All language subtitles for Forged.in.Fire.S10E05.WEB.x264-TORRENTGALAXY_Subtitles01

[fire whooshing]

[hammer impact echoes]

[dramatic music]

- For the past few weeks,

we scoured the blacksmithing
hotbeds of America...

[flames whoosh]

To learn the local secrets

and uncover the country’s
top smiths.

[hammer impacts echoing]

[metallic grinding]

Now after four
intense local competitions,

each hand-picked
by one of our judges

in Texas, Montana,
North Carolina, and Michigan,

the best smith
from each forge

will now head
to our home forge

for one final battle.

- Ooh, that’s hot.

♪

- With $20,000 on the line

and $10,000 worth of forging
equipment for their shop,

who will be crowned
the first-ever

"Forged In Fire: On The Road"
champion?

♪

[energetic rock music]

- My name is Blake Maddox

and I’m representing
Combat Ready Art

from Kalamazoo, Michigan.

It’s been a long,
strange trip.

The first round,
my dagger broke in testing,

but I got onto the next round

because someone
didn’t meet parameters.

And then I won the next round
and now I’m sitting here.

♪

- My name is Jason Bivens.

It’s a great honor to be here
at the "Forged in Fire" forge

representing John C. Campbell
Folk School

in North Carolina.

Overall,
it’s been a great experience.

I’ve met
some really great people

and won round one
with my pitchfork.

Hopefully, I’ve got what it
takes to win this whole thing.

♪

- I’m Jacob Anstaett
and I’m representing

the Bill Moran School
of Bladesmithing in Texarkana.

I’ve already won two rounds
to get here

and going up against
three new competitors,

it’s a little nerve-wracking,
but in my eyes,

I feel like a "Forged in Fire"
champion already.

♪

- My name is Silas Maddox.

I’m here representing
the New Agrarian School

in Bigfork, Montana.

I have a lot of skills
and experience to draw on

for this competition.

I’m inherently competitive

and one step closer
to $20,000.

I’m here to win.

- Bladesmiths and blacksmiths,
welcome to our forge.

[suspenseful music]

Now gentlemen, the four of you

have proven yourselves

as a cut above the rest

in your respective

competitions across America.

You are here for the final leg
of the tournament,

where only one of you
will be left standing

as a tournament champion,

taking home a check for $20,000
to go in your pocket

and up to $10,000
in gear and supplies

to go back
to your respective forges.

There are three rounds
in this competition.

At the end of each one,
there will be an elimination.

And those eliminations
will be made

by the judges
sitting behind me,

which each one of you will be
representing in the finals.

Now bladesmiths, you all have
your own very unique styles,

and it’s clear that
you’ve been molded into

the blacksmith or bladesmith
you are

because of the area of America
you came from

and the forges that turned you
into who you are.

With that in mind,
we’ve decided that

instead of asking you
to make a specific blade today,

we want you
to showcase your skills

by giving the opportunity
to make whatever blade you want

in whatever style you want
using this.

♪

In front of me here is a table

chock-full of all kinds
of good, high-carbon steel

that you can use
to make your blades.

We’ve got springs,
we got ball bearings.

You name it, we have it.

Now the only thing we ask

is that you use some sort
of forge welding technique.

- This is pretty awesome.

There’s just sledgehammers,
springs,

fish hooks, there’s chains,
so I’m gonna get my bearings

and I’m gonna go out there
and try to create something.

- Now gentlemen,
after that second round,

it will be
in the hands of our judges

and go through
a series of tests.

They’ll check for strength
and durability.

They will go through
a giant bamboo chop.

For edge retention,
our famous playing card slice.

So good luck,

because this first round
starts now.

[energetic rock music]

All right, off to the races.

We got an all-out battle here,

and you each
have a horse in the race.

J., you’ve got Jake,
Ben, you’ve got Jason,

Dave, Silas,
and Doug, Blake.

Now, these guys have all
impressed me out on the road

and it’s really anyone’s game
at this point.

- There’s a lot of steel
laying on that table.

My plan is to try
to do layered Damascus.

- Jason from John C. Campbell
Folk School

in Brasstown, North Carolina--

now Ben,
what do you think of him?

- Yeah, we asked the guys
to make a blacksmith knife

and put some kind of
artistic flair into the handle.

And Jason
is really the only one

that did anything really
interesting, really fun.

I think that he’s technically
and artistically

got a good shot
at getting this one.

- Getting a little hot.

♪

- I decide to go
with pattern-welded steel.

That’s my bread and butter.

- Expect to see a lot of
good stuff coming out of Jake.

