Forged in Fire (2015–…): Season 2, Episode 5 - Viking Sword - full transcript
Four bladesmiths are subjected to one of the most extreme challenges of the season when they must salvage material from a car and forge a blade in a race against time. Only two will speed through to the final round where they'll have five days to create a Viking sword. In a shocking finale they are pushed to their limits but only one can be crowned the Forged in Fire champion.
- Last year,
a competition was created
to test the nation's
best bladesmiths.
Thousands responded,
and this year,
craftsmen
from all over the country
and all walks of life
have come forward
for their chance
to claim the title.
- I'm gonna be the next
"Forged in Fire" champion.
- I want to win!
- It would be
a life-changing moment.
- Welcome to the Forge.
Now the Forge returns
with challenges
unlike anything
ever seen before.
You'll be using this.
Skill and ingenuity
will be pushed to the limit.
Some will rise to the challenge.
Some will fall,
but only the best
will be crowned
"Forged in Fire" champions
and take home $10,000.
[dramatic music]
♪
- My name is Morgan Medland,
and I am 20 years old.
If someone were to think
that I can't win
because I'm so young,
all I have to say to them
is, "Just watch me."
- My name is Mardi Meshejian.
I started as a jeweler,
but I just switched metals.
I like to push the boundaries
on what knives are.
- I'm Travis Wuertz.
I own a company
that manufactures accessories
and tools for knife makers,
and I made my first real knife
when I was 12.
- I'm Tom Ward.
I am an architectural
fabricator.
My job entails making
fancy things for people
who have more money than sense.
♪
- Bladesmiths,
welcome to the Forge.
You are here to participate
in three rounds of competition
designed to test every aspect
of your edged weapon making
capabilities.
At the end of each round,
you will present your work
to our panel of expert judges.
American Bladesmith Society
Master Smith, J. Neilson.
Historic weapons re-creation
specialist, David Baker.
Edged weapon specialist,
Doug Marcaida.
They will decide which of you
is the "Forged in Fire" champion
and leaves here
with a check for $10,000.
All right, gents, this is
where things get exciting.
In your first round
of competition,
you'll be using this.
[tense music]
♪
Your first round challenge
is to cut, saw,
or disassemble from this car
all the materials you need
to forge a blade
of your own design
in your signature style.
- [bleep], a car.
[bleep].
[laughs]
I do not typically
use car parts to make blades.
- The blades themselves
must fall within
the following parameters:
the length of the blade,
not including the tang,
must be between 9 and 11 inches.
The overall length
of your weapon
must not exceed 22 inches.
Keeping up with the car theme,
at the end of round two
your finished weapons
will be tested and judged
based on how they perform
in a tire slice
and their ability
to cut through jumper cables.
You will have four hours
to salvage your materials
and forge your blades.
Good luck, bladesmiths,
you'll need it.
Your time starts... now.
[rock music]
Which metal
would you go for, Jay?
- I'd be going
for the coil springs.
- Dave?
- Either the coil springs
or the axles.
- Doug?
- I'd go for the tires.
We use rubber knives
for training.
- [laughs]
So immediately these guys
look like they're
on the NASCAR circuit.
They're just ripping the tires
off of these vehicles.
- I've never directly
pulled pieces off a car
for my own use.
The piece of metal that I go for
is the coil spring.
Brute force and ignorance.
[laughs]
- Tom got that out
in record time.
- He certainly did.
- The weapon I'm making
is a competition cutter,
which has a big, like,
very brutal blade.
Very robust.
And I'm thinking
that the challenges
that they've issued us would
require a really robust blade.
The plan is
to take all the pieces
of spring, uncoil them,
and then assemble them
into a construction
that I can forge weld
into a bar.
- It's not gonna be easy
to get those loose parts
forged into a billet.
- If I don't get this billet
done properly,
everything that I do
in the next steps
could possibly fail and put me
out of the competition.
♪
- All right, guys,
coming in hot on this side.
I've made several blades
from car parts.
Actually, most of the blades
I started off making
were made from leaf springs
from large tractors and cars.
I'm making a large
chopper-hunter mash up,
is I guess
what you would call it.
It's got a spear tip point on it
and excellent chopping
capabilities.
My game plan is to work
as fast as I possibly can
without messing up.
What's up?
- What are you aiming for?
I'm looking at
that rod in there.
- I'm looking at the spring.
- I got a spring off the back.
- Do you?
- Yeah.
I'd rather try to get
one of these and...
- Here.
Yeah, I'll go take the back one.
You take this one.
- Yeah.
- Mardi went ahead
and told Morgan
to take his coil spring,
and he's going for the axle.
- I'm pretty resourceful
with auto parts.
I've done that much
in my career.
I just didn't want to mess
with too many pieces.
Coil springs can be very skinny,
so I would have to
cut that into pieces
and combine it
and put it together,
and it seems like a lot of work.
I'm going to make a nice seax.
I wanted to make
a nice, beefy cutting blade.
That way it has a lot of support
for going through
difficult material
like tire and jumper cables.
♪
- Oh, man,
that's a railroad hammer.
♪
- So Travis is getting
that coil spring.
- It looks like they all went
for the coil springs,
except Mardi.
- I'm going to make
a recurved blade.
Definitely some
Persian influence.
Nothing chops
quite like a recurved.
I go ahead and go
for the coil springs
'cause once I have the torch
I know I can just cut
those suckers right down there,
make whatever loops.
They'll all be the same length.
I'll straighten the suckers out.
I'll forge weld
the sons of bitches together,
and I have a blade.
But I just keep having
problems with the torch.
Fire, fire, fire!
[chuckles]
- Well, it's a good thing
we have fire safety
on standby today.
♪
- Travis is back
on the hot wrench.
- The thing is, we've seen
that the hot wrench
is a slow way to do this,
that there's a lot
of flammable material
left around that piece.
Go to the grinder.
- Yeah.
- Cut to the chase.
- That took a little longer
than I meant to,
but now I can stack up
as much as I can
and... and hope for the best.
- Bladesmiths,
one hour has elapsed!
You have three hours remaining!
[rock music]
- I am incredibly relieved
right now
that this piece
of steel is solid.
I'm getting less stressed,
and I'm getting more excited
about the piece.
♪
- Well, if we're going
by the beard competition,
Tom is way ahead of everyone.
He's got that awesome beard.
- Oh, there it goes!
- Which he just tucked in.
- That's how he keeps it.
♪
- Oh, [bleep].
- Oh, we got... we got a hot mess
happening over here.
- It's still not
sticking together
as well as what I need it to.
- Oh, wow.
- Oh, man.
- All the gaps in between there,
you can't just force 'em closed.
- Yeah, that's... yeah.
- You gotta work them out.
He's really got to change
his game plan up.
- I don't want to be seen as,
like, some little, young punk
who thought he could do this
but really can't.
[tense music]
An hour and a half has passed by
and I've decided to
just scrap my first project.
It's not worth the time
that I'm putting into it.
So I'm gonna go ahead and
cut another solid piece off.
[rock music]
- This is a smart move.
- Very smart.
- A smart move
by a young competitor.
- I'm behind these other guys,
starting over fresh,
and I've really got
to pick things up
and forge
and move a lot of metal.
♪
- Well, looks like Mardi's
way ahead of the competition.
- Mardi's steel
is looking great.
- Yeah.
- Heck, he could just go
to the grinder right now.
♪
- He's got a lot of those
heavy hammer marks to grind out
and it takes time.
♪
- [bleep].
- What is that?
- Oh, no, he's got
a chip in the edge.
Do you see that?
- Oh, yeah.
- Oh, it's a grinder bite.
- One of the aluminum wheels
bumped the bevel of the blade
and made a little...
A little blemish there,
but I still have plenty
of meat in the blade
to clean that up
and take care of it.
♪
- I'm regretting my decision
to use the coil springs
and forge welding them together.
Son of a [bleep].
Ah.
