All language subtitles for Forged.in.Fire.S10E06.WEB.x264-TORRENTGALAXY_Subtitles01

- Here in The Forge,
we've asked smiths

to make Damascus
from all kinds of materials.

- [laughs]

- Son of a b****.

- But this time,
we're asking them

to use something
a little scarier.

- [chuckles]

- How am I gonna make this?
Where do I start?

[intense music]

- This is the Frankenstein
Damascus challenge.

♪

- My name is Benjamin Bays.

I'm 23 years old,
I'm from Downs, Illinois,

and I've been bladesmithing
for about six years now.

I first thought
when I was in fifth grade,

I could make a sword
by melting aluminum cans.

I learned that that
doesn't work out very well.

So I would like to say

I've come a long way
since then.

[chuckles]

- My name is Erik Greiner.

I'm 36 years old
from Lubbock, Texas.

I've been bladesmithing
for about eight years.

I was actually born
in Namibia,

the country above South Africa
on the West Coast.

And when I was one,
we moved to the U.S.

I have four little girls.
Oldest is 11.

The youngest is 6.

They think making knives
is pretty cool.

- My name is Travis Halling.
I'm 40 years old.

I've been blacksmithing,
bladesmithing,

probably about seven,
eight years.

I'm in the Coast Guard
full-time.

If I did win,

and save my old dying shoulder.

♪

- Bladesmiths,
welcome to The Forge.

The four of you are here
to compete

in three intense rounds
of bladesmithing competition.

Now, after each one
of those rounds, I will ask you

to present your work to our
panel of expert judges here,

and they are the ones
deciding which one of you

is leaving here with the title
of "Forged in Fire" champion

and getting a check
for $10,000.

♪

Now, bladesmiths,
you guys are gonna be happy

to hear that today,
we want you to make

your signature blade
in your signature style.

♪

But there is a catch.

Gentlemen,
in order to make your blades,

you are going to need this.

♪

Bladesmiths, this is
a competition we are calling

The Frankenstein Damascus
Challenge.

Sitting here
in front of me are cutoffs

from competitions
over the past few years.

Now, every time a smith
has gone to the chop saw,

somebody has been there
to pick it up.

Some of this steel was
just excess on great billets.

Some of it is riddled
with delaminations

or bad forge welds.

Your task today is to select
at least three pieces

from this pile here
to make your Damascus billets.

- That's just a pile
of crappy steel.

[laughs]

That's okay.
I can work with that.

♪

- And when you turn
your blades in,

make sure they fall
within these parameters.

Your blade length needs to be
between 13 and 15 inches,

and those blades
will have to be set up

for a full tang
handle construction.

Now, for the three of you
joining us

in the second round
of this competition,

you will add handles
to your blades,

turning them into
fully functioning weapons.

We will then check
for strength and durability

in an antler chop.

And then for edge retention
in a playing card slice.

All right, guys,
there are only three hours

on the clock, so good luck.

Your time starts now.

♪

at least three pieces
from this pile.

We've got good stuff.
We've got really, really bad.

There's one chunk in there
that looks like a PayDay bar.

- But they have way more time
and way less stress

than the last smith
that abandoned this bar, right?

- Big pile of junk steel.

Most of them look like they're
about to just blow apart.

It's pretty slim pickings.

- What would be the best
and quickest method

for these guys?

- Canister.

Now, these smiths can find
the best pieces

that don't have to be that big,

cut them up, clean them up,
and drop them in that canister.

And 1095 powder bonds
to stuff really nicely.

♪

- So I chose
canister Damascus.

I'm a little more familiar
with it,

and in my experience,
I've run into more trouble

forging layered Damascus.

♪

- I've made
a lot of trash-mascus,

so what I'm gonna try to do is
layer it up and pound it out.

- Travis is not
setting up to do a canister.

- If you're going
to stack and weld,

you have to have
that stack cleaned up,

stacked nicely where you don't
have a lot of pieces

sticking off
in different sizes,

- It's shocking
using discarded steel

because you don't know
why it was discarded.

