[dramatic music]
- Tonight in The Forge, we're bringing back
four of our youngest champions,
with the youngest having won their title at only 8
and the oldest at just 20...
- I can't believe it.
- To once again test their skills
and see if they have what it takes
to be a two-time "Forged in Fire" champion.
- Let's do it.
- This is the "Young Guns Challenge."
♪ ♪
[upbeat music]
- My name's Colton Arias.
I'm 20 years old, and I'm from Nebraska.
When I first won "Forged in Fire",
I was 18 years old.
I was barely legal. But now I'm back.
I'm 20 years old and about 20 pounds heavier.
Well, I've grown physically into a larger human,
and I've also grown my skills in bladesmithing.
♪ ♪
- My name's Deke Parker.
I'm from Elkhart, Kansas.
I am 22 years old.
Last time I competed was season six,
the Austro-Hungarian Hussar saber.
I'm feeling like I got a power hammer in my near future.
That's what I feel like.
Since winning, I bought my power hammer,
and it's awesome.
- My name's Kevin Burgess. I am 22.
I'm from Nacogdoches, Texas.
I'm currently a full-time college student
and a part-time bladesmith.
The last time I was here, it was a blast,
but I was about as entertaining
as watching paint dry.
I decided that if I was going to come back on here,
I was going to try and show people
that I do have somewhat of a personality.
[laughs]
♪ ♪
- I'm Cade David Jenkins.
I'm from Loranger, Louisiana.
I competed in season seven.
I was the winner of the Rooster Head French Pioneer sword.
Cock-a-doodle-doo.
[laughs]
Since the last time I competed, I've gotten a whole lot better,
and I definitely feel good going into the competition.
- Bladesmiths, welcome back
to The Forge.
Now, we chose the four of you for a very unique contest
we are calling "The Young Guns Challenge."
You're all some of the youngest smiths
who've left our doors carrying the title,
which shows us that your generation
is definitely a force to be reckoned with.
Now, guys, we've got three intense rounds
of forging competition ahead of you.
And at the end of each one,
I'm going to ask you to present your work
to our panel of expert judges.
These guys are the ones
who will decide which one
of you will be leaving here
with his second "Forged in Fire" champion title
and a check for $10,000.
Now, you guys are definitely a bit older,
but I'm sure you remember playing on one of these.
♪ ♪
This is a 12-foot trampoline.
This is what we want you to make your knives out of.
The good news is we just want to see your signature blae
in your signature style.
- It's a frickin' trampoline.
Like, what am I going to do with this?
I would rather jump on it than make a knife out of i.
That's for sure.
- Now, in the second round of this competition,
guys, you're going to add handles to those blades,
turning them into fully functioning weapons.
And then you're going to turn them over to our judges,
who're going to check for strength and durability
in a bicycle chop.
And then they're going to check your edge retention
in a pool noodle slice.
All right, guys, you know how this goes.
We have three hours on the clock,
so work hard, stay sharp.
Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
You know, there's a lot of metal here.
What should they be looking for?
- The only hardenable steel involved in that constructin
are the springs.
- Do they just pop off?
I kind of tried to pull the springs off by hand,
but they were, like, oily, and I couldn't get a grip,
and then here comes my hero, Kev...
- Here, dude.
- And just starts going ham on this trampoline.
- Here we go.
- I haven't done a lot of canister Damascus,
but I know for a fact that that's going to be
the fastest way to get this challenge done.
- Cade's got his angle grinder,
and he's cutting his spring straight in half.
- Right, he'll be able to mix that powder
in a lot more thoroughly I think.
- I've got to make sure all that steel fills
all the voids and holes because if I don't,
it'll let oxygen into the canister,
it'll blow out.
It's just not a good sight.
And then I'm just going to leave this in the fire
for a really long time
to make sure that it gets real nice and hot.
♪ ♪
- I don't waste any time cutting off the hooks
on either side of the springs.
I just throw the springs in there
and fill the rest of the space with metal dust.
♪ ♪
I throw it in the forge,
and I let it bake for about 15 minutes.
