[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- My name's Evan Daniel Purviance.
I'm 19 years old.
I've been bladesmithing seriously
for about four years.
I am the loudest and proudest member
of the Fighting Texas Aggie class of 2024,
but tuition ain't cheap.
That's what that the 10 grand is going to go if I win this.
♪ ♪
- My name is Chris Gregory. I'm 35 years old.
I am a full-time construction worker
and incinerator operator and part-time bladesmith.
To compete in the competition of ""Forged in Fire""
is a dream come true,
but to be able to win it would just be the icing on the cake.
♪ ♪
- My name is Grant Peters.
I am a full-time father of three beautiful little girls
and a part-time bladesmith.
As long as I can remember I've always loved metal.
Like, I just thought it was the coolest thing in the world.
This is going to be some fun.
- My name is Brandon Hainer.
I am 23 years old.
I work as an engineer, and I am a part-time bladesmith.
So I originally started blacksmithing around 18.
I forged a really crappy knife out of a piece of rebar.
And from then on I was hooked.
I'm super ready to get this round going.
- Well, bladesmiths, welcome to The Forge.
Bladesmiths, we are extremely excited
about today's competition
because we are switching things up quite a bit.
I'm sure you came here thinking you're going to go through
three high-intensity rounds of bladesmithing competitio,
but that's not quite what we've got in store for you.
We're not going to have a forging round,
a critique and elimination,
then a handle round and testing.
We are giving you five straight hours
to build the best blade you can from start to finish.
That means you've got to forge a blade,
quench it, have it hardened, tempered, add a handle,
and have it ready for testing
by the end of the five-hour round.
Now, this is where it gets exciting.
We've got a verifiable buffet of high-carbon steel.
We've got springs. We've got ball bearings.
You name it, we have it.
And you can use any of these materials,
any of our full pantry for your handle materials
to build any blade you want with any technique you want.
The only thing we ask is that you make a blade
that is between 12 and 18 inches.
Today we are putting you through a competition
we are calling the Impress Us Challenge.
- Oh, crap, the Impress Us Challenge.
Judging by these guys' standards and my skills,
that's going to be a little bit difficult.
- Now, periodically through this competition,
I'm going to ask that you present your work
to our panel of expert judges sitting here behind me.
They will be the ones deciding which one of you will be
leaving here with the title of "Forged in Fire" champion
and a check for $10,000.
Here's the best part.
Whoever impresses the judges the most at the five-hour mark
will bypass our testing and get a free ride all the way
to the final round of this competition.
♪ ♪
- I want to be that guy.
My goal is to make a blade that impresses the judges
so well I get myself a ticket straight to the finals.
- Now, for the other three of you,
you will all have your blades tested.
We're going to check for strength and durabiliy
in a copper pipe chop
and then check your edge retention
in a triple-rope slice.
Now, bladesmiths, as always, only two of you
will go to the Home Forge portion of the competition,
which means after testing,
there will be a double elimination.
♪ ♪
- I'm a little nervous thinking
that is a double elimination.
Any other competition,
I'd be dying to see my blade get tested.
But today I really want to impress the judges so much
that I just move right to the finals.
- Try your hardest to give the best possible blade
that is able to be tested, but hopefully won't have to be.
♪ ♪
You have five hours on the clock
to complete this competition, so good luck.
Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
Here we go,
all the smiths running up to the table, the buffet of steel.
- We've giving them everything they need to build
whatever they want to build since the idea is to impress,
five hours to build it in, and run with it.
- I'm seeing ball bearings, W2s, spring steel,
I went for the 1095
and 15N20 to make a Damascus billet.
So I've made plenty of Damascus billets before,
and they've all come out pretty successful.
So it's something that I really want to make
in this competition.
So I stack up my billet
with alternating layers of 15N20 and 1095.
Even though I did a low-layer count Damascus billet,
I'm really hoping that it's going to show in the steel
when it's finished.
Whoo! [bleep], it's [bleep] hot, Toledo.
♪ ♪
- I go and I grab the 15N20 and 1095,
because that's what I know how to show off with.
- I would probably do either a multi-bar
or some kind of fun Sun Mai
with maybe a canister on the outside,
make something cool.
- Super cool. - Yeah, right.
