- Pete, Joe.
Congratulations.
You've made it into the final.
Now we're sending you back to your home
forges where you will have to forge
an iconic blade from history.
Are you ready to see what that weapon is?
Oh, yeah.
Yes.
Absolutely.
The pandat.
Oh!
WIL (VOICEOVER): The pandat is a two-handed sword carried
into battle by the Dayaks, a group
of tribes that lived on the island of Borneo
for thousands of years.
Though most Dayak weapons doubled as useful tools,
the pandat was only used in war.
Forged from iron, the pandat features an angled blade
and can be swung downwards with two hands.
An iron cross piece was inserted through a hole
at the end of the handle, protecting the user's hand.
The blade was sometimes decorated
with hair or rattan plant.
Until the early 20th century, Dayak raiders
plundered coastal settlements for resources, money,
and even enemy heads, proving just how
deadly this weapon could be.
Good luck bladesmiths.
We'll see you in five days.
This is home, Jenks, Oklahoma.
It's going to be hot.
It's going to be humid.
But I'm not worried about anything other than an accident
or the unforeseen.
I mean, I have never seen this blade.
I've never even heard of it.
A little apprehensive about building it.
Five days-- it seems like a lot of time.
But to build a piece like this, it's going
to be really, really hard.
Come on.
Stay with me.
Don't-- don't power out on me.
What's going on?
Oh, wow.
I haven't seen it rain this hard in a long time, y'all.
I mean, this is kind of intense.
Oh, [bleep].
OK.
Yeah, boys.
Damn it!
Go, go, go.
Stay where you're at.
Do not move.
Midway through day one, everything's going great
and boom, amazing storm hits.
I mean, this thing was unreal.
There was some damage done.
We had a lot of trees down.
Took out, of course, the meter and the power lines.
Doesn't look like we're going to get power back anytime soon.
So we're going to get a generator.
We're going to get it pumped up.
We're gonna get power and juice back in the shop.
And then we're gonna move forward.
[generator starting]
Yay!
We have power.
This was a pretty good setback.
It's reality check.
You go, hey, you sure you got what it takes to do this?
Today is day three, and I've been told it's Saturday.
There's gonna be a cutting test.
There's gonna be a strength test.
There's going to be a KEAL test, too.
So I want to draw my spine back so it's a little softer so it's
got a little bit of flex.
So I rigged up kind of an ancient way to do it.
I've dug a trench to keep the edge cool,
so it won't get soft.
I've really been fighting the wind with it.
But as fast as you get it warmed up, it cools down.
I also have to keep water in the trench.
When you've got a very hot torch blasting against the water,
it evaporates rather quickly.
I'm not sure I'm going to get it done.
Day four, either we top the hill
or we roll down another one.
Today's a make or break day for this blade.
We're going to quench this thing and hope for the best.
And hopefully your best is good enough.
Doing this is about as nerve wracking as it gets.
You just want everything to go nice and smooth.
It did harden, but I got crazy-ass warpage right there.
It's a bit of a kick in the pants.
We're running out of time.
Grind, grind, grind.
That's what it's going to come down to.
And hopefully we'll get that warp out.
Bladesmiths, this is the sharpness test.
To see how sharp your weapons are,
I will attempt to cut through these web of ropes
with three identical strikes.
If they're sharp, I should meet no resistance.
Joey, you're up first. You ready?
Let's do it.
Well, Joe.
All the weight is at the tip of the blade.
So when I come down, it wants to draw me forward.
And the recovery is a little bit harder on the way back.
You have a sharp edge over here that I
almost met no resistance.
Overall sir, your blade will cut.
Pete, you're up next.
You ready?
Yes, sir.
Let's do this.
OK, Pete.
It is a sharp blade.
The balance is light.
You have a lighter blade, here.
It's not as heavy to pull forward.
It's a good job.
The only issue I have is that I kind of ran out of handle here.
I would have liked to see a little pommel here, or probably
even a longer handle so it's easier
to control and not feel like I'm at the end of my rope,
so to say.
Overall, this weapon, sir, will cut.
Thank you.
All right bladesmiths, next up is a kill test.
Now the pandat was a weapon used by head
hunting tribes in Borneo.
To see how lethal your weapon is, I will take your pandat
and I will deliver one blow to this carcass.
Let's see how much damage your weapon can do.
Joe, you're up first. You ready?
Bring it.
Let's do it.
OK, John.
The balance feels so forward-heavy
that when you slice through this carcass, it pulled me into it
and cut cleanly all the way through.
This weapon, sir, will kill.
Good job.
Thank you.
Pete, you're up next.
You ready?
Yes I am.
OK, Pete.
The difference with your blade is that it's light.
And because it's light, I can use velocity to help
cut through this carcass.
This weapon, sir, will kill.
Good job.
Thank you.
All right, gentlemen.
This is the strength test.
To test the strength and durability of your blades,
we're going to hook them into our machine
here, which is going to chop into this bundle of sugar cane.
Now, if your blades are tempered properly,
they should cut into the cane without a problem.
If not, we might get them to bend, warp--
well, we'll see what happens.
Joe, you're already rigged up on the machine.
You ready to go? - Let's go.
All right.
Let's do it.
All right, Joe.
3, 2, 1.
All right.
So, Joe.
Now when I pull this out of the machine,
there's a bit of a bend right here
in the ricasso, kind of a gap right along the edge
of the blade in the guard.
It had that warp when it got here.
It had that warp when it got here?
It was actually offset.
It's got a little bit of a twist--
maybe a five degree twist.
I couldn't get it out whenever I built it.
Well, it may have gotten bigger during that test.
Overall, the edge held up fine.
No damage whatsoever.
It's got a good shape.
Good job.
Thanks, sir.
All right, Pete.
You're all locked in.
Ready for this?
I am.
All right.
All right, Pete.
3, 2, 1.
All right, Pete.
You can actually see how much this blade flexed when
it went into the cane and came back to true, which
is always what I want to see.
Definitely sharp, well put together.
Feels good.
Well done, Pete.
Thank you.
Gentlemen, this is one of the tightest competitions
that we've had.
It's exactly what we want from our bladesmiths.
It was a difficult decision.
But that final decision has been made.
And the Forged in Fire champion is--
Pete, congratulations.
You are the Forged in Fire champion.
Joe, please surrender your weapon.
This experience has taught me, like many things in life,
to try.
Dare to fail.
If you fail, so what?
Feeling kind of disappointed right now.
But at least I tried.
Pete, congratulations.
You are the Forged in Fire champion
and will be receiving that check for 10 grand.
Good job.
Thank you.
[applause]
Pete, what I really liked about your blade,
amongst many things, is I wanted to grab that thing
and cut something with it.
And when I felt it--
I mean, it gives you the woo to strike, you know?
It really does want to cut.
How you feeling right now, Pete?
Feel pretty good.
I'm feeling like I could just roll on the floor and bust
out laughing.
It feels real good.
Feels real good to win.
I'm going home the Forged in Fire champion.
And I know all 24 of my grandkids
are going to be excited for Grandpa.