Forged in Fire (2015–…): Season 8, Episode 18 - Forged In Fire: Wwe Edition - full transcript

- Here in the forge,
it's all about the blades.

But tonight, we've got the
ultimate forging smackdown.

This is our first-ever
wwe challenge.

Whoo!

Only one smith
will claim victory,

earn himself a check for $10,000

and a wwe title from the legend,

nature boy himself, ric flair.

- let's go!

I am hunter
"the vulcan viking" copeland

from broken arrow, oklahoma.



- vulcan is the blacksmith

who forged all of the weapons
for the greek gods.

So, you know, I got
a little viking style here,

and I got a little vulcan blood.

So that's where
I'm getting my skills today.

Man, I am stoked to be here
on the wwe competition.

- You seem ready.
- Yeah.

- Right on, bud.

- yeah!

My name's josh
"black rooster" patterson.

I'm 28 years old,

and I do full armored combat

just for fun.

I have 90 pounds of armor
on my body,



and I swing a sword
or an axe, full force,

trying to knock somebody
to the ground.

When it comes down
to this competition,

I'm confident in my skills
because I take a lot of hit.

I don't really go down.

- oh, yeah, brother!

- Yee-haw.

- my name is phil,
but they call me

"sergeant cheesebadger."

I'm from wisconsin.
I'm a former marine.

And I'm here to take home
the victory.

I'm not dropping a flying
elbow off the top ropes,

but I'm just gonna try to make
the sickest blade I can.

The best for last.

My name is nick maiden.

You'll know me as "green river."

straight out of kentucky

and up here to absolutely
pound some steel, folks.

Green river is my alias
in cowboy fast draw.

I do my best with an audience.

When I've got somebody
to show off in front of,

that's when I excel.

- You're crushing it.

Well, bladesmiths,
I hope you guys came ready

to leave it all out on the floor

because we've got
three very intense rounds

of edged weapon competition
ready for you.

You guys are gonna
be doing it all

in front of our very own
badass weapons experts,

abs master bladesmith,
j. "the bone crusher" neilson,

historic weapons
recreation specialist,

"the doctor" dave baker,

and edged weapon specialist
and kali martial artist,

our very own kealing machine,

"dangerous" doug marcaida.

- you've entered
the "forged in fire" arena

to battle it out
for a check for $10,000,

the title of "forged in fire"
champion, and today,

also for this...

wwe title.

Bladesmiths, today's competition

is all about the wwe.

The challenges and the tests
are all inspired

by the most memorable moments
in wwe history.

- Ric flair!

- And up first, the cage match.

- great.

Yeah. - Nice.

I've never wrestled
in a cage match,

but I will rip this cage
and the whole thing apart

if that's what it's gonna take.

- Gentlemen, this is gonna be
an all-out battle.

This is our version of the 1998
hell in a cell match.

Trapped inside this cage
are stacks of 1095 and 15n20,

which you will need
to break free.

Once you get them out, we want
you to make damascus billet.

And because the wwe
is over 40 years old,

we want those billets
to be at least 40 layers.

With those billets, we want you
to build signature blades

in your signature styles
that measure

between 13 and 15 inches.

Now in round two
of the competition,

you will add handles
to your blades,

turning them into fully
functioning weapons.

At which point, the judges
will put them to the test.

We're gonna check
for strength and durability

in a steel chair smash

and then check
your edge retention

in a turnbuckle attack.

All right, bladesmiths,

you guys ready to kick ass
and leave it all on the floor?

- Absolutely.
- Oh, yeah.

- We're ready.
- Yeah.

- All right, you've got
three hours on the clock.

And good luck.
Your time starts now.

Hey, doug, can you give us
your best ric flair?

- Whoo!

Whoo!

- on the surface, I might look
like this pretty boy,

but in the core,
that's where the competitor is.

- Blade, blade.
- Are you kidding me?

- Hunter broke his wheel.

They said smash into it.

I'm like, "okay."

- josh is a beast, man.

He just got straight
through that thing.

- When I saw cage matches
when I was a kid,

I just thought that was
the craziest thing ever.

And now here I am cutting
into this cage,

getting after it.

- All right. Philip's in.

- I've always been
a huge wwe fan

from the time I was a kid.

Basically, I'm walking into
my own hell in the cell her.

- nicholas is in.

