Forged in Fire (2015–…): Season 8, Episode 42 - Beat the Unbeaten: Scrap Steel Challenge - full transcript

- Here in The Forge,

we've put hundreds of smiths
to the test,

but one fierce competitor
has proven himself

time and time again, Ben Abbott.

An expert blacksmith
and bladesmith,

a fan favorite turned judge,

Ben Abbott remains undefeated
in this forge,

but soon, all that could change.

Tonight, we've gathered
three talented bladesmits

to go head, to head, to head,
to beat the unbeaten.

- Come on.
- Right there.



- Do they have what it takes
to finally beat Ben Abbott?

The competition continues now.

- I'm Jeremy Gonzales.
I'm from Beeville, Texas.

I served in the Navy

on the U.S. submarine force.

I've been forging for

a little over three years now.

I never really had
the opportunity

until I went
to a PTSD treatment center

in Bandera, Texas
called Warriors Heart.

Hopefully, that warrior
mentality can push me

over the edge of what it takes
to beat Ben today.

- My name's Zechariah Nelson.

I'm from Bowling Green,
Kentucky.



I've been bladesmithing
for about seven years now.

I'm a custom fabricator for my

parents construction business.

At home, I have five sisters

and four brothers rooting
for me,

along with my parents
and my amazing wife.

If I can beat Ben at 19,
I can do anything.

- I'm Robert Loveday.
I'm from Carroll, Nebraska,

I'm an anesthesiologist

and part-time bladesmith.

I started making knives

when I was about 22 years old.

It was a big stress relief
for me and it just stuck.

I really want a chance
to go against Ben,

show them what I got
and see what he's got.

Gonna be a lot of fun.

- Bladesmiths,
welcome to The Forge.

The three of you signed up

for an intense bladesmithing
competition

that's going to test
every aspect of your skills.

Now, today's competition will
not consist of three rounds.

We're not gonna have
a whole forging portion

of the competition,

and you're not gonna be
going against your peers

for the title of
"Forge in Fire" champion

and the check for $10,000.

Instead, in order
to take home the win,

you're gonna have to face
a fierce opponent

with an unbeaten record,
currently 5-0, Ben Abbott.

Ben, you got anything
to say these guys

before they get into it?

- Hope you brought your A-game

'cause it's not going
to be easy,

but good luck to all of you.

- Ben is gonna be purely
an observer

during the first portion
of this competition.

He's not gonna be present
during the testing.

Now that is in the hands of
our two other esteemed judges.

They are the ones
who are gonna be making

all of the critical decisions
as to who's gonna stay

and who's gonna be heading home.

Now here's how
it's going to work.

You will have five hours
to complete a blade

from start to finish.

We don't have any model blade
we want you to recreate.

We want you to put together
your signature blade

in your signature style.

In order to do so,
we want you to use this.

Bladesmiths, what we have here
is a pile of scrap steel

from previous competitions.

Guys, we got everything
from sledgehammers,

the excavator bucket from
the second chance tournament,

we've got farming tools
from the farming competition,

we've got nails.
There is a ton of options here.

We just ask that you

source your high-carbon steel
from this pile

and use any forge welding
technique you want

to make your blades.

You cannot do
a mono steel blade,

but you can do a canister,
you can do twisted Damascus,

you can do layered Damascus.
That choice is up to you.

Now again, you guys have to do
a forge-welded blade.

Just makes sure that they fall
within these parameters.

By the end of
the five-hour competition,

you need to turn in
a 13-to 15-inch blade.

When that time runs out,
you need to be quenched,

hardened, tempered,
and have a handle attached,

fully functional,
and ready for testing.

- I see there's not gonna be

an easy layered Damascus
with known steel,

but you gotta be expecting
a bunch of random materials

if you're coming on
this competition.

- Now at the end of that
five-hour round,

your blades will get tested
by Dave and Doug

and they're gonna check
for strength and durabiliy

in a copper pipe chop,

and they're gonna check
your edge retention

in a foam tube slice.

Now, bladesmiths,
I hope you're rested

because you only have five hours

to complete your very best blade

to prove to these guys
you have what it takes

to beat Ben Abbott.
Good luck.

Your time starts now.

Here we go.

All right guys, looking at
the pile we have here,

what would you guys
be going for?

- I'd probably take one of
those big, old ball bearings

draw it out,
put some mild on the sides.

- Personally, I would grab
either the chainsaw chain

or the nails and do a canister
so have a lot of options

for drawing that out
into a weapon.