- Travis is really
fighting with that billet.
- I just keep seeing
little problems with it.
[bleep].
I think I'm going home.
- Travis is in trouble now.
- Yeah.
- [bleep] this.
Just too [bleep] stupid.
Just too [bleep] stupid.
- Once I got to forge welding,
I didn't really stick my pieces
together very well.
- Travis is really
fighting with that billet.
- Once I see that basically
everybody is done forging,
and I still have pieces
of coil spring
that are just...
not sticking...
All right.
I tossed that sucker.
- Gone.
- He's done.
He's done with that.
- Way to go.
[rock music]
♪
Travis has one big hunk
of axle there.
I have no doubt he's gonna get
that piece of metal hot
and just start
drawing it out beautifully.
- It's a fresh start,
solid steel,
but I ain't got much time.
- Bladesmiths, you have
90 minutes remaining!
90 minutes!
[rock music]
- I'm going to heat treat,
and I'm going to be incredibly
cautious in my setup.
I made sure the oil
was screaming hot.
- We got a quench.
- Oh, he's got a little bend
in it, it looks like.
- He kept heating that blade
on the outside of the forge
on one side and not both.
- But he has an hour
to fix that.
- So now it's a real
[bleep] blade.
I don't know how the [bleep]
that happened.
♪
- I feel like I'm definitely
back in the game.
I'm definitely
feeling better now.
- Look how quickly Morgan
came out with that shape.
♪
- The most important part
of this blade
is gonna be getting
the heat treat correct
and not pinging
or cracking the blade at all.
- There he is,
he's in the quench
and that looked beautiful.
- Morgan's in the quench.
- I didn't feel any pings
and the blade stayed
very, very straight.
I'm very happy
I didn't mess up again.
[chuckles]
That would have killed me.
- This is great.
We're seeing people take
the time with their quench.
This should always
be done this way,
as opposed to these
speed quenches
that we constantly see
that make me so crazy.
- There we go,
Travis in the oil.
- Once I threw away
my first blade
and had nice steel
to start with,
I had no problem.
- 15 minutes!
Bladesmiths, you have
15 minutes remaining!
- I didn't realize they all
already quenched their blades.
I have to start thinking
about when I'm doing mine.
- The big question right now
is Mardi with this heat treat.
He's got a very, very thin,
very wide blade.
There's a lot
that can go on there.
If he ends up with a problem,
he's gonna have to fix it fast.
♪
All right, we got a quench.
- Good.
- Well, we got a nod.
- Oh, that looks pretty good.
- I'm feeling great.
I've got this.
- Ten, nine, eight...
- It's very sharp.
Took all that hair off my arm.
[chuckles]
- Five, four, three,
two, one.
Bladesmiths, time is up.
Please stop all work.
- Good man.
- Hey.
- That was fun.
- Great job.
- Time's up,
and I'm feeling pretty good.
I'm pretty excited to see
what they have to say about it.
- I have a perfectly good,
operational blade.
It doesn't have
quite the finish and stuff
that I would normally
like to do,
but overall,
I'm pretty happy with it.
[suspenseful music]
♪
- Bladesmiths,
your first round challenge
was to harvest usable steel
from a wrecked car
to build a signature blade
of your own design.
Tom, please present your blade
to the judges.
[rock music]
- Well, Tom, it's so clean
and this is still round one.
Kudos for going the extra mile
to turn in a beautiful piece.
- You went as far
as to sharpen this edge.
That could be dangerous
going into round two.
Are you a little worried
about going into a second round
and having to deal
with that blade?
- I'll just tape it up.
It'll be fine.
- Brave man.
- [chuckles]
- Travis, you're up next.
♪
- When you initially started
with the coil spring,
it looked like maybe you were
getting a little
impatient with it
and then started
trying to force it.
What happened?
- [bleep] happened.
A lot.
- Once you shifted
gears, though,
you had this shaped
within 20 minutes.
Good job.
- Mardi, please present
your blade to the judges.
[rock music]
- Mardi, I like the seax design.
For such a broad knife,
it's thin and light.
And as I always say, it doesn't
have to be thick and heavy
to be a strong knife,
so nicely done.
- Thank you.
- I saw at one point you
kind of hit a spot down here,
got a big wiggle in it.
- When I was tapering the tang,
I bumped into one
of the aluminum drive wheels.
- Gotcha, okay.
Well done.
- Morgan, please present
your blade to the judges.
♪
- Well, I gotta say,
you got some skills.
- Thank you.
- You do have
a slight bit of a twist
when looking down the blade,
but it's nothing really big.
- Well, Morgan, the choices
you made show such maturity
in the skills that you do.
It goes to show that you
don't have to be an old guy
to be able to make great blades.
That's beautiful to see,
especially with the craft
that we're trying
to push over here.
- Would anybody
lend me a knife, please?
[laughter]
- Well, bladesmiths,
the judges now need some time
to make a decision.
Thank you.
♪
[dramatic music]
♪
- It's nice to sit down,
finally.
- Right?
- Okay, judges, these
are the most finished blades
we've ever had come out
of round one, as a group.
Let's go ahead and start
with Tom's blade on the end.
- He's actually given us
a bit of a false edge
up on the tip here.
Not sharp, but sharp enough
that it's gonna, you know,
split that rubber
when it goes into the tire.
He's obviously designed
for the challenges.
- All right, let's move on
to Travis' blade.
- I've got to give props.
This is a round one challenge,
and he's turned in
an almost finished blade.
- He did a very nice job
on the grind,
and, you know, the finish
is just beautiful.
- I think my chances are good.
I got a blade.
It's hard and meets
the length requirements.
- Let's move on
to Mardi's blade.
- I like where
Mardi is going with this,
but his plunge grinds
are extremely off-center.
- Oh, yeah.
All in all, there are
defects in this blade
that I'm not seeing
in the other two
that we've looked at so far.
- All right, l's talk
about Morgan's blade.
- Got the integral guard.
I mean, it's a little bit off,
but that's easy to clean up
during the fitting up process.
Little bit of a twist
in the blade.
In a lot of our challenges
that we've had in the past
those would be acceptable,
but the bar
has been raised here.
- So, judges,
have you made a decision?
- Yeah.
- All right,
let's go tell our smiths.
[suspenseful music]
♪
Well, bladesmiths,
the quality of work
that you turned in
has made this
one of the toughest decisions
the judges have
ever had to make.
♪
Mardi,
your blade did not make the cut.
- Each and every one of you
turned in a beautiful blade,
and it's because of that we had
to look at the finer details.
Your plunge grinds were uneven,
and there were more creases
and visible waves on your blade
compared to the others,
and for that we have
to let you go.
- Thank you for the opportunity.
- Mardi, please
surrender your weapon.
- I'm sad to go,
but I feel I did my best,
and I think I did myself,
my craft,
and everything
I represent justice.
♪
- Bladesmiths, congratulations.
You've made it through
to the second round.
Your challenge is to craft
and attach a handle
to your blades using the range
of materials provided to you,
turning them into
fully functional weapons.
You will have three hours
for this round.
You can use that time
to address any flaws or issues
that were identified
with your blades.
It will then be tested
for strength and durability,
slicing through a car tire
and cutting through
jumper cables.
I'll remind you,
at the end of this round,
one of you must
surrender his weapon
and leave the Forge.
Good luck, bladesmiths.
Your time starts now.
[rock music]
- And here we go.
- All right.
- The shop is like a pool table,
and we got three balls bouncing
around the corner pockets.
- I really want to make a handle
that gives the blade
a chance to perform...
Oh, there we go.
Now we're talking.
And the black micarta
that I'm going with
is some of the most
durable material available.
- There's a sidestep
and do-si-do.
- You saw that, right?
- Yeah.
- Nice pirouette.
- I try.
[rock music]
- Let there be fire.
♪
- There's always a chance
for things to go wrong.
Don't you break on me,
you mother[bleep] bit.
