Forged in Fire (2015–…): Season 3, Episode 2 - Fan Favorites - full transcript

- Over the last year,

the best bladesmiths in America

have descended on the Forge

to put their skills to the test.

Tonight, for the first time,

we're bringing back
four fan favorites

for a second shot at victory.

I think I'm giving myself

a heart attack.

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

Oh!



And earn the title
of "Forged in Fire" champion.

- My name's Rich Greenwood,

and I'm a "Forged in Fire"
finalist from season one.

Since the show aired,

I've probably made three
of the zombie killers.

They looked a lot nicer

than the one that I made
on the show.

- I'm Kelly Potter,
and I competed

in "Forged in Fire" season two.

There hasn't been
a female winner yet.

I'm here to prove I can do it.

- My name is Dave Roeder.

I was a season one runner-up.

I'm back to win.



I'm not doing this
for anybody anymore.

I'm doing this for myself.

- My name's Ryu Lim,

and I'm a "Forged in Fire"
season one champion.

I used that $10,000
from the first season

to teach blacksmithing
in the Philippines.

Teaching somebody how to make
a knife can save their lives

and their family's lives

and potentially their community.

- Good morning, bladesmiths,
and welcome back to the Forge.

Your performances the last time
you came were so memorable,

they've made you some of our
biggest fan favorites.

As before,
you are here to engage

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 finished work
to our panel of expert judges...

ABS Master smith
J. Neilson,

historic weapons
re-creation specialist

David Baker,

last, edged-weapon specialist
Doug Marcaida.

Ultimately,
they decide which of you is

the "Forged in Fire" champion

leaving here
with a check for $10,000.

In today's challenge,
favorite bladesmiths aren't

the only thing
that's coming back.

It's the car challenge.

Using tools from the shop,

working alone or together,

you will harvest
the steel that you need

to make a fully hardened blade

in your signature style.

- When I saw the sheet
come off the truck, I thought,

I've never taken a truck apart
to make a knife before.

- In round two, you'll be
putting handles on those blades

to turn them
into fully functional weapons

that will then be tested
in a log chop

and a ham slice.

Because of the difficulty,

you will have four hours
for this challenge,

instead of the usual three,
with no design period.

Bladesmiths,
your time starts now.

So, what parts of this car

are great for making a blade?

- The axles,
the sway bars up front.

There's various parts
in the engine

and transmission
that make great steel,

but who wants to mess around
with tearing that apart?

- Get out of the way.

I'm gonna go for flat steel,

so I'm gonna go
for the leaf springs.

- Everybody said leaf springs,

so we all congregated
on the rear end of the truck.

- Dave just going haymaker
on those leaf springs.

But remember, Dave's got
that particular style.

He's very just, you know,
rambunctious in the Forge.

They give me a pickup truck
to work with.

I've never done anything
like this before,

nor would I ever want to do
anything like this before.

It's crazy.
It's nuts.

The things that are going
through my mind

are very simple...

"Just get it done."

There we go.

I'm going to make
a recurve bowie style.

Recurve is gonna assist
in the chopping

and slicing that'll be done,
because of that shape.

- I'm feeling pretty nervous
going into this competition.

Really?

What the?

I've never worked
with leaf springs before.

Knowing what we're doing with
this knife helps out a lot,

because I know
that I need a little bit

of extra weight in the blade.

So I'm gonna make just a simple
chopper with a real thin edge.

I would absolutely love to win
the fan favorites episode.

I think I need to redeem myself,

because last time
I was just so close.

- Rich is really
a capable blade maker.

If his first blade
hadn't cracked

when he was in his home forge,

he might have won...

the entire thing.

- They're gonna
test the knife out

on woodblocks and a ham,

so I'm gonna have
to do a heavy chopper

with maybe a little convex edge

so I could use it
for slicing as well.

- Now, remember last time...
I heard that

Ryu is actually now marketing
a satellite forge.

- I still use a satellite dish
as a forge.

You know, that never changed.

The way I work is very similar
to the way I live...

Primitive.

I got this from a shark
that I killed a few years ago.

I like wrestling sharks.

I like to get in there
with them in the water

and, you know,
kill them with a knife.

- Kelly is a fine artist,

so I'm hoping she's gonna bring
some of that

into this competition.

- I decide just to go with
kind of a basic camper knife.

It's pretty simple.

