Forged in Fire (2015–…): Season 8, Episode 16 - Second Chance Tournament: Finals - full transcript

- here in the forge, we've seen

some of the most talented
bladesmiths battle it out

for the coveted title of
"forged in fire" champio.

- Oh, yeah!

- But sometimes even
the best fall short.

We're gonna have to ask you
to please leave the forge.

- Over the course of four
head-to-head competition,

we've seen eight smiths
battle it out

for a second chance at victory.

But over the course
of those intense duels,

only four smiths remain.



Now the winner of each duel
will head back

into the arena
for one last chance

at being crowned
"forged in fire" champion.

The final battle of
the second chance tournament

starts now.

- my name is sam smith.

I won the untested duel,

and I'm here for the
second chance tournament.

Winning my duel was just
the first step.

The "forged in fire" champion
title is within grasp.

I'm feeling pretty excited.

- I'm james mays,

and I'm the winner
of the tough breaks duel.

When I get
into the competitive mode,



there's not time for emotions.

I'm here to get
the championship.

That's what I'm here for.

- My name is jennifer lyddane,

and I won
the beat the clock duel.

The last time I was here,

I felt like this inner woman
power just come out,

and I hope that my skill
represents woman all over.

- My name's michael seronde.

I'm the winner
of the runner-up duel.

My duel was impossibly hard.

Who knows what they're gonna
throw at us now?

- I see you trying to guess
what's under there.

- 10 grand is on the line.

I'm here to win.

- sam, james, jennifer, michael,

the four of you have entered
the final stage

of our second chance tournament.

Congratulations.

Each one of you came out on top
of your respective duels

and earned yourself a spot here
today.

Now we're gonna put you through
three intense rounds

of forging competition
that will culminate

with only one of you
leaving here

with the title of
"forged in fire" champion

and a check for $10,000.

The judges for today's
competition are:

Abs master smith j. Neilson,

historic weapons re-creation
specialist dave baker,

and edge weapons specialist
and kali martial artist

doug marcaida.

right off the bat,
in round one, bladesmiths,

we're going big.

On your anvils,
there is a cloth.

Go ahead and remove it for me.

what you have there is
a two-inch ball bearing

made of 52100 high carbon steel.

In addition to that,

I want you to salvage
some steel from these:

these are excavator buckets,

and they are made of mild steel.

So I want you to salvage your
material from these buckets,

use the high carbon steel
in those ball bearings,

and fashion us
some san mai choppers.

- I've never cut sections out
of an excavator bucket.

I've only ever welded a crack
or two.

That's gonna take some time.

- Your choppers will need to
be between 12 and 14 inches.

They'll also need to be set up
for a through tang.

Three of you will move forward
into round two

of the competition, where you
will add handles to your blades

turning them
into fully functioning weapons.

We're gonna check for strength
and durability

in a lumber and hard hat chop

and then check
your edge retention

in a leather apron stab
and slice.

You guys have all been here
before.

You know what's on the line.

You've got three hours
on the clock.

Your time starts now.

- and the tournament continues.

- This is gonna be a good one.

We've got four smiths
who just won a duel.

They've got to all
be very confident

in their skills right now,

but we didn't give them
an easy challenge.

- I'm thinking, you know,

I'm just gonna cut the top off

and get a rectangle.

That'll be my bar.

I'll just cut it in half,
clean it,

and I'm gonna sandwich that
with my ball bearing.

- Those buckets have varying
pieces of steel

welded together.

Jennifer went right
for the edge.

That's almost a half-inch thick.

With a hand grinder,

she's gonna be right there
for 30 minutes.

- oh, my gosh, that is so thick.

- the first thing I do
is put that ball bearing

into the forge,
so it can get blazing hot.

- Are there any specific
characteristics

to the 52100 that these guys
should be paying attention to?

- You tend to forge it
at a higher temperature.

If you don't, you could put
stress fractures in the steel.

That can come back
and bite you later.

- The side walls of the buckt
are very flat,

so that is where I'm gonna cut
some steel.

- michael went to the thin wall,

cut his plate right out of that.

- I would really rather use

the cutting edge of the bucket.

That's a lot thicker,
but you'd be eating up blades

and ruining grinders all day
cutting it off.

So I go straight to the actual
side of the bucket itself

because it's thinner material.

I can get it out quicker.

- As everyone rushes
to the buckets,

I'm getting the ball bearing

in the forge
as fast as possible.

