Forged in Fire (2015–…): Season 8, Episode 24 - Armed Forces Dual Part II - full transcript

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- my name is josh fisher.
I'm 26 years old.

I've been a full-time bladesmith

for over a year now.

At my forge, I work with
the wounded warrior project,

teaching veterans
how to make knives

or other blacksmithing projects.

Winning the $10,000 would
allow me to expand the shop

and really do a lot more
with wounded warrior project.



- I'm mike baldino.
I'm 30 years old.

I'm a high school
technology teacher

and a part-time bladesmith.

The thing I love
about bladesmithing

is that you're always
pushing yourself.

You're always trying
to learn something new.

I'm super excited to be here.

It's been a dream of mine
for a long time.

- How's it going, mike?
- Pretty good. How's it going?

- It's going swell.

- My name is brian hennes.
I'm 18 years old.

I've been forging
for five years.

It took a lot of convincing
to get my parents

to be okay with me making
knives and swords



in the garage when I was 13,

but I think, over time,

they started to appreciate
my work.

I know what I'm doing,
and I'm ready to prove that.

♪ ♪

- my name is neil warren.
I'm 40 years old.

I've been a part-time smith
for three years.

I started smithing
because I saw the competition,

and I knew I need to try this.

My first knife was
a little bit better

than a nice prison shank.

Now I've got a whole line
of knives I make,

so it's a passion
more than it is even a hobby.

- Bladesmiths,
welcome to the forge.

♪ ♪

we've developed a very unique
bladesmithing competition

that's gonna test
every aspect of your skills.

Now there's gonna be
three rounds.

At the end of each round,
you're gonna present your work

to our panel of expert judges.

Judges
for today's competition are:

Abs master smith j. Nielson,

historic weapons
recreation specialist

dave baker,
and edge weapon specialist

and kali martial artist
doug marcaida.

Now, bladesmiths,
these men behind me

are the ones who will decide
which one of you will be

leaving here with the title
of "forged in fire" champion

and a check for $10,000.

Now guys, we love
a good salvage round

in this forge,

and that is exactly

what we have
in line for you today.

We want you to build
signature blades

in your signature style
using this.

♪ ♪

gentlemen, what we have here
is a pile of rubble.

In it are a bunch
of 10-plus-pound sledgehammers

that we want you to use
to build blades

that fall
within these parameters.

We want you to build
signature blades

between 13 and 15 inches

as measured in a straight line
from tip

to where the cutting edge ends.

Now I know we're asking you
to use

these 10-pound sledgehammers,

but that doesn't mean
we want 10-pound blades.

At the end of round one,

your blades
cannot exceed two pounds.

- For a knife that large to be
under two pounds,

but in the time constraints,
it'll be pretty difficult.

- In round two,
you will add handles

to your blades, turning them
into fully functioning weapons.

The judges will test
for strength and durabiliy

by hammering them
into a stack of bamboo.

And they're gonna check
your edge retention

in a water tube slice.

Now gentlemen, remember,
at the end of this round,

there will be an elimination,
so work your hardest.

We have put three hours
on the clock.

So good luck.
Your time starts now.

♪ ♪

so what's the trick?

For me, grab a sledgehammer,
grab a porta band,

cut a hunk of it off,
throw it in the forge.

♪ ♪

- I've made two other blades
out of a sledgehammer.

It takes a while
to break down the material

because of how thick it is,

so I'm gonna start
grinding away at that steel.

- We've actually seen
the angle grinders

with the cut-off wheels

go through chunks of steel
pretty rapidly.

The problem is, you got such
a small wheel it gets awkward

when you have a large piece
of material to cut through.

- My plan is to cut off
about two pounds.

I don't wanna miss parameters.

Eventually gotta cut
through enough

to where I can
just hammer it off.

I'm the first smith to get
my hammer head in the forge.

I feel like I'm ahead
of the game a little bit,

but anything can happen,
so I gotta keep working.

♪ ♪

- we'll see.

Firstly, I'm gonna try
to cut it off right at the eye

because it's probably
gonna be impossible

to cut through
the entire diameter

of that head.

- It seems like the chop saw
is going pretty slow.

Its throwing a ton of spark,

but it's not really
getting into it.

♪ ♪

- I know I have to change up
my game plan,

so I go over
to the angle grinder.

♪ ♪

that second you lose
trying to cut that steel off

is another second somebody else
was getting ahead of you.

I figure,
maybe it's close enough

I can just hit it
with a sledgehammer.

It's not going well.
Now I'm behind on time.

- Nope!
- I like the idea.

I just don't think
he's cut enough through I.