There we go. -

- there we go.
- And hunter's out.

- All right.
- All right, four of four

have gotten their steel.

That went a little bit quicker
than I thought it would.

So I feel like these guys
may have done this before.

- You didn't do background
checks on these guys?

- my game plan is to make sure
my steel stays very clean.

I'm gonna hit it all
in the grinder first

before I try to set those welds.

- All right, so we're looking

for at least 40 layers
of damascus.

They've got ten layers.

What's the fastest way
to get to the 40?

- Take that initial stack,
just draw it out,

cut it in four pieces,
restack, and reweld it.

Bang... you got 40.

- Now that my steel is clean,
it's straight into the fire.

- I can stack these up
and get ten layers,

or I can cut them all in half
and start with 20.

I'm gonna go
for a high layer count.

- The higher you go,

the more tendency you'll have
to shift and maybe shear welds.

- Okay.

- In the forge.

First thing, I make sure
that I alternate my steel

and in the forge it goes.

Come on, baby, burn.

The hardest part of this
challenge is staying in frot

of three other guys
that are clearly younger

than I am
and clearly in better shape.

- We've only just started
and I already feel like

I'm behind everyone else.

This is my opportunity
to jump ahead.

I'm just gonna weld
this thing together,

stick it in the forge,
and here I go.

- Hunter going straight
for the welder.

You think that's a good idea?

- It's a risk.
- Come on, baby.

- All right, bladesmiths,

the bell will ring
in 2 hours and 30 minutes!

- Coming through.

If I don't nail this forge
weld on the first shot,

it could send me home.

- when these guys go to set
that first weld,

those billets should look like
a melting stick of butter.

- So I stretch my ten layer
billet out about eight inches,

and that's when I'm ready
to cut and stack my billt

so I can make those 40 layers.

I take those four chunks
and start cleaning up

those surfaces
for a really good forge weld.

My stack took a good weld,
and I'm just super excite.

- all right, big blu, you and I
are gonna be friends now.

I've got this billet drawn out.

I'm gonna try
and impress the judges.

They wanted 40 layers.

I'm gonna throw 100 at them.

Once I get five pieces,
I'm gonna stack them up.

That'll get me my 100 layers.

Yeah.

- Look, I like
what josh has done.

He's taken the time to go above
and beyond with the layers.

- Whoo!

I'm no longer josh,
"the black rooster."

now I'm josh,
"the man of many layers."

oh, that's cool.

- all right. We're trying it.

Welds look awesome.

This billet's almost
as pretty as I am.

Ah.

Now I'm gonna see if I can cut
this thing up into four pieces.

Let's set this thing on fire.

Ha-ha!

One of my pieces is

considerably shorter
than the others.

Oh, no.

- Well, if they got
uneven layers,

would that make a harder
forge weld down the road?

- Those overhangs are gonna
try to push together,

leaving cold shuts, bad welds.

- This sucks.

This is bad right now.

But as long as I can get
the weld set up on the en,

I can push all that ugly stuff
into the handle.

I'm gonna make
the pretty part my blade.

Let's get hot.

I've got to get it together
and move on to drawing it out.

This one counts.

- All ready.

- Nicholas is setting his weld

with a hammer
instead of the press.

- It's not a bad thing to do.

- Instead of cutting my billet
into four pieces of steel,

I'm gonna cut in half.

Here we go.

Restack it, draw it out.

Oh, boy.

Cut it in half,
restack it one more time.

- You're adding another process.

You're adding another weld.

None of that's necessary.

- I'd rather do it a way

I'm confident in doing it
than ruin my work.

Coming out.

So now I've got
my 40-layer billet.

Let's make a knife.

- all right, guys!

You've got 90 minutes
on the clock!

- I feel good
that my billet's solid.

I'm gonna start forming my tip.

Good?

- The billet josh is working on

is pretty lean-looking.

- I'm gonna make that tip
just as thick as I can,

basically a very
pretty metal spike

that's gonna go
right through that chair.

Yeah, that's heating up.

I'm pretty confident
in my blade right now.

Yeah.

- oh, yeah.

My stack is all welded up.

But I want to do
something extra.

I want to throw a little
raindrop pattern in there.

- I give him props
for trying to get a pattern

when we didn't ask him to.

- I don't know
if this is gonna work,

but if it does, it'll look
really good down the road.

