Forged in Fire (2015–…): Season 8, Episode 32 - Armed Forces Tournament Finale - full transcript

[fire roaring]

[rock music]

- Over the course of four
head-to-head competition,

We've seen eight
former competitors,

U.S. Service members,
redeploy to the forge.

Now, after those intense duels,
only four of our smiths remain.

♪ ♪

With smiths from the army,
the navy, the air force,

And the marines, it all comes
down to this final battl.

Who will come out
on top of our tournament,

Earn themselves a check
for $10,000,



And that ever-coveted title
of "forged in fire" champion?

The final battle starts now.

♪ ♪

- My name is garrett elting,
united states marine corps.

I got out as corporal.

My first round,
I had to make a machete

Out of fishhook
canister damascus.

That feels good.

I didn't have very many oopsies

Or significant problems,
and I'm ready to go.

♪ ♪

- My name is joe stickel.

I'm retired full-time
oregon international guard

As chief master sergeant.



My first duel was challenging.

Having to make that ax

Out of twisted patterned
damascus was tough.

I'm here by the skin
of my teeth.

I would like to have a much
better showing this round

Than I did in my first round.

♪ ♪

- My name's ethan lee,
I am 29 years old,

And I am the winner
of the champions duel.

I was in the navy for six years,

Stationed on a ballistic
missile submarine.

So in the duel,
I made a woodsman's pal

Out of ladder pattern damascus.

It came out all right,
and I'm moving on

To hopefully become another
"forged in fire" champion.

♪ ♪

- My name is fermin lopez.
I am 52 years old.

I was united states army
combat medic.

In my sergeant's duel,
I made an m1915 bolo bayonet.

It was a great experience,

And now I'm here
for the final competition.

I am so excited,

I haven't slept
in the last 48 hours.

♪ ♪

- Bladesmiths, welcome
to the final competition.

Four of you are here
because you each came out

On top of your respective duels

In our armed forces
redeployment tournament.

And you guys are about
to battle it out

For the title
of "forged in fire" champion

And a check for $10,000.

In this competition,
there will be three rounds.

At the end of each one,
you will present your work

To our panel of expert judges,

Who will then
critique your work,

Make some eliminations,
and have some testing.

Today's judges are blacksmith,
bladesmith,

And two-time "forged in fire"
champion ben abbott;

Historic weapons re-creation
specialist david baker;

And edge weapons specialist

And kali martial artist
doug marcaida.

We have a very unique
challenge for you,

And to get it started,

Go ahead and take that cloth
off your anvils for me.

Bladesmiths, what you see there
are jars of ball bearings,

Band saw blades, and fishhooks.

We want you to make
canister damascus billets

With those
and turn them into blades.

But unfortunately for you guys,

We are completely
out of canisters.

The good news is, we have
quite a few of these.

♪ ♪

- [chuckles]

- Bladesmiths, what we have
here are four replica

1914 bazookas.

And you guessed it,
we want you to take those,

Chop them up,
make your canisters with them.

- Boom, bazookas.

My first round,
I had to make a machete

Out of fishhook
canister damascus.

Not only do I have to do
fishhook canister again,

But I've got to make my own can?

What the heck?

- In this first round
of competition,

We want you to make
your favorite combat blade,

But make sure it falls
within these parameters.

Your blade length needs to be
between 13 and 15 inches.

By the end of round one,
you need to be set up

For a through-tang
handle construction.

Now, bladesmiths, in round two
of the competition,

You're gonna add handles
to your combat blades,

Making them
fully functioning weapons,

At which point, our judges
are gonna check for strength

And durability
in a torpedo chop,

And then we're gonna check
your edge retention

In a playing card slice.

Bladesmiths, you have
three hours on the clock

For the first round
of competition.

So good luck, stay sharp.
Your time starts now.

♪ ♪

- It is amazing how we got

All four branches
right here represented.

- How would you guys go about
making the caps

For either end of the can?

- You can just slit
a little piece of that tue

And open it right out cold,
hammer it flat, weld it o.

♪ ♪

- Normally when we start out

With canisters, they're square.

This is a tube.

Forge welding a cylinder
is different

Than forge welding
a square tube.

Definitely threw me
for a loop a little bit.

I'm gonna squeeze that tube down

So that I have a flat piece,

And then I'm gonna cut those
so I have end caps now.

- Oh, that's not a bad idea.
- That's smart.

Now you just got three cuts.

Boom, boom, boom.
Now you got two caps.

- Yeah.
- Do it again, bud.

- I brought my picture of matt
with me today.