My strategy here is:

Get my ball bearing
into a rectangular bar,

and then cut in the bucket.

What part do I wanna use?

I measure out the area of steel
I need.

Lo and behold,
there's a support piece

welded onto the back.

So I'm going through like
an inch and a quarter worth

of steel.

So my solution?

Cut right below it.

- There we go.

Very nice.

- there we go.
- There it is.

- Finall... all right,
jennifer's finally throug.

I still have not put that ball
bearing in the forge.

- She should have put that ball
bearing in the forge.

Let it heat up while she was
cutting her mild steel.

- The ball bearing

is gonna take a while
to heat up.

This is gonna set me back
30 minutes easy, if not more.

- Bladesmiths, one hour down.

Two hours remaining
in this challenge.

- I get my ball bearing
drawn out.

There is actually a lot
of steel here,

more than I need.

So I cut off one end,
so it's nice and flat.

San mai is essentially
a three-layer sandwich.

I'm comfortable
with the stacking technique,

so that's the way I'm gonna go.

And now we wait.

- I'm gonna use
the taco technique

because you only have to deal
with one piece of steel.

I can just drop my 52100
straight into it

and go to work.

- There's a difficulty in using
that method.

You've got to clean
all this area

at the bottom of the taco,

or you get inclusions,
cold shots.

The set-up is everything
with this technique.

- It's time to go to the press,

and make a good solid weld
across the billet.

- sam's gonna go for the taco,
too.

- Yep.
- Holy cow.

- That bucket
really slowed me up,

and I have to use
a quicker process.

So what I'm going to do is
fold it like a taco

and set my 52100 right in there.

With the possibility of havig
more inclusions

doing the taco version
of a san mai,

I have to make sure
that it welds solid.

- come on, damn it.

So I've got my billet drawn out,

and I notice there's a blister
in my steel.

- that didn't look good to me.

- I've got to either fix this
or start over.

- Somewhere in there, there's
an inclusion or something

that's keeping it from welding.

- Hopefully,
there's enough blade left

to meet my parameters.

- Bladesmiths,
you have 30 minutes remaining

in this round.

Oh, michael's very efficient
with his time.

He's already got his tang,
his shoulders...

- I am ready to heat-treat
this sucker.

there's a little warp.
Not the end of the world.

I have time left on the clock,
and then...

Oh, no.

I see a giant separation.

Oh, no.

- Michael's eyeballing
that steel.

There's an issue.

- Two of the layers
are coming apart.

That sucks.

Typically,
if there's delaminations,

you can see 'em when you grind.

I didn't see any problems
with my weld.

- Uh-oh,
I think he's got a crack

all the way through the core.

- Oh, lord.

- I have 30 minutes left.

I can't make another knife.

I don't really know what to do.

- I throw it back into the forge

and try to reweld that split.

That is my only chance
of going forward.

- I think I fixed my delam.

It's time to get it
into the quench.

- Bingo. All right.

- Sure as ,
there's a warp in my blade.

Glad I've got extra steel

because I'm gonna have a lot
of grinding to do

to get this warp out.

And then...

As I'm grinding, I notice that
there's a delam in my spine.

I've got to weld it up
and get it going.

- James is back at the welder.

- It's not optimal to ever
weld on your blade,

but I don't have any choice

because I risk a chance
of a catastrophic failure

if there's a gap
in the top of my spine.

- this is a pretty intense
round.

Hopefully I can pull through.

- Sam quenched at a really high
temperature.

- So if there are other
problems with the blade,

that's gonna make it higher
the chances

of a break happening.

- Yes.

- I pull my blade out
of the quench, and I'm golden.

Now I've got to get rid of
some of this excess material.

- I don't wanna quench yet.

I'm feeling quite behind.

I need to quench.

- All right, there goes
jennifer in the oil.

- Not bad,
a little on the hot side.

- Oh, my gosh.

I have a warp

that is like spaghetti.

I'm going to have to re-quench.

I'm scared to death
that it's going to crack on me.

I don't know what it might do.

Please don't warp.

The warp's still there,

not quite as bad.

I lay it on the anvil, and
I put a sledgehammer on it,

and I just sit on it.

Please, lord, help me.

- you got five minutes left.

Michael is back in the forge,
guys.

- I quench it again.

The crack's still there,

all the way through the middle
section of the knife.

