Forged in Fire (2015–…): Season 3, Episode 9 - The Pandat - 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.

[dramatic music]

♪

[rock music]

♪

- My name is Brandon Brink,
and I've been a bladesmith now

for about three years.

I'm actually
a big baby at heart.

I'm a "sensitive" Viking,
I guess you could say.

- My name is Pete Winkler.
I'm 63 years old.

I've been bladesmithing
and forging knives

for about four years.

I was born to be a knife-maker,
but I'm a grandpa first.

We have 24 grandchildren,



and I look forward
to just passing the craft on.

- My name is April Franklin.
I'm 43.

I made my first knife in 1999.

I'm a woman in a man's field.

I ain't here to get a pedicure.

I mean, I want to make
the best knife I can

and hopefully walk out of here
with $10,000.

[laughs]

- My name's Jo Smith.
I'm from Jinx, Oklahoma.

I got my start as a bladesmith
because of my father.

He's been a taxidermist
and hunting guide

for all of my life,
and using a knife every day.

My dad's my hero.

♪

- Bladesmiths,
welcome to the junkyard.

You're here for three rounds

of edged weapon-making
competition

designed to test every aspect

of your blade-making
capabilities.

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

to our panel of expert judges.

World-renowned
master bladesmith, Jason Knight.

Internationally known historic
weapons recreations specialist

and swordsmith, David Baker.

And last, globally recognized
Kali martial artist

and edged weapons specialist,
Doug Marcaida.

♪

If you haven't guessed by now,
the reason

you're at this junkyard
is because in round one,

you'll be harvesting the steel

that you need to make
a signature blade

in your signature style
from the junk outside this door.

And in case that
wasn't hard enough,

you'll also be using these.

♪

- Yeah!

We go to this junkyard,
and I get to use a coal forge.

Wow.
Totally in my comfort zone.

- Today you'll be using
a coal forge.

First round of competition,
we're going old-school.

You will have to forge
and hammer your blades by hand.

There are no power hammers
or gas forges

here in the junkyard.

Keep in mind that
in the second round,

you'll be attaching handles
to your blades

to turn them
into fully functional weapons

that will then be tested
for strength and durability

in a coconut chop,

and for sharpness
in a sandbag slice.

Due to the difficulty
of this round,

you will have four hours
to work on your blades,

with no design period.

The blades themselves must fall
within the following parameters.

The length of the blade,
not including the tang,

must be
between 10 and 12 inches.

The overall length
of your weapon

must not exceed 22 inches.

Good luck, bladesmiths.
Your time starts... now.

[dramatic music]

- Find a piece of junk.
Oh, this is my heaven.

This is my Disneyland.
I love using reclaimed steels.

So I'm looking around, and I see

all these other
different types of steels.

I see spring steels.
I see flat leaf spring.

My jaw hit the floor.

I was in absolute
steel junk heaven.

What I have laying around
in my home forge

is pretty much
all junkyard materials.

♪

- Using junkyard steel,

you can't really guarantee
what you're grabbing.

My game plan is to find
a piece of steel that's flat,

that's about the right thickness
that I need,

so I can cut down on the
amount of work I have to do.

- Jo, right away,
comes away with a leaf spring.

- That's wisdom.

♪

- I'm doing leftovers.
- Yeah.

Let's do it.
- Here we go.

- Pete and I both have
the same idea.

We go for the leaf springs.
We know it's good steel.

- That spring steel's
a very forgiving metal.

It's a wonderful metal
to work with.

It's what a lot of people
start with,

because it's so forgiving.

♪

- I glance over and I see
this huge piece of tool steel.

This is what I'm gonna use.

- With the exception of Brandon,

everybody picked out
a leaf spring.

- Problem Brandon's
gonna have is

he's gonna have to work
that down, right?

They don't have to work it down.
They're just gonna profile

and pull it out.

- Whoo!
Hot damn, son.

♪

- I see a lot of grinding,

and I don't see
a lot of fires going.

What they should've done
was lit their fires first.

- Get that coal burning.
- Yeah.

There's an art to maintaining
and manipulating the coal forge.

♪

- Come on, now.

Yeah, baby.
Give me some fire.