We were roommates
in two deployments together.

He's no longer with us,

But he's with us
in spirit for sure.

I'm gonna fill it
with fishhooks,

Some ball bearings,
and some band saw blades.

This could come back
to bite me in the ass

'cause of all
the differing heat treats

And all these
different materials.

I've been on "forged in fire"
twice.

Might as well
give it a shot, right?

♪ ♪

- Ethan's got a square bottom
on the tube.

Is he gonna need
to round it off?

- Yeah.

Usually you want
the can and the cap

To be the same shape
so the cap doesn't interfere

With the pressing of the can.

- I fill it up with powder
and ball bearings.

It just seemed
like the easiest choice.

Tapping the can as I go
so that all the powder

Settles down and fills in

Every possible gap in that can.

Because if I don't,
I can get a bad weld.

- Ethan's welding
his can closed.

Garrett's welding
his can closed.

So we've got two
of these canisters

Going into the fire
15 minutes in.

That's pretty good
for harvesting the material.

- We gave them three
different materials

To fill their canisters with,

But we didn't tell them they
had to use all three.

Fermin is like, "screw it.

Just chuck it in
and see what sticks."

- I'm using all three types
of steel

Because it gives a different
pattern onto the blade.

At this point, I want to get
the best pattern as I can

Because my competitors
they're bringing their a-gam,

So I might as well
bring mine too.

The last time that I was here,

I competed on the battle
of branches

Representing the army,

And I actually came in
second place.

♪ ♪

- So my plan is just to cut
a 2-inch piece off,

Cut it in half,
forge it down flat.

That way, I can shape
the end caps

To actually fit inside
of the canister.

- Joe took time to inset
those lids for his welds.

- Welding!

When you're applying that
kind of pressure on a canister,

It's gonna be stronger
if your caps are on the inside.

I'm gonna use
all the material I have.

We might get some kind
of a camo pattern.

I mean, it's a canister.
Have fun with it.

Got to let it get hot.

- None of them used white out,
so they're gonna have

That mild steel on the outside.

- They're gonna have
to grind a lot off.

- It's getting hot, man.
- Yeah.

- Ethan and garett
are neck and neck right now.

- I know.

- I get over to the press.

I start just lightly tapping it.

I want to get it more
into a rectangular shape.

After it gets to that rectangle,

You're pretty much forge welded.

- Garrett's ready
to chop off his end

And see how his weld set.

- Worst-case scenario,
I cut the end off of it

And ball bearings roll out.

If that happens,
I'm gonna have to start over.

So this is kind of
a make-or-break moment.

♪ ♪

Hey, it's solid.

I'm ecstatic.
The hard part's over.

♪ ♪

- The only way I've ever made
a canister

Is by using a power hammer,

And I've always been successful.

So it's game day, and I'm not
gonna change my ways.

♪ ♪

Everything looks as solid
as it can be.

- Bladesmiths, you have
two hours left.

- I love it, man.
- You got man. You got it.

- I love it.

[laughter]

- This is what it's all about,
brotherhood and having fu.

- That dude's having a blast.

- Meanwhile, we got joe
kind of lagging behind here.

- Can't rush it.

I'm not gonna make any effort

To keep up
with these young guys.

I'm just gonna stick
to slow and smooth is fas.

So while my canister
is heating up in the forge,

I start laying out
some sketch work on my blade.

I'm gonna make a ka-bar,

Some type of a clip-point
combat fighting knife.

♪ ♪

- We're asking these guys
to make their version

Of a combat knife.

But they need enough
mass and volume

To both chop and a blade shape
that's good for slicing.

- We asked
for a combat-ready blade.

If we get four ka-bars,
I'm happy.

♪ ♪

- As soon as I cut it off,
I can see a solid billet.

That's telling me
that it's nice and compact.

♪ ♪

I'm going with the ka-bar theme.

We only have three hours
to create this blade,

And the ka-bar is one
of the easiest blades to make.

So that's what I'm going with.

- I draw this can out pretty
nice and easy with the press.

I don't want to cause
a break at this point.

Now let's make a ka-bar.

I made one in my battle
of the branches episode,

So I'm familiar with it.

Once I've got the tang kind of
forged where I want it,

I use big blu to forge my ti.

♪ ♪

- A ka-bar is just the first
military knife

That comes to mind.

I've made a few ka-bars
back home,

So it's a good choice.

I ground off that can.

And right now, my blade
still looks relatively heavy,

So I think I'm gonna add me
a fuller to reduce the weight.

- If you're not proficient
at making fullers,

Could that potentially be
a dangerous thing?