Oh, yeah, brother!

- I like that.

Let's get my tip shaped up.

My blade is styled
after just a basic ka-bar.

Got the idea because me
and my dad use his ka-bar

to open cans all the time.

My dad is a former marine.

When I was a pup,
we had high and tight flat tops

every time we got a haircut.

And as soon as I was old enough
to make my own hair decisions,

boom... I never touched it again.

Whoo!

- Gentlemen, you have
one hour remaining!

- so I'm drawing out
this 40-layer billet.

Oh, look at what I got.

I see this giant bubble
on part of the steel.

Like a zit.

- I think he's talking
about a blister.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

- Somewhere in there,
there's a layer

that's got something
that's keeping it from welding.

They kind of bubble up as you
get the metal really hot.

- God, have mercy.

- Is there any way,
by looking at it,

to see how deep it is
in the layer structure?

- Not until you bust it open.

- I'm pretty ticked
over this bubble

because this is on the surface,

and this has jumped
out of nowhere.

- With 45 minutes, he's got
to come up with a plan

and just run with it.

- Damn it!

- oh, look at what I got.

So I'm drawing out
this 40-layer billet,

and I see this giant bubble
on part of the steel.

Oh, look at that!

- If it's not on your edge,
drill a hole in it.

Put that in your tang.
You're done.

- So at this point,
there's no getting rid of it.

There's no starting over.

I'm gonna go ahead
and just shape the handle

on that part of the area
and make it go away.

- Nicholas is using
that blister pocket

as his tang now.

- Smart.

- It's certainly not
best-case scenario,

but it's definitely gonna be
a better fix

than leaving it out
on the blade.

- you guys have 30 minutes left!

- Now that I have a rough shape,

I have to go in for the quench

because I'm looking at the
clock, and it's running out.

- there you go.
Philip just quenched.

- That's good.
- There we go.

- Looking good.

I'm overjoyed
that it's not warped

because there is no time
to fix it anyways.

- That is nice. Time to quench.

- That's a hot blade.

- Yeah!

- he's happy with it.

We'll see when you guys
smash a chair into it.

- I clean it up,
throw it in the etch,

I pull it out, and it's got

a beautiful 100-layer
damascus pattern.

That's fantastic.

- Quenching.

- Hunter went in screaming hot.

- I don't like that.

Smoke. All I see is smoke.

I notice when I pick my blade
up that there is a warp.

Oh!

This could be enough
to kick me home.

I'm gonna see if I can work
out some of this warp

before I have to show it
to the judges.

I can make it work.

- Five minutes on the clock!

I'm down to the end
of the round.

I know it's time
to throw it in the oil.

Pull it out of the oil,
grab the file.

It skated across. I feel great.

Damn it all.

And lo and behold,

there's another giant bubble
on the side of it.

- And nicholas's blade looks
like the surface of the moon

that's been pounded to death
by asteroids or something.

- There is absolutely nothing
I can do about it forge-wis.

So I'm doing what I can
to grind this delam down.

Anything left,
I'll have to do in round tw.

That's all I can do.

- five, four, three, two, one.

This round is over. Good work.

I know the cracks
along the edges

are gonna be my issue.

Ten more minutes
with the grinder

and I'm convinced
they'll disappear.

But I've got to get that extra
ten minutes in round two.

- All right, gentlemen,

well, you guys
all definitely threw down

in our first three hours
of the cage match.

But the time has come for the
judges to give their critiques

and decide which three of you
are moving forward

in this competition,
and who's gonna be going home.

Hunter, you're up first.
You ready?

- Yes, sir.
- All right.

Please present your work.

- all right, hunter, right off,

I like the profile
you got going here.

It's a nice shape.

It's got a warp in it.

I would really take care
of that issue

more than anything else
on this blade.

But again, I like
what you got going on here

and interested in seeing
what you do with this

if you move forward.

- Thank you.

- Josh, the man of many layers,
you ready?

- Yes, sir.
- All right, man.

Let's see your work.

- all right, so josh, right off,

doing 100 layers
without being asked,

that's going above and beyond.

Love seeing that.

You can really see that pattern,

putting 100 layers in there.

It's so much more dramatic
than having a low layer count.

As far as design goes,

you've got a long blade
that's a little bit lean.

But your handle got even leaner.

So I'd be careful of that,
moving forward.

