[dramatic music]
Chris, John, congratulations.
You guys have made it into the third round
of this competition.
Now we're sending you back to your home forges
to recreate this iconic weapon from American history--
General Patton's saber.
Good luck.
We'll see you in four days.
Good luck.
All right.
Today, I'm going to build the actual blade part of the saber.
I'm making a ladder pattern Damascus billet.
I'm stacking 1085 and 15N20.
So ladder pattern Damascus, it's a simple pattern.
I'm going to weld it, put some layers into it,
and then cut it with the chop saw, and then draw it out.
This is a large blade, and there can be a lot of things that go
wrong with this much forging.
So I'm not comfortable putting all my eggs just
in that one billet.
So my plan is to make a 1560 billet
so I have insurance that I'll have
a good blade for this billet.
I have lots of eggs.
I got tons of eggs.
Do you guys need some eggs?
Anybody want eggs?
CHRIS: Today I hope to get the blade quenched,
so I need to get this fire going.
Hmm.
I've picked up a little bit of a curve in this thing.
I do notice that it's not an exact even heat-up in the fire.
There's more heat towards either end than in the middle.
I don't want to waste too much more time chasing it out.
There's always a chance that a lot of it'll
come back out once I dip it in the quench.
I believe my blade has gotten hot enough.
I am ready to quench.
While my blade was heating up, it wasn't an exact even heat-up
in the fire.
So I do still have a fairly significant S-curve warp to it.
So I quickly throw it between a couple of big chunks of wood
to see if I can address the warp.
If this doesn't work, I'm screwed now.
OK.
I've got a very, very slight warble right towards the end,
but I'm positive I can take it out with the grinder.
So we might be in good shape.
I feel pretty good about that.
I think I'm getting very slightly soft close
to the hilt. Rather than go through the quench process
again, I think I'm just going to go with it,
keep my fingers crossed, and pray to the gods.
JOHN: This morning, I'll figure out which blade is going
to be worthy of going forward.
I really want the Damascus to be my sword.
So I start grinding on it, and right away I start
seeing some de-laminations.
In this edge here, they're wanting to fall apart.
I'm going to scrap the Damascus, save it for the back strap,
and move on to the 5160, and make that my blade.
I'm not going to take a risk with $10,000 on the line.
I go to the forge, get it hot, and I go in the quench chamber.
When I pull this knife out of the oil,
I have a nice straight sword.
CHRIS: It's the morning of day four.
I think I've got myself set up really well for a final day
of construction and refinement.
Once I have my wood-block shape for my handle,
I start figuring out how I'm going
to try to make this back strap.
I got this old kind-of-cool-looking
spoon of unknown metal.
I think it's some sort of steel plated
in some sort of other metal.
But it looks cool, and I'm going to beat,
and bash, and bend it until it fits
around the back of my hand.
All right.
I get it glued up to the rest of the sword.
Now, once my epoxy sets, it's going to be time
to moving on to sharpening.
This blade is sharp as a razor, and it's ready for testing.
It will cut.
JOHN: Today I got to put everything
together, put the final edge on the sword, and test it.
So it's time to get the guard started.
So I go up to the plasma cutter.
I'm gonna cut out a piece of sheet metal
that's going to become our guard.
I'm a horseshoer.
I have horses.
Put a horse on it--
horse head for the cavalry sword.
This is my version of the cowboy's cavalry sword.
Say that twice.
I'm going to acid etch the guard black.
And then I'm going to put some enamel over the top
just to preserve it, and then line the inside of the guard
with pig leather.
That'll make sure it's nice and comfy for their hands.
I finish assembling the sword just with enough daylight
to be able to test it.
This is Whiskey.
[heavy metal music]
Hey, it worked.
I'm finished building this crazy sword.
Why not go out with a bang?
[explosion]
'Merica!
DOUG MARCAIDA: Welcome to the kill test.
Your sabers look deadly.
To find that out, I will take your weapon,
deliver some slashes and thrusts on this ballistics dummy.
John, you're up first.
You ready for this?
Yeah.
[heavy metal music]
[laughing]
Cut its heart out.
It's just not right.
DOUG MARCAIDA: All right, John, first up,
let's talk about the handle construction.
It's a little bit on the big side,
but I'm able to hold on to it.
Now, your edge-- it's very sharp,
and it is a pleasure to wield because aside from looking
beautiful, it'll kill.
Thank you very much.
DOUG MARCAIDA: All right, Chris, your turn.
You ready, sir?
Yes sir.
I sure am.
[heavy metal music]
Phew.
All right, Chris, let's talk about your saber here.
First up, what I love about it, it's got a sharp edge.
Every swing I do cuts.
The one thing here is that you did
pick up a little bit of a bend right here at this junction.
It's warped a little bit.
But it pierces and cuts.
And most importantly, it will kill.
Thank you, sir.
All right, bladesmiths, for our strength test,
I'm going to take your sabers.
And I'm going to beat them and stab them
into these field obstacles.
Now, I'm not really concerned about what your swords
do to our obstacles.
I want to see the opposite-- what they do to your swords.
John, you're up first.
You ready to go?
Ready to go.
[dramatic music]
[grunt]
Nice job, John.
I like the blade.
The sword itself overall is on the heavy side.
The handle is a lot there--
a lot of extra weight.
It does help counterbalance quite a bit, though.
Still got a good edge on it.
There was some pretty heavy strikes on there.
And the blade bent but came back to true.
It's all right, tight, and straight.
Good job.
Thank you.
How you feeling, Chris?
Good as I can be, sir.
J. NEILSON: All right.
[dramatic music]
[shout]
Whoa!
[inaudible] right here.
MEDICAL MAN: Yeah.
You're good.
Oh [bleep].
MEDICAL MAN: Good-- no cuts, no blood.
CHRIS: [raspberry]
J. NEILSON: Lucky day.
[sigh]
[dramatic music]
Chris, your blade has suffered a catastrophic failure
in our strength test.
And unfortunately, you cannot continue with testing,
which means you cannot be the "Forged in Fire" champion.
Please exit the forge.
Come on forward, pal.
I did have a small issue when it got to my heat treat.
Sorry about that.
That's all right, man.
CHRIS: I didn't want to risk a second quench,
because I didn't want to make it overly brittle.
I do have some regret about that decision at this point.
Of course I would have liked to be the "Forged in Fire"
champion, but I am really proud of myself as a weapons maker.
And I plan on getting right back in my forge when I get home,
and I'm going to move forward as ever.
Well, John, General Patton was known for being a tough guy,
and you made a tough and sharp sword
that really honors his name.
Congratulations, you are the "Forged in Fire" champion,
and that's a title that comes with a check for $10,000.
Good job. [applause]
Thank you.
WIL WILLIS: How do you feel right now?
Oh yeah!
All right, man.
Come on over and shake our hands.
Good job, brother.
It's a beautiful sword.
Yeah!
I'm the new "Forged in Fire" champion.
You did a phenomenal job on that heat treat.
Thank you, sir.
I'm proud of what I did, and been a fun deal.
Hey, can I get a "Forged in Fire" belt buckle now?
No belt buckle?
Come on.