- Oh, yeah.
- Absolutely.

- First off, they can
just be janky-looking,

And sometimes you could
grind it right through.

♪ ♪

- This [bleep] thing.

I realize that it looks uneven.

It's probably a better idea
to leave it off.

If I screw it up,
I'll be going home.

- All right, bladesmiths,
you have one hour left.

- Now that I have the shape
and I have it

Nice and polished,
I take it into the acid etch

To see where my steel is
at this time.

So I take the blade out
and I'm looking at it

And I see some of the canister
steel on the outside.

- So the black
is the hardened steel

And the gray is the mild steel.

Fermin should be removing
the mild steel from the edge

To leave the hardened steel
as the cutting edge.

- Mild steel on the edge
creates a soft spot.

I'm going to regrind it

And try to get some of
that canister out of the edge.

I don't want to be sent home
because my blade did not cut.

♪ ♪

- Joe's got
a good-looking billet.

- As I'm drawing this thing out,

Everything's coming together
just like I would like it to.

Are you kidding me?

As I'm forging my tip out,
it starts to fish lip on m.

If I leave it unaddressed,
it'll be a cold shut

And then that'll be a weak tip.

So I grind that off so that
I can get good solid material.

Competing against these guys,
I've got to have it just right.

- I look up at the clock,

And I know it's time
to quench this thing.

I'm a little bit worried
because I've got one type

Of steel that gets
really hard really fast,

One that gets harder slower.

I don't know what the heck
this blade's gonna do.

- Nice.
- That was a nice quench, dude.

The edge was, like,
that perfect salmon color.

- In the duel,
I pulled a horrible warp

Out of the quench.

Whoa!

I'm really worried

That I'm gonna have
to deal with this again.

♪ ♪

Whoo-hoo!

No warp. I'm blown away.

- All right, fermin
thermal cycling right now.

- I get all three
of my cycles done.

I go back to the forge.

I'm looking
for a nice red color.

- I heat up the blade
a little bit and I decide

I'm just gonna go for it.

- Oh, he's quenching.
- In the oil.

- All right,
so fermin just quenched.

- He's got a heck of a warp
about midway down the spine.

- This is really bad.

The blade just came out
of the quench.

It's extremely brittle.

If I pull too much,
I'm gonna break it.

♪ ♪

- Holy [bleep].

- Ethan seems to have a warp.

He's in the vise,
trying to straighten it out.

- While you're doing this,

You're kind of flirting
with the undertaker.

I can snap it in two,
which I've done before.

- He's being
pretty aggressive here.

I don't want to see
that thing snap.

♪ ♪

My blade is still warped.

I'm going to leave it alone
because it's very unnoticeable.

♪ ♪

- I get most of the warp
out to the point

That I can probably grind
the rest of it out.

♪ ♪

- There we go.
- All right.

- Four blades quenched.

- It's straight as an arrow.

So at this point,
I start working on cleanup.

- This is an awesome
competition.

From the moment
the clock started,

These guys have been
showing their skills.

There's not one

That's just running away
from everybody else.

- And it could come down to the
weight, the setup, the grinds.

- Five, four, three, two, one.

Bladesmiths, this round is over.

- Whoo!

- Everybody did a ka-bar,

So I know it's gonna come down
to the little things.

The way the pattern looks,

If there's any cracks
or anything like that,

That's gonna be
what sends somebody home.

♪ ♪

- All right, gentlemen,

In the first three hours
of this competition,

You guys made
cylindrical canisters

And turned them
into combat blades.

And the time has come
for the first critique,

So, garrett, you ready?

- Let's do it.
- Please present your work.

♪ ♪

- All right, garrett, first off,

Really cool pattern.

I see you used ball bearings
in the center

And then you've got some
fishhooks up here on the ti.

It really turned out cool.

You can really see it.
It's very dramatic in there.

The grinds are nice and even.

Honestly, this blade's ready
to put an edge on.

Great job.

- Joe, you're up next.
Please present your work.

♪ ♪

- I was a little nervous

'cause you were towards
the back of the pack

With getting things
in the canister,

But you turned in a solid blade.

The one thing that does give me
some concern, however,

Is that I'm looking
at mild steel running

In and out of here at the edge.

So that's gonna have
to be dealt with

'cause that's just gonna be
a real soft spot.

The weight of this is good,
but it gets some of that

From the grind
that's kind of moving around.

But again, you brought in
a solid blade

With good forge weld,
so nice job.

- Thank you.

- Ethan, you're up next, man.
You ready?

