Seth Steve congratulations you guys have
made it into this final round of
competition and that means we're sending
you back to your home for just to
recreate this iconic weapon from history
Napoleon's saber
good luck bladesmiths we'll see you in
four days I'm back home at my home Forge
in gochang Mississippi and I'm going to
be working on Napoleon Sabre round one I
let the pressure get to my head and I
didn't meet parameters so I'm really
gonna have to make sure that I don't get
flustered and make this thing beautiful
and functional as well I decided to go
with 5160 it is a great spring steel but
I'm looking at the blade and I think I
have a little too much curvature I was
at the three inch mark so I had to put
it back in the Forge and knock it down I
knocked it down a little too far
time to go back in the forage again it's
kind of like a cat-and-mouse game
it's a little over an inch well it's
just one of those things it's back and
forth and back and forth and I'm finally
got
I'm back at home I'm in my comfort zone
the lack of power tools could put me at
a disadvantage so I need to plan wisely
I've got a nice bar of 5160 it's gonna
make a good strong sword is super hard
to hammer and I'm gonna have to just get
after it and know that day one is gonna
be tough but I'm gonna have to suck it
up we're gonna be here a while for the
pommel I'm using one inch solid hot
rolled steel I've got a lot of metal to
move and I'm a little bit worried that I
might not get all this metal move today
finally I've got this thing where I need
it we're at the correct length the
correct thickness day is a success all
right
feels pretty good
it's the start of day two it's time move
on to the heat treatment of the blade
the idea is is to get as even heat on
this as possible and like Napoleon I
will divide and conquer
[Music]
I don't feel no tics I don't feel no
Tings I have a hardened blade it's time
to do a rough it up of the wood part of
the handle and pommel and this is going
to taper down to the brass that's the
idea now is it going to work I go to try
to bend it and it bends just a little
bit on the first go-round and I'm like
alright alright this looks like it's
going to work I go to try to bend it one
more time no broke the brass that was my
biggest piece of brass that I could have
used for it
so that's kind of down the drain at this
point I don't really know what to do but
look down at the floor and I'm looking
at the deer antlers that I have and I
noticed the curvature in them no one
says that it has to be made out of brass
copper or gold as long as I hollow it
out and it has a nice taper to it and it
fits the hand why not a deer antler we
got a fit today will be clinching the
blade the quench is a moment that can go
horribly wrong I've got to get the
entire blade one nice uniform
temperature it's not gonna be very easy
in the short boards that I have so what
I plan on doing is building an oven
that's the back side of the board this
ovens don't keep my point warm but not
let it cool off should be a good help so
I've got the forge turned up as high as
it'll go I've got my little butane torch
in the front all right here we go
we're straight the beautiful sand of a
skating bow hard hard hard other quench
go quench went good I think no bends and
the warps got it out file skated on it
remember to finish give me a little
while we'll have that done okay okay
thanks for checking I love you Larry
the closer and closer I get towards the
final shape of it I'm feeling it in my
hand kind of twirling it a little bit
not quite as good as Doug Marcaida will
be doing but feels good in the hand
becoming a foraging fire champion would
be a great way to show people that I can
do this and would be one step closer for
me to becoming a full-time bladesmith
because this is the dream right here I
am good I couldn't be happier
it's the last day I tempered the blade
yesterday in the oven but I felt like I
maybe half did the job so I want to
temper my blade with my torch to give me
peace of mind there is risk involved in
a torch temper which means that I could
lose the hardness of the blade I should
see a nice blue up toward the top and a
little straw moving down for the middle
of the blade I think that set is going
to try to design a blades it's going to
be much prettier and sharply in the mind
but I secre fast a little bit of
sharpness you get a little more meat
behind that cutting edge
I'm in at about three pounds right now
it's gonna cut but it's not gonna be a
razor blade
it doesn't feel horribly heavy it really
doesn't put it right there there's one
more thing to do it will keep all right
placements to find out what kind of
lethal damage your weapon will do on the
deliver slashes and thrusts on this pig
carcass Seth you're up first you ready
for this let's do it
all right Seth from the Stata to the
Trotter every cut with us as you can see
offers a very deep lacerating cut the
only issue is that your blade did pick
up a little bit of a bend but overall
sir with the way this weapon moves and
feels it will kill thank you very much
good job alright Steven your turn you
ready sir yes sir
[Music]
hi Steven let's talk about your Sabre
here it's a heavy unbalanced sword the
minute you pick up me it wants to pull
straight down it's hard to wield but the
weight of your sword here
will definitely bash in and cut so it
will kill thank you Oh bladesmiths a
Sabres supposed to be a sturdy weapon so
let's see how yours hold up on her
strength test the RAM skull chop now I'm
gonna take each of your Sabres and with
no mercy at all bash them and as RAM
skull it's not only got to test the
overall strength of your knife but the
heat treat on your edge now I don't
really care what your swords do to the
skulls I want to see what the skulls do
to your swords now Seth you're up first
you ready to go swing it good
all right Seth your edge held up but we
do have a bigger bend in the blade than
we had before your guard is now mobile
and both your bolsters came off as well
so this mechanical connection right in
here failed but the connection between
your blade and your handles still sturdy
you took some damage but you survived
good job thank you sir
Steve I've seen that how you feel I
don't know let's see
Daniel I had a trade
well Steve we obviously have a problem
here you got a very coarse grain
structure in here so I don't know if
there was enough tempering done on this
5160 blade I mean one strike is all it
took and snapped it right in half
so that's obviously a problem well Steve
there's nothing left to test your blade
has suffered a catastrophic failure and
can no longer continue in this
competition and for that reason I have
to ask you to please exit the forge
I'm upset I'm very disappointed that the
blade broke like that I'm not coming
home as the champion but I'm coming home
a whole lot smarter I've made some
friends that I'll have forever I would
do this again
no questions that
well Seth this is a competition where
the best plate wins your blades survive
this strength test you are the forged in
fire champion and that's a title that
comes with a check for $10,000
how do you feel surreal right now well
good job brother you're a champion I
could not be more excited about this
experience this competition has been
some of the most fun of my life the
money's gonna do some things for the
shop and my wife and my daughter are
gonna go on a real nice trip
my name is Seth Morris and I'm the
forged in fire champion
you