Forged in Fire (2015–…): Season 8, Episode 17 - Memory Game - full transcript

- my name is jayden simisky.
I'm 19 years old.

And I started bladesmithing
at about age 15.

My entire life, I've gotten
into trouble for two things:

Playing with knives
and playing with fire.

And so, eventually,

it clicked in my mind

that I could make knives
with fire,

and it really
just went from there.

- my name is matt schweinberg.

I'm 38 years old
from knoxville, tennessee.

I'm a senior engineer
and a part-time bladesmith.



I'm not normally
a competitive guy,

but for this,
I made an exception

'cause I'm here to win.

My adrenaline's already
pumping through my veins,

and I'm ready
for that challenge.

- How you feeling, matt?
- Terrified.

- honest.

- My name's connor logan.

I'm 26, and I'm from
kansas city, missouri.

I got into knife making

because, as a 15-,
16-year-old-kid,

I had a fascination with knives,

but I didn't have any money
to buy them.

So I decided to make them.



And as it turns out, making
knives is much more expensive

than buying knives.

But it's a lot more fun too.
So it's a win-win.

- my name is jason redman.

I'm 51 years old.

I'm from augusta, georgia.

I'm a military veteran.

I'm an ex-police officer

and a part-time bladesmith.

I want to win $10,000

to donate it
to a veterans' organization

so more people can be touched
by what we do.

That's why I do it.

- well, gentlemen,
welcome to the forge.

The four of you are
about to take part

in three very intense rounds
of forging competition,

where we're gonna test
all of your skills.

Now at the end of each one
of those rounds,

you're gonna present your work
to our panel of expert judges,

who will then critique your work

and make an elimination.

Judges for today's competition

are abs master smith j. Neilson,

historic weapons
recreation specialist

dave baker,

and edged weapons specialist

and kali martial artist
doug marcaida.

They'll be deciding who's gonna
be going home empty-handed

and who's gonna be leaving here

with the title
of "forged in fire" champion

along with a check for $10,000.

Let's get into it.

On your anvils,
you guys have a cloth.

Go ahead and remove that for me.

- Yes.
- Yes!

- What you guys have
in front of you

are bars of 1095
and 15n20 steel,

which we want you to use
to make damascus billets

and forge them into blades.

But today, we don't want you
to build signature blades

in your signature style.

No, gentlemen, we got something
much more complex,

much more intricate:

A blade that was
designed specifically

for this competition
by dave baker himself.

Today, I want you to build this.

Gentlemen, this is no mistake.

The blade you guys
are gonna be building

is laying behind this display.

Today's competition,
we're gonna be testing

your visualization skills
in a competition

we're calling the memory game.

Guys, I'm gonna call you up
one at a time,

and you're each gonna have
20 seconds and only 20 seconds

to check out the blade
behind this display

and commit it to memory,

'cause after that 20 seconds
is completed,

you will not get to look
at the blade again.

Now you don't have to be exact.

But keep in mind, if the smith
next to you is closer,

you might just be going home.

You guys ready?

Jayden, you're up first.
Come on up, bud.

- I got a terrible memory, man.

Go fish is hard.

Yeah!

My mind starts coming up
with ways to remember this.

And immediately,
my mind goes to my arm.

I can use, you know, hand,

elbow to forefinger,
that type of thing.

That way, I don't
have to remember any numbers

and have kind of a reference
that is attached to me.

- Matt, you're up. Come on.

- I do have a strong memory.

So I feel like that
is gonna be an advantage.

20 seconds starts now..

It has a trailing tip on it

with a serrated back.

It's gonna be a lot to remember.

- Jason, your turn.
Come check it out.

Time starts now.

- I just take
two basic measurements.

And then I try to step back
and visualize it in my mind.

Start focusing
on one detail of the blade,

and it feels like
I lose another detail.

- Three, two, one.

Time is up.

Last but not least, connor.

Your turn, bud.

- Generally, I think my memory
is pretty good.

But 20 seconds
is not a lot of time.

Okay.

It's, "a," huge,

b, unnecessarily complicated.

- Three, two, one. Time's up.

- And, c, it's pretty cool, all
right?

I'll give you that one.
It's a pretty cool knife.

- now, gentlemen,
after round one is complete,

we'll get into round two,

where you guys are gonna add
handles to your blades,

turning them
into fully functioning weapons.

We're gonna check
for strength and durability

in a copper pipe chop,

and then we're gonna check
your edge retention

in a water tube slice.

Now, gentlemen, you guys have
three hours on the clock.