I don't even keep track
of the things
that go wrong anymore.
It just happens.
You adapt, you move on,
you find another blade,
and you don't stop.
Just keep building.
Just keep building.
Just keep building.
- I am making
a three-piece knife,
which is called that because
it's just the knife blade
and then two handle scales
on either side.
The KISS principle:
keep it simple, stupid.
♪
I stopped working on my handle
so that I could go regrind
my point to make it stabbier.
- Reprofiling on the tip
of Tom's knife.
- Want to make sure
you got a good point.
- Stabbier is definitely
a technical term.
[laughs]
[rock music]
- My strategy this round
is, I'm gonna look
for a stabilized wood block
and make a comfortable handle.
♪
I need to put
some sort of guard on it,
so that's gonna pose an issue.
That is insanely prettier.
It's all down to the details,
and I need to make sure
I get these details right.
I added this piece in here.
That way when you're stabbing,
your hand doesn't slide forward.
I needed more metal.
- Bladesmiths, you have
only two hours remaining
to finish your work.
[rock music]
- Yeah.
The glue-up is always
a moment of tension,
because you're dealing
with a material
that's setting
and you can't stop it.
And so once
the chemical reaction starts,
it's...
You just got to get it done.
♪
[bleep].
[groans]
I crack the front of the scale.
- Tom made a crucial mistake.
- I might be screwed.
Ugh, [bleep].
[]
- This is the big moment.
It's time
to clamp the scales down.
The glue's on.
♪
[bleep]!
I crack the front of the scale.
I can see that the piece
is fractured cleanly,
and if I get the handle scales
flat and flush
down onto the knife
I can just hold it there
while the epoxy sets,
and it'll be totally fine.
♪
- This guy moves at
110 miles an hour
at all times.
- It might look like
I'm running frantic...
At least if I sweat enough,
I won't have to piss.
I just don't like wasting time.
You count my steps,
I bet I put a couple miles in.
- He might be a little bit
of a mad genius.
- Do I have an extra?
Huh.
- We'll see.
[rock music]
♪
- I have most of my rough
grinding done on my handles.
Now it's time
to pull my pieces apart
and glue them all together.
- My problem with this technique
that Morgan's using
is he's gonna
be putting big dents
in that handle material
right where it matches up
with his tang.
- [bleep] damn it.
- He just cracked his material.
He just broke his handle.
- That's it.
- Oh, crap.
- Cut it off,
back to square one.
- Mm-hmm.
- I can just glue that little
piece right back in place
and it should just
lock right back in.
I hate this part, waiting.
Sucks.
- Bladesmiths, you have
just 30 minutes remaining
to finish your work.
- Hey, Tom, if I change the
belts, am I gonna mess with you?
- No, you go for it.
- All right.
- You're a vy considerate human.
[humming]
- I am worried
about this handle,
simply because he didn't
put a guard on that.
It's a very skinny handle,
and the profile of that tip
is not made for thrusting.
- [groans]
Cramp.
[chuckles]
[dramatic music]
- Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five,
four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, drop your tools,
stop your work.
[applause]
- [bleep] yeah.
Holy [bleep], dude.
- Feel good.
I'm done.
Everything is out of my hands.
I think they'll want
to take turns
swinging it over their head
just because it feels good.
- All right, bladesmiths,
this is the strength test.
We're gonna do the tire slice.
I'm gonna take
each of your blades
and attempt to thrust
the tip through
and cut all the way
around these tires.
This will definitely test
the strength and durability
of your weapons.
Morgan, you're up.
Are you ready?
- Yeah.
- Good answer.
- I think my blade
is a little bit sexier
than all of theirs.
It turned out better than
what I was planning on doing.
[tense music]
♪
- Well, Morgan,
that worked very well.
- Thank you.
- Looking at the edge,
I do see some shiny spots,
so you might have lost
a little bit of your edge.
But overall, it looks like
most of it held up.
Nice job.
- Thank you.
- Travis, you're up.
Are you ready?
- Yep.
Even though this blade
is curved,
I think it will stab very well.
Plus, it has a double guard that
really fits nice in the hand.
[tense music]
♪
- I was able to have pretty good
control with the handle,
and that recurve, it seemed to
slide through that tire cleanly.
Got a little bit of edge roll,
but overall, nicely done.
- Thank you.
- Tom, you're up.
Are you ready?
- As ready as I'm gonna be.
- That works.
- At this point I've done
everything that I could,
but in general you always
are a little bit nervous
when something you've made
is about to be put to the test.
♪
- Well, Tom,
your edge held up very well,
but bit of trouble
getting that tip in.
Really had to shove
to get that in there...
And that thin handle...
But everything held together,
and I don't see any shine
on your edge at all.
So good job on that.
- Thank you.
- Smiths, good job.
Now I'm gonna pass you off
to Doug for the next test.
- Bladesmiths,
this is the sharpness test.
To test your weapon's edge,
I'll slash through
these jumper cables.
If it's sharp, it should cut
right through cleanly.
Morgan, you're up.
You ready?
- Yeah.
[tense music]
♪
- Well, Morgan, your edge held.
It cut cleanly
through the cable,
but your handle's a little
on the skinny side,
kind of rolls on the hand.
But nonetheless, it will cut.
Good job.
- Thank you.
- Travis, you're up.
Ready?
- Yep.
♪
- I like your handle, Travis.
- Thank you.
- When it slashes,
you can almost feel
the curve of your blade.
It's a sharp blade
and for this test, sir,
it will cut.
Good job.
- Thank you.
- Tom, it's your turn.
Are you ready?
- Yes.
[laughs]
- Good answer.
♪
Tom, your blade definitely
has that nice curve to it.
A little rounded on the handle
here, though, once again.
Even in other movements,
I can feel it
want to roll around.
But it will cut.
- We're all neck and neck.
I mean, like, right there.
I am very interested to hear
what the judges have to say.
[suspenseful music]
♪
- Bladesmiths,
each of you has forged
a beautiful weapon
that performed very well
in our tests.
Unfortunately,
only two of you can move on
to the final round.
The judges have made
a final decision.
It's time for one of you
to surrender his weapon
and leave the Forge.
The bladesmith
leaving the forge is...
[]
- Bladesmiths, our judges
have had to evaluate
every facet of your blades.
Only two of you can move on
to the final round.
The person leaving the Forge...
♪
Is Tom.
Your blade did not make the cut.
- Tom, you got
a great piece there.
All of the knives
had pros and cons.
Your piece wasn't
developed as much
for the testing
as your competitors
and that showed
in the tire slice.
Had more trouble
with the penetration
and more trouble with
the blade wandering around,
and that's a big reason
we have to let you go.
- That's fair.
Thank you.
- Tom, please surrender
your weapon.
- I feel like I did great.
I made a functional blade
out of a coil spring from a car.
I didn't outright
fail at anything.
I just wasn't quite as good
as the other ones,
so that's okay.
I'd do it again.
[laughs]
♪
- Morgan, Travis,
congratulations.
You're both moving on
to the final round.
When you arrived here,
you forged blades
in your signature style,
of your own design.
Now we're sending you home
to forge an iconic blade
that is thousands of years old.
♪
- Oh, yeah.
- The Viking sword.
The Vikings, originating
from Scandinavia,
raided wide areas
of northern and central Europe
from the 8th to 11th centuries.
The Viking sword was derived
from the Roman spatha
and was seen as a matter
of high prestige and wealth.
The large double-edged weapon
was often used in battle
along with the shield.
It often had a fuller running
along the length of the blade,
increasing the strength
and flexibility
while also reducing the weight.
The hilt and pommel provided
balance to the weapon,
helping the swordsman to swing
the blade at his enemy.
This iconic weapon
has been immortalized
in films like "King Arthur."
♪
It must be a working version
of that deadly weapon.
You will have five days
in your home forge.
At the end of five days,
you will return
and present your finished
Viking swords to our judges,
who will then subject them
to a series of tests.