- He is the only smith out here

who was required
to do 350 layers,

and he knocked that
out of the park.

- Jake had no problems
with the forge welds he did.

Everything held up beautifully.

- Just waiting for my steel
to get to temp,

then we’re gonna be gold, man.

♪

- I’m gonna make
a simple Damascus billet.

I have 13 layers.

These pieces are
all the right size already.

I can just weld ’em together.

- Silas is
a really talented smith.

When he came back
with that felling axe,

that thing was dialed in.

Polished,
the lines were fantastic,

and just
fit my hands perfectly.

Spot-on.
Great piece of work.

- I got my money on Silas.

- ♪ I want it hotter

♪ I want it to get hotter

♪

- I’m choosing
to go with Damascus.

13 layers,
which four of ’em, 13, I mean,

you know, the number 13’s
just my lucky number,

something
I’ve always gravitated towards.

♪

- So Blake’s the last one
to go to the welder,

but unfortunately,

he didn’t use a C-clamp
to keep his stack together.

He’s kinda welding freehand,

and it looks like the stack’s
kind of fanning out.

- You know, we’ve seen
this problem in setup before

where smiths go
to do that initial weld

and it just doesn’t hold.

- Doug, how you feel
about his setup so far?

- He’s got a lot of refining
to do,

but there’s no give-up on him.

He had to make
a "Macbeth" dagger

and then a "Macbeth" sword,

and it performed very well
in the final.

♪

- Hoo.

- It’s crazy to me, guys.

We’ve got
four different smiths

from four different places
around the U.S.

with four different skill sets
and every single one of ’em

appear to be doing
layered Damascus.

- It’s like the four of us
go to brunch together,

and we all get
the cheese omelet.

[laughter]

♪

- My plan is to fold it
at least once

so if I had
roughly 18 layers,

that should give me at least
30, 40-ish layers.

Uh, I don’t know.
[chuckles]

Hopefully, it’ll make
the judges have to know,

maybe give me
some brownie points.

♪

- Jason, he’s the only smith
to re-stack.

Everybody else
is playing it very safe.

- You’re out there
against three other champions,

so why would you not
go above and beyond?

I’ll tell you what.

If we have two knives
that perform the same,

and one of them has
an outrageous pattern on it,

guess who I’m voting for?

- Man, this is exciting.
I love this.

♪

- All right,
here goes Jake on the press.

Got the whole billet,

squeeze the whole thing down
in one shot.

If Jake doesn’t cut
and stack that,

I’ll be very surprised.

- I don’t think he is.
- That’s the wrong move.

He’s playing it safe,
and in the finals,

safe isn’t gonna
get you $20,000.

You want to shout advice out.
- Oh, yeah.

- You want to just
put a note on there,

tie it around a rock,
and throw it at him.

[Ben laughs]

- Bladesmiths,
you’ve got two hours left!

- Press.

- [chuckles]
Those are going on your tab!

[Jake laughs]

- I’m making a Damascus knife

and I want the pattern
to be visible and cool.

Right behind you.

So I’m gonna forge it out

so you would see the layers
that’re horizontal lines

going down
the length of the blade.

- Wait a minute.

Did Silas start
with a stack like this...

♪

And then work it down this way?

♪

- Yeah,
that’s actually difficult.

Flip the billet 90 degrees
and draw it in that direction.

- As you
push those layers down,

they tend to want to open out.

That’s why Silas was
taking his time on the hammer.

He’s taking his time
on the press,

just being gentle with it.

- When you’re
manipulating metal in a pattern

and you have to have it
work a certain way

to make the pattern,
that takes a lot of skill.

- I am a professional
metal worker

and so I have a lot of skills
and experience to draw on

for this competition.

Hopefully,
it’ll carry me through.

[suspenseful music]

[Blake sighs]

- The other smiths are

definitely pulling ahead of me
at this point.

My stack isn’t heating up to
the temp that I’m looking for.

I’m losing time.

I am going to go over
to the press,

try to speed this process up.

- Okay, here we go with
that leaning stack of pizza.

- I’m really nervous.

A lot of things can go wrong
with the forge weld.

I don’t have the time
to start over.

♪

That seemed to forge weld.

The ends aren’t opening up
on me at all.

I can move forward.

♪

[energetic music]

- I’m going with a nice,
Bowie-style chopper,

’cause I just want
to stick with something

that I’ve done many a times.

[loud clacking]

- That’s aggressive.

[clacking]

- As I look up,
I see Grady kind of going like,

"Oh, my God,
this guy’s going after it."

[Grady laughs]

You know, it might not look it,
I’m kind of a lanky guy,

but I can swing a hammer.

