All right, Tony,
congratulations. You've made it into
the third level of this multi-level competition. Now, the judge you're
competing against-- [TENSE MUSIC] Oh, man, ABS master
smith J. Neilson, The Beast from the East. You got your hands
full with this one. Tony. Have fun. WIL WILLIS: J., welcome back. You know how this goes. You guys have eight hours
to do a custom blade build. And at the end of that,
we're going to award one of you a $10,000 prize. Now, in this third
level of competition, we're going to be asking you
guys to make short swords. They must measure between
20 and 22 inches in length. They must have a
functional guard, a mechanically-attached
handle, and a pommel. That sounds easy enough, right? But you'll be making
them out of these. [CLOTH FLAPS] Saw blades. From these saw
blades, you must make a canister Damascus
billet, but not any canister Damascus built-- a no-can canister
Damascus billet. Which means that once you're
done forge-welding your can, you must peel off the
outer layer of mild steel, and use only the high-carbon
steel from inside your cans to forge your blades. All right, gents. Your eight hours starts now. TONY FETTERS: So I'm going
to take the saw blades. I'm going to stack
them vertically, but I want to leave about a
3/16" gap between each blade so that I can fill
it up with 1095. And that's going
to be a cushion. It's all that band saw steel. So I figured, hey, great, band
saw blades make hard steel. I've got these two billets
in that I've tacked together in the forge, and I'm waiting. I get the right color. [HAMMER TAPPING] And I set the weld. And then I start
drawing out my billet. Did I know that I was going
to have almost twice as much as I needed? Yes. But I'm thinking in my head,
what if I have a little delam? I can just cut that off and
draw back to the length I need and I'm golden. [HARD ROCK MUSIC] [BOOM] [THUNK] WIL WILLIS: Tony's
in the quench. And I pull it out,
and yep, it's hard. [CHUCKLES] WIL WILLIS: I think J.'s
going to go for quench. DOUG MARCAIDA: J just quenched. MAN: All right, J quenched. J. NEILSON: I pulled the
blade out of the quench. It's straight. I'm happy. I'll check it. [SCRAPING] That sounds good. And it sings like a bird. WIL WILLIS: Bladesmiths,
you have just three hours remaining to finish your work. J. NEILSON: You've
got to keep moving. You can't stop. So while the blade is
in the tempering oven, I'm going to get back working
on the handle and hardware. [HAMMER TAPPING] I picked a mild steel
for the guard and pommel, because I plan on blowing
both of them them. That's going to save
me a little time in doing a high finish on it. TONY FETTERS: I'm
getting all the hardware and handle skills fitted up. And then I'm going
to get everything profile down so everything
fits right and tight. J. NEILSON: I got,
like, 10, 12 minutes left, and I double-check. [BLEEP] over. And I'm like 1/8 of an
inch over parameters. Uh oh. J. NEILSON: If I turn in a blade
that was out of parameters, you might as well just
kick me off this show. [BLEEP] beautiful. WIL WILLIS: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Bladesmiths, shut down your
machines, drop your tools. This level of the
competition is over. [CLAPPING] Good job on that, man. All right, bladesmiths,
welcome to the KEAL test. Now it's time to find out
what kind of lethal damage your short swords will do. To do that, I will
take your weapons and deliver some lethal
blows on this pig carcass. Tony, you're up first. You ready for this? Absolutely. [SLICING] [TENSE MUSIC] [SLICE, FLESH RIPPING] [HEAVY BREATHING] Nice cuts, man. Thanks. I can tell it's heavy, though. DOUG MARCAIDA: All
right, Tony, let's talk about your sword here. It's a heavy beast. Yes. DOUG MARCAIDA: It's about
four pounds on this. Requires more work to
wield multiple times. But overall, it's a good chopper
and slasher, and it will KEAL. [CHUCKLES] All right, Jay. You're up next. Are you ready? Do me a favor. KEAL it. Will do. I love the pig test. [MUSIC PLAYING] Tony's blade did great. But after 20-plus
