Trevor, Victor, congratulations.
You guys have made it to the third and final round
of this competition, and now we're sending you to your home
forges for four grueling days to recreate this iconic weapon
from history.
The épée-de-combat.
Gentlemen, this blade can be seen wielded by Arya Stark
from Game of Thrones.
[laughs]
Good luck, bladesmiths, we'll see you in four days.
It's day one, and I'm about to start
making the épee-de-combat.
I've come to call it the holy [bleep] sword,
because it is so thin and so long,
it's going to be a very, very difficult blade to make.
I've chosen 5160.
It's good, tough, spring steel.
I want to make this blade as rigid as I can,
but still flexible.
Yeah, the wheels are turning.
They're pretty rusty, but they're turning.
It is the end of day one.
I hit the link I was aiming for to a point
where I say it's in good shape.
I'm hoping to be grinding blade tomorrow.
We're here in San Antonio, Texas.
Let's get the fire going.
I've never made such a light sword,
so to make this as light as it's supposed to be
is definitely a challenge.
My plan is to use the 5160 for the actual sword itself,
and then for the pommel and the guard,
I'm gonna see if I can bring out some Damascus
to throw my twist on it.
It's too wide, so I'm turning it down quite a bit,
little at a time.
Now that I've got my sword to a comfortable state,
I start cutting some pieces for billets, three small stacks,
so I can make my pommel, quillon,
and guard out of Damascus.
This is the start of day two.
Rolling along pretty good.
Today I'm going to start trying to put the crease
in the back for the fullers.
I've never ground fullers before.
It's a huge learning curve for me,
so it's going to be critical.
I get the fuller cut into the back,
I'm trying to grind on the front side, and they're not working.
It's not cutting to the depth that I wanted.
It's grinding it flat.
It's frustrating the hell out of me.
[bleep] I've messed up my center line.
Badly.
I've got like 6 center lines now.
I wanted to have both sides of the fullers completed today,
and I still got to get this blade quenched,
so I hope that I can finish this blade.
It's day two, I'm trying to get the Damascus forge-wielded,
sorted to shape.
This is going to be my guard, those
are going to be my quillons.
So right now I'm just thinning it down so they
don't have so much weight.
I have the pommel billets, and I started
drawing out the quillons, I think I'm happy with it.
Now that I finish up the handle pieces, it's time to quench.
You can see my blade shaking, I'm shaking so much right now.
This is all do or die.
Nice and straight that way, nice and straight that way.
I left it just a little bit thick,
so I can do all my hollow grinds,
and then all I have left would be the fit up,
and put a handle.
On day three, I need to finish grinding
my fullers on both sides.
I need heat treatment, I need to shape it into the blade
that it's going to be.
Yesterday, I failed miserably at grinding fullers,
so today has to go better, or I'm in trouble.
I worked my fullers down to a point where I'm satisfied,
and I decided that it's time to quench.
She took, I think that's pretty good.
The épée-de-combat is supposed to be light and fast.
And my blade turned out to be really thin and pretty light.
I think it'll be a good blade.
Final stretch.
Still a lot to do, and majority of day's
gonna be on the handle.
I'm going to go with some stabilized Buckeye burl.
I have two different tones, and it'll
give it a good two tone look.
I like it so far.
It's still a little heavy, but it's
pieced together pretty good.
I'm finishing!
Thank God!
All right, bladesmiths.
This is the kill test.
I will take your weapon and deliver some thrust and slashes
on our dummy from the North.
Trevor, you're up first.
You ready for this?
I'm ready.
All right, Trevor.
First up.
It is so light.
Just like a needle.
Your point here allows for a very deep
penetration without any effort.
Overall, sir, it will kill.
Good job.
All right, Victor. Your turn.
Are you ready? - Ready.
All right, Victor.
Let's talk about your sword here.
It's not very light.
Overall, though, it's pointy enough to thrust,
the edge with the weight cuts, and it'll kill.
Thank you.
All right, gentlemen.
It's time for the strength test.
To test the strength and overall construction of your blades,
just like an ice pick, I'm going to be chipping ice.
Trevor, you're up first.
You're ready?
I'm ready.
OK, Trevor.
You did pick up a slight bend in your tip.
Having said that, I mean, this thing is
so light, which is fantastic.
Thank you.
All right, Victor.
You are up. Are you ready, sir?
Ready.
Victor, first off, blade is same shape
as when we started out.
Tip's still there, it's fine.
Your fullers are there, but they're not very deep.
And by not having them very deep, this blade is very heavy.
Having said that, it's a strong blade, it took no damage.
So well done.
Thank you.
All right, bladesmiths.
This is the sharpness test.
This steel can stab and waterbag slice.
I will take your weapon, I'm going
to test the tip by thrusting into the cans,
and I'm going to slash the bag.
Trevor, you're up first. You ready?
I'm ready.
All right, Trevor.
No issues at all in stabbing the can,
and the cut with your tip on that bag, you can see it's
a straight cut all the way through.
Overall, sir, it'll cut.
Thank you.
All right, Victor.
Your turn. So you ready?
Ready.
All right, Victor.
First up in the stabbing test, on one of the thrusts,
it pushed the can in more than penetrated all the way through,
but your edge is sharp.
On the bag, it cut cleanly all the way through.
And more importantly, it'll cut.
Thank you.
All right, gentlemen.
I finished my discussion with your judges,
and they've made their final decision.
Our new Forged in Fire champion is Trevor.
Congratulations.
You're the new Forged in Fire champion.
Victor, unfortunately your blade didn't make the cut
by the narrowest of margins.
And David Baker's going to tell you why.
Victor, the épéé-de-combat was supposed to be a lightning
fast thrusting sword.
The weight of your blade led it to be just
a more difficult weapon to use.
That's why we're letting you go.
Victor, unfortunately, today your blade
doesn't make the cut.
I'd like to invite you to shake our hands,
shake your competitor's hand, and then
please leave the forge.
This was a great experience.
And just holding my head high, just to know
I've had this opportunity to build this historical weapon.
Performed well, and I'm proud of it.
First thing I do when I go home, kiss the wife, my son,
and start forging and get ready for my next knife show.
Trevor, congratulations.
You are our new Forged in Fire champion,
and that's a title that comes with a check for $10,000.
Good job, brother.
Come on forward, my friend.
Good job.
I can't believe that I won Forged in Fire.
Feeling better than good.
The most fun I've had in years.
With the $10,000 I have, I may buy a new sander,
but most of it will go to my wife, though.