Good luck. Your time starts now.

- aside from the profile,
you got a choil.

You got a finger weld.
You got a bird's beak, right?

- Then you get
into the real details,

which are
the shape of the grind,

the guard
will be under the handle,

how deep the serrations are.

- Which, with 20-second look,
is very hard to see.

- Oh, yeah.
- Absolutely.

- Wide freeform.

I need to write everything
that's in my mind, put it down,

so I don't have to think
about it anymore.

- one of the oldest forms
of measurement

is using from your elbow
to your fingers.

- I'm gonna get it ready
for forge welding.

Really kind of intimidating
as a 19-year-old

seeing all these, you know,
battle-hardened judges

ready to judge my work.

I think that dave baker's
probably got shirts

that are older than I am.

- so we have to make
a damascus blade.

But dave's blade,
it's not damascus.

It's not cool, dave.
I'm talking to you.

It's not cool.

That's good.

- Honestly,
when I designed this,

I just piled on
as much as I could.

You're evil.

- this is evil.

- Oh, yeah.

I feel 70% confident.

That's a c, and I'll take it.

Cs get degrees.

Okay.

- Gotta grind.

The first thing I gotta do
is get the steel clean.

Muscle memory kicks in,

and I'm feeling great
at this point.

So I get it stacked properly,

straight into the forge.

I like to challenge myself.

All of the hobbies
I've ever had are hard.

The challenge part's what gets
me up in the morning.

Come on.

- Jason's steel is looking good.

- Oh, yeah.

- Cool, calm, and collected.

We have to do
multilayer damascus.

Never done that before.

So I can't make any mistakes.

I try and get all
my loose pieces together

and even on all sides,

and I toss it in the forge.

So far, so good.

It's very important that
I set these welds properly.

If I squish too much too soon,

it will cause the billet
to blow apart.

And I don't have time
to start over.

- Matt is being
a little more aggressive

than I like to see
on a first press.

You can definitely
shear some welds

when you're too aggressive.

- I don't hear any dead space.

So I'm feeling very confident

that my forge welding
was a success.

And now it's time to start

drawing it out
and shaping the blade.

- gentlemen, you got
two hours and 30 minutes

left on the clock!

- It's not up to temp yet.

I've had a full beard
since eighth grade.

That's a big fire risk.
$10,000 can buy you a lot.

It cannot buy you this.
Not for sale.

, it's hot.

My billet's finally up to heat.
I'm ready to go.

Mm.

I gotta set my welds.

Otherwise, the billet's no good.

- if you don't get
a good damascus weld,

you don't have a good billet,
you got nothing to turn in.

- Gotta get me one of these.

- It looks like
it's welding pretty well.

- And back in the fire with you.

- at this point,
my welds are set,

my billet's
starting to draw out,

and I'm cruising, man.

It'd be good to set myself
apart from the competition.

So I'm gonna put in
a ladder pattern.

Hell, yeah.

- He's putting
a ladder pattern there.

- That's awesome. What?
Why are you shaking your head?

- Too early.
- Oh, all right.

- He's gonna forge almost
all of that ladder pattern out.

- Perfect.
- Progress.

My billet's looking great,

and out of the corner of my eye,

I see other smiths setting up
to do some damascus pattern.

So I'm thinking I need
to do the same.

- Now we've got two smiths
doing it?

Smithy see, smithy do.

- Finished putting
in my notches.

Now I can just move on to the
next part of making this blade.

- I see jayden and matt,
they're doing ladder pattern.

Mm.

I'm gonna try to outdo them.

So I'm gonna do a twist pattern.

- And here we go.
Jason's doing it too.

- Oh, no.
- Holy smokes.

This is fantastic. - All right.

- Get two twists on it.

- The twist is putting tons
of risk in it

because all those twists

need to now be
forge welded together

or you're going to have lines

and cold shuts running
throughout the blade.

- the difficulty
with this twist is

to maintain the width
on dave baker's blade,

'cause it's wide.

At this point, I'm thinking,

"keeping it simple
maybe would have been better."

mm.

- Gentlemen, 90 minutes
on the clock!

- That press is nice.

I see the guys going
after a ladder pattern.

There's no pattern requirement.
They just said damascus.

That's all I'm gonna give them.

I'm not making work for myself.

I spent a lot of time
drawing the billet out.

So much metal.
And it's still too thick.

So I'm just gonna ditch
some of this.

I'm grinding on it.

I'm trying to get that
stupid thing to come off.

- We have a thing called
a chop saw.

