This is the kill test.
To see what kind of lethal damage your blade will do,
we're going to deliver some slashes
on this wild boar carcass.
Joe, Casey, you're up first. You ready?
- Oh, yeah. - Oh, yeah.
[heavy metal music playing]
All right, Joe, Casey, off the bat, it is light.
You got the weight perfect.
On the draw cut right here, you can
see that it lacerated easily.
The cut here in the spine, you can see all the nice pieces
of bacon that we're going to make later
on with this particular carcass.
You blade, it will kill.
Good job, gentlemen.
Thank you.
- Mark, Jessica, you ready? - Definitely
Absolutely.
[heavy metal music playing]
All right, Mark, Jessica, now, your blade is wider,
but the balance it's light.
In this particular slice, almost cut in half,
but definitely, on the final cut, blighted easily.
Your blade, it's curvaceous and sexy, and it will kill.
Thank you.
Bladesmiths, I'm going to take each of your swords
and deliver one Herculean strike on this piece of sheet metal
to see how it affects your blade.
Joe, Casey, you're up. You ready?
- Oh, yeah. - Oh, yeah.
We love to test blades.
It's killing us right now to not run over to Ben
and grab the sword from his hand.
[music playing]
This is a beautifully light sword.
It's very well-balanced.
I like the string wrap / it's easy to keep a good grip on it.
The edge took a little bit of dulling.
There's a piece of the sheet metal
almost welded onto your blade from the impact.
But it's still very well done.
Thank you.
Mark, Jessica, you guys are up?
You ready?
Indeed.
JESSICA: Ben is about to do something to this blade
that should never be done.
Slamming into a steel plate.
Good Lord, why would you do that?
[music playing]
BEN: Mark, Jessica, this is a beautiful sword to wield.
It's so comfortable, it's so well-balanced.
The steel did a little number on your sword, though,
and there's a chip right there.
But for such a light and fast weapon, as both of these
are actually, it's amazing that they got away this unscathed.
Very well done. - Thank you.
Thank you.
To test the edge of your blade and see
if it's retained that edge, I'll be cutting
through these water tubes.
Joe, Casey, are you guys ready? JOE: Oh, yeah.
CASEY: Let's go to work.
[dramatic music playing]
Joe, Casey, your sword has a great feel to it.
I like the shape of the grip.
There's that section where that edge is rolled,
and that's where the cut started.
And you can see that first tube kind of crushed.
Then it starts to cut as I get up into the sharper
section up in here.
By then, everything had pushed over and kind
of crushed that last tube.
It's a beautiful piece. Well done.
- Thanks - Thanks.
All right, Mark, Jessica, you ready?
- Indeed. - Yeah.
OK.
[dramatic music playing]
So, Mark, Jessica, you maintained
a bit more of an edge here.
You can see that cut travels through there.
They're clean across the tops, didn't
blow out any of the tubes, didn't crush any of them.
Anyway, a beautifully made piece.
It's definitely a cutter. Nicely done.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
Bladesmiths, your Chinese dao's have been tested,
and the judges have evaluated the finer details of your work,
and they've made their final decision.
The "Forge in Fire" champions are--
Mark and Jessica.
Congratulations, you are the "Forged in Fire" champions.
Joe and Casey, your weapon did not make the cut.
David Baker's going to tell you why.
Joe, Casey, you brought us back a Chinese dao that I
personally would be proud to own,
and it was a real pleasure using it.
But in our kill test, on the boar carcass
and on the sharpness test on the water tubes,
your weapon just didn't perform as well as your competitor.
And for that simple reason, we got to let you go.