[dramatic music]
- Here in the Forge, we have put hundreds of smiths
to the test, but one fierce competitor
has proven himself time and time again.
Ben Abbott.
An expert blacksmith and bladesmith,
a fan favorite turn judge,
Ben Abbott remains undefeated in this forge.
His current record is 6 and 0,
but soon all that could change.
♪ ♪
Tonight three smiths who suffered catastrophic failures
at the hands of Ben Abbott
will seek their revenge.
- Come on, come on, come on, come on.
- I got to start again.
- Do they have what it takes to finally beat Ben Abbott?
The competition continues now.
♪ ♪
- My name is Chris Campbell.
I live in South Florida in a little town called Stuart
on the coast.
The first time I was on "Forged in Fire,"
it was a first responders episode,
and the handle broke apart completely
in Ben Abbott's hands.
[exhales] - Whew.
- Just the idea of being able to
not only gain some revenge for him snapping my handle
but also being head-to-head with best person out there
is the greatest thing world.
♪ ♪
- My name is Dorian Mosack.
I'm from Peoria, Illinois, and I own a gym.
The last time I was here, Ben broke my blade.
I was heartbroken, and I really thought I lost
an opportunity of a lifetime.
So being back here again and a chance to do it again,
I'm even more excited this time around.
- My name is Caleb Ledford. I'm 20 years old,
and I'm from Young Harris, Georgia.
This is my redemption round.
Last time, I made it to the final round,
where Ben ended up breaking my handle.
- Your handle is coming apart.
- Ben might've broken my handle,
but I'm here to break his winning streak.
- Well, Chris, Dorian, Caleb,
welcome back to The Forge.
Now, you each have your second chance at the title
of "Forged in Fire" champion and a check for $10,000.
But, Ben, I got to ask,
do these guys look familiar to you?
- Yeah, I'm seeing familiar faces out there.
- I'd say they should probably look pretty familiar,
because each and every one of you suffered
a catastrophic failure at the hands of Ben Abbott.
- [laughs] Uh-oh.
- But at the end of this competition,
one of you will have the chance to go head-to-head
with Ben Abbott
and try your hand at beating the unbeaten.
Now, currently Ben's record is 6 and 0,
so we're about to see if any one of you
has what it takes to take him down.
Now, Ben, do you have anything to say to these guys?
- Sorry, guys. I guess I realized
you're all going to be coming pretty hard for me,
but I'm not going to make it easy on you, so good luck.
- What a guy.
Well, bladesmiths, Ben is going to be
purely an observer during this round
of the competition just for fairness sake,
but he is joined at the table by two judges
who have the opportunity to make the critical decision.
They're the ones who hold your fate in their hands
in deciding who's going to be going up against Ben
for the title of "Forged in Fire" champion
and a check for $10,000.
Now, here's how it's going to work,
the three of you are going to go head-to-head
in a single five-hour bladesmithing round,
where we want you to build a blade from start to finish.
Now, in this first round, we want you to each build
a signature blade in your signature style.
In order to do that, you're going to need to use this.
♪ ♪
What we have here are jars of bandsaw blades, ball bearings,
small springs, roller bearings, and some chainsaw blades.
And we want you to make your blades
out of canister Damascus.
Now, if that doesn't seem hard enough,
we're going to raise the bar a little bit.
This is the part of the competition we like to call
the No Can Can.
You must remove your canisters.
Your blade length measured from tip
to where the cutting edge ends,
it needs to measure between 11 and 13 inches.
By the time the clock runs out
those blades need to be quenched,
they need to be hardened, tempered,
and have a handle securely attached and ready for testing.
- I have very little experience with canister Damascus.
It's got a lot more, in my opinion,
ways to go wrong. So I'm nervous.
- Now, guys, when the clock hits zero,
I'm going to ask that you turn the blades
over to Dave and Doug,
and they're going to test your blades for strength
and durability in a bone chop
and then check your edge retention
in a ballistics tube slice.
You guys ready to get into it?
Then good luck, because that time starts now.
♪ ♪
Now, we know two of these smiths
had issues with their handles.
The issue they had with their handles is sitting right here.
♪ ♪
- Seeing this competition before,
peeling the canister off
is always the number one issue that most people have.
They end up spending countless amount of time grinding,
chiseling the material away.
