Forged in Fire (2015–…): Season 8, Episode 11 - Forged in Fire - full transcript

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[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[intense music]

- I'm travis robie.
I'm 50 years old.

I'm a truck driver by day
and bladesmith by night.

I love bladesmithing because
I can go out to the garage

and I get in the zone,

just focus on what I'm doing.

It's nice to see something
that you create

come out of the steel
and last forever.

- My name is cameron lafranc.



I am 20 years old
from warner robins, georgia.

I got into metalworks
thanks to my father.

He early on was saying
I'd be a welder

or someone who plays with fire.

It's really what sparked...
No pun intended...

My drive for working
with metal and fire.

- My name is garrett olson.

I'm a full time electrician

and a part-time bladesmith.

I got into bladesmithing
'cause I fell asleep one day

and thought I had
a little epiphany

but turns out I just fell asleep

while "forged in fire" was on.

I'm completely self-taught.



Pretty much my entire
forging experience

to get to here at this point
has just been

complete trial and error
and a lot of mistakes.

- My name's mike powell.
I'm from hastings, florida.

I make blades as often as I can,

usually a couple of hours
in the morning before work

and then as much time as my wife

will let me on the weekend.

She sacrifices a lot of
our one-on-one time for me

to be in my shop
and making blades.

If I win the 10k,
I'm gonna get my wife

something nice that
we can enjoy together.

- Bladesmiths,
welcome to the forge.

You guys are about to take part
in three rounds

of forging competition
that's been designed to test

every aspect of your skills.

Now, at the end of each round,
you guys will

present your work
to our panel of expert judges.

The judges today are
abs master smith j. Neilson,

historic weapons recreation
specialist dave baker,

and edged weapons specialist

and kali martial artist
doug marcaida.

Now remember, there can
only one champion here,

so only one of you
is leaving here with the title

and a check for $10,000.

Now, bladesmiths,
we got a bit of

an unknown challenge
for you today.

Our friends tim allen
and richard karn

from history's new competition
series "assembly required"

sent us this crate
and said it would make

for a great round one
competition.

So you guys ready to see
what's in it?

- Absolutely.
- Oh yeah.

- All right. Let's go.

[intense music]

♪ ♪

- you guys see we've got a bunch

of different tools in here,
and I want you to each use

at least two of them to source
your steel for your blades.

We've got hammers.
We've got chainsaws.

We've got band saws,
monkey wrenches, you name it.

- That lid drops down
and holy crap.

I see a lot of bad
but some good.

- Now, with the whatever tools
you guys choose,

I want you each to create
a pry bar knife,

which means one edge
needs to be wedged

and work
as a functioning pry bar.

You need to be set up
for a full tang,

and we want to have a blade
the measures

between 11 and 13 inches.

Now, in round two
of the competition,

you guys are gonna add handles
to your blades,

turning them into fully
functioning knives,

at which point we're gonna be
testing them for strength

and durability
in a ladder pry and chop

and for sharpness
in a leather apron slice.

Keep your eyes and the clock.

Do your absolute best work.

You will only have
three hours in round one

of the competition,

and that time starts now.

♪ ♪

- they've got a lot
of choices in there.

- This is the interesting part,

to see what they grab
right off the bat.

- They've each gotta choose
two tools.

What would you guys
be going for?

- Files usually make
good knives,

but it depends on
what route you wanna go.

You can go layering stuff up,

or you can go a canister route
if you're comfortable with it.

- Right off the bat,
my game plan

is to get a hold
of those band saw blades.

I'm pretty confident
that that's good hard stel

'cause I use them at work.

I need to find something else
so that I can move on.

Let's see here.

- Mike went ahead and grabbed
the hand file.

- I know I wanna make
a canister,

and I don't wanna try to put
any thick, heavy tool steel

or hammers or any of those
bits into the can.

I wanted that thin material
that I could get in there

with that powder that I know
I can get

a good solid weld on.

First thing is get wite-out
in that can and let

that wite-out start drying

so that I know
my can's gonna separate.

I absolutely have no intention
on leaving that on there.

- So I'm looking at the steel
and it's some good some bad,

but I see the bandsaw blades
and the handsaw.

I know for a fact
that that's hardenable steel.

So as I'm cutting, I notice that

that's not gonna be
enough steel,

so I'm sort of panicking.

[bleep].

I look over at the crate,

and I see some pipe wrenches,

so I decided to switch over
to the pipe jaws

and using the leftover
of that handsaw.

- Cameron just realized
he needed more

so he just went back to the box.

- Yeah. He's pulling the teeth
off right there.