I have to do something drastic.

- Oh, come on.
- What the hell?

Michael's cutting his blade
in half.

- Whoa.

- I cut it in half.

The only option I have is to
see if I have enough material

to draw out
to the length parameter.

- He's going for a hail mary.

He cut off six inches of blade.

That's not the road
I would've driven down, but...

- it ain't a road.

That's a cliff
he just drove off of.

I am trying to draw this out
with a hammer that's too big,

steel that's too small,
and not enough time.

damn it.

- This is one of the most
insane things

I've ever seen
on the forge floor.

- five, four, three,

two, one.

Bladesmiths,
turn off your machines.

Take your blades out of the oil.

This round's over, guys.

- This is not really a knife.

I don't know if it's gonna
meet parameters.

Maybe they'll see that I put
everything I had into it.

Who knows?

It's in the judges' hands.

- bladesmiths, we are well
on our way into the final.

You guys all did a great job.

But michael,

fell apart in the final hour,
man.

You fought very hard to be here,

but unfortunately, your blade
is only 8 3/4 inches,

missing our 12-to 14-inch
requirement

by more than three inches.

So unfortunately
for that reason,

I'm gonna have to ask you to
please surrender your work,

and leave the forge.

- Fair enough.

- Thank you, michael.
- Thanks, guys.

I got chucked out.

I had an awesome knife
for 2 1/2 hours,

and then cut it in half.

Probably the worst plan ever.

I knew it was a long shot,

and, you know, I just wanted
to turn something in.

I would absolutely
do this again,

but I don't know

if there's a three-time
returning loser option.

- bladesmiths, congratulations.

That means the three of you
are moving forward

into the next round

of our second chance tournament
finals.

But there are still issues
with your blades

that need addressing.

Let's hear what the judges have
to say about them.

Sam, you ready? - Yes, sir.

- Please present your work.

- all right, sam.

First up, your grinds
are very clean.

Straight lines
all the way through.

Now, your design that you have
here has a sheep's foot.

Now, sheep's foot designs
are usually made

for cutting weapons,

but our tests will call for
stabbing as well as cutting.

And you just need to make sure

that this sheep's foot
is able to stab.

Overall, sir, good job.

- Thank you.

- James, you ready?
- Yeah, let's do it.

- Let's see what you got.

- So, james, right off,

generally I think your steel
looks good.

That blister right there.

And I can hear when I tap it
how shallow it is.

The metal that's on the face
of that is paper thin.

Could it get hung up on a cut?
Yes, it could.

So it would be a good thing
to address it,

but good design.

Nicely done.

- How you feeling, jennifer?
- Nervous.

- Let's hear what they have
to say about it.

- all right, jennifer,
good job on your work.

The profile's nice,
what we're asking for.

You do have a warp here

going in one direction,
and the tang does the same.

So you got a little bit
of a serpentine issue.

The one thing that does concern
me is this seam right here

that I can get my nail
quite a ways down into.

But overall, good job.
- Thank you.

- All right, bladesmiths,
congratulations.

The three of you are moving
forward into round two.

In this second round
of competition,

you guys are going to fix
any issues you have

with your blades
and add handles to them,

turning them into fully
functioning weapons.

On your workstation,
there's a cloth.

Go ahead and reveal those
materials for me.

what you each have there
is a pound and a half

of brass hardware.

We're gonna ask you to melt
that down in the foundry

and cast both a functional
guard and pommel.

Now, bladesmiths,

you guys only have two hours
to complete these tasks.

When the time is elapsed,

we're gonna go straight over
to the testing arena.

We're gonna test for strength
and durability

in a lumber and hard hat cho.

Then we're gonna check
for edge retention

in a leather apron stab
and slice.

Keep your eyes on the clock.

Your time starts now.

casting brass.

- so how long does brass
typically take

to heat up and melt down?

- This stuff's gonna be liquid
within ten minutes.

- Yes, come to me, my pretties.

I have used a foundry setup
in the past

but never to melt brass
for a weapon.

I'm going to split my brass
into two piles.

The smaller the mass,
the faster it will heat up,

so I take them and put them
in the crucible first.

- They could put all that brass
in there, melt it,

pour half of it, put it back
in the foundry, let it si.

- If they don't have enough,

they're gonna have
to completely redo it.

- Yep.
- It's all wasted time.

- the first round,
my tang had a warp.