- I don't think so either.
Kind of fun to watch, though.

♪ ♪

- I have done
some salvage steel blades.

I'm very confident that
I can make a knife out of this.

♪ ♪

the chop saw
is very frustrating.

It's definitely getting
to my head a little bit.

- Would it take any more time
to just heat up

the entire hammer
and work out what you need

and just completely forego
chopping it up?

- Honestly, it's the way
I would have gone:

Just throw the whole thing
in the forge,

draw out what you need,
and cut it up.

- I think that the best course
of action

is just staying on the chop saw.

Moving around
and changing setups

is gonna cost me minutes.

♪ ♪

- I need to try and make
a 10-pound hammer

turn into a two-pound knife.

I start thinking in my head

how much of that I'm gonna need.

So I just kind of eyeball that,

figuring if I cut off
a little too much,

I can always take some away
versus add some.

♪ ♪

I'm at the chop saw,

and I can feel
it start to gum up.

And I'm like "oh, my god,
it's gonna take me three hours

just to get a hockey puck
out of the end of this thing."

so I finally grab
my angle grinder.

- The chop saw is just
gonna take too long.

The amount of time
these guys are taking,

they could have had
one half of it

heated up in the forge already

and started drawing
the steel out.

- Yeah.

- I'm able to just get it cut
all the way out.

From here on out, I've got
to really pick up the pace

so I can make up the time
I lost cutting it out.

♪ ♪

- bladesmiths,
you have two hours

and 30 minutes remaining.

♪ ♪

- took about two pounds
of steel,

so I'm not worried about
missing that weight parameters.

That's less steel
to cut off later.

♪ ♪

overall, I think it'll save me
some time.

- What I don't like
about what brian's doing is,

he's thinning
that metal out an awful lot.

- I'm trying to widen it out
as much as possible,

but to do so, I have to thin
on my blade a lot more

than I originally planned for.

One big problem
with a thin blade is that

I can get an improper
heat treat that'll warp,

and ultimately, it can make
the blade break.

I don't wanna overdo it,
so I have to be really careful

not to draw this out
too much thinner.

♪ ♪

- now we've got two smiths
who've chopped off

their hammers, heating up steel,

I got two guys still working.

- I knew I had to change up
my game plan

to get through
that steel in time.

- Everybody's using
some kind of wheel,

whether it's the porter band
or the chop saw.

No one's thought
of using the torch.

- Jack, could you use the torch

just to cut through
where the eye is?

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

- Yep.

- Oh, there we go.
- Oh, there we go.

- It's seriously
like they can hear us.

I know they can't,

but mike went straight
for the cutting torch.

♪ ♪

- oh!

- The torch is working,

not as well as I was hoping
it would work.

♪ ♪

- almost.

Yeah.
- There you go!

- I wish it didn't take so long

'cause I don't have
much time left now.

Every little mistake adds up,
and it takes away

from your overall ability
to personalize the knife.

♪ ♪

- I finally get through
this sledgehammer.

♪ ♪

I know I'm the last one
to get this in the forge.

I have no idea if I'm gonna be
able to get this done in time.

- How's it going, bud?
- It's going.

- I don't have a press
or power hammer.

- Start on the press.

The press is better
about moving fixed steel.

That's only good for finishing.

- Thank you.

Mike... he gave me
a bit of advice.

Thanks, mike.

♪ ♪

- josh on the press
for his first press

with a lot of steel.
- A ton of steel.

♪ ♪

- it's moving a lot of material.

I'm feeling like
I'm making a comeback.

♪ ♪

- now that my steel
is hot enough,

I need to get this

into a billet shape

as fast as possible.

♪ ♪

I don't like the way the shape
of the blade is starting to go.

It was starting to banana on me
a little bit,

and I need to get this thing
straightened out.

I don't wanna get sent home

because
of a banana-shaped blade.

What I need to do
is just, instead of relying

on the press so much,
I get some hammer work in.

♪ ♪

once I hammered it
back out flat again,

it all just started to shape
the way I needed it to.

♪ ♪

- gentlemen, one hour
and 30 minutes remaining.

- I have a very thin blade,
so I wanna get

a good recurve in it.
That'll help my blade chop.

- Now that brian's on big blue,

he's using a lot more
of that heat.

- He could still be using more.

- It's actually going
really well,

definitely a lot faster
than just using

my hand hammer at home.

♪ ♪

- it's definitely starting
to feel good

getting down
to a more final shape.

Finally got the scale out to
get a ballpark of where I'm at.

- Josh's gotta concern himself
with having so much steel

that it goes over
that two pounds.

- Three.

