All language subtitles for Forged.In.Fire.S10E13.BTU-Off.the.Hook.480p.Eng

- Here in The Forge,
we've put hundreds of smiths

to the test.

- It's hot in here.

- But only a select few
have proven themselves

time and time again,
remaining undefeated.

Now three of our most
decorated champions will put

their perfect records on
the line and go head-to-head

against previous
"Forged in Fire" winners,

in some of the most heated
battles yet.

- This is a living nightmare.

- Everything's
right now,

if you know what I'm saying.

- Will anyone have
what it takes to finally...

Oh!

Beat the Unbeaten?

- I'm Boyd Ritter. I'm 48.

I'm a returning champion
from season seven.

I did the Christmas episode
and won

with the British
cavalry saber.

I would love to move on
to the next round.

My skill set today
versus my skill set

when I started
are completely different.

Whoever the next unbeaten is
has their hands full.

- My name is Ryan Searls,
and I'm 21 years old.

I first competed
on season nine,

and became a "Forged in Fire"
champion when I was able

to make the best kilij sword
on the Best in Damascus round.

It was something else.

I'm someone that loves to be
challenged, so I'm excited

to come back here and show
more of my artistry skills,

knowing that I had only
a little bit of experience

the first go-around,
and to show

that it's not a fluke
that I won "Forged in Fire."

I'm back to prove it
all over again.

- "Forged in Fire" champions,
welcome back to The Forge.

You guys know how this goes.

You're here to showcase
your skills and be tested

at the highest level in
this bladesmithing competition.

Now today it'll be quite a bit
different than the last time

you were here because this is
Beat the Unbeaten.

And here's how it's gonna go.

The first of our two rounds
will consist of the two of you

going head-to-head
in five straight hours

of knife-making competition.

Now when that five hours is up,

our judges are gonna step in
and test your blades

to decide which one of you has
impressed them the most

and who will be moving
into the second round

of competition.

And that is where things
get interesting,

because your competitor
will be one

of our Titans of the Forge--

somebody
with an unbeaten record.

It'll either be Gladiator
of the Forge Jesse Hu,

superchamp Collin Sage,

or our very own judge
Ben Abbott.

Now today to kick things off
in this first round,

we are paying tribute

to our Hollywood-themed
competitions.

And next to me here,
we've got the stars

of the "Forged in Fire's"
red carpet--

Arya Stark's Needle
from "Game of Thrones,"

Inigo Montoya's sword
from "The Princess Bride,"

Robin Hood's bow, and finally,
one of my very favorites,

the fireman's ax
from "The Shining."

Your task is to pick any blade
from any movie or any TV show

and build a weapon inspired
by it.

- There are so many options.
I'm thinking of everything.

I'm thinking
of "Lord of the Rings,"

I'm thinking of "Conan,"

any of the kind of main
pop culture type of weapons

that are out there.

- Now, gentlemen,
let's talk steel.

On your anvils,
you've both got a red cloth.

Go ahead and remove that.

What you're looking at there
are fishhooks, ball bearings,

chains, nickel, and copper.

Obviously, that's because
we want you to make

your film-inspired blade
using canister Damascus.

Now all we ask is
that your weapon measure

between 11 and 13 inches
of cutting edge.

When the five hours is up,
our judges are gonna step in

and test your weapons
for strength and durability

in a film reel chop,

then check your edge retention
in a fabric bag slice.

Now, gentlemen,

you've got your materials,
you've got your task.

So good luck,
because your time starts now.

These guys are doing
canister Damascus blades.

They can do
whatever weapon they want,

but it has to be inspired

by a movie
or a television show.

What would you guys do?

- I'd do from the original
animated--Peter Pan's dagger.

- Ooh.
- It's really thick.

It's got arms on it.
- Pretty cool.

- I don't enjoy canisters
at all.

There's just too many things
that could go wrong.

The first time I competed,
I had to forge weld all

of these oddly-shaped pieces
of 1095 together,

and it didn't go well,

and I would definitely rather
do that again.

- So Boyd's got his can
in the fire,

and now we're gonna see him
come up with a design.

Hey, Boyd, what are you making?

- I'm making a kukri.

It's from the "Final Fantasy"
movie, "The Kingsglaive."

