Gentlemen.
Congratulations, you've made it to the second round.
In this round of competition, you'll
be attaching handles to your blades
to turn them into fully functional weapons.
There's an entire pantry of materials at your disposal
to use for your handles, in addition to
an entire garbage can full of junk we've
brought from the junkyard.
You will have to incorporate at least
one piece of that junk, visibly, into your handle's
construction.
Gotta keep up with the theme.
Just because your weapons are made out of junk,
doesn't mean they need to look like junk.
We want to see something beautiful and functional.
Good luck, bladesmiths.
Your three-hour time starts now.
All right, all right, all right.
Oh hell, it's go time.
So what do these guys have to do
to make sure they meet the requirements we've
given them in this challenge?
In many ways, they've got to keep it simple
because two of our smiths have a lot of metal
to move on their blades.
Right away, I moved to the grinder.
I know I'm going to have a good hour to an hour and a half
to get my blades straightened out.
Nice two-inch band of sparks coming off of there.
It's bright, too, man.
Moving metal.
Looks like the 4th of July over there.
When I step up to the grinder I've got quite a bit of stuff
to do.
It's a beast of a knife and so I've
got to clean it up, lighten it up, and get the balance right.
The first thing I want to do is I want to start
looking at the materials.
It's overwhelming.
There's just so much to choose from.
I find this nice piece of dark wood.
We have to use a piece of this junk and it has to be visible.
Plastic, huh?
So I'm looking through this big barrel of junk,
and I find like this bumper piece.
I'm thinking that's going to make a great guard.
I'm straightening my blade, but I haven't looked
at the junkyard stuff yet.
That's really what I need to do in the next two
hours and 24 minutes.
[laughs]
I end up spending way too much time on the grinder.
I'm thinking you're way behind the 8-ball here, bubba.
I go to the handle material trying
to find something that's wide enough that's
going to cover my handle.
And it ended up being warthog tooth
that's encased in acrylic.
What does Joe have on his handle
that's from the garbage pile?
Nothing.
Nothing yet, right?
The only guy I think that really has the junk material
figured out is Brandon.
[music playing]
At this point I got my guard and my handle on the blade.
So I start trying to work it, give it a basic shape.
[music playing]
While I'm waiting for my epoxy to set up for my scales,
I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate this piece of hinge
into this knife blade.
I grab a bumper cover, just a urethane plastic bumper cover.
So I go to the band saw.
I'm fired up.
And I mean, I just ripped it out just as fast as I could
go to make a bolster out of it.
A bolster's kind of a front guard on the knife.
I'm going, OK, just relax.
We're going to do this and it's going to be something great.
[music playing]
As I'm gluing the handle up, everything's
fitting together great.
I'm-- I'm sweating the clock.
If I don't get something in the handle that reflects anything
out of that barrel, I don't meet the criteria for the challenge
and I'm out.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Bladesmiths, drop your tools.
Going into testing, I'm excited.
It's make or break at this point.
And I just want to see what it'll do.
I got it done.
If my handle holds up, I think I'll have a real good chance.
Bladesmiths, I'll be testing the strength and durability
of your blades by taking each of your knives
and cutting into three coconuts.
Joe, you ready?
Yeah, let's see what it's got.
[music playing]
[sighs]
[knife hits]
[bleep]
Joe,
Yes, sir.
The width, the weight, the curvature-- everything
feels really good about it.
There's no edge damage.
Overall, you did great.
Thank you.
Pete, you're up next.
You ready?
Yes.
[music playing]
There's a slight tremor inside as Jason picks
it up and takes a look at it.
Deep breath.
[music playing]
[knife slams]
That's awesome.
Pete, got some really clean cuts there with this knife.
Your edge geometry is perfect.
I was a little concerned at how thin it was here.
But I mean, it comes right down to sharp.
Well done.
Thank you.
Brandon, you're up.
You ready?
No, but I guess I ain't got a choice, so--
All right.
[music playing]
I don't want to watch.
[music playing]
That's one.
[music playing]
[knife slams]
That's two.
[music playing]
[bleep]
My handle just splintered.
Oh, that hurt.
Brandon, you got a critical failure on your handle.
It came apart on me.
Because of that, we won't be able to continue testing.
I understand.
This type of wood is very easily split
and you have a large pin there.
And everything that you were trying to do to build
it up actually broke it down.
I guess I made a poor choice in handle material.
Because of the failure, Brandon's handle
will not continue with testing.
Brandon, your weapon did not make the cut.
I have to ask you to leave the forge.
[music playing]
I had this.
I know I did.
If that handle wouldn't of broke, I would have had it.
I knew it.
I'm better than that.
[music playing]