- Sure.
- Please present your wor.

♪ ♪

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

Your blade is straight
as can be.

Took a lot of time
to go to the acid bath

And really show the pattern,

And that's the beautiful thing
about your knife here.

What I love about this,
it's all hardenable steel.

You really took the time
to clean up.

Overall, sir, good job.

- All right, last but not least,

Fermin, you're up.
You ready?

- Yes, sir.
- Please present your work.

♪ ♪

- All right, fermin, your blade,

All the welds look good.

It looks very solid.

There are a couple things
going on.

Right up here near the tang,
you got a fairly good warp.

♪ ♪

You can see how the can
has that very light

Kind of gray bronze.

Well, I've got that on your
edge as well, couple of places.

♪ ♪

Other than that, hence the
fast, light blade, good job.

- Thank you, sir.

- Now, bladesmiths, the judges
have made a decision,

And one of you
is gonna be heading home.

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

♪ ♪

Joe.

You brought us a good blade,
but unfortunately

You're not gonna be
moving forward

In the next round
of the competition,

And david baker's
gonna tell you why.

- Joe, first off, let me
thank you for your service.

It means a lot to me.
And you did a fantastic job.

And the level of this
competition is just so high

That this really came down
to which blade

Was the least refined,
and that was your blade.

That's what we're basing
our decision on.

- Thank you for the opportunity.

I appreciate it.

It's been great working
with these guys.

- Joe, unfortunately
at this time,

I'm gonna have to ask you
to please surrender your work

And step off the forge floor.

- I feel good about the blade,

And I think it would have
done good in the testing,

But we won't get to find out.

These are some great folks.

And the fact that
we're all former military,

It's been a lot of fun.

I'm gonna go home
and spend time with my family

And I'm gonna get
back out to the shop

And I'm gonna continue
to do that.

♪ ♪

- Congratulations, guys.

The three of you
are moving forward

Into the second round

Of our armed forces
redeployment tournament finals.

Now, in this round, you guys
are gonna fix any issues

You have with your blades,
as well as add handles to them,

Turning them into
fully functioning weapons.

So, guys, for this round,
you're not allowed to use

Any synthetics or woods
for your handle materials.

Gentlemen, you guys
are gonna have to use

What's on your workstations.

Go ahead and take
those cloths off for me.

♪ ♪

- Yeah, boy.
- [laughs]

- Soon as I lift that cloth,

I'm excited because
I just finished

Doing the leather stack
on the sergeant's duel.

- Guys, what you have there
are materials

To make stacked leather handles.

That is all you can use
to make your grips.

Now, gentlemen,
after this round is over,

You're gonna turn
your finished blades in

To our judges, who are gonna
check for strength

And durability in a torpedo chop

And then check
your edge retention

In a playing card slice.

Bladesmiths, you have
two hours on the clock.

Good luck.
Your time starts now.

♪ ♪

- One thing that makes doing

A stacked leather handle
difficult

Is, you need to dead reckon
the height.

You need to put a guard on.

You need to put a pommel,
butt cap, whatever on.

And you need the space
in between to be correct.

It's not as easy as make it
too long and trim it late.

- The first time I was
on "forged in fire,"

I had to make
a stacked leather handle.

Well, I had problems
getting it shaped correctly

And was uglier than sin.

Now I have to do it again.
I'm not very happy.

So what I'm gonna do
is go to the band saw,

Cut my leather so the squares

Are about the size that I need
to start my handle.

- Garrett's got stacks
of leather

He's just gluing together
with krazy glue

Even before punching
any holes in them.

- I think that he's gonna
set it all up with krazy glue

And just drill the whole stack
all in one shot.

It's a little rough 'cause
they do get a little wobbly.

It's hard to keep them in line.

- Argh!

The superglue
didn't do what I want.

It's loose.

Now I'm gonna have to drill
each one individually.

This wasn't in my plan.

[bleep].

- The judges didn't have
anything bad to say

About my blade,

Which means I get to use
all of this time

To only work on my handle,
which is awesome.

For my guard and pommel,
I choose to use brass

Because it's something easy
to work with.

I'll be slotting the guard

To fit right up against
the ricasso, or the blade.

Then I'll be drilling a hole
in the pommel

So that I can screw
everything together

And compress all of that leather

So that the leather pieces
won't move around.

Looks good.

♪ ♪

- Fermin shouldn't be going
anywhere but to his blade

And something
to straighten it with.

It's not a bad warp,

So if you were to put it
in the vise,

Bring that little section
up to red,

Straighten it, let it cool,
it'd be fine.