♪

- I can’t imagine that
Jake can keep up

that hammer style for long.

He’s raising that hammer
so fast.

It’s almost the same speed up
as it is down.

- How does my hair look?
[laughs]

♪

- Just gonna make
a Bowie kind of chopper

with a little bit of curve
in it.

- Look at the color
that Silas’ metal at.

It’s at that beautiful
melting butter color.

Silas’ energy in this forge
is infectious.

♪

- Man, you’re pumped over here,
dude.

You look excited.

- Just kinda...
[Jake laughs]

Just waiting on the heat.

♪

- It’s still pretty thick
right now.

I am a little concerned
about any delams in there.

Hopefully I can knock it out
on the grinder.

- Doesn’t even have
the whole blade on that belt.

You can see he’s only riding it
back and forth.

You want to see
a good 2 inches of spark

going down that whole blade.

The way Blake has been
treating this billet so far,

he’s way behind
the other three smiths.

- He needs to speed up
the process.

- Right.
- Come on, man.

You can do it.
- I’m going for it.

- [as Rob Schneider]
You can do it!

- Gentlemen,
you’ve got one hour left.

♪

He’s in the oil.
Jake’s the first one to quench.

- He’s moving that blade
up and down.

- The more he takes out,
the more chance it may warp.

[Jake groans]

- [sputters]
Jeez, Louise, dude.

[tense music]

I see it warp
and I’m like, "Oh, my God."

That’s just one other thing
I gotta deal with,

so I gotta get this warp out
as quick as I can,

knowing that
if it were to warp too bad

or crack and break,

I would have to completely
scratch it and start over.

- Oh, what the--

[flames whoosh, hammer thunks]

[tense music]

- I gotta get this warp out
as quick as I can

knowing that if it were
to warp too bad

or crack and break,

I would have to completely
scratch it and start over.

I can feel it working out
on the edge of my anvil...

and I see that my warp is gone

and it’s ready to grind.

- Here we go.

♪

Bam!

♪

It’s good and straight.

Pretty darn good!

The clock is ticking.

Gotta get over
and get to grinding.

- Bladesmiths,
you guys have 30 minutes left!

Silas is over here drilling
his holes before the quench.

- It’s always easier
to drill the holes

before you harden the blade.

I didn’t spend a lot of time
laying them out,

and hopefully, it doesn’t
come back to bite me.

- Oh, that’s good.

Best color on the floor.

- He’d the third smith
to quench.

Now we’re just
waiting on Blake.

- I’ve spent quite a bit
of time on the grinder,

and it’s still pretty thick,

but I’ve gotta
get this thing up to temp

and get it quenched.

A lot of things can go wrong.

You can get twists,
you can get bends,

it could bow.

Hopefully, it goes well.

I didn’t hear anything pop.
I didn’t hear anything crack.

It doesn’t look warped.

Thank God.
What a relief.

- Five, four, three, two, one.

All right, gentlemen.

Turn off your machines,
put down your tools!

This first round is over!

- Holy [bleep].

- Good job, man.
- Nice work, dude.

- That was awesome.

When the clock hits zero,
I look at my blade.

I can see my patterns
in my steel.

It might not be
the highest layer count

and the most beautiful-looking
Damascus,

but I’ve met
all the parameters

and I couldn’t be happier.

[suspenseful music]

- Well, gentlemen,
we gave you guys three hours

and the choice
of any kind of steel you wanted

to make any blade you wanted,
and somehow,

you all ended up
with layered Damascus.

Now, you all met parameters,

but the time has come
for us to decide

which one of you will not be
joining us in the second round.

So up first for the critiques,

Blake,
please present your work.

♪

- All right, Blake.

So right off, you know,
standard knife shape.

I don’t see a lot of pattern,

but unfortunately,
what I do see,

there’s a lot of mass
in this blade still.

And then a fair amount
of delaminations

up here at the tip.

If you go forward,

I’d like to see this blade
get a lot of refinement.

But it’s a layered Damascus,
so good job.

- Thank you.
I appreciate it.

- All right, Jason. You’re up.
Please present your work.

♪

- All right, Jason, let’s talk
about your blade here.

First up, I commend you,

because
you didn’t play it safe.

You folded it over
to increase your layer count,

and it shows.

That’s what I like
about this competition,

when you go above and beyond.

You have a nice shape here.
Just a refined blade.

And keep doing
what you’re doing.

- Next up, we got Jake.
Please present your work.

♪

- All right, Jake.
Did good work out there.

I like the way
you did that stack.

The steel looks good.

My big concern right now,

your handle has got
a good flare to it,

but you got
a lot of handle there.

