Forged in Fire (2015–…): Season 3, Episode 14 - The Naginata - full transcript

- For two seasons, America's
most talented bladesmiths

have faced off
in the ultimate competition...

- Getting pretty hot
in the kitchen.

- Making some of history's
deadliest weapons.

Now, with the stakes
higher than ever,

a new batch of bladesmiths
enter the Forge

to test their skills.
- Whoa, whoa.

Watch out, watch out, watch out.

- Only one
will take home $10,000...

- Whoo!
- And be crowned

"Forged in Fire" champion.



- My name's Erich Ouellette.
I am 45 years old.

I'm from Powell, Wyoming.

What's kept me hooked
about making knives...

I love the heat.
I love the hot metal.

I love the slag
flying everywhere.

It's like therapy.

- My name's Walter Sorrells.

I'm 53 years old.

I started out as a novelist.

I was writing a book
about a bladesmith,

so I took this little
teeny piece of steel,

smashed on it with a hammer,

and I've been doing it
ever since.

- My name is Joseph Collett.
I am 32 years old.



I'm a survival instructor
for the Air Force.

My interest in making knives,
it came out of necessity.

I broke a knife one day

and didn't wanna
go buy a new one, so I made one.

- My name is Theo Nazz.
I'm from New York City,

and I'm 26 years old.

I plan to win the competition
simply by having the most fun.

- Welcome to the Forge.

You've been hand-selected
to demonstrate

your edged weapon-making
capabilities to the world

in three rounds
of bladesmithing competition.

At the end of each round,
you will present your work

to our panel of expert judges.

First up,

world-renowned
master bladesmith, Jason Knight.

Next, historic weapons
re-creation specialist,

David Baker.

And last, Kali martial artist

and edged weapon specialist,
Doug Marcaida.

Ultimately,
they decide which of you

will be the next
"Forged in Fire" champion,

who also receives
a check for 10 grand.

All right, gentlemen.
Let's get started.

I'm sure you're all wondering
what's in front of you.

You will be randomly
choosing one of these boxes.

Each box contains mystery steel
and a specific technique

that you must use
to forge your blade.

Walter, you're up first.

Please choose your box.

Walter, you've chosen
canister Damascus.

- I've done canister Damascus
in the past.

It's horrible.

As a smith, this is really
one of the most

technically difficult things
that you can do.

- Theo, you're up next.

You have chosen
the hada technique.

- All right.

I see that it's steel
that I've worked with before,

and it's just such a relief
to know immediately,

"Okay, I can do this."

- Joe, you're up next.

Please choose your box.

There are two boxes left,
so it's 50/50.

- You got some good vibes
from that one, right?

- Good vibes.
- All right.

Joe, you've chosen Damascus.

- Damascus?
All right, I can do this.

I know what the metal is.
I know the process.

This is awesome.

- Erich, you're last.

You have chosen the metal
inlay technique.

- Inlay technique?

That's a difficult job
right there.

- All right, gents,
keep in mind that in round two,

you'll be attaching handles
to your blades

to turn them into
fully-functional weapons

that will then be tested
in a tatami mat slice

and a bone marrow chop.

You will have ten minutes
to work on your design,

three hours
to forge your blades.

Do your best work
because when the time runs out,

one of you will have
to surrender his blade

and leave the Forge.

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

- When cutting the tatami mats,

working on that edge shape,
what kind of blade...

Curve or flat blade,
what do you want to see?

- I'm one that likes curves.
- Mm-hmm.

- To cut through mat
and the bone,

I'm gonna need the weight
in my spine,

and I'm gonna need
a good handle,

so I'm starting out
with a hybrid

between a kukri
and a bowie style.

I think that this is gonna be
my best bet to get through.

The inlay technique is...
difficult.

I'm gonna have to bring

two pieces of steel together,

leave my harder metal
as my edge,

and the softer spine is
gonna be the standard steel.

- It looks like Theo has
designed a competition cleaver.

- I've seen
the competition cleavers

do very well
in just a straight laser edge.

- I'm going to make a macheax,

which is a blend
of a machete and sax.

It's meant to go through bone,

but it's also lightweight enough

to take with you
into the forest.

