Richey, Elijah, congratulations.
You guys have made it to the final round
of this competition.
Now we're sending you back to recreate this weapon--
General Yamashita's gunto.
You'll have four days at your home forges
before delivering your weapon to our panel of expert judges.
Only after they've thoroughly tested them will
they declare one of you the "Forged In Fire"
champion who leaves here with a check for 10 grand.
Good luck, bladesmiths.
We'll see you in four days.
Thank you.
Good luck.
Doing this challenge at my home forge,
it'll be good because I'm in my own space.
I will be missing some of the tools
at the judges' forge for sure.
This gunto is a little bit more of a challenge.
My equipment is not conducive to working with longer blades.
This is how you get a full heat on a little forge
with a long blade.
I do this a lot.
I have not made a katana or a gunto before.
I think the biggest thing I'm struggling with
is just getting the right curvature in the blade.
But that's part of making a particular blade
for the first time.
It's quite a process.
It's day one.
I'm back here in my home forge.
I'm gonna make a Yama-shoota gunta, or gunto.
[CHUCKLING]
A Japanese sword.
Hopefully by the end of today I've got my forging done.
What I'm gonna try to do is keep a thick spine right in here,
get a taper from here to here.
I gotta get that right curve on that thing.
I gotta-- I need it to do that.
Today I need to do some grinding
and get a heat treat finished.
The steel settled into a rather un-straight manner.
I have to reheat this back up and then re-quench it.
When you heat steel up that hot, you're
enlarging the grain structure.
Worst-case scenario, you're going to ruin the steel.
Woo!
Never had that happen before.
I think I hit the bottom.
It's better than last time.
After the second quench, I was finally
able to get it straight-ish.
Stay.
Just stay.
Don't do anything.
My goal for today is to build me a quench tank
and then go into my heat treating process.
My plan for making a quench tank,
I've got an old fiberglass tank that is for cleaning guns.
That'll work.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I've got a pretty good flare up.
But I've got to get this blade hard and get it in the clamp.
We'll worry about the shop burning down later.
I've gotta get this fire out.
Oh, lord, it may be time to get the fire extinguisher.
Man, thank you, lord.
We could have had a disaster.
A word to the wise, it's [INAUDIBLE],, use metal,
use something that won't catch fire.
And fiberglass will catch fire.
I take the blade out of the clamps,
and she's straight as an arrow.
Woo, I'm proud of that.
When we get the smoke out of the shop,
we'll proceed with the plan.
It is day three.
And today, I'm working on the habaki and the guard.
Basically, the way you make a habaki is your blade goes here,
and the sides basically fold up.
You put it together, solder it together.
Yay, habaki!
Tomorrow I have to shape the handle.
And then I have to wrap the handle.
It's lots of fit and finish.
It's the last day.
Hooray.
[LAUGHS]
I've got this wrap started.
And surprisingly, it's going pretty good.
Tell you what, "Forged In Fire" will teach you some stuff.
So far, I've been a blacksmith, a bladesmith, a seamstress,
and a firefighter.
[CHUCKLING]
This took a lot more grit than I ever imagined.
I knew it would be tough, but I didn't know
it was going to be this tough.
And I can't wait to see Doug cut a billy goat
in two or something.
[LAUGHS]
All right, bladesmiths, to find out
how deadly your weapons are, I will take your weapon
and deliver some killing slashes and thrusts
on this pig carcass.
Richey, you're up first.
You ready for this?
I hope so.
[ROCK MUSIC]
All right, Richey.
Let's talk about your gunto here.
Your blade is balanced.
It's a very light blade.
Well, as you can see, it really tapers down here.
It's very thin right here, so there's
a little bit of a kick on your blade where it's slightly bent.
Now your edge.
It is very sharp.
Your tip is pointed enough to penetrate.
But more importantly, it will kill.
All right.
All right, Elijah.
Your turn, sir.
Are you ready?
I am.
[ROCK MUSIC]
(WHISPERS) Good job, man.
All right, Elijah.
Every slash cut very deep into this big carcass.
The thrusts were easy enough to go through.
It's a sharp edge.
And it will kill.
Thank you.
Bladesmiths, welcome to the strength test.
To test the strength and overall construction of your guntos,
I'm going to take each of them and deliver slices
through this heavy, dense bamboo.
All right, Richey, you're up first.
Are you ready?
I hope so.
[ROCK MUSIC]
Whew.
All right.
Nice job, Richey.
Thank you.
Your edge held up very nicely.
It's balanced well.
But we do have a little concern.
Your wrap is coming undone on us.
That's a bit of an issue.
But overall, nicely done.
How you doing, Elijah?
Good.
- Ready to do this? - I am.
So am I. Let's do it.
Yeah.
[ROCK MUSIC]
Nice job, Elijah.
Your edge is still sharp all the way down the blade.
You do have a slight, slight bend right there in the blade.
But, I mean, it's very minor.
Everything's tight.
Very nicely done.
Thank you.
All right, bladesmiths.
General Yamashita's gold is somewhere in the Philippines.
And if it's there, I want a shot at it.
So to test the sharpness of your weapon, I will take your gunto
and cut through these burlap bags.
Richey, you're up first.
You ready?
Ready.
[ROCK MUSIC]
[CHUCKLING]
Good job.
All right, Richey.
We found gold.
Your blade, it's sharp.
With every slash, it cut through the bags.
The only thing is, the more I use it,
the more it's coming unraveled.
But overall, sir, your blade will cut.
All right, Elijah.
You're next.
You ready?
I am.
[ROCK MUSIC]
Well, Elijah, your edges cut all the way through,
and we struck gold.
A very fine, strong edge, a very fine, sharp edge.
For this test, sir, it will cut.
Thank you.
Richey, Elijah, only one of you
can be the "Forged In Fire" champion,
and that champion is--
Elijah, congratulations.
You're the new "Forged In Fire" champion.
Richey, unfortunately, your gunto didn't make the cut.
Please surrender your gunto.
RICHEY: Going through all this, it was tough.
And it takes more grit than you think.
But I have no regrets.
I've met some good friends and some very good bladesmiths.
I have no trouble coming in second place to any of them.
I feel good.
I've enjoyed it.
Elijah, you are the new "Forged In Fire" champion.
And that's a title that comes with a check for $10,000.
Please present your blade to the judges.
ELIJAH: It's still sinking in that I won "Forged In Fire."
My wife pushed me into doing this competition,
so I really appreciate her support.
And I'm really happy I could win, so that's pretty awesome.
[MUSIC PLAYING]