Within those 10 to 15 minutes that I'm waiting,
I'm just getting a tan by the forge,
you know, just hanging out.
- The two times that I've made canister before,
I've put White on it, let it dry.
And as I forged it, I was able to just cut of
the very end of the can and shake it out.
We'll see if I can do that today.
- Whoa. - Oh, that's bad.
Kevin just lit his White Out on fire.
That changes the chemical compound in there
and it makes for a stickier can.
- That could be an issue.
- So I'm a little bit worried about that
because that could cause some real problems later on
and cause it, actually, to forge weld together,
but not completely.
I'm hoping that doesn't come to bite me back,
but, you know, at this point,
I really just want to get my billet in the forge
and get this thing consolidated.
[whistling]
- The last time I competed, I used White Out
to start out, and it was a mess.
I've been spending like 35,
40 minutes trying to take that can off of there.
Man, I'm running out of time here.
What did we learn? No White Out.
I was really kind of actually hoping for canister Damascus
because I want to show the judges
that I can actually do it right the first time.
♪ ♪
- After I put my billet into my forge,
I decided to start really kind of planning
out what I'm going to do.
Oh boy, that's really--no, that's really bad.
Oh, yeah, I'm a certifiable artist!
I'm going with my standard Recurve Bowie design.
It's just a really good overall blade.
- All right, Kevin.
- Nice and hot.
- At this point, I feel like my billet
is pretty well consolidated.
And I'm feeling really good about where I am right now.
- The billet is at forge welding temperature,
so I can start setting the welds.
- That metal's moving quick for him.
That's the ideal heat you want to be at,
that screaming yellow color.
- Everything's looking great, and there is no delamination.
There's no troubles with welding the canister together.
Time to move on.
♪ ♪
- I'm pretty confident.
I got my welds set with the squaring dies.
- You see the control that Deke had with his billet
as he was going Big BLU,
just the way it was nice and smooth?
- This is probably
the best billet of canister I've ever done.
♪ ♪
- Cade's got a screaming hot can.
He's going for his first press.
- Perfect.
- My steel's moving pretty good,
but everybody is moving so much further than I a.
And they're just rolling right along,
and I'm kind of still just having a chunk of steel.
Slow and steady wins the race!
♪ ♪
- Colton and Deke are neck and neck.
They're both in a really good spot right now.
- I'm going to go for kind of a recurvy camp knife.
When I was on "Forged in Fire" the first time,
there's no way that I would have attempted this thing.
Whoo!
Since competing the first time,
I've come a long ways in knife making.
And I just feel like I want to prove to myself
that I'm the best, you know?
♪ ♪
- I'm making a Large Toothpick Bowie knife meant for chopping
because it has to chop through a bicycle,
and it also has to slice through a pool noodle.
All right.
So I figured I'd give the blade a little bit of curve
and also plenty of weight for chopping.
- Bladesmiths, you're halfway through the first round!
- Kevin's got a nice height on his billet,
but I want to see him peel that can off.
- Here he goes.
- Yeah, we'll see if it works out for him.
- Because I put White Out inside of my can, in theory,
what I should be able to do is peel off the can.
I can't afford to waste any time.
I don't want to be, you know, last in the pac.
Ah, it looks like it welded.
As I'm trying to get where I know the can is,
it's all looking like one homogenous piece of steel.
Come on.
And I do not know
whether or not the forge welds on the inside are good,
whether or not the can itself is going to split off.
So it's a lot of gray areas, and I do not like that at all.
- Ahh.
- My entire billet is probably [bleep] at this point.
And so I'm immediately in panic mode.
[bleep]
I do not know
whether or not the forge welds on the inside are good,
whether or not the can itself is going to split off.
I can't afford to pull off the can.
I'm just gonna grind it down.
- It kind of looks like Kevin's leaving the can on.
- That's a real roll of the dice.
If you set up to remove the can and you start grinding in,
you might find that the can is welded in some places
and not welded in other places.
And those are basically big delaminations
that have to be ground away.
- So my plan right now is I'm just gonna forge
this sucker really, really thick,
so even if the can isn't welded
to the inside billet very well,
I'll be able to grind past that and not have it be a problem.