- All right, so Brandon's
got his forge going.

- My game plan right now
is I really don't have one.

No blade design.

I'm just going with the steel,
see what it wants to give me.

♪

- Jo, very fast
lighting his forge.

- Game plan this round is just
to put something together

that should perform.

Gonna be making
a competition knife,

something that's got
a good feel to it,

and designed to chop.
Nothing else.

It's gonna just chop,
chop, chop.

The only concern I've got
is working with a coal forge.

Instead of being able to heat up
the whole piece in a gas forge,

in a coal forge you're just
doing little sections of it.

It makes it real tricky
to chase that heat.

♪

- Look at the color of Jo's fire

compared to the color
of Pete's fire,

which is now just a smoky mass.

- Working with the hand-crank
forge is a challenge.

Never started one
quite like this.

I've started coal forges,

but this is a little
different horse to ride.

♪

I-I struggle with it.

I'm gonna try and make
a kind of a camp chopper.

Get done with it,

it'll whack 2-inch limbs
or thicker,

cut a pig in half,
what have you.

It'll chop.

♪

- I'm real comfortable
in a coal forge.

I've done public demonstrations
on coal forges.

I'm aiming to make
a competition cutter.

Don't need to stab anything.
It doesn't need a point.

I just need to drop this down,
thin it out, set this handle,

give it a nice shape,
make it comfortable.

Everything else, if I can
get this [bleep] going,

should be fine.

Generally when I work
in a coal forge,

there's an electric blower,
so there's always

a steady stream of air
going through that fire.

With a hand-crank blower,

if you're not cranking,
it's not getting air,

and it will die out
if you leave it long enough.

♪

- You have three hours remaining
to finish your work!

- Thank God.
We gonna need it.

♪

[humming circus music]

♪

- Seems like all I can do today
is drop forge.

- Jo's really struggling
with his blade.

It doesn't look like
it's up to temperature.

It was on the floor just now.

I mean, his steel doesn't look

like it's very hot at all.

- Easiest way to get crack is
hit your blade while it's cold.

Working that metal cold,
you're just building problems

into the blade.
- Right.

♪

- Pete's got some fire issues.

♪

- Just been fighting my fire
for the last hour.

I get it hot, and I lose it,
and, uh, I am, uh, upset.

♪

♪

- Getting the steel
flattened out.

I decide I'm not gonna use
this big chunk of steel.

I'm just gonna use
a small piece of it.

Come on, now.

It has to be
between 10 and 12 inches long.

All right, so I'm thinking
I want to forge out

as much of this
as I possibly can.

Heat, beat, repeat.

♪

- You have only two hours
remaining to finish your work!

♪

- Hot as balls.

- It is intense, isn't it?

- Never, ever enough time.

I'm most concerned with getting
some of this thickness out.

I need to gain
a little bit of length,

and I need to get rid
of some meat on this.

- April's having a hard time.
We're seeing fatigue.

♪

It's the comfort level
that's dropping.

♪

- I do do a fair amount
of coal forge work,

but this is your hammer arm,
and you're cranking,

and you're cranking,
and you're hammering.

And your arm gets tired
really quickly.

I got a warp in here
that I got to get out.

At home, I would have
a power hammer,

which moves things a lot faster
than little old me.

Now, it's all about me
and the hammer.

♪

- I'm not getting air flow
like I should.

♪

Sorry, Brandon.

- Good strategy on his part
against Brandon.

If he can smoke Brandon out,

then he doesn't have to worry
about him in the first round.

Pete needs to dump his ash
and then his fire will work.

He hasn't gone and did
the simplest things,

the parts of that equipment

that are made to open
that air channel up.

They're there.

- I realized in the bottom
of the forge

is a place to catch ash.

If that gets plugged up,
you're not going to have heat.

- There he goes, there he goes.

[all cheering]
- Yay, Pete! Yay!

- There it is.

- I get a lot of stuff
that falls out of my forge,

and all of a sudden
I got heat again,

and I'm breathing
a sigh of relief.

Ohh, I can get on with this now.

- You have just one hour
remaining to finish your work!

♪

- Does this dirt make me
look fat?

