Forged in Fire (2015–…): Season 8, Episode 20 - Forged in Fire - full transcript

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[intense music]

♪ ♪

[rock music]

♪ ♪

- I'm trey wright, and I'm
from greenwood, mississippi.

I love making
something of nothing,

and that's why I like forging,

but the greatest joy
is raising my kids.

The kids come out
and watch me work in the shop,

and my oldest tells me
I need to do this,

and I need to do that
because she's trying



to emulate the competition
by critiquing my knives.

[laughs]

- my name is nathan sistare,
I'm 19 years old,

and I'm from colorado.

I'm a full-time student
studying biology

to hopefully become
a veterinarian.

I've always found bladesmithing
to be relaxing

and helps me kind of deal
with college chemistry,

and it's just fun
to hit hot metal.

♪ ♪

- I'm isaac gardner,
and I'm 24 years old.

I'm a full-time jeweler.

As a jeweler, there's
a lot of small detail work

and making sure
that I have something that's,



one, comfortable, two, strong
and, three, looks amazing.

So as a bladesmith, I focus
on the same three aspects.

♪ ♪

- I'm paul sutt.
I'm from new jersey,

and I'm a personal trainer.

I've been
a lifelong martial artist

and a weapons expert,

and when I had the opportunity
to learn how to forge,

I jumped on it
as fast as I could.

It's just my passion.

- Well, bladesmiths,
welcome to the forge.

You guys were handpicked
for very unique

and challenging
bladesmithing competition

where we're going to test
all of your skills.

Now, there's three rounds
of this competition.

At the end of each one,
you're going to present

your work
to our panel of expert judges.

They're going to decide which
one of you will be leaving here

$10,000 richer,

carrying that tile of
"forged in fire" champion.

The judges for today's
competition are

abs master smith j. Neilson,

historic weapons recreation
specialist, dave baker

and edged-weapons
specialist doug marcaida.

♪ ♪

bladesmiths, you guys
are going to be

taking part of a competition
we are calling the civil forge

because the weapons,
the challenges, the testing,

they're all inspired
by a period in american history

that forged it
into what it is today.

That is the civil war.

Now, guys,
before we get into it,

you have a decision to make.

What kind of steel you want
to use to build your blades?

You've got two options.

♪ ♪

you're gonna have to choose
between these bags of grapeshot

and the cannonballs,

both of which are good
high-carbon steel.

- Oh, yeah.

- Now, today we are not
going to ask you

to build your signature blade
in your signature style.

No, gentlemen,

we've got something
much more interesting.

I want you to build an iconic
blade from american history

that's not so well known today,

but during its heyday
in the mid-19th century,

it was very popular
and widely used.

Gentlemen, you are going
to be building this...

♪ ♪

the arkansas toothpick.

- Oh, yeah.

- A popular weapon in the u.S.
During the mid-1800s,

the arkansas toothpick was
a large double-edged dagger

used by soldiers during
the american civil war.

This versatile dagger was both
a practical survival knife

and a combat weapon.

The sharp, acute tip was
designed to inflict deep stabs

and cuts in close quarters
with enemy combatants.

It's rumored that
some soldiers were seen

using the tip of the knife
as a toothpick,

which is how it got its name.

- Now, gentlemen, when you're
building your blades

I need you
to follow these parameters.

Your blades need to measure
between 12 and 14 inches.

You need to have
a double-edged blade

that has a dagger tip.

Now, by the end of round one,

you wanna be set up
for a coffin-style handle,

and you need to be quenched
and hardened.

- I've always had trouble
with daggers.

They're a challenging knife.

It's hard to keep them
symmetrical,

so I just see
a real challenge ahead of me.

- Now in round two
of the competition,

you're going to add those
coffin handles,

turning them
into fully functioning weapons,

at which point,
we're gonna be testing

for strength and durability

in a test we like to call
"tilling the earth"

and a log chop,
and then we're gonna check

if your edge has held up
in a water canteen slice.

You will have three hours in
round one of the competition,

so work hard,
pay attention to the clock

'cause your time starts now.

[rock music]

♪ ♪

- so would you go
for the grapeshot,

or would you go
for the cannonball?

