All language subtitles for Forged.in.Fire.S07E29.Baby.Boomer.vs.Gen.Z.720p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-QOQ_track3_[eng]

- I'm Caleb Ledford,
I'm 18 years old,

and I'm
from Young Harris, Georgia.

I'm trying to prove that,
as young as I am,

I can actually make a name
for myself and show everybody

that small-town kid
can do big things.

- My name is Zach Batanyan.
I'm 19 years old.

I get a lot of emotional
satisfaction

out of bladesmithing.

And it brings me a lot of joy

to struggle through
and fight through,

and the end product is usually
something functional,

yet beautiful.

- My name is Forrest Ketner.

I'm 58 years old.

Favorite part
about bladesmithing

is just putting
all the details together

and getting
a finished product.

I'd like to
really finish strong

and have a blade that looks
like what the judges asked for.

- My name is Jimmy Poole.

I'm 68 years old.

I wanna do this competition

because I can brag
about it forever,

and I can't wait
to get on the--the floor.

And I'm gonna kick some butt
out there.

- Bladesmiths.
Welcome to the Forge.

You're here for three rounds

of timed edged-weapon
making competition

that will reveal to us

which of you is our next
"Forged in Fire" champion

that walks out of here
with a check for $10,000.

All of your progress
will be monitored

by our panel
of expert judges,

and these are the guys that
make that decision.

So I'll introduce you now.

Up first,

two-time "Forged in Fire"
champion, Ben Abbott.

Next, historic weapons
re-creation specialist,

David Baker.

And last, edged and impact
weapons specialist,

Doug Marcaida.

All right, bladesmiths.

I don't know if
you noticed or not,

but we've got
a multi-generational crew

of smiths in here today.

We've got Gen Z
versus the Baby Boomers.

We've got HDTV
versus black-and-white TV.

And in today's competition,
it's gonna be old-school...

Versus new school.

In our first round
of competition today,

you guys will have to choose

whether or not you're gonna
forge an old-school bowie

or a new=school bowie.

If you choose to forge
an old-school bowie,

you must make it out of
this bar of 1095 mono steel.

Sounds easy enough, right?

However, you cannot
use Big Blu.

You cannot use the presses.

You just have to use
elbow grease.

If you choose
the new-style bowie,

you must make your blade

out of these stacks of 1095
and 15N20 steel.

It must be a 50-layer
Damascus pattern.

However, you have full access

to all of the power equipment
here in the Forge.

- If I got with this old-school
approach, you know,

I don't have a power hammer,
hydraulic press.

But I don't have that anyways,

so I'll just stick to
the ole old power hammer...

Right here.

You'll have just three hours

in this first round
of competition

in which to complete your work.

If you make it
to the second round,

you'll have a chance to attach
handles to those blades

so that we test them
for strength and durability

in a horn chop

and for edge retention

in the dreaded apple slice.

Keep an eye on the clock.
Pay attention to the details.

Failure to meet a single one
of our parameters

is grounds for immediate
dismissal from this forge.

Good luck, bladesmiths.

Your three hours starts now.

- Ooh, look at that.
- Zach's going old-school.

- Old-school, old-school.
- Three old-schools.

- And one new school.

- The old-school
is just one piece of steel.

I'm also looking at the shape
of the blade.

The new school
has more curves to it.

It's got brass guards.
It's flashier.

The old-schools?
Eh, it's just a knife.

So I'm taking the simple way.

I'm gonna choose
the old-school,

and then I don't have to worry

about forge welding
or anything.

- Now, one's no harder
than the other

when you take away
the power tools, right?

- Right; I mean, the only thing
is, do you have the endurance

to pound on a bar
or a one-inch square?

- That's a big piece of steel,

but I'm feeling strong.

I can pound it all day long.

All right, baby.
I'm ready to go.

- I might be young,
but I guess I'm an old soul.

So I go straight
for the old-school.

- The difference between
an old-school bowie

and a new school bowie
is perception.

New-school bowies
tend to be perceived

as having recurved blades
or pins

or aggressive points
with multifaceted handles,

While the old-school bowies
have a blade that cuts

and a handle
you can hold on to.

And it still falls within
that visual thing.

You look at it and you say,
"Oh, that's a bowie."

- Yeah.

- Now we wait for it
to get hot.

I'm the old-school guy.