- Come on.
- So the less time I can spend doing that
the more time I can spend actually forging.
- Typically, when we're doing a canister around,
we're astounded when the smiths use White Out
to try to peel the can, because it's not necessary.
That's something they have to do this time.
That's a tall order for a five-hour challenge.
- My game plan is just to make sure
that I cover inside of this canister with White Out.
And I just got to make sure that it's dry
before I start getting things crammed in there.
♪ ♪
- We know that you've got to be patient
with drying out the White Out.
- Yeah.
- I started to look at the roller bearings
thinking they're very, very tough.
But also, they take up a lot of room,
so I can use that along with the powdered steel
and hopefully fill up all the voids
and make a good, solid weld.
♪ ♪
- There's an air of retribution in the air
with three people who have had blades broken by Ben Abbott.
However, I had very serious concerns
about getting that can off.
So immediately I start putting White Out
inside my can.
- Ooh, Chris is starting to put his roller bearings
into his can straight out of the acetone.
Does he need to let those dry up before throwing them I?
- It's more of, did the White Out dry in his can?
- I don't think he got enough time for that either.
- Ahh, [bleep].
Acetone weakens the White Out
and starts covering all the bearings.
Ahh.
I know it's not going to forge well,
so I have to start over again with fresh White Out
and his time give it some time before it dries
before I put my bearings and powder back in.
I'm freaked out about making such a mistake early on,
but it's better to get it done early
so I don't have to worry about anything the rest of the round,
I hope.
- So I put the White Out in the canister.
I have my steel, my ball bearings all packed up,
and I get it put into the forge.
- Holy cow. I think that his can just opened up.
You really run the risk of getting
a lot of oxygen in there,
and the weld won't stick very well.
- I know I can't put that back in the forge,
and I'm gonna have to go make another canister.
I'm getting super stressed out that I just lost some time,
so I need to work a little bit faster to try to get caught up.
- Bladesmiths, you have four hours left.
- The most challenging part of this competition
is getting the canister to weld correctly
and then remove the entire canister from the billet.
I think my welds are set good.
I'm going to pry the canister from the billet.
- I'm listening to Caleb and that chisel,
and things are going his way.
- It's actually coming off really, really nicely.
- Here we go, hey-oh!
- My material looks fine.
And I'm ready to move on to actually forging my billet.
♪ ♪
- All right, we're 15 minutes in,
and Chris is now attempting to remove his can.
- I start cutting off the corners
so I could see some kind of exposed steel.
Oh, come on.
My canister appears to be forge welded to the billet
on the inside, and I don't want to restart.
The White Out's probably not going to work again.
So I'm just going to keep working hard
and get this billet off.
Going up against Ben made me supremely happy,
because Ben is undefeated.
He's the best. He's undefeated,
6 and 0 by now,
and I would love to beat him and make him feel small.
[saw whirring]
♪ ♪
- I'm hoping I did everything right this time,
because I don't want to have to restart all over again.
So I'm gonna have to start peeling the canister off.
[bleep].
I realize that my steel didn't set.
- Ooh. - Uh-oh.
I think he's about to restart again.
- He might not have gotten near as much compression
as he thought he was getting.
- All right.
I'm not going to use any White Out.
I know it's probably going to make it
even more difficult for me to peel the canister off,
but I just don't have any time left.
- Guys, I saw Dorian grab White Out,
but I don't think he put it in his hand.
Is it even possible to remove the can with the chisel?
- No, he'll literally need to grind that can off.
- Number three.
- Bladesmiths, you have three hours left.
- Come on.
And it must have taken me an hour and a half,
but finally the billet comes clear.
Yes!
My billet looks a little sketchy to me.
I can still see some of the bearings.
However, it still seemed consolidated,
so I decide to put it in the forge
and just tread carefully.
- So we've seen this happen before, where their billet
that's not completely welded.
Quick fix, what do you do?
- 1095 powder and flux.
- And then let Big Blu take care of the rest of it.
- Once I get it to length, it starts looking really,
really bad.
But I see good, solid steel on the inside,
so I decide it's time to grind off all the bad steel.
There has to be clean steel on the inside,
because if there's not, I'm going to have to restart,
and I don't know if I can pull that off.
- You got to grind away kind of early,
because a crack probably gets more crack.
