
And so this time, my knife's gonna withstand anything.
- I am not just trying to submit a completed blade.
I'm trying to make a comeback.
- And later, the two branch duel,
Where a veteran from the army and the air force
Goes up against a veteran from the navy and the air force.
- Something that we're always taught in the service,
Failure is not an option.
I mean, you got to get the mission done.
- It's great having served
In two different branches of the service
Because what you learn in one, you bring to the other.
I just hope I succeed in this challenge.
- The duels start now.
[rock music]
- My name is garrett elting, and I'm 29 years old.
I'm a former marine.
Did two tours to afghanistan and southern helmand province.
The last time I was on "forged in fire,"
I got to the second round and I just happened
To get a chip during the strength testing.
Marines, you know, they teach you to adapt and overcome.
And so this time, my knife is gonna withstand anything.
- My name is robert guest. I'm from tacoma, washington.
I joined the army in 2011.
And I served until 2016.
So my last time here, I struggled a little bit
And the back end of it splits apart.
I am feeling just absolutely defeated.
If this doesn't work, I'm not moving on.
Winning the duel and moving on to winning the tournament,
For me, it's tangible growth that I can measure.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome back to the forge.
Guys, I know I speak for everybody
When I say thank you for your service to our country.
And we're very happy to have you guys back in the forge.
You are gonna take part
In the armed forces redeployment tournament.
Because we've got a corporal and a specialist in the house,
This is the e-4 mafia challenge.
- [laughs]
- We've got five straight hours of forging competition
Where the two of you guys are gonna battle it out
For the duel title.
Now, the winner of this duel is gonna get $2,000
And a spot in the final round of our
Armed forces redeployment tour championship.
Now the winner of that will get a check for $10,000
And that ever-coveted title of "forged in fire" champion.
At the end of the round, you guys are gonna present
Your work to our panel of expert judges
Who will then test your blades,
Give you a critique, and make an elimination.
Today's judges are
Two-time "forged in fire" champion, ben abbott,
Historic weapons re-creation specialist, dave baker,
And edge weapons specialist, doug marcaida.
Now, guys, I'm sure you're very eager
To find out what this tournament's all about.
We have five random knife handles
That are sticking out of an ammo crate.
Attached to those handles are five unique blades
From u.S. Military history.
All of our duels have been chosen at random.
And you guys are the first to go.
What I want you guys to do is come together
And decide collectively what blade you guys want
To build based solely on the handle that you see.
But keep in mind what you decide
Is what you're stuck with for your duel.
So, guys, I want you to talk amongst yourselves,
Pick your poison,
And let me know what you decide.
- All right. One sucks.
- Yeah, that's terrible. - And three sucks.
- I don't want to do three either.
- Garrett and I are both military.
So we're comfortable working together.
I've worked in joint post before.
I'm sure he has as well.
But it is exceptionally difficult
Trying to pick something just based on its handle.
It could have a really, really ornate handle
And an incredibly simple blade.
Two and four look like gonna be more easy to make handle wise.
- Four's gonna be a chopper. - Four's got a weird tang too.
- Man, I can almost guarantee you, number two
Is gonna be some sort of a fighting knife.
- Oh, yeah. I think me and robert
Are pretty similar, and we both have pretty analytical minds.
Four is gonna be--
- Four is gonna be that light machete like a chopper.
- It's gonna be some sort of--yeah.
- Well, what do you want?
- All right, guys, time's running out.
Have you made your choice?
- I say--I say two.
- Let's do two.
- All right, guys, you are gonna be building this.
Now, gentlemen,
What you guys decided on is the m1942 machete.
- Hell, yeah.
- All right, okay.
- The m1942 machete made its debut on the battlefield
During world war ii
And was used by multiple branches of the military
In the pacific front.
This long single-edge blade
Could easily hack through dense jungles
And deliver quick deadly slashes during ambush attacks.
Soldiers continued to use this intimidating weapon
Up until the vietnam war,
Where it was replaced by a shorter
And more lightweight bolo knife.
- Now when you guys are building your machete,
You need to follow these parameters.
Your blade length measured from tip to the handle
Needs to be between 16 and 18 inches.
And for attention, guys,
You need to include a bird's head's beak.
All right, guys, so you have the blade you need to build.
But it's not gonna be just as easy
As doing a mono-steel blade.
You guys probably noticed
We've got some challenge coins in front of you.
Now I'm sure you guys are very well aware
Of the long standing tradition of the military
With challenge coins and coin checks.
