Gentlemen, congratulations. The two of you have
submitted yourselves a spot in the final
round of our competition. Now we're sending you
back to your home forges to build an iconic weapon from
history, and that weapon is-- Oh, sweet. --the Polish war hammer. The Polish war hammer's
an Eastern European weapon used during the 16th
and 17th centuries. Featuring a blunt hammer head on
one side and a sharpened spike on the other, they
were both designed to inflict deadly blows
and piercing stabs through an opponent's armor. It was an effective lethal
weapon used on horseback and in hand-to-hand combat. The Polish war hammer
was a pivotal weapon during the Battle of Vienna,
which began the decline of the Ottoman Empire. You guys have four days. Good luck.
We'll see you then. Sweet. I'm Mike Maldino. I'm 30 years old. I'm a high school
technology teacher and a part-time bladesmith. The thing I love
about blacksmithing is that you're always
pushing yourself. You're always trying
to learn something new. I'm super excited to be here. It it's been a dream of mine
for a long time, but now I'm working on the
hammer head billet. Everything else is
solid underneath. Now I'm going to take these two
billets down to the grinder, and I'm going to form them
out and loose some weight. I decided I'm going
to harden and heat treat the handle of the hammer
before I join the head to it. It's so long and skinny. I'm worried about it
bending during the test. Pray nothing warps. If it twists, or
warps, or bends, there's not much steel to
take away to straighten it back out afterwards. All right, I'm
going to go for it. Oh, straight as could be. Quench went smoothly. Yeah, this came out so sweet. I'm just going to oil it up
and then give it a good test. I think we're good to go. I figured we might as well
test it out on a door. And it goes straight through. The head is still
firmly attached. There was no damage
to the weapon at all. My name is Josh Fisher. I'm 26 years old. I've been a full time
bladesmith for over a year now. At my forge, I work with
the Wounded Warrior Project teaching the
veterans how to make knives or other
blacksmithing projects. The biggest concern
for today is getting the eye of the hammer punched. If the eye ends up being crooked
or doesn't punch cleanly, then I'll never get
a good handle fit, and it might come loose. Here we go. So getting the eye
punched went pretty good. I'm really happy with it. It's ready for the quench. This is really critical
for the strength of this, and repeat that for the spike. See that skating on the
head, skating on that spike, just what I want. We've got the hammer
almost completely done. Before I do all the final
cleaning and polishing on it, I figure I'd do a
couple tasks with it. [inaudible] It feels great
to have made it this far. It was a really tight
competition up to this point, and I'd really like to
see it stay that way. Bladesmiths, welcome
to the keel test. To find out what kind of
damage your weapon will do, I will deliver some lethal
blows on this ballistics dummy. Now I am looking to see
how your weapons will crush and pierce the armor
that our ballistics dummy is wearing. Joshua first.
You ready for this? Yep. All right, Josh. First up, the handle
construction, your leather wrapping that you have here
does give me a very good grip, and I'll need it because
for a one-handed weapon, it's a very heavy weapon. That spike penetrates
deep into the chainmail. Your hammer feet
crushes the helmet, and it went deep into
this ballistics dummy. Overall, sir, your
weapon, it will keel. Mike, your turn, sir.
Are you ready? Yep. Let's do this. All right, Mike, first up,
your handle construction is a little bit on the
blocky side for me, but your spike pierces nicely
into this ballistics dummy. Your hammerhead, the crushing
blows going to the heart push some chainmail
into the heart. It crushes the helmet. In overall, sir, it will keel. All right, gentlemen, it's
time for the strength test, our statue smash. This test is all about
what those statues do to your hammers, not what
your hammers do to the statues. Josh, you're up first.
You ready? Yep. All right, Josh, first
off, your construction design is really beautiful,
but you've taken-- abandon that head. Everything is still
tight, which is great. It's just the weight is on the
extreme side, but it held up. Well done. All right, Mike. You ready? I'm ready. We'll see if the hammer is. Yes, we will. All right, a couple of
things going on, Mike. The way these are inset,
they're actually kind of sharp, so every impact, literally, you
can see a little raised spot. The Damascus pattern
is fantastic. The shaft's still
spot on straight. No damage on the spike,
but the head's loose. Where this was all smooth,
I can now feel a rim. Overall, for this
test, it held up well. Good job. Thanks. All right,
bladesmiths, this is the leatherback smash and bash. I'm going to take
your weapons, and I'm going to see if they
can smash and bash through these
double-layered leather bags. Josh, you're up first.
Are you ready for this? - Yep.
- All right. Let's do this. All right, Josh. You wrapped your
handle nicely so where I can have good
retention of a very heavy weapon like this. That weight lends itself
to crush right inside the bag to smash it,
and you're thick right here penetrates deeply. Overall, your weapon, it
will cut, smash, and bash, or anything you want it to do. Mike, your turn, sir.
Are you ready? Yep. All right, let's do this. All right, Mike, something
about your weapon here. Initial hit, letting
the weapon do the work, not so much on the impact. But the lightness of your
weapon on the second strike, I can continuously deliver
smashes and bashes right into the leather bag. When it comes to smashing and
bashing and maybe cutting, great job. Thanks. Well, gentlemen, you
both showed your skill and your craftsmanship
throughout the entire competition, but
only one of you guys is going to be leaving
here $10,000 richer, carrying the title of
forged in fire champion. Today, forged in fire
champion is Josh. Congratulations. You're the forged
in fire champion. Mike, unfortunately,
your hammer's not coming out with the win today. I'm going to have
to ask you to please step off the forge floor. Good job, man. I was a little disheartened
to hear that I'm not the winner, but at the same
time, I still feel like I lived up to my dream. I'm glad that the competition
was so tight the whole way. Josh is a great guy. I look forward to seeing
what he does in the future. Josh, you are the newest
forged in fire champion. You're going to be
walking out of here with a check for $10,000. How do you feel? Amazing. I can't believe it. I can't even think
of what to say. I'm just so excited. This is an amazing opportunity,
and to come out of it knowing that I've won is just huge.
