Forged in Fire (2015–…): Season 2, Episode 8 - The Cutlass - full transcript

- 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.

- Name's Kyle Gahagan.

I spent 4 1/2 years,
1st Ranger Battalion.

I did two tours in
Afghanistan, two in Iraq.

It was a good
learning experience,

because if you want to be
a true custom knife maker,

there's gonna be a sacrifice.

- My name is Ron Mizell.
I'm from Brooklyn, New York.



To me, bladesmith is a art form.

People see me as a big,
giant, 280-pound guy

that's a little bit
intimidating.

- My name is Bob Brandel.

I'm very, very fierce,

and I'm very, very serious
about what I do.

I'm terribly competitive
by nature,

horribly so, in fact.

- My name's Tobin Nieto.

With every blade I make,
there's a little bit of myself.

Definitely ugly and dirty
and raggedy enough to be used,

and they end up looking like me.

- Gentlemen,

welcome to the Forge.

You are here to engage
in three rounds of competition

designed to test
every aspect of blade making,

from design to forging
to fit and finish.

At the end of each round,
you will hand your work over

to our panel of expert judges:

American Bladesmith Society
Master Smith J. Neilson;

next, historical weapons
re-creation specialist

David Baker;

finally, martial artist
and edged weapon specialist

Doug Marcaida.

They will decide
who will be declared

the "Forged in Fire" champion

and leave with a check
for $10,000.

Today we're gonna make things

a little bit more difficult.

On this table are all of the
blades that failed to progress

to round two last season.

Your challenge is
to choose one and reforge it

into a weapon of your own design

and in your signature style,

making it a fully
functional weapon.

These failed blades
are a testament

to how difficult
this round can be.

- Working with blades
that have been forged before,

you're limited.

You don't know exactly
what's happened to them.

It's not like working
with a raw piece of steel.

- Also, we're letting
you know now:

your finished weapons will
then be tested in a log chop...

And a bread slice.

The blades themselves
must fall within

the following size parameters:

the length of the blade,
not including the tang,

must not exceed 13 inches

and must be more than 10 inches.

The overall length of the weapon

must not exceed 22 inches.

Additionally,
you must also incorporate

an integral finger ring.

An integral finger ring
is a loop that is integrated

somewhere within
the handle of the knife

to provide added control
and a more secure grip

while slashing or thrusting.

- Trying to figure out how
to incorporate a finger ring

from failed blades
is gonna be a challenge.

- You will have ten minutes
to work on your design.

You will have three hours
to forge your blades.

Your ten-minute design
window starts... now.

- Blade selection here
is gonna be very important

if they're gonna add
that finger ring.

- It's really about
that volume of the metal.

- Yes.

What I'd be going
for is just more steel.

- I went
for the wakizashi blade.

The tang being still
so thick and long enough,

I knew I'd be able to draw
enough metal out

to have that wraparound
for the handle.

I'm making what's called
a blacksmith's knife.

I decided to go
with the squirrel tail

to make the ring guard.

- I love that Bob's doing
a squirrel tail design

to incorporate that finger ring,

but it's not the easiest
to pull off.

- My competitors
beat me to the table,

so I pick up the biggest hunk
of steel that's still there.

My signature blade is
a rather large chopping knife.

You can use a large chopping
knife for chopping trees,

clearing brush, killing zombies,
or anything like that, you know?

I decided to go
with a blade shape

that's based off
of an oversized karambit

and a large Roman falx.

I thought, "Chopping, slicing...

Let's put 'em together,
see what happens."

- What we have here
is a guy who's chosen

a canister Damascus blade.

Might not even know
that's what it is,

but he could get
a brilliant finish on that

if he does a great job.

- Oh, absolutely, and he's got

a lot of steel on there
to work with too.

- In order to forge
this finger ring,

I grabbed a blade that's got
a lot of meat on the handle,

but I have no idea
what the material is.

I am best known
for bowie knives.

Being in the military,
when I come into a situation

that's not planned, I've
got to adapt and overcome.

That's what I've got to do here.

- The reason
I picked this dagger:

it's the only blade
that was left

with a little bit more
material that I needed.

My signature blade
is the kukri blade.