It's more about
the shape of my grind

than whatever shape
I have on my blade.

Last time I was on the show,

I looked at the clock,
like, every five seconds,

but today my plan is
to not be frantic.

I don't have to be, like...

- One hour has elapsed!

You have three hours remaining!

- It seems like it's
just not heating up fast enough.

When I start forging this steel,

I realized
it's really hard to move.

- If you've got leaf springs
or coil springs,

there's gonna be a relaxed side
and a tight side to that metal.

- Ideally, you want
to anneal that metal...

Get it completely soft
before you start working on it

and do it in several cycles.

- At this point, my blade is
way thicker and heavier

than I want it to be.

So, do I try to draw it out,
thin it out more,

or do I just grind it thinner?

In the end,
I decide to mainly grind off

the bulk of my material.

- Watch when Kelly grinds.

She'll grind a second,

and then she'll take
all this time to look at it.

- My problem is getting
too far into my own head.

It can throw off my whole day.

- Bladesmiths,
you have 90 minutes remaining

to finish your work!

- For the heat treat, what's
been done in the past is

everybody goes in,
and they do a vertical quench.

I don't use
a vertical tank at home,

so I want to be comfortable.

Under the grinder,
there sits a water trough.

I'm gonna fill it
with the quench oil.

Oh!

- Looks like the Exxon Valdez
out there.

There's oil spilling everywhere.

- A horizontal tank gives me

a better assurance
of the hard edge

and the softer spine.

- That's brilliant.

- Figured it'd be good
for all of us.

- I love how these smiths
all work together.

- Dave's in the oil.
- That was fast.

- I'm doing a multiple quench.

What I'm trying to do is refine
that downward curvature.

- Dave is quenching
a recurve into his blade.

- So what I've forged into it
is only so much.

By doing multiple quenches,

I've actually created
more downward curve.

- I knew this was gonna be
an interesting challenge

when we came in here
this morning.

- Heat treating this steel is
a bit of a challenge for me.

I had to kind of go by memory,

'cause I'd never done it
before with this steel.

- Uh-oh.
- Quench.

- Rich is in the oil.

- Boy, that is a hot blade.

- Looks pretty straight.

Rich seems happy with...
Don't go to the water.

- I never like seeing anybody
quench their blade

and then put it in the water.

We've seen that do horrible
things to blades.

- And...
- No, no, no.

- He's hesitat... It's in.

In and out.
In and out.

- The big question is,
is that gonna come back

and burn him later on?

- After I quenched my blade,
I did a file test,

and I noticed that even
the spine was hardened.

I'm not very comfortable
about that.

I want the blade to harden,
but not the spine.

So I grab a torch,
and I drew some hardness out.

- Ryu's got to be really careful
he doesn't let that color

travel down to his edge.

- Yep. I'm seeing a lot of blue
on that spine.

- If I'm not careful,
I'm gonna have to start over.

- You have
only 30 minutes remaining

to finish your work!

- She's in the quench.

- My quench was a success.

Now I have to make
another decision.

Do I risk messing up my hardness

to really grind down the blade

in the amount of time
I have left,

or do I just kind
of piddle-paddle around

and hope it's okay?

I'm going back to the grinder.

- Dave's happy with his blade,
and it's sitting on the anvil.

- So Dave's done.
Rich, done.

And Ryu's down on the anvil.

We got Kelly still working,
using every available minute,

and we've got the boys' club
over here.

Ten, nine, eight,

seven, six,

five, four,

three, two,

one.

Please stop working
and return to your anvils!

- Kelly went
from a block of steel

to a absolutely beautiful knife

in the last 40 minutes
of the competition,

which scares the out of me.

- Bladesmiths,
in just four hours,

you have harvested metal
from this truck

to make a signature blade
in your own style.

Now it's time for the judges
to examine your work.

Rich, you're up first.

Please present your blade
to the judges.

- Nice, classic design.

You did design a chopper,
right there.

It's got a good feel to it,
even as a weapon.

- Thank you.

- One question...
You went straight from your oil

to the water
when you were quenching.

- Yeah, that was just
to cool the blade off

so I could handle it.
- You think it was cool enough...

- Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, it was dead cool.

- All right.

- Kelly, you're up next.

Please present your work
to the judges.

- All right, Kelly, our only
smith that used all her time.

Good for you.

