Forged in Fire (2015–…): Season 8, Episode 28 - #DUPE# - full transcript
[dramatic musical sting]
[fire roaring]
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[rock music]
♪ ♪
- My name's dustin bavony.
I'm 36 years old.
I'm from glasgow, montana.
Growing up, I've always
loved knives, swords.
Then I watched
"forged in fire."
You see it, and you're like,
"I think I can maybe do that,"
So you just start buying up
pieces of equipment
And giving it a shot.
- My name's ben graber.
I'm 28 years old,
And I'm from
white pidgeon, michigan.
I have two little boys,
three and ten months.
And my three-year-old,
anytime I go out in the shop,
He wants to go out there
with me.
I have two anvils set up,
so he'll actually get,
Like, a little play hammer
and some piece of steel
And pretend he's forging it,
so I'm pretty sure it'll e
Graber and sons forge
here in a couple years.
[laughs]
♪ ♪
- My name's calvin hargis.
I am 29 years old,
And I am from flora vista,
new mexico.
I've always kind of been
into collecting knives
And stuff like that,
and I always thought,
"well, heck,
I can probably make some,"
And I never had
the gumption to do it,
But the wife and mom was like,
"hey, get out there
and start doing it."
They support me a lot.
So that's definitely
one of the reasons
I'm excited to be here.
- My name is joshua kim.
I'm 22 years old.
I live in the golden state,
california, san pedro.
I started off bladesmithing
in middle school.
It was something,
in its rawest form
So simple, yet so abstract,
And all you have
to limit yourself
As a bladesmith
is your own imagination,
And that's what I love about it.
♪ ♪
- Well, bladesmiths,
welcome to the forge.
Now, guys, you're here because
we know you're talented smiths.
But what we want to find out
is how you hold up
Against your peers
and against our clock.
Now, here's how it's gonna go.
We've got three rounds
in this competition.
At the end of each one,
you're gonna present your work
To our panel of expert judges.
Today they are
abs master smith j. Neilson,
Historic weapons recreation
specialist dave baker,
And edged weapons
specialist doug marcaida.
Now, bladesmiths,
these guys are the ones
Who hold your fate
in their hands.
They're gonna decide
who's gonna be leaving here
With the title
of "forged in fire"
Champion and a check
for $10,000.
Bladesmiths, in this forge,
we've had smiths build blades
Out of all sorts
of construction materials.
We've used excavator buckets,
we've used ladders,
Hammers, and saws,
But today we're gonna go much,
much smaller.
We want you to build
your blades out of these.
♪ ♪
Bladesmiths, what we have here
Are hundreds of
high-carbon steel nails.
With those nails, we want you
to make signature blades
In your signature style
between 13 and 15 inches.
- You can use nails
to nail boards up
And hang a picture on the wall.
You don't use nails
to make a knife out of it.
That's just counterintuitive.
So this ought to be... ought
to be a good time.
- Now, bladesmiths,
In the second round
of this competition,
You guys are gonna add
handles to your blades,
Turning them
into fully functioning weapons
At which point the judges
are gonna check for strength
And durability by batoning them
into a giant nail.
And then we're gonna check
your edge retention
In a foam tube slice.
All right, gentlemen, we have
three hours on the clock
For the first round
of competition.
Good luck.
Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
So how exactly are these guys
gonna take these nails
And turn them
into viable knives?
- Well, what I want to see
is a cannister,
Because those nails are way too
small to forge weld together.
♪ ♪
- First thing I know
I have to do
Is get the nails all cleaned up
And get them stuffed inside
a can with some 1095 powder.
I'm not planning
to remove the cannister.
- In the competition,
Unless you're asked
to peel the can, don't do it.
- Yeah. Having that can
on there guarantees
That those welds
will consolidate inside.
- When I'm at my home forge
and I make cannister damascu,
I never remove it; it just
seems like an extra step
That can be done with a grinder.
♪ ♪
- I want to take
the can completely off.
So the first thing I'll do
is prep the can with white out
So that the material
doesn't forge weld to the can.
- Oh, no.
He's doing the white out.
- They're gonna have to take
a lot of time
Working into trying to peel
that can off.
- I would say
the most important part
Of making cannister damascus
Is making sure that you have
all of that space
In that can tight,
well-fitting, with powder.
If I leave any air bubbles
or missed space,
I know that I could have delams.
♪ ♪
- I've never made a knife
out of nails,
And I have to say,
who in their right mind
Would make
a knife out of a nail?
My game plan was getting
The metal
cannister... the canoe style,
Because I feel like it'd be
a lot easier to peel that off.
Tried the vertical
can damascus before.
Unfortunately,
I've had difficulties
Trying to peel those off.
So I put as much white out
as I could.
The more the merrier.
I want to take the cannister
off, because it's mild steel,
And I don't want to incorporate
Lower-quality steels
into my blade.
- You know, joshua just
put the nails in.
I don't know
if he gave the white out
Enough time to dry out.
- I don't think he did.
- No. So that's gonna make
the nails not weld,
Because they're gonna have
white out on them.
♪ ♪
- I realize a lot
of white out was sticking.
Well, that's a big no-no.
So in order to prevent myself
from, you know, screwing up,
Getting delaminations
in my steel,
I put the cannister back
on the forge,
Dry it a little faster.
- It's essential, when you're
doing a cannister
To be patient,
have some setup going on.
♪ ♪
- I'm not gonna do
any white out.
I'm not gonna mess with
trying to peel the can off.
That just seems like
a waste of time to me
When I'm just gonna
grind it off anyway.
And I'm all about saving time.
Every time I've done cannister,
I always leave the can on,
and it's worked out fine,
So I don't have
any problem with it.
Get hot. Let's go.
Come on. Let's go!
Today I brought
a little plastic hammer
That my son
pretends he's forging with
Just as a reminder of, like,
what I'm doing this for.
I'll do my best, little buddy.
I'll do my best.
- Biggest thing I'm concerned
about would be everything
Sticking together
inside the can.
While I'm making
cannister damascus,
I let it sit in there
and get hot enough.
I want to get it up to
that nice welding temperature.
- That's a sweet-looking can.
- There we go. Real bright can.
- I like that.
- First pass on the press.
- I want to run
through the process again
At least three times,
To make dang sure
that everything in there
Is just solid
and fused together.
- Dustin's all about going
smoothly, not rushing anything.
- I've got my cannister
squished out,
And everything is looking good,
So I take it over
to the chop saw.
And to my relief,
I look in there,
And it's just a beautiful,
solid piece of steel.
That's what we like to see.
- All right, guys,
you have two hours remaining.
♪ ♪
- Whew, that's hot.
That's a good color.
- Yeah.
- First set of presses
went pretty good.
Now I have to get it back
into the forge and reheat
And press again.
While my cannister heats up
in the forge,
I'm gonna sketch up my knife.
I think what I'm gonna do
is a competition chopper.
I think it'll do good in the
nail baton and the foam slice.
There's no stab test,
there's no puncture test,
So all I really need to do
is chop and slice.
I feel good about it.
Now comes the hard part
Of peeling that can off there
and exposing the billet inside.
♪ ♪
[bleep]. And it's just
not wanting to go.
I keep beating it
and beating it,
And it's just not
wanting to give.
- Uh-oh.
- I think that the press
squeeze in
The corners of the can.
- He needs to cut both ends off
that can, open up two seams,
And the whole thing
will fall off.
- I'm having a heck of a time
trying to get this can of.
Augh! It finally
just freakin' gave way.
I mean, it finally
wanted out of there.
Whoo!
- There we go.
- I think it's solid.
- Nice.
- My steel's moving pretty
darn good, so right now,
My go about this is
basically cut one corner off
And basically just tap that in
like little dance stick
And kind of getting it
some space.
- Now we're watching the moment
of truth for joshua.
- Well, he does have a really
good-looking
Even color through his billet
inside that can.
- I'd rather work on it
when it's hot.
I've seen people
try to take out metal
When it's cold
and everything else,
And it is no bueno.
It is really hard.
- Look at that. Solid billet
came out of the can.
- And that came out flawlessly.
It's an amount of joy
that I can never describe.
- He's having a good time.
- I love it.
- Hot steel. I did
several passes on the press.
The end of the cannister
is bulged out, so it's like,
Okay, looks like
the forge weld is set.
I might as well chop
the end of it off.
That's where the proof is
in the pudding to see
If it actually
will forge weld it or no.
Bam, that's solid
all the way through.
That's right.
- Go, buddy.
- Solid, baby!
- Looking good, brother!
- Whoo!
- Looking good!
- Let's go!
- I'm gonna start drawing
this billet out into a blade.
The blade I'm gonna make,
I call it a bull nose chopper.
It's a thick-spine blade
that can take a beating,
But it should be able to cut
And survive anything tests
that they throw at it.
♪ ♪
- Winning this competition
would be amazing.
It would put me
on a different level,
Just for the bragging rights
to say that I came here,
I conquered,
and going home a champio.
The weapon I'm making
is a drop point chopper.
I make drop point knives
at my house,
Mostly just hunting knives.
- Dustin cut a tip in.
It looks like a little bit
of a trailing point.
He's got to remove
the can off the front end.