If I can't get this
under two pounds,

I'm gone.

♪ ♪

I get this under two pounds.

- Josh just ran through
the scale and gave a thumbs up.

- Oh, good.

- I know I'm good on parameter.

I feel extremely relieved.

Oh, too fast.

♪ ♪

- the shape is coming out well,

but I can see other smiths

that are farther ahead than me.

We're getting there.

Right now,
I'm just above two pounds.

- There's too much steel there.

I think all of these smiths

are terrified
of having to cut steel.

- I just need to take out
a little bit more weight.

I teach kids every day
how to measure.

If I fail for something
that's based off a measurement,

what can I say?

♪ ♪

after cutting off the spine,

I weigh my knife again,

and it's within parameters.

Solid.

♪ ♪

- I'm starting to feel
really good,

seeing everything take shape.

Now it's all about the weight.

I'm thinking, maybe
I should add a fuller

because I know that
it will help retain strength

while reducing weight.

♪ ♪

the blade's coming out great.

I start to notice
a couple of hammer marks,

but I still have
to quench the blade.

♪ ♪

I'm gonna use my time wisely.

I think I can get
those ground down later.

♪ ♪

- bladesmiths,
you have 30 minutes left.

♪ ♪

- I'm ready to go in
for the quench.

It's very critical
I don't overheat the blad.

You could pick up a big warp,
you could pick up a crack,

if you're
at the wrong temperature.

If I don't do this right,
I'm not gonna have enough time

to go back and redo
the heat-treating process.

♪ ♪

- there you are.

- All right.
- Josh is in.

- Everything feels good.

And then I'm right over
to the vise.

Get it clamped, we got
a couple of seconds

out of the quench

where the steel
is still malleable.

Everything looks
almost perfectly straigh,

and I'm just gonna take it
over to the grinder

and get as much weight
off of it as I can

so it feels good
in the judges' hands.

♪ ♪

- I got a nice grind
on my blade,

so now I'm gonna head over
to the forge

and I'm ready to put it
in the oil.

♪ ♪

- all right, brian's quenched
as well.

We've got two down.

- It's got
a pretty decent warp in it.

♪ ♪

this is not good,

because my blade
is really thin already.

I don't think there's any way
to fix this right now,

and even if there was,
I could risk snapping my blade,

so I'm just gonna let it
cool down

and then try and grind it out
as much as I can

before the end of the round.

I hope this isn't
what sends me home.

♪ ♪

- I'm really happy
with my knife.

It's got a good heft to it,

so I'll be able to chop
through anything it needs to.

I'm ready for my quench.

♪ ♪

- there we go.
- Mike has quenched.

- Everything looks straight,
looks good.

I got a little bit of time left.

I'm just gonna go
and try to finish grinding

before I gotta bring this
to the judges.

♪ ♪

- all right, gentlemen,
15 minutes.

- I don't have much time.

So as fast this forge
can heat this blade up,

I get it in the oil.

♪ ♪

- neil's in the oil.

♪ ♪

everybody's got
a blade quenched.

♪ ♪

- my quench went great,

but I still got
a lot of grinding.

I'm trying to get it refined

to where it looks pretty decent.

- Five minutes remaining.

♪ ♪

- all of a sudden,
I hear "five minutes left,"

so I kind of panic and start
throwing some grinds towards it

that are working
to get the metal down,

but it's not really
what I typically would do

to clean up a knife.

If I could make it to round two,

that's something I think
I can fix, no problem.

♪ ♪

- five, four, three, two, one.

Put down those sledgehammers.
This round is over.

- My blade is
the thinnest blade,

and I guarantee you
that it's probably got

the biggest warp.

I'm just hoping
it's not something

that sends me home.

- Gentlemen, in this first round

of competition,
we asked you guys

to salvage steel
from our sledgehammers

and make blades
under two pounds.

You all delivered,
so congratulations.

But, as you know,
this is a competition,

and only three of you
can move forward.

The time has come
for the first critique.

Josh, you're up first.
You ready?

- Yes, I am.
- Please present your work.

- All right, josh,
it looks like clean work.

You still got a lot of meat
on here to thin down.

You still got about 3/16 here,

so if you have any issues
at all,

it's within grinder range.

And I like the proportions
that you put on the handle.

Nice job.

- Brian, are you ready?
- Yes, sir.

- Let's see what you got.

- All right, brian.

The steel looks solid.

But you've got a good warp.

Correcting that
is gonna be tricky

because there's not a ton
of meat left on the spine.

And you're gonna have
to be careful here

'cause you're gonna have a gap
lying flat scales on that.