I decided to go
with the mono steel.

I've done canned Damascus
and layered Damascus,

but I heard him say
"50 layers."

And if something
doesn't stick,

it could really create
problems down the road.

But mono steel,
I'm gonna have to beat it out.

So I think I'll test
my arm today.

- We've got three smiths

who really chose the tough
route here, physically,

and then we got Caleb.

Even after he gets
his 50-plus layers,

he's gotta create
a pattern into that blade,

draw that out again,
and make his shape.

- When I see all
the competitors go

for the mono steel
and the old-school technique,

at first,
I was a little worried,

maybe second-guessing myself,

thinking that maybe I went
for the wrong challenge.

But then I realized that
I have all of the power tools

for myself.

But still,
there's also a setback

because I have
several more steps

that need to be completed.

It takes a lot of time
with the Damascus

compared to where they are
right now

with the rest of their steels.

Um, I feel
a little bit behind,

but by the time
I get everything going,

I feel like
I can get back ahead.

- The 1095 is pretty chunky,

and I figure,
with a square piece of metal,

if I beat it down
on the square side,

it's gonna be a
whole lot harder to move

than to beat it down
diagonally

where I'm just beating
on the corners.

- What I do love about what
Forrest is doing:

he's hitting the diamond down.

- Okay.

- Which will get you to
that two inches wide

that you're looking for
really rapidly.

- First couple of strikes,

I notice the 1095
is kind of hard to move.

It started reminding me

that I'm not as young
as I used to be.

What are you doing over there?

You're using the big hammer,
huh?

- Yeah, yep.

- That'd wear me out after
about four blows.

- Hey, look at Zach.

That is the exuberance and
energy of youth, right there.

- It'd be nice to be young
again, wouldn't it?

- Yeah, it would be.

- It's pretty repetitive,

just heating, hammering,
heating, hammering,

drawing
this massive steel out.

But that's my favorite part.

My hammer technique
is pretty simple.

I'm just going to the rhythm

of the music
that's playing in my head.

Right now, I'm uh, hammering
this to some Wu-Tang Clan.

- ♪ Yeah

- But you know, later,

later I'll be hammering
to some Slayer.

- ♪ Yeah

- Whatever in the mood is,
yeah.

- That's a big dude
who moved a lot of steel

very, very quickly
and very effectively.

- Yep.

- Once I get the metal into
critical welding temperature,

I give it a couple of light
taps just to set the weld.

And then after that,

I can really just lengthen
the metal all the way out.

- Bladesmiths!

90 minutes has elapsed.

That is half the time
in the round!

- I started off with 12 layers
of the steel.

I need to just cut it into
five different pieces.

- So Caleb's got a five stack.

If he can get this weld
to stick,

he will have made
50-plus layers.

- Yeah.
- At this point,

60 layers, actually.

- Yep.

- Oh, every time Big Blu
turns on I get mad.

I'm heating this steel,

and I'm pounding
the hell out of it.

I heat, hit, heat, hit,
heat, hit, heat, hit.

And I'm starting
to get cramps,

and the steel just
ain't moving very good.

- Jimmy and Forrest both
are hurting right now.

- Yeah.
- Yeah, but you can see

a difference, though.

With Forrest,
he's moving the metal.

And Jimmy,
I mean, he's hammering,

but it's not
effective strikes.

Stop moving the metal.

- Maybe when he's not looking,
I'll take his steel.

Swap with him.

- Yeah, there you go.

- I'm trying to cut
my tang in,

because I know
I don't have the energy

to beat that in.

And I already have the length
I need for the knife.

- Is Forrest cutting in a tang
right now?

- Yeah.
- You know what?

If you're getting tired,

why hit something
you can just cut away?

- Exactly.
- It makes a lot of sense.

- Bladesmiths!
60 minutes!

- I'm feeling pretty good.

My blade is starting
to take shape.

- Zach's hammered that down to
a pretty nice bowie profile.

- I'm makinghe bowie that
I make all the time at home.

Steep clip point, big belly,

and, uh, I'm making it to be
able to survive a horn chop

and at the same time
still be able to slice cleanly

through some apples.

- Twisting wrench.

- He's going for
a twisted pattern.

- Ah.

- I'm hoping so much
that while I twist it

I don't see any delaminations
in the steel

and it starts to come apart,

because that means
all this hard work

that I've put into the metal
is just for nothing.