- Oh, right on.

- I'm gonna put my own touch
on this kukri.

The one in the movie, it had
some really cool features

that are very artistic;
no one would wield it,

so I'm gonna work around
those a little bit,

and we'll see what happens.

- Oh, that's what
I would have done.

- What?
- The broken saber

from "Branded."

You're not old enough.
- Nope.

- All right,
Tell Sackett's Bowie knife

from "The Sacketts."

- Also before my time.

- Hey, Ryan,
what are you making?

- First thing that came
to mind--"Lord of the Rings,"

but I want to do something
with just a single edge,

so we're going kinda Elvish
in a sense,

gonna have a nice curve to it,
and a little bit of bedazzle.

Hopefully I can do some artwork
on it, have fun with it.

We'll see how it goes.

- That's cool. I like that.
- All right.

- Very lofty goals here.
- And it's iconic.

- I decide to use White Out
and to be able

to hopefully peel the can

so I'm not bellied up
to the grinder,

just hogging off material,
wasting time.

I wanna be able just to have
the steel and just get it done.

- The choice to do
the White Out,

it takes up a lot of time.

- Yeah, the time-saving you get

by not removing the can
and the pattern you can make

by having that can on the blade
sort of outweigh the idea

of having this pristine bar

to work with after
you've removed the can.

- You know, now
that I think about it,

my fascination
with knives really came

when I remembered
"The Iron Mistress," the Bowie.

And I remembered
how shiny that was.

Way before your time.
- I feel like today's

just gonna be you guys talking
about movies

I've never even heard of.

- Now my can's up
to temperature,

I'm gonna get all
those welds consolidated.

I did not expect
to win last time.

I had weird things happen
in round one.

I lost my focus.

I jumped on Jamie's anvil
for a little bit.

I'm fairly confident
in my skills,

but I don't move
as fast as I used to,

so the clock is definitely
a big factor for me.

So we'll just see.

- Boyd's already got
a forge weld.

Moving along just fine.

- As I'm pressing down,
I wanna take it nice and easy

because I want that White Out
to do its job,

and hopefully that can,
when I cut it,

it peels right out.

- Don't get too aggressive.

The risk comes in
of winding up,

making flanges
on the edge of the can,

which make it really hard
to get off.

Looks like it welded
to the can,

so I guess we'll just keep it
with the can.

- The reason you add
the White Out to the canister

is so that the canister
doesn't weld to your core.

Even if it does some welding,

it's not gonna happen
everywhere.

You're gonna have these huge
delaminations, these blisters,

these issues that are gonna pop
up for the rest of the time.

- The clock's ticking down.
I don't know if I can restart

and just have another billet
sitting there soaking.

So I gotta think quick
and try to squish this down

to a billet, and see how much
of it forge-welded.

- I don't think Boyd's metal
is moving the way

that Boyd is thinking
his metal is moving.

Yeah, he's having a rough time
getting that shaped, I think.

- I'm drawing out my steel,
and halfway through this,

I realize that I'm forging
this thing upside down.

Oh, man.

So my cutting edge is on top,

where I think should have been
the curve down for the spine.

It's just a hot mess,
so a lot of this now

becomes hammer work, which
I really wasn't planning on.

It's a little bit slower.
It's taking up time.

But it's the only path forward
at this point.

- I think Boyd's now starting
to realize he bit off

a little bit more
than he could chew with

that very in-depth design.

- Yeah.

These kind of mistakes
are gonna add up

and eat into
that five hours really quickly.

I am concerned about
finishing a knife.

- All right, guys.
You have three hours left!

- I don't know if all
the entirety of the can

is forge-welded
or just certain spots,

and there is actually way more
steel than I need,

so instead of working
and hauling around

this big billet,
I'm just gonna cut it in half,

and, you know, that will
give me a better look

at even the center
of the billet

to make sure that forge-welded.

I am starting to see voids.

- Oh, no.
The can may not be welded.

- I was worried about this.

It could be just
on the outside, the voids.

I don't know how far
they run down.

I don't know if they're just
all over the piece.

Now it's getting me worried
that I didn't forge weld

this can right.

This could be catastrophic.
I may have to start over.