Even if you have to grind, like, a notch in there
to get it out of the way, it's worth it.
- I think I'm okay.
The cold shuts are going away, and everything looks tigh.
However, I don't grind them all out,
because I want a nice beefy blade.
I just hope that during testing I don't regret that choice.
[grinder whirring]
- And I'm just going to go ahead and start working on
drawing out my billet.
Oh, [bleep].
It is crumbling apart.
I don't think that went through at all.
- Oh! - No way!
- There's no way that I can salvage this,
I have to start from scratch now.
- Guys, Caleb's restarting.
- This could cost me the competition for sure.
If this doesn't go well, then
I might be completely out of options.
Oh, man.
- I've lost a lot of time,
and I need to get straight to work on my next canister.
- Yeah, now's the time to do it.
I mean, you know, start over.
But the main thing about is, don't do the same mistake.
- This time, I grab the bandsaw blades.
Hopefully, these will be a lot easier to weld to each othe.
♪ ♪
- I won't have time to make a fourth billet,
so I just need to get this steel to set.
My plan is, I'm going to cut and peel the top of it off
and just flatten it and grind the rest.
- He's going to spend more time
trying to remove that can than Chris is.
♪ ♪
- I see that I have good steel,
so I know I still have a chance to make a knife.
It's going to take some time to grind
all of this canister off,
but at this point, I think it's my best option.
- Bladesmiths, you are halfway through.
♪ ♪
- The quench is going to tell me the truth
on whether or not that core part of steel
is actually good.
I have no idea what could happen.
It could just blow to pieces once I put it in the oil.
I'm not thinking of Ben at all.
I'm thinking about not screwing up.
- All right. Chris is quenched.
- It didn't blow to pieces. Back to work.
I'm ecstatic, and I'm ready to grind this thing and get read.
♪ ♪
- I honestly don't know how I got this far.
Just an hour and a half ago
I thought this thing was over with.
- Dorian is Captain Catch Up, man.
No matter what happens, he catches
right back up to the crowd.
- So now I have to get the blade quenched.
The last time I competed
I quenched my blade way too hot.
- Oh, no. Don't do it.
- This time I'm taking my time
and checking it with a magnet before I go into oil.
♪ ♪
- All right, we have another quenched blade.
- I'm pretty amazed and beside myself
that I've actually gotten a knife quenched.
But I have to get a handle done
and get it cleaned up and ready.
♪ ♪
- I'll get my second billet out of the canister.
From what I can see,
I'm confident that it's good all the way through.
But I'm still watching the clock,
and it is still going down.
I just got to work as quickly as I can.
♪ ♪
It's straight as an arrow, so I'm very pleased.
Now, I can get to work on cleaning up the blade.
- All right, guys, you have an hour left on the clock.
♪ ♪
- Grinder's going together well.
Let's do dip in acid.
But I want to get an acid's etch to see
if I have any serious cold shuts or problems.
Damn it.
This thing is covered in cold shuts.
It's a nightmare.
- Chris was the only one who stuck with this first canister,
and you remember he had some candy bar
cracking going on in the press.
I got to be honest, I don't think it's all gone.
- I could fill it with weld, but that would ruin the temper
and potentially soften my blade.
It's a risk one direction or another.
Looking at these cold shuts, they're not too deep.
They don't go all the way through; they're superficial.
I'm running short on time; I choose not to weld it.
I hope it doesn't come back to bite me.
♪ ♪
- Last time I was here, the blade held up beautifully,
but the handle broke.
- Your handle is coming apart.
♪ ♪
- Looking back on that now,
I realized that I've got to use a lot stronger handle material.
So I've decided to go with a synthetic material,
and I don't want to be known for losing for a handle
a second time around.
That just means I'm bad at handles now.
♪ ♪
- I do like Dorian's blade profile.
Such a slight little bend to the handle.
- Yeah. - I like it.
- The biggest thing about the handles that I've learned
from watching the competition is that the judges
don't like it when the knifes twist in their hands
or they can't get a good grip on it.
So I'm really taking my time
and make sure it's got good contours to it.
I have the basic shape of my handle now.
And it's coming together the way I wanted it to.
I'm going to glue my handle together
while I still have time.
- Bladesmiths, you have 30 minutes before testing.