So getting creative if you move
into the second round

might not be a bad idea.
But overall, it's a good star.

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

- Yep.
- Please present your work.

- All right, mike.

I like the design.
Your work here is solid.

I like the way you ground it.
Your handle construction,

it's just right
for a big blade like this.

Overall, if you move forward,
you're on your way there.

Good job.
- Thanks.

- Neil, are you ready?
- Yes, I am.

- Let's see
what you came up with.

- All right now, neil,
profile wise is a chopper.

It's pretty dialed in.
But I'd love to see

that profile refined
if you're moving forward.

You've got a couple
of hammer marks

that are a little
on the deep side.

And then I'd also like
to see you either lose

or refine these fullers.

They're just sort of fullers
right now.

But it's straight
and looks solid.

Nicely done.

- Well, gentlemen, we gave
you guys a very difficult task

in the first round
of competition,

and you guys all delivered.

But only three of you guys

are moving forward
in the second round.

Bladesmith who will be
leaving the forge is...

♪ ♪

neil.

Unfortunately, your blade

didn't make the cut,

and doug's gonna tell you why.

- Neil, everyone turned in

a solid blade, including yours.

But, in comparison,
your blade is least refined,

and therefore will require
the most work

moving into round two,

and for that reason,
we're sending you home.

- Thanks
for your hard work, man.

- Oh, yeah.

I just got a little overzealous
with the hammers.

Probably could have done
without the fullers.

- Good fight, man.
- What I would tell a smih

coming to the competition
is, have fun.

You could win.
You could be the first out.

You never know.

But it'll be the best time
of your life.

♪ ♪

- well, gentlemen,
congratulations.

The three of you
are moving forward

into the second round
of our competition,

where you will fix any issues
that the judges brought u,

as well as add handles
to your blades,

turning them
to fully functioning weapons.

But I have some bad news:
The pantry is off limits.

The only thing you can use
out of it is pin stock.

The only place
you can get your materials

is in this pile of debris.

Now, after this round
is complete,

the judges will test
for strength and durabiliy

by hammering
your blades mercilessly

into a pile of bamboo

and checking your edge retention

in a water tube slice.

Good luck, work hard.
Your time starts now.

♪ ♪

looking into the pile,
what would you guys choose?

- I'd go for the hammer handle.

- Pretty solid safe choice.
- Yeah.

- And you've got a handle
that's pre-shaped for you.

- I found a piece in the pile
that I'm happy with,

a nice hardwood.

♪ ♪

I'm gonna be using
what's called loveless bolts,

a mechanical fastener to hold
the scales onto the blade.

[bleep]

getting in a little bit
too much of a rush.

The drill press runs clear
through the handle material.

Clear through.
[bleep]

I gotta start over.

A quick mistake
set me back quite a bit.

♪ ♪

- I grab a hickory handle.

It's strong wood.
It's reliable.

I know it's
gonna stand up to the test.

♪ ♪

now that I got my scales
split apart,

I'm just gonna go nice
and slow and steady

and keep everything
going forward.

- Mike already pitted up
two scales to his tang.

- It seemed like it was
a perfect fit

for his handle, too.

♪ ♪

- the first thing I'm gonna do
is blue back my blade

because
that's gonna fix my warp.

♪ ♪

I'm slowly heating up
the spine of my blade

until it's a nice
blue grayish color.

- So you're just gonna try
to bend it straight.

- That's always kind of scary.
I mean,

it should be pretty safe
with this steel, but...

- But.
- That's still nerve racking.

- Yeah.
- And if I bend it too far,

that will put unneeded stress
on my blade,

and I don't wanna risk
snapping it.

I'm just slowly putting

a little bit of pressure
on there

until I feel
it give a little bit.

♪ ♪

- there you go.
- It looks pretty straigh.

- There's still just
the tiniest bit of warp,

but it's something
I can grind out,

and I'm ready to move on.

- All right,
let's set you guys in.

I'm mainly looking
for solid brass pins.

That's what
I'm most familiar with.

And all I can find
is corby bolts.

With corby bolts, you have
to actually drill in

two separate holes,

so it takes a little bit
more time to get that right.

- Setting corbies
is one of those places

that, if you're in a hurry,

you can create a problem
for yourself.

What you've got is
basically a barrel nut,

and you need to get those
linked up so the threads bit.

Well, if you don't drive it
all the way down,

you can get to where
that first thread

just pulls the other thread
and strips it.

- Yeah, we had a challenge
not that long ago

that, during the strength test,

the handle just fell off

because there was only, like,
one thread holding each bolt.

- Exactly.

- Yep, I might have
screwed that up.