- there's no point
in this competition

that you're not hearing that
little clock go boop, boop.

I can feel it.
It's counting right there.

That's gonna be fun.

Finally, it pops free.

So I gotta get it in the forge
as soon as I can.

It's ugly.

- nice.

I've got the billet prepped.

I'm gonna forge
my entire profile.

And then I'm gonna clean it up
on the grinder.

On the blade that we're
supposed to be modeling,

it's got this real
gnarly sawback.

And I'm not gonna add that

because I'm confident
it's something

I can do post heat treat

if I do make it
to the second round.

- Everybody's kind of
on the right track.

- Yep.

- It's gonna come down
to details.

- As I'm making my blade,

I know that
I'm missing something

around the ricasso area.

I think I'm just gonna
roll with it

and hope that
it will not send me home.

That looks cool.

- good.

I'm happy with
the rough shape that I have.

I'm ready to move over
to the grinder.

As I'm on the grinder,

I notice that there's a delam
on the side of the blade.

- Oh, no.

- We might have seen
a sign of matt

being aggressive
with the billet.

- I don't have time
for this to be happening.

If I don't get that delam
out of there for the quench,

that's going to be a place
for a crack to occur.

I'm terrified.

- Matt's in panic mode
right now.

The only way to fix it

is to weld it up.

- If that weld doesn't solve
that problem,

that could snap the blade.

- Oh, yeah.

Welded it up,
and it's good to go.

Time is of the essence
right now.

I can feel the adrenaline
pumping through my veins.

And I'm like,
"we're gonna get this done."

- I like it.

I've got the width worked out.

Now I've gotta just start
getting the shape of the blade

'cause somebody sped up the time

'cause I don't know
where it went.

I'm dropping the point
of the blade,

trying to hit it up
towards the tip.

The steel's just not moving
like I want it to

at this point.

- I don't know.

Jason's still looks a bit lean.

There doesn't look like
there's enough meat

to grind in the aspects
we're asking for.

- All right, guys.
You are down to 30 minutes.

- That'll do.

I feel good about the profile.
It's still a little heavy.

But if I make it
to the second round,

there's gonna be room
to take care of that.

I'm ready to quench.

It's hot.

- Jayden went into the oil.
But he was pretty hot.

- Yeah.

- Get a quick glimpse
of the blade,

and it's dead straight.

I am stoked.

Perfect.

- oh, yeah.

So I've got this thing
mostly to shape.

I think it looks like
the dave baker special.

Maybe. Kind of.

- Connor has still got a bit
of a drop point.

It doesn't really have
a curvature to the spine.

It's more like a peak.

- I heat it up to quench temp,
and I throw it in.

- all right, connor's quenched.

- That's nice.

Seems pretty straight.

I'm good to go.

And then I realize,

"oh, man, it's got these weird
scallop-y serrations."

I gotta put those in.

- I hate serrations on the back
of a blade.

- Then why did you
put them on here?

Because you're evil.

-, that's ugly.

If I forget any
of these features

and the guys around me
remember it,

that's a plane ticket home.

Generally, I think my memory

is pretty good.

But I'm just gonna have
to roll with it.

There we go.

- Bladesmiths, we're down
to 15 minutes!

- Awesome.

- matt's quenched.

- It's looking straight.

I'm starting to get happier now.

And that's when I realize

I forgot the serration.

Oh!

I don't want to get
sent home over not having

the feature in the knife.

So now we're in mad dash mode.

I'm putting these serrations
in the best I can.

- man.

There's minutes
left on the clock.

I've gotta get
this blade quenched.

- all right. Jason is quenched.

Whoa! So that was hot.

- That was way hot.

- We're good.

At this point,
I'm feeling great.

Whoo.

- Jason's blade, it's a long,
thin banana.

- Now I'm realizing

this doesn't look
as wide as it should be.

The point doesn't look like
it's dropped enough.

But I've got no time.
This is what we got.

Come on, come on.

- Five, four, three,

two, one.

Gentlemen,
turn off your machines,

put down your tools.

This round is over.

- Looking
at the competitor's blades,

I've completely forgotten
to do the choil.

All of them have some sort
of serration on the back

except for me.

I'm hoping that is not
counted against me.

- Color me impressed, gentlemen.

There have been times
where we've had a blade out

that the smiths had to recreate

that they could see
the entire round

and they didn't come out
with anything near

as good as you guys did.

So you should all be
proud of yourselves.

It is time for the critique.

So, jayden, you're up first.
Ready?

- Yes.
- All right.

Please present your weapon.