Finish-wise, you've got a lot
of that shaping done,

but there's still a lot
of material there.

- I like the overall shape.

Got a little bit of a curve
on the tip there,

but you've got enough meat
to be able to straighten

that out either by... you know,
a couple different methods.

I'll let you figure
that out yourself.

- Dave, you're up next.
Please present your blade.

- I can see why
you finished early.

The lines are so clean on this.

Excellent, sir.
- Thank you.

- Well, Dave, like
last time you were here,

you gave us a beautiful blade.

One thing, though...
I would have liked

to have seen you forge
the bevels down

and maybe made the blade
just a little bit broader,

a little bit steeper.

But very nice knife.

- Thank you.

- Ryu, you're up next.

- Well, you have
a very classic...

Almost looks like a Pira
from the southern Philippines.

It's got a good feel to that.
Very good, sir.

- Thank you.

- I noticed you were getting
this junction point

between the blade
and the handle cherry red.

Were you having any issues
with color creeping down

or anything like that?

- Oh, I was cooling it on
the water as I was going along,

so I thought it should be fine.

- Okay.
We're gonna find out.

- Well, bladesmiths,

the judges are gonna
need some time

to make a final decision.

Please leave your blades.

Thank you.

- That was brilliant,
by the way,

bringing out the trough
and doing an edge quench.

- Yeah.
- We made a mess.

It was awesome.

- All right, judges.
We'll start with Dave's blade.

- It's a beautiful blade,
it's just even and clean.

There's a lot of mass here,
but that's all right.

It's a chopping test.

- He's trying to find something
wrong with it,

and he's like,
"Dude, I got nothing."

- So let's move
on to Kelly's blade.

- The feel of it...
A little heavy,

but then again, when you think
about all the problems

she had, she never quit.

She kept on going.
I like it.

- A little bit more refining
would help,

but certainly a good shape
for a chop-and-slice challenge.

- Great.

And then let's talk about Rich's blade.

- Rich and Kelly are
very similar,

but I think Kelly actually
pulled out ahead of him.

Even the grinds are
not symmetrical.

There's a lot of work that could
have been done just even here,

and with, what, 20 minutes,

he could have taken care
of a lot of these issues,

and that's really
disappointing to see.

- Moving on to Ryu's blade
on the end.

- Ryu did do a much better job
this time.

He knew what he had to do.

He had a plan,
and he charged ahead with it.

And he looked like
he hardened the blade,

so that's gonna be
a big improvement.

We've got smiths here

that did something
we hadn't seen before...

- Mm-hmm.
- A horizontal edge quench.

- Okay.
- And some of them seem

to perform it
a little better than others.

- Well, let's go ahead
and file-test the edges.

Ryu's.

- It's sliding,
but it's not quite as hard

as I would have liked.

Dave's blade.

- That's what you want
to see more of.

- It skates right off.
- Yep.

- All right. Kelly's blade.

- This is good.
This is nice and hard.

- And last, Rich's blade.

Actually, that's the hardest
of them all.

- Judges, it's that time.

Have you made a final decision?
- Oh, yeah.

- All right.
Let's go tell our smiths.

The judges have made
their final decision,

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

The bladesmith
leaving the Forge is...

Ryu.

Your blade did not make the cut.

- Yeah, Ryu, I really likedthe design,

and what you were doing there.

As we went
through the deliberation,

we did a file check
on all the blades,

and the file bit into your edge

and actually rolled
that edge over.

And the fact that that blade
isn't fully hardened...

That's the reason
you're going home today.

- That's fair.

- Ryu, I'm gonna have to ask you
to surrender your weapon

and leave the Forge.

- I'm a little surprised,
'cause I thought

I did everything right
on that blade,

but I made a mistake.

Now it's somebody
else's chance to shine.

I'm gonna go outside
and smoke a cigar.

- Bladesmiths, congratulations.

You've made it
to the second round again.

As you might have guessed,

in this second round,
you'll be attaching handles

to your blades to turn them
into fully functional weapons.

What you probably didn't guess
is there's a twist.

You'll use materials
from this vehicle

to incorporate
into your handle's design

and construction.

- What the hell can you use on
a car to make a handle out of?

- You will have three hours
for this challenge.

You can use that time to address
any flaws from round one,

but when the time runs out,
your weapons will be tested

for strength and durability
in a log chop

and, for sharpness
in a ham slice.