I'm starting to twist
the corby bolts together.

Two out of the three
are holding on.

I think one of them is
just kind of chilling there.

So I'm just hoping the glue
holds everything together.

I don't wanna do that again.

- Bladesmiths, you have an hour
and 30 minutes remaining.

♪ ♪

- I'm starting to work
on my handle,

and I am having trouble
with the first bolt.

It actually cross threads
and gets stuck.

If I don't do this right,

there's nothing to stop
that handle material

from shearing off as this goes
through the testing.

- Ideally, he'd mix some of
the sawdust in with that epoxy.

- I don't have time
to keep messing with this,

so I center the sleeves
as best as I can,

and I'm gonna fill those holes
in with some epoxy and sawdust

to just make it
a little bit more solid.

There you go.

- Ah.

- I'm really hoping
that it holds up

to whatever j throws at it.

♪ ♪

- now that I got my blade
all straightened out,

I'm gonna let it cool

while I try and make
some handle scales.

I chose a plastic handle that
has got a really nice swell,

and I wanted to get a nice swell

in the back of my blade
so it doesn't slip out.

Fantastic.

- Brian's gonna have
an interesting task here

if he's going
with that synthetic handle.

You can't grind them
at full speed

because they heat up
and they melt.

♪ ♪

- [bleep]

as I'm grinding
on these handle scales,

the rubber is tearing apart
from the inside core,

and that's an issue.
[bleep]

- I thought so.
- There you go.

- I can't use
these handle scales anymore,

and that's 20 minutes
that I just wasted.

If I don't get this set up
properly, I'll be screwed.

[bleep]

I head back over to the pile,
grab a wooden handle,

and go cut it into scales.

Hindsight, I should have gone
with the wood

because I know
that that's solid.

I still have so much work
to do on my blade.,

I can't waste any more time.

♪ ♪

- last thing for me is just
really put a good edge on this.

I've gotta test this somehow.

♪ ♪

- that's a new one.

- Cutting paper towels
like that.

- That's how sharp
that blade is.

- But will the edge hold up?

- Yeah, you guys are gonna
figure that out pretty quick.

- Pretty confident I've got
a good edge on the blade.

So I'm just gonna spend
the last couple of minutes

refining that some more.

♪ ♪

- it's important
to get this handled right

because if that part's
comfortable,

they're gonna have more control
over the weapon

when they're using it.

So I'm just gonna go
for a simple handle design.

It's kind of
a coke bottle bottom

with just a flat top on it.

- Keep doing what you're doing,

but you only have
30 minutes left.

♪ ♪

- I still have to shave
my handle,

get some good indexing

so that it'll fit
the judges' hands properly

and it won't slip
or turn on them.

- Brian's handle looks
really thin.

- Yeah, brian needs
a little contouring in there

instead of just having it
flare out slightly.

- But not too much.

- But not too much to make it
too narrow.

Yes, it's gonna be
a balancing act.

♪ ♪

- I wish I could finish
my blade a little bit more,

but I just don't have
the time for it.

I have to get a nice edge
on my blade

before the end of the round.

♪ ♪

- five, four, three, two, one.

Gentlemen,
turn off your machines.

Put down your hammer, blades.

This round is over.

- Biggest concern is that pin
on the front of the handle.

If that gives way,

the whole handle
could slide off of the knife.

We'll just see how it goes.

- All right, bladesmiths,
welcome to our strength test.

Bamboo smash.
What am I'm gonna be doing

is hammering your blades
into this bamboo,

but instead of just using
a hammer,

we're gonna use
this heavy metal pipe instead.

It's not about what your blades
do to the bamboo.

It's what the bamboo and
the pipe does to your blades.

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

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

♪ ♪

- being the first one up
is definitely nerve-racking.

Those tests are designed to be
extremely brutal,

and pipes are usually
pretty tough.

It's a great way
to destroy my handle.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- good job, josh.
Everything held up nicely.

You got a good full grind
on this.

Your handle's comfortable.
It's just the right size.

You got just a slight bit
of glinting,

but I mean, it's still got
an edge on it. Good job.

- Thank you.
- All right, mike,

how do you feel
after you seeing that?

- I'm feeling all right.
We'll see what happens.

- Let's find out.

♪ ♪

- biggest concern going
into testing

is obviously my handle scales.

I had real trouble
when those corby bolts,

and I hope they hold on.
So anything can happen.

If something goes wrong,
handle pops off,

I could be going home.

♪ ♪

- all right, mike, you survived.

Everything's still straight.

You have a couple glints,

but you still have
an edge on here.