I'm thinking canister
on this because I don't

have to rely
solely on the Damascus.

I can use the powdered steel.

I know there's some good steel
in there somewhere.

- The one and only time
I've done canister Damascus,

I used White Out,
and the can peeled right off,

and I'm hoping that this time,
it's gonna do the same.

- I don't like
seeing that White Out.

He's buying himself another

30 minutes
of busting that can off

if he doesn't do it right
the first time.

- When I'm cleaning
the pieces,

and cold shuts
that stick out to me,

so I just start
grinding away on them

and clean it up best as I can
to get it ready

to chop up
and put in my canister.

- I like that
a lot of the bladesmiths

are not just
cleaning the steel,

but really examine
what you're picking up.

♪

- Working with a canister,
I need to reach

some good forging temperatures

and making sure
the scrap pieces

will forge weld.

If I start too early,
it could form cracks.

It could delaminate.

Hot steel!

- Look at that can.

That's the heat
you want to see.

- The steel I selected
so far is working great.

Nothing disastrous
has happened,

so I'm very happy.

- So, guys, right now
we've got three smiths

who've committed to a canister

and we've got one who's doing
set Damascus pattern.

- After I get my billet
to forge welding temperatures,

I choose to set
my welds by hand.

I'm very familiar with that.

- Travis is taking a bit
of a risk with not having

quite as much steel
as the other competitors.

But if he can pull it off,
it's bumping him ahead.

- Oh, yeah.

It seems like
it's all consolidated.

- You see how he's got that
little uneven spot at that tip?

Lose that.

Any problem that develops
is gonna start right there.

♪

- I'm feeling really good.

All the welds have set,

so now I have to start
just drawing this billet out.

- Bladesmiths,
one hour has elapsed.

♪

Erik at the press
going for his first weld

on the squaring dies.

- Really nice.
He had a good heat.

- Everything's looking solid,

so I start stretching it out.

- Now he's just
squishing his can.

- Yeah.
- It seems a little aggressive.

- I get done
and get to the handle.

[bleep].

I look at the edges

and they're starting to split
open in a couple of spots.

- Uh-oh.

Looks like he's got
a bunch of cracking

on the sides of the can.

- Well,
he was going aggressive.

- There's the chance that

there is no solid steel
in there.

- What may have happened is,
when he was

getting really aggressive
on the press,

is that he let the heat
drain out of that billet.

That's when you're gonna get
the metal to actually crack.

- [bleep].

I keep grinding, I'm not
getting any solid steel.

Starting over.

- Uh-oh.

Erik's completely restarting.

- If I kept going
with this billet,

I don't think
I'd make it to round two.

I'm choosing
to stick with canister,

but I'm not gonna go
as aggressive on the press,

which is where
I screwed up last time.

♪

- Ben, back on the press
for round number two.

- I see my can
folding away from my billet,

so I'm pretty sure
that the White Out worked.

- He went to the squaring dies
to consolidate it,

but now he's
drawing it out on Big Blu.

Is he still gonna be able
to get this can off?

- Not as easily.

- [bleep].

I may have gone a little bit
too far on Big Blu.

- Ben is having a hell
of a time peeling this can off.

Wonder if he's regretting
throwing the White Out in.

♪

- I'm too far
into this billet to start over,

- I know that the test
is gonna be a chopping test,

so I stick with what I know.

I draw out a Bowie that's
gonna have a thicker spine.

and this is not gonna work.

- Oh, no.

We said it was
gonna be a problem.

He drew that out
without dealing with that,

and now he's dealing with it.

- Oh, he's dealing with it.

- Delaminations
on the tip of my knife,

that will be
a critical failure.

I don't have enough material
to cut that portion off.

I don't know how far
those delaminations go.

At this point,
this will send me home.

I need to figure this out
as soon as possible.

♪

Ugh. Okay.

So basically, I figure

if I flip this thing
upside down,

I can make a seax.

If it's on the spine,
it's not on the cutting edge,

I should not have
a catastrophic failure.