- I have 10 layers total.
Welding.
I want to do this cut and restack,
but I know the one thing that the judges
definitely will not be impressed with
is an unfinished blade.
So the cut and restack
is getting tossed to the side for now.
- I'm not exactly the most comfortable with Damascus,
so I pick up a piece of spring steel.
A lot of what I make is out of spring steel anywa.
I know how it works; I know what to heat-treat it at.
I'm going to do the best that I can with
what I know how to do, and if that's not enough,
then I guess that's it.
- Evan is going with just the coil; that's mono-steel.
It better be very impressive.
- That piece of coil spring is not quite an inch diameter.
There's not much impressive you can get out of that size piece.
Nasty-looking, isn't it?
- 1095 and 15N20,
they're the most common stees I use when I make Damascus.
So it's something I'm familiar with.
- Play to your strengths. - For sure.
- If you're very good at something,
bring it out here and impress us.
- My first thought is to do
some type of a twisted, 100-layer
Damascus to really impress the judges.
Twisted Damascus isn't an easy Damascus type to do,
but it is very beautiful when it's done.
- Are there any problems that Chris could run into
by haphazardly chopping his bar stock?
- Yeah, the layers don't add up.
These fall over and become cold shots on the edges.
- While I'm waiting for my billet to heat up,
I take a couple extra of those 1095 and 15N20 pieces
to use as my guard.
Welding.
I think that'll really impress the judges,
because that's a pretty tall order in a five-hour challenge.
There we go.
- I do my first forge weld.
I'm being extra careful,
because putting stress on every one of those welds then
could just...[spits] flat open.
- Grant's setting a weld.
- That's the right temperature. I mean, it's close.
- It went great.
She's getting there.
♪ ♪
- I get my coal spread out to a good critical temperatue
to where I can straighten it out.
You work 5160 a little bit hotter
than you work other steels,
because it's got a little more spring to it.
- 5160 isn't going to give you a lot of flack,
but a great material to work in, because it's got
that springy-ness to it; it's very durable.
- I'm can to start flattening it out.
I enjoy building things. I enjoy building things fast.
I've got it down pat, so why would I change anything?
[sighs]
- Bladesmiths, you have four hours left.
- Let's see here.
While I've got my steel heating up,
I grab two pieces of wood.
- Usually in the first round you can't touch your handle,
but now while steel is heating up,
you could almost finish your handle
in your first three hours.
- And I start cutting them into little squares
so that I can stack them up in layers
so I got alternating colors.
I want to make it really pop.
- A multi-part handle is really a beautiful thing to see.
Problem is, it's a risky thing, because multi-part handles
that aren't glued up or pinned properly can blow apart.
- So, while that's curing,
I run back to The Forge and get forging.
Whew.
- So I'm at the press forging out my shape.
I'm going for a chopper-style blade
with a little bit of flair.
I want to make something that's really going to impres
the judges enough to send me to the final round.
So I'm hand-hammering in the handle doing one flair
that's more of a bottle opener kind of shape.
I think it's a pretty bold design
and the judges will really like it.
Whew.
♪ ♪
- So I'm going to go ahead and make
a Damascus seax-chopper hybrd with an integral bolster.
That helps with the balance, which helps recovery.
It also works as a great vibration dampener
for when impacting anything very solid.
- 'Cause Grant's doing an integral bolster.
That's exciting. I love when I see new stuff.
- To impress the judges,
I'm going to play with the pattern a little bit.
- Grant is actually cutting lines into that crease.
He's making some kind of chevrons.
- Very cool.
- I'm looking over to my right,
and I'm seeing Grant grinding in
a pattern into his steel, and I'm thinking
that can be a cool idea for me to add as well.
- Oh, we got some grinding going on for Brandon too.
Is he putting in a pattern?
- So I start putting in a very rough X pattern into the steel
hoping that it's something that will show
after I'm doing grinding.
- My coil spring now is a flat bar,
so I can forge out my tip a little bit.
I give it a good bend over on the horn,
start forging out the general shape of my blade.
I'm making a pretty basic camp knife
to impress these judges.
I'm getting a little bit worried about
how thin my blade is getting.
Pretty doggone disappointing.
So I decided to go ahead and make a thinner blade
with more of a swooshing style to it.