With the hada technique,
the first thing is

tack weld
all these pieces together.

From there,
I'm gonna draw it out

and start flattening it

to try and get
a distinct pattern.

Okay, yeah.
Exactly where I want it.

- I gotta chop through a mat,

and I gotta chop
through some bone,

and so I'm thinking kind of
a chopper-style

for some
sort of kukri-type design.

I have a really long blade, and
I'm gonna hack through stuff,

so it's a drop-point hacker.

The easiest way to make Damascus

is weld all the pieces together,

and then you got to fold it,

cut it apart, fold it again,

cut it apart, fold it again,

and make a blade.

- My experience as a bladesmith

is mostly
in Japanese sword realms,

so I'm gonna make
a Japanese-style wakizashi.

This kind of knife
will cut cow bones

really effectively.

- Of all these techniques,
the ones I've seen go wrong

most often is probably canister.

- With canister Damascus,
you're making a billet,

but it's inside of this
very thick-walled steel tube.

The steel tube
is not part of your knife.

It just has to go away somehow.

Cut the canister off

and start
just pulling that billet out.

- Bladesmiths, your ten-minute
design window is closed.

Your three-hour forge time

starts... now.

- All right.
- And they're off.

- Time starts now.

Oh, no.

What just happened?

What am I doing?
Where are we?

- Whoo...
- Let's do it.

- So Joe's got
the standard Damascus.

Walter has
the canister Damascus.

Erich has the inlay technique.

Theo's got the hada,

and to watch
how each smith engages

his individual technique
that he drew,

that's exciting stuff.
- All righty then.

The hada doesn't require
any immediate prep work,

so I'm gonna really
start off fast and hard

and maybe psyche these guys out
a little bit.

- Theo's already started
to weld up his billet.

Walter has the liquid paper.

He's pouring on the inside
of that canister.

- Liquid paper is great
because it keeps the canister

from welding to the billet
that you make.

Ah, what am I doing?

That makes it easier
to knock that can off.

- The main thing with lining
with the liquid paper

is to be consistent.

Get it nice and even
and everything covered.

- There are just a lot
of potential problems

in getting
that tube off of there.

Going hot here.

So I know that I've gotta
really stay focused

and not waste
one second of time.

- Okay, I need to make Damascus.

I got to get as many layers
in as possible.

The more layers I can put it in,
the stronger, the sharper,

the harder it's gonna be.

I believe that those
that excel in life

exceed what normal people
refuse to do.

I don't think I'm normal.

I think
I'm an exceptional person.

- This is gonna be my first time

doing this inlay technique
on a long blade.

The inlay technique
is difficult.

I'm gonna have to bring

two pieces of steel together.

Right now I'm splitting
the billet down the middle

so I can open it up enough
to get a good surface

to forge weld

my hardening edge onto.

- That's probably
the most difficult way

to do this type of weld.

It'd be best

if he had stretched
that piece of mild steel out,

cut it in half,

stuck his high carbon
in the middle,

and then forge weld
that all together.

- I don't know.
I don't like the timeframe

where I'm at just starting
my split right now,

but... it will come.

- You have just
two hours remaining

to finish your blades.

- Easy-peasy lemon-squeezy.

For the hada technique,

drawing out the billet's
probably the easiest part

and honestly the most fun

'cause I get to work
on that power hammer.

And I know my expression
might be serious,

but the reality is, inside,
I am partying the whole time.

It's great.

I'm having a blast.

I think humor's
really important.

You can disarm people
with humor.

My favorite bladesmith joke is

bladesmith walks into
a lingerie bar.

- Lingerie bar?
- What the?

Okay, hold on...

Excuse me one second.

Blacksmith walks into
a lingerie store.

No, that's not it.

Hmm.

Blacksmith walks in...

No, that's not how it goes,
damn it.

Why did the blacksmith
walk into the lingerie store?

He heard there was a sale
on designer tongs.

Most fun I've had in a forge
in a long time.

- I draw up the billet.

I get it to a decent size.

Cut that thing up.

There's 36 layers right now.

It's not enough.

I need something
that's gonna distinguish this.

