<i> [metal clanks]</i> <i> [dramatic music]</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> [rock music]</i> <i> - I'm Mike Damaski,</i> I'm a knife maker
from West Point, Nebraska. <i> I'm a stay-at-home dad</i> <i> and I make knives
in my free time.</i> <i> Rooting for me
back home is my family.</i> They mean the world to me. And they would
[bleep]ing love if I brought this
money back to them. <i> I want to get this [bleep]
going right now.</i> <i> Yeah, for sure.</i> Am I cussing too much? [laughing] <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> - My name is Dillon Wood.
I'm 22.</i> <i> I'm from Grants, New Mexico,</i> and I have two years
of experience as a bladesmith. <i> Both me and my dad
operate out of Orion Forge.</i> My dad is definitely
excited about me being on the competition,
but I do think he's trying to use me for advertising
at the same time. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> - My name is Matthew Shairi.</i> I live in the Smoky Mountains
of North Carolina. <i> And I think I'm ready to win.</i> I've got a wife
and two little boys. <i> We like to spend a lot of time
in the outdoors together.</i> I think I can be
pretty funny sometimes. I make my kids laugh anyway. I don't know about
other people. <i> - My name is Jim Jernigan.</i> 55 years old. Come from
Coal Valley, Illinois. <i> Been bladesmithing
four years now.</i> I've had my mustache
since 1990. <i> Older than some of my kids.</i> It had a brief trim in '91 and then full tilt
from then on. - Bladesmiths,
welcome to The Forge. Now this competition
will consist of three rounds. At the end of each round, there will be a critique
and an elimination. All of this will
culminate with one of you leaving here with the title
of "Forged in Fire" champion and a check for $10,000. But in order to be that smith, you will have to impress
the judges sitting behind me 'cause they're the ones
who will choose which one of you is going home
with the win. All right,
so let's get into it. Today, you'll be making
your knives out of this. <i> [dramatic music]</i> A crushed car. <i> ♪ ♪</i> We've done a handful of these
car competitions in the past, <i> but we thought
those were too easy.</i> We found the most
mangled-up mess of a car to make it
a little more challenging. It's a new twist on a classic
car competition we do. In this competition,
we want you to make a signature blade
in your signature style sourced only from this vehicle. <i> - This is not gonna be
an easy challenge for sure.</i> <i> Looking at the thing,
I can't figure out</i> how in the world we're gonna
get anything out of it. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - Now that blade
needs to measure <i> between 12 and 14 inches.</i> <i> You also have to be set up
for a through or a hidden tang</i> <i> handle construction
when the time runs out.</i> Now you probably know
there is good high-carbon steel in various positions
around the vehicle. But after having been crushed, it might not be exactly
where you think it is. So just to make things
a little fair, we asked the technician
to throw great high-carbon steel springs inside the cabin
before they crushed it. So you can choose to go
for where you think there's good high-carbon steel
or you can use the tools that we've provided, break into the cab
of the vehicle, and get those springs. Moving on into the second
round of this competition, you will add handles
to your signature blades, turning them into
fully functioning weapons. At which point you will turn
your blades over to our judges who will check
for strength and durability in a car hood stab and chop. Then they'll check
whatever edge you have left in an antifreeze bottle slice. You have three hours on
the clock for this first round. Good luck.
Your time starts now. <i> [fast-paced rock music]</i> This is a salvage like
nothing we've done before. - I just need
to find something to use. - Right now,
it's like a treasure hunt trying to find good metal. - Where on the vehicle
would you be looking? - There's some
springs on the front, tie bars on the steering bars,
anti-sway bars. - There's a lot
of usable material in there, <i> but I don't see any way
to get to those pieces.</i> I'm hoping to find
something on the edge that doesn't require going
very deep into the wreckage. There we go. - Matthew's got that rear--
I think it's the anti-sway bar. You've got plenty of steel
to work with there. <i> - All I have to do
is take it to the chop saw</i> and clean it up
and it'll be good to go. - You can tell that piece
of steel that Matthew's got is tough because it's taking
forever to chop through it. - It is.