- Last time, my tang broke in the handle,
because it was a through-handle and I screwed up my welding.
♪ ♪
This time it's a full tang. It's a lot of steel.
And it's a thick, strong blade.
- Ben, you know what it feels like to break a blad,
but what do you think you'd be feeling
if one of these guys broke your blade in this competition?
- I would be sad. - [laughs]
- The pins slide together great.
I'm right to the grinder to start working on that blad.
♪ ♪
- Chris and Dorian, they're at the point
of shaping their blades.
Caleb still doesn't have anything on his tang.
- I haven't put pinholes in my scales yet,
but since my blade has already been heat-treated,
my tang is still too hard for me to drill through.
Well, this is going swimmingly.
I'm panicking for sure right now.
I'm going to work on annealing the tang.
- Caleb finally got one of his pinholes in.
- I get to work on my second pin,
and it's not cutting whatsoever.
I have very, very little time right now.
If I don't get my handle glued on now,
then I won't have a handle whatsoever.
I'm going to stick with just one pin
and hope that's strong enough to hold it together.
But if not, then my handle's flying across the room.
- Caleb's only got one pin at the bottom of his blade.
Are there any concerns?
- It's an iffy situation.
It's not something I would say, "Oh, it's a fail."
♪ ♪
- Dorian is prepping his blade for an acid bath right now.
That's good, because we're requiring
that can to be off the blades.
- The acid etch is really important for me.
When I was peeling the can off,
I only got one full side peeled off,
and I've ground down the other three sides.
So if I pull this blade out of the acid
and I don't have that high-carbon steel on the edge,
then the competition is over for me.
♪ ♪
I see that I still have some mild steel on the blade
from the canister.
Thankfully, it's not on the edge.
- Well, Ben, we have five minutes left,
and that means it's time for you to head out.
- All right.
- See you, bud. - Yep.
- You can get some rest and get ready for your test.
- It was one of the parameters to peel the can off.
I made an honest attempt at it.
Hopefully, it's not going to be an issue moving forward.
- Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
Bladesmiths, this five-hour round is over.
- I'm not happy with my one pin.
I already had Ben break my handle,
and I'm really not looking to see Dave break it this time.
But all I can do is hope for the best right now
and hope that it holds through.
- All right, bladesmiths, in this five-hour No Can Can
competition we asked you to make your signature blades
that measure between 11 and 13 inches.
Now, unfortunately, we do have a parameter issue.
Dorian, unfortunately, you did miss parameters.
Dave Baker is going to tell you why.
- First off, Dorian, five hours, three cans,
and you turned it in a really good-looking knife,
and I wish I could test it.
But this was the No Can Can challenge,
and your blade still has cans on both sides of that.
It's nicely done, but with that can there,
we can't test it the same way we can test the other blade.
- You fought hard the entire time.
You had a lot of walls you ran up against,
but you never gave up.
Unfortunately, because you still have
can in your blade, I'm going to ask you
to please step off The Forge floor.
♪ ♪
- Thanks, bud.
I'm pretty pissed right now.
Working on the canister, not using the White Out
all just kind of led to me having an even worse time
trying to take that third canister off.
I still feel great about the knife that I turned in,
and I feel really honored to be here,
and I'm really happy that I got another chance
to come and compete.
- All right, gentlemen. Welcome to the strength tes,
the bone chop. Now, to test the strength
and overall construction of your blades,
I'll be chopping into these big old beef bones
as hard as I can.
- Chris, you're up first. You ready?
- Yes, sir. - Okay.
♪ ♪
Bone is a soft, yet hard material.
So it's a moment of truth.
We're going to find out if these cold shuts are
in fact a problem with my blade.
Last time, my tang broke, so I am as nervous as can be.
♪ ♪
I do not want to see my blade break again.
♪ ♪
- So, Chris, you did not suffer a catastrophic failure.
Your blade is in one piece, and your handle's all together.
- Beautiful.
- But there are a couple places
that have taken some small chips,
and there's some delaminations at the ricasso
that kind of go all the way across, but it's in one piece.
Well done.
- All right, Caleb, you're up. You ready?
- Let's do it. - Okay.
I'm pretty nervous. That one pin,
I'm just not sure that it's going to do its justice.
I'm having flashbacks from the last time I competed.