And hopefully, be able to recover from this.
- Bladesmiths,
you guys have one hour left before your critique!
- I just finished
kind of doing the final forging on my knife.
I kind of designed, like, a Brokeback Seax-type knife.
It's a pretty sturdy knife.
And I think it's going to hold up well in these tests.
The clock's kind of getting to me now.
I'm kind of freaking out.
It's time to roll onto the next thing.
♪ ♪
- It's like Colton's getting ready to quench.
- So far, I'm feeling really good about the process.
But it's very important that I make sure the whole thig
is at the temperature that I want it,
and then I quench it.
- All right, Colton is in the oil.
- Perfect.
After I see that my blade is straight, I feel great.
I know I can go on to finalizing the bevels,
polishing, and then etching.
♪ ♪
- Deke just quenched, guys.
- There's just a slight warp
'cause my bevels were just a tiny bit off,
but I have plenty of meat on the spine.
I'm just going to grind it out.
And then I really want to get
a nice long acid etch for the judges
because it's going to look really nice.
- Bladesmiths, you guys are down to 30 minutes!
♪ ♪
- Okay.
Cade just quenched. - Cade's in the oil.
- That looked pretty hot.
- 100%, for sure, warped.
I must clamp it down in the vise and let it cool off
because these guys are good,
and they're going to bring their A-game.
And if my blade's warped, that would be like
immediately, you know, sent home.
And I really don't want that to happen.
So I take it out of my straightening jig,
and it looks straight as an arrow.
Goodness gracious, I'm good. Mmm!
- It's really kind of do-or-die time at this point.
There is still this little,
little, tiny voice in the back of my mind,
"What if the can isn't completely gone
and it pops off?"
- Four quenched blades, guys.
Kevin's finally in the quench bucket.
I'd say it's anybody's game at this point.
- I've gotten a good glimpse at some of these blades,
and so far, I haven't seen a bad-looking blade.
- Oh, yes.
- Five, four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, turn off the machines,
put down your tools!
The first round of "The Young Guns Challenge" is over.
- That's pretty cool.
Looking over everybody's blade,
I couldn't put a winner or loser,
but they've got to choose somebody to go home.
And at this point, I'm just hoping that it's not me.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, well,
the first round of this competition is behind us.
The time has come for the critique.
Well, Colton, you are up first. Please, present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, Colton, right off, that's a great profile.
This is a great shape.
I think your handle dimensions are spot on,
but you do have a warp in this blade.
But it's a minor warp.
I don't think it's enough
to affect the use of this blade,
but I think you did a great job, nicely done.
- Thank you.
- Deke, you're up next. Please, present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, Deke, first up,
you have a nice, basic shape of a knife here.
But what I like about it is
it's very clean work.
There is one issue here.
You have a little warp over here,
but other than that, good work.
♪ ♪
- All right, Kevin, your turn. Please, present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, Kevin, your blae shape is really nice.
It's got a subtle recurve to it,
a nice false edge, a nice aggressive point.
It's just kind of tall right now,
but that's easy enough to change.
I was nervous that you used White Out
and didn't peel off the can,
but I don't see any delaminations or cracks.
I think that, in all, the steel looks solid.
I think you did a good job.
- Thank you.
- Well, Cade, please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, Cade, nice knife shape.
The only thing I worry about is,
if you move forward, is building this handle
so it's a comfortable handle
for all the chopping we're going to be doing.
But it's a really nice job. Well done.
- Thank you.
- All right, guys, we all turned in impressive blades,
but that means you gave the judges
a whole lot to talk about.
So they're going to need to deliberate and decide
which one of you isn't going to be joining us
in the second round of this competition.
So, guys, while they discuss, I'm going to ask you to pleas,
step off The Forge floor.
- I am glad I'm not a judge
because we all did a really good job.
And I think it's going to be a tough choice
for the judges for sure.
♪ ♪
- All right, guys, after hearing your critiques,
is it fair to say this is a pretty close race?
- Oh, yeah.
- You have a decision to make. Ben, what do you think?
