Gentlemen, congratulations.
The two of you have submitted yourselves
a spot in the final round of our competition.
Now we're sending you back to your home forges
to build an iconic weapon from history, and that weapon is--
Oh, sweet.
--the Polish war hammer.
The Polish war hammer's an Eastern European weapon
used during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Featuring a blunt hammer head on one side and a sharpened spike
on the other, they were both designed
to inflict deadly blows and piercing stabs
through an opponent's armor.
It was an effective lethal weapon used on horseback
and in hand-to-hand combat.
The Polish war hammer was a pivotal weapon
during the Battle of Vienna, which began the decline
of the Ottoman Empire.
You guys have four days.
Good luck. We'll see you then.
Sweet.
I'm Mike Maldino.
I'm 30 years old.
I'm a high school technology teacher
and a part-time bladesmith.
The thing I love about blacksmithing
is that you're always pushing yourself.
You're always trying to learn something new.
I'm super excited to be here.
It it's been a dream of mine for a long time, but now
I'm working on the hammer head billet.
Everything else is solid underneath.
Now I'm going to take these two billets down to the grinder,
and I'm going to form them out and loose some weight.
I decided I'm going to harden and heat
treat the handle of the hammer before I join the head to it.
It's so long and skinny.
I'm worried about it bending during the test.
Pray nothing warps.
If it twists, or warps, or bends,
there's not much steel to take away to straighten
it back out afterwards.
All right, I'm going to go for it.
Oh, straight as could be.
Quench went smoothly.
Yeah, this came out so sweet.
I'm just going to oil it up and then give it a good test.
I think we're good to go.
I figured we might as well test it out on a door.
And it goes straight through.
The head is still firmly attached.
There was no damage to the weapon at all.
My name is Josh Fisher.
I'm 26 years old.
I've been a full time bladesmith for over a year now.
At my forge, I work with the Wounded Warrior Project
teaching the veterans how to make
knives or other blacksmithing projects.
The biggest concern for today is getting
the eye of the hammer punched.
If the eye ends up being crooked or doesn't punch cleanly,
then I'll never get a good handle fit,
and it might come loose.
Here we go.
So getting the eye punched went pretty good.
I'm really happy with it.
It's ready for the quench.
This is really critical for the strength of this,
and repeat that for the spike.
See that skating on the head, skating on that spike,
just what I want.
We've got the hammer almost completely done.
Before I do all the final cleaning and polishing on it,
I figure I'd do a couple tasks with it.
[inaudible] It feels great to have made it this far.
It was a really tight competition up to this point,
and I'd really like to see it stay that way.
Bladesmiths, welcome to the keel test.
To find out what kind of damage your weapon will do,
I will deliver some lethal blows on this ballistics dummy.
Now I am looking to see how your weapons will
crush and pierce the armor that our ballistics dummy is
wearing.
Joshua first. You ready for this?
Yep.
All right, Josh.
First up, the handle construction, your leather
wrapping that you have here does give me a very good grip,
and I'll need it because for a one-handed weapon,
it's a very heavy weapon.
That spike penetrates deep into the chainmail.
Your hammer feet crushes the helmet,
and it went deep into this ballistics dummy.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it will keel.
Mike, your turn, sir. Are you ready?
Yep.
Let's do this.
All right, Mike, first up, your handle construction
is a little bit on the blocky side for me,
but your spike pierces nicely into this ballistics dummy.
Your hammerhead, the crushing blows going to the heart
push some chainmail into the heart.
It crushes the helmet.
In overall, sir, it will keel.
All right, gentlemen, it's time for the strength test,
our statue smash.
This test is all about what those statues
do to your hammers, not what your hammers do to the statues.
Josh, you're up first. You ready?
Yep.
All right, Josh, first off, your construction design
is really beautiful, but you've taken--
abandon that head.
Everything is still tight, which is great.
It's just the weight is on the extreme side, but it held up.
Well done.
All right, Mike.
You ready?
I'm ready.
We'll see if the hammer is.
Yes, we will.
All right, a couple of things going on, Mike.
The way these are inset, they're actually kind of sharp,
so every impact, literally, you can see a little raised spot.
The Damascus pattern is fantastic.
The shaft's still spot on straight.
No damage on the spike, but the head's loose.
Where this was all smooth, I can now feel a rim.
Overall, for this test, it held up well.
Good job.
Thanks.
All right, bladesmiths, this is
the leatherback smash and bash.
I'm going to take your weapons, and I'm
going to see if they can smash and bash
through these double-layered leather bags.
Josh, you're up first. Are you ready for this?
- Yep. - All right.
Let's do this.
All right, Josh.
You wrapped your handle nicely so
where I can have good retention of a very
heavy weapon like this.
That weight lends itself to crush right inside
the bag to smash it, and you're thick right
here penetrates deeply.
Overall, your weapon, it will cut, smash, and bash,
or anything you want it to do.
Mike, your turn, sir. Are you ready?
Yep.
All right, let's do this.
All right, Mike, something about your weapon here.
Initial hit, letting the weapon do the work,
not so much on the impact.
But the lightness of your weapon on the second strike, I
can continuously deliver smashes and bashes
right into the leather bag.
When it comes to smashing and bashing and maybe cutting,
great job.
Thanks.
Well, gentlemen, you both showed your skill
and your craftsmanship throughout the entire
competition, but only one of you guys
is going to be leaving here $10,000 richer,
carrying the title of forged in fire champion.
Today, forged in fire champion is Josh.
Congratulations.
You're the forged in fire champion.
Mike, unfortunately, your hammer's not
coming out with the win today.
I'm going to have to ask you to please
step off the forge floor.
Good job, man.
I was a little disheartened to hear that I'm not the winner,
but at the same time, I still feel
like I lived up to my dream.
I'm glad that the competition was so tight the whole way.
Josh is a great guy.
I look forward to seeing what he does in the future.
Josh, you are the newest forged in fire champion.
You're going to be walking out of here
with a check for $10,000.
How do you feel?
Amazing.
I can't believe it.
I can't even think of what to say.
I'm just so excited.
This is an amazing opportunity, and to come out of it knowing
that I've won is just huge.