I'm gonna have to restart.

- Caleb's got
another full twist.

- Tight.

- The more you twist,

the better
that pattern's gonna be

all the way
to the end of the blade.

- Right now, I just twisted
my billet of Damascus,

and I'm getting ready to
flatten it out

and then grind off some
of the rest of the outside.

I'll really be able
to power through

and get my knife forged out
and shaped fairly quickly.

So I'm thinking
I made the right choice

with the power hammer.

- This metal's tough, and
it's taking a while to cut.

I'm worried
about not finishing.

We have to beat the clock, and
it is running down very fast.

On the grinder,
I'm trying to

get the bevel
right on the blade

and get a sharp edge on it

before I go
through the quenches.

My blade's plenty heavy,

but hopefully I'll have more
time to work on that later.

- You know
Jimmy's fading fast.

Exhaustion has really
taken its toll.

- I'm pounding like hell,
and ain't nothing happening.

I need a little more.

Every time I raise this hammer,
it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.

My arm is dead,

but I still gotta get
another half inch

on the end of this blade.

I don't think
I'm gonna make it.

I can tell my arm's
not gonna make it.

So all I gotta d
is just pound away

and go to the grinder
as soon as I can

so I can get the bowie shape
ground down

versus hammering it down.

- 30 minutes, bladesmiths!

- Okay, I've got it, baby.

The grinder is gonna save
my ass.

That's for sure.

- Does it move faster

under the hammer
or under the grinder?

That's the question.
- Hammer.

- The hammer?
- Yeah, always.

- Okay.

- I'm thinking if Will
will just turn around

and talk to those
other judges,

I'm'na sneak over and pound
a couple on Big Blu.

If I'm caught, I think they'll
take pity on the old guy.

I hope, anyway.

- Looks like he might have
two inches of height

and the length
that we're looking for.

- Yes.
- Really?

- Yeah, but it looks
dangerously lean to me.

- Right now, I'm just working
on the profile of my blade.

I've already got
a rough forge on it,

so now I'm getting
a rough grind.

And then I'm gonna go from
there and get it heat-treated.

- Man, that looks like
a hot blade.

- I could have the prettiest
blade on the planet

but if the heat treat's
not good,

it could break on first impact
hitting that horn.

It's hard, it's straight,

it's exactly
where I want it to be.

- It's Zach's race
to lose at this point.

He's got a nice shape.
- Killing it!

- I only have time
for one good quench.

- It's a, uh, thick blade.

- It's straight,
and I'm happy.

I feel confident that
it looks like a bowie,

but I know it's quite heavy.

- I'm getting ready
to quench my blade,

and I'm constantly checking it

and making sure I have
the correct color.

- All right,
so Caleb just quenched.

- It looks good.
That made me very, very happy.

So right now
I'm just looking

toget a little bit better
of a grind on it

and get it cleaned up so that
I can get a nice edge on it.

- I think I've got probably
the best chance

of having an easy quench
than anybody.

It's not gonna warp.
It's way too thick to warp.

I've just gotta make sure it
doesn't get too hot and crack.

Come on, baby.

It looks pretty good.

I think that's skating.

Thick as hell,
but I've got a hard blade.

Hock it off, baby.
Come on, come on, come on.

- Five, four,

three, two, one.

Bladesmiths,
shut down your machines.

Drop your tools.

This first round of competition
is over.

- Whoo.

- That was fun.
- Yee-haw, baby!

- Whoo-hoo.

- Weighs as much as my anvil.
Hah!

I'm turning in a thick blade,

but it's got my heart in it,

and I want the judges
to at least see

what the potential
is to this blade.

- All right, all right,
bladesmiths.

The time has elapsed in our
first round of competition.

We asked you guys to make

10- to 12-inch old-school
or new-school bowies.

You got to choose which type
of bowie you made.

Caleb, you're the only smith

who chose to go with
the new-school method.

Please present your blade
to the judges.

- Well, Caleb,
this is a light blade.

It's got a nice profile to it.

I really applaud the fact

that you didn't just do half
a twist and call it twisted.

And it's evident
in the pattern.

The pattern that you ended up
with is beautiful.

All in all, well done.
- Thank you.

- All right, Zach, you're up.

Please present your blade
to the judges.

