Bobby, Will, congratulations, you
guys are in the third and final round of this competition.
When you came here, you tore down our Great Wall
to make your signature blades that have propelled
you into this third round.
And now, it's time for a little payback
as we send you back to your home forges
to recreate this iconic weapon from history.
You ready to see what it is?
Yes, sir.
Yes. sir.
All right, that weapon is--
[intense music]
--the Chinese war sword.
Ooh.
[blade clanking]
All right, gents.
Do your best work.
We'll see you in four days.
Thank you, sir.
Good luck.
Good luck to you, too.
[rock music]
It's day one, back in Hodgenville at the home forge.
I've got a Chinese war sword to make.
This thing is huge.
All my forging is done by hand, so it's
going to be a challenge.
I'm starting off with a piece of 51-60 Spring steel,
and I've got a lot of metal to move.
That's going to take a minute.
Normally, I like to forge the tang first,
so I'm going to lay on my shoulders
and start getting my tang drawn out to its final length.
I'm working my way up the blade, and the hammer head falls off.
Luckily, I've got plenty of hammers,
so I knock a handle off and put a old cross pein
head on this one.
And the second cross pein's broken.
And all I have is a 6 and 1/2 pound sledge.
So "Forged in Fire" stars, that's when the hammers
start falling apart.
Right now, I'm really missing the press in the judges' forge.
There is an extremely long list
of things to get done today.
A quench would just be a blessing all the way around.
Let's get cracking.
One of the iconic features of this sword
is it has a hole up on the pierced clip point
that you always take the chance of creating a crack
when you're drilling that close to the edge.
That made it a whole lot lighter.
Now, it's time to do the heat treat.
I fill up my quench tube with fresh quench oil.
I got my blade heated up.
I get my blade.
That can go straight into the jig.
I've got a fully quenched Chinese war sword.
Oh!
Thank you, lord.
I wanna let it temper tonight, and
tomorrow, I'm ready to start on the handle,
and keep moving forward.
I've got a lot of work to do.
First thing I've got to do today is
start drawing out this blade.
It's nowhere near the parameters,
but I did repair my cross pein hammer,
so hopefully, that holds up.
Right now, I'm drawing out at about an inch an hour.
I've got, like, 20 minutes left today.
And--
Oh, [bleep].
--a huge crack has opened up behind my ricasso.
That's not good.
I have developed a major crack right at the most
vulnerable point in my handle.
My gut reaction is to jump on the welder
and seal up this crack the best I can.
But I might be able to think of a better way to repair this,
so I'm going to just stop and try to come at this problem
again tomorrow.
This crack is just going to be over my head all night.
It's the morning of day four.
Now, I'm ready to start putting an edge on this blade.
This is an extremely long blade, so it's going to be
a challenge to sharpen this.
I got an edge put on it.
I want to test my edge geometry and see if it's
the edge I'm looking for.
So we're going to try just a simple gallon jug slice here.
I get a good, smooth, clean cut.
There's no issues, no problems.
Good deal.
The leather wrap is the way to go.
I don't want this handle to have any chance of coming undone.
I am gluing this one wrap at a time.
It actually looks pretty good.
I'm done.
A little bit nervous.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't.
But the excitement is much more than anything else.
[rock music]
It's day four.
I'm going to have to MIG weld this crack to keep
it from getting any worse.
Then I'm going to create a mechanically connected san mai.
I'm gonna take two pieces of mild steel,
and weld them and rivet them onto the sides
to create a new handle.
They're going to be my guards.
They're going to be my pommel.
And they're going to make sure my blade
doesn't break into two pieces.
With the remaining time left, I've gotta
get started making this handle.
I slap these handles on.
They're gluing up.
Whoo!
This has been the longest and shortest four days of my life.
I wish I had more time to focus on the details.
But at the end of the day, it meets parameters, it's safe,
and it functions.
All right, bladesmiths.
Welcome to the kill test.
To find out what kind of lethal damage your weapon will do,
I will take your Chinese war sword
and deliver one strike on this ram carcass.