You might want to do something
about that.

But otherwise,
you’re on the right path.

Good job.
- Thank you.

- Last but not least, Silas,
please present your work.

♪

- All right, Silas.

I see a couple of things
that are really cool.

One is that you have this nice
recurve profile going on.

It’s immediately stunning.

And second is the way that
you layered up your Damascus.

To flip it 90 degrees,

it’s a really interesting
take on it

and I like what you did there.

Moving back to your handle,
it’s really long,

so if you move forward
from here,

make it more comfortable
to hold on to.

Other than that, though,

I think you’re really
on your way.

- Cool.
Thank you.

- Gentlemen, this competition
started back at your home forge

where you fought against
two other peers of yours

and you came out on top.

Now, you all did a great job

in this first round
of the final leg,

but we do have
to make a decision

as to which one of you
is not gonna be moving forward

into the next round.

The bladesmith
leaving The Forge is...

[dramatic music]

♪

Blake, unfortunately,
your blade did not make the cut

and Doug’s gonna tell you why.

- Blake, from your home forge

of Combat Ready Arts
in Kalamazoo to our forge,

it’s been a pleasure to watch
you overcome the challenges,

but at the end of the day,
your blade is the least refined

and has the most work
moving into the second round.

And that’s why
we’re sending you home.

- Understandable.

- Blake, we wanna say thank you
for coming out here,

fighting so hard,
but unfortunately this time,

I’m gonna have to ask you
to please surrender your work

and step off The Forge floor.

- Sure thing.

I’m a little bummed,

but also kind of
saw it coming.

I would’ve loved to have
brought home 10 grand

to Combat Ready Art

and I would’ve loved
to have brought 20 grand home

to myself after all the effort
that has gone into this,

but I’m proud with
what I’ve accomplished

and maybe I’ll make it back
again sometime.

♪

- Gentlemen, congratulations.

Your hard work
in the first round has paid off

and all three of you
are joining us in round two

of this final tournament leg.

For this second round,

you can use whatever
handle material you want

to finish your custom blades,

but there is
a little bit of a catch.

Instead of having two hours
to finish your weapons,

you will only have 90 minutes.

- [softly]
What the...

Honestly, I’m more nervous now

than I was at the beginning
of the first round.

- Now,
when this round is complete,

you’ll turn your blades
over to our judges

and they’re gonna check
for strength and durability

in that giant bamboo chop

and then check
your edge retention

in the playing card slice.

Good luck, gentlemen.

90 minutes is not a lot of time
to get these blades done,

and that time starts now.

- Here we go.

- 90 minutes
to sharpen the blades,

clean ’em up, add the handles,
shape the handles,

get an edge on--
it’s pretty rough.

♪

- Jason’s belly-up
to the grinder,

throwing sparks.

- I feel like the judges want
to see a finished product,

so I’ve got to hog down
the handle as fast as I can,

as quick as I can,
and get her done.

I need the money.

- [chuckles]
Cutting out that 30 minutes?

Man, that is a ball-buster.

- Is Jake setting up
a real thin piece of Micarta?

- Yeah.

- Is that gonna be enough
to get a good grip

on a 14-inch blade?

- The kind of handle profile
that Jake’s got going there,

I would like to see something
a little wider

and some palm swells
ground into it.

- Yeah, it wouldn’t hurt.

- I wish I had
a little bit more time,

but I’m feeling pretty good.

We can do this.
It’s feasible.

♪

- Silas has the issue where
his handle is so long,

so I mean, he cut some
out of the middle

and re-weld it together.

- That would be
the ideal thing to do.

- Ben mentioned that

my handle
is a little bit long,

but since we only
have 90 minutes,

there’s not a lot I can do
at this point to address that.

- Doesn’t look like Silas is
gonna cut that handle in half.

He was already grinding hard
on that tang.

- I feel like it fits my hand
pretty well,

so I’m just gonna try
to make it as comfortable

and functional as possible.

Hopefully, it doesn’t
come back to bite me.

- So now that I’ve got
the thickness that I want,

I’m basically ready
to start with the handle.

♪

Is that right?
Is that right?

♪

No.
[chuckles]

[bleep].

Silly me put epoxy
on the wrong side

of my handle material
that I got.

Let’s do that again.
- Uh-oh.

I think Jason’s had a little
trouble with his handle.

- First day making a knife.
I’ll get her right in a minute.

- This way, this way, this way.
[David laughing]

Glue’s on one face,
wipes it off.

- This is why it’s a good time
to take a marker,

put an R and an L
and maybe an arrow

on your scale before
something like that happens.