That design seemed to work pretty good in my head.
So I just went ahead and rolled with it.
- They've got carte blanche to do whatever they want.
If it's well executed, great.
How will it do on a test, though?
♪ ♪
- I've set my welds.
I get ready to cut and stack the 100-layer knife bille.
I roll it over onto itself and flux it up.
- And I can see seams in there. So I'm really worried
he's going to have a lot of inclusions in that weld.
- Yeah.
- [bleep]
- Oh, Chris' billet split open.
- Those welds just blow apart.
Panic sets in.
Do I chase the problem, or do I start over?
I'm running out of time.
[bleep].
- [bleep].
Seeing those welds blow apart,
panic sets in.
- You guys know what-- Wrong with that billet
he was working?
- He had a long billet,
but he folded back on itself with minimal cleaning.
- I'm going to scrap this Damascus,
and I'm going go start with a brand-new piece of meta.
- So it looks like we've got a start over.
At the end of the day, this is a competition for $10,000,
and getting through it is very important.
- W1 is a great knife steel.
Even though I'm not doing
the 100-layer Damascus like I had planned
to impress the judges
and I probably can't bypass the testing,
I'll still be able to turn in a knife
that'll handle any tests that the judges throw at it.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, you have three hours left.
- This is make-or-break time.
- This is where you go for broke.
- So my Damascus blade is in good shape.
I ready for heat treat.
♪ ♪
- We have a quench on the floor.
- Oh! Our first quench. All right.
♪ ♪
- Oh, there's a warp in that sucker.
- I'm pressing carefully to try and straighten
the blade without snapping it,
because I know there's a fine line in between the two.
I think I might've straightened it out.
If the judges aren't impressed by my blade,
then I really want to make sure
I can get through testing.
- And the thing also about this is, we don't get to review
or tell him what to fix.
What you present us is what you present us.
♪ ♪
- Grant's quench, if you looked at the coloration of the blade,
I don't think it was too hot, but it was pretty warm.
- Don't hear any pings, any pops.
That'll do.
The file skates great, sounds amazing.
So now it's time to get a little bit
of cleanup going on.
♪ ♪
- Evan's in. This is the moment of truth
pulling this thing out, really thin blade.
- It ain't straight worth a crap.
I have this tiny little bend coming in from the tang.
Very stressful stuff we got going on here.
So I lay it on my anvil and then just put both my fists
on top of that piece of angle irn
until I know it's good and flat.
- Using a man clamp.
- It'll have to do.
- I feel like I'm making some ground now.
Started out with that big old piece of steel,
and now I got something I can work.
The style of knife I want to go with
is a Spanish-American War era Bowie knife.
Something I'm real familiar with.
That way, I come out with the best blade possible.
And because I had lost the pizzazz of the Damascus,
I'm going to do a hamon
to kind of give a little more pop to that blade.
- Ooh! All right, so Chris is upping the game
a little bit. Chris has got clay.
- Oh, that's great.
- You can get a lot of interesting ghosting lins
on that blade.
- A hamon is a Japanese process
of adding clay to the spine
to keep those portions soft.
I take my wire brush,
and that clay falls off the way it's supposed to.
And we're good to go.
All right, that did it.
- Scale, glue, mix it.
Having a smooth handle is absolutely crucial.
The judges are always very picky on handle material
and the way it's shaped.
I'm doing a white G10 liner with red micarta
and a black G10 bolster.
Seeing that I have a three-piece multi-part
set for my handles, I'm thinking this is something
that's going to send me to the final round hopefully.
- Now, Brandon has a very interesting style
going on with his handle.
He's got, like, a little tail coming out of that.
♪ ♪
- All right, guys, you have 1 hour and 30 minutes left.
♪ ♪
- I got to get this handle moving.
I find sky-blue scales made out of micarta.
I knew right then and there that they were perfect.
If done right, they can look amazing,
and it's a known material to me.
- Now it's going to be interesting to see
who among these smiths
have the skills to really make a great handle.
- Having a comfortable handle is imperative.
So I'm just making sure that everything is precise
as I can make it in the amount of time I have.
♪ ♪
- If I'm going to do a mono-steel blade,
I'm going to need to do something pretty special
with the handle, so I look at this block
that I have here and I think, man,
this would be a sweet pop bottle-shaped handle.