- My game plan is to make
a canister Damascus.

I see that coil of piano wire,

I know that it's a good,
high-carbon steel.

Somebody want one of these?

Nobody wanted those nice,
round W1 bars

and so I snatched those up, too.

I'd probably done
10 or 12 canisters at home

and I've had pretty
good success with them.

I need more wire.

I wash everything with acetone

and take the forge scale off
of the W1 round.

So they'll... hopefully,
they'll get a nice, clean weld.

- Rob's got the piano wire
and W1

from the pick of the barrel
challenge.

- But that's not really
what I would choose.

They're not gonna give you
a lot of pattern.

- Welding.

So if I don't get a good weld
on this,

the powder can start
burning out of there.

Oxygen can get in there,
cause some bad welds.

So I'm starting
to feel the pressure.

This is so..

I'm a young smith and I may
think that I can do anything,

but I know I'm limited
in my skill,

so I really didn't want
to risk canister Damascus,

so I just saw this train spring.

And I figured that'd be really
easy to uncoil once I got hot.

- Well, it looks like Zechariah
is going with that coil spring.

- Yep.
- And let's see if he's active.

- Welding.

- We do not want
mono steel blades.

- Yeah.

- I just have to include
a forge weld somewhere,

so I just took my canister,

threw the chainsaw
chain in here,

filled up with powder.

- Zechariah's got the chainsaw.

Hopefully, he's going to do
a nice Damascus San Mai.

- Probably confused the judges.

Welding.

But I knew what I was doing.

I was gonna make
two bolsters with it

and just kind of forge weld
those on there.

And I was trying to think
outside the box

so I can go up against
Ben Abbott.

Gotta get it hot.

- There's scrap left over
from past challenges,

so I grabbed this
God-awful contraption.

It has a big chunk of spring
steel in the middle of it

and use that as my base billet
and then use the mild stel

from the side of the bucket
for a San Mai,

where you put two different
types of steel together

to give it more flexibility
for the chop challenge.

- Jeremy is just grabbing
mild steel

from the side of the bucket.

- That's a very
time-consuming process.

- Oh, yeah.

- I had no idea it was gonna
be so difficult to cut into.

Holy cow, a stick.

- Looks like Jeremy has
just tunnel vision

rather than pick up
a different piece of metal

that's much easier
to forge weld.

- I'm pounding on this thing.
It is not working.

Come in!

- I'm just not making
any progress at this point.

Finally, I decided to use
a pry tool and pry it open.

And I just stomped on
the thing and it flies off.

Now I can move on to
the second piece that I need.

Come on.

- While that Damascus
is heating up,

I think a guard
might impress the judges.

I hope it gets me through
to face Ben Abbott.

So I pull out a three inch
thick piece of angle iron

to start working on a guard.

- Good thing about this
five-hour round

is they can work
on the entire blade throughout.

- My plan is to punch
a hole in it.

So I take it to the press.

They got stuck in there.

Usually, I just can hit it
on the side, pound it of,

but today, it's not coming off.

It's stuck in there.

- Rob got that punch stuck
in his guard for so long.

He looks tired.

- Like 20 minutes trying to get
the punch out of the guard.

- And I'm wasting time.

Eventually, I get
the punch off of the guard.

It's cost me more time than
is worth it.

- While I was waiting on that
spring coil to get hot,

I drew my design,

just, like, a camp knife.

Something that you can chop
a copper pipe with

or cut a foam tube with
in this scenario.

The coil heated pretty quick.

The forges here are pretty hot.

I got it straight by taking
a piece of scrap angle iron

and the leftover of my canister.

It actually worked out
really well.

And then that canister
in the forge,

I took it and I squished it out

to make two bolsters with it.

Man, that sucks.

The spring coil wasn't
very wide,

so there wasn't
a lot of material to draw out.

- Now Zechariah's blade looks
like it's getting pretty lean.

- Yeah, you don't want
the front of it to flop up

when you're hitting the back.

- Right there.

- I set the San Mai welds
by hand and they look great.

I feel like
they're sticking pretty good.

And then I think to myself,

"I should probably
have a design."

And I sketch out
the Bowie knife there,

I think it would be perfect

for the testing
of this competition.

It's perfect for chopping.

Has a belly on it, so I can
slice through the foam

better than a straight edged
knife would.

- I like the look
of Jeremy's blade.

It's kind of that
a Persian fighter feel to it.

- Yeah.

- Big Blu, of course,
makes short worth my billet,

so I feel like I'm on track.

Nice.