But these are a little bit different.
What you guys have in front of you are eight custom
"forged in fire" challenge coins.
Each of them has a forge welding technique
On the reverse side.
What I want you to do is come up, select your coin,
Which will dictate what forge welding technique
You need use to build your m1942 machete.
- Garrett, you ready? - Yeah.
- Come select your coin, bud. - Let's do this.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- Oh, hell.
- What did you get? - Fish hooks.
- All right, so you're gonna have to build your machete
With fish hook canister damascus.
- I'm a little worried right now.
I don't do that very often. I'm gonna have to figure out
How I'm gonna make this work for me.
- All right, robert.
After seeing what he's got, are you excited?
- No. - Not at all.
- No. - Too bad.
[laughter] come up and choose your coin.
♪ ♪
Go for number one. What'd you get, robert?
- Piano keys.
- All right, so you're gonna have to do piano wire damascus.
- I have never made piano wire damascus before.
Nerves are getting to me and facing a tough challenge.
- Now you guys will have five hours
To completely build your blades from start to finish.
At which point, you're gonna hand them over to the judges
To test for strength and durability
In an ammo can chop
And then gonna check your edge retention
In a climbing rope slice.
Good luck. Your time starts now.
[rock music]
- Well, this is a difficult challenge.
The guys chose a weapon to make blindly
And then they blindly grabbed their techniques
They had to use to make that machete.
- I'm really excited to be back
And get another chance at it.
So I'm gonna make it count.
I'm not gonna put any white out in the canister
Because it takes too long to get the can off.
I'm just gonna forge weld everything through,
Grind it off at the end.
- So garrett didn't use any white out.
Got nothing in there to just keep the can separated.
- After this is all set,
It's an extra 45 minutes to get that can off.
- Fish hook damascus is a little bit difficult.
There's a lot of little nooks and crannies
That might not get filled with the 1095 powder.
Any sort of inclusions, that's bad news.
I'm excited to be representing the marine corps.
Last time I was here,
I was part of the battle of the branches tournament.
So I'm super excited to get another chance at it.
- Piano wire damascus.
Sounds like a canister thing, right?
- Yeah. I mean the only way you could do it beyond that
Is twist it and then make cable damascus.
- I decide that I am going to do a canister damascus billet.
- Garrett didn't use white out but robert is now.
- It's a bad idea.
- I don't want to risk too much mild steel being in this blade
Because I don't know what these piano wires
Are made out of.
But I know I'm adding 1095, which is hardenable good steel.
So I make sure that it's got a nice coating on the inside.
Robert did not take the time to let that white out dry.
- Don't do it.
- Oh, no. - Oh, boy.
Robert's got everything into his can
With a bunch of wet white out.
What are the chances that he gets this to stick in his weld?
- 35%.
- Ooh, I don't like those odds.
- The problem is, is with that white out being wet,
I'd say that half of that can's gonna stick to what he's got.
- Five extra minutes upfront letting that white out dry
Saves you the hour and 15 minutes
It takes to restart a new can because things didn't work out.
♪ ♪
- While the canister's in the forge,
I go grab my handle material and my penstock.
It's [indistinct].
The marine corps taught me the seven ps.
Proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance.
- It's good to see that garrett's looking way ahead
To the handle, making good use of that time.
- The canister is up to temperature,
So I take it over to the press to set the weld.
Oh, that [bleep] is hot.
What I'm gonna do is use the squaring dies
So I can apply equal pressure on every side of the can.
- You can see, he's not taking big bites.
- I can feel that my can is fully welded,
And it's time to start making it longer.
- You have 4 hours and 30 minutes remaining.
♪ ♪
- Last time I was here, I unfortunately had a failure
Where the welds in my blade didn't take.
So I go over to big blu and I give it a good solid hit
And the back end of it splits apart.
[bleep].
My goal this time is to try to make sure
That my welds are nice and strong.
And so I want to leave it in there for a while
To make sure
That everything is completely at welding temperature.
- So robert's canister is in the fire.
He's measuring out stuff.
- All these moves that they're doing is purposeful.
- Yeah. - It's not, you know,
"why am I gonna stand around here
Watching it heat up? Might as well keep moving."
♪ ♪
- The canister actually seems to be fairly solid.
Now I'm going to swap to the flattening dies.
♪ ♪
- Let's do this, buddy.
Today, I brought a picture of my best friend matt.
