WIL WILLIS: Paul, Steven, congratulations.
You're both one step closer to the title of "Forged in Fire"
champion and a check for 10 grand.
All that you need to do now is go home and recreate
an iconic weapon from history.
That weapon is the Ngombe Ngulu.
Good luck, bladesmiths.
We'll see you in five days.
[music playing]
STEVEN: I want to get going.
My shop is--
I often refer to it as a hobbit hole.
This is a fire breathing spider that'll eat you alive.
I make weird stuff.
And this is really weird.
If that doesn't lop off a head, I don't know what will.
This blade is a really difficult one to shape because there's
a lot of curvature.
To get a blade like this to balance,
I've got to do a lot of hammerwork.
And I've got to be really careful
not to cancel out everything I do on each hammer strip.
[music playing]
PAUL: My competition is Steven, who's a great young smith.
He doesn't have the kind of experience that I do.
But none of us have any experience
making a Ngombe Ngulu.
So it's going to be a tough race.
I'm deciding to use a leaf spring.
The Ngombe used salvaged materials
that already had holes or shapes cut in it
and formed their pieces around them.
I'm gonna drop a drift right down that hole to see if I
can get the hole to open up.
I'm going to try to achieve good balance with this blade.
It's a really unusual shape so that it feels good in the hand
and that it will swing nicely.
[music playing]
STEVEN: Now, I'm feeling the pressure cause I knew
that I had a lot to do today.
Propane, I need to kick this sucker up.
Time to heat treat.
This is a really critical point in this process.
There's a lot that could go wrong.
If the blade is going to fail, I--
I will know very quickly after it's hardened.
[music playing]
There is a warp.
[bleeps]
It's in the main section of the blade.
If I try to straighten it, and it cracks, I'm in trouble.
Oh [bleeps].
PAUL: Today, I'm going to have to heat treat.
I pretty much have to widen the whole top.
I hate to take the time to carve up my heat treat furnace.
But I really don't have any other options at this point.
I'm feeling pretty nervous right now.
There's a lot that could go wrong.
I could get a really bad warp, or the blade
could fail to harden, and I'd have to start
the process over again.
[music playing]
Man, I hope that that's not like an omen right there.
[laughs]
Oh hell, I'm going to go for it.
That's good.
[music playing]
It doesn't look any worse than it did when I put it in.
That is such a huge relief.
Today is the day that everything has to be done.
Yesterday, I was able to get all of the warp out in the temper.
That was a relief.
I am putting the handle on right now.
And I need to make sure that I don't settle
for gaps and misalignment.
I highly doubt I'll hit the marks that Paul will
hit just because he has so much more
experience with this finish.
And so the stakes are much higher.
So this epoxy works very fast.
And I'm becoming very aware of the closing
window of time I have here to get everything assembled.
[music playing]
Oh [bleep].
I cracked the last piece in the handle.
A mistake has been made.
There's no going back.
I have just enough African blackwood to replace
my last piece on the handle.
At this point in time, it's really precious.
[music playing]
PAUL: When I make knives, I try and pay
attention to the small details.
I'll take the nickname "Captain Meticulous."
The first thing I'm getting at this morning
are the globes that are a required element
on the end of the handle.
The globes could be thought of as a really large pommel.
They're using wood instead of metal as a counterweight.
That'll make it really accurate to the Ngombe Ngulu.
We've got scales cut.
I made a weighted pommel nut to put on to the very end
so that I can dial in the-- the balance.
I'm adding a leather spacer, which will act like a cushion.
This will all dampen vibration like a shock absorber.
The last detail is doing the leather handle wrap.
It's going to be a great grip.
So this is a 1 inch thick manilla rope.
It's a standard test for a lot of knife edge stuff.
The worst case scenario would be to find out
that my edge doesn't hold up.
Go about like that.
Something like that could send me home.
And here we go.
And that is a pass.
[music playing]
WIL WILLIS: Bladesmiths, welcome back to the forge.
You've had five days at your home forges
to work on your finale weapons.
You know what's next, the weapons test.
Dave?
Gentlemen, this is the sharpness test.
To test the sharpness of your blades,
I'll be cutting into our cane man here.
Paul, you ready?
Yes.
I feel good.