I expected to use the torch
to straighten it out,

but I have the foundry
sitting here.

I can just stick it in there
and go.

- That's a great,
easy, simple fix.

- Clamp it in the vice,
and it comes out straight.

- never done this.

- Is it molten inside?

- Right now it looks clumpy.
- Yeah, not good yet.

- That's great that sam's
giving her a hand on that.

- But he's got to keep in mind,
too,

that the first time he was
here, he ended up going hom,

because he was helping out
another smith and took up time.

- Can you hold that vice down
for me?

- Yeah, I'll help you. Do it.

- Look at that. You see?

There's comradery right there.

He's... sam's helping out colton.
- There you go, kid!

- He needed someone
with enough mass

to keep that thing from
spinning around

and around and around.

Finally,
the brass has melted fully.

The first pour I make is great.

The second pour I do,
not enough brass.

Come on.

- Dave, you called it.
He didn't have enough.

- Luckily, that can be melting
and getting ready

while I'm working on the blade.

- bladesmiths, you have
one hour and 30 minutes left

in this round.

- I want to go
with a multi-stacked handle

and make a compression fitting.

- Oh, he's doing a burn through.

he's a madman.

- There are smiths who'll
try the burn through method,

and it just takes forever.

- I burned
my handle material in,

because I feel like I'm gonna
have a better chance

of keeping a good tight handle,
and I'm not relying on epoxy.

Now it's time to clean it up,

and stack it all up,

and make a nice brick
of handle material.

- I still need to address
this delamination.

So I reprofile,
and I put a little curve.

And when I do that, I put
an end to the delamination.

Please be ready.

I pour my first cast
for my guard.

Just a little bit more.

- Where is the brass?

- I don't have enough brass.

- I look over on her table,

and there's a lot of brass
sitting there.

- She should've grabbed
a fistful.

- Makes me crazy.

- The first time
that I came to compete,

my blade wasn't even tested

because of turning
in this blocked up handle.

this could be what sends me
home again.

work for me, work for me.

- my brass is melted now.

I'm gonna give it another pour
and see what happens.

There it is, nice full mold,
ready to go.

One more hurrah.

Now I can work on my handle.

I'm going to drill a hole
through my block of wood

because it's a fast method.

Time's running out.

I have a legitimate fear

I will have an incomplete blade.

- All right, bladesmiths,

you guys have 30 minutes
until this round is over.

- I have to get my pommel
to be tight

so that it pushes
all my material

up against my finger guard.

So I split and reheat my tang.

Try to roll it down
so that it bends both sides

opposite directions and holds
pressure against the pommel.

- James is doing exactly
what I was hoping he wouldn't.

- Yeah.
- Not only does he not hae

epoxy attaching his tang
to his handle material,

now he's cooking the epoxy

out of the back of the handle
as well.

- The torch melts my leather.

This messed my entire handle up.

It's never gonna be tight.

I don't have enough time
to tear it apart and fix it.

Hopefully it holds together,

and they'll put it though
testing.

- You have 15 minutes
until the clock stops.

- I finally get the rest
of my brass cooked up,

and as soon as that
is cooled down,

I can put my handle together.

- Two burn throughs in one day,
boys.

- I burn my tang
into my block of wood,

and I just start grinding
the crap out of this handle.

I want a finished blade.

That's what I came here to do.

- I'm running out of time,

and now I'm heating the tang
and peening it over.

- Look how big that flame
on the rosebud tip is.

All you need
is a teeny tiny flame.

- His handle's on fire.

- Oh, my god.

- I hope my knife holds up
to the judges' tests.

I'm gonna say a little extra
prayer for that handle.

- Five, four,

three, two, one.

This round is over.

Turn off your machines.
Put down your tools.

Great work, smiths.

- I'm not happy at all
with my blade.

My handle's loose.

My edge is okay,
but it's nowhere near

the quality edge
I want to put on a blade

to go into a competition.

- bladesmiths, welcome
to our strength test.

I like to call this the
construction to destruction.

I'm gonna take each
of your blades,

and beat them into these
2x4s and hard hats.

Now, what your knives do
to these materials

is secondary to what the
materials do to your knives.

Jennifer, you're gonna go first.

- I've been waiting a long time
for this, yes.

- Well,
let's get it over with then.

I don't want to go first.

I know where that delam was

is likely the weakest part
of my blade.

I am not keeping it together.

- doing okay, jennifer?