- Yeah.

- My plan is to leave
warp alone for now

Because I'm afraid
that if I put heat to it,

I might take the temper
out of it.

- If that handle is not perfect
and one of these guys

Don't fail, that warp
could send him home.

- Yeah.

- I've got my guard set.

Whoo-hoo!

But the gap between my guard
and my tang

Is a little bit too big.

The guard kind of rattles.

I need everything
nice and tight,

Or else your handle
could fall apart.

I know if I take it over
to the press,

It's gonna take up that gap

And it's not gonna affect
anything else.

I give it just a little squeeze.

♪ ♪

[bleep].

- Oh!
- Oh, I hate to see it.

- It just went "pkew."

I've got a real big wrinkle
in this thing,

And I'm worried that
if I can't get it fixed,

I'm gonna have to start all over

And then might be me going home.

All right, that's not
gonna work.

Smash it a little bit,
get it flat again,

And we're good to go.

Can I waste any more time?

♪ ♪

- All right, guys,
you have one hour

Left in the second round
of this competition.

♪ ♪

- Threading the pommel on
is the method

That I can guarantee you

I get 100% compression
of all of that leather.

I try to thread this thing,
and it's not working.

Come on, [bleep].

So I unscrew it, I look at I,

And my threads look terrible.

[bleep].

I scrap that plan.

I get a piece of all thread
and I weld it on.

I am a little worried
about how well it'll perform.

This [bleep] thing.

♪ ♪

- The problem with my edge
is that

When I did the canister,

Some of the mild steel
was still on the edge.

If I have any type
of mild steel,

It's gonna be too soft.

- Fermin doesn't seem like
he's gonna address

That warp at all.

- He's taking a big risk
right there, a gamble.

- Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

- I'm grinding off the edge
and testing it in the acid

To look to see
where my mild steel is.

I'm good.

Yeah!

It's time to get
the shape that I need.

- I get all the leather on
that I need.

Everything's nice and tight.

I put my butt cap on

And I head over to the welder.

- Instead of bothering
with threading a pommel,

He made a steel butt cap,

Compressed them,
went over to the welder,

And just welded the butt cap on.

- Do you think he got enough
compression over there?

- Hope so.

- Butt cap's on.

It's time to start
shaping the handle.

- How are we feeling, guys?

You only have 30 minutes left
until testing.

♪ ♪

- Five-minute epoxy,
you don't have a lot of tim.

- Got to get enough compression

Between that leather
in the guard and the pommel

So there aren't any fins
coming off that.

- I finally get the pommel
threaded onto the tang.

It starts to compress
the leather,

Which is exactly what I want.

That's the hardest part
of this whole thing,

So I start working
on the pommel.

♪ ♪

- I'm gonna go ahead

And put a very small pinhole
on my tang,

So that way, when I put
all my handle together,

I can just pin it.
Whoo!

Once I have the leather
all stacked,

I try to put the end cap on,

And the pinhole
is not lining up.

Come on, baby. Come on.

I start panicking.

If I don't put this pin

Within the next couple
of minutes,

I'm gonna have
to start all over again.

The hole is not lining up,
so this is telling me

That I have too much leather.

So I have to take
one piece of leather off,

Put the cap back on,
and see if it lines up.

I have the pin through it,
and I need to get going.

- A lot of hustle
but no rushing.

This is what I love to see.

♪ ♪

Five, four, three, two, one.

Bladesmiths, you crushed it.
- Whoo!

- Prepare yourselves
for testing.

- My biggest concern
with these tests

Is something coming loose
or breaking off on the handle.

It's all in the hands
of the judges and my knife.

♪ ♪

- Bladesmith's, welcome
to the strength test,

The torpedo chop.

To test the strength
and durability of your blades,

I'm gonna be chopping into
these torpedoes repeatedly.

This test isn't about what your
knives do to these torpedoes.

It's whether these torpedoes
explode your knives.

[laughter]

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

- I guess so.

♪ ♪

I got a good heat treat.

I've got a decent-looking
handle.

I'm pretty confident,

But this torpedo
looks absolutely menacing.

♪ ♪

Holy [bleep].

[blade clattering]

[bleep].
- Dang it.

[exhales sharply]

- Ow.

- All right, garrett,
couple things happened here.

The big thing, obviously,
your blade broke.

I don't see any flaw
in your steel here.

This is a nice tight grain,
but I think what happened

Was, on one of the strikes,
a chip came out,

And then the next strike,

It broke where the chip
came out.

It did break, but it was
doing great before it broke.