years of making knives, I'd better be confident
going into this. [SLICING] [FLESH RIPPING] [HEAVY BREATHING] Good job. Nice cuts. All right, J., let's talk
about your short sword. First up, what I like about
this, it's a lighter sword. You can wield this
single-handedly and be able to do this all
day because of its weight. Your handle
construction is smooth. Everything's rounded. And this is a sharp edge. It cuts deeply into
this pig carcass-- not very deep because the
weight is not on the sword. I can wield it cut accordingly. More importantly, sir,
your sword, it'll KEAL. [TENSE MUSIC] DAVID BAKER: All
right, gentlemen, it's time for the strength
test, the pot shot. Now, this test is all
about what those pots can do to the edge of your blades. Tony, you're up first. You ready for this? Yes, I am. [SMASHING] [POT CLATTERS] Didn't break. Nice. All right, so Tony,
everything's solid. Still together perfectly. You've lost a little bit
of edge right through here. Just sort of packed out, as
opposed to chipped or rolled. But it's a neat-looking design. Think you did a great job. Thank you. All right, J., your turn. You ready? Go for it, man. [CHUCKLES] OK. [SMASHING] [POT CLATTERS] Good job, buddy. Well, it didn't break. [CHUCKLES] All right, so J., I like
the balance of your blade. It's forward, but it's
a light blade, so it's comfortable being up there. You lost a little bit of edge. Again, it's just
kind of compacted. The blade's solid. It did great. Feels good in the hand. Nicely done. [MUSIC PLAYING] Bladesmiths, to check
out how much of your edge is still left on your
blades, I'm going to be chopping at these sandmen. Tony, you're up first. You ready for this? Don't hurt yourself. [CHUCKLES] TONY FETTERS: At this
point the competition, we're neck and neck. And it's going to come
down to the sharpness test. [THWACKING] [SIGHS] Well, Tony, there is a sort
of sweet spot to cut things. And this is where all of the
damage from the pots went. And the first cut was
probably a little further down into this sharp region. And it cut cleanly
through the first arm. But when I came around
to start hitting on those hips and the
thighs, it was just kind of bludgeoning the
sandman instead of really cutting in nice and deeply. Other than that, it's a
really interesting design. But man, this is a
heavy, heavy sword. All in all, it will
cut some stuff. OK. [CHUCKLES] All right, J., you're up next. You ready? All right, nonverbal
communication. [CHUCKLES] [TENSE MUSIC] [THWACKING] Well, that sucked. [CHUCKLES] All right, J. I love
the weight of this weapon. I think it's perfectly balanced. And that weight is
just a joy to swing. It didn't cut very well
on a lot of the strikes. It did about halfway through on
the wrist, and then mostly just scratches on the body. All in all, I think you made
a light, fast, fun weapon. So nice job. All right, gents, the judges'
deliberation is complete. They've made their
final decision. The winner of this Beat
the Judges competition is-- [TENSE MUSIC] --J. Neilson. Congratulations.
$10,000 will be donated to the charity of your choice. What charity is that? It's the Melanoma Foundation. All right. That is an excellent,
excellent foundation. Tony, unfortunately your blade
didn't make the cut this time. Tony, this came down
to a matter of weight. That short sword
weighs more than really a two-hander should.
So-- Right. --it did the job, but
that weight is just extreme. OK. Tony, hey. Hey, good job. Good job, man. Yeah. Are you gonna hug?
Was that-- - I was going to hug.
- I was gonna hug him. WIL WILLIS: Like, that
was an awkward moment. We're too-- [BOTH CHUCKLE] All right, good job, man. J. NEILSON: Tony is
a great competitor. He did a great piece. But I squeaked ahead of him. Got $10,000 going to
the Melanoma Foundation. I feel good. TONY FETTERS: This time,
I didn't beat the judge. You know, it never feels good
to not win when you really go and bust ass. But I've learned a lot-- don't make your
blades too heavy. [CHUCKLES] Good job, J., but watch
out for next time. I'm coming back. [MUSIC PLAYING]