- I got the jaws in the forge

and I'm ready to start
working on my handsaw.

I plan to do
a layered damascus billet.

Gonna go ahead
and put the handsaw blades

in the center core
where my edge is gonna be

to make sure I've got more
than enough for this blade.

- So right when I see
the toolbox,

I knew I was gonna go
to a canister

just because
there's so many unknown metals.

- Garrett decided to go
with the chainsaw blade

and the bandsaw blade.

♪ ♪

- I laid a good layer
of 1095 powder down first

so that I'm gonna have
a good layer

that I know is gonna be
a solid cutting-edge.

- How many of them are gonna
decide to peel it off

and how many are gonna
leave the can on?

We didn't give 'em
a requirement either way.

- I weld it all together,
and put it in the forge.

- Garrett's enjoying himself.
He's got a tune going.

♪ ♪

[laughter]

- I'm a real high-energy person.

I'm always moving around.

- We should get garrett
like a little tin cup

and a hat or something.

- I think it's only fitting
to listen to metal music

as I'm pounding on metal,

so just thinking about
some heavy metal music.

- As I'm looking to see
what's left after

the buzzards had picked it,

I realize there's not
a whole lot of choices,

so I decided to go
with a handsaw and files

and make a canister damascus.

♪ ♪

I'm gonna take it casual,
and that's my plan...

Just slow and easy.

- I don't know if he gave it
enough time

for that wite-out to dry

- [bleep].
Should have let that dry.

You're sitting at home
and you tell yourself

I will not be the guy to rush.

Oh, lord. I'm that guy.

I did not let the wite-out dry,

but I think
I can pry the can off.

I'll be fine.

- Bladesmiths, one hour
is off the clock.

You have two hours remaining
in round one.

- My plan is to get
the pipe wrench jaws straight,

so I take it over to my anvil
and start beating

the ever-living crap out of it.

I've seen a lot of smiths
taking it quickly to the press

and you get cold shuts.

I do the same
for the second billet,

and then from there it's more
or less testing

different machines,
trying to get it flattened out

for when I go to layer it
with the handsaw blades.

Everything looks all forge
welded together.

Come on, baby.
I'm feeling surprisingly good.

And then that terrifies me
now that I think about it.

- First look in the forge,

I wanna make sure that this can

is up to welding temperature.

I take my can to the press and,

wow, that thing
has got some power.

The canister is getting
smashed real tight.

- Hopefully everything in there
is nice and tight

like it's supposed to be
and once I got that can off,

I got plenty of time left
to forge out a nice blade.

This can's fighting me
every step of the way.

[bleep]

it is going horrible.

- You can tell mike's getting
a little frustrated

with that canister.

- I'm not gonna have solid welds

with that wite-out in there,
so I have to

get this can off of this billet.

So I take it over
to the chop saw,

and I'm gonna cut the ends off

so I can actually see the seams.

Let's see here.

I find the seams.

Luckily, this thing
actually starts peeling.

- There we go, mike.
- Yay!

- Oh, there we go.
- I've got enough

of this can off that I think
I can take this thing

to the grinder now and grind
what's left off of there.

- Bladesmiths, you've got
an hour and a half remaining.

- I am so excited
to go to big blue

and use it for the first time.

Man, this machine's awesome.

I need one of these at my house.

I'm super happy how
my blade shape's turning out,

but I'm not really sure what
I wanna do with the pry br

'cause I've never put
a pry bar on knife before.

♪ ♪

it's looking like I have
a pretty decent weld set.

Nothing's really breaking apart
on me as I'm hammering.

It seems to be holding together
pretty good.

♪ ♪

- my welds are set.

I'm trying to peel the can back,

and I realize
it's sticking pretty good.

And I'm thinking
I'm in deep trouble.

[bleep]. That's not a good sign.

As it's in the forge,
I'm thinking,

man, if I put it in the press,

I can see it separate
a little bit.

Maybe I can get the press
to help me.

♪ ♪

- I think he got
some of it peeled.

- I hope
I didn't cut too much off.

I'm back to forging.

- So the judges want us
to make a blade

with a pry bar at the end of it.

♪ ♪

I put a bevel on the tip
the blade so that way

I already have an idea as to
how my pry bar is gonna work.

- I think edge geometries
are super important

on this pry bar knife,

just putting a ricasso that's
too thin can cause failur.

- If I put the pry bar end
at the tip of the blade,

then I know that I've got
of leverage to crank up.

I don't want to put the pry bar
at the bottom of the knife

because you don't want j.
Or anyone else's hand

to be damaged when testing.

- So, my design...

