Forged in Fire (2015–…): Season 9, Episode 4 - Championship Weapons of China - full transcript

- My name is mark smith.
I'm from china spring, texas.

I'm a design engineer

For a local bank
equipment manufacturer.

Season three
of "forged in fire,"

I started watching it.

But about that time,
I weighed close to 400 pounds.

"forged in fire" was a driver
to get more healthy.

I lost about 150 pounds
from bladesmithing,

And life is good.

- My name is andrew slaughter.

I'm 34 years old,
and I'm from fort worth, texas.



I'd describe myself as goofy,
love to have fun,

Weird, I guess, because I spend
most of my time in my garage

Playing with knives and fire.

- Ira houseweart

From the western slope
of colorado.

I've been a blacksmith now
for over 20 years.

When I was eight years old,
I developed a bone tumor.

And it grew real fast
and then stopped.

It doesn't affect me.
My eyes work really well.

But that's not really
what I'm here to talk about.

I'm here to show you
what I can do

With a piece of hot steel.

- I'm brenden bohannon,

And I'm from johnson city,
tennessee.



I constantly struggle
with my hair.

I was burning in a hidden tang,

I turned my head,
and there went sparks.

So I went and stuck my head
in the quench bucket

And called my wife,
and I'm like,

"so I kind of
burned off half my hair."

I would like to say
she was surprised,

But I don't think anything
about me surprises her

At this point.

- Bladesmiths,
welcome to the forge.

Now, the four of you
have been chosen to take pat

In a very intense
bladesmithing competition

Where you will put all of your
skills to the ultimate test.

There are three rounds.

At the end of each one,

You'll be asked
to present your work

To the esteemed judges
sitting behind me.

Because they're the ones
who are gonna be ultimately

Deciding which one of you is
leaving here

With the title of
"forged in fire" champion

And getting a check for $10,000.

Now let's get into it.

Over the years,
we've had bladesmiths

Making knives out
of all sorts of materials,

Just about anything,
but I think it's safe to say

That we've never had smiths use
what's under this tarp.

So without further ado,

Let's find out what you're
making your knives with.

Gentlemen, this is sheet metal.

We've got pieces that are
1/16 of an inch thick,

2 feet wide by 4 feet tall.

They're made out of 1095 steel,

And this is all you have
to make your knives.

- All I can think is "oh, no."

It's thin.
It does not adhere well.

It flexes easily.

That's not a good party.

- Now, you could use
any technique

You want to make any blade
that you want.

Just make sure that the knives
fall within these parameter.

By the end of round one,
your blades need to measure

Between 12 and 14 inches.

They need to be set up

For a through tang
handle construction.

Moving on to round two,

You'll add handles
to those blades,

Turning them into
fully-functioning weapons.

When that round is complete,

You'll hand them over
to the judges,

And they will check
for strength and durabiliy

In a three-layer
sheet metal stab and chop,

And then check
your edge retention,

In a leather stab and slice.

Now, guys, you have
three hours to complete

This first round of competition.

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

All right,
sheet metal, gentlemen,

Gonna be a good one.

- These sheets are so thin,

They tend to smear off
each other, right?

- Well, they tend to warp away
from one another

Because the thin material
on the outside heats up

A lot quicker than the material
in the inside.

- And you're running a risk

Of forge scale
getting inside, right?

- Exactly.

- As I look at the sheet metal
thinking, okay,

I've worked 1095 before.

We'll stack it together,

Weld it solid,
and pound it into something.

I'm a full-time blacksmith,
so I do a lot of hot metal.

So I'm feeling pretty
comfortable right now.

- Ira's already got
about 14 pieces,

And he's already
at the grinder cleaning 'em up.

- For as long
as "forged in fire" has been

On the air,
I've had people telling me,

"you should be on this show."

And I've got
two teenage daughters

That I think it'd be fun
to be like,

"yeah, I'm on tv," you know?

So here I am.

- The layered forge weld

Is gonna the fastest way
to get it done,

But there's a real risk
of the layers being so thin

That those aren't gonna
stick very well.

- Mark got everything
cleaned up.

Now he's back at the welder,
gonna stack them.