He passed away in November of 2020.
And it's been a pretty rough time since then.
Matt and I served together in the marine corps.
We did both deployments together.
He's a big part of my life.
I want to make sure that he's watching over me today.
So hopefully, he can get me home with $12,000.
[chuckles]
I'm ready to get this blade to shape.
- One of the aspects of this blade is how thin it is.
The 1942 machete was a purpose-built tool.
It had to be light, easy to maintain,
And be able to cut through jungle,
But you didn't want to carry more weight.
- So I draw on my billet
Exactly what I want my blade to look like
And I head over to the grinder.
- Perfect. Well, I mean, he's forged that blade down
To a workable thickness, grind it to shape.
- That's got a good shape to it already, yeah.
- I'm feeling really confident right now.
- Bladesmiths, you've got three hours
And 30 minutes remaining.
- Now there's white out in this can and he's pressed it down.
Robert has set himself up for a problem.
- At this point, I feel like the welds are solid.
Now comes the time for me to peel the can away.
♪ ♪
Oh, come on.
As I start to peel this can away,
I'm realizing that sections are fused together
And it's difficult to pull this material apart.
- Ah, that's not good.
- We're really starting to see robert's paying
For that decision to white out inside that can, big time.
- I am at a crucial decision-making point.
Either I'm going to continue to pursue this and try to cut
The rest of this off or start over.
- Walk away, robert.
- Down the rabbit hole, man.
- Holy [bleep].
- I can't seem to get the canister off.
If I can't get this off,
I'm gonna have to cut off what is already removed
And then just try to grind away what's left.
- Do you think it'd be faster
Just to restart than try to make this work?
- At this point, I think so, right?
- Oh, I would.
- Time is running out.
If it takes me an hour to cut this material away,
It's gonna really cut into my fit and finish time.
I gotta start over.
- I hope robert can pull this off.
- So in order to make this restart work,
This time, crucially, I'm not gonna put any white out inside.
Instead, I'm going to try to get it
To weld completely solidly through
And then grind that mild steel off the sides.
I've lost a whole lot of time.
And so I know I have to work at a faster pace.
There's no room for errors this time.
- I'm coming up on the halfway point.
So it's time to get ready to quench.
There's a big possibility
That'll warp because I didn't grind the can off.
So I've got two different types of materials
That are gonna cool at two different rates.
Here we go.
- All right. Garrett's quenched.
♪ ♪
- Oh!
I pull it up, and this thing is a banana.
I get over to the jig so that I can get my warp out.
I've only got a little bit of time
Before this blade gets below a temp
That it could break while I'm bending it.
♪ ♪
I get to working on it. I get it pretty straight.
It survived.
- 2 hours and 15 minutes left on the clock.
Garrett's quenched. He straightened his blade.
Think he's in a pretty good spot?
- Oh, yeah.
- Now that I got this thing straight,
I know I got to get it into temper.
Last time I was here,
Ben abbott put a chip on my blade,
And I'm hoping he doesn't do it again this time.
My plan is to temper a little bit warmer
Than what normally is used for 1095
So I can get a bit springier of a blade,
And it's still gonna have that edge retention.
Hurry up.
- After my restart,
I really feel like I've got my second wind,
And I feel good moving forward.
- In half an hour, robert got a canister hopefully to weld.
It looks like it's doing all right.
He's making moves in the right direction.
- Last time when I was here was one of the best,
Most memorable experiences that I've had.
And having the opportunity to compete again,
Just to see if I've grown from my past experience
Is just a really exciting time.
So as my billet starts to take shape,
I decided the best thing that I should do
Is cut it at an angle.
Now that I've cut in the tip, it is time to refine the shape.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, you have 90 minutes remaining.
- Even though I've got a really,
Really great-looking blade right now,
I need to make sure that I get this handle perfect
Because I don't want that to be the reason I go home.
- Garrett's over there at the drill press.
So we're gonna see a handle on
With still an hour on the clock.
That's ideal.
- My plan is to get all the pins on one side,
Put the blade in,
And then hammer the other piece of micarta on.
And then I'm toss some epoxy in there.
♪ ♪
Eh.
Oh, that [bleep] pin.
That is not gonna fit.
The pin starts to bind really bad.
So I decided to go hammer on it.
Ugh! Frustrated.
I don't have time for this right now.
- When in doubt, smash.
Pretty much what garrett's doing.
- There we go. Marines, you know,
They teach you to adapt and overcome.