Handle's starting to crack and break.
And it's starting to look like my handle
might just do the same thing again.
♪ ♪
- Good job, man.
- All right, so, Caleb,
right off, it's a light, comfortable blade.
You've got barely any damage
that I could feel on this blade.
The only thing I would've really loved to see
is another connection to this handle.
- Me too.
- But other than that, good job.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths. Congratulations.
History did not repeat itself.
Your blades passed through that bone chop.
But we know you have a bone to pick with Ben,
but to get to that point we still got to test
and find out how sharp your blades are.
This is the sharpness test, the ballistics tubes slice.
♪ ♪
Chris, you're up first. You ready for this?
- Yes, sir. - Let's do this.
♪ ♪
- All right, Chris, let's talk about your weapon here.
First up, it's a heavier blade, and that's due to the fact
that you look at the blade here, it's very thick spine.
The first cuts are nice, but when we got to, like,
the fourth tube,
it met resistance to where it no longer cut.
It just got hung up on the blade.
But overall, it will cut.
- Thank you, sir.
- All right, Caleb, your turn, sir. You ready?
- Let's do it. - Let's do this.
♪ ♪
All right, Caleb, let's talk about your blade over here.
First up, a much lighter blade you have over here.
The edge is sharp enough to cut cleanly on the first two tubes.
Now, there's not enough weight to push the rest of this,
so that on the third one,
it cut into it, but that's about it.
It didn't cut all the way through.
But judging from the clean cuts,
overall your weapon, it will cut.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths. Well, this No Can Can
competition was definitely a difficult one.
And it ended with a very difficult decision.
The bladesmith going up against Ben Abbott
in the Beat The Unbeaten challenge is...
♪ ♪
Caleb. Congratulations.
Now, Chris, you fought extremely hard.
We want to thank you for that,
but unfortunately your blade didn't make the cut.
And Doug's going to tell you why.
- Chris, first up, I have to commend you
on that first challenge.
But at the end of the day, just the multiple cracks
you still hand on the spine,
the delaminations to the ricasso,
and your edge was the only one that took a chip on it,
for those reasons, you didn't win today.
- Fair enough.
- Well, Chris, it was a pleasure watching your work.
And we want to say thank you for your time here.
But unfortunately, your time in this competition has ended.
I'm going to have to ask you to please step off
The Forge floor.
- It's pleasure working with you, man.
- Good luck, brother. Good luck.
- Thank you. - Thanks you, Chris.
- I'm feeling pretty down.
In hindsight, I would have welded the cold shuts
and some of those delams.
But I'm glad my blade didn't break.
I'm glad my handle didn't break.
I'm just happy to have been here and hope to
maybe one day get to the finals.
♪ ♪
- Well, Caleb, congratulations, man.
That means you are joining us in the final round
of this competition, where you get a chance
to get some revenge on Ben Abbott
in a competition of your choosing.
How are you feeling?
- I feel great. I'm excited.
I'm going against the reigning 6 and 0 champin
Ben Abbott, and this is going to be a real challenge.
- In this final round of competition,
you will choose the weapon and the technique.
Are you going to choose to do a can in the final round?
- Absolutely not. - Absolutely not.
- He broke my blade last time,
and it's time for me to break his win streak.
6 and 0 is no more.
- Caleb, man, congratulations; you just came off a huge win
against two formidable opponents.
Now, not only do you have the chance at redemption here
but revenge as well, because you're going against the man
who knocked you out of this competition last time
and broke your blade,
our undefeated judge, Ben Abbott.
♪ ♪
- Yeah, Caleb is a relatively young smith,
but he's got a lot of talent.
He's definitely going to be difficult to beat.
Nice job, brother. - Thank you.
- How are we feeling, Ben?
- Feeling pretty good, ready to go.
- Now, there's a lot at stake here.
Ben, you're going up for your seventh
"Forged in Fire" champion title.
Caleb, you're here to take home your first
and get a check for $10,000.
Now, here's how it's going to work, gentleman.
In this final round of competition,
you guys are building a blade that Caleb chose
in an eight-hour-straight bladesmithing competition.
And you chose this...
♪ ♪
The Chinese war sword.
- Oh.
- The 17th-century Chinese war sword was used in battles
starting in the Qing dynasty through 20th century.