He might as well take that time
to cut in that tip.
- I'm used to doing this
in my home forge.
I use an angle grinder
quite a bit.
It also kind of lets me know
what's going on down the knife,
Whether or not it is totally
welded like I think it is.
Hell, yeah.
- Bladesmiths, one hour
and 30 minutes remaining.
- I'm coming out of the forge
hot metal, ready.
- Joshua's just going for it.
He's not being easy at all.
He's squeezing it down
to thickness.
- Yeah, if you're gonna
be that aggressive,
You could sheer the welds
that are going on inside there.
- I'm moving the material
pretty darn fast
And pretty darn easily,
And then I realize
I'm starting to see cracks.
♪ ♪
- Uh-oh.
- I'm starting to put too
much stress on the metal.
- I'm worried about the
condition of joshua's steel.
It looks like it's kind
of cracking on the sides.
♪ ♪
- Calvin's getting pretty
aggressive there too.
- As I'm starting to draw
the billet out,
I'm starting
to see these delams.
♪ ♪
It's opening up.
- That's not good.
- [bleep].
The cutting edge and the spine,
They are definitely cracked and
spraying apart a little bit.
- Both calvin and joshua are
struggling with delaminations.
- Oh, man, I do not have time
for this right now.
- I don't know
if I should start over
Or just stick with this current
piece and tough it out.
- Ooh. That is looking rough.
All I can do right now
is press forward
And see if I can flatten it out
to make those cracks,
Instead of going towards
the center... kind
Of blow them out,
so at the end of it,
All I've got to do
is grind that sucker off.
- I have no clue where
these delams came from,
But I don't feel comfortable
starting over.
- The billet when he started
Wasn't fully
forge-welded together.
So those problems can travel
into the billet.
- I've got this thing drawn
out to where I want it to,
And now I've got to start
hammering the knife to shape,
And then I'm gonna head over
to the grinder
And I'm gonna see if I can
work out these delams.
♪ ♪
- Ben's in good shape right now.
Quench that blade
and get to the grinder.
He has by far the largest blade
out there by volume.
♪ ♪
- All right, ben's got a quench.
- There's no warps, no nothing.
This thing's cooling down.
I still gotta get
something done.
So I just start grinding
my bevels in.
You could start seeing
that high-carbon steel
Get exposed through the mild,
which is what I want,
'cause if there's mild steel
on my edge, it won't cut jack.
But this blade is, like, heavy.
I decided to go ahead
and fuller the handle
Just to lighten that back end up
And kind of add a little bit
more balance to the blade.
- Bladesmiths, you have
30 minutes remaining
Before the critique
and elimination.
♪ ♪
- It just feels like time's
ticking away and ticking away.
I know there's tons of stuff
that still needs to be doe
To make this a functional piece.
But I want to get pinholes
drilled before I quench.
- All right, dustin's putting
his pinholes in.
- Good for him.
- I know that if I don't get
them drilled before I quench,
It could be a pain
in the butt later on.
At this point, I'm ready to go
now for my heat-treating.
♪ ♪
To my relief, everything
is looking great.
All right.
♪ ♪
- I think I got a homogenous
piece of steel.
And I got the rough blade
kind of profile done.
I'm making a basic machete.
You see a lot of machetes
with the very wide belly.
At the same time,
it has a sweeping back
With a clipped front.
It's a very versatile tool
for a very versatile job.
♪ ♪
- Joshua quenched.
- It is hard. Hoo-wee!
1095 ain't do no one wrong.
♪ ♪
- [laughs]
♪ ♪
- So most of the delams
are grinding away,
So now I'm getting ready
for the quench.
♪ ♪
- A little head-shaking
coming from calvin.
I wonder if he's got
some kind of warp.
- I think he does.
- I can notice a little bit
of warp on the blade,
Something that I probably
can grind out.
But I don't know if I'm gonna
be able to do it in time.
- Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
Bladesmiths, turn off your
machines, put down your tools.
This round of the competition
is officially over.
- Whoo!
- Yeah!
- Nice job, brother.
- I've never done a blade
in three hours out of nails,
But I feel pretty confident
about this blade.
I'm still worried about
those delams, though.
♪ ♪
- All right, gentlemen, this
first round of competition,
We asked you to make blades
out of masonry nails.
The time has come
for your critique.
Dustin, you're up first.
You ready?
- Yes, sir.
- Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, dustin.
I like the look of this.
You got enough etch in there,
I can actually see
Some of the patterning,
which I appreciate that.
The only thing
I see is right here,
You got a thin spot,
Right in the middle
of the blade.
But everything looks straight.
Nice job.
- Thank you.
- Ben, how you feeling?
- Pretty good, I think.
- Let's see what you got.
♪ ♪
- All right, ben.
There's a lot of weight
to this knife.
You've got almost 3/8 of an
inch thickness back here,
So you have some room
to grind that, which is good.
But all in all it looks solid,
looks good. Well done.
- Thank you.
- Calvin, you're up next.
Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, calvin. You got
a bit of a warping issue.
This section of your blade
is moving this way
While the rest
of it's going the other.
But the big concern I have is,
you got
Some delaminations here.
There's two right here,
And then there's
a seam right here,
So I'd be very concerned
if I was gonna use this
That this part
might come flying off.
So if you move forward
to the second round,
Those are things I'd definitely
Want to see you,
you know, address.
♪ ♪
- Joshua, you were having fun
out there, weren't you?
- Wee bit, yes, sir.
- All right, man,
time for your critique, though.
Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, joshua. Not bad.
I like the profile
of your blade.
But you have some seams
on your blade right here
That I think you were
trying to grind out.
Despite some of the seams
that you have,
Your steel seems solid,
so good job.
- Thank you, sir.
- Well, gentlemen,
you all worked hard,
And you all presented blades
that fit the parameters,
But only three of you
are moving forward
In this competition.
The bladesmith leaving
the forge is...
♪ ♪
Calvin.
- Calvin, we appreciate
the time and effort
You put into
presenting us a blade,
But your blade with the warp
and multiple delaminations
Makes it the blade
that has more issues to fix
Going to the second round.
For that reason,
we're sending you home.
- I understand. Thanks, guys,
for having me.
It was a good time.
- Well, calvin,
watching you out there,
You definitely have what it
takes to be in this forge.
But unfortunately, your time
in this competition has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you
to please surrender your work
And step off the forge floor.
Thanks for the hard work, man.
- I'm a little upset
that I am going home,
But those dang delams.
Maybe I should have chased them
a little bit more.
But sometimes
you don't have the time.
But I learned a lot.
It was a lot of fun.
Those smiths are awesome.
I applaud them.
They did really good.
♪ ♪
- Well, gentlemen,
congratulations.
The three of you are you
moving forward into the second
Round of our competition.
In this next round,
You'll also be adding handles
to your blades
Turning them into
fully functioning weapons.
For handle material,
the pantry is open,
But we want
a mechanical connection,
So for that, you're gonna need
what's under the cloths
On your workstations.
Take that off for me.
♪ ♪
Instead of pins, you guys need
to use those nails.
- Some of the nails
that we're provided with
Have ridges on them,
So you may drill the hole for
the size diameter of the nai,
But then with them ridges
sticking out,
You got to bore that hole
just a tiny bit bigger.
And so that's gonna
kind of present a challene
Of how I'm gonna work that
in the time allotted.
- Now, once this round
is complete,
The judges are gonna check
for strength and durability
By batoning your blades
into a giant nail.
And then they're gonna
checkmate your edge retention,
See if it holds up
after that strength test
By going through
a foam tube slice.
Gentlemen, we've got two hours
on the clock for you.
So good luck, work hard.
Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
- The first thing I'm gonna do
is go over
To the oxyacetylene torch,
And I'm gonna blue back
the spine of my knife.
That'll give it some softness,
take some of the hardness
Out of there,
so when j. Goes full
Hulk smash on this thing in the
test it's not gonna break.
It gives it a little bit more
softness and shock absorptio.
- He's got the can on the back
of that blade,
So what... blue backing
is not gonna do much for him.
- The biggest thing is keeping
this edge cool
While I'm doing this
and not losing my temper,
Losing my hardness.
I don't want to risk
making my edge soft.
We're gonna call that okay.
- I definitely got to clean up
my knife and address
What the judges
have talked about,
With the thin spot in my blade
and just refining my profile.
All right.
Everything's starting
to come together.
I like what I'm seeing.
Now I need to move on
to the pantry
To pick out
the correct handle material.
♪ ♪
- First and foremost,
my blade had the most problems.
- Joshua's got delaminations
or unwelded spots
Inside his blade.
- I really want to see him
do something with that.
- What would you do?
- I'd probably throw some weld
into it; it's not on the edge.
Just try to open it up
a little bit
With a rotary tool
or something like that.
- I'm gonna go weld it up,
make it brand-new.
But first I need to grind off
all the scale,
And the reason why I do that,
It's mostly, when you're welding
You tend to want to have
raw steel on raw steel
To give it that good bind.
Whoo!
Clean the sucker up,
go to the welding station,
And basically try to fuse
those cracks on my blade
So at the end of it
The end result will be
a fully functional,
Completely safe blade to use.
All right.
- Bladesmiths, one half hour
has elapsed.