And so that's what I did.
- I am running out of time.
That means that this quench has to be successful.
[rock music]
♪ ♪
That's about right.
This is probably the happiest
That I've been in the competition.
♪ ♪
- Overall, the handle came out really well.
It feels really good in the hand.
It swings well. That feels good.
Well, I need to go grind my edge.
As I'm grinding away and I kind of started to get that shape,
I take it over to the acid 'cause I want to make sure
That I got all of the mild steel off my edge.
I don't want it to roll over
When it comes into contact with something hard.
It has to withstand this testing.
♪ ♪
All right!
Got a nice straight black edge. Golden.
- Bladesmiths, you have 30 minutes.
Robert's getting himself back in a better place.
He's making up for lost time.
- Looks like he's back in the race.
- So I am going to start
Working on my handle materials.
I'm going to try to save time
On the grinder by cutting the micarta into shape.
I don't have as much time as I would like for this handle.
But it's about as good as I have the time for.
- Bladesmiths, you have five minutes.
- Now I have to put in that final bevel on that edge.
- You can see that robert,
He's grinding pretty aggressively.
- Definitely got a lot of metal right there.
- Five, four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, put down your tools.
This duel is over.
♪ ♪
- I feel okay about my machete.
I definitely know that I did the best
That I could have done having had to restart.
You never know what can happen.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the strength test,
The ammo crate chop.
To test the strength and durability of your blades
As well as the overall construction of your machetes,
I'm gonna be chopping into these ammo crates.
Garrett, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Yeah. Sure.
- [laughs] then I guess I'll do it.
- The most difficult part about this test
Is he's hitting both wood and metal.
And if the blade gets stuck in the box or something like that,
It could bend or break.
The last time I was here,
I didn't make it past the testing.
So this time, I hope I make it through.
♪ ♪
[rock music]
♪ ♪
[laughs]
- All right, garrett.
Well, first things first, you're all in one piece.
That's awesome.
Your edge, there's no evidence that I smashed into a crate
Other than some scrapes on the side.
The one thing that I think did happen
Is it's definitely got a curve to the right.
But all in all, this is a great looking machete
You got going on here. Nice job.
- Awesome.
- All right, robert. You ready for this?
- If I say no, can I go make another one?
- No. - [laughs]
♪ ♪
These ammo boxes
Are typically constructed very robustly.
They are tough. They're hard to break through.
I'm so nervous I'm holding my breath.
♪ ♪
- Nice. Nice.
- All right, robert.
I do appreciate the fact that you did start over.
So I'm really happy that you ended up with a machete shape.
If you had have had more time,
I hope you might have taken some of this weight out
'cause it is really, really heavy.
And the really blocky handle is not very comfortable to swing.
You did take one glinting right here,
One small, small roll here from hitting the hasp.
But the rest of the blade seems to have held up really well.
And you started with piano wire
And you got something that looks like piano keys.
So that's kind of interesting. So all in all, well done.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths.
This is the sharpness test: The climbing rope slice.
♪ ♪
To find out how sharp your weapons are,
I'm gonna take your machetes
And try to cut through these climbing ropes.
Garrett, you're up first. You ready?
- Let's do it.
- Let's do this.
♪ ♪
[cowbell clanking]
♪ ♪
All right, garrett, you have a sharp edge, sir.
It's sharp enough to cut through and ring the cowbell.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it will cut.
- Awesome.
- Robert, your turn, sir. You ready?
- Sure.
- All right, let's do it.
♪ ♪
[cowbell clanking]
[laughter]
All right, robert. Let's talk about your machete here.
You have a spot right here that, when I put my hand on,
I can really feel that hot spot
'cause there's so much weight on your blade.
Now your edge, one and done.
You have a sharp edge here.
It cut easily on the rope. And overall, sir, it will cut.
- Thank you.
- All right, bladesmiths. You guys did a great job
By putting together your 1942 machetes,
And they both tested really well.
But only one of you guys will move forward
Into the final round.
And the judges have made a decision.
The bladesmith who's gonna be joining us
In the final round is...
♪ ♪
Garrett. Congratulations.
Now, robert, you fought hard, you brought us a good blade.
But unfortunately, you're not gonna be moving on
In this tournament and doug's gonna tell you why.
- Robert, we thank you for presenting us
A strong and sharp blade.
But the m1942 machete was created for heavy use.
The weight of your blade plus a blocky handle
Creates a hotspot and would be uncomfortable
For continued use.