- He's working the spine
of his blade,

- This is not the original
knife I wanted to make.

However,
it is what it is at this point.

[rock music]

- Erik restarted his billet.

Instead of just going
really aggressive

in one position,
he decided to switch

back and forth,
even hitting up on the end.

- I'm relieved.

I do not see any of the cracks
on the edges

like I did last time.

It's looking good.
I'm happy with it.

♪

- Finally.
- Oh, Ben.

Ben was able to get the rest
of that can off his billet,

but he's got
a ton of work to do

and far less time
than he needs to get it done.

Meanwhile,
on the other side of The Forge,

we've got Stanley who's getting
very close to a quench.

This is pretty early
in the game.

- Profile,
not exactly where I want it,

but I need to quench this.

- Stanley has enough time
to see, "Oh, no,

"there's mild steel
across my edge.

I'll grind that away."

- Not knowing what those
scrap pieces of steel are,

quenching could be the source
of warping and cracking.

♪

- All right,
Stanley is in the oil.

30 minutes left on the clock.

- I don't hear
any pings or anything.

Now I have to get
this mild steel canister off.

- Look at Stanley's blade.

There's a lot of meat
right behind that edge

that I'd really like
to see him address.

♪

- I bet right now,
Ben is really wishing he had

that extra 30 minutes
that it took him

to put that can together
in the first place.

- And that 20 minutes it took
to get the can off.

- Yeah.

- [bleep].

As soon as I set it
with my hammer,

I see these cracks
forming on one side.

That's the last thing
I need on this competition.

It's an issue
because I don't want them

there's some good welds
in there somewhere.

- Just start grinding away
on those cracks as best I can

and getting most of them out
with my angle grinder.

I have no idea if I'm
gonna be able to do this,

but I'm gonna give it a shot.

Clock is ticking
and I need to start

getting some progress done.

I'm gonna quench this thing.

♪

- Travis has quenched.

♪

- Everything seems
fairly straight.

Let's get this thing
cleaned up.

I'm looking pretty good
at this point.

- Gentlemen, you've got
15 minutes remaining.

♪

Here we go.

- All right.
- All right, Erik in the oil.

♪

- Yeah, buddy.

You did it!

- Yours is looking good.

- What's Stanley working on
other than checking out Ben?

- Stanley's working on nothing.

- This is the time
to be grinding the shape.

- Whatever it is
he needs to do,

he's got a little bit of time
to do it.

- I am happy with my blade.
I met the parameters.

I feel I've done enough.

- Ben, quench it! [laughs]

I love seeing it.

There we go.

- It's kind of straight.

Bladesmiths,
turn off your machines.

This round is over.

- Whoo!

- I know my blade shape
is not pretty,

and I know my finish
is far from even close.

I'm just hoping
the judges think

that I have
something salvageable.

♪

- All right, gentlemen,

in the first three hours
of this competition,

we gave you
a very difficult task

of taking forgotten steel,
smashing it together

into your own
Frankenstein billets.

The time has come
for the judges to take

a closer look at your blades
and decide which three of you

are joining us in the second
round of this competition.

Stanley, you're up first.

You ready?
- Yes.

- Please present your work.

♪

- All right, Stanley.

So you did very well
with your canister Damascus.

You were way ahead over there.

You drew it out nicely,
and then you stopped

with 10 to 15 minutes left
to go.

And I say that because, well,

you could have ground that out.

If you move forward,

you definitely have to refine
the handle

and really lighten
the blade out

and take out
some of these delaminations.

- Thank you.

- All right, Ben,
please present your work.

♪

- So, Ben, right off,

it's got that great
chopper shape to it.

It's got a handle that's
scaled properly for my hand,

so your profile's
come together very nicely.

You've got a warp in this blade

that's outside
of grinder range.

It's something that's gonna
have to be fixed with heat.

So if you move forward,
a lot of cleanup,

but a really good job
of not giving up

and pushing through to the end.

- Thank you.

- Erik, it's your turn.
Please present your work.

♪

- All right, Erik.

Well, first of all,
I got to say nice job

knowing when to start over.

