[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. Servicemembers
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 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 that ever-coveted titled of "forged in fire" champion.
Tonight the dueling continues.
Up first, the "forged in fire" champions duel,
Where the champion of the barbarian sword challenge
Goes up against the winner
Of the american eagle head sabre challenge.
- Last time was difficult.
But going up against another champion
Is a whole nother level of difficult.
- I'm here to see if we can double down.
I was asked to come back,
And I'd never say no to another challenge.
- And later, the sarges duel, where a sergeant
From the army will go up against an active duty staff
Sergeant from the air force.
- When I came back from iraq, I had pretty bad ptsd,
So I needed to something to get my mind off of things.
From the moment that I started bladesmithing,
It's kind of like therapy.
I loved it, and it's been now seven years.
- I'm currently active duty united states air force,
And in my career field,
Time management's very important,
So I know I'm going to make a plan
And then execute that plan.
- The duels start now.
♪ ♪
- My name's ethan lee. I'm 29 years old.
I think it's pretty cool to represent the navy
In a competition like this,
Because I get to go up against an army dude.
And this is what I love doing the most.
- What's up, "forged in fire"?
The muffin man is back.
My name's mike rizzo. I'm 32 years old,
And I'm from danbury, connecticut.
Being ex-military, I know going into this
That if my plan isn't working,
I need to adjust fire and continue on.
- Ethan, mike, welcome back to the forge, guys.
It's great to have you.
You're about to take part in five intense hours
Of forging competition, where we're gonna check
Every aspect of your knife-making skill.
You guys are in the armed forces redeployment tournament.
This is the "forged in fire" champions duel.
Now, here's how this competition's gonna go, guys.
We've got five straight hours of forging competition,
Where you guys are gonna build a blade from start to finish.
When that time runs out, you're gonna turn your blades
Over to our judges,
Who will then critique them, test them, and decide who wins.
The judges for today's competition
Are two-time "forged in fire" champion
Ben abbott, historic weapons recreation specialist
Dave baker, and edged weapons specialist doug marcaida.
Now, these guys behind me are the ones who will decide
Which one of you will walk out of here
Today the winner of your duel carrying a check for $2,000.
Winning today also means you get a spot
In the final battle of our
Armed forces redeployment tournament
Getting a chance at becoming a two-time
"forged in fire" champion and another check for $10,000.
All right, guys, let's get into the competition.
So next to me we have a weapons crate
That has three handles sticking out of it.
There's only three, because you guys are third duel.
What we want you guys to do is decide
Which one of these blades
You want to build based solely on the handle you see.
So, guys, take a few minutes and make a choice.
- I'm a huge fan of number four.
- Four is the one I was eyeing as well.
- Number four looks like a full tang construction,
So I'm thinking easy handle.
Could be a more manageable build.
- Army and navy don't always get along,
But I gotta agree with you on that one.
- So from what I'm hearing is, you guys are both settling
On number four. Is that correct?
- Yes.
- All right, guys, you're gonna be building this,
The woodman's pal.
♪ ♪
- Instant regret. [laughter]
- First created in 1941, the woodman's pal
Is an essential survival axe used by the u.S. Military
From world war ii to the vietnam war.
This multipurpose tool was designed for the pacific
Theatre and features a strong, axe-like blade
Designed to hack through dense brush, chop down wood,
And even slash through enemy combatants.
While no longer standard issue among the troops,
The woodman's pal is still in production
For civilians today.
- Bladesmiths, when you're building your woodman's pals,
They need to fall within these parameters.
You need to have a spatulated blade
That measures between 10 and 11 inches.
You need to include a rear sickle hook
That has a concave, sharpened edge.
You need to have finger grooves
And a blunt safety toe at the tip.
- Why did there have to be a hook on this thing?
Having to get the tip of it as wide as it is
And also sharpen that little hook inside
In five hours, it's a lot.
There's a lot to do.
♪ ♪
- You guys know what you're building,
But let's talk about the challenge.
What you see in front of you are four
"forged in fire" challenge coins.
On the reverse side of those coins,
There is a challenge you're gonna need to use
To make your woodman's pal.
So, ethan, come on up and grab a coin.
♪ ♪
All right, ethan, you got a ladder on your coin,
Which means you've got to build your woodman's pal
With ladder pattern damascus.