- The biggest problem
is the initial heat up

And having those
thin pieces of metal,

You know, start spreading apart.

Because they're gonna
heat at different rates.

- I typically forge
from 1/4 inch stock,

And 12 to 14 inches is a lot

Of steel to stretch
out of 1/16 inch stock.

So I'm choosing to use
a san mai construction.

- Brenden went back
to the mild steel bin.

I think he's going for san mai.

- You could by stacking
a bunch of thin pieces

And putting a good 1/4 inch
piece on the outside.

That way those edge pieces

Aren't going to lift away
from one another.

- Mitigating the risk
of getting a forge scale

On the inside.

- I don't measure anything.

I'm doing whatever I can
to get it cut up

As quickly as possible.

- Those edges that are uneven

Wind up pushing into one another

And creating cold shuts

All along the outside
of your billet.

- Screw it, it's welded.

- The problem with sheet metal
is, is that it's thin.

I mean, sheet metal.

I gotta figure out a way
to have something thick enough

To turn into a blade.

My options are I could
cut it up and stack it

And forge weld
the layers together,

Or I could do a canister.

- Andrew is the only one

Who grabbed a canister
and white out.

- So he's forcing himself
to peel the can now.

- I'm choosing
to do canister damascus

Because I think
it'll be easier for me

To accomplish successfully.

I'm nervous, but I think
I can get it done.

- It seems that going
the canister route

Might be as advantageous
because andrew doesn't hae

To worry
about how precise his cuts are.

You just chop it up
and chuck it in.

- But using that white out,

The amount it takes
to have to peel the can,

The energy and everything
can set him back.

- I wish he didn't put
the white out in at all.

It's not necessary.

- It is not going quick.

I don't know if I made
the right choice,

But we'll find out.

- Bladesmiths, you have 2 hours
and 30 minutes remaining.

- I think it's time
to take it to the press.

I don't have a press at home,
super fun tool.

Weld it solid,

Put it back in the forge,
do it again.

- Ira is playing it smart
on the press.

He's squeezing it lightly.

He's not putting a ton
of pressure.

He's just trying
to get those welds set up.

- He's using
his idle time wisely,

Coming back to his workstation
and drawing out exactly

What he wants to get
to as the end product.

- I know it has
to puncture sheet metal.

You need a pretty
a good sharp point.

I didn't want
just a straight blade.

I mean, I'm an artist
as a profession.

So I want my blade
to be a piece of art.

- When you're trying
to set the welds

On a layered forge weld,
you don't wanna press too hard

Because it'll deform the sheets
and cause gaps.

So I just have
to kiss it a little bit

To press the plates together.

It's very thin material,
and it's gonna be really eay

To bend those or misshape them.

If there's any dark spaces,

It's probably
not sticking real good.

- Mark got really aggressive
on a downward press,

And he popped the weld at
the very front of that billet.

You can see he's still
fighting that end.

See how it's black
at the end there?

- Looking at andrew,
he's drawn out that canister.

Isn't he supposed to peel that?

- Yeah, he may have manipulated
the metal to the point

Where he's rubbed all
the white out into a problem.

- See if I can get that son
of a bitch off of here.

Now I've got the angle grinder,

And I'm cutting off the billet,
and it's not working.

- Andrew trying
to peel his can now,

And it looks
like a mangled mess.

- I'm trying to pry it off,

And I'm not getting anywhere
with this chisel.

I know this is
taking a long time.

They're looking
at me right now going,

"what is this guy doing?"

- So now he's gotten himself
in a situation where

He's got
a drawn-out piece of steel,

But now he's gotta take
a lot of time

To try and peel this off,
and it's not a good thing.

- Brenden's gotta turn
on the gas, man.

He's falling pretty
far behind you.

- I'd say my welds
are looking good.

I think it's starting to stick,
but I'm seeing the error

Of my ways in not trimming
before I heated it up.

- So because brenden
didn't have even pieces

Cut up initially,

Right now he's got
an uneven billet.

- Uneven pieces could
cause delaminations.

They could
cause the welds to fail.

They could let oxygen in.

But I've wasted so much time,
I'm just gonna run with it.