And what you ended up
bringing in,

it looks really good.

The welds
on the faces look really good.

There's a little bit of can
sticking out the side up here,

and some kind
of delamination is visible,

but I think the spine
just needs some cleanup.

Your handle is about an inch,
inch and a half too big.

But I think
if you move forward,

you've got
a good starting point

to go on from here.

- All right,
last up, we got Travis.

Please present your work, sir.

♪

- All right, Travis.

So you are the only one
who didn't go

Now, you do have
some deep hammer marks,

but it's something that
you could probably clean up

if you move
to the second round.

But overall,
good job on being able

to give us
a solid piece of steel.

Just a lot of refinement
going on to the second round.

- All right, gentlemen,

you guys all have
a ton to be proud of,

but as you know,
only three of you can join us

in the second round
of this competition.

Now, after deliberating
and discussing every aspect

of your blades, the judges
did make a final decision.

The bladesmith
leaving The Forge is...

♪

Stanley.

Unfortunately, your blade
did not make the cut,

and Ben's gonna tell you why.

- Well, Stanley,
you started out this round

really strong, but the blade

that you actually presented
to us,

it starts out refined
at the tip,

and as you move
towards the tang,

it gets less and less refined
and bigger and clunkier.

There was some time you had
towards the end of the round

where some of that
could have been addressed.

Sometimes every minute
in this competition

really, really counts,
and this is one of those times.

And that's the reason
we're letting you go.

- Thank you.

- We want to say
thank you for coming out,

fighting so hard in The Forge,

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.

- Looking back,
I probably should have spent

just a little more time

just refining it a little more.

I had every intention
to just have a great time,

meet some amazing smiths.

But for anyone
coming on the competition,

if you've got ten minutes
on the clock,

use that ten minutes.

I will make blades until
the day I can't make blades.

- All right,
gentlemen, congratulations.

The three of you are
joining us in the second round

of this competition,
where you will fix

any issues
that the judges brought up,

refine your blades,
and add handles to them,

turning them
to fully functioning weapons.

Now, as far as
handle materials go,

we are keeping
with the Frankenstein theme.

And in order to complete
your handles, you'll need this.

♪

from handle rounds,
and you will need to use

at least two of them in the
construction of your handles.

- There's not a single piece
big enough

to make a whole scale
on its own.

This is gonna be frustrating.

- All right, gentlemen,
when this round is over,

your blades will go
into the hands of our judges

and they will check
for strength and durability

in an antler chop.

And then we'll check
your edge retention

in a playing card slice.

Gentlemen,
you guys have two hours

to complete your blades,
and that time starts now.

♪

All right, there is a lot
of material on that table,

but not a lot of it
is really all that useful.

- Whatever you pick up,
drop it on the floor.

Because some of these materials
were results of materials

breaking open or breaking
while they were being used.

- I want to try to use

the simplest material
I can find.

I'm looking at cuts.

If there are holes in there,
can I fix them?

So I grabbed
three pieces of wood.

♪

And then I start
to refine my blade.

and hogging material out.

- I just keep grinding away,

- Ben's blade, he's got a warp,
which he's gonna have to use

some kind of heat
to straighten that out.

- He's got a lot of work to do.

- I know I need
to fix the warp in my blade.

My goal is to heat
my blade's spine up

and keep my edge cool
so I don't ruin the temper

of the edge.

♪

- And...

- Please be good.

- I'm cranking it just enough

that it doesn't snap
the blade in half.

Think that's as good
as it's gonna get.

- Bladesmiths, you have
one hour and 30 minutes left.

Travis is already working
on fitting up his handle.

- At this point, I start
popping holes in my tang.

I grab what I think
is the right pin stock,

and I just epoxy
the bejesus out of it.

I'm having a good time. It is

Any time you're in The Forge,

it's better
than a day at work for me.

♪

- I want to put a pin
through each of these pieces,

make sure I got a strong
mechanical connection

so it will be less likely

to break off
a piece of material.

I start drilling
through the tang

and I'm able to get
through it real quick.