I know it'll definitely be impressive
after I get shined up, and on top of that,
I feel like it'll just add a little bit more mass
and curve your hand good on that longer handle.
- Watching the way they're working right now,
it's a very interesting seeing
whose got the mindset of, "I'm here to turn in a knife."
- Yep. - "And I'm here to impress
the hell out of the judges."
- It's a little bit of a smaller handle,
but this is really fixing to be a knife.
Yeah!
- I'm a little disappointed
that I couldn't do the 100-layer Damascus,
but I've still got my guard material
that I forged out of twisted Damascus.
I think this guard was definitely the right step
to kind of help that blade pop.
♪ ♪
[bleep]. But the steel was already hard.
Sometimes the steel begins to harden
before it's even quenched.
And that's exactly what happened here in this momen.
So I grab a good, soft, solid piece of brass that I knw
I can drill through and form up really quick.
Maybe I just need to impress those judges
by turning out the best blade
in my signature style without all the frills.
♪ ♪
- 30 minutes remaining, gentleman.
♪ ♪
- So after finishing my edge, I'm thinking
this isn't enough to impress the judges,
and I really want to add some more flair.
So I start putting in a few saw teeth
onto the back spine of my blade.
I'm thinking is something that's going to impress
the judges enough to send me to the final roun.
- Grant's headed for the acid etch.
- It's low-layer Damascus, but it's still Damascus.
You got to show it off.
And I get her out, and I'm getting the first
real look at this pattern, and I'm absolutely loving it.
It's got those Os going all the way down the blade.
I'm at the grinder trying to get her as sharp
as possible with a convex edge.
Just in case I don't get that pass to the finals,
I want to make sure that this blade
is going to stand up to the punishment
that those copper pipes are going to put on it.
- Considering my Damascus failed,
I'm really wanting to impress
the judges with this handle style
that I'm doing with the contrasting colors
and the alternating materials.
- Oh!
Chris just lost a chunk of his handle.
- I'm panicking a little bit,
because I've spent all that time
prepping that material to have it fail on me.
Now I'm in trouble.
[bleep].
I don't think I'll bypass the testing.
But hey, I came to have my knife tested.
So I've got to get this handle together.
I find a bone that's already been drilled out,
and that bone fits on that knife perfect.
- Chris has grabbed a piece of bone.
Is that what you go for?
- No, no, no. - No.
- No, there's nothing you can do to shape a bone
without grinding into the hollow part.
- I give him points for trying, though.
You know, if he's able to pull that off that's interesting.
- Is it what I planned? No.
But I am very confident in the blade
that I'm turning in to those judges.
- I seen you had the multi-piece deal going.
Did that not work out?
- No.
- Well, best of luck to you, partner.
- Five, four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, your five hours is up.
This competition is over. Good work.
- I am incredibly happy with the knife that I was able
to produce in five hours.
If my blade goes to testing,
I'm excited to see what it'll do.
♪ ♪
- The smiths are off the floor; this is uncharted waters.
One of the smiths is going to be completely
bypassing in the test.
I guess it's time just to take a closer look.
Let's start with Evan's. Doug, what do you see?
♪ ♪
- So what I see about this blade.
It's mono-steel, and it's got two scales
on the side of the blade.
The handle is smooth.
It's nicely executed in the fit and finish.
But overall, it's just basic work.
- All right, let's go on to Chris.
Dave, what do you think?
♪ ♪
- There's a lot going on with Chris' blade.
This is a big, chunky blade and a big, chunky bone handle.
Relatively comfortable for a blade this weight,
which is a good thing.
But the spine of the blade is up here even with the guard,
and the handle is down here even with the edge.
This should kind of be up there.
But even if this blade had the right positioning,
it would still be a very sort of plain blade.
- All right. Moving on to Brandon's.
What do you think, Ben?
♪ ♪
- It's a cool-looking blade.
I can see the pattern on the blade.
It's got a vaguely ladder-ish
sort of wander to it, which is really good.
We've got a cool two-piece handle
and there are cool teeth on the back.
In total in looking at this,
there are impressive qualities to this blade.
- All right, we got one more blade left
and it's Grant's blade.