- Finally figured out
the right side,

I put it back on,
but it’s kind of embarrassing.

♪

- This is go time.

One of the critiques
J. told me

was my handle was too long,

and I have to cut off
the excess material

to make my handle
more comfortable.

Not gonna half-ass it.

Winning this tournament
would mean everything.

I mean, I’ve watched the show
for as long as I can remember,

and being on The Forge floor

with all the judges
in front of you,

as an ABS member myself,
I couldn’t be happier, man.

Now we’re good.

♪

- I’ve got 22 minutes
to finish my handle,

and I gotta rush at this point.

I drilled my holes in my handle
for quarter-inch pins.

Oh, [bleep].
- Uh-oh.

- The holes are too small.

I’m feeling very rushed.

One wrong move can put
a big crack in my steel,

and I don’t have any time
to start over.

I’m starting to sweat
a little bit.

If I can’t put a handle on it,

I definitely won’t make it
to the next round.

Now, I’m starting
to freak out.

♪

- We’re now
in the final minutes

of the handle round here

in our final leg
of this tournament.

Now we’ve got three smiths
battling it out,

giving everything they have

in this hour-and-30-minute
second round.

Silas, running the risk
of having to start over.

- The holes are too small.

If I can’t put a handle on it,

I won’t make it
to the next round.

Now,
I’m starting to freak out.

[tense music]

Waller out the holes
a little bit,

make sure these pins
fit through.

Certainly sweating it
a little bit.

♪

Yes.

My pins fit.

I’m relieved
and we’re all good to go.

♪

- My goal is to have my blade
as nice as time will allow,

and I don’t have much time.

We need a good, thin blade,

but you have to have
that sweet spot

so it doesn’t take damage
in the strength test.

- Jason probably won’t have
any hair left on his arms.

- Zero.

Well, he started with his head.

- He’s got a good edge
on there.

[Grady chuckles]

- All righty, baby!
Let’s get with it.

- Jake’s up on the grinder.

- He better hurry up.

- Gentlemen,
you’re down to five minutes!

The playing card slice,

it might seem like
one of our more benign tests,

but having learned
from you guys,

it’s actually
one of the more telling

sharpness tests we have.
- Yeah.

The nice thing about it is

the blade that cuts nicely,

you can see a nice, clean cut
all the way through.

If it’s not as sharp or the
edge geometry is different,

it may skip over some cards.

- I got my blade as sharp
as I think I can get it,

so I’m feeling pretty good.

We’re good.
I like it.

- Five, four, three, two, one!

Gentlemen, shut it down!
This round is over!

- 90 minutes is up.
I put down my knife.

I got an edge on it.
I got a handle on it.

It meets parameters.

I certainly could use
an extra 30 minutes

to refine everything,

but now,
it’s in the judge’s hands.

[dramatic music]

- All right, bladesmiths.

We’re gonna start off
with the strength test,

giant bamboo chop.

Now it’s gonna be cool to see

what your blades do
to the bamboo,

but I want to see
what the bamboo,

especially this giant bamboo,
is gonna do to your blades.

Jason, you’re up first.
You ready to go?

- It’s [inaudible] time.

- All right.
Let’s go.

- I’ve made this design
many a time,

but seeing past competitions,

I know that bamboo
can do some damage,

so I’m worried to death.

♪

[J. grunting]

♪

[chuckles]

[suspenseful music]

- All right, Jason.
Nice job.

Everything held together well.

Blade is still straight,
everything’s still in line.

Good job.
- Thank you.

- All right, Jake.
You ready to go, bud?

- Let’s get after it.
- Let’s do it.

♪

- J. is notorious
for breaking blades,

so I’m nervous right now.

♪

[exhales]

[dramatic music]

♪

[exhales]
Damn.

♪

- All right, Jake.
Nice.

The steel held up well.

There’s not a thing wrong
with this edge whatsoever.

So really nice job
on the heat treat on this.

As far as your handle,
it’s just enough.

Little bit longer
would’ve been better for me.

But overall, good job.
- Thank you, sir.

- All right.
Silas, you ready to go, bud?

- Born ready.
- All right.

Well, let’s keep going, then.

- I’m certainly nervous
going into this test.

I do have a very thin blade,

and so my biggest concern
at this point

is that my edge holds up.

[dramatic music]

♪

[dramatic music]

- I’m certainly nervous
going into this test.

Hopefully, it’ll hold up.

♪

[energetic rock music]

♪

[suspenseful music]

- All right, Silas.
Nice.

No damage on the edge
whatsoever.

Edge is beautiful.
Good job.

- Thank you.

