Forged in Fire (2015–…): Season 1, Episode 7 - The Roman Gladius - full transcript

[Wil Willis voice-over] Since
the dawn of human civilization,

mankind has made weapons.

[fire whooshes]
- Whoa!

[Wil] Bladesmiths have
honed and perfected their craft

over thousands of years.

And now, for
the first time ever,

these men will go head-to-head

and put their skills
to the ultimate test.

Welcome to the forge.

[Wil voice-over] It starts
with a lump of raw steel

and a ticking clock,



and by the end of three rounds,

the bladesmiths must
deliver handmade weapons

that are works of art

as well as deadly
instruments of war.

These weapons must
survive explosive tests

as well as the scrutiny of
an expert panel of judges.

In the end, only one bladesmith
will take home $10,000

and be crowned a
Forged in Firechampion.

[dramatic music]

♪

[Jamie] My name is Jamie Lindel.

Years ago, I got into
medieval reenacting,

so a lot of things that I
create have to do with history.

[Maxon] My name
is Maxon McCarter.



My flare is my weird brain.

I do base some things
off historical stuff,

but otherwise, I sit there
and dream up something cool.

[Adam] My name is Adam Ison.

I'm a welder fabricator by day,

and I forge blades
and knives at night.

[Mareko] My name's
Mareko Maumasi.

After working in
restaurants as a line cook

for six or seven years,

I quit my job to take
on making knives,

and I've been happy ever since.

Gentlemen, welcome to the forge.

There are three rounds
in this competition.

Each round is
specifically designed

to test a different aspect of
the weapon-making process.

After each round,

you will hand your
blades off to our judges.

[Wil] Solo weapons
making expert J. Neilson,

rare weapons re-creation
specialist David Baker,

and edged weapons specialist

and martial artist
Doug Marcaida.

They will decide who
moves on to the next round

and ultimately
who will be crowned

the Forged in Firechampion

and walk away with
a check for $10,000.

[Wil] In front of you
on your anvils is a cloth.

Go ahead and lift that up.

That is a ball bearing of
high-carbon chromium steel.

Your challenge is to
take that ball bearing

and turn it into a fully
functional weapon.

[Mareko] Holy crap.

I've never worked
with this before.

[Wil] The blades themselves

must fall into the
following size parameters.

The length of the blade,
not including the tang,

must be between 9 and 13 inches,

and the overall
length of the blade

will not exceed 22 inches.

Just to push you even further,

you must also
include a hollow grind.

[Wil] A hollow grind
is the concave grind

running just below the
blade's cutting edge,

reducing the weight of the
blade while keeping it razor sharp.

You will have ten minutes
to work on your design

and three hours to
forge your blades.

Your time starts...

Now.

[rock music]

[Jamie] As far as
having a specialty,

I am a more a
jack-of-all-trades.

I decide I'm gonna
forge out a kukri.

It hacks down small
trees, much like a machete.

[Adam] When it comes to blades,

I like to add a Celtic
and Scottish twist.

I plan to make a
double-edged dagger.

My strategy is keep it simple.

Don't do anything fancy.

Just make sure it's functional

and it passes
destructive testing.

[Mareko] My passion
is making knives.

I'm definitely
following my dream

and knife making
and bladesmithing

really is the one
thing that I'm great at.

[Mareko] My blade
is a combination

between a bowie
knife and camp knife

that blends the
two styles together

to make a large chopping tool.

[Maxon] What I bring to
this competition is design.

I have an eye for lines,
and I know what looks good,

and I know what feels good.

I decided to do
a Persian fighter,

nice sexy blade.

The other guys should be scared

because my [bleep] looks good.

[Wil] Gentlemen,

your design period is now over.

You may now start forging.

♪

[Adam] I'm gonna
have to make a knife

out of this ball bearing.

Uh, I've never did that before.

Usually my blade steel,
it's all square and precut,

so obviously, it's
gonna be a challenge.

[J.] These are 2 1/2 inch
diameter ball bearings.

It's gonna take a while
for those to heat up.

[Jamie] Ball bearing.

The first problem
is how to hold on.

So I grind two flats.

Now I got a place
to hold it with tongs.

Bring the tongs over.

First thing they do...

[pop]

Top falls off.

