All language subtitles for Forged in Fire - S01E01 - Japanese Katana

Since the dawn of human civilization,
mankind has made weapons.

What began with sharpening sticks and
pounding stones has evolved into a

complex skill requiring the taming of
fire and steel.

Whoa! The secrets and traditions of
weapon making have been kept alive by an

elite group of bladesmiths. Heat up,
heat up, heat up! Who have honed and

perfected their skills over thousands of
years.

Now, for the first time ever, these men
will go head -to -head and put their

skills to the ultimate test.

Welcome to the forge.

It starts with a lump of raw steel and a
ticking clock.

Damn near impossible to forge a blade in
that time.

And by the end of two rounds, the
bladesmiths must present a weapon

cutting, chopping, and slicing.

If the blades they create don't make a
grade, they are eliminated.

Hot! The top two craftsmen then move on
to the final challenge, where they must

create one of the most iconic weapons
ever made by man. From the Japanese

to the Viking battle axe, each has its
own unique history as told through the

forging process.

Cut my finger open. The contestants'
weapons must be works of art as well as

deadly instruments of war, and they must
survive a battery of explosive tests.

as well as the scrutiny of an expert
panel of judges.

In the end, there can be only one, and
he will take home $10 ,000 and be

a Forged in Fire champion.

My name is Joe Waits and I'm the head
blade maker at one of the largest

distributors of swords in the world.

My name is Rich Greenwood. By day I work
on swimming pools and at night I'm a

bladesmith. My name is Matthew
Parkinson.

I've been a blacksmith for 15 years.

I'm Billy Hilton. I'm a self -taught
blacksmith and bladesmith.

Welcome and congratulations on making it
to the forge.

Getting our first glimpse into the
forging area is amazing.

Everything's picture perfect.

Between you, the title of Forged in Fire
champion, and a check for $10 ,000 are

three extremely difficult challenges
designed to put your weapon -making

to the test.

After each round, you will give your
work to the judges. They will decide who

stays and who goes. Two of you will
advance to a final, where you will forge

of the greatest weapons ever made by
mankind.

Now it's time to meet our judges.

First up...

Solo weapons making expert and
internationally known master bladesmith,

Nielsen. Next, world -renowned
swordsmith and rare weapons recreation

specialist, David Baker.

And finally, edged weapons specialist
and martial artist, Doug Marcaida.

Time to get to work.

In front of you on your anvil is a
cloth.

Go ahead and lift that up.

That is a bar of high -carbon steel.

From that lump of raw metal, you must
design and forge a fully functioning

weapon. The blade itself should be in
your own style.

You have ten minutes to work on your
design and three hours to forge your

Normally, it takes me three days to make
a knife.

I don't know how I'm going to pull it
off. The blade must fall within the

following size parameters.

The length of the blade should be at
least 9 inches, but not more than 11

inches. And just to spice things up a
little bit, you must also include a

serrated edge into that blade.

The length of the serration should be at
least 4 inches.

I've done some serrations in the past,
but it's much more stressful in this

situation. After three hours, one of you
will be asked to surrender your weapon

and go home.

Good luck, gentlemen. Your 10 -minute
design window begins now.

I specialize in doing a lot of
historical work.

I'm basing this knife on Continental
Sax's German war knife.

Historical stuff always fascinates me
because it's like being able to pull

idea of history into the modern age.

I specialize in practical everyday
knives.

So my design is a drop point buoy. It's
typically a camp knife just for everyday

chores. It'll chop a tree down and still
be able to cut your apple when you're

ready for dinner.

My inspiration comes from Japanese blade
making.

I'm going with the tanto blade because
it fits the style of knife that I enjoy

making. Hunting, fighting style knives.

I grew up with a family of craftsmen and
blue collar workers.

I think that just gave me the ability to
not worry about getting my hands dirty.

My interest in swords began at an early
age after seeing Conan the Barbarian.

It's one of the most iconic movies and
has one of the most iconic swords.

I'm going to make a buoy. It's a classic
design, clip point. It'll stab right

through whatever they test.

If some great character like Conan had
it, I think he would feel comfortable

cutting a giant snake's head off with
it.

Bladesmiths, your 10 -minute design
window is closed. You may start forging

blade now.