Starting to put the handle
scales on the handle...

[bleep].

And one of the pins
doesn't fit.

- One of the things
Erik has to be careful of is,

his scales are made of three
pieces that are glued together.

You start hammering
on one section of that,

you could pop that glue.

- Oh, yeah.

- I have epoxy,
two pins going through,

and the third one does not
go all the way through,

so I stick one pin
on either side of the hole

that's not lining up
in the hopes that I can

get a little bit
of the pin in the hole,

so I can have a bit
of a mechanical bond.

It's not ideal,
but it's what I've got.

I still need
to get an edge on there

and I still need to etch it.

- Bladesmiths, you are down
to the final 45 minutes.

- I'm definitely feeling
some panic right about now.

I grab two pieces of wood
that are long enough

to make two full scales out of,

and I have to get the holes
drilled through my tang.

And then I put
my handle scale on, and....

I did not think
that through right.

...run the pins
to the wrong side.

So I have to pull them out
before the epoxy sets.

- Ben's running into
a lot of walls fitting up

his handle scales
with the holes in his tang.

- I start running around,
and it's about half

trying to get
my pin stock through,

and half absolute panic.

- Even if Ben's just got
two pins all the way

through both scales
and filled the rest with glue,

at least we'd have
something to test.

- If I don't get
my handle scales on,

I won't have a handle.

Then I'm out of luck. I'm done.

- This looks a lot more
like panic to me than intent.

- The clock is ticking
and I'm running out of time.

♪

- I think Ben is playing,

"get it done, get it done,
get it done."

- It might be our most
Frankenstein-y blade out there.

- [laughs]
- Absolutely.

- Thank God.

I finally get my scales on,
but I don't have time to wait

for the epoxy to cure because
I have to get my blade sharp,

finish shaping my handle,
and get an acid etch.

Not giving up paid off
for me last round.

- Bladesmiths,
you have 20 minutes remaining

in this round.

- So at this point, I start

removing material
on my handle.

One side is super thick,
the other one is super thin.

My handle is not exactly
where I want it to be,

but I don't want
to reshape this handle

because I'll be taking off
too much material.

However, I think
it'll work for what it is.

Whew.

[rock music]

- I'm looking
for a nice round handle

that's not too circular.

I want to make sure
it stays in their hand

and doesn't fly off
and hit somebody.

- Erik is showing
some real efficiency.

- I feel like he's gonna have
plenty of time

to get this finished
the way he wanted to.

This will be an intentionally
finished blade.

- Yup.

- I need to get
an edge on this thing,

so I put a nice
apple seed grind on there

so this blade can be
as sharp as it possibly can.

♪

I did what I could
to hopefully get

my handle attached properly,

but I'm not
100% confident in it.

♪

- All right, gentlemen,
welcome to the strength test,

the antler chop.

Ben, you are up.
Are you ready?

- No, but it doesn't matter.

- You're right. It doesn't.

♪

- I'm pretty concerned that
my knife isn't sharp enough.

The judges get a rusty,

tortured piece of metal
to test.

I'm just hoping dumb luck
will carry me through

this time again.

♪

- So, Ben, right off,
the handle's big enough

for my hand,
it fits beautifully.

But as you can see,
when I was hitting that antler,

each hit looks like
it took one chunk out.

I hit it four times.

And you got one, two, three,

and another
small divot here--four.

All I can think is that
this edge is really brittle.

I have a feeling it's just
when you quenched this,

it was really, really hot.

But the feel of it's
really fantastic,

so nicely done.

- Thank you.

- All right, Erik, you're up.
Are you ready?

- Yes, sir.
- Okay, let's do it.

♪

but I'm nervous
at the same time.

Somebody's beating your knife
against an antler.

It's not natural.

I hope it stays together.

♪

- All right, Erik.

And this is what happens
when you just rely on the glue.

And I can see that you
didn't quite get that hole

through there, so you put
a pin on either side.

Good cosmetics,
but without that pin

- All right, Erik.

Because it did break
after two strikes,

we consider this
a catastrophic failure.