- So I checked on the canister.
Temperature looks great.

I take it over to the press
with the squaring dyes,

feels like it's welding up
really well.

I'm going to leave
that can on there

and just start drawing out
a long, thin piece of steel.

So my plan is to make a recurve
chopping knife and to do that,

I need to fuller out
the width of the blade

so that the end of the blade

can get that big swell
that'll be great for chopping.

- Look at Rob's billet. That
is, like, 2 1/2 inches tall.

- I'm deliberately leaving it
a little bit thick.

I don't want to be caught

halfway through the competition,

find out I don't have
enough steel

to make the knife that
I want to make.

- I shaped my blade
pretty well, actually.

I have no mild steel
on my blade at all.

So I'm going to forge weld two
bolsters onto the side of it

and using that canister
that I made.

Cleaned up on both sides
and cut it into two pieces,

put bolsters on each side.

- I'm looking
at what Zechariah's doing.

Basically, he's got
a mono steel blade

with a canister Damascus
bolster.

- The rules say
you need to have a forge weld

in the creation
of the blade of your weapon.

- So this doesn't count.

He did forge weld,
but not for the blade.

- The idea is if you forge weld
on your blade,

there's a possibility that
those forge welds don't take,

and it's a demonstration
of skill.

- I get the blade up to a good
temperature for a good quench.

You don't want to get it too hot

or else you'll run the risk
of cracking your blade.

- But guys, Rob, just quenched.

What do you think
of the temperatures?

- That was a little hot for me.

- Yeah.
- Yeah?

- Then I pull it out
and it starts to warp.

I don't know why it warped,
but it... it warped.

This point,
I'm starting to get worried.

I'm going to have to try
to straighten out the warp.

I can grind some of it out,
but not enough,

so I start bending the blade,

hopefully before it
completely hardens.

Try to put a good amount
of pressure on it

without breaking it.

I'm really hoping

this isn't going to be
the reason I go home.

Seems like everything's

getting a little bit straighter.

I should be able to grind out

any warps that are left behind.

- I'm trying to make sure
that color is even

throughout the whole blade
before I quench it.

That way,
I don't have hard spots

and harder spots and everything.

- Oh.
- Holy cow.

- It's screaming already.

- It's straight as it can be.
Didn't pick up a warp.

Went and took a file to it.

It's hard.

Oh, yeah.

- All right bladesmiths,

you guys are halfway through
this five-hour round.

You have two hours
and 30 minutes left.

- So I'm like, gosh, my blade
isn't even quenched yet.

So I'm waiting for it to get
the critical temperature.

- Holy moly.
- Oh, that's hot.

- Yeah, that is screaming hot.

- I quench and I just don't
have a good feeling about it.

It's way too hot,
way too many flames coming up.

It has this huge warp in it.

Try to get it out
by pressing the top of it.

I'm starting to get nervous
that it's going to snap,

So I make the choice
to quench again,

which is not a good idea

'cause you're going to
lose carbon in the steel.

First quench didn't go too good.

- Really?
- Literally like a banana.

- Quenching multiple times
from a very high temperature

gives just a big, big grain.
It makes things overly brittle.

- You know,
not the same amount of flame,

so I'm feeling
a lot better about this.

Pretty good.

There's a slight warp,

but it's definitely something
I can handle on the grinder.

- So my blade is looking
really good,

but now I need to focus
on the handle.

Handles are very important to me

and one of my favorite parts
of making a knife,

and so I had to take pride

in how clean
and crisp I get them.

- Good to see that Rob
is in there

reaming out
that handle material.

- He's certainly far ahead

and he's got a blade
that looks gorgeous.

- So I get everything lined up
and fit up,

make sure that there aren't
any major gaps.

And fortunately, everything
goes together really well.

I hope it gets me through
to face Ben Abbott.

- All right, guys,
you have an hour left.

Go ahead and get it done.

- Yeah, we've got three handles

that need to be pitted up,
blued, and shaped.

- I can't wait
for my epoxy to dry,

so I go over there with a
grinder with clamps on there

and I start working.

I'm just sharpening the blade,

just putting the last
little edge on there

just making sure it was
razor-sharp,

just making sure it was
ready for testing.

- I did say we don't want
to see mono steel blades.

And that would be considered
a mono steel blade, you guys?

- Oh, yeah.

- I have no mild steel
on my blade at all.

And so I have no fear that

when that blade hits
that pipe, that it's solid.

That will easily pass
the testing.

- All right.
Rob is in the acid bath.