[laughs]

[Jamie] This is why I
can't have nice things.

I'm now looking for
a new pair of tongs,

and they end up
working out really well.

So disaster avoided.

[Jamie] Now I got
a hot ball bearing.

At this point, I need
to draw it out into a bar

and start forging
my knife from there.

♪

Mareko's done something
really interesting here.

- He has actually made a stand.
- Yep.

A stand is crucial,

especially if you're
working with long handles

that are gonna be hanging out

and potentially just falling
down out of the forge.

[Mareko] You want that support.

I have always been really
good with working with my hands

ever since I was a little kid.

Hot.

I was always taking things apart

and trying to figure
out how they work.

[Wil] Mareko is pressing
out his steel now.

Wow.

[Mareko] When
I'm under that press

and trying to squish it
because it's such a slow motion,

it's also simultaneously
sucking heat out of it.

It feels like it's just
turning into stone.

I'm like, "Holy crap."

I relight, you know, put
it put it back in the forge

and just keep making trips
back and forth, back and forth.

Hot coming over.

It's a lot of work
running back and forth

moving that material.

I mean it's heavy.

And swinging the
heavy-ass hammer,

and that's a lot of work too.

♪

I felt like I'd just gotten
done running a half marathon.

I'm exhausted.

I don't even know if I'm
gonna finish this thing,

if I'm just gonna collapse
and pass out or what.

[Maxon] Little warm.

So I grew up off
the grid in Montana.

Living out in the woods,

I didn't have the resources
that most kids had,

so I drew hot girls with swords.

♪

[Dave] Maxon was
really squeezing that metal

to a pretty cool temperature.

I'm not sure that
he had it hot enough

because he didn't leave
it in the forge for that long.

So I'm hoping he's not
pushing cracks into his form.

[Maxon] This is
the fascinating part,

just making it a
straight and flat.

[Wil] Two hours, gentlemen.

You have two hours remaining.

♪

It's good to see Jamie
and the other guys

checking these measurements

to remind you the minimum
and maximum you can go with.

I have my profile forged in.

It's getting hot in here.

So now I have to
head to the grinder

and start removing
some of the scale.

♪

The one thing I'm
really keeping track of

is trying to keep my
edge thickness consistent.

Things can get all woogidy,

and I'm looking to
avoid the woogidy.

[Wil] Jamie's blade, the
profile is really coming along.

It has some curves
to it, man. It looks nice.

It's got beautiful curves to it.

[Dave] My only concern
about Jamie's knife,

it looked as though
he had brought it down

too thin to get a good
hollow grind on there.

[Wil] Could you explain what a
hollow ground blade looks like?

You want to start at a
thick point on your blade

and draw in, creating a concave
with the blade on both sides.

So basically, it's giving
your blade shoulders

and a narrow waist.

Exactly.

[Dave] What that hollow
grind's gonna give you

is a nice sharp cutting edge,

but still have the blade
supported by that spine.

♪

[Mareko] I've never
hollow grind before.

I understand how it works.

I've seen people do it, but
I've never done it myself.

And I start seeing
stress fractures.

What the hell am I gonna do?

They're small, though.

I got enough length.

I'll just grind 'em out.

[Wil] He does have
time to recover.

- Oh, definitely.
- No doubt about it.

Definitely does.

[Mareko] You know, I have
some room to play with.

I can grind those out

and go back to getting
that hollow in there.

[Wil] Gentlemen,

you have one hour remaining.

♪

[bleep]

Oh, we got a bar on the floor.

Taking a ball bearing
and then making the blade

I wanted to make, there's
a lot of forging involved.

Whoa.

Adam's really starting to
fight with that piece of steel.

[Adam] Starting
to feel the pressure

when I see people start
grinding and I'm still forging.

Adam is forging
out a gigantic knife,

and I can't help
but laugh a little bit.

It's just a huge knife.

- Wow.
- That's a beast over there.

[J.] Good God.

I hope that Adam
measures that blade.

Well, 13 was the
maximum, so we'll see.

[Adam] I did a couple
measurements for the blade.

♪

[bleep] [bleep].

Devastating.

[Adam] My blade is about 21.

[bleep].

Is this happening right now?

This sucks.

[bleep] [bleep].