There are only two things.
Your one scale started

to pull away a little bit,

just from the shock
traveling down the spine,

but it's not loose
or anything like that.

But overall, it survived.
Nice job.

Brian, you're up.
You ready to go?

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

♪ ♪

- I've seen
the other two competitor,

and both their blades
survived really well.

There's still just the tiniest
bit of warp on my blade.

I'm afraid that my blade
could snap or bend,

but hopefully it'll last.

♪ ♪

- all right, brian,
you survived.

Good job.
Take a breath.

You got a thinner blade here
and a pretty fine edge,

but it held up really well.
I don't even see any glinting.

The only thing is,
right around here,

took a bit of a bend
to the left there.

Not severe,
but it is noticeable.

Your handle, it's very rounded.

There's really not a lot
to hold on to.

Just a little more meat

and a little more flare
on the back end of this

would have helped a lot.

But your edge is still good.
You survived, nice.

- Thank you.

- All right, bladesmiths,

now it's time to find out
how sharp your blades are.

This is the sharpness test,
the water tube slice.

To find out how sharp
your blades are,

I'm gonna take your blades

and try to cut
through these water tubes.

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

- Yes, I am.
- All right, let's do this.

♪ ♪

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

First, I like the profile that
you have, very clean lines.

Now, let's talk about your edge.

You have a razor's edge
over here,

and more important, sir,
it'll cut.

All right mike,
your turn's here; you ready?

- Yep.
- Let's do this.

♪ ♪

all right, mike, let's talk
about your knife here.

Once again, it's got
that nice big knife

going for it.
When my hand goes in there,

it actually fits my hand nicely.

The flare you have there,
my pinky can grab onto that,

and I have good retention
with a big blade like this.

Now, your edge, no issues
whatsoever in the cuts,

and overall, sir,
your knife, it will cut.

All right, brian,
your turn's here.

You ready?
- Yes, sir.

- Let's do this.

♪ ♪

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

It really feels light and fast.

Now, your edge cut cleanly.

The bend that you took
slightly on the strength test

was not an issue
in cutting the water tube.

Overall, sir, your weapon,
it will cut.

- Cool.

- You guys are not making
it easy on the judges,

so they're gonna need a minute
to talk it through.

And while they do, gentlemen,

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

♪ ♪

all right guys, we've got
three strong and sharp blades,

but someone's got to go home.
Doug, what do you think?

- Brian's blade
on the strength test

took a little bend.

Mike's blade, his handle
took a little bit of peelin,

but it did not affect my tests.

- J, what about you?

- Those are three
of the cleanest cuts

I think I've ever seen
in a water tube test.

But brian... his handle is
the least refined of the three.

- Okay.
Dave, what about you?

- We've got three blades
up there

that tested the same

and so it came down to feel,

and brian's...

it's just not as well designed
as the other two.

- All right.
Dave, you've made a decision?

- Yes, I have.
- J, how about you?

- Oh, yeah.

- And doug?
- Yes, I have.

- All right,
we'll come them back in.

♪ ♪

bladesmiths, we did not go easy
on you guys,

and you all delivered.

But this is a competition,

which means somebody
has to go home.

And the bladesmith
leave in the forge is...

♪ ♪

brian.

You nailed everything we asked
you to, but unfortunately,

you're not gonna be
moving forward,

and j is gonna tell you why.

- Brian, you're
a very talented smith,

but taking that bend
in the strength test

and the least refined handle
of the three

are the reasons
we're sending you home.

- Brian, you clearly have what
it takes to fight in the forg.

But unfortunately,

you're not gonna be moving
forward in this competition.

I'm gonna have to ask you

to please step off
the forge floor.

- Thank you for having me.

- Thanks
for your hard work, man.

- I think I put out
a good piece.

Unfortunately, it just wasn't
quite as good

as my competitors'.

Overall, I had fun out there.

It was nice being around
other people

who appreciate the craft
as much as I do.

♪ ♪

- gentlemen, congratulations.

The two of you have cemented
yourselves a spot

in the final round
of our competition.

Now we're sending you back
to your home forges

to build an iconic weapon
for history.

And that weapon is...

♪ ♪

- oh, sweet.
- A polish war hammer.

- Polish war hammer
is an eastern european weapon

used during the 16th
and 17th centuries.

Featuring a blunt hammer head
on one side

and a sharpened spike
on the other,

they were both designed
to inflict deadly blows

and piercing stabs
through an opponent's armor.

It was an effective,
lethal weapon

used on horseback
and in hand-to-hand combat.

The polish war hammer
was a pivotal weapon

during the battle of vienna,

which began the decline
of the ottoman empire.