I'm designing
a ladder pattern Damascus.

- Joe over here is
drawing out his billet,

looking really good.

- Take that thing over
to the vice

and take out the grinder.
I'm just grinding my slots in.

- Joe is kind of going
above and beyond.

- It's gonna be cool.

It should give it
a really neat pattern.

Erich is still having problems

with putting a channel
into his metal.

Now using a grinder.

- I'm trying
to split this stock.

I am...

Really, uh, getting frustrated
with myself.

I've run half of my time out

just trying
to open the stock up.

I'm concerned greatly right now.

At this point I'm thinking,
"Holy.

This is not looking good.
How am I gonna get this done?"

And quite frankly, I'm starting
to feel sick to my stomach.

Wish I could crawl into
that dunk tank.

- Two hours has elapsed!

You have only
60 minutes remaining!

- I'll take another two hours.

- Walter's got his billet set.

He's been working
on getting his can off.

He's having
a little bit of trouble.

- For the canister,
I'm using a hammer.

I'm using a cold chisel,

an angle grinder
with a cut-off wheel.

Chop saw.

I mean, I'm using everything
but the kitchen sink.

Until you've got
the outside of the billet free,

you're not working on a knife.

You're just working
on a piece of, you know,

something that you could use
to hold up a building.

So till I get that off of there,
I don't have a knife.

The can is quite thick,

and it's just not
coming off of there.

It's a fight.

It's gotta come off.

If I leave any of
the canister on there,

then I've got steel
that's not harden-able.

It's not knife steel.

It's potentially a disaster.

- Walter is still fighting
to get that canister off.

- If I leave
any of the canister on there,

it's potentially a disaster.

- I'm worried
about Walter's billet there.

He's got a grinder...

- Get it, Walter!
- Just cuttin' that...

- Get it, Walter!
- Get it, Walter.

- Look at it.
It's stick by a kitty whisker.

- Chinny-chin-chin.

- Almost, almost...

- So Walter finally has the can
off of his Damascus billet,

and it's good to see that.

- Erich, he's done
all the spreading

he's gonna get out of that
thin piece of metal.

He needs to start shaping it.

I think I'm going
to the welder, dude.

- What's that?

- I think I'm going
to the welder.

I'm choosing
to weld my insert in,

as opposed to forge welding it.

- Erich has laid a bead

to weld
those two things together.

- Cool.
If he wants to do that

and then forge weld it.
Cool.

- All I'm focused on
right now is

making this blade usable.

- You have 15 minutes

to turn in
fully-hardened blades!

- Coming along.
Coming along.

So once I've got the blade

ground close enough
for rock and roll,

I'm ready to heat-treat it.

- Look at Erich's blade
over here.

Kicking out sparks
like nobody's business.

He's trying to make up time.

Theo's got
a nasty chopper right there.

Look at that thing.
- And he's going for a hamon.

- I think doing a hamon
right now is a mistake.

There's not a lot of time left.

His best strategy would be

to harden the blade.

- I look over at my competitor.
I'm like, "Oh, man.

He's doing hamon.
Theo's doing...

Man, he's doing hamon."

I gotta do something,
so I go, "Where's the clay?"

So I grab the clay, I slather
it on there as quick as I can.

- Joe's gonna have
a ladder pattern Damascus

with a hamon line.

- Pointless,
and I don't like it.

When you spend this
much time making Damascus,

I really would prefer just to
see the steel all cleaned off.

- Joe in the quench.

Theo in the quench.

- And Walter in the quench.
- Walter...

- Walter in the quench.
- Bang, bang, bang.

- We got three bladesmiths

almost quenched simultaneously.

This clay doesn't want
to come off,

and it's fighting me.

It's really stuck on there.

- Ah.
- It's a good-looking blade.

I want the clay off of it.

- There we go.
Erich is in.

Boom.

- Looking at my blade,
and I got this little kink.

Heart kinda sinks.

I can fix it,
but I'm running out of time.

- He's making a three point.
He's got a bend.

- Not a good time to do it.
- Ten, nine,

eight, seven, six,

five, four,

three, two, one!

Bladesmiths,
shut down your machines!