Only after those tests
are complete
will they declare one of you
the "Forged in Fire" champion,
who receives a check
for $10,000.
- The Vikings had said
the best blade was quenched
in the piss
of a redheaded virgin.
I don't know
any redheaded virgins,
but I imagine
oil will be just fine.
- Good luck, bladesmiths.
We'll see you in five days.
- Good luck.
- Good luck, man.
[rock music]
♪
Today is day one
of the Viking sword build,
and just want to get
my layout nice.
Your layout's pretty important.
There's nothing worse
than running around
with a 36-inch piece
of really hot steel
in a non-feng shui environment.
♪
I kind of rummaged
through the farm scrapyard.
This is actually
an arm off a chisel plow.
It's spring steel,
tougher than hell.
So I figure
since I have good steel,
I'm not gonna do
a pattern-welded blade.
Strike while it's hot.
I'm gonna do something
that's gonna perform
without the likelihood
of failure.
I think it just kind of laughs
at my hammer at this point.
Day one, I feel good because
essentially
I'm figuring out the tools,
and so tomorrow?
Put them to use.
♪
- Game plan on day one
is to make my Damascus billet.
What really sets our blades
apart is gonna be the artwork.
I figure if I'm gonna
make a Damascus billet,
I might as well make it
complicated and look nice.
Normally we've got, like,
two guys that do this.
You can actually
see the pattern already.
Those are the actual layers
and what it's gonna look like
when it draws out.
That's looking good.
I like that, I like that a lot.
I'm just gonna clean it
really quick and call it a day.
♪
- Those little
whooshes are still enough
to take off eyelashes.
Well, day two, I have my steel
in the basic shape
of the Viking sword.
So we're gonna start forging
in the fuller and the bevels.
So the fuller down the middle
makes a lighter, stronger blade,
or a stronger blade
of given weight.
And they're cool.
By the end of the day,
I plan to have a finished blade.
There we go.
What could go wrong, right?
♪
Everything's lightening up,
and everything's
coming in straight,
so I'm gonna
dangle it in the forge
and quench it once.
I don't know
what's gonna happen here,
and I don't know
what the forge is gonna do
in the vertical position,
and I don't know
if I can get an even heat.
All right, here we go.
I don't know, even, if I'm at
the right temperature.
Oh, that's gonna happen!
Uh-oh.
♪
Dun-dun-dun.
♪
Pretty straight.
Ow, still hot.
♪
It ain't done, but it will kill.
- Today is day three,
and my plan is to finish up
my blade completely.
[rock music]
At the very tip of my blade
my steel didn't forge well,
so I want to draw out
that whole end
so that I can then grind
all of that weld off.
♪
If I have an uneven heat,
it'll cause my blade
to warp when I quench,
or it'll heat treat unevenly,
which will produce
soft spots in my blade.
This is make or break
moment for any blade.
There's always stuff
that goes wrong.
Ooh.
[bleep].
♪
Oh, [bleep] it.
That would be it.
So I feel really good
about how hard my blade is,
but I won't really know
until later, for sure.
[rooster crows]
- So it's day four.
My concern is my blade
is not as hard
as it's supposed to be.
I like intentionally
breaking stuff,
not having stuff break on me.
So this morning I'm just
gonna do a few tests.
If anything's gonna happen,
I'm gonna find it
before the judges do.
Nothing like testing.
♪
I'm no longer concerned
about my steel.
Took quite a bit
to break off that tip,
so it seems tougher than hell.
I am pretty sure
it's gonna withstand anything
the judges throw at it.
[bleep] damn it, knock on wood.
[knocks]
♪
I made good progress today.
I'm sitting with a very nice,
very symmetric,
and almost finished blade,
and so tomorrow
it's on to handle.
♪
- Today is day four.
I really need to get my blade
done and presentable,
otherwise I'm screwed.
♪
Nice and tight.
Let's cut some crap.
♪
Hmm, [bleep], that sucks.
The delamination, little bit
seems to have separated enough,
got coconut in it.
I really need to figure out
how to get these out.
♪
I think I might have lost
my heat treat from the weld.
Just in case, I'm gonna have
to re-heat treat my blade.
[exhales]
[bleep] me.
No. [bleep].
I'm trying to heat treat this
with the handle on,
but I can't get
the blade itself hot enough.
It's still flexible,
which is not good.
Salvageable?
No.
Should have just left it.
♪
[snap]
And that was my blade.
I am so [bleep].
Just broke my blade.
I've got to figure out
something and power through
and turn something in.
[bleep].
[]
- Travis, Morgan, welcome back.
You've had five days
at your home forge
to work on your Viking swords.
Travis, how did it go?
- It was interesting.
You know, I wasn't exactly sure
what steel I was working with,
but I know it's
tougher than hell.
I'm happy with the way
it turned out.
Maybe it's a little heavy,
but it felt good to me,
so we'll see how it does.
- Great.
Morgan, how'd it go?
- I had some stuff go wrong
with the blade.
I had a couple delaminations
in my Damascus.
I went back and I braised
them, I lost my heat treat,
and when that happened
and my blade cracked,
that was pretty rough.
- All right, gentlemen,
your weapons will now be put
through a series of three tests.
Up first is the kill test.
Doug.
- Bladesmiths,
this is the kill test.
The Viking sword was designed
to be a single-handed weapon,
used to breach through
an enemy's defenses,
delivering a thrust,
a chop, and a slice.
To test how lethal
your weapon is
I will breach through
this simulated sword,
and then deliver
a thrust, slice,
and chop
on this ballistics dummy.
Let's see how much lethal damage
your weapon can do.
Travis, you're up.
Are you ready?
- Yep.
- I need Travis' blade
to just fail,
otherwise I'm screwed.
[rock music]
♪
- Well, Travis,
you weren't kidding
when you said
it was a little bit heavy.
Recovery's
a little bit difficult,
but once you get it going
the sharpness of your edge
definitely will cleave
through anything in its path.
If you had a little bit more
weight in the back over here,
that would have really
definitely
counterbalanced the blade.
But nonetheless,
that's a beautiful-looking
sword.
This, sir, will kill.
- Thank you.
- Morgan, you're next.
You ready?
- Yep.
- Let's do this.
- All right.
[rock music]
♪
- I was really
striving for perfection.
So you take a risk
and sometimes it pays off
and sometimes it doesn't.
- Okay...
Morgan, there are
a couple of issues
that we have here
with your sword.
Number one, with the handle.
It's loose.
My biggest concern
is on your blade itself.
Not only do I see cracks.
I actually see holes
in your sword.
Uh...
♪
Morgan, due to the issues
you have with your blade,
for safety reasons
we will not be able
to test your sword.
That being said, though,
thank you for
sticking with the challenge
and presenting us
with a weapon today.
- Gentlemen, because we cannot
test Morgan's sword,
we will not move forward
with any other weapons tests.
- I knew it was coming.
There was no doubts about it,
so, I mean, it kind of sucks,
but, you know, it is what it is.
♪
- Morgan, Travis,
you had five days
at your home forges
to create your own version
of a Viking sword.
You both made valiant efforts.
Travis, congratulations.
You are the
"Forged in Fire" champion.
[rock music]
- It's been fun, man.
- Yeah.
- Morgan, I'm sorry.
You did not make the cut.
- Morgan, you are one
of the youngest smiths ever
to grace this forge,
but despite that,
you showed so much maturity
from round one,
where you fell behind,
and made it all the way
to the finals.
- Morgan, please
surrender your weapon.
♪
- Morgan, thank you.
- Thank you.
- Yeah, I definitely
agree with the decision.
You know, I didn't win,
but it's a pretty good feeling
to know that
I can make it this far,
and I'm not that little kid
in the backyard
tinkering around anymore.
- Travis, congratulations.
You are the
"Forged in Fire" champion
and will be receiving
a check for $10,000.