I want something that's gonna
have a nice, strong spine,

I need an edge on the tip
for prying

and something that's not
too thin for chopping.

I hope I got plenty of time
to stabilize the steel,

but as far as forging it out,
I think I'm good on time.

So I've cut the tip off.

I'm starting forging the bevels.

It's got an angle so that you
can wedge in and pry with it.

I wanna get my handle

to have a little bit of curve
down into it

and make a nice chopper
out of this thing.

- I'm feeling pretty confident
at this point.

I wanna show my
six-month-old daughter at home

that if you set your mind
to anything,

you can do anything.

So I'm ready to quench,
but I'm really not used

to the brighter lights
around here.

I'm thinking it's
at the right temperature,

so I decided to just wing it
and go for broke.

♪ ♪

- hey! Yo!
Quenched and got a haircu.

- I'm little worried that I had
my temperature

a little too hot,
so I grab the file...

Whoo!

Blade's nice and hard.

No delams
that I'm seeing right now.

I'm looking forward
to getting to grinding to it

and seeing what I can turn out.

- So I get out my ruler,
and I measure my blade up,

and as I'm looking at it,

I'm, like, maybe an inch
and a half short.

Here's 11.

13... I wanted to shoot for 12.

- Well, with travis,
you don't wanna be at the poit

to where you need more steel.

- He doesn't have anywhere
near enough metal

to make the blade
we're asking for.

- I'm in trouble.
I've gotta stretch thing out.

I just wanna get this thing
to parameters,

and all I can do
is give it my best shot.

I brought is called a flatter,

and it keeps things flat.

Instead of running it over
to the post vise,

I give it a couple of whacks.

I've used it time and time
again at home

and it works fantastic.

- For you guys, how important
is it to have tools

that you're comfortable with
and that work well for yo?

- I think it's a brilliant
thing to do.

- I think it's very important

because you have
a comfort level with that.

Your accuracy's not affected.

- It's all about muscle memory.
- Yep.

- Before quench, I'm at 11 1/4.

Not a lot of room,
but it's there.

- So I've got the blade
the shape I want it,

but I wanna make sure I get
some pin holes in this thing

before I quench it.

I'm gonna drill this hole.
Wrong.

It's squealing like the steel
has already been quenche.

- All right, mike's having some
issues with the drill bits.

[clank] all: Ohh!

- And there's
a broken drill bit.

- I'm starting to get
a little worried.

I don't wanna waste
any more time with this.

I've got one pin hole.

I'm gonna get
this blade quenched.

♪ ♪

I like the sound of that.

I take this thing
to the grinder.

I'm gonna get as much done
as I can

before that clock hits zero.

- Bladesmiths,
you are at 15 minutes.

- I got my blade to length

and I got my handle
sorted out enough,

and so I can get ready
for my quench.

♪ ♪

nope. [bleep].

As I'm trying to skate
the file, I feel it digging,

so I go in for a second quench.
[laughs]

I got a lot of voices in my head

that tell me not to do this,

but I've gotta get a hard blade.

♪ ♪

[bleep] it's not skating.

[bleep]

third time's a charm.

- Oh, boy.
- That's bad.

- I'm starting to think,
did I choose the right stee?

Against better judgment,
I go for a third quench.

♪ ♪

and this time it skates
a little better than before.

That's just gonna have to work.

- The judges want
a pry bar knife,

so I'm going for
a cleaver-type blade

with a flat end on that 90
degree corner and I'll be good.

♪ ♪

I get it up temperature,
and I get it in the quenc.

♪ ♪

I don't hear any cracks.
I don't any pings. I'm good.

- I'm a little nervous.
I'm thinking about

how I'm gonna incorporate
the pry bar into my knife.

I've never done
a pry bar before,

so I decided to put
my pry bar at the end.

I'm going with a big swoop
at the tang.

- I do not see a pry bar knife
in garrett's design.

- [chuckles] yep.

He's putting a pry bar
on the tang.

- I'm thinking I maybe
should have redesigned this

a little bit.

I'm looking over my other
competitors and I realize

that they all
of their pry bar on the tip.

And I'm starting to think
I maybe I did something wron.

♪ ♪

if I make it to round two,
I'm planning on

just cutting off
the end of my handle

and then taking off
the tip of my knife

and making that thing a pry bar.

I'm just hoping the judges
give me a chance.

- Five, four, three, two, one.

Turn off your machines.
Put down your tools.

Round one is over.

- I'm a little nervous.

Somebody's gotta go out
in the first round

but I'm just really hoping
it's not me right now.

- All right, gentlemen.