♪ ♪
- So Grant gave us a low-layer count Damascus. And it's cool.
I mean, I like the pattern that I see on the side of this.
The bolster is neat.
So the attempt to impress is there.
- Okay. All right, guys.
So at this point, is there one that stands out
and impressed you the most? Ben?
- Absolutely.
- Dave? - Yep.
- Doug? - Yeah, man.
- All right, guys, we'll call them in then.
♪ ♪
All right, bladesmiths, you had five hours,
choice of any steel you could imagine,
any handle materials to build any blade with any technique
in an effort to impress our esteemed judges.
And for the first time ever in "Forged in Fire" history,
one of you is going to be bypassing our testing,
going straight into the final round of competition.
Bladesmiths, the one of you who is going to be jumping
straight into the final round is...
♪ ♪
Brandon. Congratulations, man. You impressed the judges,
and Doug is going to tell you why.
- Well, Brandon, going with the Damascus pattern
in a two-piece handle construction,
that impressed us, because it was clean execution.
But also, the design you have there with that saw back
and that pick that you have over there
really piqued our curiosity
that when we looked at this, we were like,
there's a lot of story going on in that blade. Good job.
- Thank you.
- Well, Brandon, we will see you
in the final round of competition.
- Right now, I'm feeling great.
I impressed the judges enough to send me to the final round,
I'm ready to get this competition going.
- All right, gentlemen. Three of you are here
for testing.
And unlike our regular competitions,
two of you at the end of this testing will be eliminate;
one of you will be moving on to compete against Brandon
in the Home Forge Challenge.
So first up, our strength test,
the copper pipe chop.
Evan, you're up first. You ready?
- Fire in the hole.
- [laughs] Okay.
♪ ♪
- I got a blade that's so thin, who knows?
Anything could happen.
Blades could shatter; blades can go ahead and bend.
♪ ♪
- All right, Evan. I really like the shape of your blade.
It's just your handle is small right here.
As far as impressing me,
your blade held up pretty dang well.
This blade is still sharp. So good job.
- Thank you.
- All right, Chris. You ready? - I'm ready.
- Let's have some fun.
♪ ♪
- This test is difficult on an edge of a blade
because copper's relatively soft,
and that copper will pinch around that pipe
and just take chips right out.
♪ ♪
Whew.
♪ ♪
- All right, Chris, well, this is a weighty beast.
The weight of this thing, it's a destroyer.
Your blade, you can see,
it's got some big chunks taken out of it.
It's still solid, which is great.
Nothing came loose.
But it definitely took some damage.
- Thank you.
- Grant, you're up. You ready? - Nuh-uh.
- [laughs]
♪ ♪
My biggest concern is, I didn't make it
as sharp as I could've.
I could've dialed it up just a little bit higher.
So at this point it's a crapshoot.
♪ ♪
Whew.
♪ ♪
- All right, Grant. I can see a low-layer
Damascus pattern on here, and your blade held up really wel.
Most of what I see on this blade
it's just a painting of copper.
Your blade's still sharp right down the middle there.
It's all in one piece. Nicely done.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, this is the sharpness test.
The triple-rope slice.
♪ ♪
To find out how sharp your weapons are,
I'm going to try to cut through these ropes.
Evan, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Cut them. - All right, let's do it.
- I know for sure I can get through those first two.
It's that third one I'm worried about.
My blade's pretty thin,
and I'm just worried I won't have enough mass
to really push through that biggest rope.
It could be the difference between me going home
and me building that blade for the finale.
♪ ♪
- All right, Evan, let's talk about your blade here.
First up, it's very light.
And you can hear it when you're swinging it.
When you're cutting through the first two pieces of rope,
easy on one cut.
For the thickness of the rope, it just doesn't have the mass.
It's a sharp blade; it cut through the rope
but not all the way through. But overall, sir, it will cut.
- Thank you.
- All right, Chris, your turn, sir. You ready?
- I'm ready. - Let's do this.
♪ ♪
- That handle was rolling in his hands.
- All right, Chris, let's talk about your weapon here.
It is too smooth right here where my hand marries
the guard, and each swing I had to hold back a little bit,
because it really felt like it was about to leave.
But your edge is sharp.