- Thank you, sir.
- Philip, you ready, bud?

- Yes, sir.
- Let's see what you got.

- all right, philip,
I like the shape.

I like the profile of this.

But right here
where my thumbnail is,

you've got a crack right there.

It goes across the edge
and up both sides.

I'd address that so you
don't want this knife

blowing apart on you
during testing.

- Nope.

- But you got the pattern.
Good job.

- Thanks.
- Nicholas, you're up.

Please present your work.

- all right, nick, first up,
that's a nice chopper.

Now let's talk
about your metal here.

What I'm worried about is that
you have some unwelded sections

on the spine of your blade.

Now when you expose that,

we're not sure
if there are cracks

or if there's something
that you can just grind awa.

So that's an issue
that you have to address.

But overall, it's a nice shape.

Good job.

- All right, gentlemen,
we asked you guys

for 40-layer damascus blades.

And all four of you
came through with that,

so you should be proud
of yourselves.

But as you know, only three
of you guys are moving forward

into the next round
of our competition,

which means one of you
is going home.

The bladesmith leaving
the forge is...

nicholas.

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

and j's gonna tell you why.

- Well, nick,
you fought like a champ.

But between the unwelded
sections, the blisters,

and the stuff that we can't
even see under the forge scale,

you're gonna have the most work

to try to catch up
with your competitors.

That's why we're letting you go.

- All right.
- Well, nick,

you should be proud
of yourself for that,

but please surrender your work
and leave the forge.

- Well, I'm the first guy
thrown over the ropes.

It happens.

- Good job, nick.
- Great work, man.

- I lost, but I don't feel
like a loser.

To know that doug marcaida
held something that I made

is alone enough of a reason
to have come up here.

- Well, gentlemen,
congratulations.

The three of you have made it
through round one.

But in our second round,
it is no holds barred.

Gentlemen, this round
of the competition,

you guys are gonna fix
any issues

you have with your blades
and add handles to them,

making them
fully-functioning weapons.

But since it's
a wwe theme competition,

we want you guys to use these.

Gentlemen, these are
some iconic weapons

used by the wwe superstars
to bash each other's faces in.

And these are
your handle materials.

You've got hammers.
You've got brass knuckles.

You've got bats.

It's all up to you to decide
what you want to use.

You have two hours
in this round of competition.

After the two hours has elapsed,

you guys will turn your blades
over to our judges

who will check for strength
and durability

in a steel chair smash.

And then we're gonna check
your edge retention

in a turnbuckle slash.

Good luck.

Your time starts now.

- man, there's a fight
out there, all right.

- Oh, yeah. Easiest way to win

a competition
is have no competition.

- right off the bat,
I'm going for that bat

'cause I know I can make
a great handle out of that.

- philip needs
to find that crack.

It's visible. - Oh, yeah.

- It's threatening
the structure of the knife.

- for me, the big elephant
in the room is this crack.

But I have a lot left to do
on this blade

and virtually no time
to do it in.

So I'm just gonna fix
those later in the round.

- the first thing I do
in round two is

I grab my handle material,
I start hacking my stuff up.

- The problem with josh's
handle that I see is

I'd like to beef it up

'cause right now, it's so small,

you put scales on it,
and it gets too wide.

- As I come back
to my workstation,

I realize the scales
won't cover it.

I got to go get new scales.

Hello. That's even better.

Man of many layers
might be freaking out

just a little bit on the inside.

- These drill holes.

I'm really worried about

drilling these holes in my tang.

Let's see what we got here.

Could be hard, and it could
cause me a lot of problem.

Please, god.

This is just perfect.

That's two holes.

- david baker had some
feedback on the handle.

So I make sure that
there's a finger groove,

and I have a little bit
of a pinky catch.

- That's teeny tiny up
around the neck

of that handle, isn't it?

- Oh, yeah.

- I'm hoping when the judges
are holding my knife,

they say,
"this is a good handle."

- gentlemen,
you've got one hour left.

- So now that my handles
are flat,

I go over to the drill press

to start getting
these holes put in.

- That's not a happy drill bit.
- No.

- It's not cutting. This is bad.

- Philip is still trying to get
through that drill.

I have a ton to do on this blade

and not enough time.

All right.

Not ideal.

- philip is still trying to get
through that drill.

That drill bit
is just not cutting.

I know I'm just
losing precious time.