- The weight of this is nice.
It's nice and light.

But the big question I have

is how you're going to set up
for that guard and handle.

Right now...

That's about...

as short as I'd want
a handle to be,

And there's no guard
on here yet.

- All right, Forrest.
You're up.

Please present your blade
to the judges.

- All right, Forrest.
I just see a lot of metal.

Maybe there's a bowie
somewhere in here,

which you'd get
to grind it all out.

But it does have
the characteristics.

You've got a drop-seal point,

you've got your curve there,
it's got an edge,

but right now, as it is,

that's just a very thick
piece of metal.

Moving forward, you're just
gonna have to

spend a lot of time
on the grinder

and get it to the weight--
what a normal knife would be

when you're swinging
or cutting with it.

- Jimmy, you're up next.

Please present your blade
to the judges.

- All right, Jimmy.

First off, there is
a lot of weight here.

This is a beast.

There's not a lot of this that
screams bowie knife to me.

The tip is kind of coming up

instead of having
a clip coming down.

If you move forward from here,
there's a lot of meat

that's gotta
come off of here.

I do commend you
for all the work you've put in,

but this is a very, very thick
and narrow blade

in this dimension as well.

- All right, gentlemen,

the judges have made
their decision.

It's time for one of you smiths
to leave the Forge.

The bladesmith
leaving the Forge is...

Jimmy.

Your blade didn't make the cut.

David Baker's
gonna tell you why.

- Jimmy, you know, I love
watching a bladesmith work

who enjoys what they're doing.

But your blade's far enough
away from the shape

we're looking for,
that without a forge,

it's just going to move
further away from that shape.

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

- Got it.
- All right, Jimmy.

Please surrender your blade.

- My knife had more beef on it
than a thousand-pound steer.

So it'd've probably taken me
six hours

just to grind enough of it off.

- Thank you.
- Loved every minute.

Thank you.

I would've loved to have taken
home $10,000,

but I just didn't have what it
took to pound the steel out.

Hang in there, guys.

Don't let these punks
take you down.

- I'll try not to.

- But in terms of what I did,
I have no regrets.

I was just blessed to be here.

- Congratulations, bladesmiths.

You've made it the second round
of this competition,

and now it's time to take those
tempered blades

and make them fully functional

old-school
and new school bowies.

Now, two of you chose
the old-school bowie style.

Which means that
your handle construction

must be as follows:

You must have
a framed coffin handle,

with at least
six-pin construction

and a straight guard.

On your new-school bowie,

you must have an S-shaped
guard, a secondary guard,

and an acid etch
on your blade.

You have just two hours

in which to complete
all this work.

At the end of that time,

we'll be testing your weapon's
strength and durability

in a horn chop and for edge
retention in an apple slice.

Based on the construction
of your blades

and how they perform
in those challenges,

the judges will select one of
you to surrender your blade

and leave the Forge.

Good luck, bladesmiths.

Your two hours starts now.

They're getting
their blades ready

for a horn chop
and an apple slice.

These blades gotta have
the right dimensions

and the right parameters

for the style of blade
that they're doing.

We've got one
new-school blade out there,

and we've got two old-school.

- First thing I have to do
is get the tang

down to a decent size

and getting my brass guard on.

I need to do the hidden tang

with metal on both sides
to look like a coffin.

And then two slabs of handle
material on top of that.

- This handle construction
is no joke.

To do a framed tang handle,
it takes time.

- Additionally,
he has to take a blade

that's as fat
as some handles we've seen

and get that ground down
to a blade size.

- I'm not worried
about not finishing.

It's just gonna be
a heavier blade

if I don't have enough time
to grind on it.

- Caleb has to do an S-shaped
guard and a secondary guard.

- The handle needs two guards,

so I have to make sure that
they fit up properly

with the rest of the handle.

- We've never done
a secondary guard on a blade.

What's that gonna be like?

- Secondary guard,
it's flat with the back,

and it has
a little finger well.

It's a really nice
retention device.

It's very comfortable
when done right.

- I wanna make sure
that at least

my main guard is pretty thick

so that I can grind into it
and make the S shape.

And in the secondary guard,
I just want a good, uh,

flat but also thick

so that I can make
a nice little finger twirl

for the back of it so your
fingers fit in comfortably.

- Have to change my full tang
over to a hidden tang.