- Well, robert, we all want to say thank you for your service.
Thank you for coming to the forge
And showing us your skills.
But unfortunately, your time in this competition has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you
To please step off the forge floor.
- All right. Thank you all.
- Thank you for your hard work.
- Congratulations, buddy. Nice job.
It's a little disappointing, of course.
Everybody wants to move on.
But my blade did better than my blade did last time.
And I'm pretty pleased with that.
I had a great time just being here.
And hopefully, one day, I'll win.
[laughs]
♪ ♪
- You all right, bud? - Yeah.
It's odd to be on this side of the winning thing.
[laughter]
- Well, garrett, congratulations, man.
You just won yourself a check for $2,000
And a spot in the final round
Of the armed forces redeployment tournament, man.
Congratulations.
[applause]
- Thank you. It's a big win for me.
I'm glad the marine corps
Is gonna be represented in the next round.
I think matt's real excited to see that I won this.
He's gonna be here with me on the next round too.
So I can't wait to bring him back in the forge.
Got to be something crazy coming next.
I don't know what it is. [laughs]
♪ ♪
- My name is joe stickel.
I'm a retired chief master sergeant
With the oregon air national guard.
I went into the army right out of high school.
And then I served active guard with kingsley field
In klamath falls, oregon.
The first time I was here,
I was sent home after the second round
Due to my blade taking significant damage.
♪ ♪
So this time around, not gonna fail.
♪ ♪
- Hi. My name is dana dupuis. I'm 50 years old.
I joined the navy out of high school in 1988.
I served for four years.
And then I joined the air force reserves.
And I retired in 2014 as a master sergeant.
The last time I was here,
I didn't have a proper handle on my blade.
Put some blue painter's tape on it real quick,
Wrapped it with leather,
It cut, it performed pretty well,
But the handle broke. It was no real handle.
I just hope, today, I don't produce a turd.
- Bladesmiths, welcome back to the forge.
Dana, joe, it's great to have you guys here.
I know I speak for everybody here
When I say thank you both for your service and dedication
To our great country.
You're about to take part
In the armed forces redeployment tournament.
And because you decided to serve in not one
But two branches of service,
You guys are gonna be taking part in our two branch duel.
Now I'm sure you guys are really eager
To find out what you're gonna be building today.
And we're gonna leave that up to you.
Next to me, we have a huge weapons crate
With four handles coming out of it.
Now these are attached
To blades from iconic military history.
There's only four blades here because you are the second duel
To take part in this tournament.
What I want you guys to do is come together,
Talk amongst yourselves,
And decide which one of these blades
You want to build based solely on the handle you can see.
But keep in mind what you decide
Is what you're stuck with for your duels.
So, guys, take a minute. Let me know what you choose.
♪ ♪
- What are you thinking, dana?
- I was thinking about four with the mosaic pins and stuff.
It's a good handle shape,
And they put that extra little thing to it.
- Yeah.
I think--I think we might want to stay away from three.
Looking at the handles, some of them are very ornate.
So I figured that's going to be a much more complex-type knife.
Looks like some kind of a dagger fighting knife,
Number one probably. - Yeah.
I like five. The handle shape, I'm thinking
It could be a machete or something like that.
- All right, bladesmiths, your time's run out.
Have you made a decision?
- I'm thinking five.
- I'm good with it. Do five.
- All right. Rock on, chief.
- All right, gentlemen,
You guys are gonna be building this.
♪ ♪
- Yeah!
- This is the world war ii air force survival axe.
- The united states army air force survival axe
Was a staple in u.S. Bomber planes during world war ii.
This standard issue tool featured an axe head
And a sharp pike that could be used to stab
And slice through aircraft aluminum skin after a crash
While its rubber handle provided protection
From electrical shock.
Although this axe isn't used much today,
Its legacy lives on
In the 2014 video game "the forest."
- The overall length of your axe needs to be
Between 13 and 15 inches.
The axe head needs to have a height
Of between 4 and 6 inches and have a single edge.
- I have no idea about the survival axe.
The way the axe comes,
It doesn't come like a normal axe.
It's flat back, and it curls in this way.
And then the cutout's there and then the spike.
It's gonna be a challenge.
- Now you guys know what blade you're gonna be building.
Let's talk about techniques.
Now, guys, in front of you, there are six custom
"forged in fire" challenge coins.
On the reverse side of those coins,
There is a technique that you must use to build your blades.