♪

- Damn.

- Brandon came out of the gate
like a thoroughbred,

and now he's slowing down
to about a burro's pace.

♪

- At this point, my arm's
already cramping and hurting.

I said, "You know what?
If you can't do this, Brandon,

there's no point, man."

♪

- His fire,
it looks like it's low.

He's not moving very fast.

♪

I'm just not sure
where he's at physically

and mentally at this point.

♪

- I'm thinking to myself,
"Man, Brandon,

"you're stepping off
into a world of [bleep]

that you can't handle,"
and at this point,

I'm thinking I'm just
gonna lay my tools down...

that I can't handle this.

♪

- I'm really worried
about Brandon.

- He doesn't have
good body language.

- I'm really starting
to doubt myself,

and at this point,

I'm thinking I'm just gonna
lay my tools down,

that I can't handle this,
you know?

♪

But then I think of my daughter.

[clears throat]

And-and in that moment,
everything turned around.

It's like Thor himself came down

and punched me
square in the chest

and said, "No, Brandon,

"you're gonna do this.
You're gonna make it, man.

You're gonna show everybody
that you can do this."

Victory or Valhalla.

♪

- I have made
way prettier things,

but this one is...
what it is.

- April's edge is really turning
that nice color of orange.

There she goes, in the quench.

You have 15 minutes remaining!

♪

- Whoo!

♪

- Jo's in the quench.

♪

- Come on, baby, get hot.

The blade that I finally
came around to making

is what's known as a seax.

It came out of the steel
on its own, you know,

and I just went with it.

- Looks like Brandon
quenched his blade.

♪

Still waiting on a quench
from Pete.

- I've got to get
this heat treat done.

Looking at the clock,
I'm going, "Oh, boy." [laughs]

Am I gonna get this forge
hot enough to do it?

♪

- Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one!

Bladesmiths, your four-hour
forge time is complete.

Now we're gonna head back
to the Forge so that the judges

can deliberate
the finer details of your work.

- I'm not happy with what
I've got, but I made a knife.

♪

- Bladesmiths,
welcome to the Forge.

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

Jo, you're up first.

Please present your work
to the judges.

♪

- This is stout.

Got a lot of material
here still,

but I think it's got
a good feel to it.

♪

- Pete, please present
your work to the judges.

♪

- I like the design very much.

What we always say is
forge thick, grind thin.

You have a lot of meat here,
but of course if you move on,

you can correct that
and make it something

that'll move fast
and chop as well.

Nice job, sir.
- Thank you.

- April, please present
your blade to the judges.

♪

- Coal forge was kind of beating
you up for a while there.

- It was trying like hell.
[laughs]

- One of the things
that I noticed,

the curve is accentuated,
like, if I'm going to chop,

I might stab myself
in the shoulder here,

and that's one of my concerns.

- Brandon, please present
your work to the judges.

♪

- There was a point there,
you looked really frustrated.

- There was a minute I almost
just set my tools down

and walked off.
- Props for not giving up.

- I'm impressed at how much
you moved this piece of steel.

My concern is the tang
is very small.

- Now it's time for the judges
to make a final decision

about who goes on
to the next round,

and who has to leave the Forge.

♪

- What the hell
was that all about?

A coal forge? Really?
- [laughs]

- Don't cry, dude.
Don't cry.

- Dude, I ain't crying.
- Expand your horizons.

♪

- All right, judges.
Are there blades here

that are moving forward,
no doubt in your mind?

- Yeah, Pete and Jo's.

- Okay. Let's take a look
at April's blade.

♪

- The way that April
forged her blade,

we have this very extreme arc
in the blade and handle.

It's not a design element.
It's a mistake.

Now, they start to forge here,
and the material goes back,

and it doesn't get corrected.

- But it's not a fatal mistake.

- It will cut,
but it will not cut properly.

♪

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

♪

- Biggest concern is the tang.

It's very small and very weak.

In that coconut chop,
this may come apart right here.

- But it does not take away
from the fact

that this guy has some skill.

The fact that it's skinny,

but it feels like it's got
a lot of strength to it.

It feels like it'll chop
and do well.