In round one of our competition,

you guys took tools
from a mystery crate

and turned them
into pry bar knives.

But the time has come for our
judges to do their critique

and decide which three of you
are moving forward

into round two
of the competition

and who's gonna be
leaving the forge.

Travis, you're up first.
You ready?

- Yes, sir.
- All right.

Please present your work.

- Travis, you had to fight
that steel to get it

long enough to make this knife.

While doing that, you really
stressed out this steel.

The other issue I have
is at the start of your tang,

you've got a couple
of delam issues going on.

So you got some things to do
if you move forward

into the next round.
- Okay. Thank you.

- All right, cameron.
You're up next.

Let's see what you came up with.

♪ ♪

- cameron, you decided
to stack your metal

instead
of going with a canister.

And in doing so,
this is all hardenable steel,

and it's solid.

Moving forward,
I'd like you to refine it

a little bit
on your design over here.

But in terms of being functional

as a pry bar and a knife,
you're well on your way.

Good job. - Thank you very much.

- All right, garrett. You're up.

Please present your work.

- All right, garrett.
First of all the handle.

You start swinging with this,
your hand's just gonna slam

back into this hook back here.

If I tried to pry this way,
this might come loose

and just... [clicks tongue]

and I really don't wanna
hold onto the blade and pry it.

I see creases going down
the spine in a couple sections,

one traveling over
to the edge here.

Those are definitely issues
that you'd have to take care of

if you move onto round two.

I hope you got
one heck of a plan.

- Last but not least, mike.
Please present your work.

- All right, mike.
You went with a canister.

So I can see some parts of it
stuck to your metal here.

You have some delaminations.

Your handle is a little bit
on the big side,

so if you make into
the second round,

just refine this
because there's still

a lot of forge scale here.

- Gentleman, you guys all did
a good job

at choosing the best tool
for success

but as you know,

only three of you
are moving forward

into round two
of the competition.

And the bladesmith leaving
the forge is...

♪ ♪

garrett.

Dave baker's gonna tell you why.

- Garrett, this came down
to a design issue.

A pry bar knife
usually has a pry bar tip.

You gave us a pry bar
at the end of the handle

where you can get
very little leverage.

That combined with the cracks
and delaminations

in your blade... we don't know
that you can fix that

in round two, so that's why
we're letting you go.

- Garrett, thank you
for your hard work.

It was really fun
watching you build that blade,

but unfortunately your time
here in the forge has ended.

I'm gonna have to ask you
to please leave.

- You know,
I completely agree with j.

Once he started giving
the visual of it.

I don't really think
it's the best idea

to stab yourself in the neck
as you're prying something,

so I think I'll definitely
take that

into consideration next time.

I'm just more than happy
to go home

and see my little baby
daughter waiting for me.

♪ ♪

- well, guys, congratulations.

The three of you
are moving forward

into round
two of our competition

where you'll fix any issues
you guys have with your blades

and add handles, turning them
into fully functioning knives,

at which point the guys
are gonna be testing them

for strength and durability
in a ladder pry and chop

and for sharpness
in a leather apron slice.

Now, unfortunately for you guys,

other than pin stock,
the pantry is off limits.

But the good news is somebody
left me a chainsaw.

[metal music]

♪ ♪

all right, gentleman.
This log here is

the only material
you guys have available.

You guys have two hours
in round two

to complete your handles,
and that time starts now.

♪ ♪

- first thing in round two
that I'm gonna do is get

my handle scales established.

♪ ♪

I don't know if these
power hammers

can get through
that slab of wood.

- Garrett's going for
the bandsaw.

- Yeah, but that bandsaw blade
is made for metal.

It is not made for wood.

- As I'm cutting,
I can tell the machine

really does not like
cutting through this wood.

So I take my chisel and start
beating the ever living crap

in the center of the log.

Finally... pop.

Finally!

- There you go.
- [exhales]

that was a weight
off the shoulders.

- My plan is to split the wod
as much as I can

without having
to grind too much.

- You know what's interesting,

travis is trying to use a chisel

to break up the piece
that he has.

They look like pretty good
little scales already.

- I'm looking over
and these guys

are still splitting their wood.

I'm ahead of the game.

I'm feeling great.

♪ ♪

- I've got my scales cut.
I know my tang's too long,

so I wanna go ahead
and shorten this thing up

and get it to the size
and shape I want it to be

before I start fitting
these scales up.

I got the tang cut off.

Now I'm ready to get
some pinholes in this bab.

I had some drill press issues
in round one.

I'm still having no luck
at this press.

It doesn't wanna cut at all.

If I don't get a hole
in this tang now,

it's gonna come back
and bite me in the end.