Show us your creativity.

Your time starts...

now.

The great thing is, is there's
plenty of stuff in the pantry,

plenty of stuff on the car
that they can use.

- I chose the tire tread
because I thought it would give

a really good grip on the knife.

- Now the aroma's hitting me.

- Yeah.
- Ah!

- Burnt rubber.
- Burning tire.

- I've wielded a knife before

with a rubber handle on it,

and if you
can contour it nicely,

it's very functional
and gives you that perfect grip.

- As soon as I get
the piece of tread free,

I need to break it down
into smaller pieces

so I can make my handle scales.

Did I do that?

I made two left side grips.

- I have no fixes to be done
on my blade.

I can concentrate my full effort
on my guard and on my handle.

- I like, you know,
watching Dave.

Dave's thinking
about all kinds of things.

"Can I use this?
Can I use that?"

- Love it.

- In this handle,
I need components.

I'm thinking some little
doodads to stick on there,

so I'm gonna go
to the dashboard.

There's a lot of stuff in there.

- He's not gonna get
to that speedo

the way that he's
going about it.

- Never doubt Dave Roeder.

- This guy's a maniac.
- There you go.

- He got it.

- The worst thing anyone can
ask me to do is be creative.

Being creative can be
a little bit difficult

for someone who is indecisive
like me.

I think I'm giving myself
a heart attack.

I start grinding my blade,

and then I decide that is not
what I wanted to do first.

So I go back over
to the handle materials.

Then I decide
that's a bad idea, too.

I should go get my car part.

- Well, Kelly seems to be
at a loss right now.

She's just wandering around.

- These options
are killing me, man.

I think, for me,
metal is the safest option

to take from the car.

I'm trying to stray away
from soft materials

that might look
like I'm wrapping my blade.

- Bladesmiths, you have
two hours remaining

to finish your work.

- So, at this point,

I'm drilling out
the hole in my handle

using a 1/4-inch-long
shank drill bit.

Because of the length,

what I have to do
is support the drill bit.

- I want you to look
at Dave's left hand

and tell me what you see.

- I'm looking for blood,
first of all.

- Children, don't do this
at home.

I've actually drilled through
the top piece of my wood,

so it's open to the outside.

- This could be an issue.

- There's no way to fix it.

I'm gonna have to start
from scratch...

Absolutely from scratch.

- New handles, new spacers...

Just get the frickin' heck
out of my way.

- You all right, Dave?
- Yeah, I'm good.

I don't like the clock
right now.

- With an hour left to go,

I'm nowhere near
where I thought I would be.

- Well, it's nice to see
that Kelly has moved on

to her handle.

The first time she was here,

you remember
how much time she spent

working on the blade
and then flubbed the handle.

- Well, if she gets this set...
Her glue set,

she'll have an hour
to do nothing but finish work

on that handle.

I split my wood.

- Ruh-roh.

- Should I just, like, stop now?

I know that I'm going
to get in trouble

for having a handle
that's cracked.

So I decide to go
to old reliable.

- Kelly's not gonna wrap.

She is wrapping.

- Kelly had this nice
wood handle going on.

What's the idea of covering it
with paracord?

- It's like a complete rewrite

of last time I was
on "Forged in Fire."

- I'm using red epoxy
to attach these handle scales,

and it's a mess.

This looks like road kill.

- He just stabbed
the hell out of himself.

There's blood everywhere.

- No, that's his red epoxy.
- Are you sure?

- Yeah.
- Okay.

- It seems like I really
kind of reverted

to that whole
zombie-apocalypse thing.

- 15 minutes
to finish your work.

- I'm finished with the handle,

but I still got to put
a bunch of crap on it

from that stupid truck.

I figure I'll put
an ignition key on it.

It'll be a nice little touch.

- Dave looks like he's
Krazy-Gluing the key

to the side of the handle.

- Dave is on a whole episode
of "Pimp My Knife."

- Dave's where Dave always is.
He's in Dave Land.

- I am thinking it's got
to get something else.

So the pull button
for the cigarette lighter...

I'm gonna throw it on there.

No smoking.
It's bad for you.

What's it gonna hurt?

- Ten, nine, eight,

seven, six,

five, four,

three, two,

one.

Bladesmiths, stop your work.
Stop your work.