Drop your tools!

- A.
- Whoo.

- I know that there are
some occlusions in the blade,

and I am concerned that
they're gonna judge on them,

uh, not on the functionality
of the weapon.

- I look left and I look right,
and I'm like,

"Straight, straight, straight.
Hard, hard, hard.

Crooked."

I got a bent blade.
I got a bent handle.

Only way I can fix it is
if I move on to the next round.

I don't know
if that's gonna happen.

- Bladesmiths,
now it's time for the judges

to critique your work.

Erich, you're up first.

Please present your blade
to the judges.

- What I'm most impressed with
is how you finally figured out

how to get that hard steel
stuck to the soft steel.

So you did well
in that situation.

- Thank you.
- There are a couple of spots

here that I'm a little bit
concerned about,

but it's not separating,

so I'm hoping that those welds
under there are nice and tight.

All in all, good shape.
Well done.

- Walter, you're up.

Please present your blade
to the judges.

- One of the things we love
about the canister Damascus

is that it brings out
this beautiful pattern

that you have right here

and, of course, feels good.

Excellent job, sir.

- Thank you.
- Joe, you're up.

Please present your work
to the judges.

- Joe, one of the things
that I thought was cool

is that you took that Damascus,

you got it forge welded,
and then you cut

a ladder pattern into it.

One thing I didn't understand
was why you put clay on it.

I think that clay
is one of the reasons

you got this severe warp

right here at the junction
between your blade and handle.

But overall,
the steel looks great.

Well done.
- Thank you.

It was quite a challenge.

- Theo, you're up.

- You were kind of
making me crazy there

when you were putting
the clay on it.

Yeah, I way over-clayed it.

- It looks like you got
barnacles growing on it,

so hopefully you will figure out
how to get that off.

Your steel looks good. I
don't see any issues with it.

You did well.
- Thank you.

- Bladesmiths, the judges are
gonna have to take

a closer look at your work

to determine who moves on
to the next round.

Please leave your blades here
on the table

and step off the Forge floor.
Thank you.

- Man, that flat kicked my ass.

- The challenge
was unbelievably hard.

- We'll start with Theo's blade.

- There's a lot of crud
on this thing,

but I don't see any cracks that
travel either through the spine

or through the front
of the edge,

so I have a feeling
it's pretty well welded up.

I like the shape... this is more
of a competition cutter.

It's a little longer.

Should be a pretty good,
uh, performer.

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

- Biggest problem here
is this tremendous warp

right here
at the blade-handle junction.

Now, that can be fixed

if he has the skill set
to do so.

I hope he does it
without breaking his blade,

but if he does, he does.

- All right.
Let's move on to Walter's blade.

- You can see that he's got
his Japanese-style influence

of making the blade.

Can't get over the beautiful
finish and pattern

he's got out of his canister.

Very impressive.

- And last is Erich's ble.

- I just... I worry about this,
the construction.

We don't know how much metal
he got sleeved in.

I mean, it wasn't very deep.

You can see the track
of that weld.

We don't know
what's underneath that,

and if he does
grind down deep enough

to lose these as surface cracks,

he might be opening up a weld

that's not true
all the way through that blade.

- All right, judges, have you
made your final decision?

Doug.
- Yes, I have.

- Dave?
- Yes, I have.

- Jason?
- Yeah, man.

- All right,
let's go tell our smiths.

And they've made
a final decision.

It's time for one of you...

To leave the Forge.

Erich, your blade
did not make the cut.

- Erich, we really appreciated

how diligently you worked
on that piece

to laminate the steel together.

The problem is there's a lot
of places where it's not welded.

Also we noticed some
micro-cracking on the surface,

and we don't know
how deep that goes,

and that's why
we're sending you home.

- Understandable.

- Erich, please surrender
your blade.

- It is what it is.
I put the best blade

I could forward
given the time that I had.

I've loved every second
of being here.

I may not be
a "Forged in Fire" champion,

but I am so blessed
to have been here.

- Bladesmiths, you've made it
to the second round.

Good job.

In this round,
you'll turn your blades

into fully-functional weapons
by attaching handles to them

using the range of materials
in our pantry.