But I have an idea.

I'm gonna throw a quick
fuller in there

to thin out that material.

So hopefully,
I can get through it

a little bit easier.

- Philip's taking
some weight off

by putting a fuller down
the edge of it.

- Fullering the tang
is a good idea.

- So I got the fuller in.
I go back to the drill press.

Finally.
Dodged a major bullet there.

Whoo.

- my handle's together.
Everything is looking good.

I'm going to the grinder.

I'm really trying to get
the spine to straighten p

without taking
too much meat away.

- To get rid of that warp,

he would have had
to heat that blade up.

With that handle
on that blade, he cannot now

add heat to straighten it out
'cause you'll melt the glue.

- if I have a slight bow
in a good strong knife,

I'll submit that.

And I'll be proud
about that too.

- you guys have 30 minutes
left on the clock!

- Now that I have my scales
all glued up,

I can go to the grinder
and start working.

I know I'm gonna make
a ridiculously thick edge

and survive the round.

- You know,
I don't get to hit things

with metal chairs very often.

So I'm gonna relish this.

- It needs to survive the test,

not necessarily
win a beauty pageant.

- Hunter's handle
is just pretty much...

- Yeah.

- We're gonna have some
flair around here,

but there's none
on hunter's handle.

- I put an index finger groove
underneath the blade.

It should lock their hand
into place.

This adjustment hopefully
will cover me.

- Bladesmiths, you guys
are down to 15 minutes!

- I feel so good that
I got a tight fit

up on my handle scales.

Now it's time to remove
a ton of mass on this blade.

At this point, there's not
much I can do about the crack,

and I just hope
it doesn't come apart.

- Philip's crack, how likely
is it that it goes all the way

through the width of the blade?

- You have to grind
into it to find out.

- But I would have been

really positive
they were ground out

before I go
into a testing round.

- five, four, three, two, one.

This round is over.

- feel freaking great
about my blade.

Vulcan viking from the top rope.

Steel chair doesn't want it.
Let's go!

- Bladesmiths,

welcome to our
wwe-inspired strength test,

the steel chair smash.

This is gonna be a lot of fun.

Now what I'm gonna do
is clamp each of your blades

in this mechanism,
take the steel chairs,

and smash them into your blades
straight down

over and over and over again.

Now what the knives do
to the chair...

Come on.

We're looking to see what
the chairs do to the knives,

you know that as well as I do.

All right, philip,
you ready to go?

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

- I'm just so worried
about that crack

because in my mind,

that thing's just gonna
blow apart

as soon as he hits it
with the chair.

All right, philip,
you've survived.

I can still see that crack

on both sides going
across the cutting edge,

but it didn't come apart.

So great job on that.

You got a little bit of dulling
from the steel on the chair.

But you still have edge there.
Good job.

- Thanks, j.
- All right, josh.

You ready to go?
- Are you ready?

- I love it
when people try to heckle me.

- I designed my blade
for this test.

But I see what j. Is doing.

I'm worried.

- Well done, sir.
- Thank you.

- All right, josh,
you survived. Good job.

The edge of your blade
is not super sharp,

but there's still an edge there.

I'm not crazy
about the handle though.

It feels like my fingers
are getting squeezed

in between these two
high points here.

And beefing up the handle
would have been a nice touch

but didn't affect
this test at all.

So good job.

- Thank you.

- You ready, hunter?
- Yeah, let's go.

The one thing to be nervous
about is a dang chair

flying at your blade.

Uh, I'm worried.

This is really scary.

All right, hunter, you survived.

Your edge, you do have
some chipping here,

probably from too much heat
in the quench.

But your knife's in one piece,

and the chair is toast.

So good job. - Thank you.

- Thanks for leaving me
some blades.

Bladesmiths, welcome
to the sharpness test,

the turnbuckle attack.

Now to find out
how sharp your weapons are,

I'm gonna take your weapons,

and I'm gonna be
cutting, gutting,

and smashing this turnbuckle.

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

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

- All right, let's do it.

All right, philip, let's talk
about your blade here.

The areas that you have
on your blade

that are on the top here
are sharp.

Now it's a heavier blade,

but you know what,
it's nicely balanced.

And overall, sir, it will cut.

All right, josh, it's your turn.

Are you ready, sir?

- I'm ready, sir.
- All right, let's do this.