I've done all I can do,
so now I really just want to see

if this will cut a thing.

- Bladesmiths, welcome
to our strength test...

Another fan favorite,
the log chop.

And what I'm gonna do is
take each of your blades

and perform ten strikes
on this chunk of wood.

This is gonna test
the strength of your edge

and the overall construction
of your knife itself.

Rich, you're up first.
You ready?

- I am.
- Let's have some fun.

- I intentionally made
my knife heavy

so it would get through
the chopping test well.

- About an inch and 3/8 there.

- Okay.

- Good job.
- Thank you.

- This did very well
cutting into that log.

The one thing... that handle
is very uncomfortable.

It was really putting pressure
on my fingers there

trying to hold on to it.

But it cut very well.

The edge is still razor sharp.

It's nicely done.
- Thank you.

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

- I'm as ready as I'm gonna get.
- Good enough, then.

Made it down about an inch
and 1/4, Kelly.

Nice.
Your edge held up great.

It's nice and sharp.

Right now I feel like
I'm in the battle

of the giant handles, though.

It's very rounded,
so those last few strikes

I was trying not to have
the blade twist in my hand.

But your edge held up,
so good job.

- Thanks.

- What do you think, Dave?
You ready?

- Yep.
Go for it.

- Went down an inch and 1/2.
Good job.

- Thank you.
- Cut very well.

It was actually very comfortable
on the hand.

No rollovers, no shiny spots...
Very nice job.

- Thank you.
- Now I'm gonna pass you off

to Doug for the sharpness test.

- To test
your blade's sharpness,

I will cut through
the ham three times.

If it's held its edge
and is sharp,

it should cut clean.

Rich, you're up first.

You ready?
- I am.

- Well, Rich,

the grip was a little bit big
and blocky.

The weight of the weapon
is a little bit heavy,

but then again, it cuts cleanly

without even having
to use power.

It's a very sharp edge
right there.

This, sir, will cut.
- Thank you.

- Kelly, you're next.
Are you ready?

- Yep.
- Okay, let's do this.

Well, Kelly, it glided nicely
and sliced across the meat.

The issue I have here is
a little bit on your handle.

The area that you have
your bolsters on,

it really digs into my finger.

Overall, though,
it's got a nice feel to it,

and it is sharp.

This will cut.

Dave, you're up next. You ready?
- Yes, sir.

- Well, Dave, the balance
on this blade...

It is light and fast,

and as you can see,
it lacerates clearly.

Your handle construction
is smooth.

It feels good in the hand.

But your decorated
piece over here...

If you were
a left-handed practitioner,

it could be a little bit
of an issue for that.

Overall, it will cut.
Good job.

- Thank you.

- Bladesmiths,

your weapons have been tested,

and the judges
have evaluated your work.

It's time for one of you
to leave the Forge.

The bladesmith leaving
the Forge is...

Kelly...

your blade did not make the cut.

- Kelly, you did a great job
on your blade,

but the real problem
was those bolsters.

The bottoms were so sharp

that if I hadn't been
wearing a glove,

it would have really cut
into my hand.

And if the handle's
gonna hurt the user,

then it's not really
a functional weapon.

- Kelly, you have to surrender
your weapon and leave the Forge.

- Thank you, Kelly.

- To be up against the clock

and to put on a handle
that I'm happy with

is clearly not my strong suit,

but I got to compete
with some really great guys

and see that time clock again.

- Rich, Dave, congratulations.

You've made it to the final.
Good job.

It's a second shot at the title
of "Forged in Fire" champion

and that check for $10,000.

Now we're sending you back
to your home forges

to create an iconic blade
from history.

Rich, you got any ideas?
- I don't have a clue.

- Dave, what do you
want it to be?

- Lightsaber.

- Let's see it.

The hook sword.

- Nice!

- Long before the hook sword
was featured

in films like "Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon,"

it was wielded by the Shaolin
monks in ancient China.

Established around 495 A.D.,

the Shaolin monastery
was a hub of martial arts,

where Buddhist monks
were trained in self-defense,

using everything
from common tools

to versatile weapons
like the hook sword.

The sword's curved blade
allowed the user

to trip or disarm opponents.

It's crescent guard could be
used to slash or block blows,

and if used in a pair,

the swords could be linked
at their hooks

to increase
the weapon's deadly reach.

It must be an effective,
working version

of that deadly blade.