You will have three hours
in this round.

Your finished blades
will be tested

in a tatami mat slice
and bone marrow chop.

But keep in mind,
once that time runs out

and your weapons
have been tested,

one of you will have
to surrender his weapon

and leave the Forge.

Good luck, bladesmiths.

Your time starts... now.

- And here it goes.

- I've got big plans
for a handle,

but first I got
to fix the mistake,

and that's the bend in my blade.

- Would you say that Joe has the
most work to do in this round?

- He's got an extra step
in there, definitely.

- Okay.

- I'm making a straightening jig

designed to push that blade

and straighten everything
in line.

- Smart move.
- Joe's a survival instructor.

- Yeah, and survival is about

how to be able
to adapt to situations,

and Joe's showing a lot
of those skills.

- I have to get this thing
straight as possible.

If I'm not careful,

I could destroy my blade.

- My game plan is to get
the geometry fixed

and start the handle.

To me, the heart of this blade
is the blade itself.

If the geometry's not correct,
if the edge is not sharp

then it's gonna fail
in the test.

I get nervous
when I think about failing.

- I'm hoping he's not removing
too much material from that,

lightening it up too much.

- Yeah, 'cause I'm gonna cut
a bone with it.

- Let me just on my soapbox.

The very first thing
I'm gonna have to do

is grind off those barnacles.

- I don't know how he managed
to make that thing

appear to be 3,000 years old.

- That's what I get paid for.

I think he's doing a good job.

- Edge geometry on this is
a little rough right now,

and because it's still covered
in fire scale

I don't know exactly
what I'm looking at.

There's just
a lot of meat to go through.

It's gonna be...

interesting...

to say the least.

- This is some kind
of stabilized burl wood.

It looks really cool,

so I'm going with cool today.

I'm doing a Japanese-style
hidden tang handle.

The wood completely encloses

the tang of the blade.

And then I use a special chisel

specifically made
to hollow out the interior

where the tang will lie.

I'm just working very carefully

because burl wood's
very fragile.

- This is the way
Japanese handles have been made

for a thousand years.

I'm watching a classic,

historically accurate
technique being executed.

- Theo, he's been grinding
on that blade

for about an hour now,

and I would expect

that that blade would be
totally cleaned up.

- I'm working
on that edge geometry,

and it's... it's tough.

Just struggling to get both
sides to be the exact same.

If I don't, it might break.

- I see some walrus ivory.
How cool is that?

I grab a piece of buckeye burl

that's been stabilized
into some sort of horn.

Right now it's fit and finish,

so I got to make
everything line up.

- Looks like he's playing
Monopoly over there,

where there's little hotels
and houses everywhere

with different peaks
and different sizes.

- We are doing
a Damascus-style handle.

It's a pattern that I typically
use on my higher-end knives.

There are five pieces per side.

- You're cutting up
all these different pieces

in hopes to somehow
situate them all together.

It's very fancy,
but will it hold together?

- Always high-risk
for higher rewards,

if it all goes well.

- I think outside the box,
and then I cut the box up,

and then I turn it
into something else.

How you doing, man?
- Oh, man.

Fit and finish is
where I suffer the most.

Ugh.
- It's the hardest part.

- Theo over here
worked on his blade

for almost 1 1/2 hours.

- I'm just glad that
he's off the grinder

and starting to think
about his handle.

- So I went with
two artificial materials

that, uh, I know were forgiving,

which is really important
at this stage.

I'm going for something
relatively simple

because it's something
that I know I can achieve

in the timeframe I have.

Two slabs of material
on each side with a liner.

It's effective.

- You only have 1/2 hour

to finish your work.

- Time is running out,

and I've got to get
the handle cleaned up.

I've got to sand it.

Got to get all the last
little geometrical things

squared away.

If I had more time,

I would make the handle

more aesthetically pleasing.

It's not butt-ugly,

but it's not pretty either.

- Theo's actually working
on shaping his handle,

and then Joe,
he's shaping those pieces.

He may have bitten off
more than he can chew.

- I look up at the clock.
I'm like, "I am behind."

I got to move as much material
as fast as I can.

Just gotta shape the handle.