- Yeah. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - I immediately spot
something shiny <i> and looking further into it,</i> <i> it's a leaf spring.</i> - Thanks, dude. So I grab it
and hand it to my competitor, thinking nothing of it. I mean, it's gonna be easy
to find metal, right? - Looks like Dillon just handed
a nice pristine bar to Mike. <i> - I'm flabbergasted.</i> The camaraderie, man. I can't believe Dillon
gave me that steel. That was awesome. You want some more help? <i> So I stick around
to help him out a little bit,</i> but I feel like
I'm kind of getting in the way so I figured I might as well, <i> you know,
mosey on over to my spot.</i> - Mike's the first one
in the fire. He got the advantage of time
right now. - Whoo! <i> ♪ ♪</i> - They said they threw
a lot of metal in here but... Oh, gosh. <i> I'm searching left and right
for some usable metal.</i> That don't work. I cannot find anything
in this car right now. I ain't finding [bleep]. I am really regretting giving
that piece of metal to Mike. He better make
a dang good blade out of it. Well, guess I know
what I'm doing. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> This is taking too long,
so I grabbed the sledgehammer</i> and I go to town on this car. - There we go. - Dillon is going
to be exhausted before he even gets
to the forge. - Really? - Killing time, killing time. - Jim looks like
he's going for a coil. That'd be great,
chop up a few pieces of that and throw it in the can. - Game plan
is harvest as much of this coil spring
as possible. <i> Throw it in a can, get it
to forge-welding temperature,</i> and try to get
a homogenous piece of steel. - Jim's got his canister out. - I think that's
a great idea. <i> - At this point,</i> I feel a little bit
of time crunch because there's smiths
hammering a blade and I've got a can. <i> [rock music]</i> - Got to be rough
for the smiths that aren't yet in the forge hearing Mike
hammering away already. - I'm deciding to go
with a drop point camp knife. <i> A drop point has
a real fine tip.</i> <i> It'd be good for stabbing.</i> - With the rate Mike's going,
he's gonna be done in about another 40 minutes. - If he were on Big Blu,
he'd be done already. - Yeah. - I am real happy with
where I'm at right now. I think it's
[bleep]ing awesome. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - [bleep] damn it. - Matthew's still over
there at the chop saw trying to get through
that piece of rod. - He's gonna be there
for quite a while. <i> - I'm worried about the time
I'm spending on the chop saw.</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> I finally get through it.</i> <i> So I get the piece
in the fire and take a breath.</i> <i> While it's heating up,</i> <i> I set out two little ninja
warriors on my table</i> that my son's intent
with me to kind of bring me some good luck. <i> It's really nice just
having that little reminder</i> of my boys there
to keep my spirits up. - When my son was little,
he'd just say, "Don't embarrass us, Dad." [laughing] - Bladesmiths,
you have two hours remaining. [banging] - This is exhausting. <i> I've been swinging this
sledgehammer for a while now.</i> Oh! But I am persistent. - Giving away that piece
of metal that he got earlier is costing him
a lot of time and effort. - I'm searching left and right. And I see a hole about this big <i> right next
to the passenger seat.</i> Dillon's digging really deep.
I think he found something. - Hopefully, it's a big piece. Yes!
- Yeah, attaboy! - Ta-da.
- There you go. - Dillon has found
a really, really good piece of spring steel. More than enough
to make a blade. <i> - I still got two hours.
That's plenty of time.</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> - Fireworks. - We got a lot of sparks
coming from Jim's forge. - Yeah, Jim--
I don't know if he's sealed up
that can right or not. <i> - Now that my can
is welded up.</i> Hot steel! <i> I take it to the press.</i> I see seams open up. Ugly can, ugly! <i> And I just know
there is absolutely</i> no salvageable steel
in this can. - Once you start having
that canister start cracking on the edges and stuff,
it's really hard to fix. - He had decided to throw it
away and completely start over. He's back at the mess. - At this point,
panic is setting in. Damn it, I can't see! <i> I see failure in the distance,</i> and I will not fail. This is not going swimmingly. <i> [rock music]</i> - I'm ready to do
the shaping of the blade. <i> I'm looking to make a knife</i> <i> that's kind of
a classic Bowie knife</i> <i> with a good sharp point</i> <i> so it can stab through
that car hood.</i> - I really liked
Matthew's profile. Real sweet clip point Bowie. - Good design for these tests. <i> - I need to make a knife</i> <i> that is gonna
be strong and thick</i> and hold up to the abuse
that the judges put it through. So I'm making sure
that I work it plenty hot <i> and keeping it
in the fire as I go.</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> - Dillon's went
from struggle to success. He's at Big Blu,
and it looks like he's got a massive canvas
of high-carbon steel. He can basically turn it
into anything he wants. <i> - Since there's no
parameters on blade style,</i> I decided I'ma go with
my signature, <i> which is a chef's knife.</i> <i> I think it'll cut well and
