Without further ado, here we go.
Cool, man.
[grunting]
It will.
John, my congratulations.
You've landed yourselves in the final round
of this competition.
Now we're sending you back to your home forages
to recreate an iconic weapon from history.
That weapon is the Greek kopis.
Bladesmiths, you'll have five days at your home forages
in which to complete this challenge.
At the end of those five days, you'll
return and present your kopises to our panel of expert judges.
And after they thoroughly tested the hell out of them,
they'll declare one of you the Forged
in Fire champion who leaves here with a check for $10,000.
Good luck, bladesmiths.
We'll see you in five days.
Good luck.
Feels great to be back in my home forge.
I'm excited to get started.
I'm going to do a wrap or a sand mod construction.
My damascus is on the outside.
There's a solid layer of 15 and 20.
And then down the center is one solid piece of 5160.
It should be really pretty and tough.
I'm back at the home forge, I'm getting ready to go.
And this entire piece is going to be made out
of Damascus with an integral guard and an integral pommel
built into it.
So without further ado, here we go.
If I at the end of day have a rough shape of a sword,
I'll be really happy.
It's 30 layers right now.
I'm going to cut it into sections, probably three,
to have a layer count about 90.
OK, we have a long way to go.
It's day two.
I have to make some fullering dyes for this blade.
This is the bottom section of a railroad track.
I have to just round the top off to get
the right shape that I want.
The fuller lines are really clean, symmetrical.
It's exactly what I was hoping for.
It's the start of day three.
We're going to work on the guard and the pommel.
Got a lot of work to do.
It's going to be a lot of detailed work.
It's going to be slow.
I feel like a dentist.
And then I've got to quench the blade.
Everything that I've done since I've picked up a hammer
is coming down to this point.
I hope that this works out.
It's perfectly straight.
[clapping]
I got a straight blade!
It's day 4.
I'm excited.
I think, basically, I just have to finish up my handle today.
I'm going to pin these two pieces of brass
to either side of the blade to hold them in place while I
silver solder.
Going to heat up the guard a little,
let the heat travel up the blade and up towards that solder.
Think this sword is going to look awesome.
The color combination with the brass and the dark
handle scales, it's just all coming together.
I'm really stoked.
I still have one more piece to meet parameters.
I need to connect my pommel to the guard.
This is going to go through the horse's mouth,
and it's going to bend in a V, and come
down here into the guard.
I want to make it look like rain's
coming from the horse's mouth.
I like it.
That's good.
This is the last day.
I've got to put scales on.
When your band saw breaks, you've got to improvise.
I have never put scales on a blade that's got
an integral pommel and guard.
I just may have made a really, really big mistake.
My pin doesn't fit right.
I drilled the wrong hole.
I'm in a panic mode.
So on day five, I've got to make the new handle.
It's coming along.
Now I'm feeling pretty good.
Making this kopis was a really, really tall order.
I feel like I've done my best work that I've ever
done as a bladesmith right now.
It will cut.
All right, bladesmiths, to find out
what kind of lethal damage your weapon will do,
I will take your kopis and deliver some killing
blows to this ballistics dummy.
John, you're up first. You ready?
Ready.
I'm pretty nervous.
There's no way to prepare yourself for this moment.
I'm just going to hope that my blade survives.
[grunting]
Cool, man.
All right, John, let's talk about your kopis here.
There was a little crack that goes
around the edge on both sides.
When I saw the tip, I thought it was going be tip heavy.
It's not.
There's good recovery with this.
It's a very powerful weapon, sir.
It will kill.
Thank you.
All right, Mike.
It's time to have fun with your blade.
Are you ready?
I'm ready.
[grunting]
Good job.
Thanks.
All right, Mike.
Let's talk about your Greek kopis right here.
It is heavier, but every shot that I go in there cuts.
You have a sharp edge.
But more importantly, sir, it will kill.
Thank you.
Good job.
All right, gentlemen, it's time for the strength test.
Now, to test the strength, durability,
and overall construction of your Greek
kopises I'll be attacking these two soldiers.
John, you're up.
You ready?
Ready.
[clanging]
All right, John, first off, that small crack we noticed
has not opened up at all, which is great.
Your blade took some minor deformation.
A little bit of roll.
But overall, it's a strong blade.
Well done.
Thank you.
All right, Mike. You're up.
You ready?
I'm ready.
[clanging]
All right, so Mike, your edge took a little bit of damage
here.
And then up here, it just sort of peeled a hair off your edge.
But other than that, this blade is
still sharp all the way down.
It's got some heft to it, but your handle construction
does make up for it.
But most of all, it's a strong blade.
Nicely done, Mike.
Thank you.
All right, bladesmiths, to test the edge
of your Greek kopis, I will take your weapon,
and I will slice across these rugs.
John, you're up first. You ready?
Ready.
[thudding]
[crash]
All right, John.
The edge here is sharp.
On this last one, not so much.
But as we can see on the other rugs, it will cut.
- Thank you. - All right, Mike.
It's your turn.
You ready?
I'm ready.
[slicing]
All right, Mike, first up, the forward weight
that you have on your blade here lends itself
to do a beautiful vertical cut.
But on a diagonal cut, because of the forward weight
being there, it feels more like a chopper than a slasher.
So it cut in, but it didn't slice in to control that.
It's a sharp edge, and it will cut.
Thank you.
John, Mike, both of you made high-performance
blades that did very well in our weapons tests.
Our next Forged in Fire champion is--
John.
Congratulations.
You're the new Forged in Fire champion.
Mike, I want you to know that the judges
and I are proud as hell of what you've turned in, man.
It was a competitive blade, and it really did come
down to the finest details.
But I have to ask you to please surrender your kopis.
It really makes me feel good that the judging was so close.
This competition was really tough for me.
It tested a lot of new skills that I hadn't done before.
It was a big win for myself.
It was a great competition and a great experience,
and I'd do it all over again.
John, congratulations.
You're our new Forged in Fire champion,
and that's the title that comes with a check for $10,000.
Please present your blade to the judges.
I'm unbelievably happy.
I'm a new bladesmith, and it's something that I
want to do in the future.
To walk into this world of bladesmithing
and then join "Forged in Fire," and compete and win it,
it doesn't get any better than that.