You must include
a single-edged crescent guard

between 7 and 9 inches

and a sharpened dagger
below the handle

between 4 and 6 inches.

- I've never made one of these.
I have no idea.

It's some funky-looking
cane sword doohickey.

- You will have five days
at your home forge

to complete this challenge.

At the end of those five days,

you will return
and present your hook swords

to our panel of expert judges,

where they will put them through
a series of very rigorous tests.

Only after those tests
are complete

will they declare one of you
the "Forged in Fire" champion

and hand you that check
for ten grand.

Good luck, bladesmiths.
We'll see you in five days.

- Good luck.

- So we're back here at my shop,

and these are all my tools
and my equipment,

so this is a little bit
more comfortable for me.

A hook sword... it's not my style,

but we're gonna see if I can
manage and make it work.

This is like
watching grass grow, isn't it?

So I'm doing the hook portion
of this first.

It is the most difficult for me,

given the shape,

so I'm gonna get that
out of the way.

Am I making a back scratcher

or a freakin' coat hanger?

I don't know what this thing is.

This kind of looks
like Bo Peep's cane,

only made out of metal.

Yeah.
See that?

Freakin' A,
that turned out pretty good.

- All right, let's get to work.

Today's day one.

I'm excited to be at my own shop
and have a little more comfort.

In my home shop, I don't have
Wil screaming at me

every 45 minutes.

That could be an advantage,
could be a disadvantage.

Whoo, that's hot.

Making this sword
is kind of tough,

because it's the
Swiss Army knife of swords.

It's got a lot of edges.

It's got a lot
of blocking points.

Today what I'm gonna do is
I'm gonna make

the crescent part of the blade,

just to work myself into it.

It's probably one of
the easier parts of the sword.

I'll save the complicated
parts for last.

I like it.

- The day two plan of attack's
gonna be simple.

Get the main portion of the
sword cleaned up to bare steel

and then heat-treat.

Looks like it's coming together.

I don't have a quench tank

large enough to do
the whole thing.

I'll do two heat treats.

I'll do the main post
of the sword first.

Oh-ho!
It's straight.

And then I'll do that hook
secondly.

If I do it this way, the heat
will just hit this part.

The big concern that I've got is
overheating the transition part

from the hook down into the
main shaft of the sword.

If it's too soft, then on impact
it can inevitably bend,

and I don't want that.

We shall see.

- Right now I'm happy
about the sword,

and I'd like to get everything
heat-treated by tonight.

In order to get
the heat treat right,

I'm gonna have to make
a bigger forge.

So I'm gonna use these drums
that I got from "Breaking Bad"

and turn it
into a heat-treat forge.

Ta-da!

I learned a lot
in the first season

with heat treating.

I don't rush anything
with heat treat anymore.

Last time around, I got
three days into making a katana.

I quenched it.

About three seconds in,

I started hearing the tics...

you.

And the sword cracked.

If I was to hear
that sound today,

that would be
my worst nightmare.

- This is it.

Here goes nothing.

I heard weird sounds.

Freakin' beautiful.

Not a single twist or bend.

I think those noises
may have been coming

from the forge barrel settling,

because the heat treat
turned out beautiful.

- Today ought to be
a pretty fun day.

Everything's heat-treated.
Everything's tempered.

Just got to get a handle
put on it and sharpen it.

For the handle, I'm thinking,
to be sensible,

I'll go ahead
and do a leather wrap,

keeping it soft
so that it has a good grip.

Feels really good in the hand.

I'd sure hate to get hit
with one, though.

That's for sure.

It should cut. It should hack.
It should stab.

It should do whatever
they're gonna throw at it.

I don't want to see
any failure in this.

It cuts.

I'd say that'll work.

But I'm really not
looking forward

to what the judges are gonna
put this thing up against.

Slapping it up against this
or cutting that...

I really don't know,
but, you know,

we're gonna find out
soon enough.

I don't like watermelon.

- Today I'm just debating
what type of handle

to put on this thing.

Whew!

I ended up going with a wrap.

I never did macramé.

I got the handle wrapped.

I got a little blood
on my sword.

As far as the sword design goes,
it's kind of silly.

It's got a lot
of sharp edges on it.

It seems
a little dangerous to me.

It's sharp everywhere.

Well, it will cut.

We'll see if it will kill.