I'm not gonna be able
to get scales to stay on here

and survive testing.

- Mike's still having
some trouble

with the drill bit holes.

- Son of a bitch, man.

Und with this thing,

so I'm like, well,
I'll sharpen this bit.

I do it at home all the time.

I get back to the press.

The bit cuts right through
like butter. No problem.

Hallelujah.

Problem solved just like tha.

♪ ♪

- yes. Now that I got
both my scales,

I'm gonna fit up my handle.

In the back of my mind,

I am reminded
of other competitors

and how their handles
snapped apart

when driving in a pin
that's too tight of the hole.

I'm praying with each tap
that it does not crack.

[exhales]

one thing done.
Time for the next.

And it's off
to the grinder I go.

♪ ♪

- before I put these
corby bits in,

I need to make sure I have
my holes lined up to the blade.

I'm gonna line
my handle material up

where I can epoxy them together,

screw in the corby bits,
and get over the grinder.

♪ ♪

so I put the epoxy
on the first scale.

I'm lined up, and I pick up the
other scale and automatically

I grabbed it,
swipe it with some epoxy.

Oh crap. I'm on the wrong side.

Oh, this could be all bad.

- Oh, he just glued the wrong
side of the scale, too.

[laughter] - oh man.

You weren't supposed
to be looking.

- We saw that.
- Yeah.

- Damn. It's one thing to know
they're talking about you,

but when you hear it,
you know, oh, no.

I am that guy.

I take everything to the grinder

and I just cleaned it up.

The glue's off the handle,

and now I'm just gonna
put this thing back together

and get it together right.

- Bladesmiths, you only have
30 minutes remaining.

♪ ♪

- I've got both scales on.
I get my corby bolts.

I start trying
to put 'em together.

If I don't
do it perfectly right,

then I'm not gonna get
a good mechanical connection.

The hell? That ain't working.

Right away,
I feel the threads snap.

You gotta be kidding me.
Damn. Those broke.

[bleep]. I'm gonna go get two
more corbys and start ove.

This time, I took my time,

and I made sure not to
over torque these things.

I made sure they were centered
up where they needed to be,

and once they snugged up,
I stopped.

I look at the clock.
I still feel like

I got plenty of time to go over

and shape this handle
and put an edge on this blade.

So at this point, I'm finally
starting to feel some relief.

Out of the three,
who is the most refined?

- Cameron. He doesn't have
the issues that travis has

when we're talking about
what's inside the can.

- I'm looking at
that delamination

right at the end of the tip,

and I know
that it's gonna be tight.

I can't grind too much.

I've got less than
a 1/2 inch of room.

I cannot go below parameters.

I have got to get this blade
just right.

Get rid of that.

I refuse to go home
on parameters.

- Five, four, three, two, one.

Gentlemen,
turn off your machines.

Put down your tools.

Round two is officially over.

♪ ♪

- I'm feeling pretty good
about my blade because

I got rid of this delam.

I feel a lot better
at the end of round two

than I did at round one.

♪ ♪

- bladesmiths, welcome
to our strength test.

Our ladder pry and chop.

♪ ♪

I'm going to take your blades,

drive them
under these metal plates,

and try to pry them off.

Then, after that,

ah, I might just beat the hell
out of the ladder for a while.

How does that sound?

- Absolutely.
- Go for it.

- Don't act so thrilled.
[laughter]

remember,
you signed up for this.

[laughter]

mike, you're up first.
You ready to go?

- Absolutely. Let's do it.
- All right. Let's go.

♪ ♪

- I think there's a couple
spots where it might be

a little soft for the chop test

but hopefully it turns out good.

This is what I came here for.

I'm excited to see j. Go at it.

♪ ♪

[grunting]

♪ ♪

- kill it.

- All right, mike.
You survived. Good job.

Biggest problem I had,
though, is this tip.

It didn't come to a, like,
a chisel point

or anything like that,
so it's harder

to drive it under that plate.

Handle's a little lean,
but it's not uncomfortable.

And everything is still
together and tight. Good job.

- Thank you.

- Cameron.
- [whimpers]

[laughter]

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I saw you look dead in my eyes.

It scared the crap outta me.
I'm sorry.

- It'll be over soon,
one way or another.

- Words of encouragement.

- Grady's other job
is motivational speaking.

- Yeah. [laughter]

- given the way
I designed this edge,

I am still afraid of this
getting broken apart

because I had to quench
three times,

so that put a little bit of
some stress fractures in there.

If there are chips
that break off on my blad,

I'm afraid that it's gonna
be game over for me.