- Right now, he needs
to find out for sure

that it's forge-welded inside,

because if it's not,
abandon it.

- I'm just praying that
those voids disappear,

and I'm able to grind it off

and get a usable chunk
of steel

that I can make
this knife out of.

This is a little scary.

- Well, we're two hours into
this competition.

Pretty serious things going on
with Ryan.

The can may not be welded.

- I'm just hoping that
those voids are having

to do with just
the mild steel jacket

and I'm able to grind it off

and get a usable chunk
of steel

that I can make
this knife out of.

It's solid. Whew.

Relief goes over me.
I was able to get that can off.

I have a solid core,
and we're looking good.

- At this point,
I'm feeling pretty stressed.

I wasn't expecting to have
to do this much handwork,

and it's eating into my time,

so I need to change tack
really quick.

- Please tell me you guys see
what Boyd's doing right now.

He's scribbling out
that hook on the blade.

Oh.
- These are movie knives.

He's merely doing some editing.
- Yeah, yeah.

- I make the decision
at this point

just to cut
in a normal ricasso

and forego one of the big
defining features,

this big swoop on it.

I just don't have the time
to make it at this point.

- He's gonna have
an 11- to 13-inch blade,

so assuming
he meets parameters,

is the design change
gonna come into play

when you guys get into testing?

- I mean,
I think it will for me,

because he was shooting for
a recreation of a movie weapon,

and then he just cut off
the defining features

that make this kukri different
than any other kukri out there.

- I'm not sure how the judges
are gonna take this.

But right now,
I'm just concerned

with making a functional knife.

- As I'm forging
this blade out,

it's very sleek.

It has nice curves.

It's looking great.

- Based on what I'm seeing
right now,

I think it's safe to say Ryan
is a whole lot closer

to his Elvish sword
from "Lord of the Rings."

- Ooh, I've got another one.

Morgan's dagger
from "Cutthroat Island."

- What?

- Do you do anything
other than watch movies?

- It's looking cool.
I'm digging the shape.

It's just time
to move on and get

this blade into the quench.

- All right,
Ryan's in the quench.

- Pretty good. Pretty good.

- So it's time
to quench my blade.

I've made several
simple mistakes

that have cost me enough time
that I won't be able

to recover if
this quench goes wrong.

I just won't have time
to rebuild another blade.

- Oh!
- Oh, my God.

- There's the fireball.
- Yeah.

That was a very aggressive
temperature for the quench.

- Yeah.
- I am a little nervous

about the temperature
of the quench,

but I have to move on.

- That kind of heat, the chance
of the blade being brittle,

maybe taking
some serious damage

during the strength test,
are probably pretty high.

- I just hope
it's gonna be good enough,

'cause I'm outta time.

- Bladesmiths,
you've got one hour remaining.

- For the handle,
I need to save time,

especially if I wanna do more
artistry on this.

- So Ryan just found a piece
of hollow horn.

It's not the most comfortable
shape for a handle.

- Pretty small.
- Yeah.

- Already has a hole in it.

Now I don't have to worry
about drilling anything,

and it looks exactly like
what I drew as well.

It just seems to be too wide.
It starts rotating.

Now I'm worried
if I fill it with epoxy

and it doesn't harden right,

and it just starts rotating
in the hands,

now you have a blade
that's just twirling around.

So I decide to go with
stabilized burl hybrid instead.

- I think that's the best idea
he's had.

- Maybe he realized
how spindly it is.

- Or the fact that he couldn't
get it to stabilize.

- I definitely wasted
some time trying

to save time using
the water buffalo horn,

but I don't want
anything wiggling,

so having a really nice
and snug handle

is gonna hopefully make
this knife even more stellar.

- I'm ready
to start fitting up my handle.

The last time I competed,
I ended up turning in a knife

with about the ugliest handle
I think I've ever done,

and my wife and son still
tease me today about that.

This time around,
I'd like to think

I'm gonna turn out
a better handle.

Um, we'll see.

No, that's terrible.

I drilled the hole
in the wrong place,

so now I have a gap
between the top

of my handle and my guard.

- Boyd's working
at a leisurely, at-home pace

right now, and he really needs

to get a little bit more
back behind it.

- He's got that spacer,
which is a good thing.