You got an hour
and 30 minutes remaining.
♪ ♪
- One of the judges' critiques
Was to make my tang
a little bit thinner
And take a little bit
of the weight out of the blade,
So I gotta start trimming
this thing down,
And I'm gonna try
to put a fuller in it.
- It's good to see ben
finally on the grinder,
'cause he has a lot of metal
on his blade. Very heavy.
- And this is gonna probably
be the longest thing
I'm gonna have to work on here
and the biggest challenge.
♪ ♪
- I've never made a handle
like this.
I'm optimistic,
but you never know.
It's a competition.
Anything can happen.
I just grab the thing that was
closest to my pinhole size
And I go with that.
Go to put my handle scales on.
That's not right. Ooh.
- That's not good.
- My pinholes that I drilled
in round one are bigger
Than the nails that we're
allotted to use in round two.
Okay.
My mind's going
a million miles an hour.
I don't know what to do.
- So dustin had holes
after round one,
But the nails we gave them
for pin stock in this round
Are quite a bit smaller than
the typical pin stock holes
The guys are drilling.
- If the pinholes don't hold up,
My handle could blow apart,
crack... be a bad deal.
I don't have very many options.
Option one, I just throw
some extra epoxy in there
And hope the epoxy
squeezes into my tang.
Option two, I could drill
different holes into the tang,
But I don't know
how hard the tang is.
Okay. And I don't really want
to mess around
With trying to drill
through the tang,
So I slap some more epoxy
in there
In hopes that that seals
that hole up a little bit
And then just hope and pray
that holds everything together.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, you have
45 minutes remaining.
♪ ♪
- Right now, I'm working
on my handle.
Got some natural wood grips,
and I've noticed
That if you're using wood
with your handle,
It tends to absorb
the shock a little better.
So all I gotta do
is sandwich them together,
And it'll be a-okay.
- Joshua's got a lot
of grinding to do
On those handle scales.
- Yes!
So I'm griding out my handl.
For me, in my experiences,
I think going with,
Like, an angle grinder
is the best way to go.
I want to form it to the hand
as best as I can,
'cause regardless of whatever
handle you got, if it's smooth
And slick and all that,
pops out of your hand,
There's no purpose
to that handle.
- See, this is exactly
How joshua
makes his blades at home.
- Sitting down on the floor.
- I'm in my own world,
so to speak.
I don't need to really go by
anyone else's expectations.
So, you know, take it easy.
♪ ♪
- About the best
we're gonna do, bennie.
I gotta do something
while this epoxy sets,
And so I go ahead and just
start slack-grinding
This blade
to get this edge profiled.
I'm going with
a convex edge in this.
It offers some strength
and durability with it,
Especially with the nail cho,
But it's still sharp enough
to cut.
- You guys always talk about
the appleseed edge
Being... to me, it sounds
like the be-all, end-all.
It's gotta lot of support,
but also it can be very sharp.
- It's a great edge for this
endurance kind of testing.
♪ ♪
- All right.
I start sanding
down my handle a little bit.
It's got to be comfortable.
I'm just rounding
everything off,
Making sure everything's
nice and smooth.
- There should be no reason
at all
That there are any
sharp corners on their handles.
- The handle's starting
to come together.
It's starting to feel smooth.
I'm feeling good about it.
♪ ♪
- Now, I need to work
on my edge,
'cause more than anything else,
This competition is gonna be
chopping and slicing.
Let's make this thing cut!
My blade's skinny enough,
So I can get away with a
little bit of an obtuse grin.
It'll do its purpose.
- Well, she's sharp.
- My blade, it's not gonna win
no beauty contests,
But overall, thing's a lean,
mean, fighting machine.
I expect the judges to say,
"dang, son, you did good!"
- Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
Gentlemen, put down your tools.
Drop those blades.
This round is officially over.
Get ready for testing.
- There's a little bit of fear
in my blood right now.
I'm not gonna lie.
I'm a little scared of how
they're gonna treat my blade.
But, you know,
it's the name of the game.
- Bladesmiths, welcome
to our strength test,
The giant nail chop.
Now, if you nailed your heat
treat, you'll survive.
Had to do it.
Dustin, you ready to go?
- Yes, sir.
- Well, let's do it.
- Being the first one
to be tested,
My heart's racing
a million miles an hour.
My biggest fear is that it's
just gonna blow apart.
Just hoping and praying
that it turns out okay.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
[grunts]
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
♪ ♪
All right, dustin,
you survived, man. Good job.
You did take some chipping
and rolling, but overall,
The rest of it's still sharp.
Everything's still tight.
And even though I wasn't
swinging away with the blade,
The handle's comfortable,
so good job.
- Thank you.
- It's always so much fun
for the second guy, right, ben?
You ready to go?
- Oh, hey, hammer down.
- I can do that.
♪ ♪
- At the end of round two,
I was feeling pretty confident,
But now that j.'s ready
to beat the snot
Out of this thing,
It always makes you
second-guess stuff.
It makes me feel
a little "ehh" inside.
♪ ♪
- [grunting]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
♪ ♪
- [exhales]
- All right, ben, we're halfway
to a serrated blade now.
- Oh jeez.
- So you basically have
the edge collapsing,
Not chipping away.
I don't know if it was
from the heat treat
Or maybe when you
blue-backed it.
I'm not sure.
But everything's still tigh.
Good job.
- [exhales]
Joshua, you ready to go?
- Yes, sir!
- Let's do it.
♪ ♪
- My blade by far
coming to the second round
Had the most issues.
It was cracked.
So hitting against
that giant nail,
I'm not gonna lie,
I'm scared right now.
I mean, I can only imagine
all the worst things happening
To my blade, it breaking apart,
Exploding somehow,
hurting someone.
Steel on steel is a recipe
for disaster.
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
[grunts]
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
♪ ♪
- Hey, joshua, you survived.
Good job, man.
- Thank you, sir.
- The only thing I notice is,
right here,
In this section,
the edge has moved over a bit,
Not a ton, but just enough
to be noticeable.
But overall, everything's tight.
Still got an edge.
Good job.
Wish I could bottle
that enthusiasm and sell it.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths,
congratulations for surviving
That brutal strength test.
This is the sharpness test,
the foam tube slice.
Now, I'm gonna
take your weapons,
And I'm gonna try to cut
through these foam tubes.
A sharp edge should
cut a clean, straight line.
A dull edge could push it,
or worse, do nothing at all.
Dustin, you're up first.
You ready for this?
- Yes, sir.
- Okay. Let's do this.
♪ ♪
All right, dustin,
let's talk about your edge.
On the cut over here,
it did cut two of the tubes.
On the third one,
not all the way through.
But, overall, sir, it will cut.
- Awesome.
- All right, ben,
your turn, sir. You ready?
- Ready. Slice and dice.
- All right. Let's do that.
♪ ♪
- Man, this sucks.
- All right, ben,
you took some damage.
There's definitely
some big rolls right here.
And on the cut here,
I can actually feel it hang up
On the foam tubes
as I'm cutting through that.
But you have one
and a half that cut
And a little shredding
on the third.
Overall, sir, this blade,
it will cut.
- That's all I wanted
to hear, doug.
- All right, joshua.
And then there's you.
Are you ready?
- Yes, sir.
♪ ♪
- [exhales]
♪ ♪
- All right, joshua,
your edge took minimal damage
On the strength test, but it
cut cleanly on the first tue
And pretty much just shredded
the second one,
Which sent a shockwave
through the rest of the tubes.
Overall, sir, your weapon,
it will cut.
- Hell, yeah!
- [laughs]
- Well, guys, in the first two
rounds of the competition,
You all took piles of nails
And turned them
into functional blades,
So you all have something
to be proud of.
But in this competition,
only two of you
Are moving forward
into the third round.
The bladesmith that's gonna
be leaving the forge is...
♪ ♪
Ben.
Unfortunately, you're not
gonna be moving forward
In this competition,
and dave's gonna tell you why.
- Ben, I think you crafted
a beautiful blade,
But you took far more damage
in the strength test
Than any of our other smiths,
And it really showed
in the sharpness test.
That's why we're letting you go.
- Yes, sir.
- Well, ben, like dave said,
it's a beautiful piece,
But at this time,
I'm gonna have to ask you
To please step off
the forge floor.
- Thanks, guys.
Thanks for having me.
It was a blast.
Good luck, fellas.
It is crushing.
It's disheartening.
But I had a great time here.
This was surreal.
Definitely when I get home
I'm gonna be training
My little three-year-old boy.
Probably in about 15 years,
he'll apply
For the competition.
It'll be great.
Who knows, maybe we'll have
a father-son thing.
♪ ♪
- Well, dustin, joshua,
congratulations.
Gentlemen,
the two of you have made it
Through the first two rounds
of this competition,
And boy, was it a nail-biter.
In this third and final round,
We're gonna send you back
to your home forges
For four days to build
an iconic weapon from history.
We want you to build this...
♪ ♪
The tuareg takoba.
♪ ♪
- The takoba is a type
of broadsword
That has been used
by the nomadic tuareg
People of north africa
since the 14th century.
This double-edged
lightweight blade
Was carried for self-defense
on long journeys
Designed to deliver
lethal slashes and stabs
Against a rival warrior.