I probably could cut through
all the way on the third on here,
but it's just a control factor with your handle here.
But as it is, it will cut.
- Thanks, Doug.
- All right, Grant. Ready? - Sure?
- Okay.
- [laughs]
♪ ♪
All right, Grant, let's talk about your weapon here.
First up, I like the little design
that you have with the Damascus pattern you put in there.
It cut cleanly on the first two pieces of rope.
On the third, so close.
Overall, sir, your edge, it will cut.
- Thank you, sir.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, only one of you guys
can join us in the final round
going against Brandon in our Impress Us Challenge.
And that unfortunately means that two of you guys
are going home.
Now, the judges have talked it through,
and they've made a decision.
♪ ♪
Now, Chris, unfortunately your blade didn't make the cut.
And Dave Baker is going to tell you why.
- Chris, you gave us a big chopper,
but it was the only blade
that really took significant damage in the strength test.
That's why we're letting you go.
- I understand. - Well, Chris,
we really appreciate that you tried to go above
and beyond in the first round of the competition,
but unfortunately your time in the Impress
Us Challenge has ended. I'm going to have to ask you
to please step off The Forge floor.
- Thanks, guys.
So any advice that I can give to any bladesmith
coming on to "Forged in Fire" is take your time.
I think that's where I failed
was paying attention to the small details,
but really focus on those small things.
♪ ♪
- All right, Evan, Grant, it's down to you guys.
One of you is going to go and meet Brandon
in the final round back at your home forges.
The judges have made a decision.
And the bladesmith that's going to be joining s
in the final round...
♪ ♪
Is Grant. Congratulations, man.
Now, Evan, we appreciate the work,
but your blade didn't make the cut,
and Ben's going to tell you why.
- Well, Evan, you pursued a relatively
simple construction method
and ended up with a knife that's pretty small.
And that small size and lightness
really did you no favors in the rope cut,
and it's for those reasons we're letting you go.
- Yes, sir. I understand.
- Well, Evan, you presented a beautiful blade,
but unfortunately it just didn't make the cut.
I'm going to have to ask you to please step
off The Forge floor.
- Thank y'all.
I feel like if I'd have made something
a little bit different,
I maybe could've performed better,
but I had the time of my life.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the final round
of the Impress Us Challenge.
Now, guys, in this final round
we're sending you back to your home forges
to battle it out building an iconic weapon from history.
You guys, you ready to find out what you're building?
- Yep. - Let's see it.
- All right, bladesmiths, we want you to build this...
♪ ♪
The firangi sword.
♪ ♪
- The firangi sword was wielded
by the horsemen of Mogul Empire of 16th-century India.
This cavalry broadsword features
an extended hilt and pommel
designed for lethal two-handed slashes
from its sharp, single-edged blade.
While this weapon is no longer used in battle,
this formidable sword was once wielded by royalty
such as Adil Shahi II of South India.
- All right, guys, when you are building your swords,
you need to make sure they fall within these parameters.
You need to have a single-edged curved blade
that measures between 29 and 31 inches.
Need to have a khandi-style hilt and a tail pommel.
- I have never made anything like this.
This is going to be interesting,
it's going to push me,
and I am going to have a blast figuring this out.
- Well, guys, yet again we want you to impress us
with the blades that you bring back.
One of them is going to be worth $10,000.
So, guys, good luck; we will see you in four days.
- Good luck.
♪ ♪
- I'm back in my home forge in Stillwater, Minnesota.
Let's see if we can make this firangi-a-ling-a-ding-don.
[chuckles]
We are going to have a 1075 blade.
It might make this blade
a little bit more reliable and more robust,
because there's less chance of any of the welds failing.
I forged in the tip first
followed by forging in the curve.
It's moving great.
So it's the end day one,
I'm feeling great.
And I am going to make this the prettiest sword
they've seen on "Forged in Fire," hopefully.
♪ ♪
- I am back in my home forge in Groton, Connecticut,
and I am super stoked to start making this firangi blade.
The first thing I'm going to do is forge the tip in.
All right, back to the table we go.
I'm definitely nervous for this challenge,
but I think I'm up for it.
It's definitely way out of my comfort zone
but will still impress the judges.
So I have a little twist in my blade.
It runs roughly the length.
I got to figure something out here.