Clock starts. I toss my bar in the
forge. As soon as the bar is hot, I

bar down a little bit.

The actual definition of forging is when
you use the plastic state of metal to

deform it. Using blows from a hammer or
pressure from a press made it to be

where I want it and need it to be for
whatever shape I'm trying to make.

So you ever cook your beard?

A couple times. It never gets longer
than this because I'm always burning it

back. I try not to shave because I look
like a perverted Boy Scout.

My strategy for this competition is to
simply get her done.

I'm forging right now.

Trying to get a little bit of swag in
it, trying to make it look a little bit

pretty. What I'm going to do with this
prize money when I win is I want to

a bigger shop. My wife does engraving. I
do knife making. We're combining the

two into one comfy shop.

Oh, yeah.

Joe's chugging right along.

My main goal in this competition is to
crush my enemies, to see them driven

before me, and to hear the lamentations
of their women.

Everything's going according to plan,
which is slow and easy. Just being very

meticulous. He may be the kind of guy
that he figures he's got three hours, he

could do a work of art. Three hours.

We'll see what happens.

Coming behind you with a hot piece of
steel.

During my career, I've made over 6 ,000
blades, and I do not believe that

anybody else can even approach that
number in this competition.

It seems that Joe's doing some
thermocycling. He's brought it up. He's

cool a couple of times now.

He's still got that forge going full
forward. You don't want to keep

that tip.

What happens if you burn the steel? It's
going to weaken the structure of the

steel.

I'm watching everybody bang on their
steel and forge, and mine's still

up. I'm thinking I may have chosen just
a little too large a blade.

Yeah, I'm really kind of worried about
Rich.

I'm starting to fall behind.

Am I the only one that's sweating or
what? Gentlemen, you have 90 minutes

remaining.

I've got the forging process done. I'm
heading to the grinders. He's putting on

his bandolier belt.

I start getting my geometry correct on
my blade to make sure everything's

perpendicular in line.

This is what you call getting up close
and personal. Getting your spark on.

Look at those sparks coming off of it.

It's getting hot up in here tonight.

Matt definitely jumped ahead. He's
already got a tip worked out on that

I got it.

A good amount of time left. I'm
basically there. It's all finished work

My grandfather was a welder, and his
love of metalworking kind of influenced

as a child.

I actually named my son after him. I'm
going to win this for my son. I'm going

to win this for my grandfather.

He wins this down to, like, almost
touchable. I quench it in water just so

handle it and start filing the
serrations in.

Matt just went in for a quench.

Oh, he's got some heat on there, yeah.

I'm still trying to figure out what Rich
is trying to do. I don't think Rich is

comfortable with this tape.

Proving a little more difficult than I
thought it'd be.

I'm looking around and I'm seeing
progress that the other contestants are

making. How's it going?

Pretty close to done.

It's kind of making me panic.

And I've got a blade on the floor. Very
concerned.

The more tired and frustrated you get,
the more drops you wind up with.

It's like trying to pick up a dime
without fingernails.

I'm just falling behind and it's looking
like I'm just not going to be able to

get this done.

I think I may have bit off more than I
could chew.

Part of the requirement was it had to be
at least four inches of serration. So I

drew in the serrations a four and a half
inch section just to make sure I had a

little extra on that, not just four.

Exactly. Doug, what difference does a
serrated edge make to combat?

You don't have time to keep sharpening
your blade. Having that option gives you

the function to cut without having to
constantly keep your blade sharp.

I hate serrations.

One hour, gentlemen.

You have one hour remaining.

Holy crap.

Right now, it's starting to feel alive.
The blade's starting to move like it

should. For a fighting knife, it's got
to move. And it's really starting.

What's happening? Oh, no.

Uh -oh. Oh, no.

Ah, come on.

He just broke the blade.

He just lost an inch off the tip of his
blade. Joe's blade broke.

Just when you think you're done, always
something else pops up.

I think I overshot my temperature a
little bit, overhardened the tip of my

blade, and it broke off.

I'm hoping he makes the length. I'm
hoping that he dropped below.

Nine to 11 inches, and maybe an inch and
a half of that thing came off. I'm

coming in short, so it is over.

