Bladesmiths, congratulations. You've made it to the final
level of this competition, which means you get to
face off against one of our expert judges for the
opportunity to win $10,000. I'm thinking it's
going to be Ben. Last time I was here,
Ben won and I lost. But this time I'm
going to crush. You'll be competing
against J. Neilson. BURT FOSTER: Oh, crap. J.'s got a lot of
knife-making experience, but I've known him for 15 years. When he tested for his
master smith rating, I was one of his judges. How you doing, my friend? Good. J. NEILSON: When I
see Burt, I'm tickled. Burt made one of the most
beautiful finale weapons I've ever seen on "Forged in Fire." I've got my work
cut out for me now. Gentlemen, in the final
level of this competition, you'll be using these,
5160 coil springs. You must use a san mai
technique utilizing your 5160 coil springs to make a
matched set of fighting knives. J. NEILSON: 5160 in the coil
form can be difficult. But then when I have to make
two blades and I have to make them
duplicate and then I have to do this
against Burt Foster, then it becomes a challenge. BURT FOSTER: I
know J., his blades are going to perform
great, and I think mine are going to perform great. I think it's going to come
down to small differences. I'm representing
all of the guys who have sat under his critical
eye and have thought to themself, yeah, put
yourself in my shoes and try it from down here. Me being on the floor, I
can understand the compromises you've got to make. You know, you've got
to make some sacrifices and shortcuts to get through. I just don't want anything
to break because I will never hear the end of that. Oh no. We always have an issue. Master smiths, welcome
to the kill test. To find out what
kind of lethal damage your dual fighting
knives will do, I will take them and
do some lethal blows on this ballistics dummy. Burt, you're up first. You ready? I'm nervous, but that
guy looks terrified. Let's do this. I think my blades
are going to have the long, pointy,
quick geometry that's going to make them really
effective against these ballistic dummies. I don't expect all the king's
horses and all the king's men to be able to put this
dummy back together when Doug's done with it. [MUSIC PLAYING] Jeez. DOUG: All right, Burt, first up. The feel of the blade really
feels like a combat blade. It wants to thrust. It wants to slash. It just feels like
one unit working in conjunction with the other. Overall, sir, it will kill. Thank you. DOUG: All right,
J., it's your turn. You ready for this? Do what you do, Doug. Going into testing, the only
thing that really concerns me is those finger wells that
I brought in too deep. Burt's blades are
straight on, lighter. Mine got a little bit more of a
curve and a little bit heavier. I think my blades are going
to tear this dummy apart. [MUSIC PLAYING] Awesome. [MUSIC PLAYING] [LAUGHS] All right, Jay, these
are choppers, slashers. As fighting knives, these
are quite effective. On the fourth hit, no head. Your handle construction
is interesting. That's a deep finger well
that you have in there. But actually, because
you have the flare there, I'm able to control it. But more importantly, sir,
your weapons will kill. Thank you, sir. Bladesmiths, to test the
strength and overall durability of your edge and tips as well
as the overall construction of your blades, I'll be stabbing
and chopping into these logs. Burt, you're up first. You ready for this? Let's do it. My one concern might
be that the knife didn't sit in temper nearly
as long as I would like it to. So the knife could be a little
bit more brittle than I wish. My heart's racing. The whole blade could crack. [MUSIC PLAYING] Good job, bud. Could have been worse. Well, Burt, your
edges look wonderful. During that extreme tip
flex, your blades held up. Obviously they're all
still in one piece, and the handles are
very comfortable. Great stabbers, great choppers. Well done. Thank you. All right, J., you're up. How are you feeling? Ready to go. Last chance for
anything to break. [LAUGHS] [MUSIC PLAYING] Well, J., your blades
held up perfectly, but there's one thing
about both these blades that I just really don't like,
and it's that finger well. It put my finger so
far out of the game that I was swinging with
these three fingers, and this finger was
rattling around in there and actually getting battered. But there's no denying
your edge and tips held up really well on this
test, so congratulations. Thanks. JUDGE: All right,
gentlemen, it's time for the sharpness test. I'll be taking your weapons
and slicing into these bags. This test is all about what
your weapons do to that target. Burt, you're up first.
You're ready? Yep. Let's do it. [MUSIC PLAYING] All right, right
off, Burt, I just love the look of these things. The aggressive point, the
grind, the shape of the grind. As far as being sharp goes, they
just passed through the bags. There wasn't any
resistance to them at all, and I think you did a great job. Thank you. Hey, J. Now I get to
play with your stuff. Go for it. [LAUGHTER] [MUSIC PLAYING] All right, J., a lot of
weight in these blades, but I like the shape of that chopping. I'm really familiar with
this handle shape from you, but this is a lot deeper
than you usually put it. My finger falls into that
hole, and everything else kind of wants to follow it. The first two bags,
the cuts weren't good, and that was really
my hand position more than anything else. Everything just
kind of bunches up. Definitely sharp blades. Held up beautifully. Good job, man. Thanks. All right, judges, J. Neilson
faced off against Burt Foster. Now I need you guys to
tell me who's taking home the 10 grand and the win. What do you think? In the strength test, when
I was using J.'s, this finger ended up banging against the
guard because of that really deep finger well. It just didn't have
any grip to it. Burt's knives,
the handle for me feels very, very comfortable. It's a light, fast blade,
and it cut beautifully. Burt's blades
here are lighter. It's faster in the cut, so
we can move around with it. J.'s is a demolisher. This cuts so much deeper. OK. Have you guys made
your final decision? Yes. HOST: All right. Gentlemen, the judges
have deliberated. They've made their
final decision. This has been an incredible
competition between you two. It's been a long
road for you, Burt. You've done a lot of work to get
yourself back into a position to earn some money. J., you stepped into
this forge, and you really put on a
good show for us, but there can only
be one winner. And that winner is Burt Foster. Congratulations. You've won, and that comes
with a check for $10,000. Good job, brother. Thank you. [CLAPPING] J. NEILSON: It was a good
challenge, good competition. Burt made beautiful blades. And if I'm going
to lose to anybody, I'm more than happy to
lose to Burt Foster. - Good job, man.
- Thank you. Appreciate it. I'm a master bladesmith. I'm a "Forged in Fire" champion,
and I just beat a judge. Thank you. Appreciate it. I commend J. This was
just millimeters apart. Man, we were neck and neck. Doesn't get any
better than that. Group hug?
- Group hug. [LAUGHTER]