I'm gonna call you each up randomly.
Choose your coin, and that's what you're stuck with.
- Joe, you're up first. - Oh.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- What'd you get, joe?
You've got to do a twisted damascus pattern on your axe.
- Okay.
This is an incredibly difficult challenge just as it is.
And then I have to do it out of twisted damascus.
I'll figure it out.
- Dana, you ready? - Sure. What the hell?
- Let's go.
♪ ♪
What are we seeing? - Oh.
- Raindrop damascus.
- Son of a bitch.
I've played with raindrop damascus,
But not to make it into a full knife or anything.
It's gonna be a challenge.
- All right, bladesmiths,
You guys know you're building an axe
And you know what patterns you need to use to build them.
We've got five hours for this competition
Where you need to build that axe from start to finish.
Once the time runs out, you're gonna hand it over
To our judges who will check
For strength and durability in a helmet chop,
And then gonna check for edge retention in a tube slice.
All right, gentlemen. Good luck.
Your time starts now.
[rock music]
These guys did not choose an easy blade.
They got their work cut out for 'em.
- Yeah, it's an odd shape.
I mean, there are several ways you can attack it.
- I can make it work. I can do it.
- Trying to forge that shape
From the metal these guys are starting out with
Is a really tough road to go down.
It's gonna be that first decision they make.
Are they gonna weld up all that steel into one billet
Or are they going to decide not to use all their steel?
- I'm gonna sand down all the surfaces.
I'm gonna make sure I stack my alternating layers,
Weld them up, and then get them in the forge.
- Both the smiths are at the grinders,
Cleaning up their stack.
They've got 1095 and 15n20 steel.
- I can't use all 34 pieces of steel they gave me
Because if I stacked all those in one billet,
I'd end up with a four-foot long piece of stock
That I wouldn't be able to twist.
Welding.
So what I decided I'm going to do is make two billets.
I get the first billet in the forge,
I figure I can get that heating up,
And then I started cleaning my second billet.
- If you're gonna make two stacks,
You may as well have one be heating.
- Twisted damascus over a raindrop damascus.
- Yeah. - Which one's more difficult?
- They both have their unique challenges.
Raindrop, you have to take that extra step
To let the steel cool, run over to the drill press
And drill a bunch of divots in it.
And then the twist, in order to have a piece of steel
That's small enough that you can twist by hand,
Now it's marginal to see
If you can widen it out to this head.
♪ ♪
- The amount of steel they gave us was a lot of steel,
So I decided to split it.
- Dana is not using very much of this steel.
- Oh, that's--
- That's a huge risk.
I would love to see dana stack all that material
So he has a high count when he does his raindrops.
Otherwise, raindrops, they barely look like puddles.
♪ ♪
- When it gets to about the color of inside
The forge itself, that's when I set my welds.
♪ ♪
The welds are the most important to--
If you're making any form of damascus,
The integrity of the steel.
Yeah. One more.
I'm really happy how it's moving.
Looks like the welds are holding.
As my steel's heating in the forge,
I decide to clean up the other steel
And forge weld a stack of steel
In case I need it just in the off chance
That billet blows up or something,
I have a standby and I can go right to it.
♪ ♪
I have ptsd.
And I found just smithing helped me a lot.
At my forge,
It's called heroic wolves forge, we teach classes,
Blacksmithing and bladesmithing,
To veterans with ptsd.
You can see that spark in their eye
And you can actually see their drive.
You know, it's just great.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, you have four hours remaining!
- The last time I was here on "forged in fire,"
We had to do a san mai chopper.
I hadn't had a whole lot of experience
With forge welding at that point.
I ended up with a delam,
And then since that experience,
I've worked a lot on my forge welding techniques.
So I'm hoping my experience is gonna help me
To perform much better.
It's coming along really nice.
It looks like it's a good weld.
So now I've got to twist it.
♪ ♪
- Joe's twisting his billet right now
But using the press as the vice.
- Awesome.
- I'm gonna repeat this process on my second billet,
Then I'll have two of them, get those two welded together.
- He hasn't shaped anything yet,
But joe is just plowing ahead.
♪ ♪
- What the [bleep]?
Right now, I can't get my head around
How I'm gonna make this damn shape.
I want to do the spike first.
I figure out, "hey, I know what a spike is."
- Dana used about half the steel we gave him,
And he's already shaping that.
He's not going to get a layer count
That's gonna actually give him the pattern.