♪

- Bladesmiths,
welcome to the sharpness test,

the playing card slice.

Jason, you’re up first.
You ready for this?

- Yes, sir.

♪

[energetic rock music]

- [whistles]

[all chuckling]
- That was crazy.

[suspenseful music]

- All right, Jason.
This is a sharp blade.

The geometry of your edge was
really set up for sharpness.

Well done.
- Thank you, sir.

- All right, Jake.
You ready?

- Let’s do it.
- All right.

♪

[energetic rock music]

♪

[tense music]

All right, Jake.

First off, let me say
this is a sharp knife.

But I had a little trouble
starting the cut,

and that has to do
with the inconsistency

in the edge geometry.

Here, it’s a very fine edge.

As you get
towards the swell here,

it gets a little fatter,
it’s a little more obtuse,

and just didn’t bite
that first card,

and once it doesn’t bite
the first card,

it kind of starts
pushing over other cards

until I ended up in that
super sweet spot right there,

and then the rest of ’em
just got cut right through.

But think you did a good job.

- Thank you.

All right, Silas.
You’re up, man. You ready?

- Let’s do this.
- Let’s do it.

[suspenseful music]

♪

[energetic rock music]

- Thank you.

[suspenseful music]

- All right, Silas,
you did a good job

of balancing a strong blade
with a sharp blade.

The edge is fine
all the way along.

Your handle,
it’s really comfortable,

and you’ve designed well
for the test.

Nice job.
- Thank you.

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

- Gentlemen,
very, very well done.

Guys, it’s been a long road
to get into this final leg,

but the bladesmith
leaving The Forge is...

♪

Jake, unfortunately,
your blade didn’t make the cut

and Doug’s gonna tell you why.

- Jake, this is not
a regular competition.

This is special.

All of you had to win
to get here,

and it shows because

the standards are very high
with the blades presented.

But your blade underperformed
on the sharpness test,

and that’s the reason why
you’re not moving forward.

- Thank you.
I appreciate it.

- Jake, from Texas to here,

it’s been an absolute honor
watching you work,

but unfortunately, your time

in this specific tournament
has ended.

- You know, this whole
experience has been awesome,

and it is an honor
to be a part of this

and to represent
the Bill Moran School.

You win some
and you lose some,

but I still brought home
a victory in the past round,

and this whole experience
has been awesome.

♪

- Gentlemen,
we started this tournament

with 12 smiths
from around the country.

We’ve ended with Ben’s pick

from Clay Spencer
Blacksmith Shop

and Dave’s pick from the
New Agrarian School in Montana.

Guys, you’ve both proven
yourselves to be worthy smiths,

and you’ve earned your spot

in this final round
of the competition.

And you guys are not only
fighting for $20,000

to go into your pocket,

but up to $10,000
in gear and supplies

to go back to the forge
where we met you at.

And in this final round,
we’re sending you back home

for four days to build
a menacing blade from history.

We want you to build this...

♪

The Moplah sword.

- Whoa.

♪

- The Moplah sword
traces its origins

back to 17th century
South India,

where it has been
the weapon of choice

for the Moplah community.

Featuring a broad,
lightweight blade

and a concave edge that flares
to a pronounced point,

making it an extremely lethal
battle sword,

capable of delivering
deadly slashes

and destructive blows
upon its enemies.

While it’s distinguished
by its ornate wood

or bone handle,
this brutal blade

also played an important role

in the Moplah rebellion
of the early 20th century,

where it was used
to take up arms

against occupying
British colonists.

♪

Now gentlemen, listen closely.

There are
quite a few parameters

you guys are gonna have
to follow.

Now starting with the blade,

it will need to measure
between 15 and 17 inches

and swell to no less than
4 1/2 inches up toward the tip

and finished off with
a bird’s beak-style handle.

How you feeling?

- Not too good.

Moplah sword?

What the heck is a Moplah?

I’ve made swords,
I’ve made axes,

but I’ve never made anything
this wide or funky-looking.

- Well, guys, we know
you’re both very skilled.

We’ve seen that proven through
the work you’ve shown us.

But over the next four days,

we want to see
your absolute best work.

Gentlemen, good luck.

We will see you both
in four days.

♪

- Day one here
at my home forge.

I have to put
my best foot forward,

so there’s a lot
at stake here.

All right.

It’s first place or nothing,
so let’s get ’er done.

[energetic rock music]

I’m going to try to separate
my blade from Silas’ blade

and do San Mai Damascus,

so I’m going to make
two billets of Damascus.

Fire in the hole.

I’m going to sandwich
the two billets of Damascus

with a piece of 80CrV.

Getting there.