I know that the geometry behind my edge is thin and convex.
So it should cut through the cane very well.
[music playing]
DAVID BAKER: This is what I love to see
come back in the third round.
This feels like a weapon.
It cuts like a weapon.
It went right through that cane.
You nailed it.
Thank you.
All right, Steven.
You ready for this?
Yes, sir.
STEVEN: Dave is clearly excited about Paul's
blade, which is great for Paul.
I'm a little worried because I want him
to be excited on my blade, too.
But we'll see.
[music playing]
Your weapon, it's the same weapon, different feel.
It's a different weight.
It's a different balance.
But the cuts, you can see, it just passed right through.
There wasn't any resistance on that cane.
Nicely done.
STEVEN: And that felt really good to hear.
Never expected to make it this far
based on how round one went.
And it just feels good to have made
something that's effective.
Gentlemen, to test the strength
and durability of your blades, I'm going
to chop into these clay pots.
This is not about what your blades do to the pots.
It's what these pots can do to your blades.
Paul, you're up first.
PAUL: Hitting something as hard as a clay pot,
I don't have any idea what it's going to do to my edge.
[music playing]
The balance is really nice on this.
It's heavy where it needs to be heavy.
When you're swinging it, you know where it's going.
There's a slight roll on the edge of your blade right
here that I can get a fingernail on that.
Everything down at the handle and the guard are still tight.
Yeah, other than that one roll, it seems to have held up well.
All right, Steven, it's your turn.
Are you ready for this?
Yes, sir.
DAVID BAKER: OK.
[music playing]
Nice and straight.
I don't really see anything out of alignment.
Your blade's a little bit heavier than Paul's.
But it's got a good feel.
It's got a good balance.
The wood you've got in the handle
and the extension of this handle has put the balance
in a really nice place.
Cool.
DAVID BAKER: Yeah, I can't feel any deformation on the edge.
Well done.
Thank you.
DAVID BAKER: Next up, the kill test.
Doug?
I know what the weapon was used for.
And I'm starting to wonder pretty hardcore what we're
about to do to these dummies.
Bladesmiths, this is the kill test.
The Ngombe Ngulu wasn't just a weapon used by tribal chiefs
to show status.
It was also known as "The Beheading Sword of the Congo."
So to see what kind of lethal damage your weapon will do,
I will take your Ngombe Ngulu, and I'll deliver lethal slashes
on this ballistics dummy.
[music playing]
[laughter]
Oh my god.
That was bad ass.
All right, Paul.
Let's talk about your Ngombe Ngulu.
It feels good in the hand.
It's got a razor's edge here that upon its initial delivery
into the gut, that dug in deep all the way in to the bowel.
Yeah.
DOUG MARCAIDA: Now, for its intended purpose
of going up to decapitate the head, well, come on.
It's got no head.
It's dead.
Your weapon will kill.
Thank you.
DOUG MARCAIDA: All right, Steven.
It's your turn. You ready?
Yes, sir.
[music playing]
DOUG MARCAIDA: All right, Steven.
Your blade is sharp.
It lacerated all the way into the bowels.
As you can see, that cut through the jaw and all the way
through the head.
The wood that you have here, it's smooth,
but it's the indexing that you have with it,
the way you have it flattened out and avoid that feels good
in the hand.
Awesome.
And it will kill.
Thanks.
WIL WILLIS: Paul, Steven, the judge's deliberation
is complete.
The "Forged in Fire" champion is--
[music playing]
--Steven.
Congratulations.
You are the "Forged in Fire" champion.
Paul, thank you very much for turning
in such a beautiful weapon.
But now, I have to ask you to surrender it.
And please leave the forge.
PAUL: I certainly accept the judge's decision.
First thing I'm gonna do when I get home is clean my shop
and get on with what I usually make.
Steven, congratulations.
You are the "Forged in Fire" champion
and will be receiving a check for 10 grand.
How do you feel?
I feel great.
[laughs] It's a little surreal.
I damn well proved what I came in here to prove.
I am creative and that I can make a functional weapon
and that you don't have to be the most experienced.
If you put your heart into stuff, things, you know,
can turn out well.
It was fun as hell.
And I'm glad that I came out on top.
[music playing]