I'm hammering it on an anvil,
and I'm even sticking it in between two boards
and pressing it down with a lot of weight.
And even still, it's still warped.
Lovely.
Hopefully, in my dreams tonight
I'll come up with an idea of straightening this blade out.
- Beginning of day two.
Yesterday, I got the blade forged to shap.
Didn't heat-treat yet. I want to save that for today.
This will be interesting.
My forge is a little small.
So I'm using the blowtorch along with the forge
trying to get it as even a heat as possible
before quenching.
If the heat is uneven and one spot's cooler,
that's a spot where you
potentially can get a crazy bow.
Who know what's going to happen?
I'm doing everything that I can with what I have
in order to make sure that I get a good, nice, even heat.
♪ ♪
Everything's looking really good.
She is as straight as can be.
So I can't be happier with the results that we had.
♪ ♪
- Day two, and I'm definitely tired.
I didn't sleep too much last night
trying to figure out how I'm going to get the wap
in this blade out.
Yesterday, straightening the blade didn't work too well.
So today I'm going to stick it in the vice
while it's still hot and try to twist the bend out
with a twisting wrench.
Amazing. It worked.
Thank God.
I thought I was going to have to throw this thing out
and start fresh, but I think
I'm going to be okay this time.
So the next heat I'm going to be quenching the blade
and crossing my fingers, my toes,
just hoping and praying for the best at this point.
♪ ♪
And by God it is straight.
Pshoo!
All right.
- Day four.
Final day, everything's coming together really well.
This specific type of sword has a very distinctive hilt.
All right.
So I really want to do this piece justice and set it off.
Once it's good and tacky,
we're going to put the gold leaf on.
I've never done it before.
I'm not going to jinx myself in saying
it sounds pretty easy, but I think I can handle this.
Thankfully, looking pretty.
There's only one thing left to do.
And that's to test this thing out.
So let's see what we can do.
♪ ♪
[laughs]
Ah, [bleep].
The base disc got me.
Just call 911. It's really bad.
So a change of clothes later and five stitches,
and we're back at it again.
If I don't get this thing fixed,
these judges are going to see that spot
on the base of the pommel, and they're going to recognize
that their wrist is going to hit it.
That would really make me feel horrible
if someone else got injured with something that I made.
That should be good.
I've done everything that I possibly can
to make sure that at the end of the day,
these judges are going to be impressed.
♪ ♪
- Day four. Looks good so far.
I got to fit everything up a little bit better.
So the first thing I'm doing, I need to start bending
and shaping my bronze guard.
Oh, yeah, I'm happy with that.
I don't know; let's go see how it fits.
So now that the dry fit-up is good,
it's time to start polishing and sharpening my blade.
I mean, it looks pretty sharp to me.
So that's it. It's the end of day four.
I'm happy that I have a blade to present,
but at this point, it's up to the judges.
♪ ♪
- Grant, Brandon, guys, welcome back to The Forge;
it's good to have you.
You guys had four days to work on your firangi swords.
But before we hand the blades over to the judges,
I want to hear about them. So, Grant, how'd it go for you?
♪ ♪
- Build went great, 2 cups, 1075,
1 cup mild steel, full stick of cocobolo,
a little bit of stippling and gold leaf
to set it off, and 5 stitches.
- Okay. - [laughs]
- Well, I'm glad you're in one piece, bud.
Brandon, how about you?
♪ ♪
- Went well. I used 80CrV for the blade.
Everything else is bronze, and the tail is brass.
I'm pretty happy with how it came out.
- Gentlemen, your blades look deadly.
But there's only one way for us to find out
which one of you guys is going home with the win.
We've got a strength test, we've got a sharpness test,
and up first, the KEAL. I'm going to give you to Doug.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the KEAL test.
To find out just what kind of lethal damage
your firangi swords will do today,
I'm going to take your weapons and deliver some lethal blos
on this goat carcass.
Grant, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Shoot that goat like it owes you money.
- All right, this isn't elections.
♪ ♪
- Coming into this finale, I just need to make sure
that this blade cuts what the judges are trying to
and not the judges themselves, like it did for me.
♪ ♪
- Good job, dude.
♪ ♪
- All right, Grant, let's talk about your firangi here.