I'm just destroying it.

- Ten, nine,

eight, seven,

six, five,

four, three,

two, one.

Time's up, bladesmiths.

Drop your tools.

Your work is finished.

- Good job.

I feel like
I'm setting the standard.

The question is,
is can everybody else compete?

- Bladesmiths,
this is the strength test.

I'll be testing the strength
and durability of your blades

on these cow bones.

Theo, are you ready?
- Let's bring it on.

- Yeah.
- Nice.

- Theo, I'm noticing right here

you have this wrinkle
but you don't have chips,

and that tells me that

your blade is not hard enough.

It is hardened somewhat,

but you didn't get
a full transformation,

and that is why I think
that your blade winkled here.

But it cut good.

Overall, you did well.

- Thank you.

- Joe, are you ready?

- I'm nervous.
- Good.

- When I look at the bones,

I think there's no way
that my blade

is going to stand up
to these things

without some sort of damage,

if not complete failure.

- Yeah, whew.

- Well, Joe,
the handle's very pretty.

- Thank you.

- Wanted to twist
a little bit into my hand.

Then I just readjusted my grip.

Back here, I would like
to have seen this

rounded off a little bit more.

You didn't necessarily
cut through the bone,

more you smashed
through the bone.

Your edge geometry

is very thick on the edge,

but, overall, you did well.

- Thank you.

- Walter, ready?

- That is quite a test...

But let's see what happens.

I'm feeling
cautiously optimistic.

I know that this is a blade
that's gonna do pretty well.

There's no good reason
it shouldn't do well

chopping the beef bones.

- Walter, so you had

chipping and wrinkling
on the edge.

The edge geometry may
just be a little bit thin,

and that may be
where it went wrong.

- I didn't really need
to hear what he said

because once that blade
went flying through the air,

I was done, so...

Everything after that's just,
uh, you know,

that's just talking.

- Bladesmiths,
at this time there's no need

to continue
with the weapons tests.

Walter,
this was a tough challenge

and a tougher test.

Because your blade suffered
catastrophic weapon failure,

I have to ask you
to please leave the Forge.

Thank you.

- In any kind of a competition,

somebody wins
and somebody loses,

and, uh, you know, this time,
uh, I didn't take it home.

My blade may have failed
in this situation,

but I still feel
really confident

in my own skills.

If I had to write a book
about this experience,

I would call it "Man on Fire."

- Theo, Joe, congratulations.

The strength of your blades
has earned you a spot

in the final round
of our competition.

When you came here,
you used our forge

and our tools and our equipment

to forge signature blades
in your own style.

Now we're sending you back
to your home forges

where you will recreate
an iconic blade from history.

Are you ready to see
what that weapon is?

- Yes.
- Absolutely.

- And that weapon is...

The naginata.

All right.

- The naginata emerged around
1,000 years ago in Japan

as a powerful pole weapon
used by samurai warriors.

Featuring a single-edged,
slightly curved blade

mounted on a wooden shaft,

this 7-to 8-foot weapon
was ideal

for warding off attacks
from enemies on horseback.

Because it relied on momentum

rather than upper-body strength,

it was an ideal weapon
for female warriors.

The naginata was
the weapon of choice

for samurai wives
defending their homes,

and it was even wielded
by Seong Mina

in the videogame series
"SoulCaliber."

The traditions of the naginata

continue to be preserved
through the teaching

of the martial art
atarashii Naginata.

Your final challenge
is to forge a naginata.

It must be an effective
working version

of that ancient Japanese design.

However, since you'll be
working in your home forges,

we want to see something
unique and creative

that could only be made by you.

- Making a weapon
this large is intimidating.

It's far beyond anything
I've ever done before.

It's got me little stressed out.

- The length of the blade
must be

between 17 and 19 inches.

The overall length
of your weapon must be

between 90 and 92 inches.

You will have five days
at your home forge

to complete this challenge.

At the end of five days,
you will return

and present
your finished naginatas

to our panel of expert judges

who will then subject them
to a series of brutal tests.

Only once those tests
are complete

will they declare one of you

the "Forged in Fire" champion

who also receives
that check for 10 grand.