- I'd go for the cannonball,
just quick and easy.

It's just a matter
of drawing it out

and cutting off the excess
that you don't need.

- Don't roll away, man.

- The challenge with grapeshot
is the 1/4-inch balls

that you put into a canister
with powder and steel.

- Okay.

I think my best bet
is gonna be to do canister.

I don't wanna do the cannonball

because it's a big round
piece of metal

and for this time competition
I think I'll be better off

being able to control
how much material I have.

I want to make my can
as far as possible,

so I decided
not to use white out.

I don't want to have
to peel it off later

'cause that's just extra time
and energy wasted.

- In a competition,

unless you're asked
to peel the can, don't do it.

- I gotta make this thing look
as good as possible.

I'm going to make
canister damascus

because I'm not messing
with that big old cannonball

and trying to draw
a knife out of it.

- Trey and nathan got their
cans in really quick.

- That's because neither of
them used white out.

- No, they didn't.

- I've never made
a dagger before.

I guess there's a first time
for everything,

and it may as well be here.

- If I won $10,000, I could
donate a portion of it

to down's syndrome awareness.

My youngest daughter
has down's syndrome

and I'd like to spread
the knowledge

that people with down's
syndrome are wonderful people.

There's a stigma about it.
It's just not there.

- So it looks like we're gonna
have two smiths

who are going to go
the canister way

and two
with just a ball of steel.

- I've used canister damascus
and have had moderate results,

where with the ball bearings,

I've had good
results every time.

- Look at what isaac is doing.

See while that metal
is heating up in there,

that's the time
to make your plan.

- I know because
of my background in jewelry

that the small details

are what make a large project
come together,

and so I'm careful to mark out
on my envelope my parameters.

[whistling]

♪ ♪

- so right away I decide

that I wanna go
with that cannonball.

I've never made
a canister before.

- A lot of the steel seems like
it's a lot easier

than getting 100 forge welds
inside the canister.

Prove a lot less likely
to have delamination.

- All right.
Well, let's give it a shot.

I want to just move
the metal a little.

I'm not in a hurry.

I know it's gonna
take a while to get that

drawn into a nice billet.

One more pass, and I'm good.

♪ ♪

- the initial forge weld
is the most important.

If I don't set these welds,
it's gonna be bad.

I'ma have to start all back
over or do something else.

- It looks like trey is
compressing it down too cold.

We've seen several times
where the canisters

haven't been heated up enough.

You start working on them,
and they start falling apart.

- I think the welds are setting.

I'm feeling good.
I'm thinking everything

is gonna be okay.

- When you're setting a weld,

your first couple of heats
need to be fairly gentle.

- Very small presses
on his first pat,

just like setting a weld
in anything else.

You don't want
to stress the weld.

- Feeling good.

I think my weld took pretty
solidly, so keep on moving.

- Bladesmiths, you guys have
two hours remaining.

- Once I forged that cannonball

down to some semblance of a bar,

the next thing
I'm gonna do is I'm gonna

focus on the pre-form.

- This particular dagger tapers
to a point.

It doesn't go parallel lines
and then down to a point,

so that's one thing hopefully
that they pay attention to

in making this kind of dagger.

- Right now I'm just bringing
down a taper to the point

so that as I flatten it out

I'm not gonna get
a big rectangular shape.

I'm gonna get a nice
tapering dagger shape.

That's all about moving
material to where I need it

to minimize
the amount of grinding

that I have to do in the end.

♪ ♪

- I'm gonna hammer in the point,

and we should be good.

When I hammer the point in,
I have to be very careful

'cause it's easy to mess
that point up

an cause a big mushroom.

In a competition like this,

you just can't afford
to make a bad mistake.

- I've made a couple daggers.
Not great with the grind,

but, yeah,
I can forge the shape.

- It looks like nathan
is working

on the tip right now.

- When you talk about toothpick,

you think about poking
and stabbing,

so we want to have a strong tip
on this particular blade.

- The tilling the earth test
seems like a pretty easy test,

just stabbing it in the ground,
but one of our

previous competitions
broke the first blade.

- Mark, we got a problem.
- Pretty darn happy with that.