Your edge is sharp, and you can see the way it cus
right into the carcass and into the bones,
and it's chopping bones right there.
This is a very dense goat. Overall, sir,
your firangi sword, it will KEAL.
- Thank you, sir.
- All right, Brandon, your turn, sir. You ready?
- No. [laughter]
- But we're going to do it anyways.
♪ ♪
- Right now, I'm not feeling too good my blade's
going to hold up to this.
My stomach's in my throat.
I don't know what to do.
♪ ♪
- Oh, my God.
- All right, Brandon, let's talk about your
firangi sword here.
This is a slight forward-heavy blade,
but it does drive the cutting edge into this goat carcass.
As you can see, they're very deep cuts.
And most importantly, sir, it will KEAL.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, welcome to the strength test,
The six-armed warrior sword fight.
To test the strength and durability
of your firangi swords
as well as their overall construction,
we're going to be bashing them into these swords.
Grant, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Have at it.
- All right.
♪ ♪
- Six different swords that my sword
is going to get bashed into? This sucks.
In order to keep me in the game here, I need to
not break.
♪ ♪
- Good job.
♪ ♪
- All right, Grant, well, your blade held up, man.
It's all in one piece. Nice job.
The edge has gotten nibbled on.
There's a lot of rolls.
I can get a fingernail underneath it.
Moving back here, your tail that's on here is now loose.
But all in all, your blade is all in one piece.
It's still straight. Nice job.
- Thank you.
- All right, Brandon, you're up, man. You ready?
- I guess so. - All right.
♪ ♪
- Whew.
- Nice.
♪ ♪
- All right, Brandon, well, your sword's all in one piece.
Nice job. Your edge has taken a bunch of deflections.
Not terrible, but they exist.
I can feel them with my fingernail.
But your edge held up relatively well. Nice job.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, this is the sharpness test,
the fabric tube slice.
Now, unlike the strength test, this is all about how shap
the edges of your swords are.
Grant, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Hell yeah. - All right, let's do it.
♪ ♪
All right, Grant, let's talk about your edges over here.
On your first cut, it did almost cut all the way through.
It did catch over here on that sweet spot
where it did take some dulling and some damage.
On the second cut, it cut the first two tube,
but it did catch on something
and didn't cut the rest of the tubes.
But overall, sir, your weapon, it will cut.
- Thank you.
- All right, Brandon, your turn, sir. You ready?
- Let's do it.
♪ ♪
- Well done, man.
- All right, Brandon, let's talk about your sword here.
There are edges right here that are very sharp.
In the first strike, it cut all the way cleanl.
On the second strike, in this area where you took
some damage also, it did cut the first two tubes
but it didn't cut all the way through.
But overall, sir, your weapon, it will cut.
♪ ♪
- All right, guys, well, we asked you
to impress our judges, and your hard work paid off
getting you guys both a spot in the final round.
But in this competition, only one of you guys
can go home with the title of "Forged in Fire" champio.
Our judges have talked it over, and they made a decision.
The newest "Forged in Fire" champion is..
♪ ♪
Brandon. Congratulations.
Now, Grant, you fought hard the entire time,
but unfortunately your blade didn't make the cut.
And Ben Abbott's going to tell you why.
- Well, Grant, your blade took more damage
in the strength test. That together with the fact
that your tail got loose on the end of your handle,
they all conspired to make our decision for us.
♪ ♪
- Well, Grant, we want to say thank you for coming out here.
Your blades definitely impressed us,
and that's what got you here today.
But unfortunately, I'm going to have to ask you
to please step off The Forge floor.
- Thanks, everybody. I had a great time.
Nice work, man. - Good job.
- I'm definitely leaving here a better smith
than when I came in.
Now, I'm going to head home, kiss my beautiful wife,
hug my beautiful daughters, enjoy a little family time,
and get back in the shop.
- Brandon, you know what that means, man?
You are the newest "Forged in Fire" champion,
and you just got yourself a check for $10,000.
Congratulations. How do you feel?
- Feel like $10,000 I guess. [laughter]
This was a long journey in "Forged in Fire."
♪ ♪
But I came out on top, and I'm so excited right now.
My name is Brandon, and I'm a "Forged in Fire" champion.
♪ ♪