stab well for this challenge.</i> It ain't the most
accurate blade but it works. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - What the heck is Dillon doing
with the start of that tang? - Whoa. - Looks like he tried
to squeeze in the shoulder of his tang
and went a little too far. - It's not in a good alignment
for thrusting, definitely,
because it's above the blade. - Yikes! <i> I look at my tang and Big Blu</i> has squished it
just a little too much, <i> but it's not a deal breaker.</i> I'm really feeling the clock
right now, <i> but I just go with it
at this point.</i> Let's just hope problems
like this don't keep happening. We're good. - Whoo! <i> Forging's going pretty good.</i> <i> I'm gonna start on the guard.</i> It is not necessary
right now to make a guard, but a guard helps so your hand
doesn't slip when stabbing. <i> ♪ ♪</i> My plan with the guard
is to do a hot fit up. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - Mike's thinking ahead. He's putting a guard
on this blade. - If we call for a through
or hidden tang, chances are, you're gonna need to put
some kind of guard on there. - I'm having trouble
getting it to fit correctly. <i> I don't wanna spend
too much time on this.</i> And it's a little frustrating,
to be honest. <i> It's as good as
it's gonna get right now.</i> I can always fit that
a little bit better later on. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - All I hear
is the clock ticking. - You have 60 minutes left! <i> ♪ ♪</i> - And I can't find
hardenable steel. And all of a sudden,
I see something shiny. - Oh, what do you got?
- Oh, ah, wait, wait, wait. - Well, I made 10 cents
on the deal. [laughing] - This might actually
be one of my cars. - Hell, yeah,
I'm keeping that dime. That's mine! [groaning] - I thought he had
a "eureka" moment. - I can't find steel. There ain't [bleep] in here.
- Ah. - He's starting
to get frustrated. It's painful to watch. - I'm going home. I'm looking at Jim hacking away
at this car and I don't want to see Jim out
on the first round because he didn't have
a piece of steel to work with. <i> So I went to help him out
a little bit.</i> Hey, Jim. It's not enough to get
a knife out of, I don't think, but there's that left over from
my piece you're welcome to. - Yeah, have at it, man. - This is what I love seeing about the bladesmithing
community. Matthew's sitting here
watching Jim struggling to find steel and he had some
excess so he offered it to Jim. - He went above and beyond
to kick that steel my way. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> There's possibly
not enough steel,</i> so I'm gonna try San Mai. I'm behind the clock. I have to get something done. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - I need to prioritize
getting this knife hard. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - Mike has quenched,
the first one in the oil. - No marks? - I mean,
not enough to care about. Whoo! I will take that. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - Dillon already
heated up his oil so he's getting pretty close
to a quench as well. - If something does go wrong, I will not have time
to start over, <i> so this needs to go right.</i> Here goes nothing. <i> ♪ ♪</i> I think we're good. I cannot believe it. It looks straight to me. I am proud that I actually
produced a knife. From the amount of struggle
that I had at the beginning of this round,
I did not think I would do it. - Bladesmiths,
you have 30 minutes remaining. <i> ♪ ♪</i> All right,
Matthew's in the oil, guys. <i> - I don't see
any cracks or anything.</i> <i> It's straight as an arrow
and hard as a rock.</i> I'm feeling really good. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> [rock music]</i> - Get in there, get hot! At this point, I know I have
a workable San Mai. [laughs] - For Jim having to restart, he's making
very, very good speed. - He's doing great. - She ain't no prom queen! I decide I better quench now. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - Jim is in the oil. - Wow.
- Nice. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - We're good. <i> I start grinding.</i> [bleep] me. That's when
I noticed dark seams, and I knew I'm in trouble. - I can see some kind
of a delamination. <i> - It's not great,
but I know</i> if I can get these delams
cleaned up or erased, <i> I'll be good.</i> <i> I have to turn something in.</i> - Five, four, three, two, one. Bladesmiths,
turn off your machines. Put down your tools.
This first round is over. <i> [tense music]</i> <i> - It's not ideal,
but at the end of this round,</i> I produced the best knife
I could produce <i> in the allotted time
with the steel</i> I had a hard time harvesting.
[chuckles] <i> ♪ ♪</i> - Well, Bladesmiths,
the time has come for the judges to do their
first critique on your blades and decide which three of you
will be joining us in the second round and who's gonna
be heading home. And, Mike,
you are up first, sir. Please present your work. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> - All right, so, Mike, I like
the profile of your blade.</i> <i> This was a really good idea
in the first round,</i> taking that time
to make that guard, but getting that fit up
dialed in and get this all refined is going to be interesting
to watch if you move forward. But all in all, nicely done.