We're definitely gonna see
a pattern there.

- That's great.

- We got a wrapped-up blade
from Zechariah,

so I do not think we're gonna
see an acid etch there.

- No.

- A little bit of handle work.

Jeremy, coming down to it, guys.

- I finally get my epoxy.

And then that's when I noticed
the huge gap between the guard

and the edge
of the handle scale.

Best thing I figured
I could do at the time

is just try to fill it
with epoxy

to make sure that the guard
can stay in a place

and survive the testing.

- Eight minutes
for your glue to dry.

I mean, it's five-minute epoxy.

- Gonna get tight.

Bladesmiths, you have five
minutes left before testing.

Ben that means, unfortunately,
it's time for you to head out.

We will see you
in the next competition, buddy.

- All right.

- So right now I'm hoping

that my emergency fix
is going to be enough.

- Five, four, three, two, one.

Bladesmiths,
turn off your machines,

put down your tools.

This round is over.

- Looking at my blade,
I feel pretty good about it.

I think I've got
a pretty good chance

at making it to the next round

where I get
to go against Ben Abbott.

That's the big thing.

- Bladesmiths,
welcome to testing.

Now, in the first round
of competition,

we asked you guys
to use pieces of scrap steel,

use a forge welding technique
to build your blades,

and turn in something that was
between 13 and 15 inches,

but you cannot make
a mono steel blade.

Unfortunately,
we do have a parameter issue.

Zechariah, unfortunately,
your blade does miss parameters

and Dave Baker
is going to tell you why.

- Zechariah, I think you made
a really great-looking

blade here,
but Grady was very specific

when he asked that part
of the blade be forge wel.

You forge welded on a bolster,
not part of the blade.

Sets up an unfair
testing advantage where both

your opponents have forged
weld sections of the blade.

- Now, Zechariah,

unfortunately, your time
in The Forge is ended.

I'm going to have to ask you

to please step off
The Forge floor.

- I appreciate it.
- Thank you so much.

- I see David Baker's point.
I understand it.

The two bolsters, I figured,
it was a nice,

easy way to throw
some canister Damascus,

throw a little bit
of spice into my blade.

I'm going home
my head held high.

No regrets.

- All right, gentlemen.

It's time for the strength
test, the copper pipe smash.

Now, we've seen this test chew
the edge off a lot of blades.

But for the proper heat treat,
should survive with no proble.

Jeremy, you're up first,
you ready?

- Do it to it.

- Sounds good.

- I'm a little worried
about my heat treat.

The second quench is definitely

in the back of my mind
and I'm just hoping

my handle stays together
at this point.

- All right, Jeremy.

So start out
with the blade here.

Man, this thing's still sharp.
Good job.

Your handle construction is...
Yeah, it's a...

It's a bit rushed.

The main problem
I have with this

is your handle kind of
gets thinner towards the back.

So as I was swinging this,

I kind of had
to keep readjusting

to get a good grip on this.

Having said that,
your blade held up beautifully.

So good job, man.
- Thank you.

- You bet. All right, Rob.
You're up. Are you ready?

- All right, let's do it.
- Okay.

- Copper is a really soft metal,

and so the blade edge sinks n

and then any kind of twisting
or bending of the knife

will cause it to chip and break
out of there and roll the edge.

- So one of the things I really
like about your blade

is I see a crafted blade here.

The handle's got
a really nice shape to it.

Two parts, hidden tang,
well-fitted-up guard.

There's a couple
of small deflections,

but nothing major,
and your edge is straight.

Very well done.
- Thank you.

- All right, bladesmiths.

This is the sharpness test,
the foam tube slice.

Now, unlike the strength,
this is all about

how sharp your blades are
and how well they cut.

Jeremy, you're up first.
Are you ready?

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

- So this is it.

The last obstacle I have
between me and Ben.

So have at it, Doug.
Let's go.

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

It's got a good feel
in the balance.

Now, your edge is sharp.

It has nice cuts
to the first strike.

Not all the way through
in the last pieces,

but overall, sir,
your weapon, it'll cut.

All right, Rob, your turn.
So you ready?

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

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

First up,

that's a handsome profile
that you have right there.

Now, your edge, it does cut.

The first swing, it cut through

and the second swing
on the back-end side

also cut through
these foam tubes.

Overall, sir, your weapon,
it'll cut.

- Thanks.

- All right, bladesmiths.

Both of your blades performed
extremely during our testin,

but in this competition,
only one of you can move

forward into the final round
and face Ben Abbott.