♪ ♪
- As I start thinking about drilling my patterns,
I realize the steel is too thin
To be able to get my raindrop pattern in.
I can't [bleep] do it.
And the actual shape was not there.
This is a worse turd than the first one I did on the show.
- Oh, dana.
What is going on over there, my brother?
- That piece of steel is 8 inch, tops.
- Yeah, there's no raindrops coming out of that.
- What the hell?
- He's pacing around quite a bit,
Trying to figure out in his head how he's gonna move
That metal into the shape he needs it to be.
- I mean, honestly, if I were dana right now,
I might start again.
- Yeah, it would be a good idea.
Well, there he goes.
- So I toss that to the side, then I start the other part
Of my billet that I've already forged.
- Oh, guys, dana just scrapped what he's been working on
For the past 2 1/2 hours.
- So my game plan right now is to get the new piece,
Start on the spike again,
Kind of like elongate the center a little differently
And leave it thicker.
I got this. I got this.
- What are you doing, joe?
Joe's at the chop saw, cut off a substantial chunk
Of the welded portion of his billet.
♪ ♪
- After I cut the excess off, I need to draw some width
To it to get the axe shape to it.
And then I need to pull out my spike on the other side.
- There we go, look,
We got some shape happening over here on joe.
- This world war ii air force axe
Is really designed to get out of the plane.
The whole thing is designed to break through a fuselage.
♪ ♪
- Once I drifted in the hole,
I realized that that cutting edge,
Widthwise, is entirely too thin.
And that's what they're gonna be hitting that thing into.
- The front of that d-shape
Cools so much quicker than everything else.
I'm worried that it's really thin right there.
I think he has another scrap of the twist that he made.
I would cut that portion
And reweld a new piece for the edge.
- I think he might be doing that.
- Yep. Looks like he is.
- I had plenty of damascus already done up.
So what I'm gonna do is take this piece,
Make it into a c shape.
Make sure I got long enough for each side, match it up
To the cutting edge of the axe and then I'll forge weld it.
I'm feeling pressured.
But I know I'm gonna get it done.
- All right, guys, you have two hours left on the clock!
Let's go!
- There's a lot of ways to get through this thing.
I just don't have a lot of time.
Once I get a basic shape,
I'm gonna head on over to the drill press
And start drilling in my patterns.
- Dana is gonna get the raindrop
Damascus pattern going.
- Go. - Good.
- Can't go too deep with my drill, deep enough
Where you can actually have the pattern come out
When you forge it.
And then flip it over, do the other side.
As you forge those areas, the metal pushes it down
And it actually puts little dimples, we'll say, almost.
That's where you get your raindrops damascus.
Even though the time is going left and right,
I'm like, I have an opportunity
To possibly turn in something,
I'm going to do my damnedest. Come on, dude. Make it.
- Joe managed to get that forge weld good
All the way across that.
- So for the most part,
Time is dictating what I'm gonna do.
So what I decided I'm gonna do is weld my handle on.
- He's gonna weld that tang on.
The problem is that connection point
Is where all the stress goes.
- Every bit of it. - Yeah.
- I hope it's gonna work.
♪ ♪
- What's going on with dana's billet,
The whole thing's not but 2 inches wide at the widest.
And he doesn't have a lot of material
To be able to turn it into that big axe head.
- I'm really concerned about being able to make this blade
The shape that's required for parameters
'cause I don't have much steel there.
Think, think, think, think.
So I figured all I need is a raindrop pattern on the edge.
♪ ♪
I'll get some mild steel,
I'll cut off the raindrop I already have going on,
And I'll forge weld, hand weld the bit on some mild steel.
It's not the best thing. It's not my first choice.
But it's my hail mary. This is gonna be it.
Right now, I'm in fight or flight.
I'm really concerned that I'm not gonna turn anything in.
- That is true survival mode right there.
♪ ♪
- [bleep] sucks, man.
- It's a rough challenge.
I mean, they're struggling, but they're not giving up.
They're gonna continue working till the time runs out.
- So going into this quench,
You know, there are several concerns.
I've got so many welds on this thing.
Cutting edge could split where I welded the layers
On the cutting edge. There's a lot of things
That could go wrong at this point in time.
- Joe's quenching, guys.
- My welds appeared to hold.
I think it came out about as good as can be expected.
♪ ♪
Frickin' edge is hard.
- Bladesmiths, you have 20 minutes left before testing.