- Oh, that's a smart move.

- Miraculously, it fits
that gap perfectly.

At this point, I'm very happy,
but I got a little bit of work

to do to finish
this blade right now.

- Ryan's got everything
together.

He's just embellishing
this blade at this point.

- If I can remember back

to "The Lord of the Ring"
movies,

the Elvish blades always had
some weird swirls

and artwork onto it, kind of
makes it look enchanted

in some aspects, so I want
to pay tribute to that,

just add a little bit
of artwork,

a little decoration to it.

Ooh, looking good.
Look at that.

- Very obvious when things
are going right for Ryan.

He looks at the blade,
and he goes, "Yeah, okay."

- It looks pretty cool,
and it looks solid.

I'm ready to go.

- Five, four, three, two, one.

Bladesmiths,
turn off your machines,

put down your tools.

This Hollywood round is over.

- Good job, dude. Oh, my God.

- I'm looking at my blade.

Hopefully it would have made
the Elvish people

of "The Lord of the Rings"
pleased,

especially for five hours.

Like, come on.

I hope nothing falls apart,

and it can just glide through
the testing with ease.

- All right, bladesmiths.

This is the strength test--
the film reel chop.

Boyd, you're up first.
You ready?

- You bet.
- All righty.

- Going into the testing,
I am pretty nervous.

My biggest concern really
is that edge.

Is it hard enough?
Is it gonna roll

in that first strength test?

- All right, Boyd, your blade
is still all in one piece.

The big thing is that the edge
took a lot of deformation.

It's moving everywhere.

I can get my fingernail
up underneath

a lot of these curves.

I think that the edge
was a little fine,

and maybe the hardness
wasn't quite there

to have it stand up
to this test.

The overall look of your blade,
it has a kukri look to it,

but it doesn't really have
a "Final Fantasy" movie

kind of kukri look to it.

Could have taken a little more
refinement, but well done.

- Thanks.

- All right, Ryan.
You're up next.

- Let's do it.

- After the punishment

that Boyd's blade
went through,

I'm not sure what to expect,
but I don't wanna do this.

Is my edge gonna roll?
Is it gonna chip?

I don't know
what's gonna happen now.

- All right, Ryan.

Your edge held up pretty well.

My big thing is
there's a chip right here--

it's not huge--
and some wobbling.

But for such a fine edge,
it held up pretty well.

I think you nailed the look,
and I do see a knife

that's inspired
by Elven blades

from "The Lord of the Rings"
that looks the part.

Nice job.
- Right. Thank ya.

- Champions, this is
the sharpness test--

the Hollywood sandbag slice.

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

- No.
- All right.

We're gonna do it anyways.

All right, Boyd, let's talk
about your kukri here.

You took a lot of damage here
during the strength test,

but the forward-leading tip

actually does not get
in the way with the slashes.

It is sharp and good enough

to cut through
these Hollywood sandbags.

Overall, your weapon,
it will cut.

- Thank you, sir.
- Nice job.

- Thanks.

- All right, Ryan. Your turn.
So are you ready?

- Yeah.
both: All right.

- I'm back.

All right, Ryan,
let's talk about

your movie-inspired
"Lord of the Rings" knife.

Your edge is sharp.

Not only did it
just cut the front,

it also cut the back
of the sandbag.

It's easy to wield, and most
importantly, it will cut.

- Sweet.

- Gentlemen,
over the past five hours,

you had to design and build
a Hollywood-themed blade out

of canister Damascus,
and you brought us

beautiful blades
that made it through our tests.

But in this Beat the Unbeaten
competition,

only one of you can face off
against one of our titans.

And after a discussion,

the judges did make
that decision.

The bladesmith
leaving The Forge is...

Boyd, unfortunately, your blade
just didn't make the cut,

and Dave's gonna tell you why.

- Boyd, this came down
to three things--

the fact that your blade
took the damage

that it did
in the strength test,

which then made the blade
underperform in the cut test,

and your blade was
the furthest away

from its initial design
when it was finished.

Those are the reasons
we're letting you go.

- Totally understand.

- Boyd, I hope you had as much
fun working on The Forge floor

as we had watching you,
but I've gotta ask you

to step off the floor.

both: Thanks.
- It was a pleasure.