I believe I've just lost the entire
thing.

He's walking.

Can't quit.

Don't quit.

Hey, Joe. Yeah.

You can still finish that blade. You can
just grind it down. It might be able to

make it into the final challenge.

Go for it, man. Just do what you can
with the time you have left. Don't walk

on it. You've worked too hard.

He made a point.

I wouldn't have the elegant look I was
going for, but I could have a reformed

tip on the grinder. He could still pull
it off. As long as he's still got nine

inches of blade there, he's good to go.

Look at the difference in Richard's
blade.

Winning this competition is very
important to me. I would like to expand

and make it larger and easier to work
in.

He can pull this off. With a beard like
that, all things are possible. Yeah.

30 minutes. You have 30 minutes
remaining.

So it looks like Joe has ground a tip
back into that blade. Yeah, and it took

about a total of six, seven minutes.

I think I was able to recover. I not
only have a reformed tip, but I still

a blade that's lengthy enough, and I may
actually be able to move forward.

It's how you react to collision.

I don't know how you react. I usually
throw the blade across the room. Yeah,

if it doesn't break again, then it's
okay.

The serrated edge part is throwing me
out of whack.

I didn't get my serrated edges deep
enough, and I washed them out in the

grinding process.

I'm trying to tweak it the best I can
with the minutes that I have left.

Every dog has its day, and this ain't
mine.

30 seconds!

30 seconds remaining!

Right now we can all take a breath.
Yeah.

At this point, I don't know if my blade
is good enough to continue in the

competition, but I've already been
through the worst -case scenario.

Nothing worse than what has already
happened to me can happen to me at this

point. It can happen again, but that can
only be as bad as what's already

happened.

Your challenge was to forge a 9 - to 11
-inch blade out of a bar of high -carbon

steel. The blade must have at least 4
inches of serrations.

Now it's time for the judges to take a
look at your work.

Joe, please present your weapon to the
judges.

Good job on sucking it up and reworking
it.

But the obvious question is the tip
issue you had.

You lost about an inch of that tip.

How do you feel about the rework that
you did?

I'm not necessarily pleased with the way
the tip structure is now versus the way

it was initially.

I think it's functional.

When that tip came off and you decided
to finish what you started, it's even

more telling of what a master bladesmith
does.

You adapted, you improvised, and you
overcame.

It's still a functional weapon.

But it's the best weapon that remains to
be seen.

But thank you for not giving up. Thank
you.

Rich, you're up next.

Oh, it's, uh... Definitely a beefy
blade, and it's definitely got the scare

factor. I'm curious to see how well
it'll perform.

As you were grinding away and we're
going, he's got nothing, he's got no

serrations. A minute later, you're like,
which actually is kind of a neat look.

Matt, it's your turn.

Well, I really love what you did with
the serration.

You took a lot of time just laying that
in nice and flowing, so it's got a

really clean look.

You did stretch it out quite a bit, and
your tip is a lot more tapered than your

original drawing.

How do you think that's going to hold
up?

I think this will be all right. I leave
myself just a little bit short on

material, and I wanted to make sure I
had the length.

It's always a fine line. It's a very
fine line.

Billy, you're last up.

I like the overall design of the knife.

It's a good point, good profile.

You also got hung up on the serrations.

Actually, what I did was on the grinder,
I dug in too deep on one side, and I

had to work on that.

Okay. I like the design.

Did you measure the length of this
serration?

I did.

Four and an eighth is what I came up
with.

Thank you.

Obviously, the judges have much to
discuss.

They'll need some time to make their
decision.

Thank you.

Bam.

That was rough.

We have a lot to discuss.

I put a top of finger off in there or
something.

Let's start with Matt's blade.

I mean, he seemed like he knew what he
was doing. He gave us a clean blade.

It's a little thin on the tip to thrust.

And it's nicely done for a hand to work
on a three -hour job.

Let's take a look at Richard's zombie
killer.

You know, if he had designed this and
said, I'm going to make the most badass,

post -apocalyptic zombie -killing
machine I ever could, I mean, he's

right there.

But it wasn't what he was shooting for.
He was shooting for more of a classic

Tonto with a large blade and a long
handle.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In
terms of calling it crude, once again,

it's heat of function.