♪ ♪

- as I'm drawing out my blade,
I can see it starting to split.

Mother[bleep].

All: Ooh!

- I don't know the way
the chunks are on the edges.

Remember when trey did
his first initial forge weld,

we were talking about
how the can wasn't hot enough?

- Mm-hmm.
- If you force it too much,

it can start splitting
and separating.

- I still have a lot
of forging to do,

and it's barely enough time
to get that done.

I'm gonna have to use
every bit of know how

I know to fix these issues.

I can't start over now.

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.
Damn it. Damn it.

- Anything he could be doing
at this point to fix that?

- I think just try
to grind them out.

- I still have a lot
of forging to do,

and I've got a lot of meat
left in this billet.

I'm gonna mash it down
and draw it out,

and then cut the cracks off.

- That is looking rough.
- Yeah.

Trey is trying to forge
weld it back together.

He might squish it down.

He might get it
looking like it's closed,

but when he goes to grind it,

they're
going to pop back up again.

- Ohh!

♪ ♪

- you know,
I am pretty impressed

with isaac's blade
at this point.

- So far, I'm really happy
with my blade,

the profile particularly.

I checked the length, and I'm,
like, two inches short.

The last thing I wanna do
is go home

because I missed parameters.

- Isaac went straight
to big blue

and now he's trying to
draw it out further.

- Hopefully he can draw out
that whole to 14 inches.

- I'm taking extra care
to make sure

that my blade is right

where I need it
to be to hit parameters.

- Bladesmiths, you have
1 hour remaining.

- Still pretty thick.
The clock is ticking down,

and I need to hog off a bunch
of steel before I quench it.

- We got paul on the grinder,

staring over his shoulder
at the clock.

- It's very important
for me to make it

to the testing round,
so I'm going to spend time

and get this thing thinned out.

♪ ♪

- isaac's is in the quench.

♪ ♪

- whoo!

The blade is hard, and I'm ready

to do some final grinding on it.

- It might seem like
a fairly simple blade,

but there's four separate
bevels you got to work on.

- It's a lot of precise work.

- The difficulty here
is maintaining symmetry

because if you grind one bevel
a little bit more

than you did another one,

it's not gonna anything
you want it to.

- You think he got all his
delams out of the cracks?

- Damn it.

Those delams are still there.

I'll have to fix these issues

in round two if I make it.

Tim's winding down,
and I need to quench.

♪ ♪

the blade's hard, and I'm happy.

Now, I have to grind that can
off and grind in the bevel.

I've never made a dagger before.

I'm used to grinding
two bevels, not four.

This is challenging for me.

- It's good he's not quitting,

20 minutes.

♪ ♪

- nate's is quenched.

♪ ♪

- everything went well.
It stayed pretty straight,

so I'm just gonna be
a happy camper and keep moving.

[bleep].

- Yowza.
- As I'm grinding,

I realize
I have a bit of a warp.

It's a pretty substantial warp,

I realize that it's too big
for me to grind out.

So I get the rest of the blade
as clean as possible

and hopefully get it to round
two and deal with it then.

- Come on, baby.

At this point,
I'm a little bit concerned

'cause the clock's ticking down.

Yeah. That's good.

- Paul's in the quench.

- I'm just praying that
I have a hardened blade.

Whoo!

I don't wanna have
to quench this again.

Whoo-hoo!

It's hard, and it's good.

♪ ♪

- five, four, three, two, one.

This round is over.

♪ ♪

- definitely a possibility that
this warp will send me home,

but I hope that the judges
can overlook it

and give me
another chance to fix it.

- Well, gentlemen, you guys
all rose to the occasion

of our civil war-themed
competition.

You turned your grapeshot
or your cannonballs

into arkansas toothpicks.

But as you guys know,

only three of you
are moving forward

into round
two of the competition.

So it's time for the judges

to take a closer
look at your blades.

Trey, you're up first.
Please present your blade.

♪ ♪

- all right. So, trey,
you went with the grapeshot,

which is great,
and your blade actually

wound up with a nice pattern.

Right now though, your blade
is a little asymmetrical.

You've got kind of a straight
side and then a bowed side.

But what gives me pause
is right at the tang junction.