♪ ♪

[grunting]

♪ ♪

- all right, cameron.

You survived. Good job.

This isn't ground down
to a zero edge or even close,

so it was a little trouble
driving it in,

but once I got it under there,

that plate popped
right off no problem.

You're edge is still good.
Good work.

- Thank you very much.

Your turn, buddy.

- He looks thrilled. [laughter]

♪ ♪

- I'm pretty scared
at this moment.

It's anybody's game.

I mean,
it all comes down to this.

♪ ♪

- not good.

♪ ♪

- okay, travis.

You never know what's gonna
happen in these competitions.

That was the last thing
I expected.

Your blade held up great.
No problem there.

But your handle scales came off.

You can see that
the male threads

aren't even coming
about halfway through.

I think you might have had
a thread holding each one,

and that's about it.

And that's why
your handle came apart.

- Travis, you were able to fix
the issues

with the blade after round one,

but unfortunately
your handles fell off

during the testing phase.

And, unfortunately, that makes
the tool no longer testable,

and for that reason,
we're gonna have to ask yu

to leave the forge.
- Thank you, guys.

- Well done.
- Thank you.

- Good job.
- Good work, travis.

- Thank you.
- Good fight.

- I'm disappointed in myself.

I should've known better.

I'll just go home
and get back to the forge

and keep on doing
what I love to do.

I made it this far.
I made a solid blade.

I'm happy. I'll be all right.

- Cameron, mike,
congratulations.

It is now down to the two of you

to decide who's gonna go home
with the title

of "forged in fire" champion
and a check for $10,000.

Now, this final round
of competition,

we're gonna be sending you guys
back to your guys home forges

to build not one but two iconic

multi-tools and weapons
from russia.

And that weapon is...

♪ ♪

the spetsnaz shovel.

- Originating in
the 19th century,

these all-purpose shovels
were adapted for use

by the russian special force,
the spetsnaz.

These versatile shovels were
used as entrenching tools,

oars for rafting,
and even as cookware.

The soviet military units
eventually trained to use

the spetsnaz shovel as a weapon.

The short handles made
for quick moves

in close quarter combat.

These shovels feature
deadly sharp edges

that could be used for anything

from chopping wood
to slashing flesh,

or even thrown at a target.

This utilitarian tool
can be seen wielded

in season three
of history channel's

hit survival series "alone."

- now, when you guys
are building these,

I want you to follow
these parameters.

Your blades will need to be
between

5 1/2 and 6 1/2 inches wide,

between 7 and 8 inches tall,

and it's gonna need to be
sharpened all the way

around the outer edge.

The overall length
of your shovels

needs to not exceed 23 inches.

You guys will have four days

to work on your spetsnaz shovel.

So good luck,
we'll see you in four days.

- Good luck.

♪ ♪

- I'm here at my home forge
in warner robins, georgia.

Today's game plan is just
to get all of my forging don.

Damn. That ain't moving [bleep].

I have a lot of steel to move
and a very thin blade

to forge out,
so hopefully all goes well.

I start off with these
two pieces of leaf spring

just to see if I can get it
forged down to parameters.

[bleep] me.
I don't think I'm gonna get

what I need out of that.

It's going longways
instead of width.

And then I notice a piece of
w1 that I had laying around.

It's 2-inch round stock,
so I know for a fact

that it's enough material
for the job I mean it to do.

I'm at the minimum printer
for the length of blade.

I'm gonna keep stretching it
out then working on the width.

End of day one, after my
restart with the leaf springs,

pretty happy of where I'm at,

and I think I'll be good
to go for tomorrow.

♪ ♪

- we're here in jacksonville,
florida.

I am stoked, man. I prayed

that I would make it this far.

I'm gonna forge out
these shovels

and see if I can win this.

I've got it about drawn out
to length.

I haven't quite got it
as wide as I want.

I'm not sure
I have enough material.

I go cut me another piece
of steel for the second one,

and drop in the forge.

That oughta do it.

About three blows in...

Woah!

The whole end of the billet
just explodes.

Wow! What the heck?

I've never seen
a piece of steel do that.

Now I've got one piece left.
This sucks.

No way.

This is my third attempt.

Do over. I take my time.

I keep my steel
to the right temperature.

It didn't explode on me
this time, so it worked out.

I didn't get as far
as I wanted today,

but I'm ready
to fine tune tomorrow.

♪ ♪

- day three. I've gotta still
flatten out

one of my billets...

Whoo! That's hot.

Get my handle
and blade junction merged up,

and then quench.

I'm having to make sure that
they're both exactly the same,

but still very confident
that I can do.