- All right, judges.
Ultimately,

you have to make
the final decision.

So, Doug, have you made yours?

- Yes, I have.
- Dave?

- Yeah.
- Jason?

- Yes.
- Let's go tell our smiths.

♪

Bladesmiths, the judges
have made a final decision.

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

[dramatic music]

♪

April, your blade did not
make the cut.

- April, one
of the difficult things

when you're forging in coal
like that is

sometimes your blade will
get away from you.

So when you start
forging a piece

and it curves
as extreme as your blade did,

it leaves
for a very small sweet spot,

and you don't get any leverage

when you're trying to cut
with a blade in that shape,

and that's why we
have to send you home.

- April, please
surrender your weapon.

♪

- I know exactly
what they're saying.

I think I was maybe
a little too focused

on size requirements and
not enough of the design.

I wish I had wrapped my mind
around that more.

♪

But at the time
I finished the blade,

I just wasn't thinking of it.

♪

- Gentlemen, congratulations.

You've made it
to the second round.

In this round of competition,
you'll be attaching handles

to your blades to turn them
into fully-functional weapons.

There's an entire pantry
of materials

at your disposal
to use for your handles,

in addition to an entire
garbage can full of junk

we've brought from the junkyard.

You will have to incorporate
at least one piece of that junk

visibly into your handle's
construction.

Got to keep up with the theme.

And just because your weapons
are made out of junk

doesn't mean they need
to look like junk.

We want to see something
beautiful and functional.

Good luck, bladesmiths.
Your three-hour time starts...

now.

- All right, all right,
all right.

- Aw, hell, it's go time.

- So what do these guys
have to do to make sure

they meet the requirements we've
given them in this challenge?

- In many ways, they gotta
keep it simple,

because two of our smiths

have a lot of metal
to move on their blades.

♪

- Right away,
I move to the grinder.

I know I'm gonna have
a good hour

to an hour and a half to get
my blade straightened out.

♪

- Nice 2-inch band of sparks
coming off of there.

- It's bright, too, man.
- Moving metal.

- Looks like the Fourth of July
over there.

♪

- When I step up to the grinder,

I've got quite
a bit of stuff to do.

It's a beast of a knife,

and so I've got to clean it up,
lighten it up,

and get the balance right.

- First thing I want to do
is I want to start

looking at the materials.

It's overwhelming.

There's just
so much to choose from.

I find this nice piece
of dark wood.

We have to use
a piece of this junk,

and it has to be visible.

Plastic, huh?

So I'm looking through
this big barrel of junk,

and I find, like,
this bumper piece.

I'm thinking that's gonna
make a great guard.

Let's be smart about this
and not hurt ourselves.

♪

- I really don't think
that Brandon feels

very comfortable
with the belt grinders.

He's grabbed
an angle grinder over there

and is working with that.

- When you've got
an angle grinder

and a small piece of metal
in your hand,

nothing is anchored.
You lock it down in a vice.

A lot safer
when you use that tool.

- I don't know about you,
but I work with these digits.

I want to keep 'em.

♪

- I'm straightening my blade,

but I haven't looked
at the junkyard stuff yet.

That's really what I need to do

in the next two hours
and 24 minutes.

[laughs]

- A lot of these big grinders
and sanders and drill presses,

I'm not used to using
these things.

♪

[bleep]!

♪

- [bleep], the grinder cut
right into my finger.

- So our medic's on the floor.

Brandon just got himself
with that angle grinder.

- Yep. Sounds like
he needs a Band-Aid.

- I may need a little bit more
than a Band-Aid.

♪

- Ain't having fun till you
start bleeding, right?

- Brandon's bleeding
pretty good.

He's already bled
all the way through that rag

he's got on there.

- [bleep], man. I ain't
going out like this, dude.

I ain't going out like this.

I'm so pissed off, I'm thinking

they're not gonna
let me continue on.

They're gonna take me
out of here

and take me to the hospital
or whatever,

but they're not gonna
let me finish.

[sniffs]

- Bladesmiths,
one hour has elapsed.

You have just two hours
remaining to finish your work.

♪

- I got to finish this.
I have to.

Bandage me up and let me finish.