- There's no one blade here
that really jumps out at me and says,
"Hey, I'm the worst blade on the table."
- All these blades are virtually ready to have handles
put on them as they are now.
So that makes deciding to send any one of these smiths home
rather difficult.
- These are four quality blades for a first round.
Now, it's more or less a subjective thing, you know,
"What do I prefer over what he prefers?"
Because they're that equal.
- Well, guys, at this point, unfortunately,
we got to move forward.
So, Ben, have you made your decision?
- I have.
- And, Dave, what about you?
- Yeah.
- Doug? - Yes, I have.
- All right, guys, I'll call them in.
Well, bladesmiths, you guys brought four
of the most closely matched blades
that have been turned in after the first round.
The judges have deliberated. They have made a decision.
♪ ♪
Bladesmiths, for the first time in "Forged in Fire" history,
all four of you
are moving forward into the second round...
- Whoo! - Of this competition.
- What?
I am so relieved and happy and overjoyed
that I'm moving on to the next round.
- So for this second round of the competition, you guys
are going to be adding handles to those beautiful blades,
turning them into fully functioning weapons.
But the pantry is closed.
Aside from pin stock, the only materials you can use
to make your handles comes from these.
♪ ♪
Something else you might be familiar with
from your childhood.
We have a bunch of skateboards here, guys.
- Ooh, there's nothing flat on a skateboard,
so it's gonna be interesting trying to get them flat enough
to work as full-tang handle scales.
- As always, at the end of this second round,
you will turn your blades back over to our judges,
and they're going to test them for strength and durabiliy
in a bicycle chop,
and check your edge retention in a pool noodle slice.
Because all four of you are moving forward, after testing,
two of you will be heading home in a double elimination.
You guys have two hours on the clock.
Good luck. Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
For the first time ever,
we have four smiths moving forward
into the second round, finishing their blades.
- These are the four most equally matched weapons
I've seen come out of a round one.
- Yeah.
- And that's why everybody was pushed forward.
- Round two starts, and I have to straighten
the little warp in the blade.
It's not very big,
but the competition is extremely close.
So any warps could send me home like that.
- That warp is in the last third of Colton's blade.
But, again, it's so slight that by the time
he sharpens that blade, most of it will be gone.
- And the warp is finally gone. Thank God.
I can finally put a handle together.
♪ ♪
- I'm super excited that all of us
were able to escape elimination,
but now I can't just be bettr than one person,
I got to be better than two, and the judges told me
that I need to make my knife handle a little bit taller,
a little bit wider.
So that is my number one priority.
- Oh, he is building up his handle.
- Yeah. - That's good.
- That's smart. - Smart guy.
- My fix came out just the wy I wanted it to.
I'm really happy with it.
But I got a lot of work to do before we call this thing done.
♪ ♪
- Coming into the second round, the main thing
that Ben was concerned about
was that it was really, really tall for a handle.
- So Kevin's handle being as big as it is,
he could actually taper the spine of that blade instead
of just taking everything out of the bottom of that handl.
'Cause the bottom of that handle
already had a kind of a good feel.
- And it looks like
that's exactly what Kevin is doing now.
- I feel like I got a really nice handle profile made.
I can swing it around. It feels nice in my hand.
So I'm really happy with where it is.
♪ ♪
- I'm going to try to get the shortest,
flattest skateboard that I can get just
so I don't have to grind a whole lot off
for the handle scales 'cause they're pretty thin.
I'm really trying to keep from making my handle too narrow
either way, you know.
I want it to still have enough meat in it
to be comfortable in the chopping.
♪ ♪
- I've gotten my handle scales all fit and drilled.
It's time to epoxy everything together.
And as soon as I mix it...
[bleep]
I realized that I didn't polish the front of my handle scales.
- Uh-oh.
- There's a little spot right in front of the handle scales
that when they're glued onto the knife,
you kind of can't reach, so you have to Polish that
before you do anything as far as gluing.
And I completely forgot.
So I got to run over to the grinder,
and I just polish the front of my handle scales back up.
Maybe I can still make it. I don't know.