Let's see how deadly they are.
Bobby, you're first. You ready for this?
Yes, sir.
Let's do this.
My heart's just bouncing out of my chest.
You've got the skin.
You've got the bones.
You've got the hide.
I only get one shot at this ram carcass?
[rock music]
All right, Bobby.
One and done.
As much as this is very intimidating in its look,
it is crafted nicely.
It's got a beautiful look to its finish.
The balance, it's just right for a two-handed sword.
A little forward-heavy, but that tells
you that's where the power is.
Your edge is sharp.
Even cutting through the spine and bones, no issues,
no glinting, and no rolls.
Overall, sir, your Chinese war sword will kill.
Thank you, sir.
All right, Will, your turn.
Ready? - Yes, sir.
I'm ready.
Let's do this.
[music playing]
Doug picks up my weapon.
And at this point, all the nerves are out the window.
I'm just excited.
He's walking towards this ram's carcass,
and I'm ready to see it fly right through.
[exhales]
[music playing]
(WHISPERING) Good job, buddy.
Thank you.
[music playing]
All right, Will.
Let's talk about your Chinese war sword here.
First up, it's a very bulky handle.
It's rounded.
So as you get a good grip on it, you can feel it starts
to spread my hands around.
But the wrapping that you put around it does
allow me to get a good grip on it, so good on that.
And one shot, one kill.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it will kill.
Thank you, sir.
Oh, I just felt a frightening chill.
Must be the strength test.
J?
You boys remember me.
Yes, sir.
Welcome to the ice block chop.
This is going to test not only your edge in your heat treat,
but the overall construction of your swords.
Now, what your blades do to the ice,
I'm not too concerned about.
I want to see what the ice is gonna do to your blades.
Bobby, you're up first.
How are you feeling?
Ready to go.
Me too.
Let's do it.
[intense music]
This is not just an ice block.
This thing's a glacier.
J can't wait to start swinging that thing.
He's going to do it with everything he has in him.
I just don't know how it's going to hold up.
[rock music]
[grunting]
Great job, Bobby.
Still razor sharp.
No rolls, no glints, nothing.
Everything's still tight.
I mean, one of the swings, I was able to split that block.
So it's got a good feel.
Just nice job overall.
Thank you.
OK, Will, how are you feeling?
[laughs] I'm nervous, but I'm excited.
OK.
I'm just excited, so--
[music playing]
This is going to be brutal.
I'm really worried about the crack in my tang right now.
Chopping through a block that big is so tough.
If there are any compromises in my blade,
this is where they're going to show their head.
[exhales]
[grunts]
[clanging]
[music playing]
Well, we got a problem, Will.
A big problem, sir.
Right where you did your very rough hollow grind,
there's a couple dark spots right in here.
And with that thin spot right there,
it was enough to allow that blade to just snap right
in half on the first swing.
So it did not survive, but good effort.
Thank you, sir.
Well, Will, sometimes this competition's
full of tough breaks, and you've had one
on the first strike against this ice block in our strength test.
Unfortunately, we cannot continue testing your blade
against your opponent's.
And for that reason, I'd like to invite you to shake our hands,
shake your opponent's hand, and then please
leave the forge to your right.
Come on, my friend.
Yes, sir.
Excellent work, dude.
Thank you, brother.
It's tough.
Having a blade break is obviously-- you know,
it's a tremendous failure.
But at the end of the day, I did the best I could
with the tools I had.
And I'm still proud of the piece that I put forward.
This competition has given me the inspiration
to move forward and challenge myself in new ways.
Bobby, you are the "Forged in Fire" champion.
And that's a title that comes with a check for $10,000.
Good job, brother.
[applause]
Come on forward, my friend.
Great job. Great work.
Thank you.
I feel on top of the world right now.
That's a great piece, man.
That was fun to swing.
This is not just a win for me.
This is a win for my family, my friends, the other smiths
that I teach in the forge.
This goes a long ways for our whole community.
[music playing]