Kukri is what
the Nepal army used,

and there's stories where
they will drop their gun,

and they will grab their kukri,

because they don't
trust the gun,

but they trust the kukri knife.

- Gentlemen, your ten-minute
design window is now closed.

Your three-hour forging
window starts... now.

- All right.
- Here we go.

- My strengths
in bladesmithing are that

I can forge efficiently,
effectively,

and pretty damn quick.

- Bob, I'm curious, though...
'cause he's going with

a squirrel tail design
for his handle...

If that end of that
squirrel tail isn't connected

to the main body of the blade,

is that gonna stay together
while it's chopping?

I hope he's gonna make it
a solid piece.

- From an aesthetic standpoint,

there's just something
really cool to me

about a knife that

the handle, the tang,

the guard, and the blade
are all one homogenous unit.

- Whoo!

I feel bad that I have

to take something
that somebody else made

and basically destroy it,

but sometimes you got to destroy
things to create something new.

- Tobin's showing
some remarkable skill

with that air hammer.

- He's doing a very good job.
- Very good control.

- He's not running back and
forth; he's taking his time.

But we've seen in the past,

the guys that pace themselves
usually do well.

- All right, we're still going.

I think I'm playing

the reverse psychology
card here.

Like, I look like a big,
cuddly, furry teddy bear.

No one's gonna see me coming.

It's all part of the plan.

- I'm not real happy
about working

through other people's mistakes.

I don't know what issues
they've run into,

what I'm looking at.

The blade's roughly
2, 2 1/2 inches wide.

So it's a nice, beefy blade.

With the challenge given,
I decide I need

to thin that down a little bit.

- Kyle is the only one
whose design

looked almost exactly like
what was already there.

- And that blade had
cracks in it.

He needs to fix that.

- That thing doesn't hit hard.

- I used my military
experience in bladesmithing

to start a blade therapy
organization.

There's no charge.

I keep my doors open
at all times

and let veterans come in.

We'll work together
and work through things.

Don't got a lot of metal
to work with.

- Yeah, I cut it up.

This is definitely frustrating,

because the metal of that blade

is really thin, and I don't know

what the previous owner
did with it.

I had to figure out
where to put the finger ring

on the knife.

- Ron's really going to town.

- I don't know if he has
enough metal there

to add a finger ring.

- I mean, he could
run over and say,

"You know, I picked
the wrong piece,"

drop it, toss it aside,
and grab that other blade.

- Yeah, we're not
too far in yet.

- Ron's struggling.
- Yeah.

- Oh, man.

- Two hours, gentlemen!

You have two hours remaining!

- Sweating enough yet?
- Hell yeah.

I am struggling
with the finger ring, man.

I'm struggling
with the finger ring.

So I pick up the angle grinder,

cut the little nub of steel
that I need,

and decide I'm gonna go ahead
and bend it out

so I can have enough steel
to do my final ring shape.

- I'm really liking
what Tobin's doing,

but the hole in that ring
doesn't look very large.

- I just hope that my skills
can pull me through.

- Well, I'm also interested
to see where Bob's gonna go

with that shape of that blade.

- I was just gonna say
the exact same thing.

- Ahh.

Oh, no! How the hell
did that happen?

- Bob's got an issue
that I'm not sure what it is.

- It's not looking good.

Aw, son of a bitch.

- Ahh.

As I'm grinding the knife,

I noticed that there was
a crack that was running

parallel to the edge.

Aw, son of a bitch.

I'm trying to grind it out.

And it's going away.

Well, my friends,
crisis averted.

- One hour, gentlemen!

You have one hour remaining!

We've got Ron, who's been on
the grinder for quite a while.

- I'm grinding this blade
to make this knife sharp.

- Whoa.
- Whoa, belt break.

Blowout!

- If you put too much
pressure on those belts,

that glue seam will bust loose.

- I'm worried.

Time is running down.

I'm hoping the knife
was gonna be done.

- 15 minutes!

15 minutes remaining!
- Argh.

- Kyle's adding clay.

He's gonna do a clay quench.

It gives it
a lot more character.

- This is the kind
of attention to detail

that propels a guy
into the next round.

- Exactly.

- Gentlemen, you have
one minute remaining!

- Got to hurry.

- Moment of truth.