♪
- You got a very,
very nice looking sword.
- Thank you.
- Travis,
it's a beautiful blade.
It performed very well.
- This was a hell
of an experience.
It really tests a person's
ability to adapt under fire.
♪
a competition was created
to test the nation's
best bladesmiths.
Thousands responded,
and this year,
craftsmen
from all over the country
and all walks of life
have come forward
for their chance
to claim the title.
- I'm gonna be the next
"Forged in Fire" champion.
- I want to win!
- It would be
a life-changing moment.
- Welcome to the Forge.
Now the Forge returns
with challenges
unlike anything
ever seen before.
You'll be using this.
Skill and ingenuity
will be pushed to the limit.
Some will rise to the challenge.
Some will fall,
but only the best
will be crowned
"Forged in Fire" champions
and take home $10,000.
[dramatic music]
♪
- My name is Morgan Medland,
and I am 20 years old.
If someone were to think
that I can't win
because I'm so young,
all I have to say to them
is, "Just watch me."
- My name is Mardi Meshejian.
I started as a jeweler,
but I just switched metals.
I like to push the boundaries
on what knives are.
- I'm Travis Wuertz.
I own a company
that manufactures accessories
and tools for knife makers,
and I made my first real knife
when I was 12.
- I'm Tom Ward.
I am an architectural
fabricator.
My job entails making
fancy things for people
who have more money than sense.
♪
- Bladesmiths,
welcome to the Forge.
You are here to participate
in three rounds of competition
designed to test every aspect
of your edged weapon making
capabilities.
At the end of each round,
you will present your work
to our panel of expert judges.
American Bladesmith Society
Master Smith, J. Neilson.
Historic weapons re-creation
specialist, David Baker.
Edged weapon specialist,
Doug Marcaida.
They will decide which of you
is the "Forged in Fire" champion
and leaves here
with a check for $10,000.
All right, gents, this is
where things get exciting.
In your first round
of competition,
you'll be using this.
[tense music]
♪
Your first round challenge
is to cut, saw,
or disassemble from this car
all the materials you need
to forge a blade
of your own design
in your signature style.
- [bleep], a car.
[bleep].
[laughs]
I do not typically
use car parts to make blades.
- The blades themselves
must fall within
the following parameters:
the length of the blade,
not including the tang,
must be between 9 and 11 inches.
The overall length
of your weapon
must not exceed 22 inches.
Keeping up with the car theme,
at the end of round two
your finished weapons
will be tested and judged
based on how they perform
in a tire slice
and their ability
to cut through jumper cables.
You will have four hours
to salvage your materials
and forge your blades.
Good luck, bladesmiths,
you'll need it.
Your time starts... now.
[rock music]
Which metal
would you go for, Jay?
- I'd be going
for the coil springs.
- Dave?
- Either the coil springs
or the axles.
- Doug?
- I'd go for the tires.
We use rubber knives
for training.
- [laughs]
So immediately these guys
look like they're
on the NASCAR circuit.
They're just ripping the tires
off of these vehicles.
- I've never directly
pulled pieces off a car
for my own use.
The piece of metal that I go for
is the coil spring.
Brute force and ignorance.
[laughs]
- Tom got that out
in record time.
- He certainly did.
- The weapon I'm making
is a competition cutter,
which has a big, like,
very brutal blade.
Very robust.
And I'm thinking
that the challenges
that they've issued us would
require a really robust blade.
The plan is
to take all the pieces
of spring, uncoil them,
and then assemble them
into a construction
that I can forge weld
into a bar.
- It's not gonna be easy
to get those loose parts
forged into a billet.
- If I don't get this billet
done properly,
everything that I do
in the next steps
could possibly fail and put me
out of the competition.
♪
- All right, guys,
coming in hot on this side.
I've made several blades
from car parts.
Actually, most of the blades
I started off making
were made from leaf springs
from large tractors and cars.
I'm making a large
chopper-hunter mash up,
is I guess
what you would call it.
It's got a spear tip point on it
and excellent chopping
capabilities.
My game plan is to work
as fast as I possibly can
without messing up.
What's up?
- What are you aiming for?
I'm looking at
that rod in there.
- I'm looking at the spring.
- I got a spring off the back.
- Do you?
- Yeah.
I'd rather try to get
one of these and...
- Here.
Yeah, I'll go take the back one.
You take this one.
- Yeah.
- Mardi went ahead
and told Morgan
to take his coil spring,
and he's going for the axle.
- I'm pretty resourceful
with auto parts.
I've done that much
in my career.
I just didn't want to mess
with too many pieces.
Coil springs can be very skinny,
so I would have to
cut that into pieces
and combine it
and put it together,
and it seems like a lot of work.
I'm going to make a nice seax.
I wanted to make
a nice, beefy cutting blade.
That way it has a lot of support
for going through
difficult material
like tire and jumper cables.
♪
- Oh, man,
that's a railroad hammer.
♪
- So Travis is getting
that coil spring.
- It looks like they all went
for the coil springs,
except Mardi.
- I'm going to make
a recurved blade.
Definitely some
Persian influence.
Nothing chops
quite like a recurved.
I go ahead and go
for the coil springs
'cause once I have the torch
I know I can just cut
those suckers right down there,
make whatever loops.
They'll all be the same length.
I'll straighten the suckers out.
I'll forge weld
the sons of bitches together,
and I have a blade.
But I just keep having
problems with the torch.
Fire, fire, fire!
[chuckles]
- Well, it's a good thing
we have fire safety
on standby today.
♪
- Travis is back
on the hot wrench.
- The thing is, we've seen
that the hot wrench
is a slow way to do this,
that there's a lot
of flammable material
left around that piece.
Go to the grinder.
- Yeah.
- Cut to the chase.
- That took a little longer
than I meant to,
but now I can stack up
as much as I can
and... and hope for the best.
- Bladesmiths,
one hour has elapsed!
You have three hours remaining!
[rock music]
- I am incredibly relieved
right now
that this piece
of steel is solid.
I'm getting less stressed,
and I'm getting more excited
about the piece.
♪
- Well, if we're going
by the beard competition,
Tom is way ahead of everyone.
He's got that awesome beard.
- Oh, there it goes!
- Which he just tucked in.
- That's how he keeps it.
♪
- Oh, [bleep].
- Oh, we got... we got a hot mess
happening over here.
- It's still not
sticking together
as well as what I need it to.
- Oh, wow.
- Oh, man.
- All the gaps in between there,
you can't just force 'em closed.
- Yeah, that's... yeah.
- You gotta work them out.
He's really got to change
his game plan up.
- I don't want to be seen as,
like, some little, young punk
who thought he could do this
but really can't.
[tense music]
An hour and a half has passed by
and I've decided to
just scrap my first project.
It's not worth the time
that I'm putting into it.
So I'm gonna go ahead and
cut another solid piece off.
[rock music]
- This is a smart move.
- Very smart.
- A smart move
by a young competitor.
- I'm behind these other guys,
starting over fresh,
and I've really got
to pick things up
and forge
and move a lot of metal.
♪
- Well, looks like Mardi's
way ahead of the competition.
- Mardi's steel
is looking great.
- Yeah.
- Heck, he could just go
to the grinder right now.
♪
- He's got a lot of those
heavy hammer marks to grind out
and it takes time.
♪
- [bleep].
- What is that?
- Oh, no, he's got
a chip in the edge.
Do you see that?
- Oh, yeah.
- Oh, it's a grinder bite.
- One of the aluminum wheels
bumped the bevel of the blade
and made a little...
A little blemish there,
but I still have plenty
of meat in the blade
to clean that up
and take care of it.
♪
- I'm regretting my decision
to use the coil springs
and forge welding them together.
Son of a [bleep].
Ah.
- Travis is really
fighting with that billet.
- I just keep seeing
little problems with it.
[bleep].
I think I'm going home.
- Travis is in trouble now.
- Yeah.
- [bleep] this.