I need a hidden tang in order
to make a framed handle.

- Zach has set a coffin handle
shape down from the spine,

which is not the right place
for a coffin handle.

- Okay.
- But it's the right place

for a hidden tang.
- Okay.

- Just grind it
a little further down

on either side.

Now you can do your frame
around that hidden tang.

- I just take my blade
over to the grinder

and just start
moving some material.

Son of a bitch.

- Whoo!

- I'm holding my blade
in one hand

and holding my tang
in the other,

and they're not connected,
and this sucks.

- Something very, very
catastrophic

has happened to Zach's blade.

He was on the grinder,
he was grinding on his tang,

and all of a sudden, pew,
no more tang anymore.

- The tang breaking off

shows me that
my heat treat wasn't good.

I don't have enough time
to chase these problems.

I have to fix it quickly
and move on.

- This is not
one of those fix-its

where you're just gonna,
ah, weld this back on.

This is serious.

That junction's where
a lot of the stress

of what the strength test
is gonna, is gonna test.

- Like, it's a nice deep
penetration with the weld.

I'm feeling
a little bit discouraged.

I just hope it holds.

- Bladesmiths!
One hour has elapsed!

- I have to get the guard on,
and I have to put some, uh,

mild steel
on the side of the tang

and then put the handle on,

and then I'm gonna work
on thinning my blade.

- Forrest is putting
a bead

around the frame on his tang.

So he's basically welding up
that frame tang.

- My preference
on the handle material

is just looking
for the right thickness.

I think it's, like, resin with
some, uh, color mixed into it.

I think it's
the best material to use.

It should do.

- I've spent quite a bit of
time on this first guard.

This is a pretty good
stopping point

and I really need
to get to work

on the first piece of
wood in the handle.

- I think the dimensions
are off.

I think it's a little small.

- Yeah, it's a very small
guard--it's a lowercase S.

- My time is very limited.

I need to finish up
what I'm doing

so I can move on
to my secondary guard.

- The break happens.
I could spend a ton of time

trying to go get this
stronger,

but I just gotta move on,

because I still got a lot
of work to do in round two.

- Well, it looks like Zach
has drawn a little outline

of the handle shape that
he wants to cut out of there.

- The plan for
my first-ever frame handle

is to cut this piece brass
to the shape of a coffin,

so when I put my scales on,

I already have a rough shape

that I can use
to form the handle out of.

- 20 minutes, bladesmiths!

- I'm trying to hammer
the second handle scale on.

Nuts.

- Forrest's handle
is falling apart.

As he's trying
to get it all fit together,

it's crumbling.

- I don't have time
to start up again.

- So I just saw him
put epoxy everywhere

and he's putting bits
and pieces back in there.

- I'm just gonna use as much
time as I have here at the end

to, uh, sand it smooth so it
doesn't hurt the judges' hands

and give it an edge
on the blade.

Hoping it stays together
to the end.

- That secondary guard,

it's so prominent
on the example here.

It is such a defining feature
of this modern bowie,

and it's not on Caleb's blade.

- I realize that
I grinded the guard too far.

My guard is honestly
no longer a guard anymore.

It's more or less turning
into just a brass spacer.

I have no more time,

so I just do my best
to clean it up nicely.

I just want something that's
presentable to the judges.

- Five minutes, bladesmiths!

- I got all three pieces
of my handle glued up,

and I need to get my handle
onto my tang.

Aw, son of a bitch.

It won't seat all the way down.

- Zach glued his handle scales
to his frame and let it dry,

then tried to insert his tang

into a hole that he had now
squeezed glue into.

- I'm super frustrated.

And I got half an inch
of tang exposed.

My handle is just floating

with a little bit of glue
holding it in place.

I make the executive decision,

my handle's
not gonna get seated

up any further than it is.

- Pop it off.
Grab a drill.

Make it bigger.
Stick it on.

- I'm just gonna keep working
till the last second,

try to get this thing
as sharp as I can.

- Five, four, three,

two, one.

Bladesmiths,
shut down your machines!

Stop what you're doing.

The second round of competition
is over.

- I'm just looking
at my blade.

I'm not pleased
with the way it turned out.

I only had two hours

and this was the best
I could come up with.

But in my mind I know I
could've done so much better.

I'm just hoping that, um,

something just goes well
for me at this point.

