Brock, Page, congratulations.
You're both one step closer to the title
of Forged in Fire Champion and a check for $10,000.
All you have to do now is go home and reproduce
an iconic weapon from history.
That weapon is the Akrafena.
Kind of scared of it.
The Akrafena is a distinctive sword
hailing from the Ashanti kingdom of West Africa
around the 10th century AD.
Initially used as a weapon of warfare,
Ashanti warriors brandished the sword in one or both hands
to deliver heavy strikes in close quarters combat.
The sword's curved blade and dumbbell shaped hilt
were embedded with symbolic designs known as Adinkra,
evoking Ashanti principles like courage, valor, or heroism.
Today, the Akrafena is a national symbol
of the modern day Ashanti city-state,
carried by the king's royal emissaries
at prestigious ceremonies.
Good luck, bladesmiths.
See you in five days.
Bring it on.
Let's do it.
We're back at my home forge.
Let's make some blades.
Looks like we're getting some thunderstorms.
So I think Thor's favoring me today.
All right, all right.
The Akrafena was often made from iron,
so it's very easy to work.
I don't have to worry about annealing it.
It's not going to harden in that way.
Put some fresh coal here.
I'm a lot more comfortable in a coal forge.
It's what I'm used to working with.
We've got to get this up to forge welding heat.
In order to create a blade that will have a very strong edge
but still be mostly iron, I'll have
to use a san mai construction-- folding
the iron onto a high carbon steel,
and create a layered billet.
But as I'm shaping this blade, I noticed an issue.
Damn.
We've got stress cracks.
Probably because of going back and forth
between thinning and shaping.
If those get too severe or too deep, I'm in trouble.
Day three, and a bit of a setback.
I couldn't go forward with the blade I'd been working on.
So I scabbed together a bunch of bars of metal into one,
and forge welded them together.
Not seeing anything that makes me more nervous than before.
So today, I am getting ready to cut out the diamond shapes.
I was going to try to cut something fancy,
but I don't have time.
Time is precious.
Diamond symbol means precious.
Now I have to figure out how to wire up my heat treating oven.
Heat treating a blade is a very stressful
process for the steel.
With the number of forge welds involved in this blade,
there's a real possibility that this blade
could just peel apart.
I didn't feel any bad noises.
It's still a blade.
I think I might actually be able to finish this thing.
[rock music]
Doing some blade surgery this morning.
It's day three.
It's a very pivotal day.
It's OK, little blade.
Going to be all right.
Those cracks are only surface deep.
I don't believe they're going to affect my blade's integrity.
That's just something I'll have to deal with via hammering.
That went pretty well.
I'm going to put some symbols on the surface of the blade.
I've really been drawn more to the ones
with the diamond shape in them.
Looking good.
I really need to heat treat.
The sooner I heat treat, the sooner I find out if this blade
really is ready to go.
Woo.
That feels aggressive.
If anything goes wrong with the heat treat,
I'll have to abandon it if I can't fix the problem.
Got a real severe warp.
Messed that all the hell up.
There's no way this thing can be tested like this.
I really need to get that warp out.
I really don't want to be beating on this thing too much.
I have to really be careful with how I hammer this.
If it cracks, that would be it.
Day four.
This blade's got a whole lot of ugly going on,
so it's kind of necessary to take that off.
Today, I've got to make it pretty, finish the handle,
and decorate the handle if there's time.
The major hurdles of the blade are finally behind me, I think.
Unless I discover something completely unexpected.
No.
I don't want delamination.
I don't like right there.
This might come back to bite me.
But I can't spend time chasing problems.
I need to move on.
I'm not going to grind anymore in that spot.
So my plan for the handle is to take this
really nice looking African wood,
and turn the handle on the lathe.
You spin it, cut off whatever doesn't
look like your finished piece.
All right.
I want to test it.
That works.
I'm about to attempt doing gold leaf.
It's going to take about 30 minutes for this sticky stuff
to be ready for leafing.
Looks like the historical ones.