- It's starting
to feel pretty good.

Like, I know I've got a pretty
dang good-looking blade.

They asked for a through tan,

So I know I'm gonna need
some sort of pommel.

I'm thinking,
I gotta do something.

So I've chopped off some
of my excess material.

Take that piece, make a pommel.

But I didn't see a little
1/2 inch square drift.

So I go grab some of my excess,

And I quick pound
out a little drift.

- That's the kind of thinking
that I really like to see.

- Blacksmiths have always
done this.

You can't just go
and buy a blacksmith tool

Down at the hardware store.

So you have to be able
to make these specialty tools.

Hopefully, this is gonna work.

- The material is only
about 5/16 thick.

That's really hard to press.

And it starts folding.

The end takes it a little worse.

- Look at mark's billet.

It looks like it opened up
on the tip again.

- And that's the part
that's already delaminated.

- What I decide at that point
is I'm going to put the poit

Where the work stick is,

And I'm gonna make
the tang on the tail.

- Smart, flip it around,
make that your tang.

Especially if
it's gonna be a through tang,

You'll never even see it.

- That's a really, really solid
save move right there.

- It looks like
this is gonna work.

Let's go forward.

- Bladesmiths,
you have one hour remaining.

- Looks like andrew's trying
to peel his can again.

- Say it isn't so.

- I wanted to make sure
that I don't have any

Of this mild steel
on my blade edge whatsoever.

Nothing's working.

I'm not sure
if I'll have enough time

To restart a blade
at this point.

- Would you guys say

He's beyond the point
of no return for peeling it?

- Yeah, I mean,
it would be miraculous

If that can actually comes off.

He'd be better off
going to the grinder.

- I'm regretting doing canister.

I shouldn't have done that.

I think I need to switch it up.

- Andrew just quit on trying
to peel the can.

- Good.
- That might not be a bad idea.

- When I switched to grinding,
got my fingers crossed.

I need to get this can
off my edge.

- I managed to get all
the ugly off

With the angle grinder

And start actually
hitting some length.

- Brenden back on big blu,
drawing it out.

Coming from way behind,

He's doing a pretty good job
right now.

- I'm going for a celtic style,
aggressive triangle.

Sometimes the steel
just wants to argue with you.

And looking at the shape
that's coming in,

I'm gonna kind of reevaluate
a little bit

And go to something
more like a spanish navaja.

Start drawing out my tang,
and I don't know,

I saw a squirrel,
or a butterfly,

Or a fairy, or something,

And gave it one squish too many.

Oh.

There are no mistakes,
only happy accidents,

Except for my brother,
he was a mistake.

I guess I'm just gonna try
and squish it back into shape

And keep going with the flow.

- The quench is always,
what can go wrong?

You know, hopefully this thing
isn't gonna wanna warp.

- Here we go.

Ira is the first one to be
quenched with 45 minutes left.

- It's looking good.

I don't see really
any bends or anything.

And I think I've got it.

- A lot of things can go wrong
in the quench.

I've got maybe 3/16
on the spine,

Which is considerably less
than I wanted.

So I can get a big wicked bend,
the blade can crack.

- All right,
mark in quench, guys.

- It's got a curve down
at the tip,

And the tang is pretty severe.

Any attempt to do any
straightening at this point

Can end
in disaster really quick.

So I'm going with it.

- Bladesmiths,
you have 30 minutes left

Before your first critique.

I don't know if he went
and talked to the forge gods,

But andrew's billet
looks all right.

- There's a little bit
of a warp,

But it's nothing
that I can't grind out later.

I'm getting
the can off the edge.

It's taking some time,
but I want to get as much doe

As I can
before the clock runs out.

I start seeing some cracks.
I'm panicking.

I gotta grind through those
and get them gone,

Or they're are not gonna want
to test my blade.

Definitely feel the pressure.

- Brenden's quenched.

All right, guys, we got
all four blades quenched.

Now everybody needs
start making their way

To the grinder getting
that final profile done.

- I start cleaning off the tang,

And I start seeing delams.

If they're just in the handle,
everything's okay.

It's gonna be okay,
it's gonna be okay,

It's gonna be okay.

