GRADY POWELL: This is our second chance tournament.
Tonight, the dueling begins.
And up first, the Tough Breaks duel
where two competitors who suffered catastrophic failures
return to the forge.
Name's James Mays.
I'm 41.
I was eliminated last time because I was repairing work
and ended up breaking my blade.
[grunts]
Oh!
I knew it.
JAMES: I'm tremendously excited to be in the second chance
tournament because it gives me the opportunity
to prove to myself and my family and friends
that I am worthy of being a "Forged in Fire" champion.
My name's Steve Wells.
I'm 48 years old.
Last time I was here, my blade broke because I missed
my normalization process in the heat treat,
and I want to redeem that.
It's exhilarating being back in the forge.
I guess I'm kind of an adrenaline junkie.
And since I'm too old to ride bulls, I guess this is my fix.
Gentlemen, welcome to the forge.
You guys are here for a chance to redeem
yourselves and go for that title of "Forged in Fire" Champion.
But just because we're giving you a second chance,
does not mean we're going to go easy on you.
Today, we want you to build blades out of these.
Bladesmiths, this is a pile of blades that suffered
the same fate as yours.
They broke during testing and they broke during a build.
We want you guys to build signature blades
in your signature style between 12
and 14 inches using at least three pieces of this pile.
STEVE: What have I got to deal with in these blades?
Something was wrong with them in the beginning,
so I've got to find a way to break them down
and put them into a new blade.
All right, gentlemen.
You have five hours on the clock,
and your time starts now.
STEVE: Looks like the table of J's broken blades
of his dreams.
JAMES: I've got one tang with about 4 inches of blade,
another tang with about an inch of blade,
and then a third piece that is about six inches of just blade.
JUDGE: It really looks like James
is going to try and do a stack.
JUDGE: There's just so many variables
when you're stacking a bunch of mystery metal
and trying to get a weld.
I've got my billet welded together,
and I'm starting to draw it out.
Having a thin blade concerns me a bit because you can break
a blade during the testing stage,
and I would hate to see that happen again today.
JUDGE: All right, James.
It's quenched.
[bleep]
I could see the warping up from here.
I want to address that warp before we get any further,
but I don't want to snap my blade again.
GRADY POWELL: Don't yank on it, man.
Oh yeah.
I feel like it's straight enough that I can grind the rest down,
and I feel like everything's going good at this point.
I get my handle traced, I run it over to the tempering oven,
put it in there, and start the tempering process
and go back to working on my handle material.
I make my three-part panel material,
and I've got it setting in a curing.
It's time to go back to work on my blade.
Oh, you gotta be [bleep] kidding me.
JUDGE: Oh, he's got a warp going on.
JAMES: I'm afraid to start pulling and bending
on this one, so all I can do is soften the spine
and straighten the blade.
I work on it the most I can, and I get to a point
where I have to just go with it.
There's steel in there I definitely don't want.
I see some really bad delaminations,
so I got to make another canister.
I can't see another way to do it.
I'm a little worried about getting
a weld good tight fit inside that,
but I think I'll have plenty of material.
I don't think it's going to be a lack of material problem.
Well, that took a lot of time.
So while this can's in the forge,
I'm going to do a full-tang handle.
JUDGE: Oh, yeah.
Now, that-- that's hot.
JUDGE: Beautiful.
I'm feeling pretty good about the can.
I think everything's good, so I've got to quench this blade.
GRADY POWELL: All right.
We've got another quench.
Perfect.
Nice.
Looks good.
Everything's straight.
GRADY POWELL: Steve's got his blade in his vise.
Looks like he's about to torch temper.
STEVE: If I get too much heat in this thing,
it's going to be too soft.
It's not going to hold an edge.
If I don't go enough, it's going to be hard and brittle.
I'm spending my last few minutes finishing my handle
and getting some weight off my blade.
And I've still got to get in the acid edge.
Too damn heavy.
GRADY POWELL: That's something I haven't seen yet.
James is stropping on his leather boots.
JAMES: I pull in a little bit too much
and start shaving my boot.
If I'm fortunate enough to win the competition,
I think I'll have the money for new boots.
GRADY POWELL: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Gentlemen, this round is over.
J: All right, James, Steve, welcome to our Tough Breaks
strength test, the antler chop.
Now, I'm gonna take your blades and beat them mercilessly
on these antlers to test your edge
retention as well as the overall construction of your blades.
Now, what your blades do to the antlers
is second to what the antlers to to your blades.
Both you guys had blades break last time you were here,
and let's hope that doesn't happen again.
James, are you ready?
Let's do it.
OK.
Let's go for it.
I hope J don't snap my blade again.
[music playing]
[grunting]
[sighs] [bleep], man.
All right, James.
You survived.
Good job.
You took broken blades and made it into something that
can survive an antler chop.
I'll start off with your handle.
You do have the contouring there.
That helps a lot, but it feels like it
tapers down towards the back.
You do have a slight kick to the left now,
and you've got some chipping, but it didn't break.
Good job.
Thank you.
Hey, Steve.
You ready to do this?
Does it matter?
No.
We're going to do it anyway.
[music playing]
[grunting]
All right, Steve.
You survived.
Great job.
Everything's tight and nothing moved,
but you do have a bunch of chipping
and rolling right here.
Your handle's very blocky.
Rounding these corners off would have made it more comfortable.
And the other thing is there's just
a lot of weight on this thing, but everything
else is right and tight.
Good job.
Thank you.
All right, bladesmiths.
Your blades made out of broken blades
survived a very brutal test by a judge who's
notorious for breaking blades.
But we need to find out how sharp your blades are.
This is a sharpness test, the pork loin slice.
To find out how sharp your weapons are,
I'm going to take your weapons to try to cut
through these pork loins.
James, you're up first.
Are you ready for this?
- Let's go. - All right.
Let's do this.
[music playing]
All right, James.
Let's talk about your blade.
First up, there's a nice balance to it.
It's easy to wield.
Your handle construction is on the smooth side,
but cutting through these pork loins was not hard at all.
Your weapon, sir, it will cut.
Thank you.
All right, Steve, your turn. So you're ready?
- Yes, sir. - Let's do this.
[music playing]
All right, Steve.
Let's talk about your blade here.
First up, it's a heavy blade that you got here.
But your edge here, sir, easy to cut and wield.
Overall, sir, it will cut.
Thank you, sir.
GRADY POWELL: Well, gentlemen, you both broke the curse
with your boneyard blades, but only one of you guys
can move forward in the next round of this tournament.
And the bladesmith leaving the forage is--
Steve.
Unfortunately, your blade just didn't make the cut today.
I'm going to have to ask you to step off the forge floor.
Thanks for having me, guys.
Good job, buddy.
Nice to see you again, Steve.
Thanks.
STEVE: I left my blade too heavy.
You know, I was erring on the side of caution,
making it good and stout, and I just overdid it.
I just want people to know that this is a tough competition.
And if you think it's not, come and try.
GRADY POWELL: Well, James, you know what that means.
You have won your duel.
You're going to be receiving a check for $2,000
and you've got yourself a slot in the final round of
our second chance tournament.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
GRADY POWELL: Very well done, man.
JAMES: Thank you.
Woo!
I am just in utter astonishment.
I cannot believe what happened.
To make it all the way is just unbelievable.
Steve was such an awesome competitor.
I know that this is not over yet.
I know there's three other smiths there that have just
as much want and drive and desire to be "Forged in Fire"
champions as me, so I've got a long road ahead.