We cannot continue testing.

But you are not
out of the fight yet.

In order to continue on,
Travis, you're gonna have

to survive two strikes
on this same brutal test.

Are you ready?
- I think so.

- All right,
Dave, take it away.

♪

- Can my knife
make two strikes?

I'm really not sure.

I start thinking
about all the delaminations

in my knife,
and hopefully I have

enough material
to absorb the shock of this.

♪

- All right, Travis,
congratulations.

You made it through those
two strikes on the antler.

Now, Erik, you fought hard,
you gave us a good blade,

but unfortunately, your time
in this competition has ended.

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

The Forge floor.

Thank you.
- See you, guys.

- Thank you, guys.
- Good looking blade.

- Other than the fact
that my handle broke

and now it's
a baby-sized handle--

I'm happy with what I did
and how I did.

I'm grateful I got to be here.

- Ben, Travis,
gentlemen, congratulations.

You have now made it
into the third

and final round of this
competition,

where you're going back
to your home forges

for four days to build
an iconic weapon from history.

Gentlemen,
you're gonna be building this.

♪

The Crusaders Bible Falchion.

- [laughs]

- The Crusader Bible Falchion
traces its origins back

to the illustrated manuscript
called the Crusaders Bible.

It is in these pages that the
unique falchion can be seen.

The sword features
a spatulated tip

with four points
for puncturing armor

and a hook handle
to prevent disarming.

This deadly chopping,
slashing weapon has been

recreated and redesigned
by bladesmiths for centuries.

before the paintings
in the Crusaders Bible.

Today, these iconic
illustrations can be seen

in person at the
Morgan Library & Museum

in New York City.

- Now, guys, the ones you build

must fall
within these parameters.

Your blade length
measured from tip

to where the cutting edge ends

needs to be
between 21 and 23 inches,

needs to swell
to a spatulated tip

and feature four points,

and needs to feature
a hooked handle.

- I'm a little bit relieved

that it's not
a 5-foot-long sword.

But then I see the weird
spatula end of the blade,

and I'm starting to wonder
how the hell

I'm gonna shape
a billet into that.

- Well, we're excited
to see what you bring back,

so good luck.

We will see you both
in four days.

- Let's do it.
- All right, right on.

[upbeat rock music]

- We're in Kannapolis,
North Carolina.

It is day one.

I do get lonely in the shop,

so I had to bring in
a couple friends.

My wife makes
some amazing artwork.

One of the big reasons
why we hit it off,

going to the junkyard
and finding metal scrap.

So I have never made
anything like this.

This is gonna be
my inner core, this 5160.

And then we're gonna do
Damascus on the outside.

I'm doing Damascus
with a San Mai inner core,

because I think if I keep
a 5160 leaf spring steel core,

it will hopefully stand up
and be resilient

So in The Forge,
they got Big Blu.

I have Little Orange.

It's like taking Big Blu...

actually, it's nothing like
taking Big Blu.

It's a little guy.

♪

It's five tons,

but it's sure as heck's
saving my shoulder and my arm.

At the end of day one,

I have 65 layers
of solid steel.

I have never made
a blade this big before,

so it's gonna be a challenge.

I plan on making
San Mai 5160 leaf spring

salvaged from
a semi-truck trailer,

and I'll forge that
flat and square.

And then my shells are coming
from wrought iron wagon wheel.

The wrought iron should have
a very pretty wood grain look

by the time I get it
ground down and etched.

There we go.

That's good
wrought iron temperature.

As I'm forging along....

Oh, [bleep].

I'm starting to notice
a large crack

forming on one of my pieces
of San Mai.

If I'm not able to address
this crack,

it's gonna take away

some structural integrity
from my blade,

and my blade won't be able
to hold up to the testing.

[bleep].

I don't have time
to make a mistake.

♪

My plan is
to keep flexing it up

and forge weld it down.

It should be
welded back together.

Once I put it
on the rest of my steel,

it should hold together.

We're about halfway sealed up.

I see that the crack is
mostly closed up.

