Brendan and Cody, congratulations.
You guys are in the third and final round
of this competition.
Now when you came here, we asked you to make smatchets to very
exacting specifications.
Well, that's led us up to our next and final challenge where
you'll have to forge this parameter-heavy blade
from history, the Spanish conquistador sword.
Good luck.
We'll see you in four days.
Good luck, man.
BRENDAN: So it's day one.
We are in Atascadero, California, at my home forge,
and I'm about to make a Spanish conquistador sword from 80CrV2.
And so it begins.
No power hammer, no press.
I am just going to be doing a lot of hammering today.
It's got a lot of parameters on it.
It's got a knuckle guard, medallion pummel,
a lot of places that I can mess up.
So at this point at the end of day one I moved a lot of metal,
and I did it without a power hammer.
My hand doesn't really feel very good, but it's all good.
CODY: It's the start of day three.
Today's going to be all about the guard.
With all these pieces on this guard,
the balance and the weight of this is going to be an issue.
Most of it's just going to be seeming what feels right.
I have to start bending up the quillons and the knuckle-bow.
At first it was pretty confusing trying
to figure out which direction the swoops of the quillons
were supposed to go.
As I broke it down, it became clear in my head.
Starting to look like something.
I have a big chunk of Damascus left over from the blade
that I plan on using for the pommel,
and this will balance out the weight of the sword.
I'm really happy with the way everything came out,
so tomorrow will just be a little bit of cleaning,
fine tuning, and shaping.
BRENDAN: Day three.
I have to finish this blade.
I got to get it heat treated.
I got to get as much of that done today as possible.
So I got to get all of that done today.
As I'm forging this thing out, I'm just about
done straightening it, and I noticed that it's
not quite getting as hot.
The propane is running out.
It's just slowly dropping.
It's not very easy to go fill this tank.
At this point, I am running out of time,
so I'm not going to quench today because I won't be able to get
the blade hot enough.
So I'm going to just wait it out until I have the propane,
get the even heat that I need because there's
zero room for error.
CODY: It's the start of day four.
I have to get everything cleaned up.
I've got to get the handle shaped.
I will bed it with epoxy.
I'm going to wax the tang and then pour it into the handle,
and that will set up.
I think I can afford to do a little texturing.
It'll add a little bit of grip.
Everything slides on just as I want them too.
This thing will KEAL.
BRENDAN: So it's day four, last day.
I was able to get some new propane in the tank.
I have a big list of stuff to do today.
So I'm quenching before I do anything else.
Yeah, it came out great.
Now I have to start thinking about all the other components
of this build.
Starting out with this guard, I'm actually welding it
to the blade because I won't have
to worry about it slipping off.
I think it'll be fine.
I'm checking the specs, and it says disk-shaped pommel.
It doesn't say that it has to be steel.
So I think that my best bet is just making one out of wood.
It's over.
I'm tired.
I am stoked that I think I hit every parameter,
and I feel extremely excited to see this thing in action.
All right, bladesmiths, welcome to the KEAL test.
Your weapons are lovely, but are they deadly?
Well, to find out, I will take your weapon,
deliver some slashes and thrusts on this beautiful Spanish goat.
Cody, you're up first.
You ready for this?
I'm ready.
[music playing]
All right, Cody, I think there's
a little bit of a problem here.
I can't get my eyes past the beauty of the Damascus
that you have right here.
This is a beautiful piece.
It cuts deeply.
It thrusts nicely even when hitting bone,
and it is a pleasure to wield.
Sure is a beautiful sword that you have here.
It will KEAL.
Yeah.
All right, Brendan, your turn, sir.
Time to have fun?
Yeah.
Let's do this.
[music playing]
Good job.
All right, Brendan, let's talk about your sword here.
Your blade did take a little bend
here that wasn't there earlier.
The handle kind of kicks up right now.
Now your edge is very sharp right here.
The point is sharp enough to thrust all the weight.
Using this edge delivers that kind of cut.
Overall, sir, your weapon, it will KEAL.
Bladesmiths, welcome to the perfect strength test
for your swords, our flex test.
Now a properly heat-treated blade will
bend and come back to true.
If it's not properly heat treated,
it could bend, stay that way, or just break altogether.
Cody, you ready to go?
Let's do it.
Cody, really nice job.
Great balance.
Beautiful sword.
It hasn't moved at all.
It's dead straight.
Heat treating Damascus on a knife
can be tricky enough sometimes, and doing it
on a sword like this and keeping that heat
treat dead on, really nice job.
Thank you.
All right, Brendan, you saw what's it like.
How you feeling?
A little nervous.
Good job, Brendan.
Now you could see when it was locked in the vice the guard
was kicked off to the side, so you've got a twist
in your blade up at the tip.
You had a little bit of a warp on the tip before.
It's a little bit further now but not extreme.
Good choice on the steels.
A little bit of a bend but very good job.
Thanks.
All right, bladesmiths, now it's time to find
out how sharp your weapons are.
This is the sharpness test, the fine slice.
Now conquistador, or conqueror in English,
didn't just have to conquer their enemies but the terrain
that they find themselves holding their weapon.
To find out how sharp your weapons are,
I will take your swords and try to cut through these vines.
Now unlike the strength test, this
is all about how well the edge of your blade
cuts through these vines.
Cody, you're up first.
You ready for this?
Let's do it.
[music playing]
All right, Cody, we know from the KEAL test
the first 4 inches are sharp, but now for the sharpness test
the rest of the blade is very sharp like a hot knife
through butter.
It will cut.
All right, Brendan, your turn. You ready, sir?
Oh yeah.
[music playing]
All right, Brendan, let's talk about your edge here.
The first 4 inches here are very sharp,
this razor edge right there.
Then it doesn't hold an edge on any of these parts right here,
and then it picks up a sharp edge in this area here.
On that one vine it didn't cut.
There is a laceration but not deep enough.
But on the areas that are sharp, it cuts right through.
So it will cut.
All right, bladesmiths, the "Forged in Fire" champion
is Cody.
Congratulations.
You're the new "Forged in Fire" champion.
Good job, brother.
Brendan, unfortunately your blade didn't make the cut.
Come on forward, my friend.
Good job, man.
BRENDAN: This was a very difficult challenge.
Having such a complex final build to make,
it was pretty crazy, but it was a great time.
Cody, congratulations.
You are the "Forged in Fire" champion,
and that's a title that comes with a check for $10,000.
Good job, my friend.
[applause]
I just won "Forged in Fire."
This is awesome.
This is the most money I've ever had
in one check, that's for sure.
I have no idea what I'm going to do with this money.
I'm going to spend some of it on my shop,
and I'm going to spend some of it on my family.
[music playing]