It’s the end of day one.

I’ve got two billets
that are 200 layers each,

so I guess,
I don’t know, 400 layers,

but I ain’t much
of a mathematician.

[chuckles]

♪

- It’s the beginning
of day one.

It feels great to be
in the final round.

I would love to win
this competition

and bring home the accolades
for the New Agrarian School.

This is it.

The plan for today is to get
my Damascus billet forged out,

but we’ll see how far I get.

♪

That’s the business
right there.

I don’t really make Damascus,

and I have never made
something like this before,

so, uh, this is a little bit
of a new experience.

But you gotta risk it
for the biscuit.

That looks pretty good.

♪

- Morning of day two.

Two, huh?
[laughs]

My goals for the day
is to have the blade

completely forged out,
if possible.

I’ve made lots of Damascus,

but nothing this big,

so drawing it out
and making it real wide--

that’s gonna be a task.

I’m at 3 inches.
I need another inch and a half.

I don’t know if I got enough.

Yeah, they’re making me earn
this 20,000.

♪

Dang it.
It’s not getting there.

[growls]

If I don’t get
the width parameters met,

I’m out of this competition.

Yeah, I ain’t gonna make it.

I’m starting to panic,

and I know that
I can’t start all over

’cause I’ve spent
all this time on it.

I ain’t got enough.

I don’t know
what I’m gonna do.

♪

[flames whoosh]

- Dang it!

I don’t have enough meat
to spread out.

If I don’t get
the width parameters met,

I’m out of this competition.

[sighs]
I don’t have enough steel

to spread out,

so I gotta do
the unthinkable

and just weld up
a bunch of stuff on the spine

to meet parameters.

It’s about my only option
right now.

It’s a chancy move,
lots that can go wrong,

but I have to do something
to fix it.

♪

We’re there.

And that weld is ugly,

but it’s gonna be what
it’s gonna be at this point.

End of day two.

My parameters are all met,

but this blade is gonna be

a big pile of hot garbage
when I’m done.

- It’s the morning
of day three.

Yesterday, I got my blade
all forged out

and hardened.

Looks good.

[metal cracks]

[bleep].

I just gave it a little flex,
and a crack opened right up.

You can see the crack
right there

in the edge of the blade.

And the crack goes past
where I could grind back

to meet parameters,

so looks like
I’m starting over.

That’s a huge setback.
I lost two days,

and I’m feeling
a ton of pressure right now.

I took a big risk
going with Damascus,

and unfortunately,
it didn’t pay off.

♪

But got some 5160.
I’m gonna forge a new blade.

♪

5160--
it’s not as beautiful,

but I just need to churn out
a finished weapon.

Pretty good.

- Morning of day four.

[yawns]

I’m tired.

Yesterday,
I got the blade quenched.

[laughs]

I also have
all the parts made.

I just gotta
put it all together.

Oh...

This is the last step

in a very long
and difficult competition.

I’ve put my entire
heart and soul

into this whole project,

and if this don’t make it,

then I get nothing.

I think, overall,
the blade will make

Ben and Clay Spencer
Blacksmith Shop proud.

- It’s the morning
of day four,

and yesterday,
I got my blade quenched

and ground

and ready
to put it all together.

Okay, I think it’s--
this is it.

I feel pretty good
about my progress.

I had a pretty major setback,

but I gotta rush
at this point

to finish my handle.

Hopefully, this will
perform well and look good.

Things didn’t work out
like I had hoped,

but kept my head down,

and proud of what I’ve done
so far,

and hopefully,
I can bring home the win

to Jeffrey
for the New Agrarian School.

Hwa!

[dramatic music]

♪

- Jason, Silas, what a road
it has been to get here, guys.

We started this
"On the Road" tournament

with 12 talented smiths,

and now we’re down
to the two of you guys.

Jason, you were chosen
by Ben Abbott

to represent the
Clay Spencer Blacksmith Shop

because of your skills.

Silas, because of your skills,
you were chosen by Dave

to represent
the New Agrarian School.

And now it comes down

to this final round
of testing, gentlemen.

One of you guys
will be leaving this tournament

$20,000 richer,

and you’ll also
be bringing back

up to $10,000 worth
of gear and supplies

to go to your home forge.

Now, before we put your blades
through those serious tests,

I wanna hear about them.
Jason, let’s start with you.

- Well...

♪

It’s not the prettiest blade
I’ve ever made,

but I made it
out of Damascus,

80CrV in the middle,

burl for the handle,

and also checkered
the handle.

- It looks good.
Silas.

Let’s hear about yours.