- I have never made or attempted

any kind of pole arm,

nonetheless a naginata.

- Good luck, bladesmiths.

We'll see you in five days.

- Today's day one.

The first step I'm gonna do

is draw out our blade design.

Process of making this
is gonna be

outside of my ballpark.

I am not a Japanese sword maker.

I'm an American knife maker,

but we're gonna give it
our best shot.

We're gonna do
a Damascus billet,

so we are gonna let
this saw blade

hopefully do some wonderful
things for me.

Doing Damascus is
essentially tougher to do,

uh, just because there's
a lot of failure points.

Filling 300 to 400 layers,

that's 300 to 400 times

that I could fail.

So I'm gonna turn that
into hopefully a form today.

I'm gonna put it in here,
heat it up,

put some flux on it,

and then this thing's
gonna be glowing.

I have never made
a Damascus billet

or blade, uh, this large before.

Most stuff I make is
about 9 inches long,

and so I have a billet
that is gonna be drawn

to about 40 inches
in overall length,

which is ridiculous.

So, yeah, it's gonna be
a challenge.

- So the very first thing
I have to do

is start cutting
the sections that I need.

Here I'm in a forge
I'm comfortable with,

and I have more time.

This being the first day,
I would really love

to just go ahead
and start tackling

forge welding all the pieces
of the blade together.

I'm gonna do
a three-layer laminate.

So here I have my core material,

and then here's my shell
material on the outside.

The benefit
of the three-layer laminate

is that the outside
shell absorbs the shock,

whereas the hard core

or edge material
will stay very sharp.

I definitely have the advantage
over Joe when it comes to this,

simply because I've made
large blades many times before,

and this will be his first.

Well, I can see
that the outer layer

is starting to bow outwards.

This is a big piece of metal.

I may have bitten off
more than I can chew.

It's starting to look like

the layers are separating
from each other.

They're expanding
at such a great rate

that even some of tack welds
may be busted.

This is a problem
because it means

I'm gonna be constantly
chasing the material

to get it to re-weld
to the other steels.

It's delaminating already.

I have a decision to make.
Do I continue to pursue?

It's gonna be a headache
if I continue down this path.

No, I can't.

Ultimately, it's gonna
require too much time.

I'm gonna have to strip off
the outer shell

and just do a pure W2.

It's gonna be
a mono-steel blade.

I trusted my gut,
and my gut lied to me.

- Today is the morning
of day two,

and the plan for the day
is to go ahead

and draw the blade out,
um, grind it,

and heat-treat it,

so we got a lot of work
ahead of us today.

Hopefully everything
goes according to plan.

First gotta diet.
We want SlimFast

or grind fast.

So I have a blade,
so it's pretty square.

There's a lot of little
finishing to do,

but it's, uh, actually ready
for a heat-treat.

I am scared out of my mind.

I'm using
a different type of oil

that I'm not used to.

I might have stuff
explode in my face.

A day-and-a-half's worth of work

might flush down the drain.

I have to get down.

Trying to move some
of the equipment,

move the propane tank
out of the way,

uh, 'cause I really don't want

to burn the building down.

When you change a variable,
you get different results.

I've never worked, uh,

with that particular oil before,

and we'll heat-treat again.

- I have no regrets in dropping
the lamination at all.

Today I need to create
an integral guard.

I'm continuing with a process
that I'm familiar with

and I know I'll do
a good job on.

I've decided to go with

just a simple low count twist,

and it'll give it the
additional wrought-iron feel

that I've been going for.

Integral guards are
very European in general,

but I really think
it will work for this piece.

It looks nice.

Are guards important on a knife?

Well, they can be integral.

I've never done anything
with a handle this long,

so brand spanking new for me.

Ash is, historically,

a very nice, flexible wood.

For this, it'll be great,
because it'll be able

to take the shock of hitting
something really hard,

like bone or armor.

Oh, yeah.

- Morning of day four,

and we're just gonna do
a hack test.

It's more than sharp enough
to hack through a tree.

Sweet.
Worked all right.

The plan for the day
is to trim down the haft

and then just
fit everything together

and work on the finishing.