Just too [bleep] stupid.
Just too [bleep] stupid.
- Once I got to forge welding,
I didn't really stick my pieces
together very well.
- Travis is really
fighting with that billet.
- Once I see that basically
everybody is done forging,
and I still have pieces
of coil spring
that are just...
not sticking...
All right.
I tossed that sucker.
- Gone.
- He's done.
He's done with that.
- Way to go.
[rock music]
♪
Travis has one big hunk
of axle there.
I have no doubt he's gonna get
that piece of metal hot
and just start
drawing it out beautifully.
- It's a fresh start,
solid steel,
but I ain't got much time.
- Bladesmiths, you have
90 minutes remaining!
90 minutes!
[rock music]
- I'm going to heat treat,
and I'm going to be incredibly
cautious in my setup.
I made sure the oil
was screaming hot.
- We got a quench.
- Oh, he's got a little bend
in it, it looks like.
- He kept heating that blade
on the outside of the forge
on one side and not both.
- But he has an hour
to fix that.
- So now it's a real
[bleep] blade.
I don't know how the [bleep]
that happened.
♪
- I feel like I'm definitely
back in the game.
I'm definitely
feeling better now.
- Look how quickly Morgan
came out with that shape.
♪
- The most important part
of this blade
is gonna be getting
the heat treat correct
and not pinging
or cracking the blade at all.
- There he is,
he's in the quench
and that looked beautiful.
- Morgan's in the quench.
- I didn't feel any pings
and the blade stayed
very, very straight.
I'm very happy
I didn't mess up again.
[chuckles]
That would have killed me.
- This is great.
We're seeing people take
the time with their quench.
This should always
be done this way,
as opposed to these
speed quenches
that we constantly see
that make me so crazy.
- There we go,
Travis in the oil.
- Once I threw away
my first blade
and had nice steel
to start with,
I had no problem.
- 15 minutes!
Bladesmiths, you have
15 minutes remaining!
- I didn't realize they all
already quenched their blades.
I have to start thinking
about when I'm doing mine.
- The big question right now
is Mardi with this heat treat.
He's got a very, very thin,
very wide blade.
There's a lot
that can go on there.
If he ends up with a problem,
he's gonna have to fix it fast.
♪
All right, we got a quench.
- Good.
- Well, we got a nod.
- Oh, that looks pretty good.
- I'm feeling great.
I've got this.
- Ten, nine, eight...
- It's very sharp.
Took all that hair off my arm.
[chuckles]
- Five, four, three,
two, one.
Bladesmiths, time is up.
Please stop all work.
- Good man.
- Hey.
- That was fun.
- Great job.
- Time's up,
and I'm feeling pretty good.
I'm pretty excited to see
what they have to say about it.
- I have a perfectly good,
operational blade.
It doesn't have
quite the finish and stuff
that I would normally
like to do,
but overall,
I'm pretty happy with it.
[suspenseful music]
♪
- Bladesmiths,
your first round challenge
was to harvest usable steel
from a wrecked car
to build a signature blade
of your own design.
Tom, please present your blade
to the judges.
[rock music]
- Well, Tom, it's so clean
and this is still round one.
Kudos for going the extra mile
to turn in a beautiful piece.
- You went as far
as to sharpen this edge.
That could be dangerous
going into round two.
Are you a little worried
about going into a second round
and having to deal
with that blade?
- I'll just tape it up.
It'll be fine.
- Brave man.
- [chuckles]
- Travis, you're up next.
♪
- When you initially started
with the coil spring,
it looked like maybe you were
getting a little
impatient with it
and then started
trying to force it.
What happened?
- [bleep] happened.
A lot.
- Once you shifted
gears, though,
you had this shaped
within 20 minutes.
Good job.
- Mardi, please present
your blade to the judges.
[rock music]
- Mardi, I like the seax design.
For such a broad knife,
it's thin and light.
And as I always say, it doesn't
have to be thick and heavy
to be a strong knife,
so nicely done.
- Thank you.
- I saw at one point you
kind of hit a spot down here,
got a big wiggle in it.
- When I was tapering the tang,
I bumped into one
of the aluminum drive wheels.
- Gotcha, okay.
Well done.
- Morgan, please present
your blade to the judges.
♪
- Well, I gotta say,
you got some skills.
- Thank you.
- You do have
a slight bit of a twist
when looking down the blade,
but it's nothing really big.
- Well, Morgan, the choices
you made show such maturity
in the skills that you do.
It goes to show that you
don't have to be an old guy
to be able to make great blades.
That's beautiful to see,
especially with the craft
that we're trying
to push over here.
- Would anybody
lend me a knife, please?
[laughter]
- Well, bladesmiths,
the judges now need some time
to make a decision.
Thank you.
♪
[dramatic music]
♪
- It's nice to sit down,
finally.
- Right?
- Okay, judges, these
are the most finished blades
we've ever had come out
of round one, as a group.
Let's go ahead and start
with Tom's blade on the end.
- He's actually given us
a bit of a false edge
up on the tip here.
Not sharp, but sharp enough
that it's gonna, you know,
split that rubber
when it goes into the tire.
He's obviously designed
for the challenges.
- All right, let's move on
to Travis' blade.
- I've got to give props.
This is a round one challenge,
and he's turned in
an almost finished blade.
- He did a very nice job
on the grind,
and, you know, the finish
is just beautiful.
- I think my chances are good.
I got a blade.
It's hard and meets
the length requirements.
- Let's move on
to Mardi's blade.
- I like where
Mardi is going with this,
but his plunge grinds
are extremely off-center.
- Oh, yeah.
All in all, there are
defects in this blade
that I'm not seeing
in the other two
that we've looked at so far.
- All right, l's talk
about Morgan's blade.
- Got the integral guard.
I mean, it's a little bit off,
but that's easy to clean up
during the fitting up process.
Little bit of a twist
in the blade.
In a lot of our challenges
that we've had in the past
those would be acceptable,
but the bar
has been raised here.
- So, judges,
have you made a decision?
- Yeah.
- All right,
let's go tell our smiths.
[suspenseful music]
♪
Well, bladesmiths,
the quality of work
that you turned in
has made this
one of the toughest decisions
the judges have
ever had to make.
♪
Mardi,
your blade did not make the cut.
- Each and every one of you
turned in a beautiful blade,
and it's because of that we had
to look at the finer details.
Your plunge grinds were uneven,
and there were more creases
and visible waves on your blade
compared to the others,
and for that we have
to let you go.
- Thank you for the opportunity.
- Mardi, please
surrender your weapon.
- I'm sad to go,
but I feel I did my best,
and I think I did myself,
my craft,
and everything
I represent justice.
♪
- Bladesmiths, congratulations.
You've made it through
to the second round.
Your challenge is to craft
and attach a handle
to your blades using the range
of materials provided to you,
turning them into
fully functional weapons.
You will have three hours
for this round.
You can use that time
to address any flaws or issues
that were identified
with your blades.
It will then be tested
for strength and durability,
slicing through a car tire
and cutting through
jumper cables.
I'll remind you,
at the end of this round,
one of you must
surrender his weapon
and leave the Forge.
Good luck, bladesmiths.
Your time starts now.
[rock music]
- And here we go.
- All right.
- The shop is like a pool table,
and we got three balls bouncing
around the corner pockets.
- I really want to make a handle
that gives the blade
a chance to perform...
Oh, there we go.
Now we're talking.
And the black micarta
that I'm going with
is some of the most
durable material available.
- There's a sidestep
and do-si-do.
- You saw that, right?
- Yeah.
- Nice pirouette.
- I try.
[rock music]
- Let there be fire.
♪
- There's always a chance
for things to go wrong.
Don't you break on me,
you mother[bleep] bit.
I don't even keep track
of the things
that go wrong anymore.
It just happens.
You adapt, you move on,
you find another blade,
and you don't stop.
Just keep building.
Just keep building.
Just keep building.