- Laddered pattern damascus woodman's pal,
That's a lot.
- All right, mike, come on up.
♪ ♪
All right, mike, you got a bridge on your coin.
That means you need to make your woodman's pal
With a suspension bridge cable.
Go ahead and head back to your anvil.
- This is just the worst-case scenario.
I know the method, but I've never done it before.
- All right, guys, you have your challenges.
You have the blade you need to build.
You're gonna have five hours to complete this challenge.
And when you're done, you're gonna hand them
Over to our judges,
Who will test for strength and durability
In a rifle barrel chop.
Then we're gonna check your edge retention
In a foam tube slice.
All right, bladesmiths, good luck.
Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
- Oh, my god. This is friggin'...
- This is gonna be exciting. These guys are champions.
- Yeah.
- So we could have one of these guys
Going up to be a two-time champion.
- First thing I'm doing is, I'm going over the grinder,
Cleaning up my steel,
And then I stack both my billets up
Alternating the layers.
I'm going with two stacks,
Because I think that'll reduce the downtime of waiting
For my billet to heat up.
- Last time I was here, I had one parameter.
And this time I have at least four or five.
It's much more technical. I've never done cable before,
But I know the first thing I have to do is get it clean
And weld up the ends.
Being ex-military,
I know that proper planning is just insanely important.
I mean, it's really your mission before your mission.
- I'm scared of the cable,
Because it takes a lot of cleaning.
But if the first forge weld takes on both sides,
He's gonna be way out ahead.
- I finally get my steel in the forge.
It's a big piece of cable, so I know I need to leave it
In the forge for at least 15 minutes.
- I walk over to my forge,
And I look to see if the billet is up to temperature.
And it's about heated as necessary,
So I think it's just time to go ahead and make an initial weld.
I just give one quick press,
And I put it back in the forge,
Because if you try to do too much too soon,
You can have delaminations,
And the last thing I want is a weld failure.
- Ethan's being really careful and really patient.
Not a bad idea.
- Looks like everything goes well,
And that I can move on to draw both these billets out.
- My billet's up to heat, and I know before I do
Any sort of squishing here I gotta tighten up the cable,
So I just throw it in the press, punch it down,
And then I have free rein to do as I please with it.
- All right. - All right.
- Perfect. Perfect.
- That's a picture-perfect-- - well done.
- Smart move.
- Many smiths will go to the floor vise and use that
Mainly because they just haven't figured out
You can use the press as a vise itself.
- This is really pivotal moments
When steel is actually bonding together.
If the braided steel inside doesn't bond together,
Then my next few hours are pointless.
It seems to be solid, but I still have no idea
What's going on in this cable.
I won't know if this is good or not
Until I start cleaning it up on the grinder.
- Looks like yours is coming pretty good.
- I have no idea what I'm doing right now.
I'm totally winging it.
- Being out there with another veteran is kind of comforting
To know that I'm not the only one
Having to deal with this.
Thought this would be a little easier at first
Than what you got, but I'm starting to think
The other way now.
- You got it, man. Stay the course.
- Yep. - How you guys feeling?
- Best day of my life.
[laughter]
♪ ♪
- Right now, I'm cleaning my billets,
Because I don't want any scale in between the billets.
Then I'll restack them.
Then I'll put them back in the forge
And make a weld again
And hopefully not get any delaminations.
- So he's just doing two layers, huh?
- Looks like it. - That's a shame.
- The more layers you get, the tighter those
[inaudible], it's better.
- While I'm cleaning this, it just hits me...
Let's see.
I might ought to cut this in half
Just to get a taller stack.
That way, I will get more layers.
- I think you got your dream, ben.
Ethan chopped that billet in two, stacked it again.
56 layers now.
- Yep. Nice.
- It's taking me some time, but I'm feeling pretty good.
♪ ♪
- I've got this thing to the parameters,
And now I'm trying to work in this spike on the top.
Getting this thing to shape is one of the most
Challenging things I've done in bladesmithing.
- The woodman's pal, when you first see it,
There's a lot going on.
You got this extremely spatulated blade, this hook,
And a handle with a lot of contours to it.
- It's really interesting to get it to shape,
Because there is a lot of maneuvering
That I've never done before, but at this point,
I'm feeling pretty good about the blade shape,
And I immediately go for the grinder.