I get about midway
down the spine.

I thought I got rid
of all the bad steel,

But apparently,
I ended up with a huge delam.

- Oh, snap.

- Probably
from such thin material

Just not wanting to adhere.

I have two options
at this point, give up,

Or I can go over
and grab the welder

And see what we can do.

So I start welding up
the spine and decide

That that's good enough,
back to the grinder.

I'm going to work
until the absolute last second

Trying to clean up the delams,
trying to clean in the shap,

And try and make
everything look nice.

- Five, four, three, two, one.

Bladesmiths,
turn off the machines,

Put down your tools.

The first round
of competition is over.

- At this point, I'm just glad

That I'll have something
to turn into the judges.

I think I still have a knife
that's gonna do everything

That it needs to do
for the tests.

So with a little luck,
maybe I'll make it through.

- Bladesmiths, congratulations.

The four of you managed
to take sheet metal

And with various techniques,
turn them into viable blade.

But the time has come
for the first critique.

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

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

- All right, so, mark,
your steel looks solid here.

I was worried about you.

It looked like you had a delam

At the front of that blade,
but you reversed it,

Put it on the other end
of the blade.

That was smart work.

What we do have going on here
is a little bit of a warp here,

But most of it happens
from the tang back,

And it'd be nice to see
that straightened out

If you move forward,
but good job.

- Thank you.
- Andrew, you ready?

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

- All right, andrew,

You've got a good amount
of steel here.

You got a couple pockets

And a couple light delams,
nothing major.

You definitely waited
too long to peel that can off,

And we didn't require it.

But next time you try a can,
call me first.

Okay.

- I can tell you a lot easier
way to do it.

- Okay.

- But otherwise, did a good job.

- Thank you.
- Ira, you ready?

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

- All right, ira, off the bat,
it's beautiful work.

You sure have
some skills out there,

So much so that you even got
started on your pommel,

Always good
to have that foresight.

If you move to the second round,

You have little work to do,

And you can focus more
on refining your blade

Because that is
a beautiful shape.

- Thank you.

- Last but not least,
brenden, are you ready?

- Yes.
- Please present your wor.

- All right, so, brenden,

I do like that recurve
kind of a vibe to a blade.

It's a shape
that I really enjoy.

But I would have loved to have
seen more meat back here

At the back of this blade.

Also, there are some delams

On your blade
that are worrisome.

So things like that really need
to be cleaned up on this blade.

And I'd just love to see this,
have that taper and profie

That's really clean.

- Bladesmiths, all four of you
have a lot to be proud of.

But as you know,
only three of you can join us

In the second round
of this competition,

Which means one
of you has to go home.

The bladesmith leaving
the forge is...

Brenden.

Unfortunately, your blade
did not make the cut.

And doug's gonna tell you why.

- Your blade
having the delaminations,

And your blade
being the least refined,

You have the most work
going to the second round.

For these reasons,
we're sending you home.

- I understand.

- Brenden, we wanna say
thank you for coming out,

But unfortunately your time
in this competition has ended.

Please surrender your work
and step off the forge floor.

- I 100% agree
with the judges' decision.

That is probably one of the
worst knives I've ever made.

I spent a lot
of time chasing delams

And ended up catching
a bad weld off of a bad plan.

But this was
an amazing experience.

- Bladesmiths, congratulations.

The three of you are joining us

In the second round
of this competition.

Now, in this round, you will
add handles to your blades

Turning them
into fully functioning weapons,

As well as fix any issues
that the judges brought up.

Now, along with those handles,

Because we are
doing stab and chop,

You guys will have
to have a functional guard

And a mechanical connection
like a pommel.

Once this round is complete,

You're gonna turn your blades
over to the judges,

And they'll check
for strength and durabiliy

In a three-layer
sheet metal stab and chop,

And then check
your edge retention

In a leather stab and slice.

Bladesmiths,
you only have two hours

In this round
of the competition.

So good luck, work hard.
Your time starts now.

With two hours on the clock,

They still have a lot
of work to do.

- But the one that's really
ahead of the game is ira.

- Oh, yeah.

- He's got a pommel
worked out already.