Worst -case scenario, you can...

beat somebody to death with it.

Let's look at Joe's blade.

He broke a tip off and he reground.

He gets credit for that.

But we've got multiple fractures up in
the tip. I'm counting two,

three, four, five.

We've already seen that tip break once.

So we know how brittle this tip is.
Let's go ahead and measure Joe's blade.

The overall length of the blade is...

Just shy of nine and a half inches.

And the length of his serrations, yeah,
by an eighth of an inch. He's under.

That is unfortunate.

Let's take a look at Billy's blade.

Well, again, I like Billy's overall
profile.

Can we get a measurement? So on the
serrations we have, wow.

Oh, he's way shorter. Three -eighths
under. He's almost a half an inch under.

got more cracks, too.

There's one, two, three big cracks.

So we've got two guys who didn't meet
the specs for the length of serration,

we can only remove one of them this
round. So it all comes down to quality.

Have we made our decision?

Yeah. Yes, we have.

Yeah. We're all in agreement.

I think so. Okay.

Let's go tell our bladesmiths.

I'm freaking out. I have a big possible
mistake.

I may be going home today.

I know my blade's not up to par. My only
hope at this point is somebody made a

worse blade than I did.

Gentlemen, the judges have made their
decision.

All of your blades made the size
parameters for this challenge.

However, two of your blades did not meet
the required length.

of serration.

Rich, Matt, you're safe.

Well done.

Billy, Joe, one of you will be going
home.

The judges have made their decision.

Joe, you did not make the cut.

Joe, we had a few different issues to
work with.

You were an eighth of an inch short on
those serrations.

And actually, if you had had one more
serration, you'd have made the

we asked for.

Also, when we saw that tip break, we
also saw the grain structure, which was

very coarse from overheating in the
forage.

And we saw the lines from stress
fractures up on the blade.

I don't think that tip would hold up.

Joe, please surrender your weapon.

I overheated my steel, and there's no
excuses for that.

Right now, I wish I'd have been a bit
more cautious with my temperatures. I

well with the forging. I did well with
design, I believe.

It's just what should have been my
strengths I allowed to become my

Gentlemen, you've made it through to
round two.

Your second challenge is to turn your
blades into fully functioning weapons.

There are three hours on the clock.

You must design and fabricate a handle
from the materials provided for you.

You can use that time to do any further
work on your blade if you feel the need.

When the time runs out, your blades will
be tested for strength and durability

and also their ability to hold an edge
in a specially designed sharpness test.

Only two of you will move forward to the
final.

Your time starts now.

I run over the handle materials and I
start looking for something that's hefty

enough for a knife this size. Antler or
bones, something that I can use the

natural material as the finish.

Because if I have to start polishing out
a handle, I'm never going to make the

time. God, that is an awful sound.

Antler is really strong, but the pith
where the blood flows through it is very

weak and you just need to remove all of
it. I think this deer had a calcium

deficiency.

So I drill out as much as I possibly can
and then I fit that handle through the

tang. I have a hidden tang knife. This
is the classic system of how swords were

assembled all the way through medieval
era.

That's a bad deal right there.

I chose to go with the might part of the
handle material, and it looks a little

bit sexy, if I don't say.

Bam! Now I need to think about how I'm
going to attach my handle to the knife.

can use bolts, and I can drill
appropriate -sized holes for these to

and Dennis don't say that in my mouth.

and to actually screw together and put
complete tension on the knife handle

itself.

Now I'm cleaning up all the epoxy that
smushed out whenever I glued the handle

on. What I'd like to see is

Billy work on a blade that's got a crack
on it. Those flaws in his blade are

fixable, but he's wasting time.

It's almost like Billy worked on his
handle as a distraction.

You know, I don't know exactly what to
do about this crack, but in the

I'm going to make a handle.

We're only a half hour into this. I'm
killing you already.

This is going to be the most beautiful
handle ever created with the shortest

squared off broken blade.

I took a risk in the first round. I was
overambitious.

So in this round, I'm playing it safe.
I'm going with a fiberglass handle

material that I know.

On my handle, I used seven pins in order
to get a good adhesion to the blade.