I've got about maybe two or three minutes
left in this epoxy before it hardens.
So I just go ahead and quickly slap it on,
and put my knife together.
I hope it can hold up to these tests.
- Bladesmiths, you guys have one hour left!
- I'm really glad that this warp
didn't send me home in the first round,
but I'm not going to go home because of a warp.
So I'm going to heat it up with a MAPP gas torch,
and just tweak it and get that thing 100% straight.
- Certainly, none of the warps on any of the blades
that we talked about warrant heat.
- I really hope my knife doesn't break
or any of that catastrophe-type stuff
because I don't think that I'll have the time to fix it.
♪ ♪
- Don't do it.
- I'm really worried.
I've still got a slight warp.
I'm going to heat it up,
and just tweak it ever so slightly.
It's perfectly straight.
Whoo!
I'm really happy with it. I hope the judges love it.
[dramatic music]
- The most common reason, other than knife snapping and damage,
that people go home on this competition,
is handles that don't fit the judges' hands.
To make sure that my handle is comfortable,
I hand sand it, I contour it on the grinder,
and I even put some indexing grooves
in the sides for extra grip.
- For me at least, as a judge, it's exciting
that all four of these blades are going to get finished.
And then, going into testing, you're not
fighting two guys, you're fighting three guys.
You got that third guy in there,
who wouldn't normally be there.
- Right. - 50% chance of going home.
- Oh, yeah. - That's nice.
- At this point, my entire blade is glued up.
And I feel really confident about where my handle is.
And then, from there, I got to make sure that I hae
a nice edge on there. So I'm setting myself up
for what's called an Appleseed edge.
It's going to make it really strong,
really good at slicing.
So that hopefully, it survives the bicycle chop,
but still, it will be still fine enough
in order to go through the pool noodles.
- Two minutes left!
- I really want to test this edge.
- Come on, man, you got to really hit it
if you want to test it.
Abbott's not going to swing like that.
There you go.
- Okay, going serious at it.
- [laughs]
Five, four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, put down those blades.
The second round of this competition is over.
- My biggest concern, going into testing, is my handle.
I just really hope my handle doesn't fall apart
because that would be for sure a ride home,
especially in a competition this tight.
♪ ♪
- All right, gentlemen, welcome to the strength test,
the bicycle chop.
This isn't about what your blades do to the bikes,
but what those bikes can do to your blades.
Colton, you're up. Are you ready?
- Let's do it.
- Okay.
♪ ♪
- I am a little concerned about the edge retention.
No blades should ever be chopping into another metal.
It makes any smith nervous.
♪ ♪
- The bell still works.
All right, Colton, right off, your grinds,
absolutely gorgeous.
But the coolest thing on this is that edge is almost perfect.
Nicely done.
All right, Deke, you're up. You ready?
- Let's do it.
♪ ♪
Knives are not made for chopping bike frames.
I mean, I don't know why
you would ever have to do that.
♪ ♪
- All right, Deke,
I can feel three small sections of slight deflection,
but this blade still has an edge all the way along it.
It's still sharp. So great job.
Well done.
All right, Kevin, you're up. You ready?
- Mm-hmm. - Okay.
♪ ♪
- My edge isn't quite as nice
as I would like to make it at home,
but I think that I'll be able to survive the bicycle chop.
So we'll see how it goes.
♪ ♪
- All right, Kevin, I would not run my finger down this edge.
You've still got a sharp blade.
It's still the same shape as when I started.
It's a good-looking blade.
- Thank you. - Good job.
All right, Cade, are you ready?
- Yes, sir. I am.
- Okay.
- I'm super worried.
I need my blade to hold up to these tests
because, these other contestants,
they've definitely held up pretty well.
And only two of us are gonna make it.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- All right, Cade, we've got some problems.
You're missing a good crescent moon
out of the blade right here, and then another one up her,
and then a small deflection here.
But the knife is all in one piece.
It's still got a sharp edge on it.
So you did a good job.
- Thank you. - Well done.
♪ ♪
- "Forged in Fire" champions,
now it's time to find out just how sharp your weapons ar.