- That looks pretty badass,
if I don't say so myself.

I feel like I've gotten
to a place now

to where my blades are ready
for the heat treat.

I'm hoping that this goes
right because at this point

if it breaks, cracks,

I don't even know if I can make
another blade in ten hours.

Here we go.

♪ ♪

[scraping] sound I wanna hear.

End of day three,
I am very happy to finally have

all the shovel heads
forged out, hardened.

Can't wait for the fourth day
to get these fit

and finished up and out of here.

♪ ♪

- morning of day three.

First thing I wanna
try to do today

is lighten 'em up a little bit
and then start on the handle.

I'm starting to get
all the scale off

and I'm starting to see
nice, shiny steel,

but starting to get
a little concerned

that these might
be little micro cracks.

It doesn't look very good.

I may end up forging
a couple more.

I really don't wanna start over
at this point,

but the steel's no good.

As much as I don't wanna go
through forging two more,

I'm back at square one,
cutting steel,

putting it in the forge,
same as I did day one.

♪ ♪

after two days of practice,

today's forging
went a lot easier.

Everything's looking good.

I'm gonna use
every minute of tomorrow

to give myself the best chance

that I can possibly have
to finish this build.

- Start of day four.

Today is just a matter
of fitting up the handle

and sharpening
and really getting a good feel

and some of that weight
out of those shovels.

I've had a lot of good luck
in my past

with one special girl,
so I go ahead

and put my girlfriend's name
in russian on the handle

just
as a hopeful good luck charm.

And if it doesn't work,
then I know who to blame.

♪ ♪

so I'm gonna measure my blades
one more time,

and as I look at one of 'em...
[bleep]

I'm an 1/8 inch under parameters

at the very tip here.

♪ ♪

parameters is key
in this competition,

so I need to fix that issue,

otherwise I won't even be able
to test my blade.

I only got six hours left.

I don't know if I'm even
gonna turn in two blades.

[sighs] [bleep]

I've gotta heat it back up
and spread out that area.

I'm getting really worried that
I'm getting really thin,

but I feel like I can still
make parameters with this.

♪ ♪

I get it cleaned up best I can.

I'm not real happy with it,

but I hope
that they do well in testing.

- It's the morning of day four.

After three very long days,

my spetsnaz
are heat-treated, tempered.

Only thing left to do today
is fit and finish.

I've never built anything
like this before.

Never even thought about
building anything

like this before,

but, honestly, I loved it.

It was a challenge.
It was a learning experience.

It made me a better smith,
so I learned.

I gained a lot of experience
and, overall,

it was very exciting,
and I'm happy with it.

I'd say that's a matching set.

♪ ♪

- well, gentlemen.
It's good to have you back.

You guys had four days
in your home forges to work

on you spetsnaz shovels,
and we can't wait to dig in.

So, cameron,
tell me about your blade.

- The shovels are made from w1,

and the handles are ashwood.

I've worked real hard on 'em.

Can't wait to see
what they can do.

- Mike, how about you?
- I made the spetsnaz shovels

from some 1045 tool steel
and mahogany handles

that I turned on wood lathe.

It was a challenge,
but I got it done.

- All rights, guys.

There's only one way to find out

which one of you guys
is gonna be leaving here

with the title
of "forged in fire" champion

and that's through a strength
test, a sharpness tests,

and up first, the keal test.

Doug.

♪ ♪

- bladesmiths, welcome
to the keal test.

Can you dig it?

Well, I certainly can.

Your spetsnaz shovels
look ready to go.

But what kind of lethal damage
can they do?

To find that,
I'm gonna take your shovels

and deliver some lethal blows
on this ballistics dummy.

Cameron, you're up first.
Are you ready for this?

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

♪ ♪

- ah!

- All right, cameron.

Let's talk about
your spetsnaz shovels.

The weight is right,
but there is a little bit

of an issue with your handles.

They're too smooth.
A couple of times,

it really felt like
it wanted to slip out.

They deliver nice cuts.

Thrusts are very effective,
and overall, sir, it will keal.

- Yes!

- All right, mike, your turn,
sir. You ready?

- I'm ready.

♪ ♪

- [laughing]

- all right, mike.
Let's talk about

your spetsnaz shovels here.

These are razor-sharp.

Your handle construction...

The one thing I didn't care for
was it's round.

When it's round,
it can go different ways

and I have to constantly
make adjustments,

but because of the ribbing
that you have there,

I was able to hold
onto it quite well.

Overall, sir,
your shovels will keal.

- Awesome.

♪ ♪

- all right, gentlemen,
you know what time it is.