[Wil]I hope that Adam
measures that blade.

It must be 16
inches long right now.

[J.] Well, 13 was the
maximum, so we'll see.

♪

[bleep] [bleep].

And I believe that concern
about Adam's blade was accurate.

[Adam] The moment I see
my blade is over specifications,

had to come up quick on my
feet to figure something out.

[Wil] He still has time

to correct his mistake.

[Dave] Yeah, but
here's the question.

Which end is he cutting on?

[Adam] I already had
my point on the front,

and I spent all this
[bleep] time on this tang,

and now I got to cut it off.

[J.] That blade
still looks huge.

[Wil] He didn't
chop off the tip at all.

Remember, we
need a finished blade.

We didn't say we
needed a finished handle.

♪

When you start
destructive testing,

the blade is more important
than the tang right now,

and holding its edge
is where it counts.

♪

♪

[J.] The more tired Mareko gets,

the more frustrated he looks.

30 minutes left,
and I'm still grinding.

I'm fixing the issues
with the stress fractures,

but I'm also trying to put
hollow grind on the edge

that I've never done before.

And so I'm crossing my fingers

that I'm gonna
get this thing done.

15 minutes.

You have 15 minutes remaining.

♪

[Maxon] After my
edges are cleaned up,

I realize that I've got
some stress cracks.

So there's 10 minutes left,

and I don't want to put
any more stress on it.

I'm worried that it's
gonna crack even worse,

so I'm done.

Maxon's blade is
sitting on his anvil.

Sitting on the anvil with
over eight minutes left.

[Wil] So is there anything that
Maxon could be doing right now?

Absolutely.

If I start doing
anything else to it,

I'm gonna have to
finish that part too, so...

Oh, it's making me nuts.

I want to rip this
table into pieces.

I wish I could be this
casual with $10,000.

Exactly.

Yeah, I could use
another hour or two?

Another hour, yeah.

2 1/2 minutes left

and these guys are
standing around chit-chatting.

[Maxon] Yes. Yes, it would.

Adam hasn't even
quenched his blade yet.

[Adam] The most crucial
part of this blade is the quench.

If it cracks, it's failed.

Come on, guys. Focus.

Let's finish this up.

[Adam] It was do or die.

And the pressure
goes up a notch.

[Wil] Ten, nine,

eight, seven,

six, five,

four, three,

two, one.

Gentleman, your
forge time is complete.

That's the most cardio
I've done in a long time.

I need some
whiskey on the rocks.

[Adam] Looking
back to the mistakes,

definitely bummed
that I couldn't finish

some aspects of the blade,

but I'm happy with how it looks.

[Maxon] I think my
knife looks good.

I'm disappointed
that it's got cracks in it,

but it is what it is.

♪

[Wil] Well, gentlemen,

now I'm gonna ask you
to turn your blades over

for the judges to examine.

Mareko, please
present your weapon.

[J.] I like the grind.
It's nice and even.

Got a little bit
of a slight twist,

and we do have a crack

that goes all the way through.

Well, nice hollow grind.

I mean, on a blade this thick,

you could've pushed
that further up,

but I understand
the time constraints.

I was really rushing to do that

'cause I'd never done
a hollow grind before.

Oh, okay.

Jamie, it's your turn.

♪

[Doug] Well,
Jamie, it's beautiful.

I mean, I love the hollow grind.

It feels good, even
on the upsweep.

This belly that you added
to it and the point over there,

you'll definitely be
able to thrust with this.

There's a small line on here,

and I can't tell if
it's a crack or not.

It doesn't go all
the way through,

but it's pretty
visible on one side.

[Wil] All right, Maxon.

♪

[J.] I like the shape.

Grinds look good.

I like you left a
bunch of heft in it,

especially for chopping.

Little bit of a wiggle
on the top edge here.

I've never used ball bearings.

[Maxon] I think I just
let it cool too much.

Well, you do have several
fractures in the blade.

I'm sure it probably was
from hammering on that steel

when it was cold.

I think it was the power
hammer that did it.

[Wil] All right, Adam.

♪

[Dave] Watching you move
the metal in the beginning,

it was impressive.

You kept the temperature up.

- Right.
- You kept working on it.

I actually don't see
any flaws in your blade.