- all right, jayden,
steel looks clean, tight.

I don't see any seams.
Everything's straight.

And looking down
at dave's example,

you notice you got a few things
that are missing on this piece.

The serrations.

You're missing a couple things
in the choil area.

So thinning these out some,
adding those on the grinder.

I think you're well on your way.

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

You ready? - Absolutely.

- Please present your work.

- All right, matt.

So right off, you actually added

a lot of the elements
that we were looking for.

But, dude,
that's a whole lot of handle.

You've got a good general shape
to work from.

There's a lot of work
to go forward on this blade.

Good job. - Thank you.

- All right, connor,
you're up next.

Please present your work.

- all right, connor, compared
to the sample we have,

it's got the curve going,
but it drops to a point

as opposed to trail off
to a trailing point.

I see a lot of the pieces
we're looking for in here,

but they're not refined.

A little refinement,
you should be on your way.

- All right, jason. You ready?

- Yes, sir.
- All right.

Let's see what you came up with.

- all right, jason.
You got a good start here.

There's definitely a few issues.

There's a pretty
good warp on here.

And it doesn't just warp here.

It actually warps down
at the back end too.

The biggest problem is
there's not a ton of steel here

to modify it easily
to match this.

But overall, good job.

- Thanks, sir.
- All right, gentlemen.

Only three of you are moving
forward into round two.

The judges have made
their decision.

And the bladesmith
leaving the forge is...

jason.

Unfortunately, your blade
just didn't make the cut.

And dave's gonna tell you why.

- Jason, trying to replicate
that blade

is a monumental task.

And basically,
it came down to the fact

that your blade
of all four blades

is the furthest
from the example.

That, combined with the warp,

that's why we're letting you go.

- Totally understand.
- Well, jason,

I'm gonna have to ask you
to please

surrender your work
and leave the forge.

- Thank you.

In my mind, it was close.

But now that I see
the two together,

it's not as close as I thought.

- You did good work, jason.

- It was definitely
a humbling experience.

It's a lot harder
than I thought.

But that's part
of the fun of it.

That's why I do it...
Because it's hard.

- gentlemen, you've got
three blades here that got you

into the second round
of competition.

So congratulations.

Now, we want you
to fix any issues

you have with your blades,
as well as add

any of the features that
you missed from dave's blade.

Now, we're gonna keep
that mounted up here

for this entire round,
so you're welcome for that.

Now keeping up
with the memory theme,

on the other side
of this display,

there are four pictures.

Two of them are mosaic pins,

and two of them are colors.

I want you to match
those mosaic pins

and incorporate both
of those colors

into your handle material.

I'm gonna spin it around
for 30 seconds.

In that time, you've gotta
memorize those pictures

and use them
in your handle construction.

Your time starts now.

- my one weakness... memory.

It feels like some little
evil genius engineered this

perfectly for me
to not work out well.

- Three, two, one.

All right, gentlemen,
time is up.

Y'all got it? - That's a lot.

- Now, after these two hours
are complete,

you'll turn your blades
over to the judges.

And we're gonna test
for strength and durability

in a copper pipe chop.

And then we're gonna check
for edge retention

in a water tube slice.

You've got two hours
on the clock.

Your time starts now.

- I gotta tell you,

this entire challenge
is just cruel.

It's rough.

- I never made
mosaic pins before.

This is the main thing
I'm worried about.

- So what is so difficult
about doing the mosaic pin?

- The biggest thing is making
sure you get all the air

either out or through the pin.

You don't want to drill through
it and then have a bubble.

- I got the mosaic materials
cut to size.

Now I'm just gonna fill these
big brass tubes with epoxy,

jam everything in there,
and hope it goes well.

- I've made mosaic pins
a time or two before.

That's real fiddly work
under a time crunch.

This one's gonna have to do.

Normally, it takes me
probably 45 minutes.

I don't have that kind of time.
So to get it done,

I just decide, if I make a mess,

I don't have to clean it up.

Come on now.

- Connor is spending a lot
of time on those mosaic pins.

- It seems like the trap
of the mosaic pins

is going down the rabbit hole
of making them perfect.

- Stay. Good puppy.

Now it's time
to address the blade.

Okay.

- Once I have my mosaic pin
constructed, I can go ahead

and cut the handle
to be a more manageable size.

Followed by running
a bead of weld

on both sides of the handle.

- What does he need to weld on?

- So he needs
to weld something on

to create that bird's beak.

- the bird's beak's coming out.

Now that I've over this hump,

stress is starting
to come down a little bit,

but so is the time on the clock.

