lyle matt congratulations you've made it to the final round of this competition
when you showed up here you used our forge and our equipment to forge bayonets now
we're sending you back to your home forges to recreate an iconic blade from history
the zulu iqua all right that's cool the zulu iqua was introduced by the famous zulu king
shaka he reigned over the zulu empire's expansion through southern africa from 1816 to 1828
a celebrated warrior in his own right shaka developed a number of military improvements
for the zulu including the mandatory adoption of the iqua replacing long light throwing spears the
equal was shorter and featured a blade at least 10 inches long the spear wasn't thrown rather it
was thrust into the enemy and would be carried along with the cowhide shield it was a fearsome
weapon utilized against british colonialists trying to expand their african colonies
the zulu was also wielded by zulu warriors in the classic film zulu it must be an effective
fully functional version of that iconic weapon additionally it must have a double-edged spearhead
i've made spears in the past i've even had people that wanted one to hunt with i think i'll be able
to do this very successfully you'll have five days at your home for us to accomplish this task
at the end of those five days you will return and present your weapons to our panel of judges
we'll then subject them to a series of dynamic tests only once those tests are complete will they
declare one of you the forged and fire champion who also leaves with that check for 10 grand good
luck gentlemen we'll see you in five days good luck to you man all right man good luck to you too
it's great to be back in my own shop i may not have all the best tools but i can definitely
get it done with everything i have here zulu ichawa that's something i've never heard of i
believe that's the sound it makes when it goes in and pulls out my plan for the day is to get
a point on the piece of metal and then i'm gonna have to figure out the tang but i think i'm gonna
make a one-piece stain that'll penetrate into the handle as well as lock it down with some sinew
all right today i'm gonna antique it a certain way and then we'll get a handle
attached i like a lot of contrast so i got ferric chloride over there that'll actually
turn this particular type of steel black and it's just gonna fade into that nice high polish
it's just gonna look really sharp not bad not bad at all time to start doing the handle i'm
adding a leather wrap to this guy to give a better grip i think it's gonna be nice to have something
that pops a little more than just a plain old handle now i wanted to start slicing some stuff
wow
i'm past all the forging i'm through with the steel work
now it's still on the toughest part for me the handle
i'm using zebra wood which comes from central africa that's going to make a real nice look
to wrap the blade i'm using pig intestine and that's going to draw
up nicely and help hold it in tight it's tricky and it stinks it makes me hungry
the only thing left to do is to test it so i'm going to use the thickest part of the blade
and see if it'll cut through in one full swing oh my goodness well let me try it one more time
there you go the equal was an african weapon used by the zulu warriors though it's a short spear it
also acted like a sword because of its design to see how sharp your blades are i will take your
weapon and try to cut through the slab of meat while you're up first you ready yes sir i'm ready
well i'll your handle over here allows me to grip and give it more weight at the tip so when acting
like a sword you can really feel the power when you're dropping down and as you can see it cut
cleanly through the meat overall sir your weapon will cut good job thank you matt you're up next
you ready let's do it seeing last blade cut like it did i'm going oh crap i'm so nervous right now
okay matt a very light weapon like this if held like a slashing sword could be an
issue when you have a rounded handle makes it kind of hard to index but important thing is
it will cut good job thank you this is a kill test the equa was so deadly because up close you could
use it in different ways and maneuver the blade to see how much lethal damage your weapon can do i
will deliver four killing blows on this ballistic study while you're up first you ready yes sir
i'm ready i've never tried to cut ballistic dummies i'm anxious to see how it performs
well isle your weapon here feels good in the hand definitely it's easy to maneuver the blade in
different ways it's so sharp that it lacerated and disemboweled the gut right here it cut through all
the way into the sternum right there lacerating and then right into the heart your weapon sir
will kill thank you all right matt you're next you ready let's do it
well matt your leather wrapping on the handle here made it very comfortable your edge over here is
very sharp it lacerated deep into the guts it went all the way into the ribs the thrust deep into the
abdomen overall sir your weapon will kill thank you all right next up is the strength test dave
so gentlemen what we're going to do to test the strength is we're going to tap the tip of your
blade into these blocks of wood and then pry them to the side if your blades are tempered properly
it should hold up beautifully and just pry a piece of wood out if not oh we'll see so matt
you ready let's do it i can't believe he's actually gonna drive it in like a nail and
then torque it back i'm just like freaking out i'm like just don't break it just don't break on me
that's not your blade it's okay okay yes we i did it
when i saw what i saw as i was prying this out because that blade flexed quite a bit at the tip
and then that wood gave way it's nice it's it's got just enough movement that it didn't fracture
the neck's still true here hold on thank you lyle you're up next you ready yes sir i'm ready
i wasn't expecting the tip to break off my heart just fell out of its place as i started to go to
the side there wasn't any flex in that blade much at all it just popped right off everything's been
fun but this looks dim for me the judges have made a final decision the forged and fire champion is
matt congratulations congratulations matt thank you though lyle your blade did not make the cut
david will explain lyle you brought us a beautiful weapon felt great in the hand it tested
beautifully in two of our tests but it came down to that strength test that brittle tips snapping
off because of that we've got to let you go okay lyle please surrender your weapon thank you all
for the opportunity it's been a great experience thank you once a tip broke off i expected this i
gave it my best shot congratulations thank you wow i can go home my head held high i enjoyed
it i made something i was proud of it was just an oversight on my part mac congratulations you are
the forest and fire champion and will be receiving that check for 10 grand good job thank you i don't
know if you realized but i flexed that blade to at least 45 degrees before it popped that piece
of wood out scared me when you did that i thought it scared me this is amazing this is really cool
i can't believe i did it obviously what you're going for but to have it happen is oh that's cool
you