- I got the layers welded together,
So I go ahead and grind my grooves in the billet
To establish my ladder pattern.
- What is ethan doing right now?
- Cutting in his ladder pattern.
- Wow. Way too early.
- Is it too early for that? - Yeah.
So, what's gonna happen is, it's gonna have a ladder,
But it's just gonna be really spread apart.
- My grooves are to the point where I'm okay with it.
I stick it back in the forge, and I get ready
To forge this thing out to a rough shape.
- Bladesmiths, you have three hours left on the clock.
♪ ♪
- So I'm on the grinder,
And I'm trying to get all the forge scale off.
Man, oh, man.
This cable, it's just got lines scattered everywhere.
I never know what could potentially be a seam,
A crack, a delam,
Which could mean I have to start over.
[bleep].
- I really think mike should do less grinding
And more heat-treating at this point.
- I agree.
- I feel myself going down the rabbit hole on the grinder
Chasing lines that are probably solid.
I have to adjust course here.
I'm gonna start setting up to thermal cycle and quench.
♪ ♪
- Let's see.
Last time around, the handle round gave me an extra hour
To refine the handle.
This time, I've got five hours to complete everything.
I go over to the bandsaw,
And I do a little work on my scales,
Get the finger grooves roughed out
A little bit, anything I can while I have the time.
- Ethan's really far along on the handle material,
Which is something he's got over mike right now.
Mike does have more of the blade shape,
Where ethan's still gotta fill it.
He's got a lot of work to do there.
But he's way ahead in handle time.
- All right, guys, you got two hours left.
Keep it going.
♪ ♪
Mike's quenched.
- I have absolutely no idea how my quench went.
I have no idea if it's hard.
There isn't enough time to do my due diligence here,
And there are more important matters at hand.
- You see, this is where mike had a tunnel vision
Working on that blade, right, and see the big picture.
Time management was lost.
- I still have to get my final grind in, get this handle fit
And glued up and shaped, and get this blade etched.
♪ ♪
- My plan is to forge
A really large shape that I can grind away.
- It's gotta be a beast to swing.
- Well, this is not designed to be a weapon.
It's designed to create momentum to cut brush
But not be so heavy that it wears you out.
- I'm happy with my shape, and I'm ready to quench.
- Ethan quenched. - Nice.
- Oh, yeah.
- It has a slight crook in it,
But it's something I can fix with the grinder.
I know I'm not gonna be able to achieve the weight I want,
But this is as good
As I'm gonna be able to do for right now.
I have to put it in the temper.
And my plan now is to do
A little bit more work on my scales.
- The clock is still ticking, and I have to get my handle
All glued up real fast. Holy [bleep].
I realize that I have this gaping hole
Right at the front of my blade.
This is worst-case scenario at this point.
The clock is ticking away, and I'm worried
That this could be something that sends me home.
Dude.
If I don't fix it, I might see my blade
Break apart in the strength test.
- Maybe he quenched a little on the hot side,
And some of those welds might have gone and opened up.
- I just don't have time to start over.
I make the decision to weld it shut
So that it's a structurally sound piece of steel.
Now that I have the tip welded up,
I make the decision to torch temper.
It's really my only option at this point,
With the handle assembly on.
I don't want a brittle blade to be tested.
It could shatter into pieces.
- Bladesmiths, you are down to one hour remaining
Before the testing.
♪ ♪
- It's incredibly important to get this handle
The right way.
That ain't happening.
Because the last time I was here, my handle was too large.
- Well, ethan, the handle is big.
There's a lot of handle left over on this knife.
- And I don't want to make that same mistake again.
I'm liking the handle.
It's starting to be more comfortable,
And that's my main goal.
♪ ♪
- My blade looks okay,
But I want to make sure that I'm within parameters.
From the end of the handle, this blade needs to be
Between 10 and 11 inches overall.
And it's well over 11 inches.
Son of a bitch.
I would love to be able to shorten the end of this blade
At the tip, however, if I take too much of the tip off,
Then I'm under parameters on the width.
So I need to modify my handle now to make parameters.
- If mike decided to do some of the sort of hail mary maneuvers
We've seen, you'd take a little paracord,
You'd wrap it around and around.