♪ ♪
- Dana's quenched. Not cut it to shape yet,
But he does have a quenched blade.
♪ ♪
- Skates.
The quickest way to actually put a handle on this thing
Is to weld a piece of rebar on the blade.
You guys are gonna hate me for this [bleep] thing.
I'm not just gonna give them a rebar handle.
I mean, it's--it's-- doesn't index well.
So I wrap some 550 cord.
- Paracord wrap. Yes.
- I wrap it as best as I can.
And I say, I gotta put something else.
So I reached out and I grabbed blue painter's tape.
- There you go. - Oh, nice.
- There you go. That's his trademark.
- The last time I was here,
I didn't have a proper handle on my blade.
I put some blue painter's tape on it real quick,
Wrapped it with leather.
It's performed pretty well, but it was no real handle.
You know, I didn't plan on doing this, I promise.
Kind of pay a homage to blue painter's tape.
And the air force and the navy are blue too.
I would. I would.
- One minute before testing, guys.
- I have to turn in a finished product.
It's tough, but there's no quitting now.
I mean, I came here to do a job,
And that's what I'm gonna do.
So I just go ahead and go with the cord wrap.
I'm happy with the fact that I got something done.
It ain't pretty by no means.
But I do believe it's a solid piece.
- Five, four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, turn off your tools, put down your weapons.
This round is over.
[applause] - yeah!
- Great fight, gentlemen. Great fight.
♪ ♪
- It was tough. I'm not happy with what I have.
I know I'm capable of much more.
But I was able to get it done and hit the parameters.
♪ ♪
- All right, gentlemen, you know what time it is.
It's time for the strength test.
I'm gonna take your axes,
And I'm gonna be smashing into these helmets
To see the overall construction and feel of your blade.
Remember, this test is not about what those axes do
To that helmet but what that helmet
Can do to your axes. All right, joe.
Today, you are up first. Are you ready?
- I'm ready, dave.
- All right.
♪ ♪
- My biggest concern is where I welded my handle on.
I mean, that junction is at a critical location.
When you have that many welds in something like this,
There's a lot of opportunity for failure.
♪ ♪
[rock music]
♪ ♪
- Well, joe. It held up.
You still got a sharp edge on this thing.
It's a very obtuse edge, but so is the original.
You didn't lose any of those welds.
Nothing came loose. Handle construction,
It's actually comfortable to hold on to.
All in all, it held up beautifully in this test.
So good job, jeff.
- Thanks, dave.
- All right, dana, your turn. You ready?
- No.
♪ ♪
I don't know what's gonna happen with my axe.
So many things can go wrong for my construction.
I'm just hoping that it doesn't
Break apart when he strikes.
♪ ♪
- Guys.
You know, as much as I'd love to test,
It's just not the axe we asked for.
- We wanna be fair. It's not what we asked for.
- Pretty far off. - Yeah.
And I mean, I'm not even sure of the construction
And the connection here.
I need to peel this back. It's not what we asked for.
♪ ♪
Dana, I gotta tell you, you fought really, really hard.
But in the end, this just isn't the axe or the shape
We're looking to test.
And it wouldn't be fair to test this against your opponent
Who actually turned in the axe
That was in the style that we were looking for.
But, man, I gotta tell you, there's no quit in you.
And I really do appreciate that, dana.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- Well, dana, I got to start off
By saying you guys had to have chosen the hardest blade
To build in this competition. Come hell or high water,
You decided you were gonna give us a blade.
So we want to commend you for that.
But unfortunately, we can't test your blade
Equally against joe's.
And for that reason, your time in this competition has ended,
I'm gonna have to ask you to please step off
The forge floor.
- I'm not happy with my product at all.
Thank you guys for the opportunity.
You guys are amazing.
It's definitely not a good reflection of my skills.
But I'm proud that I actually turned something in.
I have that forge where I teach veterans with ptsd.
And I'm just gonna keep on helping others learn the craft.
All I can say to joe is,
"man, I hope you win it for the air force.
I love you, brother."
- Well, joe, you know what that means, man.
You've got yourself a seat in the final round
Of the armed forces redeployment tournament.
And you just got yourself a check for $2,000.
Congratulations.
- I'm excited to move on to the next phase.
It gives me an opportunity to hopefully be able to prove
What I know I'm capable of doing.
- How do you feel?
- I wish we could have tested them both.
- We always wish for it.
- This challenge was very difficult.
I can only imagine what they're gonna have
In the next round.
♪ ♪