- Yeah.

Compared to the first time
I competed,

this challenge
was a lot harder.

At the same time, I felt
more comfortable doing it.

So I didn't produce
the winning blade this time,

but I did produce a handle,
at least,

that my wife and kids probably
won't tease me about.

The blade, on the other hand,
that's a different story.

- Well, Ryan,
congratulations, man.

You built us a showstopper
in the first round

of this competition,
and now you're entering

into round two of the Beat
the Unbeaten competition.

Now in order for you
to take home your second

"Forged in Fire" champion title
and a check for $10,000,

you're gonna have to beat one
of our Titans of the Forge.

It'll either be Gladiator
of the Forge Jesse Hu,

superchamp Collin Sage,

or our very own judge
Ben Abbott.

- Out of Jesse,
Collin, or even Ben,

it's going to be tough,
but I think my skill set

can match anyone
they throw at me.

- You feeling up
to the challenge?

- Bring it.
- All right, man.

You are gonna have
to beat out this guy.

You know what?

He's not coming out that door.

'Cause you're competing against
our very own Ben Abbott...

- Currently an unbeaten smith

with the highest record
in this competition.

Well, Ben, welcome back.

- Thank you, brother.

I just watched Ryan
make his knife.

It's obvious
that he's got skill,

and my thus far undefeated
record is on the line.

I'm here. I'm ready.

Bring it on.

- All right, gentlemen.

Here's how this second
and final round is gonna go.

Over the next eight hours,
you guys are stuck

in this forge, battling it out,
building a weapon from history.

And in order to find out
which weapon that is,

I'm going to open up
the "Forged in Fire" vault here

and give you, Ryan,
access to pick any weapon

you wanna to build
against your competitor.

You ready to go in?

- Let's do it.
- All right.

She's all yours.

- Looking at
the "Forged in Fire" history

and being able to pick one,
what do I go with?

Coming from more
of an art background,

I want something
that I can really just pour

creative inspiration into
and have a lot of fun with.

- Get the big one.

- Oh, fantastic.

All right. Great choice.

All right, Ryan.

You chose the kelewang.

- Really?

- Kelewang has been a staple
of the Malaysian combat arsenal

since the 18th century.

Featuring a single-edged
blade with a curved belly,

this sword was designed to
deliver deep, deadly slashes

and lethal chops
in the heat of battle.

This complex design proved
extremely challenging

for our smiths back in season
five of "Forged in Fire"

when a stress fracture cost
one smith the competition.

Now, gentlemen,
you will have eight hours

to complete this blade,

but make sure you follow within
the following parameters.

Your blade length needs to be
between 23 and 26 inches.

Now it also needs
to have a decorative curl

on the spine, a disk guard,
and a feather design handle.

- I have never built
a kelewang before.

I don't really build big, wide,
exotic weapons like that,

especially in eight hours,
and having that curl

sticking off the back is
an aspect that could fail.

- All right, now on top
of choosing the weapon,

Ryan, you also get
to pick whatever technique

you want to build your kelewang
with against Ben.

What are you thinking?

- It does feel good
that I get to pick

what we're gonna be doing.

It kind of gives me
an upper hand a little bit too.

Let's do a chevron
Damascus pattern.

- Chevron Damascus. All right.

- Solid, solid choice.

All right, guys, we got
eight hours on the clock.

So good luck,
'cause your time starts now.

Off to the races, both
our smiths with a quick pace.

Now what I think is really
interesting is the choice

to do the kelewang.

Now it's
an interesting-shaped blade.

- Definitely,
because all the pieces,

that one particular piece
right there on the spine,

decorative curl.

"Interesting" is the word
for that.

- I'm an artist and bladesmith.

I love to create things
that are just wild and complex,

so I picked the kelewang.

- So Ryan's got a billet
together with 22 layers

of 1095, 15N20, and 80CrV2.

- That's gonna hurt

when he gets
to etching that chevron.

You don't get a lot
of contrast between the 1095

and the 80CrV2.

The layer count
will look lower.

- Knowing that I'm going
against someone

like Ben Abbott, I don't think
I have enough fingers

to count
how many times he's won.