- My game plan is to try to
make a stacked leather handle.

- Is a choice
of going with leather

A longer time-consuming thing?

- Oh, it's definitely more
time consuming, yeah.

- Does he get style points
for your guys?

- If he does it right, yeah.

- Having that pommel made,

It's about my pommel attachment.

I'm gonna peen over the end.

I'm gonna hit pretty hard.

I was worried if I put wood,

Anything else,
I'm gonna crack and break it.

The leather is gonna take
a lot of compression,

And if anything,
it's gonna help it.

- The first thing I need to do
is get the tang straight.

- Mark's got everything
in a vice,

And that vice will work
as a heat sink.

- Smart.
- Ooh.

It's still got a warp
on the end,

But it's close enough

That I can just even it up
with grinding on the handle.

- Typically, in a through
tang construction,

There's a tang
going through the handle,

And then there's a pommel
connected to it

To keep everything secure.

But I'm not confident
in my pommel.

So I'm also adding a pinhole.

That way the pommel isn't
my only mechanical connectio.

- All of our knives need
a mechanical connection

From the handle to the knife,
so the pin can do that.

But if you're putting a guard
on the pommel,

The pommel can do it as well,
so it's overkill.

- I'm drilling this pinhole now,

But I'm gonna have to remember
where it is later on

When I fit up the handle.

- Ira is on the vice.

He's got his handle
completely assembled

With epoxy and everything.

- I grab the torch,
gets hot quick,

Start peening it over,
and it starts cinching out.

- Will peening it over
give enough compression

To where that leather stack
will not move around?

- Done properly, yes.

- I peen it over,
and the pommel's not wiggling.

I feel pretty good about time.

Now I gotta shape
all the leather wedges

To make it a comfortable handle.

- Bladesmiths,
one hour has elapsed.

- I go to the pantry.

I'm looking
for a piece of handle material.

- And mark's got
some kind of green block.

- Fairly certain
that's a synthetic.

It's a mix of a blue and green.

- So the next thing is to get
holes drilled into the hande

And get it fitted up
onto the tang.

Man, I love that green stuff.

- His handle material is
not that thick.

It's like
1 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 inch.

- Oh, man.

That's when I noticed
a couple of chips.

So I realized that this
isn't the epoxy resin

I thought it was,

And that it was
probably kirinite,

Which is beautiful stuff,

But it's a little more fragile,

And it chips easier.

I'm gonna cut that end off,
so hopefully it won't crack,

And move on, and start
doing the guard and pommel.

- So now I'm epoxying
the guard, the handle,

And the pommel all together
onto the tang.

And I'm also adding
a piece of mild steel

To the end of the pommel.

- We've seen a lot
of smiths do this.

Instead of peening,
what they'll do is

They'll basically put a washer
over the back and then weld it.

It's not a real
favorite of mine.

- So I've got my handle
attached, and now it's time

To attach the pin
to the pinhole,

But I'm going in blind.

No way.

And I'm like, "oh,

It goes
through the handle material,

But I completely
missed the tang.

I don't want extra holes
in my handle material

For no reason.

Yeah, now I have
to drill another one.

- Oh, no.

- Damn it.

I drill the second hole.
I miss the tang.

- I wonder if he measured
not factoring the guard.

- Probably.

- I've got two holes
in my handle already.

I'm going in for a third time.

It's like doing surgery
with your eyes closed.

- Andrew's already got
the connection.

He doesn't need this hole,
and he's still got work

To do on the blade
in less than an hour.

- This one has to work.

I don't have time to keep
messing with this pinhole.

- Holy smokes.

- This is just wasted time.

- The third time
I find the tang,

And I drill a new hole,

So that I at least
have something

That I can put a pin through.

Perfect.

It's not the hole
I originally made,

But it'll work.

- Bladesmiths, you are down
to the final 30 minutes.

- It's time to start
getting this edge addressd

Because a dull knife
is not gonna work here.

- Ira is just cruising.

Now he's just refining
everything.

- Put it to the arm,

And it just shaves hair off
really well.

I think when my daughters find
out that I just shaved my am

On tv, they're gonna lose it.

They're like,
"oh, my gosh, dad, why?"