This is the sharpness test, the pool tube slice.
Colton, you're up first. Are you ready for this?
- Let's do it.
- Let's do this.
♪ ♪
All right, Colton, the balance is good on this.
And it cuts nicely with every slash on these pool noodles.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it will cut.
- Thank you.
- Deke, your turn. Are you ready?
- Let's see if it cuts.
- All right.
♪ ♪
All right, Deke, your edges cut nicely.
Even on the one slice of the pool tube,
even as it moved, it sliced and gave a very good cut.
So overall, your weapon, it'll cut.
Kevin, are you ready?
- You know it.
- All right.
♪ ♪
All right, Kevin, let's talk about your weapon here.
That's a fighter.
Your edges cut nicely on the pool noodles.
Overall, your weapon, it will cut.
- Thank you very much.
- Are you ready, Cade? - Yes, sir, I am.
- Let's do this.
♪ ♪
All right, Cade, let's talk about your knife here.
Your edges cut very well on the pool noodle,
but you can see over here that some of the edges that you had,
where you had some damage, it took some poodle with it.
But overall, sir, your weapon, it will cut.
- Thank you.
- Well, bladesmiths, in five hours,
you guys took a trampoline and a skateboard
and turned them into beautiful, sharp, strong,
and functional blades, but in this competition,
only two of you can join us in the final round.
The first bladesmith to be leaving The Forge is...
♪ ♪
Cade, unfortunately, your blade didn't make the cut.
And Dave Baker's going to tell you why.
- Cade, you gave us a beautiful blade,
but there's no denying that your blade took more damage
than any of your competitors' blades.
That's why we're letting you go.
- Understandable.
- Now, Cade, it is a beautiful blade,
but unfortunately, I'm gonna have to ask you
to please step off The Forge floor.
- Thank you.
I totally understand the judge's decision.
My thin edge, combined with my heat treat,
just put those little half-moons in there.
I really enjoyed being out there with people my age,
who are just as interested in blacksmithing as I am.
And even though I lost,
I still think I've proven a whole lot.
♪ ♪
- All right, guys, that brings us down to the three of you.
And we do have to make another very difficult decision.
The bladesmith leaving The Forge is...
♪ ♪
Deke, unfortunately, your blade also didn't make the cut.
And Ben Abbott's going to tell you why.
- Deke, you turned in a very functional, very sharp blade,
but at the end of the day,
your competitors' craftsmanship and artistry
was just the tiniest little bit more refined than yours.
And that's why we're letting you go.
- Now, Deke, from the very beginning,
you've shown us that you are an extremely talented smith,
but unfortunately, your time in this competition has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you
to please step off The Forged floor.
- I think this is the toughest batch of blades
that the judges have ever had
to judge.
So I'm proud of what I presented to the judges.
And I'm walking out of here pretty confident.
♪ ♪
- Well, Colton, Kevin, congratulations guys.
The two of you are going forward into the third
and final round of "The Young Guns" competitio.
Now, bladesmiths, we want to send you back
to your home forges for four days to build this.
♪ ♪
The German Longsword.
♪ ♪
- The German Longsword traces its roots
back to 14th century Europe.
This two-headed weapon was powerful enough
to deliver deadly blows,
and its double-edged blade inflicted deep wounds
and slashes against any enemy that came across its path.
The massive blade was so powerful
that skilled warriors had
to train extensively in the art
of longsword fencing to master its strength.
While this weapon was no longer used in combat,
longsword fencing is practiced around the world today.
- Well, Colton, Kevin,
your blades need to be double-edged
and measure between 36 and 38 inches.
You need to include a cruciform guard and have a pommel.
- I love longswords.
I actually practiced for this competition
by making longswords, so I am very happy
that that's the weapon I'm going to be making.
- Both of you should be on your A-game
and bring back your very best work
because at the end of the day, only one of you is going to be
leaving here with his second "Forged in Fire" champion title
and a check for $10,000.
Bladesmiths, good luck. We will see you in four days.
♪ ♪
- So it's day one here at the home forge.