Bam, your handle just became an inch longer.
- So, I braid up a paracord bolster.
- Oh, my god, he did it.
- And it gets me within parameters,
And it's back to the grinder.
- Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
Bladesmiths, turn off your tools,
Put down your blades. This round and duel is over.
- Time's up, and I'm happy
That I put together a piece in five hours.
But it's definitely the ugliest thing I've ever made.
- Ethan, mike, welcome to the strength test.
This is the rifle barrel chop.
We're gonna be taking your woodsman's pals
And smashing them against this rifle barrel.
We don't care really what happens to the rifle,
But we do care what happens to your knives.
Ethan, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Sure.
- [laughs]
♪ ♪
Going into this test, I'm pretty nervous.
It's steel on steel, and that's about as brutal as it gets
When it comes to testing.
My hands are sweating.
I'm starting to shake a little bit.
I just hope that it'll hold together.
♪ ♪
- All right, ethan. Your edge held up great.
It's a little dull where it hit the barrel,
But there's no chipping, there's no major rolling.
Overall, I think you did a great job.
- Thank you.
- All right, mike, you're up next.
You ready for this? - Sure. Let's do it.
- Your mouth says yes, but your head says no.
♪ ♪
- My confidence level's a solid four right now.
I'm concerned with the spike being brittle
And just flying off.
♪ ♪
Whew.
♪ ♪
- All right, mike. First things first,
Really, your edge took some serious damage here.
There's a lot of compaction.
It just kind of smushed back; it's peened over.
There's a little delamination running here,
And I know you had some issues up here at the tip
With a pretty major delamination.
But the welds look good, and it stayed together.
Nice job. - Thanks.
♪ ♪
- All right, "forged in fire" champions.
This is the sharpness test, the foam tube slice.
To find out how sharp your edges are,
I'm gonna try to cut through all these foam tubes.
Ethan, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Let's do it. - All right. Let's do it.
♪ ♪
All right, ethan, let's talk about your woodsman's pal
Right here.
There is some weight and heft to this,
But it would definitely lead itself to be a good chopper.
Your edge did cut on the first three tubes.
But the fourth, because of some dulling,
It didn't cut all the way through.
But overall, your weapon, sir, it will cut.
- Thank you.
- Your turn, mike. You ready?
- Have at it. - All right.
♪ ♪
All right, mike, let's talk about your woodsman's pal
Over here.
Right in this section right here,
Where we tested it earlier in the strength test,
It's completely dull.
You have some sharp edges in this area,
And that's probably the area that also helped cut
On the first two tubes.
But that's as far as it went. But overall, sir, it will cut.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, ethan, mike,
The last time you guys came into this forge,
You both walked out of here champions,
But this is the redeployment tournament,
And only one of you guys is moving forward
Into the final round.
The bladesmith who's gonna be moving forward
In this competition is...
♪ ♪
Ethan. Congratulations, man.
You're moving on to the final battle.
Mike, you fought hard, but unfortunately
You're not gonna be moving forward in this competition,
And ben's gonna tell you why.
- Well, mike, you did a great job consolidating that cable,
But your blade took a lot of damage in the strength test,
And it really affected it's performance
On the sharpness test,
And that's why we're letting you go.
- I understand.
- Well, mike, just like last time,
It was a pleasure watching you work in the forge.
But unfortunately your time in the competition has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you to please step off
The forge floor.
- Good job, man. - Good fight.
- I may not be moving on,
But I worked to the best of my ability.
And I think all of us in this redeployment tournament
Are really representing
What servicemen and women are capable of.
- Well, ethan, that means you are the winner of the duel,
And you are moving forward into the final round
Of the armed forces redeployment tournament, man.
You just got yourself a check for $2,000.
Congratulations.
- Feels really good to know that I'm moving on
To the tournament, but it's a small win.
- Feeling good? - Yes, sir.
Can't wait to see what's next.
♪ ♪
- My name is fermin lopez. I am 52 years old.
I work for the va hospital,
And I'm a part-time bladesmith from north carolina.
When I first joined the military,
I got into the aviation brigade.
Our unit got activated; we ended up
Heading over to iraq,
And pretty much everything just flew from there.
Last time I as here in the battle of the branches,
I was very nervous.
This time I feel a lot more confident
That I can actually go further.