So let's see.

Length.

So the specifications were?

The length of the blade,
not including the tang,

must be between 9 and 13 inches.

Unfortunately, your blade
is about 18 inches long.

Oh.

It's actually not
the correct grind.

A convex grind goes like
that, which is what you have.

Concave is the hollow.

♪

Adam, your blade
missed the length,

and it did not
have a hollow grind.

You did not make the cut.

Adam, you were doing a
great job moving that steel.

- I was really impressed.
- Thank you.

But those are just two
things we couldn't overlook,

so we had to cut you.

I understand.

[Wil] Adam,

please surrender your weapon.

[Wil] Thank you.

Thank you.

[Adam] Towards the end,

I kind of lost concentration.

That's what ultimately
sent me home.

If I had a little more time,

I could've fixed those mistakes

and probably had
a winning blade.

[Wil] All right, gentlemen,

congratulations on
getting your blades through

to round two.

Your challenge in
the second round

is to turn in a fully
functional lethal weapon.

You will have three hours
to complete this challenge.

You can use that time
to address the issues

that were brought up
to you by our judges,

but be careful

because you must
also design, fabricate,

and attach a handle
to your weapons

using the range of
materials provided for you.

At the end of this round,

your weapons will be subjected

to a strength
and durability test.

♪

Remember, at the
end of this round,

one of you will have
to surrender his weapon

and be dismissed from the forge.

Your time starts... now.

♪

[Mareko] In selecting
the handle material,

I'm gonna go with micarta.

It's really durable,
really traditional

on more of a tactical,
chopper kind of knife.

[J.] The first thing I'd
like to see is some repairs

going with those blades,
like the cracks and whatnot.

- Well, he's working his edge.
- That's all right.

He's probably seeing if
he can grind that crack out.

I'm not planning on addressing
the stress fractures in my knife

because the stress
fractures on my blade

are closer towards the tip,

which is good for me

because the chopping is
gonna be done in the middle.

So I'm just gonna
hope it survives.

♪

The vibe in the forge is tense.

Everybody's got a
crack in their blade,

so that is the first task.

Get rid of that crack.

I'm sanding because I want
to remove as little material

as I possibly can
from the blade.

The more weight you have,

the better it's gonna
be for chopping.

♪

15 or so minutes
into the competition,

and I'm sanding.

Half an hour, I'm sanding.

[J.] All right, come on, Jamie.

Stop hand rubbing that blade.

[Dave] He's either
lost that crack,

or it's not a crack at all.

Exactly.

The good news is, it
looks that that crack

was pretty superficial.

And that is a big relief.

♪

I'm rather surprised that Maxon

is cutting straight to a handle.

Right, he's got a lot of
blade issues to work on.

[Maxon] I pick out some
blue stabilized wood,

and I've got a hidden
tang on my knife,

and so I just start
grinding things away

until the tang goes
through the hole.

What do you think
of Maxon's technique

of sitting on a box,
crossing his leg?

That's definitely a new
grinding technique to me.

My big issue with thinning
that tang out more and more,

that's just gonna make
it a even weaker blade.

[Doug] And if he doesn't
address the cracks in that blade,

we're gonna have a break
dance-off between Maxon's blade

and Mareko's blade.

A break dance-off? [laughs]

Well, you know, if
these cracks aren't fixed,

it'll be very
interesting to see.

♪

[Mareko] I feel like I
definitely got my second wind

in this part of the competition.

I feel like the grinding
and the handle fit and finish

is what I'm great at.

Trying to get the
tang of my knife drilled

so I can use these
little tiny nut and bolt

that go in the handle.

- I like that.
- Always a good thing to see.

- More security.
- Yeah.

[drill squeaking]

[Dave] Well, if you
hear that sound,

you're starting to
overheat the drill bit.

[Mareko] I got the
first hole drilled,

and then the second
one is squealing.

I'm putting oil on there to
help encourage the cutting,

and I'm almost through.

- Ooh.
- And the bit breaks.

Oh, and it's in the hole.

[Mareko] This is not good.

I had this whole plan

built around the way I
was gonna build the handle,

and now I have to change that.

I'm totally screwed.

[bleep].

♪

I'm trying to get the
tang of my knife drilled,

and I'm almost through.