- Bladesmiths,
welcome to the strength test.

To test of strength
and durability of your edge

as well as the overall
construction of your blades,

I'll be chopping
into these horns.

Caleb, you're up first.
You ready?

- Yes, sir.

I'm extremely nervous.

Being the first, I'm really
kinda the guinea pig

of this test.

I know that this
could cause my blade

to just snap in half.

If my blade can do well,
then hopefully that means

me continuing on
in this competition.

- Well, Caleb,
first things first.

Your edge is just as sharp
as when I started.

Really nice job,

but the whole handle itself
is small.

I mean you could've gone
another quarter,

half an inch tall
on this guard

and it would've made it
easier to grip.

And the other defining feature
of this knife

is this secondary guard,
and this is almost a spacer.

I would've loved to see this be
more proud and better shaped

and closer together.

But your blade held up really
well in the strength test.

Very well done.
- Thank you.

- All right, Zach,
you're up next.

How you feeling?

- A little nervous,
but go for it.

- All right, will do.

- I'm feeling a little grim.

Didn't really get my handle
where I wanted to.

There's quite a bit
of the tang exposed,

and it is the part I welded.

So it's just a weak point.

I'm ready to see it just get
destroyed or make it through.

Damn.

- Well, Zach.
Got an issue here, huh?

- Yeah.

- I was expecting the tang
to break

'cause you've got about a half
an inch proud right there

where you welded across.

Where it did break, there is
a dark spot in the center,

and that happens
when there's a crack there.

These cracks probably happened
during quench.

They're from
an elevated temperature.

So, uh, no denying that issue.

- Well, Zach, your blade
suffered a catastrophic failure

on the very first strike
in our strength test,

and you cannot move forward
in this competition

unless something goes wrong
with Forrest's blade.

Your fate,
and your fate, Forrest,

lie in the strength
of your blade.

Are you ready for this?

- My handle's not real pretty.

It has a few cracks in it.

There's a lot of epoxy
holding it together.

I'm just hoping the knife
doesn't break.

- All right, Zach.

You're blade
just didn't hold up.

It snapped on the first strike
in the weapons test,

suffering
a catastrophic failure.

We cannot continue testing
with your blade.

You cannot move forward
in this competition.

Come on, my friend.

Good job.
- I'm disappointed,

but I learned a lot,
and I had a lot of fun.

I was full on expecting it
to crack right at the tang.

It ended up breaking at some
random crack that formed.

I'm just gonna go back home
and keep forging.

- Caleb, Forrest,
congratulations.

You guys have made it
into the final round

of this competition.

Now we're sending you back
to your home forges

to recreate this iconic weapon
from history.

The Sword of Goujian.

The Sword of Goujian

is an exquisitely crafted
jian sword

wielded by King Goujian, ruler
of China's Kingdom of Yue.

After brutal battles between
the Yue and the Wu,

King Goujian
was forced into slavery

in exchange
for sparing his people.

After three years
of servitude,

King Goujian
rebuilt his empire,

conquered the dwindling
Kingdom of Wu,

and was bestowed this sword.

Featuring a sharp lethal tip,
inch grip,

blue crystal,
and turquoise guard,

the sword was just as ornate
as it was deadly.

More than 2,500 years later,

the sword was discovered
by archeologists

in a remarkable condition.

Still with a razor-sharp edge,

it has been called

one of the most intact
artifacts ever found.

Bladesmiths,
your final challenge

is to forge
a new-school version

of this old-school Goujian.

This one's made out of brass.

Yours should be made
out of high carbon steel.

And that your blades
fall within

the following parameters:

The length of the blade must
be between 21 and 23 inches.

It must be at least
1 3/4 inches wide

as measured at the base,

with a three-inch wide guard

and a disc pommel.

- I like this blade because
it's not a dainty, thin one.

It does have some meat on it.

I'm just gonna try making
a nice-looking sword,

and make sureit's .

- You'll have just four days
at your home forges

in which to complete this work.

At the end of that time,
you will return

and present your blades to
our panel of expert judges,

and after
they've thoroughly tested them,

they'll declare one of you guys
the "Forged in Fire" champion

who walks out of here
with a check for $10,000.

Good luck, bladesmiths.

We will see you in four days.

- Good luck.
- Congratulations.

- We're gonna take on
the Sword of Goujian today.