So far, so good.

- Gentlemen, 30 minutes
have elapsed out of round two!

I missed a couple
of features in round one.

So I need to put that in.

The sawback
on the spine of the blade

and also this big choil.

The heart rate's
a little bit higher.

Just a lot to do and not
very much time to do it.

I'm starting to feel
the stress a little bit again.

But I'm making sure
to take my deep breaths

because smooth... wait,...
What is the saying?

Smooth is... slow is smooth
and smooth is fast.

That's what it was.

All right.

- A little bit of oil there.

I gotta get some holes
for these pins.

Me.

I tried to leave
the handle soft.

Apparently, that didn't work out

'cause that is just harder
than a cold coffin nail.

Spending a lot of time
doing that.

- Connor's having a little bit
of trouble there.

- Oh,.

I'm getting frustrated
with these holes,

but I can't move on
until I get the holes drilled.

Nope.

- Uh-oh.
- Oh, boy.

Panic's starting to set in.

- Clock is looming
over your shoulder.

I don't have time to be
messing around with this.

Me.

I'm just gonna use another
means to make that hole.

At least I know
it's hard, I guess.

I see a dremel tool
and some carbide bits.

Awesome.

- You can take the carbide burr

and use that to drill your hole

even if it's hardened material.

- You can do it, little buddy.

It just melts away that steel.

I wish I had done it way sooner.

That's what I want.

- Matt, to get the colors right,

he grabbed a red
and a blue liner.

So he's checking the boxes.

- I'm at the drill press,
and I realize

that my mosaic pin is too short.

I don't have enough time
to make another one

and do all the other things
that I gotta do.

I'm gonna abandon the mosaic pin

and just work on
profiling the handle shape

so that it's more comfortable
in the judge's hand.

- It's not a parameter failure,
but if it comes down to it,

where everybody tests equally,

those mosaic pins and the colors

are really gonna matter.

Bladesmiths, you guys
are down to one hour!

- it's mean-looking.
My blade's cooling.

I'm gonna start finding
handle material.

Yeah.

I know these scales
need to be orange and blue

'cause those are
the two colors I saw.

The color is not
a fire engine red,

more like a flame red,

which has a lot of orange in it.

- It'll suffice.
- I think so.

- I realize that one of these
things is not gonna be enough

to cover my entire tang.

So I'm gonna have to cut
the other one on an angle

and kind of make an l shape.

Okay.

Now that I got the scales
all cleaned up and ready to go,

I'm gonna glue this thing
together and clamp it up.

All right.

I got a couple of minutes
left to profile this handle

and put on a cutting edge.

- yeah.

Now that I have
my handle squished together

with c clamps,

I can start profiling my edge.

I'm trying to make
my edge geometry

as good as I can

so that it'll pass
the water tube test

but not so fine

that it's going to break
during the copper pipe chop.

- 15 minutes on the clock!

- Mm.

I got my handles cut to size.

Now I just need to epoxy
it all up, get it fit together.

Oh, come on.

And it just won't go.

. Oh!

- The wood just popped
off the liner.

- "god bless america
and all she stands for."

that's what my mom used to say
when she was trying to curse.

I gotta keep going though.

Splash some superglue on there.

It bonds instantly.

- Connor's getting the edge
on now.

He's cutting it
extremely close today.

- All that time
that connor spent

on trying to set up those pins

really is coming back
to bite him right now.

- Yep.
- Five minutes on the clock!

- I don't have a handle shaped.

I also don't have an edge
on the blade.

I don't have enough time
to do both well.

So I'm gonna do both half well.

It pains me,
but it's what I gotta do.

- five, four, three, two, one.

Turn off your machines.
This round is over.

- I am not feeling great.

The blade isn't finished.
The handle isn't done.

But I don't know where
the other guys are at.

I could be
not the worst on the block.

- All right, bladesmiths.
Welcome to the strength test.

Copper pipe chop.

Looks simple, but this copper
pipe loves tearing up edges.

So I'm gonna give them a few
whacks and test the edges,

overall construction
of your knives.

You know, what they do
to the pipes is cool to see,

but the big thing is what
the pipes do to your blades.

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

- Take it easy, but take it.

- okay.

- Copper is really soft

and kind of likes
to stick on to steel.

It could really easily roll it

or do all sorts of things to it.

My heart is racing at this point

'cause I don't know
what's gonna happen.

Cool.

That was gnarly.

- All right, jayden.
You got all we asked for.

So your memory
must be pretty good.