- You look excited to be here, fermin.
- Man, you have no idea. Ooh.
♪ ♪
- Name is joseph collett.
I'm an e-5 in the united states air force.
And hope I kick some army ass.
I am currently active duty sere specialist.
Sere is survival, evasion, resistance, escape.
I teach them how to survive the worst days of their life.
The last time I was on, my blade suffered a failure,
A crack down the handle that eliminated me
From the challenge.
I'm here today to prove that I can
And will win "forged in fire,"
Even if it's the last thing I have to do.
♪ ♪
- Well, bladesmiths, welcome back to the forge.
This is the armed forces redeployment tournament.
Because the two of you guys share rank,
You're gonna be taking part in the sergeants duel.
Now, the winner of this duel will go forward
In the final battle
Of the armed forces redeployment tournament
Giving you a chance at a check for $10,000
And the title of "forged in fire" champion.
Now, you guys are probably wondering
What kind of blade you're gonna be building.
As you see next to me, there are only two blades here.
That's because you guys are the final duel in this tournament.
Gentlemen, what we want you to do
Is select which blades you're gonna build by talking together
And deciding which one of these handles
Seems most suitable for a knife build.
Start chatting, guys.
- All right, man, it's simple.
We do one, it's a sword-ish thing,
And you're gonna have to cast the guard.
- Yeah.
- We do three-- what is that, a bayonet?
- Yeah, it looks like a bayonet.
- I look at one, and one's--nah,
I'm not making a sword today.
And three looks like a bayonet. I can do a bayonet.
- I go three. - Three, yeah.
- Bring it in. - Got it.
- Made a decision? - Number three.
- All right, guys, you decided to go with number three.
You will be building...
♪ ♪
- Yes. - The m1915 bolo bayonet.
- The m1915 bolo bayonet was a hybrid version
Of the bolo knife and a traditional bayonet
Originally designed at the turn of the 20th century.
This versatile battle weapon featured the lightweight
Curved blade of the bolo,
Ideal for slashing through dense jungles.
The muzzle hole guard attaches the blade
To the end of the rifle,
Where it's used to inflict deadly stabs
Against rival troops.
Only 6,000 bolo bayonets were issued
Before they were discontinued by world war ii
Making it extremely rare and valuable to collectors.
- Now, guys, when you're building your bayonet,
You need to make sure the blade length
Is between 14 and 16 inches,
And it needs to swell to at least an inch larger
Than it is at the base.
You guys have to have a muzzle ring guard
And a bird's head pommel on your blades.
- I have to make this.
Not something that looks like, I gotta make this.
So if I don't go regularly check this thing,
I'm gonna blow parameters and never have a chance.
♪ ♪
- So, guys, in this competition,
We started off with eight custom
"forged in fire" challenge coins,
But you guys are the last duel, so there's only two left.
When I call your name, come up, select a coin,
And that is the technique or challenge
You have for this duel. Fermin, you ready?
- No, but yeah.
- Too bad. Come collect your coin.
- Please, not a ball bearing. Please, not ball bearing.
♪ ♪
- All right, fermin, you chose the chainsaw coin,
So that means you've got to make your blade
Out of chainsaw canister damascus.
- Yes. I've never backed down from a canister.
I enjoy it. I like it.
- Joe, you're up. You ready?
- I mean, it's the last one, so...
Please, please don't be high-count damascus.
- What have we got there?
So you've got the coin that says 150.
That means you have to make your blade
With at least 150 layers of damascus.
♪ ♪
- My heart sunk.
To get to 150 layers as well as finish a blade
Within the five-hour parameter, I got my work cut out for me.
- Now, guys, you have your challenges and you know
What blade we want you to build.
So when the time runs out,
You guys need to have blades that are ready for testing.
We're gonna check for strength and durability
In a jerrycan stab and chop.
Then we're gonna check your edge retention
In a military cot slice.
We've put five hours on the clock.
So good luck. The duel starts now.
♪ ♪
- Hey, where's the canister? Canister, canisters.
- All right. - This will be a good one.
Two different techniques. The same blade.
- We're trying to honor the armed services
With this competition.
Joe being active right now and coming on,
I really appreciate that. That's an honor.
- I bet you he appreciates his command letting him.