- Thank you. - All right, Dillon,
you're up next. You ready?
- Yes, sir. - Please present your work. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> - All right, Dillon,</i> <i> your blade profile
is nice and wide.</i> <i> I like the curve there.
Nice for slashing.</i> But what gives me pause
is this tang because it rides right in line
with the spine for thrusting. It may not be as comfortable
when it's above the handle. But overall, I commend you
on your perseverance of looking for the metal,
not giving up, and presenting us with a blade. Good job. - Matthew, you ready?
- Yes, sir. - Please present
your work, bud. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> - Nice work, Matthew.
- Thank you.</i> <i> - I mean, everything's
straight in a line.</i> <i> I'd like to see it
a little slimmer.</i> Bring your grinds up, maybe,
to lighten things up. But otherwise, this is
a beautiful piece of steel. You did a very good job.
- Thank you. - Last but not least, Jim.
Please present your work, bud. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> - Well, first off, Jim,
your moustache</i> is what mine wants to be
when it grows up. [laughs]
- Thank you, sir. - I don't know that it was
necessary to do this San Mai. It looks like to me like
there was enough steel here. But, it's like 80, 90% there. <i> But you've got some delams.</i> But I do commend you. That looked like a very
frustrating start for you, but you found a way around it. Good on you.
- Thank you. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - Well, Bladesmiths, you all
know only three of you will be joining us in the second
round of this competition. The bladesmith that's gonna
be leaving The Forge is... <i> [dramatic music]</i> Jim. You fought hard,
but unfortunately, your blade did
not make the cut. - Jim, I have to commend you,
because that is a San Mai blade
that you turned in. But your blade
has the most flaws in terms of delaminations, and for that reason,
we're sending you home. - Thank you, sir. - Well, Jim, thank you for
coming out and trying so hard. But unfortunately, your time
in this competition has ended. I'm gonna have to ask you
to please surrender your work and step off The Forge floor. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> - It's a little
bittersweet moment.</i> Thank you. <i> I would have loved
to move forward.</i> <i> But you know what?</i> Maybe not $10,000. I got a dime. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - Gentlemen, congratulations,
you're joining us in the second round
of this competition. In this round,
you'll be adding handles to your blades, turning them
into fully functioning weapons, as well as fixing any issues
that the judges brought forth. You must also add a functional
guard to your blades. And the materials for that
must be sourced again from the crushed vehicle. At the end of this round, you'll hand your blades
over to the judges and they will check
for strength and durability in a car hood stab and chop and then check
your edge retention in an antifreeze
bottle slice. Gentlemen, you have
two hours on the clock, and good luck,
because that time starts now. <i> [upbeat rock music]</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> Mike must have a crystal ball, because that planning ahead
in the first round has set him up for a lot
of success here in round two. <i> - I'm pretty stoked that
I just randomly made a guard</i> <i> in the first round.</i> It's really gonna help me with
my time in this round here. <i> But I need to shape
the guard up so it looks</i> a little bit nicer
than it does right now. - I'm personally not crazy
about Mike's guard. The fact that it's curving up into the blade
as opposed to back, your hand could still
slip up onto the blade. - It's going real well,
but it's just taking some time. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - There's major issues
I gotta address that the judges gave me
for my blade. <i> An issue that they had
was with my tang,</i> it was in line with my spine. <i> It's typical
for a chef's knife,</i> but if you're going to be
thrusting into something <i> it's not ideal.</i> I definitely
need to lower that. - Can he just
cut down shoulders and just bring
it down just a tad? - Regardless of what he does,
he's still gonna have a handle material that sticks
high above that handle, just 'cause that tang's
about the thickness you'd want that tang to be...
- Yeah, exactly. - But down a quarter inch.