You lose your handles on your knife, the
knife doesn't function, and you're

done. A lot of pins.

Three more pins, we could go bowling.

Uh -oh.

Uh -oh. That didn't work very well. That
was Matt with the rotary tool.

My weakest part is to finish.

It just takes me a long time.

So now I'm starting to panic a little
bit.

Sorry. Go, go. I'm trying to rush too
much, and I'm going to break what I'm

doing. I need to stop panicking.

Oh, come on.

Sometimes bad stuff just happens at
night.

All right, Matt. I hate these belts. The
clock's really starting to get to Matt.

I kind of put myself behind.

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to put
this together.

You have one hour remaining.

Put your respirators on.

I'm rattling away because I was
concentrating on the handle so bad. I

had time to work on the blade.

All right, here's the money shot where I
stab myself.

I'm glad to see that he did a bunch of
blade work on that, did clean it up. How

are you, man?

You know what? I'm hanging in there. How
about you?

I think I'm doing well. We'll find out
in a little bit. Looking sweet, brother.

21 minutes left on the clock, and
they're chit -chatting. I'm going to do

sanding and try to get some of the rough
grinds out of the blade. I think he's

finally on that blade.

I think we need to watch Billy very
closely for the next few minutes because

what he does here, it's going to be
critical.

I'm hoping he doesn't crack it off right
there in the light.

They think they can get me a Band -Aid.

In the knife shop, you're always getting
cut. The best thing is a little Band

-Aid. Put it on there, blow on it, hold
it, and you're ready to go again.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five,
four, three,

two. One.

Time's up, gentlemen. Time's up.

I've done all I can with the blade. The
handle looks really good. Going to see

what they say.

You've all made some handsome blades,
but can they cut it in the testing

Time to find out.

Jay will be testing your blade's
strength and durability against these

drums, followed by a sharpness test
against these ropes.

Fellow bladesmith, I'm going to take
each of your blades, and I'm going to

three attempts to pierce the steel up to
your serrations.

Rich, you're going to be first.

We do have a few

issues. With the edge, there's a small
crack up here towards the tip, and we've

got a flake down towards the bottom.

That's a devastating blow. I have no
idea if I'm going to get through that

sharpness test with chips in the blade.

That's a thick -ass rope.

We're going to do three cuts on each
rope.

I'm ready.

With every slice, I'm just hoping it's
going to make it through that rope. And

if not, that could be the end.

Had I given it more thought, I probably
would have changed the geometry of the

blade to make it cut that rope easier.

Totally different blade, Matt. Are you
ready?

Got to break it.

You are kidding me.

I rode that thinness down to the point
where I thought it was just going to go

right through. It just went in like a
half an inch. I'm shocked.

A thin blade should go through with less
pressure. I don't understand why it

didn't go through. So close.

Billy, I think you've known from
challenge one.

We've had a bit of an issue with this
blade.

A big issue.

We've got three stress factors at the
serrations.

For safety reasons, I really don't feel
comfortable thrusting this into a steel

drum.

He's not going to do the thrust test.

What the same heck am I going to do?

Though you did give us a finished and
sharp knife, so I would like still to

The sharpness test.

I'm really thrilled that Jay's going to
do the cutting part of the competition.

I really want to see how my blade cuts
through that rope.

Oh, Billy, it did pretty well on the
rope.

Got almost all the way through.

It performed well. Thank you.

Even though the flaws are in my blade,
my knife did really well on the cutting

competition. Who knows? I may still have
a chance at this.

Gentlemen, the judges have made their
decision.

Billy, you didn't make the cut.

We all loved your handle and you put a
lot of time in detailing a blade that

some real problems to it.

We all just kind of wish you had
addressed those fractures and given your

at least a chance to be put through the
puncture test.

So, unfortunately, you have to go.

Billy, please surrender your weapon.

I feel a little disappointed that I
didn't get to move on to the next part

this competition.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Appreciate it.

Do I wish I could have won this thing?

Absolutely.

Rich. Matt, you've made it to the Forged
in Fire final.

So far, we've asked you to design and
produce a weapon of your own choosing.

To claim the Forged in Fire crown, you
must design and forge our mystery

one of the most famous and revered
weapons from history.