All right, josh, let's talk
about your weapon here.

There are areas here
that took some damage

during the strength test
that are not sharp.

But the areas that are sharp
cut nicely on the turnbuckle.

Now your handle construction
is just so narrow

that there are times
when it wants

to spin around in my hand
because there's space inside.

But overall, sir,
your weapon, it will cut.

- Thank you, doug.

- all right, hunter. You ready?

- Yes, sir.

- Let's do this.

All right, hunter.

Your blade cut deeply
on the turnbuckle.

And that is because your blade
has the thinnest grind

among all the other blades.

Now, your handle construction,

it is wide enough that I can
be comfortable with the blade

and slashing
and controlling your weapon.

Overall, sir, your weapon,
it will cut.

- Thank you.

- all right, gentlemen.
Well, great job.

You all made it through
the bashing and the slashin,

but the time has come
for the judges

to talk about your blades,

decide who is gonna be staying
in this competition

and who's gonna be heading home.

So while they discuss,
I'm gonna ask you to please

step off the forge floor.

All right, gentlemen, well,

it seems that there's
pros and cons

to everybody's blade.

- I think philip's
in a good place.

He took some dulling
in the strength test,

but his knife held up overall.

It's well balanced,
and the handle's comfortabl.

- Okay.
- Out of all three blades,

hunter's has maintained,

even with the damage,
the sharpest edge.

- Now josh's blade,
the handle is just so narro,

it spin in my hand.

Also, it cut the least
among all three.

- all right, well, dave,
have you made your decision?

- I have, yes.

- J., have you made
your decision?

- Oh, yeah.
- Doug, what about you?

- Yes.
- All right.

I'm gonna call them back in.

Well, gentlemen,
the three of you guys

battled it out
in the cage match.

But as you know, only two
of you guys are moving forward

into round three
of the competition.

And the bladesmith that's gonna
be leaving the forge is...

josh.

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

And dave's gonna tell you why.

- Josh, I got to tell you,
100-layer count, unprompted,

never happened before.

And you should be very,
very proud of that.

But that obtuse grind
on your blade

lost a lot of its edge
in the strength test.

And that spindly handle,

it's just not big enough
for that knife.

And that's why
we're letting you go.

- Thank you.

- Well, josh, man,
you fought hard,

but unfortunately,
your time here has ended.

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

- I'm very disappointed
in the outcome.

- Good work, josh.

- I designed the blade

to survive the strength test.

I should have put
a little bit more

into the sharpness test.

But there's nothing
I can do about it now.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity.

I'm so glad I came and did it.

- hunter, philip,
congratulations.

The two of you have beat out
the competition,

which means you're moving
into round three.

Now with the "forged in fire"
title, $10,000 check,

and the wwe title on the line,

this challenge is far from over.

In this last round,
we're gonna send you

back to your home forges

to build a wicked warrior's
weapon from history.

You guys ready to rumble?

- Oh, yeah.
- Ready.

- All right, gentlemen,

you guys are gonna be
building this.

The bastard sword.

- The bastard sword was widely
popular throughout europe

during the middle ages
and well into the renaissance.

It's so well-known,
a version of this deadly blade

was wielded by the famous
bastard, jon snow,

in hbo's "game of thrones."

while its blade length varied
from 36 to 40 inches,

the name came from
its uniquely sized handle

that was between one
and two hands long,

earning it its alternative name,

the hand-and-a-half sword.

Lethal in battle,
the sword could easily deliver

devastating blows with two hands

or quickly inflict slashes

in close-quarter combat
with one.

- Gentleman, the bastard sword
is a beast.

And you guys have
a lot of parameters to follow.

Your blade length needs to be
between 35 and 37 inches.

You need to have at least
9-inch fullers on both sides.

You guys have a cross guard,
a side ring,

a finger ring, a counter guard,

and top the whole thing off
with a pommel.

- Oh, I'm so excited
to make that sword.

Oh, yeah, brother!

Nothing can stop me now.

Certainly not the vulcan viking.

- Gentlemen, you got four days
at your home forges.

Good luck. We'll see you then.

- Good luck, brother.

- "brother."

- all right, so it's day one.

We're back here
at my home forge.

So my plan with this build

is to make the blade
out of damascus.

It's probably enough.
It's probably too much.

The reason why I want
to make damascus is,

I want my blade
to be over-the-top.