- Ten, nine, eight,

seven, six, five,

four, three, two, one.

Time is up!
Your work is complete!

Place your blades on your anvils
and step back!

- It's definitely
a unique design.

I think, overall,
I did pretty well.

- Time's up.

I'm looking at that ring,
just not happy about it,

but I did the best I can.

I pushed through.

I'm happy overall.

- Bladesmiths,
you had three hours

to transform a failed blade
from last season

into a weapon
of your signature style

with an integral finger ring.

Tobin, please present your blade
to the judges.

- Tobin, I like
what you did here.

You did leave a lot more meat
on the front end.

Boy, I like seeing that
for a chop.

You went with
a forged finish on this

with very little grinding.

I like the look of that.

- So I saw you had a lot
of problem with that ring.

It was really fighting you.
- Oh, yeah.

- Just worried about...
That kind of shape is

a little harsh on the hand.

- Bob, please present
your blade to the judges.

- Considering the challenge,

this was a very smart,
economical way,

to stretch this out,
roll it back around,

make a squirrel tail out of it.

My one concern, though,
you didn't physically connect

the tail to the body.

You have any ideas on that?

- Yes.
- Okay.

Guess he's not gonna
share it with us, though.

- I guess not.

- Good feel;
I saw you test it out

a couple of times.

But I can feel that wiggle
in there.

If you're not gonna share with
us what you're gonna do next,

we're very curious to find out.

- Thank you.

- Ron, you're up next.

- You had a difficult blade
to work with.

It was thick but lean,

so spreading that out,
pulling out what you did,

you did a good job.

- You know, Ron,
for the biggest guy there,

you sure have
the slimmest knife.

Looking at it from afar,
I couldn't tell

if it was enough meat
to support the chopper.

There is still enough there
to make it feel good.

- Kyle, go ahead and present
your weapon to the judges.

- You've handed us
the most finished knife

of all the knives.

Those cracks in the back are
a really big concern, though.

- That's what I was trying
to relieve with the clay.

- All in all,
it's a really nice shape.

- Thank you.

- Well, Kyle,
you actually started out

with what I think was

the closest to finished piece
on the table,

so that brings up a lot
of difficulty for you,

transforming it
into something else,

and I think you did
a really good job with that.

- Thank you.

- All right, gentlemen,

it's gonna take our judges

a few minutes
to make a decision.

Thank you very much.

- Oh, man.
- That was rough.

- All right, gentlemen.

Let's go ahead and start
with Tobin's blade.

- Well, I definitely like

the design of Tobin's blade

because of the curve.

The issue over here
is with the ring,

just the way it feels.

You're gonna be chopping down.

That middle finger's gonna be
hitting onto that ring alone.

- Dave, what do you think?

- I like the design;
it's really aggressive,

that forward hook.

I'm kind of worried about
the handle being so thin.

It's got so much weight
in the front,

nothing in the back.

- Just gonna have to be
very creative

about how I'm gonna fix it up,

but it's gonna get done.

- All right, let's
move on to Bob's blade.

- It's got enough weight
in that blade

that it'll chop pretty well.

But the way the ring's
set up right now,

it's gonna bang the heck
out of your hand.

- Jay?

- He rounded his spine off.

Any kind of corner
is gonna be weaker,

as far as stress,
than a rounded radius.

I think that was
a very smart move.

- I'm not really worried
about anything,

just making it through.

- Let's move on to Ron's blade.

- Very, very slim.

How is that gonna affect

the stability of the blade?

The ring, very small.

- They're looking
at my knife right now.

I don't know
what he's doing with it.

- What do you think, Jay?
- It's very lean.

You know, Ron, he had to fight
to get what he did out of this.

- Is there any concern
that this would snap in a test?

- Oh, absolutely.
It's a possibility.

- So our last blade
is Kyle's blade.

- He did start out
with the most complete blade,

which I think was
more of a hindrance.

There was only so much
he could do with it.

I mean, he did alter it
significantly,

which I'm very impressed
by that.

But, again, they were working
with blades that failed.

Don't take any chances.

- Dave?

- I think the design
is beautiful.

But those flaws are still
there from the original blade.

Those cracks were probably
really hard to see,

until he started
cleaning this up.