- I've still gotta
shape the handle

And sharpen the blade.

- Mark back over to work on
that handle a little bit more.

You can see that green dust
flying off that grinder.

- For me bladesmithing is fun.
It's therapeutic.

You know, I'll go home stressed,

And I'll start
beating some steel,

And it's a blast.

Get the handle shaped
where it will be comfortable,

And then I gotta start
working on the edge.

- Bladesmiths,
you have ten minutes.

- Right now my handle
is really big and blocky.

I need to grind
those corners down

So that the judges
can get their hands around it.

If they can't hold the knife,

They're not gonna
be able to test it.

It ain't "purdy,"
but it's sturdy.

- Five, four, three, two, one.

Bladesmiths,
put down your tools,

Grab your blades.

This round is over.

- For good luck.

I've never kissed
a blade before,

But I did this time.

- Bladesmiths,
welcome to our strength test,

A three-layer sheet metal
stab and chop.

Mark, you're first.
You ready to go?

- Hit it, sparky.
- I can do that.

There's always a question
of the heat treat.

And is there cracks

That you just can't see
that are gonna appear?

So yeah, I'm pretty scared as
he's getting ready to do this.

Oh, come on.

- Uh-oh.

All right, mark.
You survived, good job.

The big problem is

That the handle
has cracked lengthwise.

It took a little bit
of glinting.

There's a couple little rolls
here from chopping

In that sheet metal,
but your blade held up,

You still got an edge,
still got a tip.

Good job.
- Thank you.

- How you feeling
after that, andrew?

- Nervous.
- It's all right.

Be fine.
Be over shortly.

- I'm concerned about my edge
a little bit,

But I'm mostly concerned
about my pommel.

I'm not 100% sure that
I have it secured well enoug.

The sky is the limit
on what could go wrong here.

- All right, andrew.
That's not good.

- Right.

- Not only
it shortened your handle

And you lost
your counterbalance,

But now I've got
a sharp edge of wood

Sitting in the palm of my hand.

But on the plus side,

Even with your
pommel falling off,

You've got this pin that you
put in through the tang.

So everything is still
mechanically connected.

It's still a testable knife.
That was a good move.

You've got some rolling
and some chipping,

But for the most part,
you survived.

- Thanks.
- All right, ira.

Been fun ride so far.
You ready to keep going?

- Let's do it.
- All right.

- I'm a little nervous,
you know.

Mark and andrew
both took some damage on.

I mean, they're about
to take my blade and swing it

Into a piece of steel.

It's not like some soft thing.

I mean, lots of things
can go wrong.

- Nice job, ira.

Your edge is good
and still straight.

Still tight, good job.

- Thank you.

- All right, bladesmiths.

This is the sharpness test,
the leather stab and slice.

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

- Leather rip.

I like that.

Let's do that.

- Oh, yeah.

- All right, mark.

Despite some of the glinting,

Cut easily, nice slices through.

Your handle construction,

Though you still have
the cracks in there,

Simply by putting my hand
onto that,

And closing, and making a fist.

Well, it put everything
back together.

Overall, sir, your weapon,
it will cut.

- Thank you.
- All right, andrew, your turn.

So you ready?
- Yep.

- Let's do this.

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

When I'm slicing onto this
leather sheet, it caught up,

And you can see there's
some jagged edges in there,

But overall, sir, it will cut.

- All right, ira, your turn.
So are you ready?

- Absolutely.
- Let's do this.

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

Your edges are sharp.

I mean, it lends itself
to thrusting and slashing.

Overall, sir, it will cut.

- Thank you.

- All right, bladesmiths,
only two of you can join us

In the final round
of this competition.

Our judges discussed
your blades,

And they made a final decision.

The bladesmith leaving
the forge is...

Andrew.

Unfortunately,
your blade didn't make the cut,

And j. Is gonna tell you why.

- Andrew, you worked
really hard.

You should be proud
of what you did.

But during the strength test,
your edge took the most damage,

Which showed
in the sharpness test.

And you actually
have pieces falling off.

So that's the reasons
we're letting you go.

- I understand.

- Andrew, you got a ton
to be proud of.