- It did a good job.

- But yeah, there's no denying
that, obviously.

- [chuckles]

- Well, garrett,
it's always hard to see

A blade explode like that,

But you're not quite out
of this fight yet.

We have two more tests to go.

Ethan, fermin,
you guys have to survive

Seven strikes on the torpedo
in order to move forward

Into round three.

You guys ready?
- Yes, sir.

- Sure.
[laughter]

- Love it. All right.

Ethan, you're up first.
Take it away, man.

♪ ♪

- Early on, I was going in,
I was relatively confident,

But after seeing
garrett's blade break,

All I got to do is survive.

♪ ♪

[item clatters]

- Oh.

- [bleep].

- Ethan, leather gives no
support to a handle at all.

It's just free to move around,
and it just snapped right thee

At the interface
of the pommel and the tang.

♪ ♪

We aren't sure that
these aren't just gonna slip

Right off as I start hitting.

It did suffer
a catastrophic failure.

We're just not gonna be able
to test this anymore.

- I understand.

♪ ♪

- All right, ethan, you got
one strike before it exploded.

Which, garrett, that means
you are moving forward

Into the third round
of this competition,

So congratulations, man.

But, ethan,
you're not out of it yet.

Fermin, you still
have to survive one strike

On this brutal torpedo.

How's your heart doing?

- It's fine.
It stopped, completely stopped.

[laughter]

- Well, fermin, you ready?

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

♪ ♪

- I just witnessed
two exploding blades.

♪ ♪

I'm shaking.
My knees are buckling on me.

I am very concerned.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[exhales heavily]

♪ ♪

- Well, guys, I got to say

These are three
beautiful blades,

But the torpedo has rung.

Ethan, due to the fact
that your blade

Suffered a catastrophic failure
on the first strike,

Your time in this competition
has ended.

I want to say thank you
for your service to our country

And letting us watch you work.

But unfortunately at this time,

I'm gonna have to ask you
to please step off

The forge floor.

- Kill it, guys.
- All right, guy.

- Thank you.
- I didn't win

And I'm gonna
be going home early,

But the challenges were hard,

The tests were brutal,

But I'm walking away
with a lot of new friend.

And I'm still
a two-time champion,

And there's very few of those.

- Well, garrett, fermin, you
guys rose above the competition

In your duels, getting
yourselves a check for $2,000.

It is down to the army
and the marines,

Battling it out for the title
of "forged in fire" champion

And a check for $10,000.

Now in this final round,

We're sending you back
to your home forges

To build an iconic weapon
from history.

In keeping up
with the military theme, guys,

We want you to build this,

The ames cavalry saber.

[both grunt]

- The ames 1860 cavalry saber
was a weapon of choice

For both union and confederae
armies during the civil war.

The lightweight sword features
a slightly curved blade

Designed to deliver
deadly slashes and stabs

Against enemy troops,

While the ornate guard serves
to protect the soldier's hand.

Originally produced by the
ames manufacturing company

In massachusetts,

The 1860 cavalry saber
was retired from combat duty

After the spanish-american war.

However, it is still used
for ceremonial purposes toda.

- Now, bladesmiths, when you're
building your sabers,

We want you to fall
within these parameters.

Your blade needs to measure
between 34 and 36 inches

From tip to the guard.

It needs to have a curvature.

Now, as far as the hilt goes,
you need to have a guard

That is at least
2 1/2 inches wide,

Has a knuckle bow,
two side rings.

Keeping the whole thing
together is a butt cap.

- Never made anything
close to this thing.

I'm not really set up to make
swords at my home forge,

So this is gonna be a whole
bunch of new territory for me.

- Guys, you have four days
to build your cavalry sabers.

Good luck.
We'll see you then.

♪ ♪

- It's really nice to be back
home in lincoln, nebraska,

Making the saber.

All right,
let's make some damascus.

I used 15n20 and 1080

To make my damascus.

That went good.

I think it's really
gonna set me apart.

♪ ♪

We're ready to roll.

Never really made
anything this long before.

It's gonna be difficult,
but I think I can get it done.

Nice and easy.

I've got
one more forge weld to go,

And then we're about ready
to start making the sword.

♪ ♪

- We're in winston-salem,
north carolina.

Let's get started.

First thing I'm gonna do today,

I'm gonna go ahead
and go with damascus.

Go big, or go home.

The first time
that I was on the show,

I did not have a press.

Now that I have the press,
I can't wait to use it.

Hoping for the best on this one.

Welds are really good.

I'm getting it
nice and squished.