- A lot of people don't like canister,
Because they have a hard time getting the canister off.
I'm not planning on removing the canister.
I'm actually planning on forging it out.
Once it gets to length, then I'll be able
To grind it off, 'cause it's thin enough.
- Fermin made a good choice by not putting
The white out in. If he had put the white out
In, he would have been setting himself up
For a 10 to 15-minute can-peeling episode.
- Every minute counts in this competition,
So while I'm waiting for this canister
To get up in temperature, I say to myself,
"let's get started on the guard.
Let's get started on the pommel."
♪ ♪
- 150 layers of damascus on joe's.
He started off with 26 layers of 1095, 15n20.
- Once I got all the material prepped,
I dump it on the table,
And I quickly realize this is too tall.
So if I go ahead and put it in the forge now,
Then I can't even use the tools I need to make this happen.
♪ ♪
So I'm just gonna gamble here and go with two billets
And hope that I can weld both of them out.
Here's my quick math in my head.
I got two billets. Each have 13 layers.
My plan is to draw those out and then cut them into threes,
So that's gonna be 39 layers in each billet.
Once I forge weld those together,
I'll have 80 layers, give or take.
Now, just in case I didn't do the math right in my head,
I cut it in thirds,
And then that puts me up past the 150 mark.
♪ ♪
If one billet fails,
Then I'm kind of sol, gotta start back,
And that's time I just don't have.
♪ ♪
- Well, a good thing about the five-hour competition is,
They can be working on things like the handle
When they're waiting for their steel to heat up.
- I have never made an eagle head pommel.
My game plan on this is to go ahead
And look at the actual 1915 bolo
And try to copy it as much as I can.
I get a marker, and I start painting my shape,
And I take it over to the portaband,
And I start cutting to shape.
- All right, guys, you have four hours left in your duel.
Four hours.
- Hot metal. I probably ought to set these welds.
♪ ♪
And I'm like, "yeah, this is gonna work."
I get my welds set and pressed,
And then I move over to big blu.
The plan is to draw those out and then cut them into threes,
So that's gonna be 39 layers in each billet.
♪ ♪
Every time I cut and stack it's just as important
As the first, initial weld,
And if it doesn't stick on one of these times, I'm done.
It's a good weld, but time management's very important.
I need to move on.
- When the canister looks like it's almost white,
That's when it's forging temperature.
- Oh, screaming hot. - Yeah.
- Look how easily that folded.
- Yeah. - It's squished it like butter.
- Yeah. - And what's nice about that
Is, he can make several passes, 'cause of the heat.
- Oh, see, this is beautiful.
This is exactly what you want to see.
- I figure one more pass like this,
Fermin can go to big blu and draw out a bolo.
- I have to be very careful,
'cause I don't want to press it too hard.
I just want to go ahead and compact it together.
But it's moving the way I want it.
It's nice and hot. It's just moving great.
Man, I gotta get me one of those.
♪ ♪
- If I'm gonna make these things weld without
Wasting time, I'm gonna throw a flux on there.
I want that flux to cook and eat away any mill scale
That I have on my material.
- Tacking flux between two pieces,
And then putting welds on, I wouldn't be surprised
If there were occlusions in that weld.
- Bring it over to the press
And give it a little bit of loving.
- All right, joe's consolidating those welds
In the over 200 layers of steel.
- Well, you don't want too much on that first pass.
Just want to get her moving a little bit.
- I finally have 234 layers in this billet.
I'm good to go.
And I look up at the clock.
My heart sinks.
I still don't have anything that resembles a blade.
Time is ticking down. This is a lot to do.
But I still have a couple tricks up my sleeve.
- Going to big blu.
Now that the billet is the size that I want,
I go over to big blu,
Because the belly has to be at least 2 inches.
But I'm keeping a close eye on it.
I don't want it to banana on me or open up or split up.
I'm just taking my time. Patience is a virtue.
♪ ♪
Now that I have the belly to the parameters that I need,
It's time to get it ready for the quenching.
♪ ♪
- So I'm in the middle of this build,
And I have to make an m1915 bayonet/machete.
And it's not just, "oh, it's gotta look like it."
It's gotta be pretty darn close,
Or else I'm gonna fall out of parameters
And just not make what they asked me to make.