I see delaminations
on both sides of the blade.

If you do move forward,
you've got a grind to correct,

and you've also got these
delaminations to take care of.

- All right. Nathan, you ready?
- Yes, sir.

- Please present your work.

♪ ♪

- all right, nathan,
your grinds look good.

I don't see any seams
or delaminations anywhere.

But there's one thing
that you really need to fix

is the warp on the blade.

But otherwise, good job.
- Thank you.

- Isaac, you ready?
- Yes.

- Please present your work.

♪ ♪

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

First up, it is the dagger
shape that we're looking for.

You have a base that tapers
straight into the point,

and your steel looks solid.

Good job. - Thank you.

- All right, paul,
are you ready?

- Yes, sir.
- Please present your work.

♪ ♪

- all right. Paul, you went
with the cannonball

and there's still
a lot of weight to it.

A good idea would be
to mark a centerline

and bring these edges to it.

That'll help you thin out
some material, more so.

But otherwise, it looks solid

and you still got a lot
to work with.

Good job. - Thank you.

♪ ♪

- well, gentlemen, I've gotta
say you've all presented

a viable arkansas toothpick
for the judges to critique.

But unfortunately, somebody
does have to go home today.

The bladesmith leaving
the forge is...

Trey.

Your blade didn't make the cut,

and doug's gonna
to tell you why.

- Trey, for one who has never
made a dagger before,

you came so close.

But the asymmetrical shape
of your blade

coupled with the visible
delaminations

brings into question

the structural integrity
of your blade.

For those reasons
we're sending you home.

- I understand.
- Well, trey,

you should be
very proud of yourself.

But unfortunately, I'm gonna
have to ask you, to please

surrender your work
and step off the forge floor.

♪ ♪

- I'm leaving here sad because
I wanted to make it

all the way through.

But being my first time
making something like this,

I'm very happy with it.

Good luck, y'all. - Well done.

- I hope my daughters see if
you put your heart and soul

into something
and try your best,

the outcome will still be
something you can be proud of.

♪ ♪

- gentlemen, congratulations.
The three of you guys

are moving forward into round
two of the competition,

where you're going to add
handles to your blades,

turning them into fully
functioning daggers.

In this round you're
going to have to add

a coffin-shaped handle
and a guard,

and you're gonna need to use
a frame handle technique.

At the end of this round,
the guys are going

to put them to the test,

checking for strength
and durability

in our "tilling the earth"
and log chop,

and we're going to check
the edge retention

in a leather canteen slice.

Gentlemen, you only have
two hours in round two

of the competition,
so good luck.

Your time starts now.

♪ ♪

- jay, a framed handle

is something
I haven't seen before.

Can you explain to me
what that all entails?

- So you make a hidden tang.

You slide the guard
up into place, set that,

and you're going to make a frame

that goes around it
in that coffin shape.

- All right. There are so many
things to do in this round.

Creating a frame handle,

something
I've never done before.

Fitting a guard,
affixing a handle

and it's a very short
amount of time.

I focused first
on getting my guard fit up,

then having my frame
and welding it together

so that I can treat it

like a regular
full-tang construction knife.

- I'm concerned nathan
has a considerable warp.

- I start trying to straighten
out my blade a little bit.

I try to soften the middle
of my blade enough

that I can bend it
without snapping it.

- You've got to be very,

very careful
heating that center ridgeline

and not having that heat travel
up to the edges

and lose your hardness.

- Are you kidding me? It hasn't
really changed a whole lot.

I've spent too much time
on it already,

so I'm just going to move on
and hope for the best.

[bleep].

- So paul is getting
straight into his brain.

- At home,
I never rush a handle,

but I have to crack this thing
out as fast as I can.

♪ ♪

I realize that I didn't
leave myself enough

for a good size handle.

That's just not acceptable.

- Oh, shoot.

- Paul had to restart
on his frame.

- Having a bad handle would be
a problem during testing.

Ehh.

- Bladesmiths, you guys have
an hour and 30 minutes

remaining in round two,

- and nathan's got some steel
for his frame.

- My plan is to cut the shape
of my tang out of a piece

of mild steel, slap it together
and make sure everything holds.

Welding.