So far,
it seems like my billet is

welded tight
and everything's holding up.

I just hope my luck
carries through.

[upbeat rock music]

- Day number two.

The blade right now is
just a hunk of metal.

It is ugly.

Get this thing in the forge

and I'm gonna start
drawing this out.

I'm getting to a point
where I'm gonna try

to create this handle.

I basically have to make
a candy cane

or a horseshoe,
start putting a curve in.

I overcompensated
and kind of had it come in

a little closer than I thought.

So as I strike here,
it's gonna push this around

and flatten it out
a little bit.

The curl for the handle,
it's not perfect.

I am a little concerned
about the ergonomics of this.

The judges do want
a handle that fits well

that I'm in right now.

♪

I pull it out...

♪

Whew!

And we are straight.

That's exactly where I wanted
to be at by the end of day two.

- Well, it's day two,
and the first thing

I have to do this morning
is form that spatulated tip.

I'm using a fullering tool,
and I'm hammering my billet.

♪

I've got my blade
mostly to shape and profile.

It's about time that I start
moving on to heat-treat.

♪

So then I pull it out
to inspect it.

My lines are looking okay.

Just by nature of me flying
by the seat of my pants,

I feel like
I'm behind schedule,

but I'm hoping
I can just pull something out

and make it work.

♪

- Day four.

Thing's looking really good.

I'm gonna focus on the handle.

So I got both pieces cut out.
My pin's in.

I'm going to start shaping.

I want to make my handle
more ergonomic.

It's just not
right where I want it at.

I think the only way
to really get in here

and do this is
with a lot of hand sanding.

I can only do so much
with the tools I have

to hit this radius
on the inside.

I'm going old school.

I'm going hand sanding
on this.

I'm gonna run it
through the grids just to get

that groove
where it needs to be.

The maple that I have
is pretty hard.

I did not know it was gonna be
this much of a challenge.

I put a lot
of heart and soul into this.

I think I'm good
with my blade.

I want to hear Doug say
those three little words,

"It will KEAL."

- Day four.

♪

Decided to just use a rasp
to shape my wood

because it's the only tool
that's gonna

fit in there
in a timely manner.

I've got my blade finished.

I still feel that it's 50/50,

but I think I was able
to make a pretty blade,

and I'm satisfied
with what I got accomplished.

♪

- Well, Ben, Travis, gentlemen,
welcome back to The Forge.

You guys,
it's great to see you.

Now, you just came back
from what probably seemed like

four very short days
where we asked you

to build
the Crusaders Bible Falchion.

Guys, they look beautiful.

They look strong and sharp.

Now, before we get
into testing,

we want to hear
about these blades.

Ben, how'd it go for you?

- Overall,
I think it went all right.

♪

I ended up taking
some wrought iron wagon tire

and making a San Mai sandwich

with a truck leaf spring
in the middle.

- Nice.
Now, Travis, how about you?

- Mine went pretty well.
Had a couple hiccups.

♪

I used 1084 and 15n20.

And I did 32 layers
on each side

and put a piece
of 5160 in the middle.

The wood is a curly maple that
came out of an old dresser.

- Guys, these blades
look strong.

They look sharp.
They look deadly.

But the best way we know how
to find out which one of you

is leaving here
today as a champion

is by putting them
through a series of tests.

And first off, we've got
a KEAL test with Doug.

♪

- Bladesmiths,
welcome to the KEAL test.

Ben, you're up first.
Are you ready for this?

- I'm not,
but I hope my blade is.

a awesome,
potent weapon as well,

so I'm not sure
what's gonna happen.

♪

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

What I like about the handle,
it's ovoid enough

to where it fits
my hand perfectly.

Your edge is sharp

and it chopped this pig
not once,

but twice.

Overall, your weapon,
it will KEAL.

♪

Travis, your turn, sir.
Are you ready?

- Ready as I'm ever gonna be.

- All right, let's do this.

♪

- I've hunted some pigs.

They have huge shoulders,
big dense bones.