- Gentlemen, when you're
building your hammers,

we want you to fall
within these parameters.

It needs to feature
a hammer head

and an s-curved spike.

The overall length needs to be
between 26 and 28 inches.

The entire construction,
aside from the handle,

needs to be made of steel.

You also need
to include a pommel.

♪ ♪

- I've never forged
a hammer before.

Definitely feeling
nervous inside.

But bladesmithing
is what I do every day.

We'll just see how it goes.

- You guys have four days.

Good luck.
We'll see you then.

- Sweet.

♪ ♪

back here in my home forge
in syracuse,

I'm getting ready to work
on this polish war hammer.

Put this nice and hot,

I plan on doing a twist
through layers of damascus

and then drawing that out
into the handle

of the overall weapon.

Looking good.

You're not required
to do damascus,

but I like to challenge myself.

$10,000 on the line,

it's gonna help me stand out.

Should be good.

Look at that cold spot
right there.

It's not good.

It means
that there's most likely

not a complete weld

underneath that layer of steel.

I [bleep] up.

So now I'm working
on the hammer head billet.

Same issues are popping up

that the hammer handle billet
had.

So I begin chasing
the delaminations.

Oh, it's just
that tiny little corner.

You can see
the rest of it stuck nice.

Everything else
is solid underneath.

I realize I just gotta
cut off strips from both sides.

I don't wanna risk
one of those cracks

coming through later on.

Well, day one was pretty rough,
but I have solid billets

that I can now focus
on shaping tomorrow.

♪ ♪

- we're here at my shop
in northern kentucky.

But my overall plan for today

is to try to get most

of the rough forging
out of the way.

I've never made anything
like this before.

It's a little outside
of my comfort zone.

The biggest concern for today

is getting the eye
of the hammer punched.

If the eye ends up
being crooked,

or doesn't punch cleanly,

then I'll never get
a good handle fit,

and it might come loose.

Here we go.

So getting the eye punched
went pretty good.

I'm really happy with it.

- Day two, both the twists
came out perfect.

Now I'm gonna take
these two billets

down to the grinder,

and I'm gonna
just fuller them out

and lose some weight.

I decided I'm gonna harden
and heat treat

the handle of the hammer
before I join the head to it.

It's so long and skinny,

I'm worried about it
bending during the test.

This heat treat
is a little bit risky.

Pray nothing warps.

If it twists or warps or bends,
there's not that much steel

to take away to straighten it
back out afterwards.

If that doesn't work,

I don't know what I'm gonna do.

All right, I'm gonna go for it.

♪ ♪

oh, straight as it could be.
We got a lot done today,

so I think we'll be
in good shape

by the end of day three.

- Day three, I finally got
the handle fit nice and tight,

so I feel really good
about that.

It's ready for the quench.

This is really critical
for the strength of this.

♪ ♪

and repeat that for the spike.

♪ ♪

see that skating on the head,

shading on that spike?
Just what I want.

- Beginning of day four,
and I have the hammer head

securely attached to the handle.

Quench went smoothly.
Yeah, this came out so sweet.

I'm just gonna oil it up
and then give it a good tes.

I think we're good to go.

But I figured we might
as well test it out on a door

and it goes straight through.

The head
is still firmly attached.

There was no damage
to the weapon at all.

- Day four, we've got the hammer

almost completely done.

Before I do all the final
cleaning and polishing on it,

I figured
I'd do a couple tests with it.

♪ ♪

it'll keal?

It feels great
to have made it this far.

It was a really tight
competition up to this point,

and I'd really like
to see it stay that way.

- Gentlemen, welcome back
to the forge.

We gave you four days
to work on your renditions

of the polish war hammer,

and they both look
absolutely menacing.

But I wanna hear about the build

before we get into the test.

So josh, how did it go for you?

- I made my hammer out
of 4140n medium carbon steel,

did a differential
heat treatment

on the head and spike,

then a leather handle wrap.

- Awesome.
Mike, how about you?

- A little rough
on the first day,

but it came out
much nicer afterwards.

So the hammer itself
is made out of 15n20, 1095,

and a twist pattern damascus.

It's the first time I ever made

this kind of pattern damascus,

and it came out really nice.

- Awesome.
Well, gentlemen,

one of these hammers
is gonna be worth $10,000

and the title
of "forged in fire" champion.

But the only way we know
how to find that out

is by putting them
through a few tests

and up first, the keal.
Doug.

♪ ♪

- bladesmiths, welcome
to the keal test.

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

I will deliver some lethal blows

on this ballistics dummy.

