Peter, Everett, congratulations,
you fellas have made it into the third round
of this competition.
Now, when you came here, we had you make signature
blades in your signature style.
That's not going to happen at your home forges.
Instead, you'll be making one of these--
Genghis Khan's sword.
Sweet.
Good luck.
We'll see you in four days.
Bring your A game.
I'll bring my A-plus game.
[laughs]
[rock music]
I'm back in Austin, Texas.
And I have to make Genghis Khan's sword.
Let's get to work.
I was considering a Damascus build,
but I think that's a risk.
You're asking for potential delams and weak points.
So I'm thinking of a strong mono steel here.
I'm going to go function, function, function.
I think that it's going to be a challenge, no matter
what, just sheer length.
You know, the longer it is, it's harder
to keep these things straight.
You're asking for warps and other weirdness to go on.
I'm hoping to get the whole fuller in today
and the tang shaped out.
I'm pretty happy with how it's going so far.
So basically, my sword is ready to quench now.
I pull it out.
Wow, it's pretty straight.
And it's hard.
This is a huge relief.
[rock music]
So this is day 2.
It seems like day 10 or something.
It's brutal.
I'm forging along.
It's starting to stretch out nicely.
I want to leave it a little bit thick to avoid a big--
[whoosh]
I should be able to get into some heat treat.
I really want to get this done right the first time.
I don't want something to go wrong.
I pull it out--
not bad.
Not like a pool stick.
But it's got a little whoop-de-doo in.
But I've got a lot of meat on the blade
to straighten that out.
[rock music]
A little tired, but nothing some good coffee won't cure.
I got a octagonal guard knocked out.
And I'm going to make some epoxy and set some pins,
and then we'll start thinking about our butt cap.
My plan is to put this butt guard on and use the press,
just real gently, to conform the metal over the groove,
and have it lock into place so it's
got this physical connection.
I go to the press.
It feels like it should just press into place.
And then it immediately goes south.
Ah!
Crap.
I break my freaking handle.
It looks like I popped it open there.
I notice the handle's screwed up,
so I gotta pry it off, and clean everything up, and re-epoxy,
re-pin everything.
Round two.
I also have to fix the butt cap that I messed up trying
to press it into the tang.
I have to change my game plan and attach
the butt plate by epoxy.
I do feel like I'll be able to get a handle on the situation.
[laughs]
[rock music]
I'm trying to figure out this handle design.
The finishing of a weapon, I feel,
is the most time consuming.
This is tedious.
So I got this curved tang to deal with.
So I decide to cut the pieces up.
My idea is to have this tang sticking out,
because I have to put this little hole in there
for a little--
[whistles] little tassels.
Put the handle together, doing the dry fit.
Uh-oh.
See, my angle's way off.
Hmm.
I'm going to go bend this tang just a hair.
It's gonna be real close.
I really thought I'd be further along, like,
pretty much done right now.
But I think I'm set up good for tomorrow to finish.
[rock music]
It's the last day.
I have a sword.
So now, it's sharpen, sharpen, sharpen.
I'm going for a very sharp edge.
And that's a bit of a calculated risk.
So it will certainly help in the cut and potentially kill test.
But if the strength test is bashing
against bones or something, then this
could be a detractor for me.
I believe my sword is a lot like Genghis Khan, actually-- sharp
and really frickin' brutal.
I think there's only one thing left to do.
We've got to give this some sort of test.
Woo!
OK.
That was kind of cool.
All right, bladesmiths, welcome to the kill test.
To find out what kind of lethal damage your weapon will do,
I will take your sword and deliver some killing
blows to this ballistics dummy.
Peter, you're up first. You ready?
Yes, sir.
Let's do this.
[rock music]
[blade impacts]
[grunts]
[chuckles]
All right, Peter, first up, your edge is sharp.
The balance feels good.
But it did take quite a pronounced bend.
But the more important thing is, it will kill.
I timed that perfectly.
[laughs]
All right, Doc Everett, are you ready, sir?
Let's do some surgery.
[rock music]
Yikes.
All right, Everett, your edge is very sharp.
It slashes nicely.
Your tip punctures easily.
Cuts on the way out.
With all these cuts, it'll kill.
[laughs]
All right, gentlemen, it's time for the strength test.
Now, to test the strength and overall construction
of your blades, I'll be attacking
our armored targets over here.
Peter, you're up first.
You ready?
Let her rip, tater chip.
[rock music]
[blade impacts]
All right, Peter.
I'm gonna start with your handle.
I find it really comfortable the way it flares towards the tip.
It works pretty good for my hand.
And I love what you did with this kind
of low-layer count Damascus.
It's very dramatic.
But we've got some very deep rolls on this edge.
There they go.
You hear it?
Those chips, that's an issue.
But all in all, you did a good job.
All right, Everett, you ready?
I am.
OK.
[rock music]
Ah, piece of armor.
[rock music]
Nice.
All right, Everett, your blade, still spot on.
What I really like is the fact that that blade
is, at its widest point, maybe 3/16 of an inch.
You don't need weight and mass for strength
in a properly tempered blade.
That's really good.
You've got a section of blade here that's not quite
as sharp as it was right there.
All in all, I think you did a great job.
Awesome.
All right, bladesmiths, this is the war banner slice.
To test the sharpness of your blade, I will take your weapon
and slash across these war banners.
Peter, you're up first. You ready?
Yes, sir.
[rock music]
[blade impacts]
So where your edge has a chip, you can see,
it catches and rips through the banner.
Where it's not, it cuts nicely.
Overall, sir, it will cut.
All right, Everett, it's your turn.
You ready, sir?
I think this beats the hell out of peer review.
All right, let's find out.
[laughs]
[rock music]
[blade impacts]
OK, Everett, your edge here does cut.
It's sharp.
It cuts in some of the areas.
On some parts of it, it ripped.
But overall, sir, it will cut.
Awesome.
All right, gentlemen, based on what we've seen in the weapons
test, the judges have made their final decision
about which of you is our "Forged in Fire" champion.
Peter, your sword took the most damage in our strength test.
You had a rolled edge, and your blade bent.
For that reason, I have to dismiss you from the forge.
Come on forward.
I feel a little sad.
But it's been an awesome experience.
This loss is not going to deter me.
It's going to just make me stronger.
I may not be the "Forged in Fire" champion.
But I still think I'm a badass smith.
Well, Everett, your blade is comfortable, well-balanced,
strong, and deadly.
And that makes you the "Forged in Fire" champion.
And that's a title that comes with a check for 10 grand.
Good job.
Come on forward and shake our hands.
[laughs]
This experience was really fun.
It was really tough in a lot of places.
And it's been a hell of a ride.
[rock music]