Due to the tuaregs'
aversion to iron,
There's no exposed steel
Or iron
on the hilt of this sword,
So it cannot touch
the user's hand.
Measuring more than
a meter long,
This deadly weapon was seen
as a symbol of wealth.
Some members of the takoba clan
Still carry this weapon today.
- Now, gentlemen, when you're
building your blades,
You need to make sure they fall
within these parameters.
You need to have
a double-edged fuller blade
That measures between
31 and 33 inches.
You need to have a guard
that measures at least
5 inches wide.
And last but not least,
You need to have a pommel
in the takoba style.
- There's definitely a lot
that's gonna be involved
In building something like this.
The size of the blade
definitely stands out.
I've never made
anything this long.
I think it's gonna challenge me.
But I enjoy a challenge,
and I'm ready for it.
- Good luck, gentlemen.
We'll see you in four days.
♪ ♪
- Here we are, round three.
I have to make a kuareg katoba.
I don't even... I'm not even sure
how to pronounce it.
Hopefully, I would like
to get the whole thing
Forged out today
And possibly ready
for heat treat in the morning.
Looking good.
It's coming along.
I got the blade where I want it.
I'm 1/2 inch over.
I'm happy with that.
It'll be good.
Day one went good.
My arm's a little more tired
than I thought it'd be.
But I feel good about it.
♪ ♪
- We are in san pedro,
california.
Let's have some fun.
So I got this leaf spring.
I'm gonna cut an angle off it,
Draw it to length...
Let's flatten you out,
little guy.
And go along the parameters.
Now we're getting somewhere.
It's getting to length.
That's good for day one.
♪ ♪
- Day three. Yesterday,
I got my blade heat-treated.
Today planning on getting
the handle all fitted up
And then filing up the tang,
so I can get my guard fitted.
Here we go.
Move on to the pommel now.
I'm going to try to key out
the bottom of this,
So that fits straight.
And then I'll just have, like,
A pommel nut that goes on top
and holds everything together.
Whether or not it works,
we'll see.
I've never put a pommel
on anything before.
[bleep]. Damn.
But I've never threaded a tang.
Oh, man.
So that's got me
a little bit concerned.
But I just gotta take my time
and get it knocked out.
♪ ♪
So I got my handle all together.
Just finishing touches and
making everything look good.
♪ ♪
- Start of day three.
I got a lot to do today.
But regardless,
I'm up for the challenge.
Pretty darn big, so right no,
my main concern
Is to make that skinny.
Never done a fuller before.
It was a little
like a first love almost.
Shoot, I'm proud
of this fuller too.
This fuller ain't too bad.
Time for the fun part.
It's time to quench my blade.
I am scared
by the hardening process.
That fails, I just have a
giant, oversized butter knife.
♪ ♪
Quench it,
but I see a bend in it.
Not happy with that.
I go for a second time.
I know a lot of people that go
into the quench
Multiple times;
they have a lot of
Stress fractures
and everything else.
If I mess up again, I don't
know what I'm gonna do.
♪ ♪
Golly. It's a little warped
on the side.
I might have to quench
again tomorrow.
Ain't that fun.
♪ ♪
- Here we are. Day four.
I'm feeling real good.
I have the handle all epoxied.
Everything's good.
The nut's tight.
Here we go.
Guards on these takobas,
They have stars and all other
types of geometric shapes.
And I had hat pins that
I'd put in some of my knives.
Definitely not a cowboy,
But my brother passed away
ten years ago, and he was,
So I think I'll throw this
in there for him.
Start to dremel them out
to kind of re-fit them
Into the handle.
Not bad.
Fairly happy with it.
I am worried about the tang.
I do wish I would have made
the tang a little bit thicker.
But, I mean,
it's out of my hands now.
- It's day four.
I got a hardened blade,
But I'm not liking
the bend in my blade,
So I'm gonna be
hardening it again.
♪ ♪
Oh, my god.
Yo, that is
a good-looking blade, my man.
Shoot.
I got six hours left.
All I gotta do is make a handle.
But what I'm gonna use
is some good brass
As the top and bottom,
then put some walnut,
Space of copper,
Then a space
of purple heartwood,
Then another piece of brass.
That is a guard.
For the handle construction,
I'll just use leather.
It's coming along quite nicely.
End of day four,
I finished this blade.
Well, golly gee willikers.
Son gonna give me $10,000.
Wink, wink, nudge, nudge,
please, please.
♪ ♪
- Well, dustin, joshua, guys,
welcome back to the forge.
So for the past four days
You've been back
in your home forges
Working on your versions
of the tuareg
Takoba, and, guys,
they look great.
But I want to hear
a little bit about them.
Dustin,
how'd the build go for yo?
- It went good.
Blade's made out of 80 crv2,
The handle's made
out of african blackwood,
And the pommel's
made out of bronze.
- Joshua, tell us
about your blade.
♪ ♪
- Made the blade out of
5160 spring steel.
The guard itself was made out
of purple heartwood, copper,
And walnut, the handle itself
made out of layers of leather,
And the pommel,
walnut and brass.
- All right, guys.
Well, one of you
Is gonna be leaving
this forge $10,000 richer
And holding the title
of "forged in fire" champion.
And to help the judges figure
out which one of you that is,
We've got a strength test,
we've got a sharpness test,
And up first, the keal.
Doug?
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths,
welcome to the keal test.
Your tuareg takobas
look beautiful,
But the kind of beauty
I'm looking for
Is the lethal kind.
I'm gonna take your weapon,
Deliver some lethal blows
to this ballistics dummy.
Dustin, you're up first.
You ready?
- Yes, sir.
- Let's do this.
- So I'm nervous.
Inside the ballistics dummy,
there's simulated bone.
I mean, it's hard stuff.
So it could end up rolling
my edge or hurting my sword.
I don't know
what's gonna happen.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
- [laughs]
- All right, dustin, let's talk
about your weapon here.
First up,
your handle construction.
I like the ovoid feel of this,
the flare you have there,
And your pommel actually gives
great retention for this.
Your tip is sharp enough
to penetrate.
Your edges are sharp
when you're cutting out.
And you can wield this
To do that kind of damage
on this ballistics dummy.
Overall, sir, a weapon
like this, it will keal.
- Awesome.
- All right, joshua, your turn.
You ready?
- Keep everyone alive.
- All right. Let's do this.
- After seeing dustin's
ballistic dummy's
Head fall off,
I'm like, "ah, crud.
This is gonna be
a very tight competition."
I only have one thing in mind:
Tear it up!
♪ ♪
Dang.
- All right. Joshua, let's talk
about your weapon here.
Your pommel right here could
have used some weight to it.
But because it's
forward-weighted and the fact
That you have
a very sharp edge, every slice,
As you can see, is very deep
into the ballistics dummy.
And more importantly, sir,
your weapon, it will keal.
- Yeah!
♪ ♪
- All right, gentlemen,
it's time
For the strength test,
our desert well chop.
Now, to test the strength
And overall construction
of your blades,
I will be chopping
into our well house
As well as the well.
Dustin, your on deck.
You ready?
- I guess so.
- Okay.
♪ ♪
- Oh!
♪ ♪
- All right. We were doing
so well for a moment there.
What actually happened was,
with insetting your blade
Down into this piece of wood,
Any of that leverage was just
too much for the wood itself,
And it popped it loose.
Your tang is a little bit small.
But what I do like to see
Is that your blade
actually held up beautiful.
I mean, your grain structure
looks fine.
This is an absolutely
brutal test.
Very well done.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- Now, dustin, you survived
every one of the strikes
Except for the last one.
Your guard gave way,
and your blade followed.
So we consider
this a catastrophe failure.
Cannot continue
testing your blade.
But you're not out
of the fight yet.
How are you feeling, joshua?
- Pressure's on.
- All right.
So you need to survive five
strikes in order to be named
"forged in fire" champion.
You ready?
- Yes, sir.
- All right. Let's do it.
- My tang is just as thin
if not thinner than dustin's.
And I'm already wishy-washy
on my temper.
This is terrifying.
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
- Well, joshua,
your blade is strong.
It made it past all the strikes.
Congratulations. Now, dustin,
unfortunately for you,
That means your time here
in this competition has ended,
Because you did have
a catastrophe failure.
It was an honor
watching you in our forge,
But unfortunately, man,
at this time,
I'm gonna have to ask you
to please step off
Our forge floor.
- Thank you, guys.
- Thank you so much.
- I'm definitely crushed.
I actually thought
that recessing the sword
Into the tang a little bit
would make it stronger,
And that's kind of what bit me
in the end,
So definitely, definitely
won't be doing that agai.
I'm definitely proud
of this blade.
I came here to challenge
myself as much as I coul,
And I definitely achieved that.
- Well, joshua,
congratulations, man.
That means you are the newest
"forged in fire" champion.
You just got yourself a check
for $10,000. Congratulations.
- Hoo-wee! Yeah!
Oh, my gosh, I made a sword;
it didn't break.
Oh, my gosh!
It was a hard competition,
so this is unreal.
[laughter]
Ahh!
[fire roaring]
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[rock music]
♪ ♪
- My name's dustin bavony.