Couple little chips and rolls.

But otherwise,
handle's comfortable.

Great job.

- Thank you.
I'm glad I went first.

That was horrifying.

- Matt, you ready for this?
- I'm terrified.

- That's all right.
We'll do it anyway.

- I've seen past competitions

where the copper pipe chop

does a lot of damage to blades,

and I'm worried that
my blade might be next.

I can't count
how fast my heart's beating.

- all right, matt, you survived.

Good job.

Blade's still straight.
You still have an edge there.

But what happened
to the mosaic pins there?

They're not there.

That's one of the things
we asked for.

- The mosaic pin that I made,
I made it too short.

I had to abandon it
to make a functional weapon.

- Okay.
It's not a parameter failure.

But that's a bit of an issue.

The handle's fine.

It's actually comfortable
back here.

Up here, it's a bit
on the thick side.

But your blade's still
straight, still sharp,

handle's still on. Good job.

- Thank you.
- Connor, how you feeling?

- Less good than I was before
I saw you waling away, but...

it's all right. You're okay.

- Going into testing,
my biggest concern

is that it's gonna
tear his hand up

'cause it's not
a finished handle.

So I'm a little nervous

about him swinging that
at the copper pipes.

- let me talk to these guys
for a second.

Feel that.

Right there, you got
a little shiv right there.

- connor, I got a big issue
with this.

I know you were rushed
at the end.

But this handle
is extremely sharp

right where my finger is.

And then the end of the blade
right here

is almost like a little shiv
digging into my finger.

Leather, tougher than my skin.

That marks.
It's digging into the leather.

I would not feel comfortable

unless I was wearing
a glove swinging this.

And that's totally unfair
to your competitors.

- I understand completely.

- Connor, man, we hate to see
somebody go this way.

J. Unfortunately can't
fairly test your weapon.

We want to say
thanks for coming out.

You fought really hard.
You did great in round one.

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

- I understand. Thank you.

- damn good fight, man.

- In a way, I'm relieved
that they gave it

a vote of no confidence.

I did not want j.
To swing that and hurt himself.

I wouldn't put it in my hands.

And my hands
are pretty calloused.

So it's unfair for me to expect
anybody else to do that.

All in all, it's not too bad.

I accomplished my two goals.

Don't get out on round one.

Don't light my face on fire.

Check and check.
I feel pretty good about it.

- Gentlemen, congratulations.
It's down to the two of you

to decide who's gonna leave here

with the title
of "forged in fire" champion

and that check for $10,000.

Now, in this final round,
we're sending you back

to your home forges
for four days

to build an iconic weapon
from history.

We want you to build this.

- oh!

- This is
the elephant tusk sword.

- dating as far back
as the 6th century b.C.,

the mighty elephant
was used during warfare

often armed with the fierce
elephant tusk sword.

This lethal weapon
featured a socket

that connected directly
to the elephant's tusk.

The double-edge blade
was designed

to inflict massive destruction

as the elephant charged
through barricades

and ranks of enemy soldiers.

Throughout history,
there is evidence

of thousands of elephant tusk
swords being used in battle.

However, only four pairs
of these intimidating weapons

still exist today.

- There's a lot
of parameters here.

So I hope you've got a mind
like an elephant.

Your swords must have
a flamberge blade

and feature at least two peaks.

You need to have two fullers
on both sides.

And that blade needs to measure
between 16 and 17 inches

from tip to center of the base.

And the whole system
needs to mount securely

with a mechanical fixture
to the metal tusk we supply.

- I've never seen
anything like it.

I'm trying to figure out how
I'm even gonna construct this.

The terrifying feeling
is starting to set in again.

- Good luck.
We'll see you in four days.

- Hell, yeah.

- back here in knoxville
at my home forge,

we're gonna build
the elephant tusk sword.

All right. Here we go.

For today, my goals are to get
most of the forging done

if not all of it.

The first thing I'm doing
is using this chunk of 5160,

I'm going to try and draw
that out to the required width.

Got a little ways to go.

I've got my width
that I'm looking for.

But my workpiece might be
a little too thin.

I'm going to try and forge weld
in a mild steel medial ridge.

So I'm going to get
some mild steel

and try and forge weld
that onto both sides.

A little ways to go.

So I see a little bit
of surface cracking here.

Just want to make sure
I don't have to start over.

It's gotta go.

I know for sure
that I have a bad forge weld.

Well, that sucks.

At this point,
I'm really frustrated.

I really don't have time
for this.

I've decided
to just run beads of weld

that I can grind away later.