I'm hoping to really just kind of get my sword all
forged out and just hopefully
have a really nicely forged sword at the end of the day.
Ah, that's a really long blade!
If I mess up on the measurement,
then it's all over.
So it just kind of check it constantly, you know,
see where I am, see whether or not I've hit parameters,
and just keep on going from there.
I'm feeling really good about where I am right now.
Priority number one tomorrow is make sure
that it's ready to heat treat by the end of the day.
♪ ♪
- So I'm back in my hometown to build the German Longsword.
I'm going to start off today by making a really large
Damascus billet to make the entire sword fro.
I'm gonna go for a pass.
From experience,
I know the greatest challenge with any longsword build,
especially if I'm doing it out of Damascus,
is going to be keeping it straight
and making sure the temper and the heat treat are spot on
so it does not break when chop into stuff with it.
Oh, my gosh, this is going to be a massive sword!
So it's the end of day one,
and I got everything that I wanted to get done don.
So tomorrow, all that I have left to do is grind the bevels
and get it ready for heat treat.
♪ ♪
- We're well into day two.
I've got my sword nice and ground.
It's about to go into heat treat.
Just, straight up, straight into the oil.
♪ ♪
[grunts]
Noticing that towards the tip,
it just barely kicks off to the side.
[groans]
At this point, that blade is a spring,
and it just keeps on going back to exactly where it was,
and I can't seem to get it to go back straight.
I couldn't get it out, and I just got to live with it,
but it does hurt my chances at winning.
It's still so much off.
So first thing tomorrow morning,
I'm going to try and see
if I can grind it out and go on from there.
♪ ♪
- It's day two,
and I have a lot of work today.
This is going to suck.
So today, my biggest challene
is definitely going to be the quench.
Plenty of things can go wrong when you're quenching a sword.
It could crack, it could warp, it could fracture.
Let's hope none of that happens
because everything is riding on this quench.
All right.
[dramatic music]
Awesome, perfect.
- It is day four.
I'm a touch concerned because I couldn't get the warp out.
It just keeps on going back to exactly where it was.
So I'm putting some final finishing touches on my sword.
And hope that my handle can distract the judges enough.
I'm going to add little cubic zirconium diamonds
to the handle.
Cool.
I'm pretty worried that the warp will send me home,
but I'm hoping that my attention to detail
on the handle might be able to carry me to a win.
Here we go.
It is the end of day four.
I have made a fully functioning German Longsword.
Cheers to the Germans.
♪ ♪
Perfect. [laughs]
- Day four.
Today is all going to be about fit and finish.
This thing is massive.
In a build like this, a million things can go wron.
If you make one false step or try to rush it too much,
you could ruin the whole thing in the last step
or in the first step.
I'm completely done with the sword.
The fit and finish is damn near perfect.
That's a legendary sword.
♪ ♪
- Well, Colton, Kevin, it's great to see you guys.
Welcome back to The Forge.
Now, in this final round of the "Young Guns" competition,
we sent the two of you back to your home forges
for four days to build your very best German Longswords.
But before we get into all the testing,
I got to hear about these blades.
So, Colton, how did it go for you?
- Everything came out pretty much how I wanted.
♪ ♪
The blade is 250-layer
diagonal ladder pattern Damascus.
The guard and pommel are mild steel that has been blued.
And the handle is a silver wire wrap.
- Very impressive. Now, Kevin, how about you?
- It went about as well as anybody can expect.
♪ ♪
The handle is full ivory and stabilized curly maple.
The guard and pommel is mild steel.
And the blade is 80CrV2.
- Well, bladesmiths, I am very excited
to see these blades in action, but as, you know,
only one of you can leave here with the win.
So in order to find out which one of you that is,
we've got a strength test, a sharpness test,
and, up first, the KEAL.
Doug.
♪ ♪
- Young "Forged in Fire" champions,
welcome to the KEAL test.
To find out what kind of lethal damage your German Longswords
will do, I'm going to take your weapn
and deliver some lethal blows on this pig carcass.
Colton, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Do it.
- Let's do this.