- That'll work. This tang is not as low
as I would like <i> but it's good enough for now.</i> So I'm going to move
on to the guard because that's my biggest
worry at this point. What do I want to use? <i> - Fabricating the guard</i> is the biggest challenge
of the round. So I want to get that done
before I do anything else. - Well, Matthew's right in
here, grinding away, taking off a chunk of mild steel right off
the front frame of the vehicle. - I would go with
something much thicker. - I just want to get in there. - The material is pretty thin, but it meets parameters
and I need to get moving. - The thing about
having guards that are with thin materials is that
if they don't round out those corners,
those guards can cut you. - Bladesmiths,
you have 90 minutes left to finish your blades. <i> - I want to get in
as quick as possible.</i> This car has given me
nothing but issues. Oh, gosh. That don't work. <i> I see a piece of the frame
sticking out</i> and I figure that's easy. I'm cutting out just
a square piece for my guard. - Dillon's cutting
on the back bumper. He's gonna end up
with a solid, probably, quarter inch piece of steel. - Good choice. - This piece of metal
will not come off of this car. Oh, I hate this. - That's not good. <i> - Getting this piece
of metal should have been</i> <i> a 30-second ordeal,</i> but now it's really
consuming my time. <i> I am definitely
starting to panic.</i> What the hell? - That's not good. <i> - Getting this piece of metal,</i> it's really consuming my time. - There we go, Dillon finally
got that piece of bumper off. - I'm feeling relieved <i> but I've already
wasted enough time</i> and I need it
on my knife right now. <i> [tense music]</i> <i> - I'm gonna try
to fit my handle.</i> I need to get a hole all
the way through this block. Holy crap. This drill press
is giving me fits. - Some of this handle material
will gum up and heat up and kind of glue itself
to the drill bit. So what you want to do
is work it a little bit, make sure your
drill bit's clean and work the material again, make sure
your drill bit's clean. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - Drill press, can we get this
[bleep] done, please? I don't know. - He's been there
20 minutes going in and out and it's not moving. - I need this handle
on this knife. Whoo! <i> This is a huge weight
off my shoulder</i> getting this handle fit
up to the tang here. But I'm definitely
feeling the time burn up from the clock. <i> [rock music]</i> - I've got my guard
shaped up and fit. Now it's time to hot fit
the tang to the handle. - The best time to do
a burn through is on your own time at home. Not here.
- [laughs] - [bleep]. It's not going smoothly. I'm worried that as I'm
doing this, I'm going to split my handle material
and have to start over. <i> I know that I don't
have enough time</i> to do another handle
at this point. - Ah. Golly.
Come on, Matthew. - Matthew, hit it harder. - No, don't hit it harder. - You're taking
the fun out of it, Dave. - Finally,
it bottoms out and fits. <i> It's a huge relief
that the handle's on</i> and I'm that much closer
to glue up. - Bladesmiths, you are down
to the final 30 minutes. - I have to add
a pommel to this knife so the handle
doesn't fly off the back. - That butt cap
and guard are compression. So that's holding
your handle together. - I'm grabbing some penstock
that I can put over the tang and hopefully
weld all three together. It's not moving anywhere.
I feel pretty good about it. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - At this point, all I have
to do is sharpen my blade. <i> In round one,</i> <i> J wanted me to make my edge
geometry a little finer</i> and take a little bit
of weight off the blade. - The car hood stab and slice, one of these tests that really tests the edge geometry
of your blade. So this is where we talk
about that appleseed edge being the ideal edge
'cause it's very supportive. <i> - I'm testing and feeling it
with my fingers</i> and I'm liking what I see. <i> [rock music]</i> - I'm really low on time.
I got to get this handle on. I put my blade in
and there's a gap. That doesn't work. I need to get this fixed
right now. - Probably go to the grinder
and take four little corners off the end of that tang and probably it'd slide
right in and fit perfectly. - And I think maybe
I can fill it. So I grab a piece of D10
and I make a spacer. - Can adding a wedge
introduce undue stress? - It could bust loose,
which will allow that handle
to start moving a bit. - I roughly shape out my handle
and I put the best edge that I possibly can
with this time remaining. - Five, four, three, two, one. Bladesmiths, second round
of this competition is over. <i> - This handle might be the
roughest and fastest handle</i> <i> I've ever made,
but it'll work.</i> I can't believe
I even finished that handle. <i> [tense music]</i> - All right, Bladesmiths.
This is our strength test. The car hood stab and chop. Mike, you're up first,
you ready to go? - Let's do it.
- All right, cool. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> - This test is crazy
because, I mean,</i> <i> you're stabbing through metal.</i> My heart's just beating. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> [rock music]</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> - [grunting] <i> ♪ ♪</i> Mike, you survived. I'm not a huge fan of the guard
facing the direction it is. I would rather it
was the other way around because if you're not
paying attention, you could still actually
slip up on this blade. But everything held together. Good job.
- Thanks, J. - How you feeling, Dillon?
- Little nervous. - It's all right.