He's crazy, and to be able
to compete against somebody

like that, I mean, whew!

I hope I know what I'm doin'.

How you feeling, Ben?

- Feelin' pretty good, man.
How 'bout you?

- Man, he's running
all over the place.

- When I'm not competing,
my time is always precious,

but I don't work to the point
of exhaustion every day.

- All right.
So Ben's got around 25 layers.

- He's not gonna go
with the 25 layers.

- No, this is where
he's gonna elevate his build.

- I'm gonna draw it out,
cut it into six,

then I'm gonna put one layer
of 80CrV2 in the middle,

weld it all together
for a total of 151 layers.

Any time I compete,
I try to block off

who I'm competing against
and just make the best thing

I can in the time allotted.

But after watching
Ryan win this,

makes me push
a little bit further,

do a little bit extra,
just to see if I can

try to do something
that might push me ahead.

- Looks like Ryan's already
gone for one pass

on the press.

He went very aggressive,

and it looked like it was
bulging out already.

- But if you go hog
at the very beginning,

you're stressing
all those welds.

- I feel like everything's
nice and tight.

Everything seems to be solid.

I think I got
a good forge weld,

and it's just time
to draw out this billet

and start forging this sword.

- One thing that concerns me
about this press

is that the dies are narrower
than the billet,

and I've seen in competition

where squeezing part
of the billet,

leaving some of it exposed,
can have it open up,

so I'm gonna make some
flat plates

that are two inches wide,

so that I can get
this forge weld done

in one squeeze.

- Now with the way
Ben set this up,

he's able to go into the press
parallel to the dies

and have full contact
on the entire billet.

- Very cool.

- Ben screaming hot
onto the press

with his little jig.

- I can get a good,
solid forge weld.

Now it's time to draw
this stuff out.

- So Ryan's starting
to get some length.

He's satisfied with the welds.

Now he's really drawing
this one out.

- So I'm forging out
this sword,

and I realize along the edge...

It looks like the billet
had split open a little bit.

It looks to be a delam.

- Here's the thing.

Ryan was having issues on
that press,

in my opinion,
because he was hurrying.

- So this is all a product
of him going too fast

and trying to get too much
press on his original welds,

which set him off course?

- If you rush,

you wind up fixing problems
because you rushed.

- Jeez Louise.

- It's deeper than I thought.

- This Beat the Unbeaten
competition is a serious one.

We got both the smiths
working extremely hard

at this very unique,
almost fantasy-like blade.

So Ryan's starting
to get some length.

He's satisfied with the welds.

Now he's really drawing
this one out.

- I realize along the edge...

Ooh.

It looks like the billet
had split open a little bit.

- So this is all a product
of him going too fast

and trying to get too much
pressure on his original welds?

- Yeah. If you rush,

you wind up fixing problems
because you rushed.

- Jeez Louise.

- It's deeper than I thought.

And I'm like, "Okay,
I may have to start over."

Just seeing a delam
in the billet

gets me worried
if there's anything else

that happened in
this billet as well

and if I didn't forge weld it
right.

- There's a really different
focus

on both these smiths' approach.

Ryan is all about speed,
but it's showing

in some of the problems
that he's running into--

he's got delaminations
on the edge of this weapon,

where Ben is focusing
on being precise,

having clean materials,
before he moves forward.

- I get it to a point
where I think it's gone,

and hopefully we got
that whole delam out.

This is a little scary.

- So I draw the billet out
to a good length

and a decent thickness,

ready for putting
in the pattern.

- How exactly
do they go about doing that?

We don't see it often.
- Basically,

you're doing a ladder pattern.

You're just not doing
straight lines.

You're doing angled lines.

- One of the more difficult
parts about

this whole chevron Damascus,

you have to be sure
to cut deep enough

that the pattern
is evident later.

The risk is, you don't want
the two cuts

to be right next to each other,

'cause they could create
a very thin spot there.

So offset the cuts,
so when you flatten it,

hopefully you have enough meat
to not have ground

all the way through
your steel.

- Now the advantage
of having more layers

is Ben has to do less chevron.

Every chevron is gonna
look more dramatic,

'cause there are going
to be more layers

coming through that chevron.

- So I have my chevrons cut
into the steel.