The Japanese Katana.

The Katana is the traditional weapon of
the samurai, the noble class of warriors

of feudal Japan since around 800 AD.

The katana was formed from hundreds of
thin layers of the purest steel

available. The quicker draw of the sword
was well -suited to combat, where life

versus death depended on the weapon you
carried in the battle.

Over the centuries, the katana has taken
on many mythical properties in legend

and culture, from an ability to slice
through a sword to splitting a hair. And

it is the sword of choice for characters
in mega -hits like Kill Bill and The

Walking Dead.

You must create an authentic, fully
functioning version of that weapon.

Got mad respect to the guys who make
those things. A katana is so just not my

thing. The challenge of making a katana
leveled the playing field a little bit

because it was more in my style.

You have five days to complete this
challenge.

And just to give you the best possible
chance, we're sending you back to your

home forges for the final round.

After the five days, you will come back
and present your sword to the judges.

They will put it through a series of
high -impact, high -velocity tests.

Once those tests are completed, they
will decide who will be crowned the

in Fire champion and walk away with a
check for $10 ,000.

Good luck, gentlemen. We'll see you in
five days.

I'm absolutely amazed that I made it
this far. At every stage of the

competition, I thought, this is it. I'm
going home with five days. I think I can

actually prove my worth.

The next five days for me are going to
be a little more stressful than for

I've got no power hammers, no presses.

Everything is by hand.

Competition was hard, but I did a good
job, and I went through, and I'd like to

win 10 grand now. That'd be nice.

I'm going to go for a full hardened
blade. So strong and so fine -grained,

should outperform anything else that
anybody can put on the table.

My goal is to get the blade to where I
can quench it.

So what I'm doing here is I'm breaking
all the sharp edges, because you got any

sharp edges, you got a lot better chance
of cracking something.

During the quenching process, what will
happen is the molecules in the edge of

the blade will tighten up and I'll get a
curve to the blade. And that's very

important to the process in that
particular sword.

This is where it all happens.

It'll kill me or it'll make me.

Here we go.

About four seconds into the quench, I
heard a loud tick.

I knew that was it. It was all over.

Several cracks along the tip.

I just got the blade way too hot before
I quenched it. And when you've got too

hot a blade and you throw it in cooler
water, tends to crack.

I'm not going to say all is lost just
yet.

With only having two days, it's going to
be tough.

I'm going to get to work.

That's ready for heat treating.

I'm going to slide my blade down there
about 600 degrees.

I'm just going to bring it up and let it
cool.

I'm doing this for my son. I'm doing
this so that he can be proud of me.

What that he's doing? Setting the stone
right now.

I like this sword a lot.

Still a little apprehensive about what
the judges are going to be looking for.

I'm just going to cut a couple of water
balls to make sure the geometry is good.

That was a successful test cut.

This is a really good sword.

I got one day to go, so I'm going to
buck my ass and I'm going to try and get

something made that I'm proud of. This
is my final shot to stay in the

competition. This blade doesn't survive.

I'm out.

Getting ready.

I'm clenching now.

Gentlemen, I hope that your time at home
was productive and inspired.

Matt, can you tell us a little bit about
the process?

I decided to go for a performance blade,
so I did a pretty good heat treat on

it, and then I did leather risers and a
leather wrap over the top. It's a fairly

traditional European design, but I have
seen similar wraps on katana.

It's not the fanciest sword I've ever
made, but I'm very proud of this sword.

Rich, what was your thinking behind the
design of this one?

I went with a modern style full tang
handle, which is not traditional in a

katana. I actually had a little bit of a
problem about three days in and had to

make an entirely new blade. So I was
backed off by about a day.

With that said, in the end, it all came
out all right. Great.

To measure how your blades stand up
against flesh.

Doug will cut through these fish that
are suspended in a multiple target

engagement pattern.

Make it sushi.

Rich, yours is up.

Split to the test.

It will cut.

Yes, it will.

It felt good in a slice.

Good. But the recovery was a little
heavier, but it still felt like it'll

me a close shave.

Good job.

Okay, Matt, you're up next. Are you
ready? Yep.

It doesn't cut.

And I'm a little confused by that. I
don't know why it didn't cut.