- Rich, Dave, you've had
five days at your home forges

to create your hook swords.

Dave, how did it go?

- It was interesting,
to say the least.

It definitely pushed me
to my heights of creativity.

The hardest thing for it
was that hook.

I've never done
that particular style before,

so it was challenging in itself.

- All right.
Rich, what do you think?

- That hook was a bitch.

You don't bend a blade backwards normally.

It was very difficult to make
that happen successfully.

- Well, gentlemen,
you've both created

what look like
lethal works of art,

but how do they perform?

Each of your weapons will now be
put through a series of tests.

Doug?

- Bladesmiths, to test the edge
and sharpness of your blade,

I will slash one time

on each of these
tatami mats filled with rice.

If they're sharp,
it should cut cleanly through.

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

- Heck. yeah.

I think I'm gonna do well.

The sword's sharp.

There are no flaws.

There's no inherent problems
with it.

- Nice.

Pretty cool.

- Well, Rich...

it is a light and sharp sword.

You can definitely maneuver
with it for close quarter,

but as you can see, it can slash
cleanly through these mats.

It definely will cut.

- It will.
- Good job.

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

- Yes, sir.
- Let's do this.

Dave, your blade's
a little bit heavier.

It's sharp enough to cut,

but not sharp enough
to cut all the way through.

Because of the weight
of the weapon,

when you're extending

and you have a point
pointing back at you,

there's a little bit of concern

of how you're gonna be
controlling the blade.

But overall, sir, good job.

- Thank you.

Rich has a point.

I don't have a point yet.
So it's 1-0.

So I have to fare well
in the second test.

- Dave?
- So, gentlemen,

to test the strength
of your weapon,

I'm gonna take two blows against
our terra cotta warriors here.

If your blade is strong enough,

it should survive the impact
with minimal damage.

Rich, are you ready?

- I am.
- Okay.

Well, Rich,
wonderfully light weapon,

very, very fast.

You've got a little deformation
on the edge, but it didn't chip.

Picked up a bit of a bend,
but not too far out of true.

- Okay.
- Well done.

All right, Dave, your turn.e.

- I ain't gonna watch this.

It's not gonna happen.

I'm good with that.

- When I see Dave's sword
shatter the terra cotta dummies,

I'm feeling nervous.

- Well, Dave,
a much heavier weapon.

You can see it just powered
right through the terra cotta

with no problem whatsoever.

It's still right and tight
and true and everything.

Little deformation, but, again,
we're hitting terra cotta.

Well done.

- Awesome.

- Rich, David,
the judges have scrutinized

every aspect of your work
and your weapon's performances,

and they've made
their final decision.

But first, they have some things
they'd like to say.

Doug?

- Rich, in season one,
your blade took a bullet.

This time,
you presented us with a blade

that shot right through
those tatami mats...

Fast, sharp, and beautiful.

- David, I know
why you're a fan favorite.

You brought us a knife
in the first round... amazing.

Put a handle on it in the
second round that's fantastic.

And that sword blew
right through that terra cotta.

It didn't stand a chance.

- Bladesmiths, it was not easy,

but a final decision
has been made.

David, congratulations.

You are the
"Forged in Fire" champion.

Good job.
- You're kidding, right?

- No, I'm not.

Rich, unfortunately,

your weapon
did not make the cut.

- Rich, I love
what you brought us,

and during the testing,

you and David ended up
pretty much even.

Both of your blades flexed

during the terra cotta
strength test,

but yours kept the bend,

and it didn't come back to true.

So that's why we're sending
you home today.

- Okay.

- Rich, it's time for you
to surrender your weapon

and leave the Forge.

- Thanks, guys.

I'm completely happy
with the sword that I made,

but right now I feel
a little defeated.

I feel a little beat up.

The first thing I'm doing
when I get home

is I'm gonna sleep.

I could really use a nap.

- Dave, you came in just shy
the first time you were here.

Now you're
a "Forged in Fire" champion

who's also receiving
a check for $10,000.

How do you feel right now?

- Honestly don't know right now.

I'm still kind of elated
at the moment.

- I like the way
the edge held up on that.

Didn't take any chips
or chunks out of it.

- Thank you.
- Well, congratulations.

- Now I've actually proven
to myself that,

"Yes, I can do it."

And getting to go home
as a champion, that's...

That's pretty cool.