- I am making
a three-piece knife,
which is called that because
it's just the knife blade
and then two handle scales
on either side.
The KISS principle:
keep it simple, stupid.
♪
I stopped working on my handle
so that I could go regrind
my point to make it stabbier.
- Reprofiling on the tip
of Tom's knife.
- Want to make sure
you got a good point.
- Stabbier is definitely
a technical term.
[laughs]
[rock music]
- My strategy this round
is, I'm gonna look
for a stabilized wood block
and make a comfortable handle.
♪
I need to put
some sort of guard on it,
so that's gonna pose an issue.
That is insanely prettier.
It's all down to the details,
and I need to make sure
I get these details right.
I added this piece in here.
That way when you're stabbing,
your hand doesn't slide forward.
I needed more metal.
- Bladesmiths, you have
only two hours remaining
to finish your work.
[rock music]
- Yeah.
The glue-up is always
a moment of tension,
because you're dealing
with a material
that's setting
and you can't stop it.
And so once
the chemical reaction starts,
it's...
You just got to get it done.
♪
[bleep].
[groans]
I crack the front of the scale.
- Tom made a crucial mistake.
- I might be screwed.
Ugh, [bleep].
[]
- This is the big moment.
It's time
to clamp the scales down.
The glue's on.
♪
[bleep]!
I crack the front of the scale.
I can see that the piece
is fractured cleanly,
and if I get the handle scales
flat and flush
down onto the knife
I can just hold it there
while the epoxy sets,
and it'll be totally fine.
♪
- This guy moves at
110 miles an hour
at all times.
- It might look like
I'm running frantic...
At least if I sweat enough,
I won't have to piss.
I just don't like wasting time.
You count my steps,
I bet I put a couple miles in.
- He might be a little bit
of a mad genius.
- Do I have an extra?
Huh.
- We'll see.
[rock music]
♪
- I have most of my rough
grinding done on my handles.
Now it's time
to pull my pieces apart
and glue them all together.
- My problem with this technique
that Morgan's using
is he's gonna
be putting big dents
in that handle material
right where it matches up
with his tang.
- [bleep] damn it.
- He just cracked his material.
He just broke his handle.
- That's it.
- Oh, crap.
- Cut it off,
back to square one.
- Mm-hmm.
- I can just glue that little
piece right back in place
and it should just
lock right back in.
I hate this part, waiting.
Sucks.
- Bladesmiths, you have
just 30 minutes remaining
to finish your work.
- Hey, Tom, if I change the
belts, am I gonna mess with you?
- No, you go for it.
- All right.
- You're a vy considerate human.
[humming]
- I am worried
about this handle,
simply because he didn't
put a guard on that.
It's a very skinny handle,
and the profile of that tip
is not made for thrusting.
- [groans]
Cramp.
[chuckles]
[dramatic music]
- Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five,
four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, drop your tools,
stop your work.
[applause]
- [bleep] yeah.
Holy [bleep], dude.
- Feel good.
I'm done.
Everything is out of my hands.
I think they'll want
to take turns
swinging it over their head
just because it feels good.
- All right, bladesmiths,
this is the strength test.
We're gonna do the tire slice.
I'm gonna take
each of your blades
and attempt to thrust
the tip through
and cut all the way
around these tires.
This will definitely test
the strength and durability
of your weapons.
Morgan, you're up.
Are you ready?
- Yeah.
- Good answer.
- I think my blade
is a little bit sexier
than all of theirs.
It turned out better than
what I was planning on doing.
[tense music]
♪
- Well, Morgan,
that worked very well.
- Thank you.
- Looking at the edge,
I do see some shiny spots,
so you might have lost
a little bit of your edge.
But overall, it looks like
most of it held up.
Nice job.
- Thank you.
- Travis, you're up.
Are you ready?
- Yep.
Even though this blade
is curved,
I think it will stab very well.
Plus, it has a double guard that
really fits nice in the hand.
[tense music]
♪
- I was able to have pretty good
control with the handle,
and that recurve, it seemed to
slide through that tire cleanly.
Got a little bit of edge roll,
but overall, nicely done.
- Thank you.
- Tom, you're up.
Are you ready?
- As ready as I'm gonna be.
- That works.
- At this point I've done
everything that I could,
but in general you always
are a little bit nervous
when something you've made
is about to be put to the test.
♪
- Well, Tom,
your edge held up very well,
but bit of trouble
getting that tip in.
Really had to shove
to get that in there...
And that thin handle...
But everything held together,
and I don't see any shine
on your edge at all.
So good job on that.
- Thank you.
- Smiths, good job.
Now I'm gonna pass you off
to Doug for the next test.
- Bladesmiths,
this is the sharpness test.
To test your weapon's edge,
I'll slash through
these jumper cables.
If it's sharp, it should cut
right through cleanly.
Morgan, you're up.
You ready?
- Yeah.
[tense music]
♪
- Well, Morgan, your edge held.
It cut cleanly
through the cable,
but your handle's a little
on the skinny side,
kind of rolls on the hand.
But nonetheless, it will cut.
Good job.
- Thank you.
- Travis, you're up.
Ready?
- Yep.
♪
- I like your handle, Travis.
- Thank you.
- When it slashes,
you can almost feel
the curve of your blade.
It's a sharp blade
and for this test, sir,
it will cut.
Good job.
- Thank you.
- Tom, it's your turn.
Are you ready?
- Yes.
[laughs]
- Good answer.
♪
Tom, your blade definitely
has that nice curve to it.
A little rounded on the handle
here, though, once again.
Even in other movements,
I can feel it
want to roll around.
But it will cut.
- We're all neck and neck.
I mean, like, right there.
I am very interested to hear
what the judges have to say.
[suspenseful music]
♪
- Bladesmiths,
each of you has forged
a beautiful weapon
that performed very well
in our tests.
Unfortunately,
only two of you can move on
to the final round.
The judges have made
a final decision.
It's time for one of you
to surrender his weapon
and leave the Forge.
The bladesmith
leaving the forge is...
[]
- Bladesmiths, our judges
have had to evaluate
every facet of your blades.
Only two of you can move on
to the final round.
The person leaving the Forge...
♪
Is Tom.
Your blade did not make the cut.
- Tom, you got
a great piece there.
All of the knives
had pros and cons.
Your piece wasn't
developed as much
for the testing
as your competitors
and that showed
in the tire slice.
Had more trouble
with the penetration
and more trouble with
the blade wandering around,
and that's a big reason
we have to let you go.
- That's fair.
Thank you.
- Tom, please surrender
your weapon.
- I feel like I did great.
I made a functional blade
out of a coil spring from a car.
I didn't outright
fail at anything.
I just wasn't quite as good
as the other ones,
so that's okay.
I'd do it again.
[laughs]
♪
- Morgan, Travis,
congratulations.
You're both moving on
to the final round.
When you arrived here,
you forged blades
in your signature style,
of your own design.
Now we're sending you home
to forge an iconic blade
that is thousands of years old.
♪
- Oh, yeah.
- The Viking sword.
The Vikings, originating
from Scandinavia,
raided wide areas
of northern and central Europe
from the 8th to 11th centuries.
The Viking sword was derived
from the Roman spatha
and was seen as a matter
of high prestige and wealth.
The large double-edged weapon
was often used in battle
along with the shield.
It often had a fuller running
along the length of the blade,
increasing the strength
and flexibility
while also reducing the weight.
The hilt and pommel provided
balance to the weapon,
helping the swordsman to swing
the blade at his enemy.
This iconic weapon
has been immortalized
in films like "King Arthur."
♪
It must be a working version
of that deadly weapon.
You will have five days
in your home forge.
At the end of five days,
you will return
and present your finished
Viking swords to our judges,
who will then subject them
to a series of tests.
Only after those tests
are complete
will they declare one of you
the "Forged in Fire" champion,
who receives a check
for $10,000.