We gotta start at the tip,
work back to the tang.

I'm keeping the blade rather
thick

because I just don't wanna
mess with

any twisting and
bending once it quenches.

I am surprised how fast
this is coming along.

So far so good.

Now I'm having to get the
blade hot so I can quench it.

I'm happy.

I think we have a little
quirk in it here and here,

but nothing the, uh, grinder
won't take care of.

- Today I have to get started
on my sword.

I'm bringing new-school vibes

to this really
old-school weapon.

Instead of bronze,

I'm bringing Damascus
to the table.

Hopefully,
this is just gonna be,

a really, really cool contrast
with the pattern

whenever I'm done with it.

All the welds are set good.

I'm getting the metal
drawn out.

Good, nice square bar.

From there, I'm trying
to go for a twist pattern.

I want quite a few good twists
in there.

Pretty tight pattern.

All right, that'll do.

The end of day one,

it's still not a weapon,
but it's getting there.

- Today I'm hoping to have
my guard fitted on.

Maybe even the handle.

For my guard I'm gonna use
a piece of angle iron.

The guard's rounded over.

Now I'm just gonna put a hole
through the bottom

to go over the tang.

The guard actually split.

Cracked.
All that fun for nothing.

So I have to, uh, start over.

I have a pile
of railroad spikes.

That would be putting the, uh,
new school

into the bronze metal,
old-school sword.

Fits on the tang really nice,

but there's more work
to be done.

- The plan for today
is to get to work

on actually forging out
the sword.

My goal for the end of the day

is definitely
to get it quenched.

This thing's getting long.

Just trying to keep it
where it's not too thin,

so that when I quench it,
everything goes well.

We're about ready.

I'm really just hoping
that nothing goes wrong here.

This is the most important
step of the entire process.

It's pretty straight.

Excited with the quench.
Went well.

- Morning of day three,
and I'm tired.

First thing today, I'm gonna
make my blade lighter.

Right now the balance

is about five inches
in front of the guard.

I would like it to be--

within an inch or two
would make me happy.

It's starting to feel lighter.

But I have a lot more grinding
to go.

- Okay.

My belt sander just quits.

It's just not coming back on.

There's a lot of meat
left on this blade.

I have to take it off.

I'm not sure
what I'm gonna do.

I've decided to go grab
two extension cords

and uh, run power
from the house to the shop.

We got--we got power
somewhere else we can use.

Plugged the belt sander
into the house power.

And it works.

Hopefully now I can get
the edge on the blade.

My blade's looking, uh, fine,
and uh--

just needs a little more
sharpening and polishing.

- Finally starting to see

that light at the end
of the tunnel now.

First thing, I'm gonna start
on my disc pommel.

I'm just gonna take this piece
of just normal, mild steel,

chop it off,

and kinda try to forge it into
a bit of a disc shape.

I'm kind of at
a square right now,

and I'm looking more or less
for a circle.

I'm just gonna kinda grind
and polish off the top

and make it into
a truer circle.

Time's running out.
I need to sharpen my blade.

And then finally finish
and put together the sword.

It's a little twisted.

The handle on the blade
is centered,

and it looks centered,

but on the inside
as you can see right here,

it's not perfectly centered.

But of course,
with a pin and epoxy

and a disc and scroll
on the back,

it's gonna be very, very
strong.

Forrest really better
bring it,

'cause if not,
I'm gonna chop him down.

- Caleb, Forrest,
welcome back to the Forge.

You guys have had four days
at your home forges

to work on your Goujian swords.

Caleb, tell us
about your blade.

- The two steels I used was
1095 high carbon

and 15N20 for the blade.

On the handle,
a block of ebony,

and then for the disc
on the back,

it's just mild steel.

- All right, all right.
Forrest, how did it go for you?

- Well, I went 1084
on the blade.

And the guard is actually made
out of a railroad spike

with walnut handles
and a 2-inch round pommel.

- All right.

Well, we do have
an old-school, new-school theme

in this competition.

So we're gonna find out
which one of you guys

is our "Forged in Fire"
champion.

We're now going to put your
weapons through three tests.

There will be a strength test,
a sharpness test, and up first,

Doug's KEAL test.

- Bladesmiths,
welcome to the KEAL test.

To find out
what kind of lethal damage

your weapon will do according
to its historic design,

I will take your weapon,
deliver some killing thrusts

and blows on this ballistics
dummy.