The judges talked
over your blades

and they did come up
with a final decision.

Bladesmith who's moving forward

into the final round of this
competition to face Ben Abbott

is...

Rob.
Congratulations, man.

Jeremy, you fought hard,

but unfortunately,
your blade didn't make the cut,

and Doug's gonna tell you why.

- Jeremy, your steel
is strong and sharp,

but at the end of the day,

your handle construction
with that guard

is not as refined
as that of Rob's

and that's the reason
we're letting you go.

- Thank you.

- Well, Jeremy,
thank you for coming out.

It was a pleasure
watching you work,

but unfortunately, your time
in this competition has ended.

Now, I have to ask you

to please step off
The Forge floor.

- Thank you.
I appreciate it so much.

- Thank you, Jeremy.

- I definitely agree
with the judges' decision.

I'm still humbled and grateful

for this awesome
and amazing experience.

I believe Rob is the perfect
guy to go up against Ben.

What's next for me
is I'm gonna go home,

I'm gonna continue making knives

and reaching out
to other veterans

and helping them
as much as I can.

- Rob, congratulations man.

That means you are
gonna be going

to the final round
of this competition

going head-to-head
with Ben Abbott,

where are you gonna choose what
blade you're gonna be building

as well as what technique
you're gonna be using

to build that blade.
How do you feel?

- This is gonna be awesome.
I'm excited about it.

- Well, this is the last time

you're going to see
these two judges

because they are going into the
final testing completely blind.

- Ben Abbott's
really good smith.

This is his home turf.

I would love to bring him down.

That would be a notch in my belt

to say I beat Ben Abbott
one-on-one in The Forge.

- Rob, congratulations.

You gotta be feeling on top
of the world right now, right?

- Yeah, it feels fantastic.

- You just came off a huge win

against two
formidable opponents.

But in order to get the title
of "Forged In Fire" champion

and a check for $10,000,

you're gonna have to go
head-to-head

against our unbeaten judge,
Ben Abbott.

Hey, Ben.

- I am not surprised.

I really respect Rob.

I respect his choices

and I respect his work
that I've seen thus far.

I know I got my work cut out
for me to go up against him.

- Welcome back, Ben.
- Good to be here, Grady.

- Now, you guys are gonna be
going head-to-head

in a competition where
you're building a blade

from start to finish.

And you will only have
nine hours to complete it.

But as you noticed,

Dave and Doug will not be
joining us in this competition.

They're gonna be going into
the testing completely blin,

not knowing whose blade
is whose.

Now, Rob, you chose a weapon
from our "Forged in Fire" vault

that you wanted
to build up against Ben.

Ben, you're gonna
be building this.

- Uh-oh.

The Irish ring-hilted sword.

- Oh.

- The Irish ring sword was
a weapon of the elite

gallowglass mercenaries
in 12th-century Ireland.

This extremely long,
double-edged sword

was featured in season 5
of "Forged in Fire"

where the smiths were challenged

with not only having to forge
out something of this length,

but also the added challenge
of putting a fuller in it.

While both smiths struggled
to make such a long blade

both light and strong,

one smith went too thin
in his design,

causing a bend in testing and
costing him the competition.

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

you have a lot of parameters
to follow.

Your blade measured
from tip to the guard

needs to be
between 29 and 31 inches.

Need to have at least
20 inches of fullers

running up both sides
of the blade

and your guard
needs to be S-shaped

and have forked terminals

with at least three fingers
on each.

And at the end of your handle,
you need to have a ring pommel.

And inside that pommel,

you have to be able
to see the exposed tang.

Now Rob, you also got to choose
the steel you want to use

to build your Irish
ring-hilted sword.

You're gonna be building it
with this...

Ladder pattern Damascus.

- I remember a competition
where Ben Abbott said

that his specialty
is a ring-hilted knife.

This sword should be
right up his alley.

And I hope it sends a message
that I'm not afraid

to go up against him with a
sword he knows how to mak.

- All right guys, nine hours
is not a lot of time

to build this sword
in this technique,

but I've got full faith
that you can both do it.

Once that nine hours
is complete,

Doug's gonna start it off
with a ballistics dummy

and water tube slice.

Then Dave is gonna take over

and check
for strength and sharpness

in a Kendo stick chop

and at the tatami matt slice.

Good luck.
Your time starts now.

So these guys have nine hours
to complete their blades.

Now, they're starting off with
32 layers of 10-95 and 15N2.

That is gonna be a huge stack

if they decide to do
a forge weld all at one time.