I'm having a good time,
and all of a sudden...

[machine grinds]

♪ ♪

Ah!

[laughs]

My billet is stuck on the press.

I can't get it out.

The gears break.
My press is stuck.

I can't get my billet out.

I might as well have
to start another one.

Stuck.

So now that my damascus billet
is stuck,

I have nowhere to go
but to go to my backup plan.

I have a 1946 jeep leaf spring,

Military issue,
that I'm gonna use for this.

The leaf spring
is almost as close

As the thickness that I need.

So pretty much
all I have to do now

Is forge the bevel
and forge the tip.

So now that I have met
the parameters,

I'm going for the quench.

All right. Perfect.

♪ ♪

[blade scraping]

It's hard. Man.

I'm throwing in the towel.

[laughs]

- Here we are, day three.

Yesterday I forged out
the blade.

We're gonna heat-treat today.

I'm kind of shooting
from the hip.

My plan is to have two ovens
facing each other.

I'll pull them apart,
pull the blade out,

And then go into the quench.

It's kind of crunch time
right now.

I'm getting ready to quench.

Cross our fingers that we can
get actual hard blade.

If not, it's gonna be
a huge problem.

[dramatic music]

Pull the blade out, everything
came out really warp-y.

I'm gonna go ahead

And straighten it
with my straightening jig.

It's not as bad as it was, yeah.

- It's the morning of day three.

I am ready for today.

So yesterday
I got my guard shaped.

Let's see.

The last time I was on the show,

J. Neilson
actually hurt his hand

Because my guard was too small.

Oh! This time, I'm making sure
there's nothing

That could injure the judges.

Even though
it's not a requirement,

I am going to cover
the inside of the guard

With a piece of leather.

That way, there's
a little bit of cushion

Between the hand of the judges
and the guard.

Yeah.

Now that the guard
is cleaned up...

Let's see.

I'm gonna pick up some wood.

Here we go.

So I picked a nice piece
of black walnut,

Which is native
of north carolina.

All right, there we go.

I'm feeling good about my sword.

Tomorrow it's just gonna be
just the finishing touches.

- Start of day four.

So plan of attack for today is

Make everything look nice
and shiny and good

And then get everything
put together.

Now I think it's time
to get over

And get this thing assembled.

[bleep] yeah.

This is the first sword
I've ever done.

Trying to decide if it's
gonna be sturdy enough.

It's probably gonna be fine.
I'm just overthinking it.

But I'm gonna stick with knives.

They're more my style.

Totally fully assembled,
it looks badass.

I think matt would really,
really enjoy this.

I think he would love to go
and hack on some stuff with it.

That's for sure.

♪ ♪

Everything went great.

- It's the morning of day four.
I'm super excited.

There we go.

The sword is 99% completed.

The first time,
I decided not to test it.

I was not confident.

This time, I am gonna
test it with pineapple.

To my knowledge,
I am the only puerto rican

That has ever been on the show,

And I am so proud to be able
to represent puerto rico.

♪ ♪

It will cut.

It's the end of day four.
I am completely done.

Now it's in the hands
of the judges.

♪ ♪

- Garrett, fermin, welcome back
to the forge, guys.

Now we're down to the two
of you battling it out

For the title
of "forged in fire" champion

And a check for $10,000.

So we gave you four days
at your home forges to build

Your ames cavalry sabers,
and they look great.

But before these guys
get to testing,

I want to hear about them.

So, garrett,
how'd it go for you?

♪ ♪

- I did a w's pattern,

Damascus on the outside
with a cru forge v core.

- Well, it looks good.

Fermin, how'd it go for you?

♪ ♪

- It's 5160 steel,
and it's black and gold,

Representing
the united states army

Parachute team
the golden knights.

- That's awesome.
Well, guys,

We have a sharpest test,
we got a strength test,

And up first, the keal.
Doug?

♪ ♪

- All right, bladesmiths,
this is the keal test.

I'm gonna take your weapons.

I'm gonna deliver
some lethal blows

To this ballistics dummy.

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

- Sure.
- All right. Let's do it.

♪ ♪

- Since the test is so brutal,

I think my biggest worry
is taking edge damage.

♪ ♪

- Ah!

Oh!

♪ ♪

[groans]

Damn.
- [laughs]

♪ ♪

- All right, garrett,
let's talk about

Your ames cavalry saber here.

First up,
your handle construction.

So I'm able to get my hand
in it and I've got a good grip,

But your guard is small,
because every time I swing,

I'm hitting it
with my knuckle right thee

And I can feel that impact.