Hell, no. Just tape
that joker up tight, man.

♪

It's good enough, man.
Good enough.

- I wonder if this injury
is gonna slow Brandon down

and keep him very distracted.

♪

- Between Pete and Jo,

I mean, they've got to be
close to being done now.

- I spend a good hour and a half
on the grinder,

but I've got to allow
a certain amount of time

to shape my handle,
and I still don't have

an idea of what I'm going to do
for adding a piece of scrap.

- I end up spending way
too much time on the grinder.

I'm thinking, "You're way
behind the 8-ball here, Bubba."

I go to the handle material,
trying to find something

that's wide enough
that's gonna cover my handle.

It ended up being warthog tooth
that's encased in acrylic.

- What does Jo have
on his handle

that's from the garbage pile?

- Nothing, yet.
- Nothing, yet, right?

- The only guy, I think,
that really has

the junk material figured out
is Brandon.

♪

- At this point, I got my guard
and my handle on the blade,

so I start trying to work it,
give it a basic shape.

- 90 minutes has elapsed.

You have only 90 minutes
remaining to finish your work.

♪

- It's looking really nice
at this point.

You know, it's all starting
to come together.

I need to drill it out, pin
it, and get my handle set.

♪

- Oh, [bleep] on me.

- Brandon's handle just broke.

- You know, that's it.
There goes my chance.

I'm done.

- Oh, [bleep] on me.

[bleep] damn it.
It totally [bleep] up.

♪

- Brandon's handle just broke.

- [sighs] What to do?
What to do? What to do?

My handle cracked.

With an hour left on the clock,
I'm [bleep].

♪

I'm trying to stay focused
with everything that's going on,

and then...
[snaps fingers]

once again, my little
girl popped in my head.

I can hear her saying,
"Daddy, you better do this,"

so I have to get it done.

♪

- Brandon has ripped
his handle off.

He's ripped his guard off.

He's scraping
all of that epoxy off.

Does he have a chance
of recovering?

- Yeah.
He still could fix it.

♪

- While I'm waiting for my epoxy

to set up for my scales,

I'm trying to figure out
how to incorporate

this piece of hinge
into this knife blade,

and nothing I can come up with
will work on this hinge.

♪

- Jo, who's been
our front-runner,

falling a little bit behind
at this point.

- I go back and grab
another piece

out of the junk pile,

trying to figure out
a way to make this work.

I grab a bumper cover,

just a urethane plastic
bumper cover.

So I go to the bandsaw,
I fire it up,

and I mean, I just ripped it out

just as fast as I could go
to make the bolster out of.

A bolster's kind of
a front guard on a knife.

I'm going, "Okay, just relax.

We're gonna do this, and
it's gonna be something great."

♪

- As I'm gluing the handle up,

everything's
fitting together great.

I'm sweating the clock.

If I don't get something
in the handle

that reflects anything
out of that barrel,

I don't meet the criteria
for the challenge, and I'm out.

- Pete has no idea how he's
gonna incorporate this stuff.

He's a little bit
at a loss here.

- I'm going to put a spacer
in the middle of my handle

on either side...

♪

And I'm gonna cut it out
of that fender.

♪

- My whole game plan,
it completely deteriorated.

I'm freaking out, but I know
what I have to do now.

Let's try this again.

Maybe this time
I won't break it.

Now the problem is,
do I have enough time?

I go find another piece of wood,

drill the holes through it.

Come on.

I get my piece-of-junk guard
on there,

run back over to the grinders,

and I'm just as fast
and as furious as I can,

I am grinding the hell
out of this thing.

I'm gonna step up and do
what I need to do.

- This kid could be
making a comeback.

♪

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one.

♪

Bladesmiths, drop your tools.

- Going into testing,
I'm excited.

It's make-or-break
at this point,

and I just want to see
what it'll do.

- I got it done.
If my handle holds up,

I think I have
a real good chance.

♪

[dramatic music]

- Bladesmiths, I'll be testing

the strength and durability
of your blades

by taking each of your knives

and cutting into three coconuts.

Jo, are you ready?
- Yeah. Let's see what it's got.

♪

[sighs]

♪

- Oh.