It wouldn't have been
too late to go back

and grab another piece of steel,

but you get locked in
on what you want to see happen,

and you're just gonna fight
that metal until you get it.

- Truthfully, I guarantee

you could take it right now,
and it'd not break.

- So, judges, have you
made your final decision?

- Yes.
- Yes.

- Yeah.
- All right.

Let's go tell our smiths.

In this first round,
your challenge

was to take a blade
that failed in last season

and turn it into
a success this season.

You all performed admirably.

Unfortunately, one of you must
now turn in your weapon

and leave the Forge.

The judges have made
their decision.

The person leaving
the Forge is...

- You all performed admirably.

Unfortunately, one of you
must now turn in your weapon

and leave the Forge.

The judges have made
their decision.

Kyle...

your blade did not make the cut.

- Kyle, you were told ahead
of time it was a failed blade.

I would like to have seen you
avoid some of these flaws

that showed up by not just
reshaping with the forge

but reforging the piece itself.

You showed a great level kill.

Just... it wasn't enough to pull
out the stops on that spine,

and we just can't have that
kind of structural failure

in the blade and accept it.

- Kyle, please
surrender your weapon.

- Thank you, sir.

- I'm disappointed

in not making it
to the second round.

I looked forward to being able
to help my fellow veterans

with the prize money,
but I fell a little bit short.

I'm not gonna quit just because
I had a bump in the road here.

Rangers lead the way.

- Gentlemen, congratulations
on making it

through to the second round.

Your next challenge
is to finish your blades

by turning them into
fully functioning weapons.

You'll do this
by crafting handles

and attaching them
to your blades

using the range of materials
available to you.

You will have three hours
to complete this challenge.

You can use that time
to address any flaws

that exist in your blades now,

but use that time wisely.

When time is up,
your blades will be tested

on their strength and
durability in a log chop...

and on their ability
to hold an edge

in a sharpness test.

Remember, at the end
of this challenge,

one of you will be asked
to surrender his weapon

and leave the Forge.

Good luck, gentlemen.

Your time starts... now.

- First thing I want to do
is try and correct

some of the issues
I have with the handle.

I'm just gonna put slabs
on the side of it.

Just right there.

Probably a synthetic material,
but I may put wood,

depending on what fits.

- Since we've got
to be chopping wood,

I'll pick a handle
with a little bit of grip.

The material I choose is a horn.

I don't know what kind
of animal it is,

but it will be easy
to work with.

The other guys have a lot
of material on their knife,

so I'm afraid of the
heavy knife that they have,

but I'm just worried
about my own work,

and that's what I'm
concentrating on right now.

I want to win this
for the money.

It's a nice little prize money.

- I know I have a lot
of grinding I need to get done

to make the blade
as smooth as possible.

Let's see what happens.

- Blade on the floor.

- That's a wee bit ballsy,
isn't it?

- Just a tad.

I dropped that blade on purpose

because that's how
I test the point

of all the blades I make.

- Honestly, dropping
a knife on its tip,

you'll find out if it's
gonna crack or not.

- It's a good way
to test it, really.

- Across the board,
the tip is usually

the weakest part of the knife,

and if it's gonna chip,
I want it to chip there

so if I have to regrind it,
I can do that.

- You have 90 minutes remaining.

- Oh, the ever-present clock.

How doth it tick.

- He's got
the angle grinder out.

I'm not sure what he's doing,
though.

- I reach for my angle grinder,

'cause I know that will cut
a trench into the blade.

And I'll put the pin in
with no problem.

And the blade is thin,
but I realize

this blade is tougher
than I thought it was.

I noticed what I thought
was a deep grind mark.

Oh.

But I got to looking at it,

and it turned out
to actually be a crack.

And then I noticed
a couple more.

- Right now, he's trying
to soften up that spot

where he sees that crack,

'cause if it's hard steel,

it is more likely
to fracture during a chop.

- Where the cracks are
shouldn't be

too much of a problem.

I'm just gonna keep
my fingers crossed.

- You have 30 minutes remaining!

- Tobin's having some issues

trying to drill
through that tang.

- Sometimes the smaller
doesn't work;

you got to go bigger.

- Go big or go home, apparently.

- Ooh!

- I'm on the drill press,

trying to get the bit through,

and you hear that screech.