I'm 36 years old.
I'm from glasgow, montana.
Growing up, I've always
loved knives, swords.
Then I watched
"forged in fire."
You see it, and you're like,
"I think I can maybe do that,"
So you just start buying up
pieces of equipment
And giving it a shot.
- My name's ben graber.
I'm 28 years old,
And I'm from
white pidgeon, michigan.
I have two little boys,
three and ten months.
And my three-year-old,
anytime I go out in the shop,
He wants to go out there
with me.
I have two anvils set up,
so he'll actually get,
Like, a little play hammer
and some piece of steel
And pretend he's forging it,
so I'm pretty sure it'll e
Graber and sons forge
here in a couple years.
[laughs]
♪ ♪
- My name's calvin hargis.
I am 29 years old,
And I am from flora vista,
new mexico.
I've always kind of been
into collecting knives
And stuff like that,
and I always thought,
"well, heck,
I can probably make some,"
And I never had
the gumption to do it,
But the wife and mom was like,
"hey, get out there
and start doing it."
They support me a lot.
So that's definitely
one of the reasons
I'm excited to be here.
- My name is joshua kim.
I'm 22 years old.
I live in the golden state,
california, san pedro.
I started off bladesmithing
in middle school.
It was something,
in its rawest form
So simple, yet so abstract,
And all you have
to limit yourself
As a bladesmith
is your own imagination,
And that's what I love about it.
♪ ♪
- Well, bladesmiths,
welcome to the forge.
Now, guys, you're here because
we know you're talented smiths.
But what we want to find out
is how you hold up
Against your peers
and against our clock.
Now, here's how it's gonna go.
We've got three rounds
in this competition.
At the end of each one,
you're gonna present your work
To our panel of expert judges.
Today they are
abs master smith j. Neilson,
Historic weapons recreation
specialist dave baker,
And edged weapons
specialist doug marcaida.
Now, bladesmiths,
these guys are the ones
Who hold your fate
in their hands.
They're gonna decide
who's gonna be leaving here
With the title
of "forged in fire"
Champion and a check
for $10,000.
Bladesmiths, in this forge,
we've had smiths build blades
Out of all sorts
of construction materials.
We've used excavator buckets,
we've used ladders,
Hammers, and saws,
But today we're gonna go much,
much smaller.
We want you to build
your blades out of these.
♪ ♪
Bladesmiths, what we have here
Are hundreds of
high-carbon steel nails.
With those nails, we want you
to make signature blades
In your signature style
between 13 and 15 inches.
- You can use nails
to nail boards up
And hang a picture on the wall.
You don't use nails
to make a knife out of it.
That's just counterintuitive.
So this ought to be... ought
to be a good time.
- Now, bladesmiths,
In the second round
of this competition,
You guys are gonna add
handles to your blades,
Turning them
into fully functioning weapons
At which point the judges
are gonna check for strength
And durability by batoning them
into a giant nail.
And then we're gonna check
your edge retention
In a foam tube slice.
All right, gentlemen, we have
three hours on the clock
For the first round
of competition.
Good luck.
Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
So how exactly are these guys
gonna take these nails
And turn them
into viable knives?
- Well, what I want to see
is a cannister,
Because those nails are way too
small to forge weld together.
♪ ♪
- First thing I know
I have to do
Is get the nails all cleaned up
And get them stuffed inside
a can with some 1095 powder.
I'm not planning
to remove the cannister.
- In the competition,
Unless you're asked
to peel the can, don't do it.
- Yeah. Having that can
on there guarantees
That those welds
will consolidate inside.
- When I'm at my home forge
and I make cannister damascu,
I never remove it; it just
seems like an extra step
That can be done with a grinder.
♪ ♪
- I want to take
the can completely off.
So the first thing I'll do
is prep the can with white out
So that the material
doesn't forge weld to the can.
- Oh, no.
He's doing the white out.
- They're gonna have to take
a lot of time
Working into trying to peel
that can off.
- I would say
the most important part
Of making cannister damascus
Is making sure that you have
all of that space
In that can tight,
well-fitting, with powder.
If I leave any air bubbles
or missed space,
I know that I could have delams.
♪ ♪
- I've never made a knife
out of nails,
And I have to say,
who in their right mind
Would make
a knife out of a nail?
My game plan was getting
The metal
cannister... the canoe style,
Because I feel like it'd be
a lot easier to peel that off.
Tried the vertical
can damascus before.
Unfortunately,
I've had difficulties
Trying to peel those off.
So I put as much white out
as I could.
The more the merrier.
I want to take the cannister
off, because it's mild steel,
And I don't want to incorporate
Lower-quality steels
into my blade.
- You know, joshua just
put the nails in.
I don't know
if he gave the white out
Enough time to dry out.
- I don't think he did.
- No. So that's gonna make
the nails not weld,
Because they're gonna have
white out on them.
♪ ♪
- I realize a lot
of white out was sticking.
Well, that's a big no-no.
So in order to prevent myself
from, you know, screwing up,
Getting delaminations
in my steel,
I put the cannister back
on the forge,
Dry it a little faster.
- It's essential, when you're
doing a cannister
To be patient,
have some setup going on.
♪ ♪
- I'm not gonna do
any white out.
I'm not gonna mess with
trying to peel the can off.
That just seems like
a waste of time to me
When I'm just gonna
grind it off anyway.
And I'm all about saving time.
Every time I've done cannister,
I always leave the can on,
and it's worked out fine,
So I don't have
any problem with it.
Get hot. Let's go.
Come on. Let's go!
Today I brought
a little plastic hammer
That my son
pretends he's forging with
Just as a reminder of, like,
what I'm doing this for.
I'll do my best, little buddy.
I'll do my best.
- Biggest thing I'm concerned
about would be everything
Sticking together
inside the can.
While I'm making
cannister damascus,
I let it sit in there
and get hot enough.
I want to get it up to
that nice welding temperature.
- That's a sweet-looking can.
- There we go. Real bright can.
- I like that.
- First pass on the press.
- I want to run
through the process again
At least three times,
To make dang sure
that everything in there
Is just solid
and fused together.
- Dustin's all about going
smoothly, not rushing anything.
- I've got my cannister
squished out,
And everything is looking good,
So I take it over
to the chop saw.
And to my relief,
I look in there,
And it's just a beautiful,
solid piece of steel.
That's what we like to see.
- All right, guys,
you have two hours remaining.
♪ ♪
- Whew, that's hot.
That's a good color.
- Yeah.
- First set of presses
went pretty good.
Now I have to get it back
into the forge and reheat
And press again.
While my cannister heats up
in the forge,
I'm gonna sketch up my knife.
I think what I'm gonna do
is a competition chopper.
I think it'll do good in the
nail baton and the foam slice.
There's no stab test,
there's no puncture test,
So all I really need to do
is chop and slice.
I feel good about it.
Now comes the hard part
Of peeling that can off there
and exposing the billet inside.
♪ ♪
[bleep]. And it's just
not wanting to go.
I keep beating it
and beating it,
And it's just not
wanting to give.
- Uh-oh.
- I think that the press
squeeze in
The corners of the can.
- He needs to cut both ends off
that can, open up two seams,
And the whole thing
will fall off.
- I'm having a heck of a time
trying to get this can of.
Augh! It finally
just freakin' gave way.
I mean, it finally
wanted out of there.
Whoo!
- There we go.
- I think it's solid.
- Nice.
- My steel's moving pretty
darn good, so right now,
My go about this is
basically cut one corner off
And basically just tap that in
like little dance stick
And kind of getting it
some space.
- Now we're watching the moment
of truth for joshua.
- Well, he does have a really
good-looking
Even color through his billet
inside that can.
- I'd rather work on it
when it's hot.
I've seen people
try to take out metal
When it's cold
and everything else,
And it is no bueno.
It is really hard.
- Look at that. Solid billet
came out of the can.
- And that came out flawlessly.
It's an amount of joy
that I can never describe.
- He's having a good time.
- I love it.
- Hot steel. I did
several passes on the press.
The end of the cannister
is bulged out, so it's like,
Okay, looks like
the forge weld is set.
I might as well chop
the end of it off.
That's where the proof is
in the pudding to see
If it actually
will forge weld it or no.
Bam, that's solid
all the way through.
That's right.
- Go, buddy.
- Solid, baby!
- Looking good, brother!
- Whoo!
- Looking good!
- Let's go!
- I'm gonna start drawing
this billet out into a blade.
The blade I'm gonna make,
I call it a bull nose chopper.
It's a thick-spine blade
that can take a beating,
But it should be able to cut
And survive anything tests
that they throw at it.
♪ ♪
- Winning this competition
would be amazing.
It would put me
on a different level,
Just for the bragging rights
to say that I came here,
I conquered,
and going home a champio.
The weapon I'm making
is a drop point chopper.
I make drop point knives
at my house,
Mostly just hunting knives.
- Dustin cut a tip in.
It looks like a little bit
of a trailing point.
He's got to remove
the can off the front end.
He might as well take that time
to cut in that tip.
- I'm used to doing this
in my home forge.
I use an angle grinder
quite a bit.
It also kind of lets me know
what's going on down the knife,
Whether or not it is totally
welded like I think it is.