♪

- Oh, [bleep].

♪

- Jo.
- Yes, sir.

- The width, the weight,
the curvature,

everything feels
really good about it.

There's no edge damage.
Overall you did great.

- Thank you.

- Pete, you're up next.

You ready?
- Yes.

♪

There's a slight tremor inside

as Jason picks it up
and takes a look at it.

Deep breath.

♪

- That's awesome.

♪

- Pete, got some
really clean cuts there

with this knife.

Your edge geometry is perfect.

I was a little concerned
at how thin it was here,

but I mean, it comes
right down to sharp.

Well done.
- Thank you.

- Brandon, you're up.
You ready?

- No, but I guess
I ain't got a choice, though.

- [laughs] All right.

♪

- I don't want to watch.
I don't want to watch.

♪

Oh, [bleep].
That's one.

♪

Phew! That's two.

♪

[bleep]

♪

- [bleep]

My handle just splintered,
and, oh, that hurt.

- Brandon, you got a critical
failure on your handle.

It came apart on me,
and because of that,

we won't be able
to continue testing.

- I understand.

- This type of wood is
very easily split,

and you have a large pin there,

and everything
that you were trying to do

to build it up
actually broke it down.

- I guess I made a poor choice
in handle material.

♪

- Because of the failure
of Brandon's handle,

we will not continue
with testing.

Brandon, your weapon
did not make the cut.

I have to ask you
to leave the Forge.

♪

- I had this.

I know I did.

If that handle wouldn't have
broke, I would've had it.

I knew it. I knew it.
I'm better than that.

♪

- Pete, Jo, congratulations.
You've made it into the final.

Now we're sending you back
to your home forges

where you will have to forge
an iconic blade from history.

Are you ready to see
what that weapon is?

- Oh, yeah.

- Yes, absolutely.

♪

- The Pandat.

- Oh.
- Ho.

The Pandat is a two-handed sword

carried into battle
by the Dayaks,

a group of tribes that lived
on the island of Borneo

for thousands of years.

Though most Dayak weapons
doubled as useful tools,

the Pandat was
the only used in war.

Forged from iron, the Pandat
features an angled blade

and could be swung downwards
with two hands.

An iron crosspiece was
inserted through a hole

at the end of the handle,
protecting the user's hands.

The blade was
sometimes decorated

with hair or rattan plant.

Until the early 20th century,
Dayak raiders

plundered coastal settlements
for resources,

money, and even enemy heads,

proving just how deadly
this weapon could be.

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 Pandats
to our panel of expert judges.

Only after they've
subjected those

to some excruciating punishment
in our weapons tests

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

who also walks away
with a check for ten grand.

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

♪

- It's day one, and we are
at my blacksmith club,

Southern Ohio Forge and Anvil.

I would like to have
my blade and the handle

forged to width and thickness.

If I get that part of it
done today,

it'll just really
boost my confidence

that we've started off
on the right foot

and not the left one.

I intend to leave
hammer marks in it

so it looks like it was forged
in the jungles of Borneo.

I want it to look
as authentic as I can.

I hope it doesn't bite me later.

♪

- This is home.
Jenks, Oklahoma.

It's gonna be hot,
it's gonna be humid,

but I'm not worried
about anything

other than an accident
or the unforeseen.

♪

I mean, have never
seen this blade,

have never even heard of it.

A little apprehensive
about building it.

Five days, it seems
like a lot of time.

[thunder peals]

But to build a piece like this,

it's gonna be
really, really hard.

♪

Come on, stay with me.
Don't power out on me.

What's going on?

Oh, wow.

I haven't seen it rain this hard
in a long time, y'all.

I mean, this is...
This is kind of intense.

Oh, [bleep], okay.

♪

Oh, [bleep], okay.
Yeah, boys.

Damn it!

♪

Go, go, go.

Oh, [bleep]
Stay where you're at.

Do not move.

- Midway through day one,
everything's going great,

and boom.

Amazing storm hits.
I mean, this thing was unreal.

There was some damage done.
We had a lot of trees down,

took out, of course,
the meter and the power lines.

Doesn't look like we're gonna
get power back anytime soon,

so we're gonna get a generator.
We're gonna get it pumped up.