It just tells you
you hit a hard spot.

I'm on the drill press,

and you hear that screech.

I knew I'd hit a hard spot.

We go to plan B!

- Five minutes, gentlemen.

You have five minutes remaining.

- Plan B was
just to do a handle wrap.

The blade basically said,
"Hey, I need paracord.

Forget the wood crap."

It just fit the overall
postapocalyptic,

strange, crazy kind of feel
I was going for

with that dramatic
blade shape anyway.

- Ten, nine, eight,

seven, six, five,

four, three, two, one.

Stop what you're doing.

- My handle is not exactly
where I wanted it to be,

but it's gonna chop wood
like a son of a bitch.

- Fellow bladesmiths,
we're here at the log chop.

This is gonna put
your blades to the test,

checking the durability
and their edge retention.

I'm gonna take each
of your blades, do ten chops,

and we're gonna check your blade
to see how well it held up.

Tobin, you ready?
- Oh, I'm ready.

- All right, let's do it.

- I'm nervous and excited at the same time.

But I'm confident in the blade.

- Tobin, your edge
held up beautifully.

Right where I was
hitting the log,

it's still razor sharp.

No deformation or wiggle.

Good job.

Thanks.

- Ron, are you nervous?

A little bit.

- It's okay.
It'll be over in a minute.

I'm a little shaky right now.

The knife, it's a little bit
thinner than I anticipated.

I just hope my blade
doesn't shatter.

- Well, Ron, your blade held up.

- For the first few strikes,

it almost felt like
I was bouncing off.

- Mm-hmm.

- But the area that
I was using was sharp.

And it did cut.
Good job.

- Thank you.

- Bob, you're up next.
You ready?

- Might as well be.

Not to sound pompous,

but I'm feeling pretty good.

I did everything I can do,

so now it's up to the judges.

- Bob, you're up next.
You ready?

- Might as well be.

I'm pretty confident about
how the knife will perform.

- Well, Bob, we had a problem.

- Yeah.

- We did notice,
at the end of the challenge,

that you had
some minor cracking,

minor fractures
up here at the top,

so the stress of the strike
produced a failure.

I have to say it was very
comfortable in the hand, though.

- Well, at least there's that.

- So...

- Gentlemen, because of
the catastrophic failure

on the log chop,

there's no need
to do a slice test.

Bob, you didn't make the cut.

You must leave the Forge.

- Well, I got sent home.

I'm really disappointed

but not terribly surprised.

A broken blade is
essentially useless, so...

Feel like I was able to show
that I can cover my ass

in a heartbeat but not
necessarily the whole time.

- Tobin, Ron, good job.

You made it through
to the final.

- Thank you.

- You are both
one challenge away

from the title
of "Forged in Fire" champion

and a check for $10,000.

Tobin, how do you feel?

- Eh, a little nauseous
right now, but I'm ready.

- In the first two rounds,
you came here,

and you made a weapon
of your own design.

In the final challenge,

you'll be forging an iconic
weapon from history.

A cutlass.

Ooh.

Arr, me hearties,
we get to make a cutlass!

I'm very excited about that.

- The cutlass is a short,
broad-bladed saber

developed in Europe
during the 16th century.

Although it was made
as a land weapon,

it was quickly adopted as
the sailor's weapon of choice,

largely because it was strong
enough to hack through ropes,

canvas, and wood,

but also because
it was short enough to use

in close-quarters combat.

This made it popular amongst
navies throughout the world.

The last use of the cutlass
in a boarding action

by the British Royal Navy
was recorded as late as 1941.

Its effectiveness in battle
also made the cutlass favored

amongst pirates, as portrayed
in the film franchise

"The Pirates of the Caribbean."

The length of the blade

must be between
24 and 28 inches,

no more, no less.

And the blade also
must be curved.

- Tobin, he looked like
he was like,

"Oh, this is my weapon
of choice."

Oh, yeah.

I'm a little worried about it.

- You will have five days
at your home forge

to complete this challenge.

After those five days,
you will return

and turn your cutlass over
to our judges.

They will put your weapons
through a series

of vigorous and dynamic tests.

When the tests are complete,

they will decide

which of you is the
"Forged in Fire" champion

and the recipient of $10,000.