This is my piece of ash.

It's supposed to be
vertical grain.

It's a little off-center,

but it's not horrible.

Um, I've never really hafted
a sword to a long pole.

If one little part
to the hafting fails

then the whole thing fails,

and so there's a lot
of little working parts.

I'm really interested to see
what, uh, Theo, brings

because I feel like
I'm gonna give 'em

a really good product
to compete with.

- Uh, the heat-treat went
very well,

but ultimately it's about
the little details.

This is same, manta ray skin.

It's a traditional
wrapping material for handles.

That's beautiful.

I have no intention of doing

any testing on the weapon myself

because the last thing
I want to do

is push the weapon to its limit
and break it.

No, thank you.

This is a damn good blade,

and that's what I
came here to do,

was to forge a weapon

that's gonna knock
their socks off.

- Bladesmiths, welcome back.

You've had five days
at your home forges

to work on your naginatas,
and they look pretty impressive,

but a naginata's
a massive weapon,

so we brought you to a location

where we've got
more room to maneuver.

Theo, how'd it go?
- Very well.

I broke a little from tradition.

I did an integral guard,
which is kind of in my style,

and then I went with
a very traditional

same and Ito wrapping
for the handle.

- Joe, how'd it go for you?

- Overall,
I think it went really well.

It's Damascus.

I'm right around 130 layers,
I believe.

Got a hafting
of about 18, 19 inches,

and then it's got
a rawhide wrapping

with a traditional ray skin

over the binding there.

- Well, gentlemen, up first
is the sharpness test.

Doug?

- The naginata was
a Japanese weapon

known for its long-range
cutting ability.

To see how sharp
your naginata is,

I will take your weapon
and I'll attempt

to cut through these tatami mats
and a side of beef.

Theo, you're up first.
You ready?

Yeah, yeah, I think so.

- Let's do this.

- Ah, jeez.
All right.

I'm nervous.

The area where the guard meets
the tang is a little narrow,

which could result in bending...

Maybe a snapping.

I'll take it.
Yeah, all right.

- Just want to point out that
after that test,

your blade
has a slight bend to it.

It almost cut all the wayth.

When it came to the side
of beef, it cut cleanly through.

Your blade feels good.

It's got a knife weight to it.
A nice balance.

Overall, your naginata will cut.

Good job.
- Thank you.

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

- Oh, yeah.
- Let's do this.

- Let's do it.

I feel like Theo did really good
on the tatami mat slice

and, uh, exceptionally well
through the beef slice,

and I'm pretty nervous
at this point

on how my blade
is gonna perform.

Oh.

Well done, man.
- Yeah.

- I would say
I'm ahead in the game.

Uh, performed
a little bit better

than what Theo's did.

- Well, Joe, you have
a very sharp blade,

but we now have an issue.

When I cut through
the tatami mat,

your handle at the seams
here came apart.

Your handle seam has opened up.

Not only that, it picked up
some cracks on this side

that runs all the way down here,

and on the other side
a hairline fracture

that goes down this way.

The seams are big enough
to where I can actually

put my fingernail through them.

That is a critical failure,

and for purposes of safety

we cannot continue
to test your weapon.

- There's nothing?
We can't do nothing?

- Bladesmiths,
the judges have determined that

there's no reason to deliberate.

Joe, due to
the catastrophic failure

of your weapon's handle,

you may now leave the Arena.

- That's not the way
I wanted to win.

- I wouldn't say I have regrets.

I'd say if I could
go back and change,

you know,
some of the things I did,

I would have gone
with a different wood,

something that was less likely
to open up and crack.

I feel like I'm in a round room

and I'm looking
for a corner to cry in.

It's a pretty tough loss.

- Theo, congratulations.

You are
the "Forged in Fire" champion

and will be receiving
that $10,000 prize.

Good job.

- You know what I like
about your blade?

The way you reinforced
your handle

because the power you generate
with that saved it.

- Congratulations.
- Thank you, sir.

I am elated to be
the "Forged in Fire" champion.

Not the way I wanted to win,
but I'll take it.

I came here the youngest,

smallest person, and I won.

For the shortest guy,
I certainly came out on top.