- I'm good.
- Okay.

You still got a wave
to the blade.

The handle, it's short.
It's very small.

Okay, once I put a glove on
here, it was even smaller.

You got a little bit of dulling,

but most of your edge is still
there.

So good job. - Thank you.

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

- Absolutely.
- All right, let's go.

- I'm feeling fairly confident
about my knife,

but that handle's not where
I want it to be.

- all right, sam.

Starting off, your pommel
was already loose.

You could hear that jingling.

Now the whole handle's loose.

Everything's moving.

Your edge...

There was a seam right
above the edge on both sides,

and that's gone now.

But other than that,
it's still straight.

Still has most of an edge.

So you survived. Good job.

- Thank you.

- James, you ready to go?
- Let's see what you got.

- Let's do it.

- Hard hats are no joke.
They are hard.

My handle's loose enough,

so if it's gonna break, it's
gonna break on that hard hat.

- all right, james,
you survived.

Um, the handle...

it's kinda like a maraca

or something like that now.

But the way you folded over
those tangs,

it's not gonna go anywhere.

Your blister started collapsing,

but it didn't tear apart
on the blade.

And your edge is still sharp.

Nice job. - Thank you.

- All right, bladesmiths,

congratulations for passing
the strength test.

But are they still sharp?

This is the sharpness test,

the leather apron stab
and slice.

Now, unlike the strength test,

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

Jennifer, you're up first.
Ready?

- Yes.
- Let's do this.

all right, jennifer, let's talk
about your blade here.

The tip right here,
the edge is not sharp at al.

You have a point here that,
with force,

will penetrate
the leather apron.

There are areas of your blade
that are dull.

The sharp part, it will cut.
- Thank you.

- All right,
sam, your turn, sir.

You ready? - Yes, sir.

- Let's do this.

all right, sam, let's talk
about your blade here.

First up,
the handle is still loose.

But your tip actually is sharp
at the point

and it penetrates the apron.

When I'm dragging through,
it's very interesting.

There are parts here
that aren't sharp,

but the edges that took
some rolling

actually helped cut the apron.

Overall, sir, your weapon,

it will cut. - Thank you.

- All right, james,
how you feeling?

- Let's see what happens.
- Let's do this.

all right, james, let's talk
about your weapon here.

The tip does penetrate,

but it's your edges here
that are actually quite sharp.

It made it easy to cut
through the apron

and slash at it.

Overall, sir, your weapon,

it will cut.

- all right, guys,
you can breathe.

- Not yet.

well, bladesmiths,
we did not go easy on you.

This is our first
second chance tournament,

and the three of you deserve
to be standing right here.

You all won your duels,

but as you know, only two
of you will be moving forward

into round three
of this challenge.

The bladesmith that's gonna be
leaving the forge today is..

sam.

Unfortunately, you just didn't
make the cut, bud.

- I understand.
- J.'s gonna tell you why.

- You know, sam,

you did outstanding work
in your haladie duel,

and you came back and gave us
a great thrusting knife.

But handle issues aside,

you took the most damage
in the strength test.

That's why we're letting you go.

- I want to say thank you for
your great sportsmanship

and working so hard
in the forge,

but unfortunately, your time
in this competition has ended.

I'm gonna have to ask you

to please step off
the forge floor.

- Good luck, guys.
- Sam, you did a great job.

- Well, I'm headed back to maine

feeling a little disappointed.

The steel let me down.

That happens sometimes.

It's always a pleasure to be
here in "forged in fire,"

and I'm happy to be able
to swing my hammer once again

and interact with some
of the greats,

like doug marcaida, j. Neilson,
and david baker.

- well, jennifer, james,

the two of you are moving
forward into round three

of our second chance tournament.

So congratulations.
It's gotta feel good.

In this final round
of competition,

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

for four days to build one
of our favorite weapons

from the "forged in fire" vault.

You guys will be building
this...

the flyssa.

- Seen in season five
of "forged in fire,"

the flyssa is a traditional
sword

used by the kabyle berbers
of north africa.

The weapon features
a long, thin blade

that flares at the belly
and tapers at the tip,

providing quick, deadly
slashes in the heat of battl.

One of the distinguishing
features of this weapon

is the animal head pommel,

which is designed
for counterbalance.

This important element cost
one smith the competition

when his unbalanced design

made the weapon hard to control.