We'll get through it together. - Yep. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> That car hood is sturdy
and J. does not take it easy</i> and I am definitely
starting to feel the nerves. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> [rock music]</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> [banging] <i> ♪ ♪</i> - All right,
Dillon, you survived. A little bit of dulling
but it held up just fine. You got some gapping at
the base of the blade here and in your handle setup,
but it didn't come apart. Good job.
- Thank you. - How you feeling, Matthew?
- Great. - Let's do it then.
[laughter] <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> - Seeing the other two
knives tested I realized</i> what a brutal test it is
to these knives. <i> I know J. is just gonna
beat the heck out of my knife</i> and really put it
through the wringer. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> [rock music]</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> [banging] <i> ♪ ♪</i> - Matthew, you survived.
Your edge held up fine. Just a little bit of glinting. But this guard
is extremely thin. <i> Even with a glove on
when I was stabbing,</i> I could feel the edges
of that guard. A little more mass,
a little more contouring would have helped,
but otherwise you survived. Good job.
- Thank you. Doug. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - All right, bladesmiths.
This is the sharpness test. The antifreeze bottle slice. <i> ♪ ♪</i> Mike, you're up first.
You ready? - Yep, let's do it.
- Let's do this. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> [rock music]</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> All right, Mike, let's talk
about your weapon here. Your edge,
it cut very cleanly through these
antifreeze bottles, and at the same time, it punctures and slices well. Overall, sir, your weapon... It will cut.
- All right. - All right, Dillon,
your turn, sir. You ready?
- Ready as I'll ever be. - All right, let's do this. <i> - After watching
Mike's blade cut</i> real cleanly
through those bottles, I'm definitely starting
to feel the pressure. I definitely ran out of time
sharpening the blade, <i> so if my blade doesn't
cut as well as theirs,</i> I'm thinking I'm going home. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> - All right, Dillon, let's talk
about your weapon here. I really appreciate
the adjustment you made to bring your handle
almost in line with the spine. That allowed me to have
a very deep thrust in here. Little curve there
with a swing of that, but the edge, it's sharp. Overall, for this test, it will cut.
- Thank you. - Matthew, your turn, sir.
You ready? - Yes, sir.
- Let's do this. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> [rock music]</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> All right, Matthew, let's talk
about your blade here. It's nicely balanced. Your edge is sharp. Those are clean cuts
all the way through. Overall, sir, your weapon, it will cut.
- Thank you. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - Now bladesmiths, we gave you
a difficult challenge, and all of you
stepped up to the plate and brought forward
high functioning strong and sharp blades. But as you know,
only two of you can join us in the final round
of this competition and our judges have made
a final decision. The bladesmith leaving
The Forge is... <i> [dramatic music]</i> Dillon. Unfortunately, your blade just
didn't make the cut, man. And J.'s gonna tell you why. - Dillon, you should be very
proud of your performance, but you've got excessive
gapping at the face <i> of the blade
and on the handle.</i> That's why
we're letting you go. - Makes sense. - Dillon,
you're a talented smith, but unfortunately,
you're not going to be moving forward
in the competition. I'm gonna have to ask you
to please step off The Forge floor. - Thanks for having me, guys.
- Good job, Dillon. <i> - I had a lot of fun.</i> I'm definitely proud
of what I produced here. <i> I definitely don't regret
passing the steel to Mike.</i> I still made a blade,
so I can't complain. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - Well, Mike, Matthew,
gentlemen, congratulations. You're going into
the third and final round where you'll be battling
it out from your home forges fighting for that title
of "Forged in Fire" champion and a check for $10,000. Now, guys, in this final round, you will be building an iconic
weapon from history. And that weapon is this. <i> [rock music]</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> A matched set of curved katars. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> - While the katar
was immensely popular in India</i> <i> during the 16th
and 17th century,</i> <i> this curved version
is extremely rare and has been</i> <i> hailed as one of the most
unique weapons in history.</i> <i> The ornate handle
construction features</i> <i> two bars for the grip</i> <i> and provides the user
enough control</i> <i> to make a very effective
fighting knife.</i> <i> As a pair, the curved katars
were designed</i> <i> to deliver quick
and lethal stabs</i> <i> and slashes using both arms.</i> <i> Today, this one-of-a-kind
weapon can be seen on display</i> <i> at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art in New York.</i> - Bladesmiths, you've got
two curved blades on here that need to measure
between 11 and 12 inches. On both those blades,
you need to have two fullers on both sides. Now down to the handle.