It's time for the strength test,

what we're calling
our throw and chop.

What I'm gonna be doing
is throwing your shovels

into our targets

and then chopping
on our fence here.

What this about is not

what your shovels do
to these targets,

but what these targets
can do to your shovels.

Cameron, you're up first.
You ready?

- Yep. Let's do this.

- [laughs] that was
a very tentative yes.

- My mind's racing
a hundred miles an hour.

Did I make sure that the socket
was nicely tight?

Is my blade really tempered
as good as I think it is?

Just a lot of things
going through my mind.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[laughs]

♪ ♪

[laughing] - all right, cameron.

For throwing,
the smooth handle's great.

It's not a plus
for chopping though.

When I'm chopping,

I'm constantly kind of
pulling it back into my hand

because it wants
to slide forward.

This, right here, this thin
spot where you got that hammer,

it took a roll right there.
- Mm-hmm.

- But it threw well. Good job.

- Thank you very much.
- All right, mike. You're up.

Are you ready?
- Yeah. I'm ready.

- Okay.

♪ ♪

- okay. So right off the bat,

your finish work is really nice.

Your sockets
are really beautiful.

They threw great.
They certainly chopped fine.

I don't see any issues with
the edge of your blade at all.

These are definitely
well-made tools. Good job.

- Thank you.

♪ ♪

- all right, bladesmiths.

This is the sharpness test.
The sandman slice.

Now, unlike the strength test,

this is all about what your
weapons do to the sandman.

Cameron, you're up first.
You ready for this?

- Let's do this.
- Let's do this.

♪ ♪

all right, cameron.

No issues with slashing
and chopping on the sandman.

Sir, your weapons will cut.

All right, mike.
Your turn, sir. Are you ready?

- I'm ready.
- Let's do this.

- I'm nervous. I mean,
who knows what kind of material

that sandbag man is wearing.

I don't know how thick it is,
and it's a shovel,

so who knows if it's gonna

slice through this sandbag
or bounce off.

♪ ♪

- all right, mike.

Your edges are sharp.

Every cut was deep
and sliced nicely.

Overall, sir, it will cut.

- Thank you.

♪ ♪

- well, gentlemen.
You guys should both

be very proud of yourselves.

We put your spetsnaz shovels

through very hard tests,

but, as you know,
there can only be one champion

of "forged in fire."

while the judges deliberate,
I'm gonna ask you

to please
step off the forge floor.

♪ ♪

- all right, gentlemen,
you've got

a hard decision to make.

Doug, you spent the most time
wielding 'em.

What do you think?
- Both blades performed

equally on my tests.

But cameron's is so smooth

that it just wanted
to fly off my hands.

Mike's, on the other hand,
it's easy to control

and have a good grip,
but it's so round it's hard

to tell and index
where those edges are.

- J., what do you think?
- Well, like doug said,

I mean, they both have
some handle issues,

but the big thing for me
is cameron's blade edges

took a little bit of damage
whereas mike's edges

are any even finer
and took no damage at all.

- Okay. So, dave,
have you made a decision?

- I have.
- J.?

- Yup.
- Doug?

- Yes, I have.
- All right.

We'll call 'em back in.

♪ ♪

- gentlemen, you guys should
both be really proud work.

It's a very hard build,

and it came down
to the fineness of details.

As you know,
there can only be one champion

of "forged in fire."

today's champion is...

♪ ♪

mike. Congratulations.

You are the
"forged in fire" champion.

Cameron, unfortunately that
means you didn't win toda,

and dave's gonna tell you why.

- Cameron, what this came down
to is really two things:

Your handle being as slippery
as it was

and the damage you took
in the strength test.

For those reasons
we're letting you go.

- All right.

- Cameron, you definitely have
what it takes

to fight in the forge.

You made it
from four down to two.

It was a close call,
but your time

in the forge is ended.

I'm gonna have to ask you
to please

step off the forge floor.

- Thank you.
- Good work, cameron.

- I wanted to win it really
badly to prove to myself

that I really can go up
to the standards

as what other abs master smiths
are able to do.

And this experience...
It's really amazing,

and I couldn't have
asked for more.

- Mike, congratulations.

That means you are today's
"forged in fire" champion.

You'll be getting a check
for $10,000.

Congratulations. - Thank you.

[applause] I'm feeling amazing.

Like on top
of the world amazing.

- Mike, I was really impressed
on the finish you got on thos.

Really nice. Clean from top
to bottom. Well done.

- Thank you.
I build knives for a hobby.

From this point on, though,
I really want to concentrate

on doing real high end work

and just improve my skills.