Hell, yeah.
- Bladesmiths, one hour
and 30 minutes remaining.
- I'm coming out of the forge
hot metal, ready.
- Joshua's just going for it.
He's not being easy at all.
He's squeezing it down
to thickness.
- Yeah, if you're gonna
be that aggressive,
You could sheer the welds
that are going on inside there.
- I'm moving the material
pretty darn fast
And pretty darn easily,
And then I realize
I'm starting to see cracks.
♪ ♪
- Uh-oh.
- I'm starting to put too
much stress on the metal.
- I'm worried about the
condition of joshua's steel.
It looks like it's kind
of cracking on the sides.
♪ ♪
- Calvin's getting pretty
aggressive there too.
- As I'm starting to draw
the billet out,
I'm starting
to see these delams.
♪ ♪
It's opening up.
- That's not good.
- [bleep].
The cutting edge and the spine,
They are definitely cracked and
spraying apart a little bit.
- Both calvin and joshua are
struggling with delaminations.
- Oh, man, I do not have time
for this right now.
- I don't know
if I should start over
Or just stick with this current
piece and tough it out.
- Ooh. That is looking rough.
All I can do right now
is press forward
And see if I can flatten it out
to make those cracks,
Instead of going towards
the center... kind
Of blow them out,
so at the end of it,
All I've got to do
is grind that sucker off.
- I have no clue where
these delams came from,
But I don't feel comfortable
starting over.
- The billet when he started
Wasn't fully
forge-welded together.
So those problems can travel
into the billet.
- I've got this thing drawn
out to where I want it to,
And now I've got to start
hammering the knife to shape,
And then I'm gonna head over
to the grinder
And I'm gonna see if I can
work out these delams.
♪ ♪
- Ben's in good shape right now.
Quench that blade
and get to the grinder.
He has by far the largest blade
out there by volume.
♪ ♪
- All right, ben's got a quench.
- There's no warps, no nothing.
This thing's cooling down.
I still gotta get
something done.
So I just start grinding
my bevels in.
You could start seeing
that high-carbon steel
Get exposed through the mild,
which is what I want,
'cause if there's mild steel
on my edge, it won't cut jack.
But this blade is, like, heavy.
I decided to go ahead
and fuller the handle
Just to lighten that back end up
And kind of add a little bit
more balance to the blade.
- Bladesmiths, you have
30 minutes remaining
Before the critique
and elimination.
♪ ♪
- It just feels like time's
ticking away and ticking away.
I know there's tons of stuff
that still needs to be doe
To make this a functional piece.
But I want to get pinholes
drilled before I quench.
- All right, dustin's putting
his pinholes in.
- Good for him.
- I know that if I don't get
them drilled before I quench,
It could be a pain
in the butt later on.
At this point, I'm ready to go
now for my heat-treating.
♪ ♪
To my relief, everything
is looking great.
All right.
♪ ♪
- I think I got a homogenous
piece of steel.
And I got the rough blade
kind of profile done.
I'm making a basic machete.
You see a lot of machetes
with the very wide belly.
At the same time,
it has a sweeping back
With a clipped front.
It's a very versatile tool
for a very versatile job.
♪ ♪
- Joshua quenched.
- It is hard. Hoo-wee!
1095 ain't do no one wrong.
♪ ♪
- [laughs]
♪ ♪
- So most of the delams
are grinding away,
So now I'm getting ready
for the quench.
♪ ♪
- A little head-shaking
coming from calvin.
I wonder if he's got
some kind of warp.
- I think he does.
- I can notice a little bit
of warp on the blade,
Something that I probably
can grind out.
But I don't know if I'm gonna
be able to do it in time.
- Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
Bladesmiths, turn off your
machines, put down your tools.
This round of the competition
is officially over.
- Whoo!
- Yeah!
- Nice job, brother.
- I've never done a blade
in three hours out of nails,
But I feel pretty confident
about this blade.
I'm still worried about
those delams, though.
♪ ♪
- All right, gentlemen, this
first round of competition,
We asked you to make blades
out of masonry nails.
The time has come
for your critique.
Dustin, you're up first.
You ready?
- Yes, sir.
- Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, dustin.
I like the look of this.
You got enough etch in there,
I can actually see
Some of the patterning,
which I appreciate that.
The only thing
I see is right here,
You got a thin spot,
Right in the middle
of the blade.
But everything looks straight.
Nice job.
- Thank you.
- Ben, how you feeling?
- Pretty good, I think.
- Let's see what you got.
♪ ♪
- All right, ben.
There's a lot of weight
to this knife.
You've got almost 3/8 of an
inch thickness back here,
So you have some room
to grind that, which is good.
But all in all it looks solid,
looks good. Well done.
- Thank you.
- Calvin, you're up next.
Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, calvin. You got
a bit of a warping issue.
This section of your blade
is moving this way
While the rest
of it's going the other.
But the big concern I have is,
you got
Some delaminations here.
There's two right here,
And then there's
a seam right here,
So I'd be very concerned
if I was gonna use this
That this part
might come flying off.
So if you move forward
to the second round,
Those are things I'd definitely
Want to see you,
you know, address.
♪ ♪
- Joshua, you were having fun
out there, weren't you?
- Wee bit, yes, sir.
- All right, man,
time for your critique, though.
Please present your work.
♪ ♪
- All right, joshua. Not bad.
I like the profile
of your blade.
But you have some seams
on your blade right here
That I think you were
trying to grind out.
Despite some of the seams
that you have,
Your steel seems solid,
so good job.
- Thank you, sir.
- Well, gentlemen,
you all worked hard,
And you all presented blades
that fit the parameters,
But only three of you
are moving forward
In this competition.
The bladesmith leaving
the forge is...
♪ ♪
Calvin.
- Calvin, we appreciate
the time and effort
You put into
presenting us a blade,
But your blade with the warp
and multiple delaminations
Makes it the blade
that has more issues to fix
Going to the second round.
For that reason,
we're sending you home.
- I understand. Thanks, guys,
for having me.
It was a good time.
- Well, calvin,
watching you out there,
You definitely have what it
takes to be in this forge.
But unfortunately, your time
in this competition has ended.
I'm gonna have to ask you
to please surrender your work
And step off the forge floor.
Thanks for the hard work, man.
- I'm a little upset
that I am going home,
But those dang delams.
Maybe I should have chased them
a little bit more.
But sometimes
you don't have the time.
But I learned a lot.
It was a lot of fun.
Those smiths are awesome.
I applaud them.
They did really good.
♪ ♪
- Well, gentlemen,
congratulations.
The three of you are you
moving forward into the second
Round of our competition.
In this next round,
You'll also be adding handles
to your blades
Turning them into
fully functioning weapons.
For handle material,
the pantry is open,
But we want
a mechanical connection,
So for that, you're gonna need
what's under the cloths
On your workstations.
Take that off for me.
♪ ♪
Instead of pins, you guys need
to use those nails.
- Some of the nails
that we're provided with
Have ridges on them,
So you may drill the hole for
the size diameter of the nai,
But then with them ridges
sticking out,
You got to bore that hole
just a tiny bit bigger.
And so that's gonna
kind of present a challene
Of how I'm gonna work that
in the time allotted.
- Now, once this round
is complete,
The judges are gonna check
for strength and durability
By batoning your blades
into a giant nail.
And then they're gonna
checkmate your edge retention,
See if it holds up
after that strength test
By going through
a foam tube slice.
Gentlemen, we've got two hours
on the clock for you.
So good luck, work hard.
Your time starts now.
♪ ♪
- The first thing I'm gonna do
is go over
To the oxyacetylene torch,
And I'm gonna blue back
the spine of my knife.
That'll give it some softness,
take some of the hardness
Out of there,
so when j. Goes full
Hulk smash on this thing in the
test it's not gonna break.
It gives it a little bit more
softness and shock absorptio.
- He's got the can on the back
of that blade,
So what... blue backing
is not gonna do much for him.
- The biggest thing is keeping
this edge cool
While I'm doing this
and not losing my temper,
Losing my hardness.
I don't want to risk
making my edge soft.
We're gonna call that okay.
- I definitely got to clean up
my knife and address
What the judges
have talked about,
With the thin spot in my blade
and just refining my profile.
All right.
Everything's starting
to come together.
I like what I'm seeing.
Now I need to move on
to the pantry
To pick out
the correct handle material.
♪ ♪
- First and foremost,
my blade had the most problems.
- Joshua's got delaminations
or unwelded spots
Inside his blade.
- I really want to see him
do something with that.
- What would you do?
- I'd probably throw some weld
into it; it's not on the edge.
Just try to open it up
a little bit
With a rotary tool
or something like that.
- I'm gonna go weld it up,
make it brand-new.
But first I need to grind off
all the scale,
And the reason why I do that,
It's mostly, when you're welding
You tend to want to have
raw steel on raw steel
To give it that good bind.
Whoo!
Clean the sucker up,
go to the welding station,
And basically try to fuse
those cracks on my blade
So at the end of it
The end result will be
a fully functional,
Completely safe blade to use.
All right.
- Bladesmiths, one half hour
has elapsed.
You got an hour
and 30 minutes remaining.
