my name is ben abbott been making blades since i was about 13 years old i was born
in worcester england and i saw all the cool armor and weapons and stuff just
decided to start making it for myself my name's tom mcginnis i'm 73 years old and i
love knife making i made my first knife in 1958 i'm an old duck but i'm gonna hang tough
ben tom congratulations you've made it to the forged and fire final
and now we're sending you back to your home forges to recreate an iconic weapon from history
the conda oh the conda is a sword that gained popularity in medieval india during the gupta
period between 320 and 550 a.d the word conde is derived from the sanskrit word khan meaning
to break divide cut or destroy its wide fake straight blade was not only used for thrusting
but also as a hacking weapon when a rajput warrior was surrounded by the enemy
he would pull out the conda and fight to the end while swinging the blade with both hands
taking down as many enemies as he could in an honorable last stand
it has to be an authentic working replica of that deadly weapon the mystery weapons aconda
i think it's a real doable blade i believe i can produce one bladesmiths good luck
so it's day one my strategy going into building this blade is that i'm gonna make a couple of
test blades the most crucial part of this build is whatever i have to do to get it through the
testing i can make the prettiest thing in the world if it snaps in two i'm gonna lose
i'm gonna quench the sword the quench went really well very excited about that now i
have to dive into the handle the handle is nothing like i've ever seen before my last
10 hours working on this sword got to just finish grinding the blade i wrap the handle in leather
it'll bulk out the handle and make it more comfortable so that it really
kind of holds your hand snugly and feels really good holy cow what a long journey
it feels good to be back home where i have my own equipment today i'm going to try and
get the shapes of the guard and get the blade ground the blade we had to make
is designed for fighting double-handed and it had a big d guard on it and i'd never done that
it's quite an awesome blade i've got the blade ground seems to be going real good
and i'm going to try and get the handle all put together i'm gonna ask god to help me with this
one god answered my prayer it's pretty straight if it'll just cool down and i
know this blade's gonna cut it's ready for the judges ben is gonna contend with a tough old dog
tom ben welcome back to the forge we will now be putting each of your weapons through three tests
doug bladesmiths this is a kill test to test the lethality and function of your weapon
i will take your weapon and deliver three vertical chops and then a slice
then you're up you ready yes so let's do this i'm a little bit nervous there's
a lot of bones in there but the sword is made to to cut so let's see it cut
well ben the damage that your blade did cut about six inches deep into both shoulders and
right through the spine on the horizontal slice pretty much cut all the way through
it's got a good feel this sir will kill thank you so much your turn you ready
i'm ready i don't like losing it all i like to win in the kill test i think it's doable i really do
tom you definitely cut in about six inches deep on the shoulders and about eight inches
into the spinal column cut halfway through into the carcass also feels good in balance with a
downward vertical slice there is a slight bend that's happening to your blade but it will kill
bladesmiths this is the sharpness desk i will slash across these bungee cords
if your blade is sharp it should cut all the way through if not
it may just push it aside or bounce off ben you're up are you ready
sure at this point i'm nervous i don't know i don't know if i'm
gonna cut through all of them or if i'm gonna bounce off i had no idea
well ben your sword started to cut cut a little bit but it did not cut through
it feels good on the slice the handle is very comfortable in the hand once again it didn't cut
through so it brings into question the sharpness tom it's your turn you ready i'm ready let's do
this i really feel comfortable going into the test and i know this blade's going to cut i'm ready
well tom it did cut a little bit into the bungee cord but then as you can see the transference of
energy went all the way back to the blade it wasn't sharp enough to cut through and
it bent your blade which brings to question the heat treatment you did on your blade cut around
corners now it will cut around quarters this time right but this particular case it will not cut sir
when you don't have your hardening and tempering right on a blade
you don't have anything gentlemen both of your weapons failed in the sharpness test
historically in battle blades bent tom we'd like to give you the opportunity
to straighten your blade so that you can continue with this fight however
we will be taking that bend into consideration when it comes to final judging i understand
should have left it thicker but i'm not a quitter i'm gonna fight to the end
okay tom you've straightened your blade we can continue with testing
dave gentlemen this is the strength test i'm gonna take five chops into these copper pipes
and see how far through we can split ben are you ready not at all yes the last thing i would bring
to a plumbing job is a sword so i'm just nervous that uh the blade will break just snap into
well ben it's still one piece but barely
and the the dimensions of your guard here on my hand are perfect your blade is held up beautifully
nicely done thank you so tom your turn okay all right i'm really nervous about the pipe cut
i should have spent more time on my blade because that's what counts in the end that time we do
have that bend in your blade and we know that there's at least a soft section yeah so as i'm
cutting if i feel that there's a point where it's unsafe i'm just gonna stop all right okay
so tom what happened is we lost a piece of the guard right there yeah with the broken
guard and the bend earlier i feel it's unsafe to continue all right thank you tom i'm disappointed
i know i could do better but that's what happens when you don't use your time right
gentlemen in just five days you've both done an amazing amount of work on your condos
but in this arena there can only be one forged and fire champion
ben you are the forest empire champion
tom unfortunately your weapon did not make the cut tom as i said before your attention to detail
is spot-on it's just that heat-treat problem with that blade bending the
way it did well that's why we have to let you go tom please surrender your weapon
well i got to meet some real nice craftsmen and i learned don't let your age slow you down you
don't know how long you got ben congratulations you are the forest and fire champion and will
be receiving a check for ten thousand dollars good job thank you most people get guard sizes
all wrong and the conda has a deceptively small guard you just hit it out of the park
thank you it feels amazing to be a fortune fire champion it's a wonderful validation
of a long time of night making and i made new friends i made 10 grand what more could you ask
for
you