♪ ♪

feeling pretty good so far.

- Nathan's got his frame
welded up.

Now he's back over the band saw

cutting out
the profile of his coffin.

- Not as clean as I can make
it, but it'll have to do.

- Gentlemen, you have
1 hour remaining.

- At this point, I notice
that my guard is loose.

[bleep].

My heart drops.

- I don't think isaac
is quite happy

with the fitment of his guard.

- I don't want to go home

because a little piece
of brass wiggled loose.

I know that I need
to figure something out.

- A guard that's loose
will eventually per use

is going to start
damaging the handle material.

- As a jeweler, I set stones
into precious metals

using a chisel.

You hammer down all the way
around the perimeter

and it pushes that metal down

and it grabs on
to whatever is inside.

- That brass being soft,

that will compress it down
and close up that gap.

- It works like a charm.

I'm really happy with it.

There we go.

- It's time to work on
my scales.

I'm looking to see if I can
find oak or a nice hard wood.

I see some scales
that look nice,

and I think
"well, let's give these a try."

crap, did I just
break this stupid thing?

The handle material cracked.

Oh, come on.

- He's using reconstituted
stone, it's very brittle.

It's not really good
for an entire handle.

- This is pointless.

I'm already behind schedule
from where I was hoping to be.

♪ ♪

- this is where
you start freaking out.

- As I'm looking at the clock,
I'm thinking,

"there is no way I'm going to
be able to present

a finished blade to the judges."

I am trying to think
of something

to make this thing happen.

[grunts]

I need to start over again
on this.

- I'm worried about paul.
There's still a lot of fit

and finish
that needs to be done.

- This is pointless. As I'm
looking through everything,

I find some beautiful acrylic.

Let's give these a try.

I have no idea if I'm gonna
be able to present

a finished blade or not,
but I never quit.

- Bladesmiths,
time is running out.

You have 30 minutes remaining.

- Now that I have my scales
glued on

and waiting for that set,

I'm gonna focus
on getting it sharp.

I decided to do
an appleseed edge

so that it can survive
being stabbed into rocks

and chopped into a log.

It's gonna be tough.

♪ ♪

- now he's got paper towels
taped up on his blade,

so you know
he's got an edge right now.

- So everything
is looking great.

I know it's sharp
and I know it's ready to go,

I still need
to shape my coffin handle.

- I mean, that looks like
a steak knife handle.

- So as I'm grinding, I realize

I may have removed
too much material

and I'm really hoping the judges

are able to hold on tight.

- Gentlemen, you've got
three minutes remaining.

- Okay. Okay.

Right now the handle
is where it's at.

I can finally start
to get an edge on this thing.

So as the clock is ticking down,

I'll be lucky
if I can get this thing done

and get an edge on it in time.

- Oh man, he's going
at a very aggressive angle.

- There's a lot of steel
to be removed.

I mean, the edges
were as thick as the border.

- I think my blade will do
good in the strength test.

I purposely left
a very beefy edge on it.

- He might be thinking if he
has more meat on the blade

the stronger that it'll be.

- If you trust your heat
treatment,

you don't need the math.

- Meaty but good.

♪ ♪

- five, four, three, two, one.

Gentlemen,
turn off your machines.

Put down your tools.
This round is over.

- Ahh!

I can't believe I have
a nice finished blade.

I never thought
I was going to be able

to finish it in time, but I did.

- Bladesmiths, welcome
to our strength test.

Our dual strength test
is going to be

"tilling the earth"

and then chopping
on the log above it.

This is going to test
the edge holding ability

and the overall construction
of the arkansas toothpick.

Nathan, you're lucky enough
to be first.

- Pitter, patter.
Let's get at her.

- I like that.

♪ ♪

- I'm definitely worried about
the warp of my blade.

If the point of my knife
catches a rock the wrong way,

it's going to bend my blade
even more,

if not completely snap off.

It could definitely
send me home.

I'm on the edge of my seat.

It's just not something
you should do

to a knife that you care about.

♪ ♪

- [grunting]

♪ ♪

hey, nathan. It survived.
Good job.

Your edge held up pretty well,
but a couple issues.

It lost a little bit
of the very tip on there.