- My biggest concern right now is that
the temper didn't come out exactly how I wanted it,
which means that it'll just bend,
and the edge won't hold.
I just need the whole thing to stay tight,
sharp, and straight.
♪ ♪
- All right, Colton, let's talk about your German Longsword.
Every slice was a very deep slice.
Overall, the balance, the feel of your sword.
It will KEAL.
Kevin, your turn. You ready?
- You know it.
Right now, I am really concerned
about the warp in my blade.
I wasn't able to get that out in my home forge,
and if Doug comes in at just the wrong angle,
it could mean that warp will catch,
and then it'll just kind of bend my blade
around the hog, you know.
That could be what sends me home.
♪ ♪
- All right, Kevin, those are very deep cuts.
I almost got through the pig at the first strike.
Now, earlier, prior to this, you had a little bend
at the tip, but it didn't get any worse.
Overall, your weapon, sir, it will KEAL.
- Thank you very much.
Doug almost went through my pig on the first slice.
I was really kind of, "Yeah!"
But it was not quite enough to distract him
from the warp in the sword.
So he did end up noticing that.
And, you know, that could be what sends me home.
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the strength test, the throne cho.
In order to test the strength of your edge as well
as the overall construction of your German Longswords,
I'll be bashing them into this throne.
Colton, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Let's do it. - All right.
♪ ♪
All right, Colton, this is a great-looking blade, man.
I like your Damascus pattern.
It's still nice and straight.
Didn't take much damage beyond a slight glinting.
So well done.
- Thank you. - All right.
Kevin, you're up, man. You ready?
- You know it. - All right.
♪ ♪
All right, Kevin.
Well, your sword, I mean, it's all in one piece.
Again, the slightest of glinting on the edge
from the contact with the wood,
but nothing I would call damage.
You had a slight warp to it, coming in.
That hasn't changed. It is the same.
All in all, you know,
I think you did a good job on your grinds.
The weight is good, and it held up great in the strength test.
Nice job.
- Thank you very much.
♪ ♪
- All right, young guns, this is the sharpness tes,
the cowhide bag slice.
♪ ♪
Colton, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Let's do it. - Let's do this.
♪ ♪
All right, Colton, your edge cuts cleanly.
It's razor-sharp in thrusting, drawing it back, and cutting.
The balance is good.
And overall, sir, it'll cut.
- Thank you.
- Kevin, your turn. You ready?
- You know it. - Let's do this.
♪ ♪
All right, Kevin, your edge, razor-sharp.
It cut cleanly all through the bags.
And overall, your weapon, it will cut.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, throughout this competition,
you both have amazed us tremendously, but as you know,
only one of you can go home with the win.
The judges have talked it over, and they made a final decision.
The bladesmith going home with a check for $10,000
and his second "Forged in Fire" champion title is...
♪ ♪
Colton, congratulations.
Kevin, you fought hard,
and you brought us a beautiful blade,
but unfortunately, it didn't make the cut today.
And Ben Abbott's going to tell you why.
- Well, Kevin, you made a beautiful German Longsword.
All of the grinds on it are nice.
The fit and finish on it is very good.
Unfortunately, yours showed up with a bend in the blade.
Although it didn't get any worse in our testing,
it was there when you came here.
And it's for that reason we're sending you home.
- It is what it is.
- Well, Kevin, we want to say thank you for coming out hee
and, again, fighting at such a high level of performance,
but unfortunately, your time in this competition has ended.
I'm going to have to ask you
to please step off The Forge floor.
- Peace.
It turns out that I am not going to be
the two-time youngest champion.
But losing to Colton, he's an amazing smith,
does amazing work,
and I'm glad it was him and not somebody else.
♪ ♪
- Well, Colton, that means you
are the youngest two-time
"Forged in Fire" champion,
and you got yourself another check
for $10,000.
Congratulations.
- Being the youngest two-time "Forged in Fire" champion
feels amazing.
I mean, this is probably one
of the closest competitions
that I have seen,
and to come out on top, it just feels great.
- Really, really well done.
- My name is Colton Arias,
and I'm the youngest two-time "Forged in Fire" champion.
♪ ♪