- Now, when you're building
this blade,

I want you to follow
these parameters:

Your blade length needs to be
between 36 and 38 inches.

The edge will then taper

and then flare out
toward the belly,

and then it'll finally taper
down toward the tip.

You're gonna cap this all off
with an animal head pomme.

This is your second chance

at achieving the title of
"forged in fire" champion.

So make it strong.
We'll see you in four day.

- we're back at the home forge.

We got a hell of a build
in front of us.

It's the flyssa,
great big-ass sword.

We're gonna need every bit
of the 40 inches.

I want to build this flyssa

with a little bit extra meat
on it,

'cause you never know
when you might make a mistake

and have to start over.

Well, I think the parameters
have been met,

so at this point, I'm gonna go
work on my animal.

Started off, I thought maybe
a dog, maybe a bear.

It hasn't really decided
what it's gonna be,

and I'm gonna keep playing
with it

till I figure out what it is.

It may turn into a dragon.

We don't know yet.

The more I mess with it,

the more I started seeing
this elongated nose,

and I think crocodiles
are badass,

so that's what
we're gonna go with.

There we go.

- we are at my home forge
in versailles, kentucky.

My goal is to get a rough shape
on my ram's head.

I stick it in the forge,

and it's just not working.

I don't want to waste time,

so I started a second ram.

It's okay.

And when I pull out my ram...

I lost my antler!

I've got a one-horned ram.

it melted in my coal forge.

So ram number three.

I'm just gonna take my time.

it was worth it.

- day two.

This is a pretty
straightforward sword,

but there's a lot of parts
to it.

The sword's coming together
good.

It's going together fast.

I may end up quenching early.

Wise man once told me

"if you want to hear god
laugh, tell him your plans."

well, my plans were to be
quenching early today.

I don't like this weld.

It just don't feel right.

It feels like it's not solid.

I find a cold shut.

The last thing I need is to
make it easy

on j. To break my blade.

That ain't happening.

What am I gonna do now?

First thing I need to do

is get some good welds
on this thing.

I make my first pass.

The weld looks good.

I feel like I've got
a good repair on this.

I think it's gonna hold up.

- day three.

I'm really anxious to quench.

My biggest fear is that
it's gonna warp.

Oh, I'm nervous!

I go in for the quench...

and when I take it out...

It's a fricking miracle.
It didn't warp!

Holy cow, I just experienced
a miracle.

There's no warp.

It's hardened.

I'm proud of what I made,

but I can only imagine what
it's gonna go up against.

Yes!

Sorry.

- Day four.

Got the quench done yesterday.

I end up with a couple little
minor warps.

So I'm gonna try to do
the three pin method,

and pray to god that I don't
snap this blade,

'cause I have a habit
of breaking blades.

- Oh!
- I knew it.

- this time, there's no way
I'm gonna make that mistake.

Start putting tension on it.

Heating up the spine.

Keep going.
A little bit more pressure.

Anxiety is through the roof.

well, hopefully that got it.

That's better.

I think I can grind the rest
of that out.

I'm stoked.

I've got a good straight blade
now to go to testing with.

This blade's ready to rock.

Let's see what we can do.

- Hey, it's day four,

and I am ready to finish
my flyssa.

I am exhausted,

but I still have so much to do.

This is gonna polish up
so pretty.

I'm going back and forth
from the grinder

to my food scales,

and I just start seeing
my drawing

come to life.

It feels sharp to me,

but I really want to test it
on something.

yes! Yes!

It is looking like a superstar.

I'm so happy.

- bladesmiths,
welcome back to the forge.

This is it, the final round of
our second chance tournament.

But as you know, only one of you

is gonna be leaving here
with a check for $10,000

and the ever-coveted title
of "forged in fire" champion.

Before we get into testing
your blades,

jennifer, tell us
about your build.

- my steel is made out of 5160.

My handle material
is figured walnut.

And my pommel is made
out of mild steel,

and it's a ram.

- Fantastic.
James, how 'bout you?

- I also went with the 5160.

Blood wood for my handle.

Brass pins, and mild steel
for my crocodile.

- Well, you both brought us
beautiful swords.

And you know we only have
one way to find out

which one of them's gonna
end up on the wall.

We've got a sharpness test,
we've got a strength test,

and up first, the keal. Doug?

- All right.

- bladesmiths, welcome
to the keal test.

Well, your flyssa swords
are long and slender,

but are they lethal?