- The Vikings had said
the best blade was quenched
in the piss
of a redheaded virgin.
I don't know
any redheaded virgins,
but I imagine
oil will be just fine.
- Good luck, bladesmiths.
We'll see you in five days.
- Good luck.
- Good luck, man.
[rock music]
♪
Today is day one
of the Viking sword build,
and just want to get
my layout nice.
Your layout's pretty important.
There's nothing worse
than running around
with a 36-inch piece
of really hot steel
in a non-feng shui environment.
♪
I kind of rummaged
through the farm scrapyard.
This is actually
an arm off a chisel plow.
It's spring steel,
tougher than hell.
So I figure
since I have good steel,
I'm not gonna do
a pattern-welded blade.
Strike while it's hot.
I'm gonna do something
that's gonna perform
without the likelihood
of failure.
I think it just kind of laughs
at my hammer at this point.
Day one, I feel good because
essentially
I'm figuring out the tools,
and so tomorrow?
Put them to use.
♪
- Game plan on day one
is to make my Damascus billet.
What really sets our blades
apart is gonna be the artwork.
I figure if I'm gonna
make a Damascus billet,
I might as well make it
complicated and look nice.
Normally we've got, like,
two guys that do this.
You can actually
see the pattern already.
Those are the actual layers
and what it's gonna look like
when it draws out.
That's looking good.
I like that, I like that a lot.
I'm just gonna clean it
really quick and call it a day.
♪
- Those little
whooshes are still enough
to take off eyelashes.
Well, day two, I have my steel
in the basic shape
of the Viking sword.
So we're gonna start forging
in the fuller and the bevels.
So the fuller down the middle
makes a lighter, stronger blade,
or a stronger blade
of given weight.
And they're cool.
By the end of the day,
I plan to have a finished blade.
There we go.
What could go wrong, right?
♪
Everything's lightening up,
and everything's
coming in straight,
so I'm gonna
dangle it in the forge
and quench it once.
I don't know
what's gonna happen here,
and I don't know
what the forge is gonna do
in the vertical position,
and I don't know
if I can get an even heat.
All right, here we go.
I don't know, even, if I'm at
the right temperature.
Oh, that's gonna happen!
Uh-oh.
♪
Dun-dun-dun.
♪
Pretty straight.
Ow, still hot.
♪
It ain't done, but it will kill.
- Today is day three,
and my plan is to finish up
my blade completely.
[rock music]
At the very tip of my blade
my steel didn't forge well,
so I want to draw out
that whole end
so that I can then grind
all of that weld off.
♪
If I have an uneven heat,
it'll cause my blade
to warp when I quench,
or it'll heat treat unevenly,
which will produce
soft spots in my blade.
This is make or break
moment for any blade.
There's always stuff
that goes wrong.
Ooh.
[bleep].
♪
Oh, [bleep] it.
That would be it.
So I feel really good
about how hard my blade is,
but I won't really know
until later, for sure.
[rooster crows]
- So it's day four.
My concern is my blade
is not as hard
as it's supposed to be.
I like intentionally
breaking stuff,
not having stuff break on me.
So this morning I'm just
gonna do a few tests.
If anything's gonna happen,
I'm gonna find it
before the judges do.
Nothing like testing.
♪
I'm no longer concerned
about my steel.
Took quite a bit
to break off that tip,
so it seems tougher than hell.
I am pretty sure
it's gonna withstand anything
the judges throw at it.
[bleep] damn it, knock on wood.
[knocks]
♪
I made good progress today.
I'm sitting with a very nice,
very symmetric,
and almost finished blade,
and so tomorrow
it's on to handle.
♪
- Today is day four.
I really need to get my blade
done and presentable,
otherwise I'm screwed.
♪
Nice and tight.
Let's cut some crap.
♪
Hmm, [bleep], that sucks.
The delamination, little bit
seems to have separated enough,
got coconut in it.
I really need to figure out
how to get these out.
♪
I think I might have lost
my heat treat from the weld.
Just in case, I'm gonna have
to re-heat treat my blade.
[exhales]
[bleep] me.
No. [bleep].
I'm trying to heat treat this
with the handle on,
but I can't get
the blade itself hot enough.
It's still flexible,
which is not good.
Salvageable?
No.
Should have just left it.
♪
[snap]
And that was my blade.
I am so [bleep].
Just broke my blade.
I've got to figure out
something and power through
and turn something in.
[bleep].
[]
- Travis, Morgan, welcome back.
You've had five days
at your home forge
to work on your Viking swords.
Travis, how did it go?
- It was interesting.
You know, I wasn't exactly sure
what steel I was working with,
but I know it's
tougher than hell.
I'm happy with the way
it turned out.
Maybe it's a little heavy,
but it felt good to me,
so we'll see how it does.
- Great.
Morgan, how'd it go?
- I had some stuff go wrong
with the blade.
I had a couple delaminations
in my Damascus.
I went back and I braised
them, I lost my heat treat,
and when that happened
and my blade cracked,
that was pretty rough.
- All right, gentlemen,
your weapons will now be put
through a series of three tests.
Up first is the kill test.
Doug.
- Bladesmiths,
this is the kill test.
The Viking sword was designed
to be a single-handed weapon,
used to breach through
an enemy's defenses,
delivering a thrust,
a chop, and a slice.
To test how lethal
your weapon is
I will breach through
this simulated sword,
and then deliver
a thrust, slice,
and chop
on this ballistics dummy.
Let's see how much lethal damage
your weapon can do.
Travis, you're up.
Are you ready?
- Yep.
- I need Travis' blade
to just fail,
otherwise I'm screwed.
[rock music]
♪
- Well, Travis,
you weren't kidding
when you said
it was a little bit heavy.
Recovery's
a little bit difficult,
but once you get it going
the sharpness of your edge
definitely will cleave
through anything in its path.
If you had a little bit more
weight in the back over here,
that would have really
definitely
counterbalanced the blade.
But nonetheless,
that's a beautiful-looking
sword.
This, sir, will kill.
- Thank you.
- Morgan, you're next.
You ready?
- Yep.
- Let's do this.
- All right.
[rock music]
♪
- I was really
striving for perfection.
So you take a risk
and sometimes it pays off
and sometimes it doesn't.
- Okay...
Morgan, there are
a couple of issues
that we have here
with your sword.
Number one, with the handle.
It's loose.
My biggest concern
is on your blade itself.
Not only do I see cracks.
I actually see holes
in your sword.
Uh...
♪
Morgan, due to the issues
you have with your blade,
for safety reasons
we will not be able
to test your sword.
That being said, though,
thank you for
sticking with the challenge
and presenting us
with a weapon today.
- Gentlemen, because we cannot
test Morgan's sword,
we will not move forward
with any other weapons tests.
- I knew it was coming.
There was no doubts about it,
so, I mean, it kind of sucks,
but, you know, it is what it is.
♪
- Morgan, Travis,
you had five days
at your home forges
to create your own version
of a Viking sword.
You both made valiant efforts.
Travis, congratulations.
You are the
"Forged in Fire" champion.
[rock music]
- It's been fun, man.
- Yeah.
- Morgan, I'm sorry.
You did not make the cut.
- Morgan, you are one
of the youngest smiths ever
to grace this forge,
but despite that,
you showed so much maturity
from round one,
where you fell behind,
and made it all the way
to the finals.
- Morgan, please
surrender your weapon.
♪
- Morgan, thank you.
- Thank you.
- Yeah, I definitely
agree with the decision.
You know, I didn't win,
but it's a pretty good feeling
to know that
I can make it this far,
and I'm not that little kid
in the backyard
tinkering around anymore.
- Travis, congratulations.
You are the
"Forged in Fire" champion
and will be receiving
a check for $10,000.
♪
- You got a very,
very nice looking sword.
- Thank you.
- Travis,
it's a beautiful blade.
It performed very well.
- This was a hell
of an experience.
It really tests a person's
ability to adapt under fire.
♪