And I think
it's gonna look awesome.

It's very close to being ready.

Almost halfway there.

We're at the end of day one,
and the billet is solid.

So I'm feeling
pretty confident about it.

All right.

- day one, we're here
in broken arrow,

and we're gonna start working
on the bastard sword.

And we're hot.

My blade is gonna be made
out of 5160.

It's a spring steel.

It's really close.

My blade's forged to shape,

and I'm ready
to move into the guard.

So this is the top.
My handle will be down here.

This is kind of the part
of the sword

that's gonna wow the crowd.

I want this piece to look good.

I want my finger to just wrap

around right there
nice and comfy.

I like it.

Day one is a huge success.

Oh, I'm just...
I'm leaps and bounds

beyond where I thought
I was gonna be.

This is great.

- my plan for day two
is to refine my blade shape,

get it quenched
and heat-treated.

I got the profiling
right where I want.

And I'm getting ready
to quench my blade.

Anything can happen
when you go into a quench.

It can crack or bend or warp.

And I really don't
want that to happen.

- It's time to go in
for the quench.

I don't hear any pings.
I don't hear any tings.

All right.

Everything looks great.

We might have a good sword.

I have enough here
to grind a straight blade,

which is awesome.

- Day three.

Yesterday went fantastic.
The blade is quenched.

I feel great.
I'm a little ahead of schedule.

I have a little
extra time right now.

So I'm deciding to temper
on the clock.

Yes, sir.

Which pulls some of
the hardness out of the blae

and gives it the flexibility
and the strength

that it needs to put up with j.

Oof.

My blade's getting too hot
in this one area.

It spells trouble.

This is the thinnest part
of the blade.

I should have thought of that.
Let's see what happens.

This is a big problem.

In any of the testing,
if something wants to fail,

it'll be this area.

I want to leave a little
thickness in this area.

And I think I can kind
of compensate for this.

It's not perfectly ideal,

but I think this thickness
is the answer to this problem.

- my plan for day four
is fit and finish.

I have to fit up my pommel.

Mild steel is so soft,

it almost just drills
like wood... look at that.

So I'm going through
my tap and die set,

and I'm realizing
that the smallest set

that I have is a 1/4 inch,

and my tang
is nowhere near that wide.

If I had five more hours,

I would definitely
thread that tang.

It's just
a tighter construction.

But I need to move on.

So I'm going with the peening

because I'm running out of time.

Hopefully, it all stays tight.

It's gonna have to do.

- Day four.

Just have a couple
things to clean up,

and we're pretty much done.

This is kind of the point
of no return.

So here we go,
putting the handle together.

The epoxy sets.

But I've started to notice
that I have a large gap

right here underneath the guard.

This is bad.

I just want it to not come loose

and start jingling around
in their hand.

Let's see what I can do.

I'm gonna kind of wrap wire

nice and tight all in there
and epoxy it down into place

and just kind of hide
this little mistake I have.

Oh, that's perfect.

It doesn't look the way
I wish it looked.

But it's really not that bad.

I'm not gonna let these guys
have all the fun.

So I'm gonna do
a little bit of testing.

Yeah!

- well, bladesmiths,
welcome back to the forge.

Guys, I got to say, your
bastard swords look fantastic.

We're gonna get into them,
but first,

I got a special guest
I got to introduce.

Please join me in welcoming
an absolute legend,

a wwe hall of famer,

and one of the most prolific
and I'd say most stylish

wwe superstar of all time,

"nature boy" ric flair.

- Heavyweight champion,

"nature boy" ric flair!

- whoo!

You guys ready to play?

- Yeah, ready.
- Always.

- There's $10,000 on the line

plus an opportunity

to carry the big gold.

I don't know how cool
that is to you guys.

It's very cool to me.

This is crazy.

- Well, gentlemen,
before we get into the testing,

I want to hear about
these beautiful bastards.

So, hunter,
how'd the build go for you?

- I used 5160 for the blade,
mild steel guard,

and a hickory handle

covered with a galvanized
steel wire wrap.

- All right, great.
Philip, how'd it go for you?

- so for my blade, I used
a mix of 15n20 and 80crv,

mild steel guard and pommel,

and a leather-wrapped
hickory handle.

- I'm really looking forward
to seeing

how your swords perform.

First thing up is the keal test.