- Ooh.
- And the bit breaks.

Not happening.

He was trying to force
it through too much.

- In the hole.
- Yeah.

[Mareko] I'm starting
to get frustrated

because I had this whole plan,

and now I have to change that.

[Dave] He just
picked out a brass pin,

so maybe he's abandoning
the mechanical connections

'cause he can't get
a big enough hole.

[Mareko] I whip up the epoxy,

and pin it together with
a little 1/8 inch brass rod.

I get all my clamps
on and everything,

so then I take it
over to the grinder,

with all the clamps
and everything on there.

I'm not feeling rushed,

but I'm pushing myself to get
things done sooner than later.

[Dave] Mareko's
shown us a lot ofofll...

- I have... I agree.
- In the second challenge.

[J.] He's thinned things out.

He's actually put
his grind back in.

It looks a lot better now.

[Wil] One hour, gentlemen.

You have one hour remaining.

I'm kind of starting to
feel the crunch a little bit.

There's an on switch somewhere.

Ah, there we go.

I'm kind of riding that edge of,

"What is the fastest
way for me to do this?"

[Dave] We have a
handle helicopter.

And I find a nice
piece of stabilized burl.

I got a feeling Jamie's
gonna go pin-less.

[Dave] No.

[Jamie] I didn't go for a
pin because at this point,

I don't have enough time.

[Doug] To finish
off with just gluing,

he just brought himself down

in equal standing
with the other guys.

That's definitely a
big structural mistake.

You want some kind
of mechanical lock

to keep that blade
in the handle.

[Wil] Gentlemen,

you have 30 minutes remaining.

♪

I want to get the tang to
fit the brass guard piece

nice and snug,

and I just can't
seem to get 'em to fit.

Maxon, I think the
nerves are getting to him.

[Maxon] I'm running out of time,

and I'm committed to it, so...

- Don't do it. Don't do it.
- Let's see. Let's see.

- There he goes.
- Oh.

I'm grinding my tang round

to fit the holes that
I put into the brass.

[Dave] Oh, boy.

Yeah, it's just gotten
ridiculous at this point.

It's about the
diameter of a pencil.

[J.] There's not gonna
be a tang left pretty soon.

You know, go with an ice pick.

That is the stronger part
of the blade right now.

[Maxon] I'm running out of time.

At this point, I have
the pieces that I made,

so I just got to make
something work.

I hate to say this,

but I've no faith in the
in structural integrity

of Maxon's knife.

♪

Ten, nine,

eight, seven,

six, five,

four, three,

two, one.

Gentlemen, stop working.

♪

Not the greatest,

but it should work
for chopping things.

[J.] All right, bladesmiths.

This is the ice chop.

This is gonna test the
strength of your forged blades

and the ability to
retain their edges.

It does six whacks, and
we'll see how it goes.

Jamie, you're up first.

[Jamie] Let's do this.

[J. grunts]

♪

Take that.

Well, Jamie, the
edge held up very well.

No deformation.

Everything's still in line.

No chips. Very comfortable.

Not having a pin still
concerns me over time,

but for this chop, it
seemed to do just fine.

Did a number on the ice too.

[J.] Good job.

Mareko, let's take
a look at your blade.

Okay. I hope it doesn't break.

I hope it doesn't break.

I'm concerned about
the stress fractures.

♪

[J. grunts]

♪

It held up very well.

The cracks concern me.

They didn't let loose.

It had enough weight
to hammer into that ice,

and your hollow grind
split the ice very well.

They handle didn't turn around,

didn't move, stayed
nice and solid,

and it kind of
obliterated the ice.

- Nicely done.
- Thank you.

[J.] All right, Maxon.

You're up next.

[Maxon] I'm
confident in my blade.

I've got a few red
checkmarks on it,

but you know,

solid 80%.

♪

[[J.]] All right, Maxon.

You're up next.

♪

[Dave] Oh, no.

There you go.

[J.] Well, Maxon, we didn't have
to worry about the stress fractures

because the tang snapped.

I mean, it's a shame 'cause
you had a nice beefy blade here.

Your hollow grind
was nicely done,

and with the heft on here,

I was really looking forward
to ripping some ice up.