It's got a very good feel to it. It's
very light.

It's got a very nice balance to it.

And... It'll cut.

Now for the kill test.

In this, we have a ballistics dummy
that... pretty much simulates the human

form, organs, and tissues.

The katana traditionally has a razor
-sharp edge.

That allows me to find the gaps in
between the armor. I'm going to try that

your blade, see how well it does.

Rich, you're up first.

Let's take a look at the damage.

The thrust and the slice went all the
way into the internal organs in here.

And the kill shot went deep all the way
into the liver.

I think on the kill test, this will
kill.

Okay, Matt, you're up.

Definitely through the laceration, he's
disemboweled here.

A nice, big puncture in here. That
definitely will get the liver.

I think it's past the kill test.

Thank you.

You've both obviously brought deadly
implements of war here.

But now, it's time to lock and load,
gentlemen.

Because for the strength test, we're
leaving the forge.

We're heading to the gun range.

What?

All right, gentlemen.

This is the final test for the Forged in
Fire Championship.

It's the strength test.

Your weapons will be tested on their
ability to split a bullet.

Your swords are going to be locked into
a vice.

Then we're going to fire a bullet at
your blade.

Don't bring a sword to a gunfight.

All I can think of in my head is you're
about to destroy two beautiful swords.

All right, Matt, you ready?

Park it.

Three, two, one, engage.

Oh, yeah!

Yeah!

The gun fires, and it breaks the bullet
in three pieces.

I don't even think the sword moved.

It just... Well, Matt, your sword split
a bullet.

There's no damage on the edge at all.

Held up extremely well. That is a real
true sign of your craftsmanship.

Thank you. Very well done.

All right, Rich, you're up next.

When I look at him set the gun up and
get ready to shoot that blade, there's a

little bit of doubt in the back of my
mind thinking it may not survive this.

Three, two, one, engage.

Oh, yeah!

Great.

I like it. That blade didn't even move.

With the bullet, I couldn't have been
happier. My blade held up against Matt

every way, shape, or form.

There's no mark on the blade at all.
Held up perfectly.

No chipping.

Everything looks great.

Thank you.

Congratulations, gentlemen. You should
be proud of the work that you've done,

which only makes the judge's decision
that much harder.

We'll see you back at the forge.

Thank you. Both of us passed everything.

Our stories performed like they're
supposed to, and it's up to the judges.

I think the judges have a very tough
decision to make.

Matt, Rich.

In just five days, you have both forged
elegant and lethal Japanese katanas.

But in this competition, there can only
be one winner of $10 ,000.

Jay? Well, Matt, your sword blade
performed beautifully.

Split the bullet into three pieces.

I mean, it was still even sharp where
the bullet hit it. That was a great job.

The concern I had, though, is with the
samurai armor, it did not pierce nearly

as much as I thought it would. I think
there's a little bit of drag in the

blade, which concerns me towards the tip
there.

Comments for Rich?

Rich, on the fish cut, it did quite
well. It is top -heavy, so it'll slice

through, but then I had to pull back for
recovery and had to use my other hand,

but I needed it for recovery also.

The creativity of your handle set -up
was really nice, but I have some issues

with the construction. It tends to be a
little too close to the edge. That's

something that concerns me.

Unfortunately, in this competition,
there can only be one winner.

Matt, you are the Forged to Fire
champion.

Congratulations.

Good job, man.

Rich, you did not make the cut. I wish
you had done a little bit more finish

work. You let the handle get a little
bit skinny, and it was almost the same

proportions on each side, so I know you
ran into a time constraint, but it did

split a bullet, and truly something to
be proud of. I feel a little

disappointed, but...

The better bladesmith wants.

Well, Matt, congratulations.

You are the Forged in Fire champion.

You're going to claim a $10 ,000 check.
How do you feel? This is awesome.

Your blade is beautiful. Not only is it
beautiful, but it's fast. It cuts so

cleanly through the fish and on the
ballistic dummies that just disemboweled

for the field test. Great job.

Blade aside, I was really impressed with
your handle setup.

Symmetrically, it was correct. We get
good control, good grip on it. Very

done. This is such a rush. I want to
drive home and kiss my son.

I'm the Forged in Fire champion.