Now it's time to draw
this billet out

and make a blade.

- Gentlemen, you guys
have six hours left!

- It's looking cool.
I'm digging the shape.

I did get the chevrons cut in.

My next step is to put in
this decorative curl.

- You know, one of the things
about this decorative curl

they have to be careful of--
the one that we tested,

it broke off
because they forgot

to round the corners
after they chiseled it,

so it caused a stress riser
on that.

- Wow.

- You gotta make sure
it's strong enough

to stay on there
when we're testing it.

- And the clock's
ticking down.

I'm looking at the curl
and, you know,

it looks a little rough,

but it's there,
and I'm happy with it.

It's just time to move on

and get this blade ready
for quench.

- Ryan is cruising.

He's already got
a fully formed blade.

He's just gotta quench it,
and then he's into assembly.

- If you don't get
the right heat,

it can really mess up
your hardness.

- His decorative curl
is starting

to heat up a lot faster
than the rest of the blade.

- Yeah, I think I'd do all
the heat treat and the quench,

then take a torch and just
soften that whole thing up.

- So eliminating the chances
of it breaking.

- Oh, yeah.

- Right at the four-hour mark,
Ryan's in the oil.

- It actually looks
pretty straight.

I feel pretty comfortable
that I nailed this.

But, you know,
fingers crossed.

We'll see how testing--

you never know until testing.

- Yep, this one should be
to quench.

- No matter how many times
I've won these competitions,

every single time I quench,

I am absolutely nervous
as all get-out.

- Ben has now quenched.

- Check that right about now.
Make sure there's no warp.

- I've earned a reputation
of being unbeaten.

And to get beaten,
what am I then?

I'm the mostly win guy.

After the quench, I look over
to see where Ryan is,

and it looks like
he's pretty far along.

So I know I've got my work
cut out for me for sure.

- Ben's grabbed a piece
of copper.

What do you think
he's doing with it?

- See how this has a bolster
of bone?

- Yeah.
- He's gonna make a ferrule

that's gonna go around
that wood,

which is traditional
and what you should do.

Whenever you've got
a hidden tang, putting

a ferrule around there will
keep that wood from splitting.

- Getting a ferrule
the exact right length

to fit on perfectly
is quite a task.

In the ease of my own shop,
you make it a little short,

and then you cross-peen it
to length,

and you get it to--
fits just on perfectly.

But here,
I've got five-minute epoxy,

so close enough is good enough.

Let's get that ferrule
on there.

- Right now, I need
to get this handle on

as fast as possible,
so I'm gonna go for a burn-in.

- We got a burn-through coming.

- Oh, God. Please, no.

Love it.
- Hate it.

The time,
I can smell it burning.

It's not the burn-through
you smell, it's time.

- There could be a few issues
with this.

I could overheat the tang.
I could snap the tang off.

I could bend
the tang outta shape.

I don't know, but I know
that time is ticking down,

and I just need to get
this thing together

and hope for the best.

- To each their own.

- The burn-in goes
really smooth.

It goes right up against
where I want it to,

and I know that this handle
will be as snug as it can be.

- Ryan, Ben, guys,
you got two hours left!

- I pull the sword out
of the etch,

and it looks beautiful.

But right now, I don't have
time to sit and stare at it.

I remember that I wanted
to temper the curl.

My concern with this curl
on the back of the blade

is that it has a higher
propensity to crack there.

So to mitigate this,
I heat that area

to a much higher temperature,
to increase its toughness

and prevent it
from cracking and breaking.

- That's what you want.

Ben did a lot
of really good work out there.

- Everything's pinned together.
It's looking good.

All I got to do now is
get an edge on this thing.

- Ten minutes left!

- I'm in the final push,
and I'm digging deep

to finish this thing through.

And it's time to get
this blade looking

as stellar as I can get it.

I wanna add a little bit more
element to the handle itself,

because it's looking
a little blank.

I think it'll be
a little bit fun to add,

you know, more
of a decorative component.

Hopefully if it comes down
to fit and finish,

I have more art.

- What I like about this is,
it's not just about

fine-tuning their blades.

They're actually looking
to add embellishments...

- Yeah.
- Try to one-up the other guy.