- First step is gonna be to be
to clean up all these pieces.

If had to figure out a reason
that I keep coming back

and competing,
it would be a touch of insanity

mixed with a real, absolute
passion for this craft

and a passion to be challenged,

especially by some of the best
in the world.

I know I can make this sword.
I've done it before.

It took me a lot longer
than nine hours last time.

So let's see
if I can speed it up.

This time, I'm going to go
with two billets.

I'm going to draw them out,
cut them into even lengths,

stack those,
and make a sword from there.

It's something in the region
of 80 to 90 layers

and you can cut
a pretty good ladder into that.

- I have done projects
like this before

over the course of months,
not over nine hours.

My goal is to go for
two billets of 16 layers each,

cut 'em into five pieces,
stack those up to 160,

and then cut that in half,

stack it up again
to get a total of 320 layers.

That should look pretty good
in the final product.

- A risk of going more layers
is if I get a bad weld,

then I have to start over
from scratch.

So I don't want to take
too much risk,

but I know Ben is bringing
his A game.

So I better go the distance.
That man's an animal.

Rob took a look over across
The Forge and saw that

Ben is now already
drawing his first billet out

and chuckled to himself.

Now he's finally realizing

how serious Ben is about
his work and this competition.

- The two billets are
drawn out to the right lengt.

I have them all cleaned up
on the grinder.

And I'm going to chop them
into five-inch sections.

I end up with seven layers.

There is some gapping
between the layers.

It is a little bit of a concern.

I really would like that
to all be nice and tight.

It may show up later
as delamination

if enough air gets in there
before I can flatten it,

but I just don't have time
to grind things flat.

I just have time
to grind things clean.

So I weld it all together
as it is into one billet

and throw it in the forge.

- I grabbed my Damascus

and I start setting the welds
on the press.

- Rob did say he wanted to do
ladder pattern Damascus,

so they're not gonna be able
to get away

with a really low layer count

'cause you're not going
to be able to see the patter.

And you can't go too high

because of going
to kind of mesh together.

- I have my Damascus bars
drawn out.

I need to divide them up
hopefully into five pieces each

and restack them
to get a total of 144 layers.

I weld them up at the MIG welder

and put them back in the forge.

- Now to put the ladder in it.

So I ended up
with 85 layers in my billet.

I think that's
a high enough layer count

to get a visible ladder pattern.

I'd rather double that,

but I just don't have time
to double that,

so I figured 80, 85.

Close enough.

- So now my main billet
is up to temperature.

It's 144 layers,

so I gently start
setting those welds.

- That was a tall stack, Rob.

- A bit too tall. I hope it
doesn't mush around too much.

- Yeah, that's the risk, right?

He's got to make sure
that you can get to

every single one of those layers

all pressed down
or welded together at one time.

- Now I'm ready to do
another restack.

I can tell Ben's ahead of me.

I think if I can do
one single restack,

just double my 144 layers
up to 288 layers,

that's a good,
respectable layer count.

Hopefully, it will not cost me
too much time.

- Bladesmiths, the clock says
four and a half hours.

That means you guys are halfway
through this competition.

- I finished my thermal cycles.

It's time to quench,

and I really want this quench
to go well.

The slightest little warp,
somewhere in the middle,

could be catastrophic.

- Ben has quenched his blade.

He's way ahead of the game
right now.

- I'll take it.

I'm so happy.

It is absolutely,
laser straight.

It's time to grind in
the fullers.

- I found a crack.

- Something bad happened
during Ben's quench

and it formed a crack
right down the center

of one of the edges
that could potentially be

running all the way
through the entire blade.

- Got four hours
left in this round.

I've got to grind this out

or to find some other way
to fix it

'cause I don't have time
to start a new blade right no.

- He's currently unbeaten,

and this could mean
his first loss.

I can grind it.

If it's still somewhere bad,
MIG weld it.

- He's in frantic grinding mode

trying to get it
all the way out.

- I think I took care of it.

I ground it way back,
so I think it's gone

so it's not gonna be an issue.

I was very happy

I was able to grind
that the delamination away.

- There are a couple of ways
to do fullers.

One is you grind off metal,

but I'm worried that I'm not
going to have enough steel,

so the other way is to forge
them in with the press.

Ugh.
Not very straight.

It's not great,
but it is what it is.

I've got to move on.

Hopefully, I can fix it
a little bit at the grinder.

- I put the blade
into the temper oven

and now it's time
to start thinking ahead

for the ring-hilt pommel.