We're gonna get power
and juice back in the shop,

and then we're gonna
move forward.

[generator starting]

Yay!
We have power.

♪

This was a pretty good setback.

It's a reality check, you go,

"Hey, you sure you got
what it takes to do this?

♪

- It is day three, and
I've been told it's Saturday.

Gonna be a cutting test,
gonna be a strength test,

there's gonna be
a kill test too.

So I want to draw my spine
back so it's a little softer,

so it's got
a little bit of flex.

So I rigged up kind of
an ancient way to do it.

I've dug a trench
to keep the edge cool,

so it won't get soft.

♪

I've really been fighting
the wind with it.

About as fast as you get it
warmed up, it cools down.

I also have to keep
water in the trench,

and when you've got
a very hot torch

blasting against the water,
it evaporates rather quickly.

I'm not sure
I'm gonna get it done.

♪

- Day four,
either we top the hill

or we roll down another one.

Today's a make-or-break day
for this blade.

We're gonna quench this thing
and hope for the best,

and hopefully your best
is good enough.

♪

Doing this is about
as nerve-wracking as it gets.

♪

You just want everything
to go nice and smooth.

♪

[blows air]

♪

It did harden,

but I got a crazy-ass warpage
right there.

♪

It's a bit of a kick
in the pants.

We're running out of time.
Grind, grind, grind,

that's what it's gonna
come down to,

and hopefully get that warp out.

♪

- Day five.
We're gonna finish her.

We're gonna get her done.

As I got the edge on the blade,
uh, I did some tests with it.

♪

Just checking to make sure

I'm not rolling anything
on the edge.

That seems to be
holding real good.

♪

Then I whacked and chopped
and hit and chopped.

♪

Hoo!

That was better than I thought.

So, I'm content.
I could use a good hamburger

and a few minutes
sitting on the porch

before I doze off tonight.

[dramatic music]

- Pete, Jo, welcome back
to the Forge.

You've had five days
at your home forges

to work on your Pandats.

Jo, tell us about your blade.

- It was a hell of a build.

I built one as close
to traditional as could be.

The handle's actually made
out of a piece of pecan

out of our front yard.

- Pete, tell us
about your blade.

- I tried to come up
with handle materials.

I found that rosewood was
native to the island there.

Little bit of a challenge,
finishing up the heat treat

and getting the blade tempered,
but it went real well.

- Well, gentlemen,
let's see how they hold up.

- Bladesmiths,
this is the sharpness test.

To see how sharp
your weapons are,

I will attempt to cut
through these web of ropes

with three identical strikes.

If they're sharp,
I should meet no resistance.

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

- Let's do it.

It's awe-inspiring
to see what these guys

have come up with
with this challenge.

Seeing these ropes
crisscrossed and everything,

I'm a little apprehensive
about it,

because I didn't get
to test it on a rope,

but it's something to cut.
This blade's gonna cut.

♪

- Well, Jo, all the weight is
at the tip of the blade.

So when I come down,
it wants to draw me forward,

and a recovery is a little bit
harder on the way back.

You have a sharp edge over here,
that I almost met no resistance.

Overall, sir,
your blade will cut.

♪

Pete, you're up next.
You ready?

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

♪

Okay, Pete, it is a sharp blade.

The balance is light.
You have a lighter blade here.

It's not as heavy
to pull forward,

so good job.

The only issue I have

is that I kind of ran
out of handle here.

I would've liked to see
a little pommel here,

or probably even
a longer handle,

so it's easier to control,

and not feel like I'm
at the end of my rope,

so to say.

Overall, this weapon, sir,
will cut.

- Thank you.

- All right, bladesmiths.
Next up is a kill test.

Now, the Pandat was
a weapon used

by headhunting tribes in Borneo.

To see how lethal
your weapon is,

I will take your Pandat

and I will deliver
one blow to this carcass.

Let's see how much damage
your weapon can do.

Jo, you're up first.
You ready?

- Let's bring it.
- Let's do it.

♪

- Whoo.

- Yeah.

- Okay, Jo, the balance
feels so forward heavy

that when you slice
through this carcass,

it pulled me into it and cut
cleanly all the way through.