You've got two sidebars. You need to have cross bars which will be used
as your grip. - Yo, what is that? [laughs] <i> Kind of looks like
something a pirate</i> <i> would have under his sleeve.</i> It'll be interesting. - All right, gentlemen,
you have four days at your home forges
to build these blades. Do your very best work.
We will see you in four days. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> [upbeat rock music]</i> - I'm back home here
in Sylva, North Carolina. And I'm super excited to get
started on these curved katars. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> Today, I'm going to try
to get the blades forged</i> and possibly the cross bars. My biggest concern is
creating fullers in the blade. I'll put the piece
of steel in between those two dyes
and forge the fuller. <i> This is the part
I was most nervous about,</i> so I'm going to take it
nice and slow. [clanking] <i> ♪ ♪</i> Finally,
got my fullers roughed in. Day one has come
to a close and I feel like I've accomplished
everything I set out to do. And I'm looking forward
to tearing into it tomorrow. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - We're at the home forge
in West Point, Nebraska. I'm liking the shape.
Looking good so far. <i> I'm hoping to forge it
predominantly out of</i> homogenous steel
one piece construction. <i> So gonna be a lot of forging.</i> I'm thinking this
one steel construction, you know,
might put me over the top. <i> ♪ ♪</i> I'm stoked about
how it's looking right now. I got some good progress
going on both blades and a couple of the brackets
on one of the blades. So you know, I'm feeling good. That's working. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> - My priority
for day two is getting</i> a lot of the fabrication
for my handles done. These are the cross bars
for the handle. <i> Challenges are going
to be getting these handles</i> <i> just right.</i> So I've just done what's
called a reverse twist there. <i> I've got the frames
fabricated for my blades</i> <i> and the cross bars and it's
time to start assembling them.</i> I'm not liking how far apart
my handle cross bars are. It's a little uncomfortable. So what I'm going to do
is make the U-frames over. <i> ♪ ♪</i> My handle in round two
wasn't quite perfect <i> and I want to make sure
that doesn't happen</i> in the final round. <i> It was a little
frustrating to have</i> to go back to the drawing board
and start over with those, <i> but I'm going
to keep moving forward</i> and make it happen anyway. All right,
I think that one's good. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> - It's the morning
of day three,</i> <i> and I'm feeling good
about this.</i> Today, I got to get those
brackets done. I need it to be comfortable
in their hands. That means that
it's better to go wider. So I want to make sure
that they're not digging into their arms. They're looking good. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> I'm having a little bit
of an issue getting these</i> two sides of the brackets
lined up perfectly. Looks like [bleep]. <i> ♪ ♪</i> [metal snaps]
Oh! [bleep]. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> This is a big deal because
it's one piece construction.</i> I might have to forge
a new blade from scratch. I'm [bleep] right now. <i> I think before I start
making another one,</i> <i> I might try to forge weld
that back on there.</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> If I get this back on there,
it'd be a miracle. <i> ♪ ♪</i> Oh, [bleep]. All right,
I'm calling it for today. I'm done. I'm trying to stay positive,
but I don't-- I don't see myself
making two at this point. Today was pretty much a loss. <i> I gotta figure this out
tomorrow for sure.</i> <i> [upbeat rock music]</i> <i> - It's day four.</i> Yesterday,
I got most of the fabrication done for my handles. Got the handles
attached to the blades and ready for heat treat. <i> There's always
a moment of truth.</i> <i> I'm a little nervous
going into it.</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> Yeah, that one looks good. Getting number two,
and we're good to go. <i> ♪ ♪</i> Good work. I feel ecstatic
about my progress. <i> I'm really pleased
with the way they're looking.</i> <i> - So I got this broken blade.</i> I'ma need to try
to salvage this. <i> I'm going to try to weld
the bracket back together.</i> <i> If this weld does not work,</i> <i> I'm probably not
going to be able</i> to have
a second blade to turn in. Here I go. <i> ♪ ♪</i> Let's see if it holds. I'm going to throw it
a few times <i> and see what happens.</i> If it's going to fail,
I want it to fail here in my hands, not when
the judges are using it. <i> ♪ ♪</i> I mean, I feel good about that. <i> [upbeat rock music]</i> Let's get these handles
on here. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> So at the end of day four,</i> <i> finally got these
finished and sharpened.</i> I am super stoked right now. Whoo! <i> [tense music]</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> - Bladesmiths, it's good
to have you back in The Forge. So you just came back from
four days at your home forges, building a matched set
of curved katars. But before we get
into testing your blades, we want to hear about them. So Mike, how'd it go for you?