Unfortunately, your time
this competition has ende.

I'm gonna have to ask you
to please step

Off the forge floor.

- Thank y'all.
Good luck, guys.

I agree with
the judge's decision.

I'm glad I put that pin
through the tang

And was able
to fight until the end.

First thing I'm gonna do
when I get home

Is hang out with my dog, bogey,

On the couch
and relax for a bit.

- Well, mark, ira, guys,
congratulations,

You are moving forward
in the third

And final round
of this competition.

In this round, you're going
back to your home forges

To battle it out for four days,

Building an iconic weapon
from history.

We want you to build this...

The serrated indian saber.

- The serrated indian saber
traces its origins

Back to 18th century india.

The deadly weapon features
a long curved blade

With serrated edges
designed to intimidate enemis

And penetrate deep
into the thick leather armor

Worn by infantry and
cavalry forces of the time.

This blade played
an important role as the sword

Used by indian forces during
the bloody 1857 uprising

Against british rule
known as the sepoy mutin.

- When you turn your blades in,

They need to measure
between 30 and 32 inches.

And as you can see, this entire
blade is covered in serrations

Minus an 8 to 10-inch section

On the cutting edge
that is still sharpened.

Your hilt needs to have
a clover shaped guard

And a forward-facing
integral pommel.

- There's a lot of serrations.

I really am not
a serrations expert at all,

But what the heck, let's do it.

- Without further ado, guys,
good luck.

We will see you in four days.

- Good luck.
- Gonna kill it, brother.

- Day one making
a serrated indian saber.

I've never made
a big curved blade like this,

So there's gonna be
a lot of experimentation here

In the next couple days.

It's a really lightweight blade.

So I think I'll
just do solid steel.

This is a functioning ranch.

My great granddad
moved here in 1895,

And I'm still on it,
and stayed in the same famil,

And hopefully
I'll hand it off to my girls.

It's pretty well shaped.

I need
to sand it up a little bi.

So far I have
the blade forged out,

Shaped minus the serrations.

I think I'm okay.

- Day one in my forge,

I'm just gonna
use 80crv2 mono steel.

I was really tempted
to do damascus,

But there's just too many
possibilities for error.

I'm really excited
to be in the finals.

This competition really
puts you in like a cauldron

Of mental and physical pressure.

I'm looking forward to it.

It's taking more time
than I anticipated

To get the material down
to the thinness that I want.

And then we'll be ready to go

And start doing the features
of the saber.

- Beginning of day two,
game plan,

Grind in some serrations

And then do a quench here
this afternoon.

There's 99 teeth to do.

So it's gonna take
a little while.

I'm worried about the spacing
and the angle

In which they go in.

It's one of my biggest concerns
on the entire build.

I feel relieved after getting
all the serrations in.

It's time to quench.

Lots of things can go wrong
with the quench.

I can just be too hot.

I can have a big cold spot
that just won't even harden,

But let's go for it.

It's perfectly straight.
Let's finish it up.

- Well, today's a big day,
and I'm gonna need to do

Quite a bit of handle fittin,

And then I will do
the heat treating.

Fitting the guard,
I have to be careful.

If I remove too much material
off the inside of the guard,

There's gonna be big gaps,
it's not gonna fit tight.

And if it doesn't,

I'm probably gonna have
to redo the guard.

It should be fine.
It should be okay.

So I'm quenching
the blade today.

There's no cracks,

And everything's looking
pretty good right now.

- Day four, last day.

It's time to wrap this thing up.

We're gonna use a black walnut
for the handle.

And then on the top,
it's gonna be capped

With silicon bronze.

I'm gonna wrap the handle

With a little bit
of copper twisted wire.

It looks good.

Finish sanding
and then finish sharpening.

I'm nervous,
but hopefully it holds up.

I think that's it.

- Today I need to get
my handle and guard on,

And then sharpen the blade,
and it'll be ready to go.

I'd add the epoxy gold
because it looks cool,

And it's close
to the bronze guard.

I think it has
a nice touch to it.

Winning this competition
would be

Like winning the super bowl.

It's about showing
that "forged in fire"

Has turned my life around

And given me the skills
to do this.