I've got my billet into a blade shape,
And I'm trying to get to a quench.
The time is ticking down,
And I'm not going to have time to heat everything up.
So my plan right now is just to do the edge quench.
So my edge quenching, I ensure that the edge is hard
Without causing a warp
And without taking the time to heat everything up.
- There's another way to do it
That works pretty quick and fast.
- Throw it in the forge? - Yeah.
- Let the forge heat it up.
If that edge has got any kind of a bevel to it,
You can watch, that's gonna heat up first anyway.
- Yeah.
- Saying, "don't crack. Don't bend."
I pull it out. It's good enough.
And then it's on to the grinder to grind this thing to shape.
♪ ♪
- When you quench, it can create stress fractures,
It can create warps,
So I want to make sure that it's non-magnetic.
♪ ♪
I put the magnet to it. It's not sticking to it.
I go in for the quench.
- There we go. Fermin's in the oil.
- I pull it out, and I see no bends, nothing.
Whoopah!
At this point, I'm looking at my knife,
And I'm like, "let's start putting it together."
- Bladesmiths, you have 1 hour and 30 minutes remaining.
- I'm having too much fun.
♪ ♪
- So I'm on a time crunch.
Now it's time to put my handle on.
I've already prepped my two pieces of micarta,
Put a little bit of glue on,
And I have a handle that is on.
- Wow. Joe's handle is half-brass.
That's a lot of counterweight.
- Yeah. - It's got that--enough
Of a bird's head on there, though,
That it should have plenty of retention.
- Yeah. - The problem is, with a blade
That swells the way that does, it can want to roll on you.
- Oh, so if he's too cylindrical,
The whole thing could want to spin in his hand?
- Yeah, exactly.
- I'm just trying to hit the inside of the stupid burrs
So that there's no excuse why this can't be tested.
♪ ♪
- All right, let's get this party started.
When I was here in season six, the v-42 stiletto had,
Actually, a leather stack handle.
That's why I picked the leather stack.
It's quick, it's easy, and it works.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, you have 30 minutes.
♪ ♪
So joe's got a blade. He's got it quenched.
Now he's on the grinder. He doesn't quite have
The same shape as the bolo that we have up as the example.
He doesn't have that belly.
- No. But he has room to remove where the belly isn't.
- I've got my blade shape,
And I look in, and I see this little bubble.
I'm like, "oh, great, we got a blister."
Like, really? You have an air pocket, essentially.
I got a bad weld or a flux pocket.
It can grow and just delam everything.
- That looks like a delamination blister.
The only way you can deal with those is,
Either you grind them out or you pierce them.
- The last time, I developed a crack in my handle.
- For purposes of safety,
We cannot continue to test your weapon.
- I know going into the testing
That if I leave the blister on there and doug
Or anyone else can get their finger in there,
That's it for me. Safety call.
I can't let that happen again.
♪ ♪
But the fact is, I have no time to go back
And start another blade, so I just do a quick weld,
Try to get as much of it off as possible.
- The only thing we can say was different about what he did
Is that he put flux
In between before putting the two billets together.
- Yeah.
- That's the only thing we can suspect, you know,
Because we had said that. - I weld it up.
I got this soft spot that's now developed on my blade.
While it's still hot, I just shove that thing in the water.
It's better to be hard than soft,
So I can just move on, continue on grinding
And finishing my blade.
Coming down to the last seconds of the round,
I need to try to get as much of the blister off
As possible, 'cause I almost guarantee
They're gonna whack that blade right on that spot.
- Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
Bladesmiths, this round is over.
- Whoopah!
When I looked at my knife and I looked at joe's,
And I said, "oh, damn, these look good."
But wait a minute, I can go for another five hours.
I'm having fun here.
♪ ♪
- All right, gentlemen, it's test time.
Up first is the strength test.
I'll be taking your 1915 bolo bayonets
And stabbing them into these fuel cans
And then striking the fuel cans.
Fermin, you're up. Are you ready?
- Yes, I'm ready. - Okay. All right.
♪ ♪
- Going first is very stressful.
Anything can happen.
At this point, my knees are buckling on me,
I am shaking, I'm losing my breath.
I'm about to pass out.
♪ ♪
- All right, fermin. It's a comfortable handle.
I like your choice. - Thank you.