It's good to see.
- You know,

Ben has been doing this
a long time,

and he's beaten a lot
of good smiths.

And I know he's gonna bring
the heat,

and I am hoping just
to match that as well.

- Five, four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, that is a wrap.

Turn off your machines.
Put down your tools.

This round is over.

- Hell yeah, dude.
- That was awesome.

- Time is up,
and I think I did

as much artistry as I can
in the allotted time.

I wish we had four days
to do it.

I think it would be
a totally different story

in what I was able to do,

but it's looking pretty good
for eight hours.

- All right, champions.

Welcome
to the dynamic KEAL test.

All right.
Uh, Ben, you're up first.

You ready for this?
- Yes, sir.

- Let's do it.

I'm getting ready for testing
and just waiting

for that first chop
on the fence post.

And it's a strange thing,

it happens to me
every single time--

I can physically hear
my heartbeat in my ears,

'cause I am so nervous,
and my palms are sweaty,

and I can't sit still.

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

The overall profile
of your blade is seamless.

It just flows from the handle
all the way nicely to the tip.

Now the balance of this blade
makes for very clean cuts.

Your edge took no damage.
It's still very sharp.

Overall, your weapon, sir,
it will KEAL.

- Thanks, Doug.

- Ryan, you ready for this?
- All right.

- All right.
We'll do it then.

- Going into testing,

is it
the best-looking kelewang?

Maybe not, but I'm just praying
that it holds up.

- All right, Ryan.
First up, your handle.

The way this handle fits
in my hand,

it's a very nice grip.

The edge is sharp.

It cut cleanly
on the sugarcane,

the cardboard filled with rice,
and the water tubes,

and it demolished and beheaded
the ballistics dummy.

And most importantly,
it will KEAL.

- Sweet.

- All right, gentlemen.
Welcome to the strength test.

I'll be cutting fish,
chopping a surfboard,

and hitting that cow fence.

Ben, you ready?
- Let's do it.

- All right, Ben, right off,
really good-looking sword.

Really good-feeling sword.

Rounding that joint off
was supersmart.

That way, there's no stress
right there at that joint.

It held up beautifully
in the test.

It cut really well.

It's a very dramatic-looking
sword,

and it performed
really, really well.

Well done.
- Thank you.

- Ryan, are you ready?
- Let's do it.

- Okay.

- Oh, no.

- It's not catastrophic.

- So Ryan, right off,
let's talk about the obvious.

Your curl snapped off,

and you can see
the discoloration right there.

There's a crack that ran
halfway down through that.

That crack is
what caused the issue.

And, you know, this is not
a catastrophic failure

since the weapon is still
usable and still testable,

but it's definitely
a major issue.

- Well, guys, that was an
incredibly tough competition.

But at the end of it,
the judges did have

a decision to make,
and they did make that choice.

And the winner of this Beat
the Unbeaten competition is...

Ben Abbott.
Congratulations, man.

Now, Ryan, you fought hard.
You gave us a great blade.

But unfortunately, you didn't
come out on top this time,

and Dave's gonna tell you why.

- Ryan, you gave us
a great blade,

and it performed really well
on the test,

but that decorative curl
did break off,

and we consider
that a weapons failure--

not a catastrophic failure,

and that's why we went on
with your testing,

but still a weapons failure.

That's why
we're letting you go.

- Now, Ryan, it's been
an absolute pleasure.

But before you step
off The Forge floor, man,

we'd all love
to shake your hand.

- You know, that damn curl,
man,

it just snapped right off.

That's not what I was wanting,
but I came back here

to really push myself
and prove myself,

and, you know, to be
challenged against the best.

I made mistakes,
and, you know,

I'll learn from those,

but knowing what I do know now,

I think I could
take you again, Ben,

and, you know,
it's only a matter of time.

Bring it.

- Well, Ben, you took
a bunch of risks,

some extra forge welds,
but it all paid off.

You gave us
a beautiful kelewang

that took zero damage
during our tests.

Congratulations, man.
You are still the unbeaten.

Very well done.
Get back over here, man.

- I just won 11th competition,
and I am on the moon.

I am so ecstatic.

It's difficult to explain
in words how exciting it is

to win one
of these competitions,

so perhaps an interpretive
dance would help.