Good luck, gentlemen.

- I've made lots of blades

but never a cutlass.

The design plan for my weapon
is to keep it simple,

clean, flowing, balanced,

and to keep it to the same
spec that the judge want.

Taking on this final challenge,

it's gonna be
a little different here.

My home shop
is a little bit rustic.

I'm just gonna go at it.

The first step is getting
the whole material

down to the right size
that I want,

to about a inch.

Ugh.

This is my power hammer
misbehaving.

I'm using the power hammer,
and the belt keep coming off.

My power hammer
is a little bit rustic.

Yep.

The drive belt is slipping off
every time I turn it on.

If I have to bit this metal
by hand,

it's gonna take me
twice the time.

You can do this, baby.
Come on.

Get me there.

- I'm finally back home.

I just had a great breakfast.

I'm looking forward
to having fun with this.

What I'm looking at doing
is a blacksmith-style hilt

with a kind of mangy,
used cutlass style.

What I'm looking
to get done today

is have my blade forged out
to shape.

Oh.

And I accidentally knock some

of the kiln shelving off
that acts as the door,

so I have to let it
cool down before I try

any major repairs on it.

I have to very gingerly
and carefully

try and set it
back where it belongs,

'cause right now
when it's really hot,

it's fragile.

Ah.

- Yesterday I had some problem

with the power hammer at first,

but I was able to get the metal
down to the proper thickness.

Now I'm just gonna concentrate
on finishing the handle.

I want then
to split it into two,

almost like a snake tongue.

I want the line
to be a smooth line.

I always like to make my knife
more organic feeling to it.

Come on.

It's getting cold.

The metal's so thin right now,

I can't bend it back fast enough
before it cools down.

Hammer, hammer, hammer, hammer.

If I don't keep it hot enough,
it will crack on me.

- After the forge broke,

I was able to find
some fire bricks,

patch it back together.

I feel invigorated again.

I got my blade ground down.

I got the weight
at a point where I like it.

So I'm gonna be forging
a hand guard

for this particular cutlass.

What I'm doing is a repaired
blacksmith-type handle

that would have been done
in the New World

during Spanish colonialism.

Nighttime, day four.

I'm working with the handle.

I'm looking at it,
and then I just think,

"Screw it; I got to make
something a little bit bigger,

something more comfortable
with the hand."

I'm a little pressured,
but I can't panic.

- I got to start
my heat treating process.

Okay, here we go.

Moment of truth, I'm about
to pull this blade out this oil

and see what we have.

Eh.

I think we good.

Once I start grinding the blade,

it's looking good;
it's coming out.

I think it'll pass
any kind of trashing

they want to put it to.

I made a $10,000 zombie killer.

It feels really good.

I mean, like, it will chop
anything in half.

- I made a new handle

out of some larger material.

Looks very tough and raw.

And today, day five,
is all the finish work

that still needs to be done

and do a little bit of testing.

Yep.
We're good to go!

Any enterprising pirate

is gonna want a better grip.

That's where the hemp
comes into play.

My number one priority
going into this challenge

was to make the blade
battle-ready.

I know it's not
aesthetically pretty,

but it is gonna be
a queen of destruction.

Aw, yeah.

It will kill.

- Tobin, Ron, welcome back,

and welcome to the marina.

Because both of your weapons
are cutlasses,

instruments commonly
used by sailors,

we thought it was only fitting
to test them on this ship.

I hope that your five days at
your home forge was productive.

Tobin, how did it go?

- Ah, overall,
it went pretty well.

I decided to think espada ancha,

which were Spanish swords
commonly used

by certain pirates with
a blacksmith-style handle.

I call it
The Queen of the Damned.

- Nice.

Ron, how did your time go?

- Tried to go fancy
with the handle.

Tried to make a snake tongue
over the blade.

That was a little challenge,
but overall,

pretty well, I believe.

- Your weapons look fantastic,

but as you know, aesthetic
is secondary to performance

under extreme pressure.

We are now gonna put
both of your weapons

through three different tests.

Up first is the strength test.

Dave?

- Gentlemen, the cutlass
was a weapon

that was specifically designed
for naval combat

but was just
as effective on land.

Now, any pirate
that went raiding

would probably run into
a situation where he needed

to work his way
through a barricade.