I hope this doesn't affect
the integrity of my blade.

- all right, we're back
in boulder, colorado,

here at my home forge.

And we're gonna start working

on the elephant tusk sword.

So I've decided to do damascus
for this blade,

hopefully to set myself apart
from the competition

just that extra little bit.

Oh, yeah.

So the first heat
of any forge welding process

is always the most important.

This is when I need to make sure

I get all of my welds set up,

and I make sure that I avoid

any sort of delam or inclusion.

Everything's looking good.

I think that
it's all welded up well.

I think I'm gonna finish
forging the blade

right as the day ends,

which is exactly
where I want to be.

- day two, I'm a little bit
behind schedule

of where I wanted to be.

But I gotta quench
by the end of the day today.

All right. Now we're cooking.

The sword is meant
for an elephant.

So the amount of force
that's gonna go into the blade

is gonna be off the charts.

We want as even of a heat
as we can get.

Check it with a magnet.

Make sure that we're
at a critical temp

and then pull it out,
drop it in my quench oil.

Good so far.

I don't see any cracks.
All the welds held up.

Nothing blew apart.

So far, so good.

Now just to make it look pretty.

- today, I got a lot to do.

I'm going to start
preparing to weld

the socket cap onto the blade.

I'm gonna start
prepping the blade

to weld these on just like that.

And then run a bead of weld
all the way through here.

So welding high-carbon steel
to mild steel

is a pretty risky
and tricky operation.

If I do these welds incorrectly,

I will end up with cracks;

I could end up
with the whole blade

basically just breaking off.

If these welds don't go well,
the blade's done,

and I'm just gonna
have to restart.

And I really don't want
that to happen.

The welds ended up great.

So I'm feeling good
about where I am.

- it's day four.

Gonna be a lot of coffee today.

Yesterday, I finished
shaping the blade.

So today, I'm gonna start off

by securing the blade
to the socket.

I'm worried about possibly
overheating the blade.

So I'm gonna have to take
some extra care

to make sure that heat
doesn't travel

and ruin the temper
on the blade.

Let that cool off.

Doing a kind of test fit
of the sword.

Perfect.

Everything goes together
smooth as silk.

This blade is crazy.

I never would have
imagined myself

making something like this.

So I'm kind of excited to see

what kind of destruction
it does.

Or maybe the sword falls apart.
I don't know.

Looks pretty sweet.

- yesterday,
I got the blade heat-treated

and quenched; it's hard.

And today's mostly just gonna
be making this thing beautiful

and put an edge on it.
That's really it.

Making a sword
that's not designed

to be swung by a person

but is meant to be behind
an elephant,

it's a bit of a challenge.

So I'm gonna grind it
like I would an ax.

I'm gonna do big convex edges.

Because all that extra meat
in there

will help support
the cutting edge itself.

That's exactly how I wanted it.

It's way cooler than I ever
thought it would have been.

And I'm happy with it.

At this point, I could show up,

and on the first hit,
it could snap in half

and I'd walk away happy.

I hope it doesn't though.
I do want to win.

- well, gentlemen,
welcome back to the forge.

Guys, you had four days to work
on your elephant tusk swords,

and they look great.

We're about to have
a lot of fun with them.

But before we get into that,

I wanna hear about these builds.

So, jayden,
how did your build go for you?

- Went great.

Made it out of 1084
and 15n20 damascus.

Did a fluted socket and
a couple of ferrules on there.

- Fantastic.
Matt, how about you?

- Blade went well.

The blade itself
is made out of 5160,

and it's got a mild steel socket

that attaches it
to an elephant tusk.

- All right, gentlemen.

One of you is gonna
be leaving here

with a check for $10,000

and the title
of "forged in fire" champion.

But the only way for us
to find out

which one you is coming out
on top

is put them through a few tests.

And up first, the keal. Doug.

- bladesmiths,
welcome to the keal test.

In battle, these swords
were attached to elephants

who just rammed
across its opponents.

To find out what kind of lethal
damage your weapon will do,

we're gonna go hog wild
on this ballistics dummy.

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

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

- That thing is gonna be
putting a lot of force

behind the blade.

The biggest thing
I'm worried about right now

is the blade snapping.

Ooh.

Ah!

I wasn't expecting
his head to come off.

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

Every thrust was deadly.

It went all the way through.

What I do like is, I can see
the damascus pattern

on your blade there.

Jayden, your elephant
tusk sword, it will keal.

- that's all I wanted.

- All right, matt.
Your turn, sir. You ready?