Primarily used by peasant armies,
this large two-handed weapon fatally slashed
and chopped through more than 3,000 Japanese forces
during World War II.
This deadly blade previously appeared on season
seven of "Forge in Fire,"
where both smiths struggled with the weight
and size of this massive sword.
But in the end, one smith's weapon
fell victim to the dreaded ice block.
- When you're building your Chinese war swords
make sure they fall within the following parameters.
Your blade length needs to be between 24 and 26 inches.
Need to have an S-shaped guard
and a handle between 10 and 12 inches.
Now, that is not including your pierced pommel.
- What were you thinking?
- So you know what you're going to be building,
but Caleb also had the opportunity
to choose what technique you can use to build your blades.
You're gonna be doing this.
♪ ♪
Caleb wants you both to use random pattern
Damascus steel to make your blades.
Now, Caleb, because this is your second shot
at the "Forged in Fire" champion title,
we're going to raise the bar a little bit.
Ben, you get the chance to put a twist on this competitin
and add a parameter that both of you guys must follow.
So what are you thinking?
- Let's go with a minimum layer count of 125.
- 125 layers. All right.
- Caleb has chosen something difficult for us to do,
so if he's that confident in his skills,
let's push it to a place where I'm confident in my skills
and up the layer count.
- As you've noticed, Doug and Dave
are not going to be joining us in this round.
It's just going to be the two of you and me observing.
Now, when that time runs out,
Dave and Doug are going to join us again
and put your blades through some multi-target tests.
Doug's going to start off with a dynamic KEAL test
on a ballistics dummy
and then move on to a cowhide bag.
Then Dave's going to check your strength and sharpness
on a bamboo forest chop and a sugarcane slice.
You guys have eight hours on the clock
to complete your very best blades.
Good luck. Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
Oh, boy, oh, boy. This one is very difficult.
And if you saw Ben's face when I revealed that blade,
he's not too excited about it.
- Mine, mine, mine.
- I do have the upper hand right now
picking out the blade.
But unfortunately, Ben wanted to add a twist
and make 125-minimum layer count.
Thanks, Ben.
I've got roughly 34 layers.
It's a really, really meaty billet.
That way, when I draw it out,
I can cut at least four or five pieces,
and I'll be well over the layer count.
♪ ♪
- Caleb's got the largest stack I've seen in this forge yet.
- I'm feeling pretty nervous right now going against Ben.
There's a reason why he hasn't lost yet.
♪ ♪
- This sword is huge.
I mean, it's 4 inches tall at the tip.
It's just a big, big monster.
My plan is to start with two billets that are really tal.
That's going to be my first stack.
So I stack up my billets with two pieces of a 80CrV2,
one of 15N20, and one of 1095.
And then I repeat that pattern four times with the 80CrV2
double ups on top and bottom. I really like 80CrV2.
It's a real tough steel that holds an edge well.
Coming into these five competitions,
I was kind of looking at it like,
"Well, you know, if I just win one
I still have a majority winning streak."
And now I've won two, and I am not about to lose this one.
♪ ♪
- Soon as my billets are at welding temperature,
I'm just going to set the welds.
- Caleb is taking a risk right now.
He's got a massive tower going on,
and any pressure going side to side
is going to potentially tip that whole thing over.
- It's extremely important to be patient right now.
If I just give it all it's got and compress it,
it could crack the rest of the billet.
♪ ♪
- Once I know the welds on both billets are set,
then I take the first billet and start drawing it out.
♪ ♪
My goal is to get two billets that are 20 inches long.
Because each billet I want to get four pieces
that I can stack up.
But before I stack up my final billet,
I just want to quickly double-check my math.
I've got two billets of 18.
Then I'm going to combine those together
to make a billet of 36.
I'm going to draw that out and multiply it by four.
So I need an extra layer. I'm short.
So I'm going to have to put one more layer in there
just to get past that mistake.
What I was thinking was, two layers
was actually two layers of the same metal put together,
and that's one layer.
[Bleep]. Glad I did that.
In a spectacular display of irony,
the parameter that I set has now put me behind Caleb.
So I'll add six more layers just to be sure.
Problems like this are what can cost me this competition.
I have a little billet for six layers,
then I've got two billets with 18 layers.
I'm going cut those two big billets into four each
and then stack it all together,
draw that out, make the sword.