♪

[Wil] Bladesmiths,

in this competition,

only two of you may go
through to the final round.

Maxon,

you did not make the cut.

Maxon, you had a
great design working.

Your hollow grinds were
nice and deep, clean.

Yep.

[Dave] But grinding
your tang so thin

and then having
that handle snap off,

that's just not something we
can let go in this competition.

Maxon, please
surrender your weapon.

All right.

[Maxon] The judges
have it totally right.

There's no real decision there.

My blade broke. Theirs didn't.

I had no idea what to
expect coming into this,

but the judges were great,

and the other contestants
are just chill dudes

with great facial hair.

♪

[Wil] Mareko, Jamie,

congratulations.

You guys have made it
through to the final round,

and you're both one step
closer to receiving a check

for $10,000.

When you showed up
here, you took a ball bearing

and you forged that
into signature blade.

But now, you will work
on a blade of our choosing.

It's one of the most famous
weapons from history:

the Roman gladius.

[Wil] The word "gladius"
means sword in Latin.

It was also adopted as the name

for those who would fight
each other to the death

for the entertainment
of the imperial crowds,

as depicted in the Hollywood
blockbuster Gladiator.

The gladius was the primary
weapon of the Roman legionary,

with a fearsome V-shaped
tip for thrusting and stabbing

and a double razor sharp
edge for slashing and slicing.

Originally a Spanish weapon,

the Romans were so
impressed by its simple design

and lethal effectiveness,

they adopted it as their own

and used it to
help them establish

one of the greatest empires
the world has ever known.

Your challenge is to
forge a Roman gladius.

It must be an authentic
fully functioning version

of that deadly weapon

that dominated the
battlefields of Europe

for nearly a thousand years.

[Mareko] I'm feeling
slightly out of my element.

I've never made
a gladius before.

You will have five days
to forge this weapon.

Just to give you the
best possible advantage,

we are sending you back to
your home forges to complete it.

At this point, I'm feeling okay.

I've forged blades
similar to gladius before,

never in a very traditional way,

but I'm ready to beat feet
to the forge and get working.

At the end of five days,

you will return and
present your gladiuses

to our panel of expert judges.

They will put them
through a series of grueling

and stressful tests.

Ultimately, they will decide
who walks away with the title

of Forged in Firechampion.

[Wil] Good luck, bladesmiths.

We will see you in five days.

- Good luck.
- You too.

♪

[Mareko] I'm glad to be
back, working in my own shop.

A little nervous
about the challenge

'cause I've never built
a knife like this before,

especially this long.

My plan is to start
forging the Damascus

for all my fittings as
well as for the blade.

It's only gonna take me all day

'cause it's a bit of a process.

I started with 27
layers of steel.

Now they're all one solid bar.

I'm gonna cut it into pieces,

restack them on
top of each other,

multiplying that layer count.

This'll make the blade
as strong as it can be.

I'm gonna do this one
more time after this

to give myself
around 680 layers.

I'm gonna honor the
history of this weapon,

but I am definitely gonna
put a few twists on it myself

based on my
experience with knives.

♪

[Jamie] First day,

my priority is to get
the Damascus billet

all welded up and forged out.

Into the fire it goes,

and we got to crank some heat.

I'm going for just
over 100 layers.

That's gonna give
me a nice, bold pattern.

It's gonna be
really eye-catching

and stand out to the judges.

♪

[Jamie] Mareko as a
competitor is gonna be difficult.

I really feel like I got
to pick my game up

in order to compete
with whatever he's doing

on the west coast.

It's just about time to
cut it up into four pieces

and restack it,

and that'll give me
my 108 layers of steel.

♪

[Mareko] Day two.

I forged the blade out

to the rough shape
of the gladius,

and then I started
grinding on it.

The blade is 21 1/2 inches long,

and it takes a lot of grinding.

♪

It's a cool blade profile.

I mean, you can see
all the different layers,

approximately 675
different layers in here.

Now I'm gonna start working
on the handle material.

All my handle components,

they all need to be drilled

and have these
pins made for them

so that they come together
as one solid construction

of a handle.

[Jamie] It's day three.

I have 30 more hours,

and I'm really happy
with how it's looking so far.

Time to get this
guy into heat treat.

