GRADY POWELL: Well, gentlemen, congratulations.
The two of you guys are moving forward
into round three of the competition,
where we send you to your home forges
to build one of these two weapons
from our "Forged in Fire" vault. And
the weapon you'll be building in round 3 is the pira sword.
DAVY WILSON: I'm seeing this sword
with a wonky, Zorro-shaped handle, and about a 24-
to 28-inch blade.
And I'm thinking, not so bad.
I think I can make this.
DOUG MARCAIDA (VOICEOVER): Featured in season 7 of "Forged
in Fire," the pira is an ornate, versatile sword
used by the Yakan tribe in the southern Philippines.
The weapon's unique blade shape and long pommel
proved to be challenging for both smiths, who
were ultimately forced to start over
the third day of their builds.
Ultimately, one smith was unable to secure
the mechanical connection to her handle in time,
forcing the judges to issue a vote of no confidence,
due to safety concerns.
GRADY POWELL: You will have four days at your own forges
to work on your pira blades, so good luck.
We'll see you then.
GARRETT KEMBLE: My name is Garrett Kemble.
I'm 41 years old, and I've been bladesmithing
for about two years.
What I like about bladesmithing is
it's a big, hot piece of steel, you
can't take your eye off that, and you
have to be in the moment.
The first thing I'm going to do is get the forge fired up.
Now that I'm roughly to shape, feels good,
I'm going to go over to the belt grinder
so I can cut more material away.
I check parameters, and I'm dead on.
Murdered it.
We're pretty close to quenching.
I'm ready to heat treat.
We might have to quench again.
She's not skating like she should.
I'm not happy with the file test,
so I'm going to quench again.
I just don't think it sat in there long enough.
This quench, temperature looked better,
looked more even, a longer quench.
All right, we're good.
I start working on what's essentially a guard.
I'm drilling it out to make it fit the tang.
It was a little fiddly.
I'm hesitant about the fit and the quality,
but overall I'm happy.
Side note, this is the only piece of this wood I have.
Everything's going smoothly.
DAVY WILSON: I'm Davy Wilson, I'm 49 years old,
and I'm a master barber.
Unfortunately, I'm losing the master barber's
hair on top of my head.
My dad and I took a class together,
and after we built our very first knife,
I looked over and said, hey, you want to build another one?
He said, I sure do.
Part of the reason I am here now is to make Dad proud.
Hey, Dad.
Hey.
Had a visitor this morning.
Just about to get started on this sword.
Any time in the past when Dad would stop in,
he'd jump right in and help me with the knife build.
I don't know if he was disappointed or relieved
that he didn't have to help with this build.
I'd like to help on something like that,
but least it's a shorter one.
That's right.
It's different than anything we've done before.
I'll see you later.
All right, see you.
Feels good.
I believe that he's going to be extremely proud of how
this blade performs.
I believe we got a good, straight blade.
I'm having trouble just getting this walnut cut through,
having to use some chisels.
Sometimes it needs a little persuasion.
Whoo, finally it works.
Once we epoxy and pin the blade to the handle,
it's going to be one homogeneous piece.
Looking good, it's holding there.
I've got the handle to a comfortable point.
Now it's time to test.
It's pretty sharp, but it's not where it needs to be.
For my first pira, I'm pretty happy with it.
DOUG MARCAIDA: Bladesmiths, welcome to the KEAL test.
To find out how lethal your weapons are,
according to its historic design,
I'm going to take your weapon and deliver
some lethal blows on whatever's behind the curtain.
I'm going to find out how effective
your weapons are, at the same time
how they feel when I wield them.
Garrett, you're first. You ready for this?
Yup.
Let's do this.
GARRETT KEMBLE: I don't know if they're just
going to swing through the sheet at whatever's
on the other side.
It's just, you know, one more game in the forge of mystery.
[music playing]
All right, Garrett, let's talk about your pira sword, here.
Your handle construction, well done.
Your edge is very sharp.
It allows me to cut deeply and swing well with your weapon.
Overall, sir, it will KEAL.
Thank you.
All right, Davy, are you set, sir?
You're next.
Yes, sir.
[music playing]
DOUG MARCAIDA: All right, Davy, let's talk
about your pira sword, here.
First up in your design, it's a very forward-heavy weapon.
As you can see just by looking at the spine, it's thick here,
and it tapers down to the guard.
Now, your edge is sharp.
With the forward weight, it chops into the pig carcass.
But slicing, not quite because you
have to control the weight of the weapon.
But it will KEAL.
Yeah, it will.
DAVE BAKER: Gentlemen, you know what time it
is, the mystery strength test.
Now, these strength tests are not
concerned about what your blades do
to the target, more what that target does to your blades.
Garrett, you're up first.
Are you ready?
Let's do it.
GRADY POWELL: Damn, the guard, the weld.
Right, yeah.
Right where he welded.
Yeah.
So, Garrett, right off, I liked the feel of the weapon.
The balance was nice, the weight was nice.
I had no issues.
Looking at that break, your grain structure is beautiful.
All I can really say is that that tang
is a little on the lean side.
And maybe that where this married up,
there was just enough movement in there
that it allowed it to blow apart,
as opposed to being tight and held together.
Mhm.
But it definitely felt like a nice weapon.
Thank you.
Garrett, that is painful to see, man, but you
are not out of the fight yet.
Davy, your blade has to survive one strike on this brutal test.
And if you do, you win.
Dave.
[music playing]
DAVE BAKER: All right, Davy, man, there's a lot of weapon
here.
Your grinds are beautiful.
I think your handle's beautiful and comfortable.
There's no edge damage on this at all.
Awesome.
I would not run my finger down this blade.
You nailed the heat treat on that.
Good job.
Thank you.
GRADY POWELL: Well, Davy, the bell is rung,
and you survived it, man, congratulations.
Garrett, we hate to see this happen.
We always want to see more testing done,
but unfortunately, your blade did break during the testing.
We can't continue.
For that reason, today you are not the "Forged in Fire"
champion.
I want to say thank you for coming out,
and I have to ask you to please leave the forge, man.
Thanks.
GRADY POWELL: Davy, your blade survived the test,
and that makes you the "Forged in Fire" champion.
You're going to be leaving here with a check for $10,000, man,
congratulations.
Thank you.
[applause]
You have any plans for the money?
A little more mustache grooming stuff.
[chuckles]
I am so elated right now.
Thank you so much.
Knowing where my journey started, when
I didn't know anything about swinging hammers
and forging metal.
Dad, I'm the new "Forged in Fire" champion.
I'm coming home a winner.