- I've got 34 layers.
So I'm just going to get four stacks at five inches lon.
And that'll give me about 136 layers.
And that way, I can go ahead and get welded up.
♪ ♪
- Caleb's got that final forge weld together,
and he is at the point of drawing out an actual sword.
So it's fair to say he is ahead of Ben at this point.
- I realize that Ben's blade
is probably going to be flawless.
It usually always is, because he hasn't failed yet.
And I have to keep that in mind
that I stay on top of my game the entire time.
- So I'm starting the final restack.
I feel frustrated, because I was hoping
I could have been doing this an hour ago.
I've eaten up a lot of my time
trying to make up for arithmetic errors,
but it does feel good getting this final billet
ready to forge out my final shape and make it look good.
- Bladesmiths, you guys are halfway through.
You have four hours remaining.
- I've got my pierced tip, my blade is forged to shap,
and it's about time for me to get ready
to go into the heat treat.
There's a lot of material there that could decide
to warp or potentially crack.
So I'm pretty nervous going into this quench.
♪ ♪
- Caleb's now quenched.
- I don't actually see any warps.
Right now, I'm feeling good, and I'm feeling confident.
♪ ♪
- Now that I've got this blade shaped and profiled,
I've got to get this thing quenched.
Otherwise, I will not have time to do the rest of it.
♪ ♪
- Both of our smiths are now quenched.
- And there it is.
There's a warp.
- Uh-oh.
- Ben's found a bend in his blade.
Now, this is a pretty dangerous point
where their blades could snap in two.
- I'm doing a thing I've seen many times as a judge,
and I've seen it snap so many times.
- Ahh!
[together] Ohh!
- [bleep].
- But I know I cannot show up to this testing
with a warped blade.
That has sent people home.
- If anything goes wrong now, he's going to have to
completely start over with only three hours left.
- This could be the thing that gives me my first loss.
I'm--I'm just nervous.
If he loses one competition,
he will no longer be the unbeaten.
- If I push too hard, I could snap this blade in two.
♪ ♪
I'll take it.
My blade is straight, I'm really excited about that,
but I'm just running out of tim.
- You have two hours to complete your blades.
- "Let's make Chinese war swords."
- I'm sorry. - We got eight hours.
- So both Ben and Caleb have their general
profiles ground in, but they really need to start
focusing on the handles and the finish work.
♪ ♪
- Right now, everything's starting to come together,
but there's very, very little time left.
And I need to get this handle wrapped.
This handle is very, very big,
so I'm gonna try to wrap a quarter of the top
and the last quarter of the bottom
and leave the middle section shown.
For me to beat Ben,
it's really going to have to come down
to what I do within these last 45 minutes.
♪ ♪
- I want to put a little piece of artistic flair on this one.
This is a Chinese war sword.
Let's put a Chinese dragon on this thing.
- What you making?
- It's a dragon.
- Fancy.
- I think it looks really good.
- You're both looking great, but you only have
30 minutes left.
- Right now, I'm going to start grinding my edge,
getting it sharp.
I'm looking over at Ben's blade,
and he has just produced
this absolutely immaculate piece of work.
- Caleb, you feeling good?
- [laughs] Not compared to that.
- [laughs]
- But I feel I've got a nice sharp blade,
and I can't wait to see how mine
and his blades fare during this test.
♪ ♪
- I'm trying to make this sword look as
historically accurate as I can,
and a lot of the historical examples I've seen have Ito,
some Katana handle wrap material.
There's not a lot of time left.
I have to wrap as fast as I can.
So far, in an eight-hour competition,
this is the best thing I've made.
♪ ♪
- Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
Bladesmiths, put down your blades.
This eight-hour challenge is ove.
Well done! - [laughs]
- Jeez Louise. - Ohh.
- I'm looking at this sword, and I'm feeling good with it,
and I'm confident that it'll hold up during these tests.
♪ ♪
- Doug, Dave, guys, welcome back.
You missed a heck of a competition.
It was a close race.
Doug, what are your thoughts on Blue?
♪ ♪
- There's so many facets when you're looking
at this weapon.
It's forward-heavy, but it's not bad,
because it's a two-handed weapon.
But that handle, I mean, to have half of it wrappe,
it doesn't make sense, but that's on how it performs.