♪

- The blade I submitted
is forged from 5160,

the ricasso cover
is forged silicon bronze,

and then the handle
is wenge.

- From where I’m standing,
they both look phenomenal.

Guys, first up, we’ve got
the dynamic KEAL test,

and for that, I’m gonna
hand you over to Doug.

♪

- Bladesmiths, welcome
to our dynamic KEAL test...

♪

The ballistics dummy
and sheets of ice chop.

Jason, you’re up first.
You ready?

- Yes, sir.
- Let’s do this.

♪

- Chopping an ice block--
that’s pretty grueling,

and I’m worried about
my edge retention.

[exhales]

Hopefully, mine will go
through all this.

♪

[exhales]

♪

- All right, Jason,

let’s talk about
your Moplah sword.

In hitting the ice blocks,

no damage on your tip and edge.

It stayed true.

In chopping through
the ballistics dummy,

very deep, deep cuts,

and overall, your weapon--

it’ll KEAL.

- Thank you, sir.

- All right, Silas,
are you ready?

- Yes, sir.
- Let’s do this.

- I am absolutely nervous.

I only had two days
to make my blade,

and ice is really hard
on blades,

and so, hopefully,
mine will hold up.

♪

[dramatic music]

- I only had two days
to make my blade,

and ice is really hard
on blades,

so, hopefully,
mine will hold up.

♪

- Good job.
- [chuckles]

♪

- All right, Silas, let’s talk
about your Moplah sword here.

First up, this thing is light.

I can use velocity

to cut cleanly
on the ice blocks,

and those are one
of the deepest cuts

we have
on the ballistics dummy.

But in the test,
you have two spots here

where I can get
my fingernail into that,

but that’s because you have

a very, very acute
and sharp edge here.

And it’ll KEAL.

♪

- [chuckles]

All right, gentlemen, welcome
to our dynamic strength test:

the chain mail and skull chop.

♪

Jason, you’re up first.
You ready?

- Yes, sir.
- Okay.

♪

♪

All right, Jason.

This thing’s a beast.

Everything’s still right
and tight.

I really like
what you did here.

This is really
just beautiful work.

It’s a great-looking weapon,

it did the job, and it held up,

so nicely done.
- Thank you.

- Silas, you ready?

- Let’s do this.

- I’m going to.

[laughter]

♪

[tense sting]

♪

- Good job.

♪

- All right, Silas,
your handle--

issue I have with it
is that this--

the handle is rounded
in a way

that it wants to turn in
my hand when I impact things.

♪

I couldn’t maintain a grip.

That’s a big issue.

- Thank you.

♪

- Gentlemen,
it’s been a wild ride, guys.

I’ve been honored to travel
across America with these guys,

visiting all four
of the forges we went to,

watching you two work
the entire time

through this competition,

and I can guarantee
that both Jeffrey and Bell’s

will be extremely proud
of your work,

but unfortunately,
only one of you guys

can take home the $20,000
for yourself,

the $10,000 to go back

into the forge
you’re representing

and the title
of "Forged in Fire" champion.

The judges did make
a decision,

and today’s
"Forged in Fire" champion

and the winner of the
"On the Road" tournament is...

♪

Jason.
Very well done.

Now, Silas, you crushed it
throughout the competition,

but unfortunately,
just missed it by that much,

and Dave’s gonna tell you why.

- Silas, you gave us
a great blade

with a lot
of beautiful craftsmanship.

This came down to two things:

one, your blade took damage
in the strength test,

and two,
the shape of your handle

made it harder to control.

♪

- Silas, it’s been an honor
to watch you work.

You’re an unbelievably
talented smith,

but unfortunately, your time
in this tournament has ended.

I’m gonna have to ask you
to please step off

The Forge floor.

- I feel disappointed.

I certainly made some mistakes
during my home forge,

and in a close competition,
mistakes are what matter.

But I’m still really proud

of representing
the New Agrarian School.

I wish that I had been able
to bring it home for them,

but that’s competition.

- [exhales deeply]
- Jason, congratulations.

You are now
a "Forged in Fire" champion.

You came out on top of this
"On the Road" tournament,

and you’re getting a check

not only for $20,000
going in your pocket,

but you’re bringing back
$10,000

for gear and supplies
to go back to Bell’s

and the Clay Spencer
Blacksmith Shop.

Very, very well done.

- I am a "Forged in Fire"
champion,

and I’m in shock and awe
and disbelief.

It’s been an honor
and a privilege

to go this far,
to be the winner,

and to be bringing 10,000

in equipment and gear
for John C. Campbell,

and my wife will be happy.

I’m coming home
with 20 grand, hon.

[laughs]

♪