- As far as your blade goes, it's held up very well.
It's sharp. Got some weight in this thing.
- Yeah. - But that's fine.
I mean, this is a chopping machine.
This was meant to be chopping through a jungle.
- Mm-hmm. - All in all, nice job.
- Thank you, sir. Thank you.
- All right, joe, you ready? - Yeah, let's do it.
♪ ♪
Biggest concern with my blade is,
My blister sits right
At the sweet spot in the curve of the blade,
And if I was able to fix that thing right,
It will be strong.
If not, then it's just gonna break in half.
♪ ♪
- All right, joe. We realize that you had that delam,
That blister on the side.
I think you made a really good choice to fill that with weld.
And I hit the edge right above that thing,
So you didn't lose the temper on that edge.
- Nice.
- But you're kind of missing the waist on this blade,
So the profile becomes a much more elongated cutting edge
As opposed to the belly and then the waist.
As far as your handle goes, it's a little on the round
And smooth side. It has the ability to turn.
Could easily lose an inch of that handle.
Probably would have made it
A much more secure blade in my hand,
'cause it's got a lot of weight to it.
But the blade is in the same shape it started out in.
♪ ♪
And you didn't really lose any of the sharpness.
So, really well done.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, this is the sharpness test:
The military bed stab and slice.
Now, to find out how sharp your weapons are,
I'm gonna take your bolo bayonets and stab
And slice on this military bed.
Fermin, you're up first. You ready?
- Yes, sir. - All right. Let's do this.
♪ ♪
- Yeah.
♪ ♪
- Okay, fermin, let's talk about your bolo bayonet here.
First up, in profile, it looks very much like the sample
That we had out there.
Now let's talk about your edge.
Your edge is sharp. It was so sharp,
That I actually--because of the weight--whoa,
It surprised me--cutting into this military bed.
Overall, sir, your bolo bayonet, it will cut.
- Yes.
- All right, joe, your turn, sir. You ready?
- Oh, yeah. - Let's do this.
♪ ♪
- Nice.
♪ ♪
- All right, joe, let's talk about your bolo bayonet here.
First up, your handle construction.
It is a little bit on the longer side.
I really need to hold on to this a little bit more
To be able to get that retention going.
Your edge and your tip are quite sharp
Stabbing through and cutting on this cot with no resistance.
And overall, sir, your bolo bayonet, it will cut.
- Awesome.
♪ ♪
- Well, guys, you both nailed it with your bolo bayonets.
They're both strong. They are both extremely sharp.
But only one of you guys is gonna move forward
In this competition to the final round.
The bladesmith who's gonna be moving forward into the final
Round of the armed forces redeployment tournament is...
♪ ♪
Fermin. Congratulations, man.
Now, joe, unfortunately,
You're not gonna be moving forward in this competition,
And dave baker's gonna tell you why.
- Joe, first off, I want to thank you and your entire unit
For coming out while you're on active duty.
Proud to have you here. You did a great job
Fighting through some things to turn in a blade
That performed excellently.
But a large part of this competition
Was to replicate that 1915 bolo bayonet,
And your blade doesn't really have that shape.
That, combined with that long, thin, cylindrical handle, well,
Those are the things that led us to our decision.
- Completely understand. Thanks for the opportunity to be here.
- Well, joe, it was great having you in the forge again.
Thank you for your service. But unfortunately, your time
In the competition has ended. I'm gonna have to ask you
To please step off the forge floor.
- Thank you, joe.
- This was truly down to the details, and no excuses.
Having the opportunity to participate again
And compete against my fellow brothers-in-arms
Was extremely challenging, but at the same time
Very rewarding that I actually was able to turn
In a piece that could be tested and performed very well.
♪ ♪
- Whoo.
- Well, fermin, your hard work paid off.
Your m1915 bolo bayonet is taking you on
To the final round of our armed forces redeployment tournament.
You just got a check for $2,000
And a seat in the finals, man. Congratulations.
- Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I just cannot believe that I'm actually moving
Into the next round. Whoo. Man, I almost passed out.
- You ready to bring your a game for the finals?
- Absolutely. - Good job, bud.
- I am so excited to move on to the next round
Of the competition.
I want to become the "forged in fire" champion.
I'm on my way to it. I want to do it.
♪ ♪