I'm really looking forward
to seeing that.

Dave, are you ready, man?

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

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

It's time for the keal test.

I'm gonna take your swords.

I'm gonna attack
this gel torso here,

see what kind of damage we do.

Hunter, you're up first.
You ready?

- Yes, sir.
- Okay.

- oh, I'm just stoked.

This is a lifelong dream of
a bladesmith to make a sword,

whack one of those
ballistic dummies.

I'm just gonna be lopping limbs

or something off of this thing.

I'm so excited for this moment.

Come on, baby.

- whoo!

Very cool, man.

- yeah, I think he's done.

- all right, hunter, right off,
it's a performer.

It cut deep on each one
of those cuts.

As a matter of fact,
that one downward diagonal

goes all the way
through the rib cage.

Handle could have been
just a little bit longer.

I'm winding up with
about a hand and a quarter

instead of a hand and a half.

But you've definitely got
a lethal blade here.

- Thank you.
- All right, philip.

You're up. You ready?

- Ready.

I am pretty nervous
going into testing.

My main concern is that my blade

is just gonna fly
out of my handle.

The only thing holding it
together is epoxy

and a little bit of peening
over with the hammer

to hold that pommel
on there a little bit.

This is terrible.

- oh, my gosh.

- Very cool. Very cool.

- So, right off, I like
the scale of your blade.

I mean, it's very large,

and it's got
a lot of weight to it,

but the balance is nice.

You can see all these cuts
are so deep.

I was actually worried
on that last one

that I would hit the post
that's holding that thing up.

But as far as being a cutting
sword, this thing is lethal.

Good job. - Thank you.

- you having fun doing this?

- Oh, yeah. Great so far.
- Making history?

- Feeling good.
- So what's up next?

You ready for this?

We're gonna test the strength
of your swords.

You ready, j.?

- Oh, yeah.
- Very cool.

- Thank you, sir.

- bladesmiths,
welcome to our strength tes,

the wwe bash fest.

To test the edge-holding ability

and overall construction,

I'm gonna go through
a series of wwe weapons.

We're gonna destroy the table,
puncture and bash

through the garbage can,

and just tear
that ladder to pieces.

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

- Yes, sir.
- All right, let's do it.

- j., steal the show, brother.

- dang.

- oh, man.

- Hunter, you started out
strong, man.

- Oof.

- It was actually
very comfortable,

even though the handle's
a little bit short.

But you look at the grain,
it looks like sand.

- Mm-hmm.
- So that caused a weak point,

and a shockwave
went all the way down

and snapped it
at this weak point.

Sorry, man.

- My heart.

- hunter, it's painful
to see, man.

You put a lot of work into that
thing, and it looks great.

But unfortunately,

you did have a catastrophic
failure on the ladder,

which means we can't test
your blade any further.

But you are not
out of the fight yet.

Philip, in order
to claim the title,

you've got to make it
through the table.

You got to make it through

all the swings
through the trashcan.

And you've got to make it
through at least one bash

into the ladder.

You prepared for it?

- I'm nervous, but I'm ready.

- Whoo! Get in the spirit, man.

- All right, let's see
what your blade can do.

J.?

Damn.

- well done.

- hunter, man, you fought hard.

The first round, you excelled.

But unfortunately,
during the testing,

you did suffer
catastrophic failure.

And for that reason, your time
in the forge has ended.

I'm gonna have
to ask you to please

step off the forge floor, bud.

- Thank you, hunter.
- Thank you, guys.

- Good job, man.
All right, good work.

- Thank you very much.

Oh, it hurts. It hurts a lot.

When I went to fit my guard up,

I actually welded
at the base of the guard.

That ruined my heat treat
right there.

I'm willing to look
for the brighter side.

Uh, optimistic is the word.

That was one of the best snaps
I've ever had in my life.

Wow. Just learned how to snap.

Look at that.

- well, philip, you know
what that means, man.

You are the "forged in fire"
champion.

- Philip, congratulations, man!

Whoo!

- That comes with a check
for $10,000

as well as a wwe title.

- Here we go, man.

You've got 10 grand.

- Get out of this man's way.

- Whoo!

- "forged in fire" champion,
brother.

This title is going

in the most obnoxious spot
of the living room

that I can find,
probably taped onto the tv.

- Let me hear it one time.

Whoo!