♪ ♪
- One of the judges' critiques
Was to make my tang
a little bit thinner
And take a little bit
of the weight out of the blade,
So I gotta start trimming
this thing down,
And I'm gonna try
to put a fuller in it.
- It's good to see ben
finally on the grinder,
'cause he has a lot of metal
on his blade. Very heavy.
- And this is gonna probably
be the longest thing
I'm gonna have to work on here
and the biggest challenge.
♪ ♪
- I've never made a handle
like this.
I'm optimistic,
but you never know.
It's a competition.
Anything can happen.
I just grab the thing that was
closest to my pinhole size
And I go with that.
Go to put my handle scales on.
That's not right. Ooh.
- That's not good.
- My pinholes that I drilled
in round one are bigger
Than the nails that we're
allotted to use in round two.
Okay.
My mind's going
a million miles an hour.
I don't know what to do.
- So dustin had holes
after round one,
But the nails we gave them
for pin stock in this round
Are quite a bit smaller than
the typical pin stock holes
The guys are drilling.
- If the pinholes don't hold up,
My handle could blow apart,
crack... be a bad deal.
I don't have very many options.
Option one, I just throw
some extra epoxy in there
And hope the epoxy
squeezes into my tang.
Option two, I could drill
different holes into the tang,
But I don't know
how hard the tang is.
Okay. And I don't really want
to mess around
With trying to drill
through the tang,
So I slap some more epoxy
in there
In hopes that that seals
that hole up a little bit
And then just hope and pray
that holds everything together.
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths, you have
45 minutes remaining.
♪ ♪
- Right now, I'm working
on my handle.
Got some natural wood grips,
and I've noticed
That if you're using wood
with your handle,
It tends to absorb
the shock a little better.
So all I gotta do
is sandwich them together,
And it'll be a-okay.
- Joshua's got a lot
of grinding to do
On those handle scales.
- Yes!
So I'm griding out my handl.
For me, in my experiences,
I think going with,
Like, an angle grinder
is the best way to go.
I want to form it to the hand
as best as I can,
'cause regardless of whatever
handle you got, if it's smooth
And slick and all that,
pops out of your hand,
There's no purpose
to that handle.
- See, this is exactly
How joshua
makes his blades at home.
- Sitting down on the floor.
- I'm in my own world,
so to speak.
I don't need to really go by
anyone else's expectations.
So, you know, take it easy.
♪ ♪
- About the best
we're gonna do, bennie.
I gotta do something
while this epoxy sets,
And so I go ahead and just
start slack-grinding
This blade
to get this edge profiled.
I'm going with
a convex edge in this.
It offers some strength
and durability with it,
Especially with the nail cho,
But it's still sharp enough
to cut.
- You guys always talk about
the appleseed edge
Being... to me, it sounds
like the be-all, end-all.
It's gotta lot of support,
but also it can be very sharp.
- It's a great edge for this
endurance kind of testing.
♪ ♪
- All right.
I start sanding
down my handle a little bit.
It's got to be comfortable.
I'm just rounding
everything off,
Making sure everything's
nice and smooth.
- There should be no reason
at all
That there are any
sharp corners on their handles.
- The handle's starting
to come together.
It's starting to feel smooth.
I'm feeling good about it.
♪ ♪
- Now, I need to work
on my edge,
'cause more than anything else,
This competition is gonna be
chopping and slicing.
Let's make this thing cut!
My blade's skinny enough,
So I can get away with a
little bit of an obtuse grin.
It'll do its purpose.
- Well, she's sharp.
- My blade, it's not gonna win
no beauty contests,
But overall, thing's a lean,
mean, fighting machine.
I expect the judges to say,
"dang, son, you did good!"
- Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
Gentlemen, put down your tools.
Drop those blades.
This round is officially over.
Get ready for testing.
- There's a little bit of fear
in my blood right now.
I'm not gonna lie.
I'm a little scared of how
they're gonna treat my blade.
But, you know,
it's the name of the game.
- Bladesmiths, welcome
to our strength test,
The giant nail chop.
Now, if you nailed your heat
treat, you'll survive.
Had to do it.
Dustin, you ready to go?
- Yes, sir.
- Well, let's do it.
- Being the first one
to be tested,
My heart's racing
a million miles an hour.
My biggest fear is that it's
just gonna blow apart.
Just hoping and praying
that it turns out okay.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
[grunts]
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
♪ ♪
All right, dustin,
you survived, man. Good job.
You did take some chipping
and rolling, but overall,
The rest of it's still sharp.
Everything's still tight.
And even though I wasn't
swinging away with the blade,
The handle's comfortable,
so good job.
- Thank you.
- It's always so much fun
for the second guy, right, ben?
You ready to go?
- Oh, hey, hammer down.
- I can do that.
♪ ♪
- At the end of round two,
I was feeling pretty confident,
But now that j.'s ready
to beat the snot
Out of this thing,
It always makes you
second-guess stuff.
It makes me feel
a little "ehh" inside.
♪ ♪
- [grunting]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
♪ ♪
- [exhales]
- All right, ben, we're halfway
to a serrated blade now.
- Oh jeez.
- So you basically have
the edge collapsing,
Not chipping away.
I don't know if it was
from the heat treat
Or maybe when you
blue-backed it.
I'm not sure.
But everything's still tigh.
Good job.
- [exhales]
Joshua, you ready to go?
- Yes, sir!
- Let's do it.
♪ ♪
- My blade by far
coming to the second round
Had the most issues.
It was cracked.
So hitting against
that giant nail,
I'm not gonna lie,
I'm scared right now.
I mean, I can only imagine
all the worst things happening
To my blade, it breaking apart,
Exploding somehow,
hurting someone.
Steel on steel is a recipe
for disaster.
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
[grunts]
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[grunts]
♪ ♪
- Hey, joshua, you survived.
Good job, man.
- Thank you, sir.
- The only thing I notice is,
right here,
In this section,
the edge has moved over a bit,
Not a ton, but just enough
to be noticeable.
But overall, everything's tight.
Still got an edge.
Good job.
Wish I could bottle
that enthusiasm and sell it.
♪ ♪
- All right, bladesmiths,
congratulations for surviving
That brutal strength test.
This is the sharpness test,
the foam tube slice.
Now, I'm gonna
take your weapons,
And I'm gonna try to cut
through these foam tubes.
A sharp edge should
cut a clean, straight line.
A dull edge could push it,
or worse, do nothing at all.
Dustin, you're up first.
You ready for this?
- Yes, sir.
- Okay. Let's do this.
♪ ♪
All right, dustin,
let's talk about your edge.
On the cut over here,
it did cut two of the tubes.
On the third one,
not all the way through.
But, overall, sir, it will cut.
- Awesome.
- All right, ben,
your turn, sir. You ready?
- Ready. Slice and dice.
- All right. Let's do that.
♪ ♪
- Man, this sucks.
- All right, ben,
you took some damage.
There's definitely
some big rolls right here.
And on the cut here,
I can actually feel it hang up
On the foam tubes
as I'm cutting through that.
But you have one
and a half that cut
And a little shredding
on the third.
Overall, sir, this blade,
it will cut.
- That's all I wanted
to hear, doug.
- All right, joshua.
And then there's you.
Are you ready?
- Yes, sir.
♪ ♪
- [exhales]
♪ ♪
- All right, joshua,
your edge took minimal damage
On the strength test, but it
cut cleanly on the first tue
And pretty much just shredded
the second one,
Which sent a shockwave
through the rest of the tubes.
Overall, sir, your weapon,
it will cut.
- Hell, yeah!
- [laughs]
- Well, guys, in the first two
rounds of the competition,
You all took piles of nails
And turned them
into functional blades,
So you all have something
to be proud of.
But in this competition,
only two of you
Are moving forward
into the third round.
The bladesmith that's gonna
be leaving the forge is...
♪ ♪
Ben.
Unfortunately, you're not
gonna be moving forward
In this competition,
and dave's gonna tell you why.
- Ben, I think you crafted
a beautiful blade,
But you took far more damage
in the strength test
Than any of our other smiths,
And it really showed
in the sharpness test.
That's why we're letting you go.
- Yes, sir.
- Well, ben, like dave said,
it's a beautiful piece,
But at this time,
I'm gonna have to ask you
To please step off
the forge floor.
- Thanks, guys.
Thanks for having me.
It was a blast.
Good luck, fellas.
It is crushing.
It's disheartening.
But I had a great time here.
This was surreal.
Definitely when I get home
I'm gonna be training
My little three-year-old boy.
Probably in about 15 years,
he'll apply
For the competition.
It'll be great.
Who knows, maybe we'll have
a father-son thing.
♪ ♪
- Well, dustin, joshua,
congratulations.
Gentlemen,
the two of you have made it
Through the first two rounds
of this competition,
And boy, was it a nail-biter.
In this third and final round,
We're gonna send you back
to your home forges
For four days to build
an iconic weapon from history.
We want you to build this...
♪ ♪
The tuareg takoba.
♪ ♪
- The takoba is a type
of broadsword
That has been used
by the nomadic tuareg
People of north africa
since the 14th century.
This double-edged
lightweight blade
Was carried for self-defense
on long journeys
Designed to deliver
lethal slashes and stabs
Against a rival warrior.
