Bladesmiths, welcome to our strength test--
the whiskey barrel ring chop.
Now, I'm going to take each of your knives,
and I'm going to beat them repeatedly and viciously
into these whisky barrel rings.
I don't really care what your knives do to the rings.
I want to see what the rings are going to do to your knives.
Rob, you're up first.
Ready to go?
Go for it.
[rock music playing]
[grunting]
It's still in one piece.
Well, Rob, we took a little damage.
I mean, we're biting into that ring quite well.
But we did leave a piece of it in the ring.
But this is definitely stronger than the steel
you made it from.
Good job.
Thank you.
How you feeling now, Jason?
I'm interested to see how mine will perform.
We're all going to find out together.
[rock music playing]
[banging]
[grunting]
Good job.
Thanks, man.
Jason, very good job on the blade.
You've got a little chipping and edge rolling,
but it's really not much of anything
considering what I just did to that ring.
The one problem I have is your handle.
It's very narrow and rounded.
But overall, nicely done.
Michael, you ready to go?
It's going to hurt worse than hot sauce
watching you smash my baby.
[rock music playing]
[banging]
[grunting]
That hurt so bad.
Congratulations, Michael.
The blade held up well.
[sighs]
We've got a little chipping.
Got a couple little spots that are missing.
The other thing is if I didn't have a glove on,
I'd be feeling these corners.
But overall, nice job.
Next up is the sharpness test, a fan favorite--
the apple slice.
Rob, you're up first.
You ready?
See what's left, OK.
Yes.
That's some clean cuts right there.
So Rob, where you have an edge, it's very sharp.
You can see it picked up a lot of material
right there where the chip is.
And that last apple is standing.
I just ran out of the blade.
It's cut halfway through.
Good job.
All right, Jason, you ready?
Yes, sir.
Oh, yeah, I knew you had that.
It's a big carving knife.
The blade passed through the apples nicely.
It cracked a couple of them, but you
don't really see any marks left by the tears
that are in this blade.
It's a good cutter.
Well done.
All right, Michael, you ready?
Feeling saucy.
[rock music playing]
Just catching that last apple and cutting
that clean and that thin a slice off of it
shows a really sharp blade.
Without the grinds going all the way to the edge,
it's sort of pushing its way through.
It's cutting 3/4 of the way through the apple
and breaking it the rest of the way, just wedging it open.
It's that wedge shape probably started
riding up on that lower edge--
Yep.
--and just climbed up out of those apples.
But definitely a sharp knife.
Good job.
Thank you.
Bladesmiths, the judges' deliberation is complete.
They've made a final decision.
It's time for one of you bladesmiths to leave the forge.
Rob, your blade did not make the cut.
Rob, you brought us a knife that was beautifully designed
with an incredibly comfortable handle,
which I really appreciate.
Unfortunately, in that strength test,
you left about an inch of your blade in that barrel strap.
For that reason, we're going to have to let you go.
[inaudible]
Rob, please surrender your blade.
I came out to "Forged in Fire" to prove to myself
that I can still do this after the issues
I've had with my health.
And I performed.
It was very tough, but I made it through it.
My family, you know, they had pushed
me to come and try to do this.
I know they'll still be proud of me.