- It went crazy. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> I went with 80CrV2
for the blades and the bracket</i> <i> and then some mild steel
for the handles.</i> - Matthew, how about you? <i> - I forged
the blades from 5160.</i> <i> For the handles, incorporated
a lot of forge texture.</i> <i> And a reverse twist
on the cross bars,</i> <i> and Mortise and Tenon joinery
to hold it all together.</i> - Well, bladesmiths,
both your sets of blades look strong,
sharp, and deadly. Now we have to find out
which one of you is leaving here
with the win today. Bladesmiths, we're going
to put your blades through a couple
rigorous tests. And up first, the dynamic
KEAL tests with Doug. <i> ♪ ♪</i> - All right, bladesmiths, welcome to
the dynamic KEAL test. <i> ♪ ♪</i> Mike, you're up first,
you ready? - I'm ready.
- Let's do this. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> - The only thing
I'm really worried about</i> is that those welds pop. <i> So we're gonna
have to see what goes on.</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> [dramatic music]</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> [dummy squelching] <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> - All right, Mike, let's talk
about your curved katars here. For a matched set, not bad. They're almost identical
in the feel of your weapon. Your edges are sharp. And overall, sir... It will KEAL. - That's great to hear. - Matthew, your turn, sir.
You ready? - Yes, sir.
- Let's have fun. <i> - I'm a little nervous.</i> I feel like I've made
two solid blades, <i> but I know they beat the heck
out of these knives.</i> So when it comes down to it,
anything could happen. <i> [dramatic music]</i> <i> [dramatic music]</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> [squelching] <i> ♪ ♪</i> - All right, Matthew,
let's talk about your curved katars here. First up, I like the scale
of your blades because katars are the--
well, the big daddies of push daggers and push
daggers are relatively small, so there's a scale that
goes with it to make it easier to control and I think you've
got that with your blades. That gives also a nice support
when I'm stabbing and slashing. Overall, sir,
your curved katars... It will KEAL. - Thank you. <i> [tense music]</i> - All right, gentlemen, welcome
to our dynamic strength test-- the Kendo stick chop
and ballistic tube slice. <i> ♪ ♪</i> Mike, you're up first,
you ready? - Yep, let's do it.
- Okay. <i> [rock music]</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> [clacking] <i> ♪ ♪</i> [clattering] <i> ♪ ♪</i> - All right, Mike, right off, it's an interesting way
to build these. It's a non-traditional way. But the issue I have
is that there's so much space around my hands
that they kind of are trying to find
what's comfortable. The other thing
that I noticed is your blade is really no longer
in line with the handle. But, good cutters,
they held up. Nicely done. - Thanks, Dave. - Matthew, you ready? - Let's do it.
- Okay. <i> ♪ ♪</i> <i> [tense music]</i> <i> ♪ ♪</i> [clacking] <i> ♪ ♪</i> So, Matthew, right off,
good traditional look to these. I like that a lot. They cut like
they're supposed to cut. They're plenty strong. They held their
edge beautifully. Good job.
- Thank you. <i> [tense music]</i> - Bladesmiths,
there is nothing easy about fighting in this Forge. And the two of you proved
yourself in the final round with some unique blades. Now unfortunately,
only one of you go home today with the win. Today's "Forged in Fire"
champion is... <i> [dramatic music]</i> Matthew, congratulations, man. Mike, you fought hard.
You're a talented 'smith. But unfortunately, you're not
taking home the win today. And Dave's gonna tell you why. - Mike, I commend you
on the work you put into those blades. Going with that
non-traditional shape and the scale of that handle
made them difficult to wield, <i> and it started
to take some damage.</i> Those things combined, that's
why we're sending you home. - Thanks for
the opportunity, guys. - Well, Mike, unfortunately, your time in this competition
has ended. I'm gonna have to ask you
to please step off The Forge floor. - Thank you, sir.
- Good fight, Mike. <i> - Pretty bummed right now.</i> <i> A lot of highs
and a lot of lows,</i> and here we are. <i> I knew I had some stiff
competition this whole time.</i> <i> Matthew is a great smith.</i> <i> He's been doing it
for a long time.</i> Congrats, Matthew--
couldn't go to a better person. <i> Good job, dude.</i> - Matthew,
that makes you today's "Forged in Fire" champion. You just got yourself
a check for $10,000. Congratulations.
How you feeling? - Fantastic. <i> I feel elated.</i> Been a hard challenge from
the first round to the last. - [grunts] - I'm just on cloud nine
right now. <i> ♪ ♪</i>