Nathan, you started with a warp
and it's still there.

But overall, you survived.
Good job.

- Thank you.

- All right,
isaac, are you ready?

- As ready as I will ever be.

- Well, I'm ready now.
So let's go.

♪ ♪

- I can't feel anything
but my knees shaking.

In that box there's rocks
and dirt

and all sorts
of abrasive materials

that can wear down an edge,
and that terrifies me.

♪ ♪

- [grunting]

♪ ♪

- it made it, isaac. Good job.

I wished the handle
was just a little bit bigger,

a little on the spindly side,

but you got
the shape of the coffin good.

You can see... and I can
actually do that with my thumb.

So you've lost the edge.
It's not a razor anymore.

But overall, not bad at all.
Good job.

- Thank you.

- Ready, paul?
- Yes, sir.

- All right. Let's do it.

♪ ♪

- after watching the other
two weapons be tested,

I know that my blade
has to hold up

and pretty much remain almost
perfect for me to make it.

♪ ♪

- [grunting]

♪ ♪

- it survived, paul.
- [exhales]

- doing this log strike,

you could hear how much heavier
this was striking a log,

and instead of a thwack
it was more like

an ax hitting something.

But all in all, you survived.
Good job.

- Thank you.
- Yeah. Sir.

- Bladesmiths, this is
the sharpest test,

the water canteen
stab and slice.

I'm gonna take
your weapon, stab,

and try to slice through
these leather water canteens.

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

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

♪ ♪

[intense music]

♪ ♪

all right, nathan,
let's talk about

your arkansas toothpick here.

First up, your tip.

It took damage during the
strength test and it's rounded,

and it's pushing the bag
all over the place.

So overall, sir, it kinda cuts.

All right. Isaac, it's your
turn, sir. Are you ready?

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

♪ ♪

all right, isaac.

First up, the angle you have,
right here, is acute enough

to be able to push through
these water canteens.

The edge did take some dulling,
but still enough to cut.

Overall, sir,
your toothpick will cut.

- Thank you.
- All right, paul,

your turn, sir. Are you ready?

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

♪ ♪

- good job.

- All right, paul, let's talk
about your arkansas toothpick.

It pierced nicely
through both canteens.

But, because your blade
is very thick,

the edge holding capability
of this is almost lost

because I tried to cut
on the way out.

Overall, sir, it will cut.

- [exhales]

- well, gentlemen,
all three of your blades

made it through our strength
and our sharpness test,

but as you know only two of you
are moving forward

into the third round
of this competition.

The bladesmith leaving
the forge is...

♪ ♪

nathan.

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

and dave baker
is going to tell you why.

- Nathan, I appreciate the work
you put in on that.

I think your grinds
looked great.

But the problem
was you had a warp

that you just couldn't get out,
as well as the fact

that you lost the tip
in that strength test.

Those two things combined
just made a weapon

that was ineffective.

That's why we're letting you go.

- I understand.
- Well, nathan,

you fought really hard

in the first two rounds
of competition,

but unfortunately
I'm going to have to ask you

to please step off
the forge floor.

♪ ♪

- [sighs]

I'm not gonna pretend
that I'm not disappointed,

but I'm definitely leaving here
a better bladesmith

than when I arrived,

and when I get home I'm going
to make a couple more canister

damascus arkansas toothpicks.

- Well, paul, isaac,
congratulations.

You are both moving forward to
round three of our competition.

Now, you guys are heading back
to your home forges to work

on yet another iconic weapon
from the civil war era,

and that weapon is...

Ulysses grant's donelson sword.

- The donelson sword is
a commemorative blade

ordered to
general ulysses s. Grant

for his victory at fort
donelson in February of 1862.

One of the first major union
victories of the civil war.

The weapon features
a highly ornate handle

and an engraved blade

based on the popular
1860's officer's sword.

After general grant's death,
his wife donated the sword

to the smithsonian institute
in 1886,

and it remains under their
care to this day.

- As you can see this is a very
intricate and detailed blade,

and when you come back
with your swords

I want to see as much detail
as this one here.

Your blade length
needs to measure

between 29 and 31 inches.

Your blades need
to be double edged.