This weapon, sir, will kill.
Good job.

- Thank you.

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

- Yes, I am.

♪

- Okay, Pete, the difference
with your blade is that

it's light,
and because it's light,

I can use velocity to help
cut through this carcass.

This weapon, sir, will kill.
Good job.

- Thank you.

- All right, gentlemen,
this is the strength test.

To test the strength
and durability of your blades,

we're going to hook them
into our machine here,

which is going to chop
into this bundle of sugar cane.

Now, if your blades
are tempered properly,

they should cut into the cane
without a problem.

If not, we might get 'em
to bend, warp.

Well, we'll see what happens.

Jo, you're already rigged up
on the machine. You ready to go?

- Let's go.
- All right, let's do it.

All right, Jo.

Three, two, one.

♪

All right, so Jo,
now, when I pulled this

out of the machine,

there's a bit of a bend
right here in the ricasso,

kind of a gap

right along the edge
of the blade and the guard.

- It had that warp
when it got here.

- It had that warp
when it got here?

♪

- All right, so Jo,
now, when I pulled this

out of the machine,

there's a bit of a bend
right here in the ricasso,

kind of a gap

right along the edge
of the blade and the guard.

- It had that warp
when it got here.

- It had that warp
when it got here?

♪

- It's actually offset.

It's got a little bit
of a twist...

Maybe a five-degree twist.

I couldn't get it out
whenever I built it.

- Well, it may have gotten
bigger during that test.

Overall, the edge held up fine.
No damage whatsoever.

It's got a good shape.
Good job.

- Thank you, sir.
- All right, Pete,

you're all locked in.
Ready for this?

- I am.
- All right.

All right, Pete.

♪

Three, two, one.

♪

All right, Pete,
you can actually see

how much this blade flexed
when it went into the cane,

and came back to true,

which is always
what I want to see.

Definitely sharp,
well put together.

Feels good.
All right, well done, Pete.

- Thank you.

[dramatic music]

- Pete, Jo, welcome back.

This is the moment
you've been waiting for,

but before I get to it,

the judges have some comments
for both of you.

Jason?

- Jo, I really appreciated
the craftsmanship of your blade.

I like that brushed finish
you did on it.

You really demonstrated
the bladesmith's art

and craftsmanship
with your Pandat,

and I appreciate it very much.

- Thank you very much.

- Pete, I'm a huge fan

of really authentic-looking
weapons.

I think you, by leaving
those forge marks

in your blade,
you created something

that, to my eye,
is very authentic,

but beyond that,
it was a real performer.

It's a beautiful piece of work.
Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Gentlemen, this is one
of the tightest competitions

that we've had.

It's exactly what we want
from our bladesmiths.

It was a difficult decision,

but that final decision
has been made.

The "Forged in Fire"
champion is...

♪

Pete, congratulations, you are
the "Forged in Fire" champion.

[upbeat rock music]

Jo, your Pandat did not
make the cut.

Doug will explain.

- Jo, the presentation
of both blades

performed equally well,
so much so that we had to go

to the finer details
of its performance.

The angle of your Pandat,
being so top-heavy,

was harder to control in all
the tests that we were doing,

and for that,
we have to let you go.

- Jo, please surrender
your weapon.

♪

- This experience has taught me,

like many things in life,
to try.

Dare to fail.
If you fail, so what?

Feeling kind of disappointed
right now,

but hey, at least I tried.

♪

- Pete, congratulations, you are
the "Forged in Fire" champion,

and will be receiving that check
for ten grand. Good job.

[applause]
- Thank you.

♪

- Pete, what I really liked
about your blade,

amongst many things,
is, you know,

I wanted to grab that thing
and cut something with it,

and when I felt it, it...

I mean, it gives you
the woo to strike.

You know, it really does
want to cut.

- How you feeling
right now, Pete?

- Feel pretty good.

I'm feeling like I could
just roll on the floor

and bust out laughing.
It feels real good.

Feels real good to win.

I'm going home
the "Forged in Fire" champion,

and I know
all 24 of my grandkids

are gonna be excited
for Grandpa.

♪