Well, we're gonna find that out.

To do so, I'm gonna
take your weapons

and deliver some slashes and
thrusts on this pig carcass.

Jennifer, you're up first.
You ready?

- Yes.
- Let's do this.

- this pig carcass is huge.
It's thick.

My heart is just pounding.

I hope that my flyssa just
cuts it right in half.

- all right, jennifer, let's
talk about your flyssa here.

This is a long
and heavier blade.

It's forward-heavy right here.

But your edges are sharp,

and it allows the forward
weight to cut deep

into this pig carcass.

Your point right here is sharp
enough to thrust

and cut all the way out.

But more importantly,
your weapon...

Will keal.

James, your turn. Are you ready?

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

- any time you're slicing
into an animal,

you got a chance
of hitting a bone.

You hit that bone,

you could roll an edge
or snap your blade.

- all right, james, let's talk
about your flyssa here.

First up,
your handle construction.

It's comfortable, but there is
still a lot of play here.

So in order to wield
and control it,

I have to use two hands.

But your edges are sharp.

As you can see,

it cut very deep
into the pig carcass,

and was easy to cut
all the way through.

Overall, sir, your weapon...

It will keal.

- Thank you.

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

It's time for the strength test.

the dreaded bull hide shield
and skull chop.

I will be taking your flyssas,

and I will be attacking our
shield and then the skull.

And this test is not about

what your weapons do
to these targets.

It's about what these targets
do to your weapons.

All right, jennifer,
you're up first.

You ready? - Yes.

- Okay.

all right, jennifer.

Your handle construction
is pretty comfortable.

But as far as your blade goes,

you took no damage whatsoever.

This still has the same edge
it started out with.

So good job. - Thank you.

- All right, james, your turn.
Ready for this?

- Let's see what we can do.
- Okay.

- I had the issue
with the cold shut.

It threw me off my game,

and any time
you take your blade,

and you smash it against
something as hard

as bull skull bone,

you're nervous.

- all right, james.

The weight on this...
Pretty well done.

We got a bit of an issue

in that your crocodile head
has come loose.

Pin's still there.

But that's now moving.

Your blade has taken
some rolling.

You can hear it
in my fingernail on it.

But you're still in one piece,

did the job.

- all right, bladesmiths,

this is a sharpness test,

the fabric slice.

To find out how sharp
your weapons are,

I'm gonna take your weapon
and try to slice

over these two different kinds
of fabric.

Jennifer, you're up first.
You ready?

- Yes.
- Let's do this.

all right, jennifer, let's talk
about your edge here.

On the first cut on the silk,

it cut easily in one shot.

On the second one,
it is a thicker fabric.

It did cut,

but not enough
to cut all the way through.

But overall, it will cut.
- Thank you.

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

- Yes, let's see what it'll do.

- Let's do this.

all right, james, let's talk
about your weapon here.

It did cut the fabric,
but not all the way through.

The one concern I had over here
is just a junction here

that broke off.

It's got pieces of steel
sticking out,

and that dug into my hand.

But overall though, it still
did cut the fabric.

- well, james, jennifer, you
both have a ton to be proud of.

But there can only
be one champion

in the second chance tournament.

Today, the "forged in fire"
champion is...

jennifer, congratulations.

James, unfortunately, your
blade did not make the cut.

J.'s gonna tell you why.

- James, you obviously put
a lot of work into your sword,

and it shows.

But as testing went on,
you took damage in the blad,

and your pommel broke loose

enough where,
during the sharpness test,

it actually bit doug.

That's why we're letting you go.

- Well, james,
you can say you beat out

six of the best smiths
we've seen in a long time.

But unfortunately, your time
here in the forge has ended.

I'm gonna have to ask you

to please step off
the forge floor.

- Thank you. Congratulations.

- Thank you.
- Thank you, james.

- Even though I don't get
the opportunity to walk away

as the champion today,
I won my duels,

and that's something for me
to be proud of.

There's no shame in coming here
and doing the best I can,

and that's what I did.

- Well, jennifer, that means

that you are the newest
"forged in fire" champion,

and the winner of
the second chance tournament.

Congratulations.

- oh, my gosh.

I'm really emotional.

I'm gonna cry
the whole way home.

- well done.

- This has been quite
the journey.

I made it through the duels.

I'm so proud of myself just
for getting that far,

and now I'm the
"forged in fire" champion!