That remains to be seen.
- Okay, let's move over to Gold.
♪ ♪
- Yeah, right off the bat, the look is finished.
The handle wrap is complete.
The blade, with all its layers, are standing out really nicely.
We'll see how it plays with test,
but just picking it up, you immediately know
that you can make this blade move and control it.
- You guys ready? - Looking forward to it.
- Let's do this. - Let's bring the smiths in.
♪ ♪
Caleb, Ben, you had a very difficult build to do,
and you made it through in just the nick of time.
But the stakes are very high.
Ben, you're going for your seventh win in this Forge.
And, Caleb, you're trying to knock them off his pedestal
going for your first "Forged in Fire" champion title
and a check for 10 grand.
In order to find out which one of you
is taking home the title today, we're going to put your blades
through a few multi-target tests.
And up first, Dynamic KEAL with Doug.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths, two beautiful swords,
but now it's time to find out how lethal they are.
This is the Dynamic KEAL test.
♪ ♪
Shall we begin?
- Let's do. - All right, let's do it.
- I'm nervous right now.
If my blade gets stuck up on some bone,
that could really get caught up in the cowhide bag slice
and just wouldn't cleanly cut through it.
♪ ♪
- Holy cow.
♪ ♪
- All right, gents. On this Blue Anvil weapon,
when you pick it up, it's got that forward weight,
but being a two-handed sword, it actually is comfortable.
Now, in terms of the edge, well, pretty much demolished
this ballistics dummy.
Overall, it will KEAL.
♪ ♪
- Caleb's blade performed really well.
If my blade takes a bend when Caleb's did not,
it's over for me.
♪ ♪
- All right, guys, right off the bat,
I mean, it is a light weapon to wield.
The edge is very sharp, and in every cut,
it was very deep.
Overall, this weapon, it will KEAL.
♪ ♪
- All right, gentlemen,
it's time for the dynamic strength test.
We've got bamboo and cane in our bamboo forest over here.
Blue weapon is up first. You both ready?
- Let's do it.
♪ ♪
- All right, so the Blue Anvil sword,
it's a heavy piece, and it's very forward-weighted.
Edge held up nice when I run my finger down i.
There's one spot that I can feel something,
but literally have to run my fingernail
down that edge to feel it.
All in all, held up beautifully. Can't complain.
♪ ♪
- All right, as far as the edge goes,
no damage whatsoever.
The decorative touches are nice,
but what I really like about this blade
is its functionality.
All around, good blade. Really nicely done.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, this has been an awesome competition,
but the time has come for us to find out if,
Ben, you're going to remain undefeated.
Or if, Caleb, you're going to be first one
to take down the champ
and go home with the title of "Forged in Fire" champion
and get a check for $10,000.
Now, our judges had quite the discussion,
but they came up with a common decision.
The winner of today's "Forged in Fire" competition is...
♪ ♪
Ben Abbott, you have done it again.
Congratulations.
Now, Caleb, you built a beautiful,
strong, and sharp blade.
But unfortunately, it didn't make the cut toda.
And Dave Baker is going to tell you why.
- Caleb, you gave us a great blade
and a real performer. But what this came down to was
the final craftsmanship of the blade.
Ben's blade with that dragon and pattern
and the handle wrap was just more impressive.
- Absolutely.
- Now, Caleb, it's been an honor watching you work.
But unfortunately, at this point,
I'm happy to ask you to please step off
The Forge floor.
- Thank you, Ben. - Good fight, man. Good fight.
That was awesome. - Thank you so much.
- Thank you all. - Good job, Caleb.
- This competition was super tough,
so I'm proud of what I've produced today.
Ben might have beat me twice now.
He broke my blade the first time,
and then he beat me fair and square the second time,
but I'll have to get my revenge at some point.
♪ ♪
- Ben, that's it, man.
You are now 7 and o in this Forge.
- Holy cow. - Congratulations, buddy.
- Jeez Louise.
Oh, my God; I just won another competition
am now 7 and 0.
This is phenomenal. It's--
I'm almost kind of starting to get used to winning this thing.
- Among all your blades that I've ever wielded,
I'd say this is the best one.
- Thank you so much.
The only issue now, of course, is that every tie
I win I'm more and more, and more afraid of a loss.