♪

This is where
things can go wrong.

I just need to make
sure that I take my time,

go slowly

just to make sure that I
get the heat treat right.

♪

[bleep].

The fact that my
blade took a warp

pisses me off.

I'm levering on the blade,
pushing down, pushing down,

and that warp is just sticking.

It's got a little
wibble to its wobble.

If I had enough time,

I would go through
another heat treating cycle,

but my time is limited,

and I just got to make
up for that one flaw

by going to the nines
with everything else.

It's time to start
working on the handle.

I'm gonna add some
bronze to the mix,

olive wood, and buffalo horn.

It's gonna look nice.

[Mareko] It's the
end of day four.

I'm starting to feel
a little overwhelmed

with this assembly.

That handle was a bit
of an ambitious build,

but I'm too far
along to turn back.

So I got... I got to
make it happen.

♪

[Jamie] There's one day left,

but I want to put just
a little bit more onto it

that'll signify my
hand in the work.

It says, "Fortune
favors the bold."

♪

It's gonna take a miracle
to really get it all done.

[bleep].

[Wil] Jamie, Mareko,

welcome back to the forge.

[Wil] I hope that your five days
at home were very productive.

How'd you get on, Jamie?

I feel like it went pretty well.

One thing that I tried
to really incorporate

was some references
back to Roman times.

I made a 108-layer billet.

Around the pommel,
I carved in Latin,

"fortune favors the bold,"

and that kind of spoke to
some of the chances that I took.

Pretty happy with the
product that I produced.

[Wil] Great.

Mareko, tell us about
your overall design

on your gladius.

I made my gladius from 675-layer

high-carbon Damascus.

It also features blond
birch burl in the handle

for a contrast
between the black grip,

which is made from
ancient bog oak.

It was a good challenge
to really kind of stretch

my abilities and see
what I was capable of.

All right, gents.

The weapon of choice
for the Roman legionnaire

was the gladius.

Not only did they use it
to chop through enemies

on the battlefield,

they also used it to
cut and slice their way

through the sometimes
hostile terrain of the lands

that they conquered.

Each of your blades will
now be put through three trials.

[Wil] Doug.

For the slice test, I
will take your weapon

and slash through branches,
vines, and sugarcane,

so different layers,
different consistencies.

Jamie, you're up
first. Are you ready?

I am.

♪

[Jamie] I'm feeling
a little nervous.

There's a lot of stuff
to slow a blade down

when you're swinging
through there.

So I don't know.

♪

[Doug] Definitely a
good impact weapon.

Only thing was at the end
as you're doing more shots,

it starts to rotate with
a very rounded handle,

but it is sharp,

and for this test, it can cut.

Mareko, you're up
next. Are you ready?

I'm ready.

[Mareko] I'm a little bit
nervous considering my gladius

has never actually
been put to any testing.

♪

Very light on the hand,

very sharp.

A lot of the sugarcanes
have very clean cuts,

despite being surrounded
by these branches.

The handle construction
felt secure in my hand.

Beautiful cut. Good job.

Thank you very much.

[Doug] Now it's
time for the kill test.

To test the lethality
of your weapon,

I will slash, cut, and
stab this ballistics dummy

that is dressed like a
gladiator in the Roman era.

[Doug] Jamie, you're
up. Are you ready?

Absolutely.

♪

Well, that lacerated all
the way through to the bone,

destroyed the
clavicle completely,

disemboweled here.

Thrust went through.

And that's
definitely a kill shot

all the way into the spine.

This will kill. Good job.

Thank you.

Mareko, you're next. You ready?

I'm ready.

♪

That's all the way through.

[Doug] Disemboweled
on that pass.

Throat all the way to the spine.

It will kill. Good job.

Thank you.

Now to test the
strength of your weapon,

your gladius we'll be placed
on this dynamic testing rig.

This rig is calibrated
to deliver a strong blow

similar to a Roman
legionnaire from his era.

Your gladius that
will strike our gladius

that is made of 1055
high-carbon steel

three times or until
one of the blades break.

[Doug] Jamie,

your gladius is already
loaded into this rig.

- Are you ready?
- I am.

[Jamie] At this point,
I'm a little nervous.

Any time you hit steel
on steel, you know,

any number of bad
things can happen.