Now, I am looking to see
how your weapons will cruh

and pierce the armor

that our ballistics dummy
is wearing.

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

- Yep.
- Right, let's do this.

- If that spike's
not sharp enough,

it could get caught
on that chain

or not puncture the way
it's supposed to.

This is probably
the most nervous

I've been
this whole competition.

♪ ♪

- all right, josh, first up,
the handle construction.

Your leather wrapping
that you have here

does give me a very good grip,

and I'll need it, because,
for a one-handed weapon,

it's a very heavy weapon.

That spike penetrates
deep into the chainmail.

Your hammer fist
crushes the helmet,

and it went deep
into this ballistics dummy.

Overall sir, your weapon,
it will keal.

Mike, your turn, sir.
Are you ready?

- Yep.
- Let's do this.

♪ ♪

- pretty excited to see
my hammer test

and see what it can handle.

It's anyone's game
at this point.

Hopefully, I can pull ahead

and perform better
than josh's hammer.

♪ ♪

- all right, mike, first up,
your handle construction

is a little bit
on the blocky side for me,

but your spike pierces nicely
into this ballistics dummy.

Your hammer head... the crushing
blows go into the heart,

pushed some chainmail
into the heart.

It crushes the helmet,
and overall, sir, it will keal.

♪ ♪

- all right, gentlemen,

it's time for the strength test,

or statue smash.

This test is all about

what those statues do
to your hammers,

not what your hammers
do to those statutes.

Josh, you're up first.
You ready?

- Yep.

This is just a brutal test.

Those statues look
a lot more solid

than I was thinking
they would be.

I know I did good work.

I'm just hoping that everything
stays nice and tight.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- all right, josh, first off,

your construction design
is really beautiful.

But you've taken a bend
in that head.

Everything is still tight,
which is great.

It's just, the weight
is on the extreme side.

But it held up.
Well done.

All right, mike, you ready?

- I'm ready.
We'll see if the hammer is.

- [laughs] yes, we will.

♪ ♪

all right, a couple of things
going on, mike.

The way these are inset,
they're actually kind of sharp.

So every impact literally, you
can see the little raised spot.

The damascus pattern
is fantastic.

The shaft's still spot
on straight,

no damage on the spike.
But the head's loose.

Where this was all smooth,
I can now feel a rim.

Overall, for this test,

it held up well.
Good job.

- Thanks.

♪ ♪

- all right, bladesmiths,

this is the leather bag
smash and bash.

Now I'm gonna take your weapons
and I'm gonna see

if they can smash and bash

through these double-layered
leather bags.

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

- Yep.
- Right, let's do this.

♪ ♪

all right, josh, you wrapped
your handle nicely,

so I can have good retention

on a very heavy weapon
like this.

That weight lends itself
to crush right inside the bag

to smash it, and your thick
weight here penetrates deeply.

Overall, your weapon...
it will cut, smash, and bash

or anything you want it to do.

Mike, your turn, sir.
You ready?

- Yep.
- All right, let's do thi.

♪ ♪

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

Initial hit, letting the weapon
do the work,

not so much of the impact,

but the lightness of your weapon

and a second strike,

I can continually deliver
smashes and bashes

right into the leather bag.

When it comes to smashing
and bashing

and maybe cutting, good job.

- Thanks.
- Well, gentlemen,

you both showed your skill
and your craftsmanship

throughout
the entire competition.

But only one of you guys
is gonna be leaving here

$10,000 richer,

carrying the title
of "forged in fire" champion.

Today,
the "forged in fire" champion

is...

♪ ♪

josh.
Congratulations.

You're
the "forged in fire" champion.

Mike, unfortunately,
your hammer is not coming ot

with the win today,
and j is gonna tell you why.

- Mike, I love the fact

you used damascus
on your hammer,

but your head
is starting to loosen,

and the handle's uncomfortable
to wield.

That's why
we're sending you home.

- Well, mike, you have
what it takes

to fight in this forge,

but today is just not your day,

and unfortunately, it's time

I'm gonna have to ask you

to please step off
the forge floor.

- Good job, man.
I was a little disheartened

to hear that I'm not the winner,

but at the same time,

I still feel like
I lived up to my dream.

And I'm glad
that the competition

was so tight the whole way.

Josh is a great guy.

I look forward to seeing
what he does in the future.

- Josh, you are the newest
"forged in fire" champion.

You're gonna be walking out of
here with a check for $10,000.

How do you feel?

- Amazing.
I can't believe it.

I can't even think of what
to say.

I'm just so excited.

This is an amazing opportunity,
and to come out of it

knowing that I won is just huge.

Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.