Doing a nice, small
pilot hole first.

- So Ben's got
a piece of mild steel,

just a disk that
he drilled a hole through

and now he is drifting
that whole to make it wider

finished that pommel off.

- I drill the holes
for the tang to fit through.

Some of the difficulties
with making a donut shape

is that it's really obvious

when the hole
isn't in the middle.

All right.

There's a lot of different
parts of this blade.

I can't waste any time.
I've got to keep going.

- All right, cross your fingers.

In the last round,
I had a big warp

and I don't want it
to be an issue for me again.

So this time,

I do everything I can
to avoid warps.

I did
a good normalization process,

so I expect it
to be pretty good.

Ben seems to be about two
steps farther along than me,

so I've got a lot of ground
to make up.

It looks pretty darn straight.

- Bladesmiths, you're down to
the final two hours remaining.

- I'm working on grinding
the sword,

back to the guard,
back to the pommel.

Suddenly, I realized,

"You haven't even started
the handle."

So I find a piece of poplar.

It's a relatively light wood,
but it's pretty strong.

I don't have to worry about
going to a nice, fine finish

'cause this handle
is going to get wrapped.

This just got a lot harder
when I can't open my fingers.

I coated my fingers
with so much contact cemet

that the string is sticking
to my fingers

more than it's sticking
to the wood.

Ah, I'm so sticky,
but the spring isn't sticking.

It looked like something out
of a Charlie Chaplin movi.

Everything was sticking
to everything.

Finally, I get
the wrap going okay.

But at the end
of the last competition,

I really just hated
how the handle came out.

I hated how much I rushed.

That damn thing on the
damn wrong side.

And now, that big, red clock
is breathing down my neck.

I can feel it.

- Excellent.

I know that a guy with Ben's
skills is not cutting corner,

so I need to at least make
my guard look good.

The guard's coming together.

It has good symmetry, good form.

I kind of liked the way
that the arms sweep up.

Everything's going great
right now.

- I've got about
27 minutes left.

Why don't we just go ahead
and fit this stuff up?

Nope.

This slide is on the
crossguard and it's loose.

- If it comes down to it,

they both have strong
and sharp blades.

What they're working on
right now

with the fit and finish
could mean the difference

between a win and a loss.

- I take the edges of the slot,

I hammer them from the top
and I bend them in like thi.

Then I take a squashed pipe.

I drive that crossguard
all the way down.

And now, I know that
that crossguard

isn't going to start rattling

during testing,
it isn't gonna be an issue.

- We're down to the final
15 minutes before testing.

- I am frantic.

I'm scrambling trying
to get everything together

to do my glue-up.

Oh, no.
Not good.

The edge of the ring
is hitting the tang

and I'm unable to lock
everything down.

If this gives way
during the strength test,

and things could start
to rattle and cut loose,

so I'm worried.

Ugh.

To fix this, I have
to grind off some of that tag

so I can get it back on,

hopefully before
the epoxy's set enough

that I can tighten
everything down.

If I don't get this done,
it can be a disaster

and it'll definitely
cost me competition.

I guarantee Ben's sword's gonna
be tight.

- Five, four, three, two, one.

You guys just finished
a nine-hour build.

Well done.

- When I look over at Ben's
blade for the first time,

it looks good.

But I know that as good
as Ben's blade looks,

what it's gonna come down to
is the test.

If I can perform well
on the test

and he has some kind of problem
in the test,

then I can still come away
with a victory.

- Well guys, welcome back.

I got to say,
you missed an epic competition.

Rob and Ben had nine hours

to build their
Irish ring-hilted swords

in ladder pattern Damascus.

And up to the last minute,

I had no idea
if they were going to finis.

What do you guys think?
Doug?

- Beautiful work.
I'm really impressed.

I mean, they're so close.

The first thing I noticed
is when I picked up silver,

the balance
and the light feel of that,

it's comfortable in the hand.

- Dave, what do you think?

- It's got a lower layer pattern

probably by a hundred layers.

So you get
a less dramatic ladder.

Still a ladder pattern,
it's just not as dramatic.

Now we get to green.

Now, green's definitely
a more stout sword.

I like the detail on the handle

and I really liked
that ladder pattern.

- Although green
is a heavier blade

and that's why you have
a bigger ring on it.

- All right, guys, well,

it sounds like
you're impressed by the blades,

but there's only one way
we know how to find out

who's taking the win.

Ready for testing?

- Oh, yeah.
- Giddyup.

- Let's call 'em in.