Due to the tuaregs'
aversion to iron,
There's no exposed steel
Or iron
on the hilt of this sword,
So it cannot touch
the user's hand.
Measuring more than
a meter long,
This deadly weapon was seen
as a symbol of wealth.
Some members of the takoba clan
Still carry this weapon today.
- Now, gentlemen, when you're
building your blades,
You need to make sure they fall
within these parameters.
You need to have
a double-edged fuller blade
That measures between
31 and 33 inches.
You need to have a guard
that measures at least
5 inches wide.
And last but not least,
You need to have a pommel
in the takoba style.
- There's definitely a lot
that's gonna be involved
In building something like this.
The size of the blade
definitely stands out.
I've never made
anything this long.
I think it's gonna challenge me.
But I enjoy a challenge,
and I'm ready for it.
- Good luck, gentlemen.
We'll see you in four days.
♪ ♪
- Here we are, round three.
I have to make a kuareg katoba.
I don't even... I'm not even sure
how to pronounce it.
Hopefully, I would like
to get the whole thing
Forged out today
And possibly ready
for heat treat in the morning.
Looking good.
It's coming along.
I got the blade where I want it.
I'm 1/2 inch over.
I'm happy with that.
It'll be good.
Day one went good.
My arm's a little more tired
than I thought it'd be.
But I feel good about it.
♪ ♪
- We are in san pedro,
california.
Let's have some fun.
So I got this leaf spring.
I'm gonna cut an angle off it,
Draw it to length...
Let's flatten you out,
little guy.
And go along the parameters.
Now we're getting somewhere.
It's getting to length.
That's good for day one.
♪ ♪
- Day three. Yesterday,
I got my blade heat-treated.
Today planning on getting
the handle all fitted up
And then filing up the tang,
so I can get my guard fitted.
Here we go.
Move on to the pommel now.
I'm going to try to key out
the bottom of this,
So that fits straight.
And then I'll just have, like,
A pommel nut that goes on top
and holds everything together.
Whether or not it works,
we'll see.
I've never put a pommel
on anything before.
[bleep]. Damn.
But I've never threaded a tang.
Oh, man.
So that's got me
a little bit concerned.
But I just gotta take my time
and get it knocked out.
♪ ♪
So I got my handle all together.
Just finishing touches and
making everything look good.
♪ ♪
- Start of day three.
I got a lot to do today.
But regardless,
I'm up for the challenge.
Pretty darn big, so right no,
my main concern
Is to make that skinny.
Never done a fuller before.
It was a little
like a first love almost.
Shoot, I'm proud
of this fuller too.
This fuller ain't too bad.
Time for the fun part.
It's time to quench my blade.
I am scared
by the hardening process.
That fails, I just have a
giant, oversized butter knife.
♪ ♪
Quench it,
but I see a bend in it.
Not happy with that.
I go for a second time.
I know a lot of people that go
into the quench
Multiple times;
they have a lot of
Stress fractures
and everything else.
If I mess up again, I don't
know what I'm gonna do.
♪ ♪
Golly. It's a little warped
on the side.
I might have to quench
again tomorrow.
Ain't that fun.
♪ ♪
- Here we are. Day four.
I'm feeling real good.
I have the handle all epoxied.
Everything's good.
The nut's tight.
Here we go.
Guards on these takobas,
They have stars and all other
types of geometric shapes.
And I had hat pins that
I'd put in some of my knives.
Definitely not a cowboy,
But my brother passed away
ten years ago, and he was,
So I think I'll throw this
in there for him.
Start to dremel them out
to kind of re-fit them
Into the handle.
Not bad.
Fairly happy with it.
I am worried about the tang.
I do wish I would have made
the tang a little bit thicker.
But, I mean,
it's out of my hands now.
- It's day four.
I got a hardened blade,
But I'm not liking
the bend in my blade,
So I'm gonna be
hardening it again.
♪ ♪
Oh, my god.
Yo, that is
a good-looking blade, my man.
Shoot.
I got six hours left.
All I gotta do is make a handle.
But what I'm gonna use
is some good brass
As the top and bottom,
then put some walnut,
Space of copper,
Then a space
of purple heartwood,
Then another piece of brass.
That is a guard.
For the handle construction,
I'll just use leather.
It's coming along quite nicely.
End of day four,
I finished this blade.
Well, golly gee willikers.
Son gonna give me $10,000.
Wink, wink, nudge, nudge,
please, please.
♪ ♪
- Well, dustin, joshua, guys,
welcome back to the forge.
So for the past four days
You've been back
in your home forges
Working on your versions
of the tuareg
Takoba, and, guys,
they look great.
But I want to hear
a little bit about them.
Dustin,
how'd the build go for yo?
- It went good.
Blade's made out of 80 crv2,
The handle's made
out of african blackwood,
And the pommel's
made out of bronze.
- Joshua, tell us
about your blade.
♪ ♪
- Made the blade out of
5160 spring steel.
The guard itself was made out
of purple heartwood, copper,
And walnut, the handle itself
made out of layers of leather,
And the pommel,
walnut and brass.
- All right, guys.
Well, one of you
Is gonna be leaving
this forge $10,000 richer
And holding the title
of "forged in fire" champion.
And to help the judges figure
out which one of you that is,
We've got a strength test,
we've got a sharpness test,
And up first, the keal.
Doug?
♪ ♪
- Bladesmiths,
welcome to the keal test.
Your tuareg takobas
look beautiful,
But the kind of beauty
I'm looking for
Is the lethal kind.
I'm gonna take your weapon,
Deliver some lethal blows
to this ballistics dummy.
Dustin, you're up first.
You ready?
- Yes, sir.
- Let's do this.
- So I'm nervous.
Inside the ballistics dummy,
there's simulated bone.
I mean, it's hard stuff.
So it could end up rolling
my edge or hurting my sword.
I don't know
what's gonna happen.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
- [laughs]
- All right, dustin, let's talk
about your weapon here.
First up,
your handle construction.
I like the ovoid feel of this,
the flare you have there,
And your pommel actually gives
great retention for this.
Your tip is sharp enough
to penetrate.
Your edges are sharp
when you're cutting out.
And you can wield this
To do that kind of damage
on this ballistics dummy.
Overall, sir, a weapon
like this, it will keal.
- Awesome.
- All right, joshua, your turn.
You ready?
- Keep everyone alive.
- All right. Let's do this.
- After seeing dustin's
ballistic dummy's
Head fall off,
I'm like, "ah, crud.
This is gonna be
a very tight competition."
I only have one thing in mind:
Tear it up!
♪ ♪
Dang.
- All right. Joshua, let's talk
about your weapon here.
Your pommel right here could
have used some weight to it.
But because it's
forward-weighted and the fact
That you have
a very sharp edge, every slice,
As you can see, is very deep
into the ballistics dummy.
And more importantly, sir,
your weapon, it will keal.
- Yeah!
♪ ♪
- All right, gentlemen,
it's time
For the strength test,
our desert well chop.
Now, to test the strength
And overall construction
of your blades,
I will be chopping
into our well house
As well as the well.
Dustin, your on deck.
You ready?
- I guess so.
- Okay.
♪ ♪
- Oh!
♪ ♪
- All right. We were doing
so well for a moment there.
What actually happened was,
with insetting your blade
Down into this piece of wood,
Any of that leverage was just
too much for the wood itself,
And it popped it loose.
Your tang is a little bit small.
But what I do like to see
Is that your blade
actually held up beautiful.
I mean, your grain structure
looks fine.
This is an absolutely
brutal test.
Very well done.
- Thank you.
♪ ♪
- Now, dustin, you survived
every one of the strikes
Except for the last one.
Your guard gave way,
and your blade followed.
So we consider
this a catastrophe failure.
Cannot continue
testing your blade.
But you're not out
of the fight yet.
How are you feeling, joshua?
- Pressure's on.
- All right.
So you need to survive five
strikes in order to be named
"forged in fire" champion.
You ready?
- Yes, sir.
- All right. Let's do it.
- My tang is just as thin
if not thinner than dustin's.
And I'm already wishy-washy
on my temper.
This is terrifying.
♪ ♪
- [grunts]
- Well, joshua,
your blade is strong.
It made it past all the strikes.
Congratulations. Now, dustin,
unfortunately for you,
That means your time here
in this competition has ended,
Because you did have
a catastrophe failure.
It was an honor
watching you in our forge,
But unfortunately, man,
at this time,
I'm gonna have to ask you
to please step off
Our forge floor.
- Thank you, guys.
- Thank you so much.
- I'm definitely crushed.
I actually thought
that recessing the sword
Into the tang a little bit
would make it stronger,
And that's kind of what bit me
in the end,
So definitely, definitely
won't be doing that agai.
I'm definitely proud
of this blade.
I came here to challenge
myself as much as I coul,
And I definitely achieved that.
- Well, joshua,
congratulations, man.
That means you are the newest
"forged in fire" champion.
You just got yourself a check
for $10,000. Congratulations.
- Hoo-wee! Yeah!
Oh, my gosh, I made a sword;
it didn't break.
Oh, my gosh!
It was a hard competition,
so this is unreal.
[laughter]
Ahh!