- Mark, ira, gentlemen,
welcome back to the forge.

You just had four days
in your home forges

To put together your very best
serrated indian sabers,

And, guys, they look menacing.

But before we get to testing,
I wanna hear about 'em.

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

- It was good.

80crv2, put the curve in it,
and then spent

A whole lot of time
putting serrations in it.

- Well, it looks great.
Ira, how about you?

- Went well.

Forged it out day one
out of 80crv2,

Then some black walnut
from a tree off the farm.

- Gentlemen,
both your blades look strong,

And they look wicked sharp.

But the best way we know how
to find which one of you guys

Is gonna go home
with the win today,

By putting them
through two dynamic tests.

And up first, doug.

- Bladesmiths, welcome
to the dynamic keal test.

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

- Blade's ready.
- All right, let's do this.

- There's a lot
of stress involved in,

How is mine gonna perform?

Is it gonna fail?

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

Your handle is a little bit
on the rounded side,

But the saving grace is
this flare that you have there.

It allowed me
to get my hand in here,

And it's locked in between
your guard and your pommel,

Good on that.

Now you did pick up one small
chip where it cut the bone.

But other than that, it'll keal.

- Thank you.

- Ira, your turn.
So are you ready?

- I'm ready.

I'm worried about this test.

My heart's racing,
my knees are shaking,

My hand's sweaty.

I'm just so worried
he's gonna swing it,

And it's gonna break
on the first swing.

- All right, ira, first up,

The slices
into this ballistics dummy,

Thrusting and using the teeth,

I can really feel everything
on the blade,

But what's more important

Is the wield ability
of this weapon.

It's so nice and light,
and I can control every move.

Overall, sir,
your indian serrated saber,

It will keal.

- All right, gentlemen, welcome
to our dynamic strength test.

Sticking with
our sheet metal theme,

Our sheet metal chop
and bag slice.

Mark, you're up first.
You ready?

- She's got this,
but I might need a hug.

- All right, mark, right off,

Your blade is still
in the shape it came in.

It felt good cutting.

It's a little
on the forward heavy side.

I would love to have seen
that balance

Just a little bit further back.

But it didn't affect
the cuts at all.

So good job.
- Thank you.

- Ready to play, ira?

- Not really.

I am.

So, ira, first off,

The shape and scale
of this is really beautiful.

The way it just flows
from one point to the other.

The taper really, really nice.

You took one chip
in the blade right here.

But other than that, man,
this is still... I'm not

Gonna run my finger
down this blade.

It's still sharp.
Well done.

- Thank you.

- Well, gentlemen, in the first
two rounds of this competition,

You both proved your worth

By making knives
out of sheet metal.

And in this final round,
you both knocked it

Out of the park
with the most intricate blades

I've seen in a long time.

But in this competition,
only one of you can take home

The title
and a check for $10,000.

Our judges did agree

That today's
"forged in fire" champion is...

Ira, congratulations.

Now, mark,
you did a phenomenal job,

But unfortunately your blade
did not make the cut.

And dave baker's gonna
tell you why.

- Mark, you
brought us a performer

That tested out really,
really well.

This came down to fit, finish,

Balance,
and the handle construction.

And that's why
we're letting you go.

- Yep.

- Well, mark, we hope
you enjoyed your time here.

And we wanna say,
thank you so much

For letting us watch you work,
but unfortunately,

At this point,
I'm gonna have to ask you

To please stay up off
the forge floor.

- Been a tremendous pleasure.
- Thank you, sir.

- Good job, mark.

- I'm happy that it came down
to such details.

I think any other competition

I could have gone home a winner.

I'd love to compete
on "forged in fire" again.

It pushes your abilities,

And it is just... it's
an amazing adventure.

- Ira, congratulations, sir.

You are the newest
"forged in fire" champion,

And you just received
a check for $10,000.

Congratulations.

- Just won "forged in fire."

It feels pretty awesome.

- That's a beautiful example
of that weapon.

I think you nailed it.

Well done.
- Thank you.

The whole experience
has been super fun,

From the stressful part
of building the first knife,

Playing with
the coal iron press.

I think that's where
the money's going.