Well, Rob, Ben,
I got to say guys,

I am thoroughly impressed.

You guys took on
the monumental task

in building a 30-inch sword
in nine hours.

Right now, Ben, you're in this
to defend your champion title

and go for your sixth win
on "Forged in Fire."

Rob, you're trying
to knock him off his throne,

go for your first win,
and a check for $10,000.

I wish I could give you guys
both the prize here,

but the best way we know
how to find out

which one of you guys
is going home with the win

is by putting your blades
through some tests.

First dynamic kill test
with Doug.

- Alright, bladesmiths, welcome
to the dynamic kill test.

To find out how lethal
your weapons are,

I'm going to deliver
some deadly blows

on this ballistics dummy
and cut some water tubes.

- I'm going first.

I know my blade is sharp
and I'm pretty sure

it's going to cut deeply
into that ballistics dummy,

but those water tubes
are quite telling.

So there might be
a small section

and that's all it takes
to just stop dead

in some of those tubes.

- All right guys,

when delivering
the cuts over here,

they slash nicely
to the water tubes

and just demolished
that ballistics dummy.

On that piece,
probably ran out of blade

as I'm cutting on the back end,
but it's, you can see,

the cuts, they are very sharp.

Overall, It will KEAL and cut.

- The sharpness test is the test

that I'm most concerned about

because I know the edge
on my blade is kind of heavy.

It makes it difficult to cut.

- All right, first up.

When I picked this up,

you can tell there's
a big difference in the weight.

The edge is sharp,

so when I'm chopping into
the ballistics dummy,

it's a deep cut,

but it's heavier
and harder to control.

It cut the first two tubes
and then push the rest.

But overall, looking at the
damage of the ballistics dummy

and some of the cuts,
it will KEAL.

- All right, gentlemen,

it's time
for our dynamic strength test,

the bamboo sword chop
and tatami mat slice.

I'm not only looking at
how well your weapons

hold up in this test,

but how they feel
and how well they cut.

Silver's up first.

- This was an eyeball
heat treat,

so I'm pretty sure
it looked even to me,

but it's a thin sword.

We'll see what happens.

My heart will be pounding

to the point where
I can hear it in my ears.

- All right, guys.

Right off, the blade is really,
really light.

The edges are really sharp.

All in all, I think this is
a really well-crafted sword.

Held up very nicely.

There's just no damage
on this edge.

All right.

Right off,
this thing's a destroyer.

It's not outside the realm
of proper weight.

This is kind of
the outside edge.

When cutting,
you feel the blade slow down

as opposed to just pass through
the tatami mat.

So it's got a lot of drag on it
and that really has to do

with the thickness of the blade
and the style of the grind

that's on its edge,

but it held up well,
it cut good. Good job.

- All right, bladesmiths,
the time has come to find out

if Ben, you're going to keep
your unbeaten streak going

or if Rob,
you've dethroned the king

and you're taking home the title

of "Forged in Fire" champion
and a check for $10,000.

I got to say
this was a very close race

and you made a difficult
decision for the judges.

Today's
"Forged in Fire" champion is...

Ben Abbott.

Ben, congratulations.
You are now 6-0.

Now Rob, you gave him an
unbelievable run for his money,

but unfortunately,
your blade didn't make the cut

and Doug's gonna tell you why.

- I mean, Rob, with nine hours,
your blade was a work of art.

But it came down to the
weight distribution effect

in some of the tests.

For those reasons,
you didn't win today.

- Rob, you're talented.

There's nobody here
that will question that.

But unfortunately,
I'm going to have to ask you

to please step off
The Forge floor.

- All right. Well, thank you.
I had a great time.

- You're welcome.
Nice job on that blade.

- Thank you.

Well, Ben won.

- Nice job, Rob.

- The judges made the right
call and he deserved it.

That was an amazing blade.

I'm going to go home,
see my family,

and make a really nice
Irish ring-hilted sword.

It's gonna take me a lot longer
than just nine hours.

- Well, Ben, that's 6-0, buddy.

You are unbelievable.

You are yet again
the "Forged in Fire" champion.

Congratulations.

- I can't believe it.
I can't believe it.

Rob is a great smith, a really
fun guy, great competito,

and I'm really happy
to have worked next to hi.

- Looks like you're keeping
the unbeaten streak alive.

Congratulations, man.

You're not done yet.
We've got more of this to com.

- Oh, my God.
What did I sign up for?

Good job, bud.

- For those that are coming
to try to beat me,

I'm still here.
Still undefeated. Bring it on.