So to test the strength
of your weapons,

we're gonna break our way
through these crates.

Tobin, you're up.

- Let's do this!

When I saw the crates,

the only thing
I could think of was,

"Those poor crates."

Whoo-hoo!

- Well, Tobin, it's got
a lot of weight to it.

It's quite a heavy beast.

I like the blacksmith
guard, nice.

But it's so long that your hand

has a lot of room
to travel in here.

A bit of deformation and
a couple of chips in the blade.

- Okay.

- But, Tobin,
this will definitely

break through a barricade.

Good job.
- Thanks.

- Ron, you're up next.

- Let's do it.

Going to the weapons test,

it's nerve-racking,

but I'm hoping
everything works out.

It should have the weight on it
to do the chopping.

- So, Ron, though
your handle is very crude,

it was actually
pretty comfortable,

and your blade shows
no chipping, no damage.

It's a little on the heavy side,

but it didn't feel like
it was pulling me forward.

I was able to control the tip.

But all in all,

it went through some crates.

- To test the sharpness
of your weapon,

I will take your weapon and cut
through fish and then rope.

Tobin, you're up.

Let's do it.
I'm ready.

- Well, Tobin, it's sharp enough
to cut through the fish.

It lacerated through the rope,

but it didn't cut
all the way through.

- I hear the chunk
of the blade go "whoosh,"

right through the fish,
and then I hear it

hit the ground, plop.

Why did it not cut the rope?

I... it's...

Little bit of disbelief
about that.

- Ron, you're up next.

- Go for it.

- Well, Ron, definitely
lacerated the fish,

but it didn't slice
all the way through.

Your edge really
isn't that sharp

to cut all the way through.

- Ron's blade doesn't
go through the fish,

but it cuts the rope.

Huh.

- Bladesmiths,
this is the kill test.

I will take your cutlass
and deliver offensive strikes

to this ballistic dummy.

Then we can see how much damage
your cutlass will deliver.

Tobin, you're up.

- That cut right
through the chest,

a laceration into the pectoral
muscle right here.

Not much on this
slash here, but...

Huh.

That's all the way through.

- It will kill.
- Yeah!

- Ron, you're up next.
You ready?

- I'm ready.

- Ron, there are
no visible marks.

Unfortunately,
your blade will not kill.

- I'm completely shocked
there's no damage on the dummy.

I'm shocked.

- Tobin, Ron, you were both
given five days

at your home forge to create
signature cutlasses

to perform in our final round
of testing.

Doug.

- Ron, the balance of your blade

allowed me to move around
in a fluid motion.

It's got good balance
for recovery as well.

But a cutlass is
a thrust and slash weapon.

In one test, it just
didn't perform that way.

- Tobin, I love the edge
geometry of your blade.

It's got good flats
and a good, thin taper

that allowed it to cut well,

but I would've liked
to have seen that blade

in height reduced by about 1/3.

I think you would've got
a better heat treat,

and it would've prevented
the chipping

on the edge of your blade.

- Bladesmiths, you've both done
commendable work,

but it's time for one of you
to leave the Forge

and one of you to be declared

the "Forged in Fire" champion.

Tobin...

congratulations.

You are the "Forged in Fire"
champion.

- Thank you.

- Ron, your blade
did not make the cut.

- Ron, we pushed
your blade hard.

It held its edge
through the strength test,

but in the end, a cutlass has
to be a cut and thrust sword,

and in the kill test,
it just didn't perform.

- Please surrender your weapon.

Thank you, Ron.
- Thank you.

I'm not bitter towards Tobin.

I'm not bitter towards anybody.

I had a great experience.

Yeah.

Lesson that I learned today
is to keep your blade sharp.

- Tobin, congratulations.

You are the "Forged in Fire"
champion,

and you will be receiving
a check for $10,000.

How do you feel, man?
How do you feel?

There's no words.

Like, ah, nothing's coming out.

Frickin' won!
Yeah!

I'm in shock a little bit.

- I like the overall
look of your blade.

I like the whole dark factor.

I like the sweep to it,

and I really like
the edge geometry on it.

- It's just strange.
It's...

I never win anything,

and the fact
that I won this, I'm...

I need a nap.