WIL WILLIS: Jeff, Craig, congratulations.
You both made it through to the "Forged in Fire" final,
and you're both one step closer to a check for $10,000.
In the first two rounds of competition,
you forged a weapon in your signature style.
Now we're sending you back to your home forges,
where you will forge an iconic weapon from history--
the war hammer.
Nice.
WIL WILLIS (VOICEOVER): The war hammer is a medieval weapon
developed in the 14th century.
They came about primarily as a response
to advanced armor technology.
By this time, the armorers had created suits of plate armor
that was so hard and smooth that swords would bounce off them.
The war hammer could deliver its full force to the target
and do serious damage without having to penetrate the armor.
Its steel head with a spike on one side
had a handle that varied in length,
but was generally just long enough to be
wielded with one hand.
The spiked end could be used for hooking
the target's legs, reins, or shield,
or used as an armor-piercing device.
As the use of body armor declined,
so did the need for the war hammer.
However, it can still be seen today in the popular film
trilogy "The Hobbit" and has lent its name
to the board game "Warhammer."
WIL WILLIS: Good luck, bladesmiths.
We'll see you in five days.
CRAIG (VOICEOVER): I'm happy to be here at the home forge.
I'm in my element.
I know what all my tools are.
I know how to use my tools.
So being here at home is a big advantage for me.
Takes a lot of steel to make the amount of Damascus
that I'm going to make.
CRAIG: The plan for today is to get my Damascus made.
I'm going to take the two dissimilar metals,
I'm going to heat them up in my forge, get everything hot.
I'm going to flux them, keep the oxygen out of there
so scales doesn't form.
Then I'm going to beat them together.
I feel a little nervous right now making this Damascus.
I can get a bad weld.
If I get a bad weld in it, everything I've done so far
is-- is ruined.
It's not a serviceable weapon at that point.
I'd have to scrap it and start again.
JEFF (VOICEOVER): I'm halfway through day two,
and I'm getting the horns on the ram's head now.
I'm bending the horns down to have, like,
a very organic curve to it.
Oh, [bleep] [bleep]
JEFF: I've run out of oxygen on my oxyacetylene torch.
I'm not exactly where I want to be on the horns,
the hammer head.
It's starting to wear on me.
JEFF: I'm just going to have to come in in the morning,
focus, and hustle, and make sure I'm doing things right.
Don't make any mistakes.
I don't have any room for that.
[music playing]
All right, I'm ready to rock and roll.
CRAIG: Yesterday was a busy day for me.
I got the Damascus forged for my head,
and I've got it squared to about the right dimensions.
Hammer head's going to start taking shape for me today.
The langets are pretty much going to lock everything in.
[laughs]
That is cool.
CRAIG: I'm looking at these sharp corners in these slots,
and I know that I'm going to have a problem with this
if I try to full quench it.
Where I put the langet pockets in there, that can crack.
It's thinner than everything else.
I could literally end up with two pieces of hammer.
I'm going to do a differential heat treat on it.
I'm going to try to harden the front and harden the back
and leave the middle soft.
If I crack the hammer when I quench it,
that could be disastrous for me.
JEFF: Yesterday, I was able to get
the hammer head finished with all the detail,
get it quenched.
And today, I'm getting into the handle.
My plan is to add some upholstery
rivets down the sides in the front and back of the handle.
It's going to be a mix of unique decorative work
and traditional-style war hammer with the spike
and the hammer head.
Pretty happy with that.
DAVID BAKER: Gentlemen, the war hammer was primarily
a close quarters weapon, but it was
devastating to anything it went up against,
which occasionally was a castle door.
So I'm going to take several strikes against this oak door
to see how well the pick on your weapon penetrates.
Craig, you ready?
I'm ready.
[music playing]
Well, Craig, this really felt great in my hands.
It's got a nice balance to it.
Your pick, I don't see any real distortion on it.
The shape of your pick, with that nice drop hook to the end
of it, really penetrated well.
And you could see when I got it in that door
how hard it was to remove.
Yeah.
Nicely done.
CRAIG: Appreciate it.
Beautifully executed.
Thank you.
So, Jeff, your turn.
You ready?
Let's smash it.
DAVID BAKER: All right.
[music playing]
So we started losing pieces.
I can tell that they're on there only decoratively,
so I was able to continue on.
Good thing, head's still right and tight.
All right.
The way your pick leans out towards the front
gave a lot of penetration.
I was really able to just blow parts out of this door.
Mm-hm. DAVID BAKER: Nicely designed.
Thank you. DAVID BAKER: Well executed.
Thanks.
Bladesmiths, now it's time for the kill test.
War hammers have been known to deliver
piercing blows into armor and crush the person behind it.
I will deliver strikes at this ballistic dummy
that's wearing armor.
Then we can see how much lethal damage your war hammer
can give.
Craig, you're up. Are you ready?
I'm ready.
Let's do it.
[music playing]
Craig, love the balance of this blade.
No indentations.
Now let's see how much damage it put on the dummy.
No visible broken bones, but it definitely did pierce the skin.
Nice.
This will definitely kill.
Nicely done, sir.
Thank you.
Jeff, you're up next.
Are you ready?
Yes, sir.
[music playing]
Well, Jeff, looks like the other langet did break off.
But you know what?
This is still very sturdy.
But let's see how much damage is done internally.
He's got some broken ribs right here, broken bones throughout.
It went all the way through.
And even through armor, you pierced the skin
and you caused some internal damage.
Jeff, your weapon will kill.
Awesome.
DOUG MARCAIDA: Good job.
Thank you.
DAVID BAKER: Gentlemen, this is the strength test.
The war hammer was a favorite on the medieval battlefield.
So I'm going to take your war hammer,
and to test the strength and durability,
I'm going to take several blows against our stone wall
and see how much of this I can move.
Craig, you're up.
All right, let's do it.
[music playing]
Wow, that-- that held up really well.
And that's pretty much a hole I could crawl through.
[laughter]
That'll work.
CRAIG: Perfect.
So the handle, what I do like is I could swing it one-handed.
But with two hands, I could generate
a heck of a lot of energy.
Beautiful job.
Excellent.
Thank you.
Jeff, you're up.
Let's knock it down.
[music playing]
It's long.
And when I was swinging, it was way out in front of me
as opposed to being close and in control.
It shot some sparks off.
JEFF: Right.
I seen that.
All in all, a good performance.
Great.
WIL WILLIS: Craig, Jeff, you were given five days
at your home forge to fabricate war hammers,
and they both performed very well in our weapons tests.
But there can only be one "Forged in Fire" champion.
Craig, you are the "Forged in Fire" champion.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
Jeff, your weapon did not make the cut.
Please surrender your war hammer.
JEFF: I respected the judges' decision.
If I knew what I knew now, I would have changed some things.
Craig, congratulations.
You are the "Forged in Fire" champion.
It was a fun challenge.
Craig, you will also be receiving a check for $10,000.
I'm just stoked.
It's crazy.
And this experience, it was a grueling process.
You know, I got to do something that I really enjoy
and that I'm really passionate about.
I came here for my son.
I mean, it doesn't get any better than that.
[music playing]