- Hopefully my sword is not
"irr-elephant" after this test.

We're gonna have fun.

- I don't think
there's been a test yet

that's gonna have
this much force behind it.

When it comes to a dead stop,
it can snap just like that.

- cool.

- all right, matt,
it penetrates very deep.

And on the way out, it cuts.

It's a weighted weapon
right here that,

when it thrusts...
You see the hole

right in the middle
of the ballistics dummy?

It destroyed
everything in there.

Your weapon right here,
it will keal.

- Thank you, doug.

- all right, gentlemen.

For the strength test,

we've mounted
your elephant tusk swords

on our battering ram here.

And I will be attacking
that armored soldier.

All right, jayden.
You ready for this?

- Yeah, let's do it.
- Okay.

- The tip is the weakest point
in my blade.

And it's also where all of the
force is gonna be delivered.

So my heart is pounding.

My ears are rushing.

I'm just hoping
that it holds up.

Oof.

Ooh.

That's terrifying.

- jayden, I really have
to commend you

on the artistry of this blade.

The low-layer pattern
really pops.

The connections here are
all really beautifully done.

And for this test,
that tip still has an edge.

Everything is right and tight
and true and nothing's changed.

Well done. - Thank you.

- Matt, you ready to roll?

- Absolutely.
- Okay.

- so matt,
your blade held up fine.

The tip,

it's a little bit duller
than what it started out with,

but I wouldn't run my finger
down this edge.

So, nicely done.
It held up beautifully.

- Thank you.

- all right, bladesmiths.

We know your weapons can keal
and we know they are strong.

Now it's time to find out
how sharp your weapons are.

This is the sharpness test,
the guillotine fruit slice.

I'm gonna take your elephant
tusk sword, release it,

and try to cut
through the fruit.

I want to see clean cuts
all the way through.

Jayden, you're up first.
You ready?

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

- nice.

- all right, jayden,
your edge here

cut all the way through cleanly.

Bottom line, sir, your elephant
tusk sword, it will cut.

All right, matt.
Your turn, sir. You ready?

- I'm ready.
- Okay.

All right, matt.

Let's talk
about your weapon here.

The weight on this, it drives
the cut all the way through.

Your edge is sharp.

More importantly, sir,
it will cut.

- Thank you, doug.

- well, jayden, matt,
you guys both performed

exceptionally well
during your tests.

But as you know, only one of
you guys will be leaving here

with the title
of "forged in fire" champion.

While the judges deliberate,

I'm gonna ask you to please
step off the forge floor.

- I'm a little unsure
of what's gonna happen.

Both matt and I
brought great work.

They both performed really well.

They held up really well.

So at this point,
it's anyone's guess.

- it seems like
about neck and neck.

What do you think
about the blades?

- Well, I mean,
these are one of the most

out-of-the-box weapons
we've asked a smith to make.

And I think they both
knocked it out of the park.

- They pretty much
performed equally.

So it's all
about the craftsmanship.

- One of them, craft wise,

is just on a different level.
- Okay.

So it sounds like you guys
are all in agreement

on who's going home
with the win.

All right,
we'll call them back in.

Well, gentlemen,
this is the kind of test

that we like to see.

We've got two smiths
who performed almost equally.

But as you guys know,
only one of you is gonna be

leaving here
with a check for $10,000

and the title
of "forged in fire" champion.

The judges have made
the decision.

And today's "forged in fire"
champion is...

jayden. Congratulations.

You won, man.
Matt, unfortunately,

that means you did not
come out on top today.

And dave's gonna tell you why.

- Well, matt, first off,
you made us

a target-destroying piece
of work there.

But when two weapons
test identically,

it comes down to those
finer details, fit and finish.

That's why we're letting you go.

- I understand.
- Well, matt, I want to say,

you absolutely earned
your spot here in the finals.

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

I'm gonna have to ask you
to please step out.

- I'm proud of the sword
that I've turned in.

They were virtually
the same performance.

Good job, man. - Yeah, you too.

- And jayden's weapon,

he turned in a work of art,

and I think
he deserves the title.

First thing I'm gonna do
when I get home:

Kiss my wife
and crack open a beer.

- well, jayden, that means you

are today's
"forged in fire" champion.

You're gonna be leaving here
with a check for $10,000, man.

Congratulations. - Thank you.

I'm the new
"forged in fire" champion,

and I'm really stoked about it.

- How old are you again?
- 19.

- 19 years old.

That is extremely
impressive, man.

- Thank you. Whoo!

I'm so bad at emotion.