But that edge cuts very deep

Into this ballistics dummy
even on the thrust.

Overall, sir,
your ames cavalry saber,

It will keal.

- Thank you.

- Okay, fermin,
it's your turn, sir.

Are you ready?
- Yes, I am.

- Let's do this.
[laughter]

- The ballistic dummy
is a very tough test

Because there's bones inside.

You don't want to get
the blade shift

Or you don't want
to even have bend.

♪ ♪

- [grunts]

- Hell yeah.

- All right, fermin, let's talk
about your cavalry saber here.

This is a heavier blade,
but it really aids in the cuts.

These are much deeper cuts
because of the weight

That you have in here.

And of course, at the end,

It sliced and diced
the head off easily.

Overall, sir, your saber,
it will keal.

- Yeah!

♪ ♪

- All right, gentlemen, it's
time for the strength tes,

The caisson chop.

I'll be taking your sabers

And chopping into
this ammunition case.

Now, this test is not about

What your blades do to that case

But what the case
might do to your blades.

♪ ♪

Garrett, you're up first.
You ready?

- Yeah.

It's pretty brutal slamming
into that thing like that.

You never know
what could happen.

When he comes down
a little bit odd,

Could break my edge.

If that happens, I'm going home.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- All right, first off, garrett,

Your blade edge
took no damage whatsoever,

Which is great.

But what's happened is, you've
got these leather washers

Top and bottom of your guard,
and those are compressed,

So now you've got
a guard that's loose.

But it's still
really maneuverable.

You got the balance
and the weight really nic.

Nicely done.
- Thank you.

- Fermin, you're up.
You ready?

- Yes, sir. Yes, I am.
- Okay.

♪ ♪

- Oh, my god.

♪ ♪

Oh!

♪ ♪

- All right, fermin,

Your blade is in good shape.

There's one section right here

That's just not that sharp.

Your handle is a little
on the large side,

But the leather underneath here

Made it comfortable,
but all in all,

Still solid,
still in the one piece.

Nicely done.
- Thank you, sir.

♪ ♪

- All right, bladesmiths,
this is the sharpness test,

The canvas tent slice.

♪ ♪

To find out how sharp
your sabers are,

I'm gonna take your weapons

And slice on these canvas tents.

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

- Let's do it.

♪ ♪

- Nice job, bro.
- Yes, sir.

- All right, garrett,

Let's talk
about your saber here.

Your edges took no damage
and are razor sharp.

The guard is still
a little loose,

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

- Thank you.

- All right, fermin,
it's your turn, sir.

You ready?
- Yes, sir.

- Let's do it.
- All right.

♪ ♪

- Here we go.

♪ ♪

- All right, fermin, let's talk
about your edge over here.

So you have a sharp edge
all the way through

Except that one section
right here you missed.

But it still cuts on the canvas,

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

- Yes.

♪ ♪

- All right, bladesmiths.

Well, I got to say it's been
an absolute honor

Watching a bunch of fellow
veterans come into our forge.

But the armed forces
redeployment tournament

Has come to an end, and the
judges have made a decision.

Today's "forged in fire"
champion is...

♪ ♪

Fermin.
Congratulations.

Now, garrett, you fought hard,

And I'm happy
to watch you work here,

But unfortunately your blade
did not make the cut toda,

And doug's gonna tell you why.

♪ ♪

- Garrett, you brought us
a blade that not only

Is beautiful; it's sharp,
and I love the balance.

But these sabers are known
to take a beating

As well as give a beating,

And your guard
loosened during our test.

That's the reason why.

- I understand.

- Well, garrett, I know I speak
for everybody here when I say

Thank you for your service
to our country,

But unfortunately
I'm gonna have to ask you

To please step off
the forge floor.

♪ ♪

- Good job, brother.
- All right, thanks, man.

All right, thanks, guys.

Fermin made
a really great sword,

So he definitely deserved

To take home the title,
that's for sure.

There was eight guys
to start out with,

And to go through all
that we have gone through

Was pretty incredible.

I'd love to take home
that title,

So yeah, I'd probably
give it another go.

♪ ♪

- Well, fermin,
congratulations, man.

That means you are the champion

Of the armed forces
redeployment tournament,

And you just won yourself
a check for $10,000.

Congratulations.
- Whoo. Man!

Man, I just became
the "forged in fire" champion.

Wepa!

I feel great. I feel blessed.

The army took it again.

- Fermin, seeing you
at a loss for words...

[laughter]

- I want to go home,
have a beer, relax,

And just enjoy the moment.

[laughs]