Forrest, are you up for this?
- Yes, sir.

- Let's do this.

- I know my blade's heavy.

Hopefully, he doesn't have any
rolling, and can control it.

And we'll see what
the test ends up like.

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

It's very forward heavy.

What makes it hard to handle

is you have a very
skinny handle right here.

A lot of these movements,
your blade went up on contact,

was spinning in my hand.

I had to adjust several times

to make sure that I stay
on the edge over here.

Now, the edge is sharp.

Once it makes contact
and you slash, it digs deep.

Overall, sir,
it will KEAL.

All right, Caleb, you're up.
You ready?

- Let's see it.

- I'm pretty excited

because I know this is
a really cool test

to see what your blade
can do to the dummy,

and I wanna see Doug
really go in there

and tear this thing up.

- All right, Caleb.

First up, the blade,
in itself, balance-wise,

I think you nailed it.

Now your handle construction:

It's ovoid.
It's actually comfortable.

Because of the balance
and a very sharp edge,

all the cuts
are very, very deep.

Overall, sir, it'll KEAL.

- Bladesmiths,
welcome to the strength test:

the gong chop.

To test the strength and
durability of your edges

as well as
your overall construction

of your Swords of Goujian,

I'm gonna be chopping them
into these gongs.

Forrest, you're up first.
You ready?

- Yes, sir.

At this point
I feel like I'm behind.

Caleb's sword cut a lot better
and swifter,

and he could get it
to move better than mine

because of the weight,

and I'm just not sure where
we're gonna go from here.

- Well, Forrest,

your sword did take some damage
on the edge.

There's some rolls sort of
crushed in right here.

Your handle is really small.

A bigger handle would've helped
me control this really well.

But all that being said,

that much damage in a big
strength test like this,

well done.
- Thank you.

- All right, Caleb, you're up.
You ready?

- Heck yeah, man.

- Well, Caleb, you did
a great job with the Damascus.

I love to see
this kind of stuff.

It's beautiful.

You're blade is still
straight, true.

And the weight
on this is phenomenal.

There is one big issue though.

Your handle.

It's loose now.

Your handle is coming apart.
I can move it.

And your pommel is also loose.

If these were right and tight
and held in place,

then it tends to help

everything else
stay where it is,

but just a little bit of play
in this guard

can send shockwaves right down
the handle.

But, uh, I gotta say
that's one heck of a blade.

- Thank you, thank you.
- It's just--

you know, this handle that's
really causing the issue now.

- Yes, sir.

- So we've got
a pretty mobile opening.

Then it has
a corresponding split

on the back side
of the handle.

- Not only is it loose,

but the material that's loose
has sharp edges.

- Okay.
- Yeah.

I mean, this would require
either taping that up

or wearing a glove.

Now, we're not testing the same
as the other one.

- Okay.
Ben?

- Uh-huh. Dave, final?
- It kills me. Uh, yeah.

Can't.
- Doug?

- I agree.

- All right.

Now, we've continued
with blades

that had loose parts before...

We've continued with blades

that had split handles
before...

- Your handle has cracked.

However, the combination
of the two things

has made your blade unsafe
to continue with any testing.

And therefore you cannot be our
"Forged in Fire" champion.

I'd like to invite you
to shake our hands,

shake your competitor's hand,

and then I have to ask you
to please leave the Forge.

- I can't blame
the judges' decision.

It's definitely unsafe to use
at this point,

but that's a good call.

If I could've done it
differently,

probably would've put a pin
or two in my handle.

It might not have
looked as good,

but the use is more
important than the looks.

- Thank you so much, Forrest.
- It was fun, thanks.

- I appreciate it.

I may not be the
"Forged in Fire" champion,

but man, I'm walking out of
here with my head held high.

I'm proud.

- Forrest, congratulations.

You are the "Forged in Fire"
champion,

and that is a title

that comes with a check
for $10,000, my friend.

Good job.
Come on forward.

- I'm thrilled
that I'm the champion.

Hasn't even soaked in yet,

and next day or two, I'll
really realize what's happened.

Being a "Forged in Fire"
champion

means I succeeded in the goal
that I wanted to reach.

This is for everyone at home,

and I'm coming home
a "Forged in Fire" champion.

Yee-haw!