You need to have an upswept
rear quillon clamshell

guard that faces
toward the tip, a knuckle-bow,

and top it all off
with a urn-shaped pommel.

- I'm really excited to recreate

one of history's
greatest weapons.

I've never made anything
quite like this before

with all the intricate
details and parts.

I'm really intimidated
by what could be in store

for me in this final round.

- You have four days
to work on your swords.

Good luck. See you then.
- [exhales]

♪ ♪

- today I need to get started
on forging and hopefully heat

treating
general grant's donelson sword.

That is one skinny sword.

A build like this is pretty
far out of my comfort zone.

I've made a grand total
of two swords in my life

and I know that I'm going

to have to push myself
to the brink.

It's getting there.
It's time to quench it.

♪ ♪

[grunts] see, it's only going
to be hard to right there.

That space between the tang
and the blade is not hardened.

See the difference in tone?
My quench tank was too short.

So I'm going to requench
my blade

using a deeper quench tank

so that I could quench it
all the way down.

If those judges decide
to do a bend test on my sword,

that soft area could take a bend

and not spring back to true,
and that's a big issue.

[grunts]

hopefully it came out
hard this time.

That's hard. That's hard.
Oh, I feel so much better.

♪ ♪

- we're here back in lebanon,
new jersey,

to make this amazing weapon.

All right. Here we go.
This is the real mccoy now.

So now that I'm back
at my home forge,

I don't have any presses,
I don't have a power hammer.

The only thing I have is my hand

and now it's just time
to hammer, hammer, hammer.

My arm feels like jelly,
but there ain't no quitting.

I've got to keep going.

My right power hammer
is exhausted.

Time to switch
to my left power hammer.

I'm not nearly as far along
as I was hoping to be,

but I'm actually happy the way
the steel is coming out.

I guess that's
about it for today.

♪ ♪

- so today I'm feeling
really good

about the point that I got to.

Yeah.
That's got a nice spring to it.

Today I hope to be able
to have the basic structure

of my handle completed.

I need the rear-facing quillon
and the two clamshell guards

and the knuckle-bow.

It's going to be
something like that.

So now that I have
the components complete,

I can move on
to welding them together.

I'm really happy
with how it's looking.

That's so cool.

♪ ♪

- day three, I got my puppy
for support,

can't wait to get started.

Yesterday, got the blade
just where I wanted it

and I forged that thing out
right to specs.

Boo ya! So we're getting close
to quench time.

It's a little tricky for me

because I've never done a blade
this thin before.

I'm nervous as hell...
Two whole days

hammering this sword out.

If something goes wrong
with the quench,

there is no time
to do that again.

Here we go.

♪ ♪

don't feel any tings
or pings or anything.

I pull it out and I'm so happy.

It looks straight.
It looks perfect.

♪ ♪

- so yesterday I was able to get

all of my handle
components assembled.

It turned out really well.

And now I need to beautify it.

It's really ornate and complex.

I cut in the channels for
my turquoise and amber inlay,

and finally I moved on

to masking the entire blade
with nail polish

so that I can acid etch
those designs into the blade.

There we go. Cool beans.

I've worked really hard up
to this point

and now I'm so happy with my
general grant's donelson sword.

- Day four,
I'm absolutely exhausted.

So now I'm going to do a little
bit of work on the clamshell,

try to make it look as pretty
as I can as quick as I can,

and then it's going to be
shaping the handle

into a comfortable handle.

Almost.
So I finally got all the pieces

to fit on the tang.

All right.

This entire experience
has been more fun

than I ever imagined
it would be.

The blade is a little bit
chunky, but "it will keal."

- isaac, paul,
welcome back to the forge.

You guys had four days
to work on your versions

of the general grant
donelson sword.

But, before we get
to the testing,

I want to hear about your build.

Paul, how did it go for you?

♪ ♪

- I took a piece of 5160 and
spent two days hammering it

into the exact shape
that it is now,

and all the components
were filed by hand.

- It looks great.
Isaac, how did it go for you?

♪ ♪

- I also used 5160.

I have some decorative acid
etching on the blade

and some turquoise
and amber inlay into the hilt.

- You did a phenomenal job.
Gentlemen,

this is not only about beauty,
this is about strength.