You hit
one of those hard bones,

you could pop a weld,

a delamination,
you can chip a blade,

but let's see
what this thing will do.

♪

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

First up, I appreciate

the pattern you have
with your Damascus.

Your handle has
a cylindrical feel to it.

It's very smooth.

And because it's
a forward heavy blade,

it rides back here.

But your edge is sharp.

It chops deep,
and as you can see,

it chopped
the pig carcass in half.

Overall, your weapon,
it will KEAL.

- Thank you, Doug.

♪

- Bladesmiths,
welcome to the strength test:

the pavilion pole chop.

Not only did we get the crazy
shape of your falchions

out of the Crusader Bible,

we also found
this test in there.

There's a scene in the Bible
where Abraham's forces

are chopping down the tent
poles of their enemies.

So we're gonna do
the same thing

and see how your Falchions
hold up.

Ben, you're up first.
You ready?

- As ready as I can be.

- All right.

♪

Well, Ben, first off,
that's a beautiful piece.

I mean, it really captures
the essence

of what's
in the Crusader Bible.

The handle is really
well-proportioned for my hand.

All in all, I think
it's a spectacular piece.

Nice job.
- Thank you.

- All right, Travis.
You're up, man. You ready?

- No, but let's do it.

- All right.

- I'm not feeling great,
if I'm being honest with you.

Honestly, like, seeing
Ben's Falchion perform,

I know I'm behind.

I guess we'll see how it goes.

♪

[intense rock music]

♪

- All right, Travis,
well, your edge held up great.

That being said,
the handle, it's really long

and it kind of curves
from the beginning.

So as I'm trying
to hold up here, you know,

I'm sliding back,
and when I close my eyes

and index exactly
where I want to be,

it's kicked over
by about five degrees.

So I had
to compensate for that.

That being said, I really think
you did a great job

of capturing the spirit
of this particular falchion.

Nice job.
- I appreciate it. Thank you.

♪

- All right, bladesmiths.

This is a sharpness test,
the zip line sandbag slice.

♪

Ben, you're up first.
You ready for this?

- Sure.
- All right, let's do this.

♪

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

On the different areas
that you have,

especially on that sweet spot,
it cut cleanly on the bag.

On the lower half over here,
metal and resistance,

but it also cut.

Overall,
your weapon, it will cut.

- I'll take it.

- All right, Travis,
it's your turn.

Are you ready?
- Oh, I'm ready.

- All right.
Let's do this.

♪

All right, Travis,
once again, cutting with this

on the sweet spot,
it cut cleanly on both bags.

Go a bit lower
on this section right here,

it cuts,
but not all the way through.

Overall,
your weapon, sir, it will cut.

- Thank you.

- Well, well, well.

All right, gentlemen,
I gotta say

that this is the kind
of competition we love

Travis, you were beat out
by just this much,

and Ben's gonna tell you why.

- Well, Travis,
you brought us a Damascus

San Mai blade that was
both beautiful and sharp.

But at the end of the day,
this came down

to your handle design.

It was harder
for us to control,

and that affected its
performance in the tests.

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

- I completely agree.

- Well, Travis,
I hope you had as much fun

as we had watching you
in the first two rounds.

We want to say
thank you for coming out,

but unfortunately, your time
in this competition has ended.

I'm gonna have
to ask you to please

step off The Forge floor.

Thank you.

- Awesome.

- It was
an amazing experience,

but my handle just was not
where it needed to be.

And Ben knocked it
out of the park.

I'm going home, give my wife
a hug and kiss

and tell my boys,
Daddy didn't win,

but that's all right,
you know?

He made it here.

That's a prize in itself.

♪

- Well, Ben, congratulations.

That makes you
a "Forged in Fire" champion.

You'll be receiving a check
for $10,000.

Congratulations.

[clapping]
- Thank you. All right.

I did not at all
expect that I would

make it to the end,
but here we are.

Every step of the way
of this process,

there's been some sort
of challenge or hiccup

that I've had to deal with,
but I'm just so grateful

I got the opportunity
and I won,

so I'm happier
than I could ever be.

♪