bladesmiths congratulations you've made
it into the third round of this
competition and now it's time to send
you back to your home forges to recreate
this iconic weapon from history that
weapon is Charlemagne's
is your use good luck we'll see you in
four days
[Music]
all right it's day one today the plan is
to get the blade forged out this is
definitely out of the box for me so this
will be the first sword I ever
completely assembled we're going to
start out with a bar of 1075 high carbon
steel we're going to do a lot of the
quick fortunes of shape with a power
hammer whenever you try to move a big
piece of metal like this it's quite a
challenge to keep it straight it's
getting long and heavy and hard to hold
so end of day one good day
we've got the blade forged out it's
cooling down between a couple of to five
sixes so that way it doesn't warp as it
cools down tomorrow we'll get it ready
for heat treat
I'm back here in Valentine Nebraska and
I'm here to make Charlemagne and Joyce
apparently I've never made a sword
before this is gonna be interesting
experiment for me so I'm going to use a
big piece of 5160 bar stock you can take
a lot of damage and flex well I want to
make sure I got the length of the blade
done down to a reasonable size so this
steel is definitely the most awkward
thing that I've ever worked with in the
shop is suck a big wet noodle end of day
1 I've got my blade profile tomorrow the
plan is I'm gonna start eat treating and
get this Damascus ready for the cross
garden it's the morning of day 2 now
we're going to get ready for heat treat
the main thing is I'm definitely paying
really close attention to the parameters
getting pretty close to coming up the
temperature so we're about five minutes
away
we'll be quenching
Rica
all right well I'm worried of that
hitting the bottom of the quench tank
did some damage come on man I tried to
fish it out but unfortunately I didn't
get you anything
ended up pouring it out and the five
gallon bucket in my yard I got to play
it out so it's all good now I did pick
up a slight wart
close to the tip I still felt it
straighten that out here then temper
cycle so time would tell morning of day
three plan today is to grind in my
folders and get all my fittings ground
down and shaped so my biggest fear of
putting in this folder is just grinding
right through my blade I can kind of
tell how close it is just by feeling it
with my hand after about an hour the
puller is done and everything is looking
good coming out pretty well now I can
work on profiling the pommel and guard
and getting them exactly to where I want
it
for my handle I choose Diamond wood
because it can take a lot of abuse and
it's not gonna break I'm in the
homestretch now tomorrow I'm just gonna
be focusing on getting everything fitted
and glued together it's a good-looking
piece so far morning today for I got a
lot of work ahead of me my biggest focus
is gonna be getting the blade straight
and so I want to get that out of the way
and then go from there
my solution is to extend the width of
the jaws with some angle iron heat it up
and use some wooden dowels to put the
proper pressure where it needs to be
she's straight oh that's so freakin
awesome now I need to make the handle
time's running out so it's a race to the
finish
I'm getting there in today for man it's
being quite a trip everything turned out
great
a lot of hard work but I believe it
really paid off in the end
that's a sore in four days all right
bladesmiths welcome to the kill test
final how lethal your weapons are
according to its historic design I will
take your weapon deliver some clean
slashes and thrusts on this poor carcass
Mitch you're up first you ready for this
yes sir
all right Mitch talk about your sword
here your edge coupled with a weight
that you have here allows for very deep
cuts with every stripe overall sir you
look here thank you
all right Payton's your turn you ready
oh yeah
all right Peyton that was a joy use what
I like about this swords not just about
the edge or the point it's the balance
of this I can actively use some velocity
and it cuts deep well we're all sir
it will keel thank you all right
gentlemen it's time for the strength
test now to test the strength and
overall construction of your blades I
will be attacking our armored Knights
here now this is not about what your
blades are gonna do to that target boat
that targets gonna do to your blades
Mitch you're up first you ready for this
yes sir
I think I just paid another all right
Mitch your edge did take some damage
here you can see the chip right there
and some rolls and your sword is heavy
you know this is a lot of weight for a
single hand sword more in the range of a
two-handed sword as far as the late
ghosted um she held up she's in one
piece
good job Mitch thank you alright Peyton
you're up you ready yeah
[Music]
all right Peyton its weighty but the the
weight is all back in my hand so it
doesn't feel as heavy in the blade this
sword has a much better point of balance
than the other sword your blade did take
some chips and some edge rolling but I
think your grinds are beautiful the
sword is all solid did a good job thank
you
all right bladesmiths
welcome to the sharpness test the
sandbag gauntlet obsessed the sharpness
of your weapon I will slash cross these
bags now unlike the strength is all
about how sharp your blades are and how
well they cut these bags Mitch you're up
first you ready yes sir
right
so despite some of the damage of rolls
and chips it wasn't an issue at all in
cutting these bags you will cut thank
you
right beating your turns for you ready
yes sir
[Music]
alright Payton the handle construction
is smooth but ovoid enough to where I
wrap my hand around it and I get a very
good grip you look cut Thank You Mitch
Payton the judges deliberation is
complete you guys have done fantastic
work on these finale weapons but there
can only be one forged in fire champion
their new forged in fire champion is
paetynn congratulations you're the
forged in fire champion Mitch
unfortunately your blade didn't make the
cut
Mitch you brought us a sword that
performed well in all three of our tests
so this came down to the finer points of
craftsmanship as in where to place the
balance point on that blade and the
general weight that balance point being
so far forward made it harder to wield
and harder to control and that's why
we're letting you go understand
Mitch you've been a great competitor
this entire competition but at this time
I have to ask you to please surrender
your blade
obviously little disappointed being my
first sword nothing to compare it to I
thought the way it felt good I tried to
keep the six to eight inches balance
point that I was totally normally swords
carried so overall happy with why I
turned in and I'm happy for Payton if I
had to lose anyone I'd just soon lose to
him
Payton congratulations you are the new
force and fire champion and that is a
title that comes with a check for
$10,000 congratulations please present
your sword to the judges I'm the next
fortune fire champion just crazy as soon
as I heard my name it's just like a wait
just got pulled off my chest just like
it's over okay I thinking breathe
you