It's about sharpness.
It's about durability.

One of you guys are going to be
leaving here the champion

and we only know
one way to find that out.

Up first, the keal. Doug?

♪ ♪

- bladesmiths, welcome
to the keal test.

The sword was made to be
a dueling-type of weapon,

so I'm going to try to deliver
the same light slashes

and thrusts
for this ballistics dummy.

Paul, are you ready for this?

- Oh, yes, sir.
- All right. Let's do this.

♪ ♪

- I hope my blade survives
because it is has been my dream

to hear doug say,
"it will keal."

[intense music]

♪ ♪

- all right, paul, let's talk
about your version

of general grant's
donelson sword.

The weight on this blade
is not that of a dueling sword

because it requires
a little bit more

than just wrist movement,

but it is a great cutting sword.

Your edges are sharp.

Even with the harassing cuts
you can see there,

it cut deeply.

And more importantly, sir,
it will keal.

Isaac, your turn, sir.
Are you ready for this?

- I guess.
- Okay. [laughs]

- I'm feeling really nervous
about the strength of my blade.

I know it's really thin
and it's really flexible

and it's really light and fast,

but is it strong enough?

Any number of things
could go wrong.

[intense music]

♪ ♪

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

What I like about it
is the time you took

to put these details

that we were asking
for on your sword.

Everything cut was deep and not
a lot of power is required

when you're swinging
something so light.

But on probably hitting
the bone your blade

did take a slight bend.

But overall, sir,
your weapon will keal.

- Thank you.

♪ ♪

- paul, isaac,

you know what time it is.
Time for the strength test,

a fan favorite,
the cringeworthy flex test.

And we're going to flex
those blades to 35 degrees

in either direction.
If you're still holding true,

we're going to go to 45 degrees
in either direction.

Paul, are you ready for this?

- Not really. But go ahead
and bend away.

- I'm going to.

♪ ♪

- so the bend test
really scares me.

I've never made a blade so thin

and delicate that needed
to bend in each direction.

My greatest fear
is that it will actually snap.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- oh, my...

♪ ♪

- [exhales]

♪ ♪

- [grunting]

- ohh!

♪ ♪

- so, paul, as far

as the construction
of your blade goes,

the handle is comfortable.

We saw how well the sword cuts.

You did a good job, but if you
look in to that blade,

you can actually see a dark spot

on both sides of the blade,

and whether that's a flaw
that you picked up

in the forging process
or a flaw in the steel,

I have no way of really
telling right now.

The grain structure
on this looks fine.

But having shattered,
having it pop like that,

that's a big issue. - Mm-hmm.

♪ ♪

- well, paul, we absolutely
hate to see that.

You put a lot of work
into your blade.

You made it past the 35
on both sides,

but you did break
on the way to 45.

But you're not out
of the fight yet.

Isaac, you've got to survive
both of the 35-degree turns,

as well as the official
ruling of 40 degrees

towards the south. - [sighs]

my heart is in my throat.

This is literally make or break.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

[exhales]

- congratulations, man.
- Thanks.

♪ ♪

- paul, I want to say thank you
for your hard work.

You have what it takes
to fight in this forge.

Unfortunately,
I'm going to have to ask you

to please step off
the forge floor.

- Thank you, gentlemen.
It was an honor.

- Great job.

- Of course, I'm disappointed
that I didn't win,

but I am very proud
of the blade that I made,

and I had the best time.

This was such a good experience,

and it was an honor to compete
against such a good competitor.

♪ ♪

- isaac, we asked you to build
general grant's donelson sword.

You performed phenomenally
and built us something

that is not only functional,

but absolutely beautiful
and stunning to look at.

You are the "forged
in fire" champion,

and you just earned yourself
a check for $10,000.

Congratulations.

- I'm the "forged in fire"
champion, baby! Whoo!

[applause]

- how do you feel?
- Cloud nine.

I'm feeling so good.

- That's a remarkable
piece of work,

and you should be
incredibly proud of it.

- Thank you.

There's just too many feelings
going through my head

and my heart to really process
what's all happening right now.

I can't believe it.
I'm feeling so good.

♪ ♪