But fingers crossed,
and we'll see how it goes.

In three, two, one, engage.

Jamie, your gladius is
already loaded into this rig.

- Are you ready?
- I am.

In three, two, one, engage.

[Doug] Engage.

[Doug] Engage.

♪

Well, your edge held
all the way through.

Little indentations
there, nothing major.

This crushed right
through the sword,

so this would've
broken the soldier's arm.

That's a strong sword. Good job.

Thank you.

[Doug] Okay, Mareko, you're up.

I'm ready.

My biggest fear

is that it's gonna make contact

and it's just gonna break.

[Doug] In three,
two, one, engage.

[Doug] Engage.

♪

[Doug] Three, two, one, engage.

♪

[Mareko] I am relieved
that it made it through.

It's like watching
your little baby.

You know, you've spent all
this time making this thing,

and it's still on one piece.

I'm thinking, "Thank God."

And it held up.

More scratches to the blade.

[Doug] That is a strong
blade, sir. Congratulations.

Thank you very much.

[Jamie] Honestly,

at this point,
it's a difficult call.

The blades both
performed really well,

so I don't know whether
or not I'm gonna go or stay.

♪

Oh, man.

Some crazy stuff.

What a contraption that was.

All right, gentlemen.

We'll start with Jamie's weapon.

[J.] He did a beautiful
Damascus blade.

There was a distinct bend.

Definitely curves
off to one side.

See there's big shiny
silver on the edges,

and I worry that he
brought things down too far

and actually weakened his edge.

And I think that's where we get

a lot of this
deformation from there.

[Dave] He's put
an amazing amount

of detail into this sword.

The pattern on the
blade is spectacular.

The "fortune favors
the bold" is a nice touch.

I think it's a beautiful piece.

[Doug] Design-wise,
because it's rounded,

it did roll in my hand,

preventing me
from really putting

a lot of better cuts in there,

but it's sharp enough
to cut through the vines.

It's a very beautiful blade.

Moving on to Mareko's weapon.

[Dave] Right off the bat,
I think his handle bent.

They're talking
about the handle.

In the strength test,
the tang started to bend

within the handle.

It actually takes
almost an S-bend,

but, you know, his
design is beautiful.

[Doug] Well, this
blade, the balance alone,

the fit and finish, the
way it felt in the hand,

it is a performance blade.

In this slice test, the
handle construction

did not roll off my hand.

I think it performed much
better than Jamie's blade.

Taking into consideration
all these factors,

have you judges
reached a decision

about who's gonna be the
Forged in Fire champion today?

Absolutely.

Tell me 'cause I don't know.

I don't know who it's gonna be.

♪

[Wil] Jamie, Mareko,

in just five days,

you have both produced
a pair of gladius swords,

and you've both
done outstanding work.

Mareko, that is one of
the most beautiful pieces

we've ever had on the show,

but man, that
handle is an issue.

Having a tang that's
gonna bend or deflect

in a combat situation,

that's a serious problem.

[Wil] Comments for Jamie?

Jamie, beautiful Damascus blade.

You went a lower layer count,
so you get a bolder pattern.

The only issue I really
have with the blade,

you had some damage on
the edge in the strength test,

and also you actually
gave us a blade

that had a bend down it

before we even
started the testing.

That hurt you in the
strength test some.

Mm-hmm.

There can only be one champion.

♪

Jamie,

you are the Forged
in Firechampion.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Mareko, your blade
did not make the cut.

Mareko, I honestly
love your sword,

but functionality is the key

and just cannot overlook
that handle coming apart.

Mareko, please
surrender your weapon.

Definitely sucks,

but it feels really good
to have had a chance

to challenge myself and to
step outside my comfort zone

and do a good job at it.

Jamie, congratulations.

You'll be receiving
a check for $10,000.

Thank you.

Do you feel like
fortune favored the bold?

I do.

I feel like I took some chances,

and those decisions helped
me when this competition.

For me, it's all
about the detail.

The choice of materials,
the way you laid it out,

that's just really,
really nice work.

Thank you.
I feel good.

It's $10,000.

Definitely helped me out.

Maybe might find some time
for a little vacation

somewhere here or there.

We'll see. We'll see.
[chuckles]

♪