I built a weapon.
This is the first time I really feel confident that I can win.
Day four.
I need to straighten the blade toward the tang,
so I hammered that a little bit.
That's nice and straight.
So I finally got my Akrafena straightened.
But before I can really know if this thing's going through,
I need to test it.
All right.
So let's take a few light swings.
Let's do some harder swings.
I don't see the judges hitting it any harder than that.
Let me get on shaping this.
I'm going to start working on my handle.
And I'm using an African wood, tamarind.
I think it'll suit this Akrafena well.
That is what we're looking for.
I've chose to incorporate some symbols on the handle--
humility, and strength, endurance.
All of those elements are in this blade.
And I'm very proud of it.
It's going to kill.
Time for judgment, Page.
Bladesmiths, the Akrafena was a weapon
used by the king's emissaries to dispatch their enemies.
To see what kind of lethal damage your weapon can do,
I will deliver killing blows on this lamb carcass.
Brock, you're up first.
You ready?
Yeah.
Let's see what she does.
[dramatic music]
Oh [bleep].
Well, Brock, your sword bent.
Can cut around corners now.
But blades bend in combat.
It's reassuring to hear him say that, oh, well,
blade's been in battle.
That gives me some reassurance that, you know,
I'm not just out of the game.
It's got a nice feel to it.
I don't see any visible chips on the edge.
Overall, your weapon will kill.
Page, you're next.
[rock music]
All right, Page, let's talk about the balance
of your blade.
It actually feels good for chopping.
Your blade cut in deep.
And it cut through the ribs.
And those kinds of cuts will kill.
Gentlemen, to test the strength of your weapon,
I'll take two chops into these pieces of bamboo.
Now remember, this isn't about what
your weapon does to the bamboo, but what
the bamboo does to your weapon.
Brock, you're up first.
No turning back.
[rock music]
All right, so, if you take a look at that,
we've actually straightened the blade out quite a bit.
It's very hard to line that blade up
when it's got that bend to it.
But it did cut.
And I'm not seeing any damage to the edge.
Nicely done.
Page, you are up next, sir.
You ready?
Yes, sir.
[rock music]
You seem to have a issue developing right there.
There's a flake of metal starting to come up.
Things like that start to give me
pause about whether that blade is going to hold up
as we go forward and test it.
Still sharp.
All right, I'm OK pushing this onto the sharpness test.
Thank you, sir.
Bladesmiths, to see how sharp your Akrafena is,
I will take your sword, and deliver a slash across
these ropes and cargo straps.
Let's see how many they can cut through.
Brock, you're up first.
Let's do it.
I'm ready.
[dramatic music]
OK, Brock, your blade was able to cut
through two ropes, two of these ratchet straps, and almost
through the fifth rope.
I don't see that it's picked up any more of a bend.
But overall, your blade will cut.
Page, you're next.
You ready?
Yes, sir.
[rock music]
All right, basically, we were able to cut through at least
eight strands over here.
I don't see that you picked up any bend on your blade here.
And overall, your blade will cut.
Thank you.
Good job.
Bladesmiths, the judges have finished their deliberation,
and I have a final decision.
You've both done fantastic work, but there can only
be one Forged in Fire Champion.
And that champion is--
[dramatic music]
Page, congratulations.
You're the Forged in Fire Champion.
Brock, please surrender your weapon.
I came here to win.
But, you know, I'm happy with what I did.
I learned a lot from the experience.
I don't think you should ever stop challenging yourself.
It's back to the forge, making new things every day.
So I'm excited to get back to that.
Page, congratulations.
You are the Forged in Fire Champion,
and will be receiving a check for $10,000.
How are you feeling right now?
I'm very relieved.
I'm very happy.
I'm a metal geek.
And I've never won anything like this.
What "Forged in Fire" pretty much forced me to do
is step way the heck outside of my comfort zone.
I'd like to think Brock for being a worthy opponent.
He gave me a fair run for the money.
He really made me work for this one.
[dramatic music]