Chris.
Jeremiah.
Congratulations, you've made it to the final round
of this competition, which means that you're both one
step closer to the title of Forged in Fire Champion
and a check for $10,000.
Now we're sending you back to your home forges
to recreate an iconic weapon from history.
That weapon is-- a pair of Viking War Axes.
Good luck, bladesmiths.
We'll see you five days.
[music playing]
It feels good to be home, back out where there's no people.
I'm not a big people person.
Today I'm making two Viking Axes.
I've made some tomahawks in the past and some axes in the past.
I use a lot of low-layer Damascus
so I'm going to do one 17-layer billet.
Hopefully out of that I can get what I need for both axes.
This is a bigger billet.
Normally I start with a 13-layer.
Lucky me.
To get them both turned in the eye-form,
I'm just going to cut a little 2-inch piece
off an inch and a half round stock
and then I can start turning the eye.
Jeremiah's been bladesmithing for a few decades
and I've been doing it for a couple of years.
So I'm kind of the underdog so to speak,
but I love the challenges that come with that.
I'll feel good when it's done and it's right.
Probably another three days before I'll feel good.
I'm excited to get working on these Viking Axes.
I'm taking the advantage of having two forges
so that hopefully I can have it done twice as fast.
If I learned anything from the first two challenges,
is that I need to stand on the shoulders of giants.
I'm going to stand on the shoulders of history
and I'm doing as close to traditional as I can.
What I'm going to do now is put this one into the gas
forge, switch to the other one out and get
them both to the same spot.
My biggest concern is that I get them identical.
Being a blacksmith, people want things that look
exactly the same all the time.
So not to say that it's easy, but it's a challenge
that I'm prepared for.
They're identical.
I'm pretty happy with what I got done yesterday.
Pretty much have all the forging done.
I can go on to the heat-treat.
My biggest concern, just a nice even heat all the way around.
The heat-treat is everything.
A lot of things can go wrong-- twist-age,
the warp-age, breakage, bend-age, --age, whatever.
If it's not heat-treated then it's just
a pretty looking wall hanger.
Yeah, she's straight.
Time to do it again.
Two for two so far.
It feels good to have the heat-treat successful.
I don't know if you could tell it or not,
but I was pretty nervous, you know.
I'm forge-welding a high carbon
bit into the body of the axe.
Making a durable edge which is historical.
I'm so nervous, I'm shaking.
Whenever you do a forge-weld there's always the chance
that something could go wrong.
If the welds fail, I won't have anything.
[bleep]
They got way too thin right up back here,
the seams are showing, the welds are not going to hold.
This is the worst thing that I could have imagined.
I need to start over.
I'm in big trouble.
There's no room for these emotions right now.
I have a job that needs to get done.
I don't quit until the work is done.
Today is all about getting the handles fit up.
I'm doing the pressure-fit.
There's no epoxy, there's no pens.
It's a purely mechanical fit.
It just slides on in the tap and locks it into place and--
If the pressure fits not right any good shock to it
could drop it down.
[bleep]
One of my taxes doesn't match the other one.
The bottom's wider than the top and it needs
to be tapered the other way.
So the only choice I have is to do it from the top down
and put a wedge in it.
I guarantee that Jeremiah is going to do a pressure-fit.
Because that's the way it's supposed to be,
so I didn't want to be the guy that
took the easy way out and just put a wedge in
and call it good.
The most annoying thing is is that it's historically
not correct and hopefully that's not what bites me in the ass.
As you know I'm still nursing an injury.
To be my arm today I'm bringing a special guest
from Marcaida Kali.
Please welcome Staff Sergeant Chris Manz,
today he will be my arm--
or arms to test your weapons.
Chris, you're up first. You ready?
Let's do it.
[music playing]
All right, Chris, let's talk about your Viking War Axes.
On the initial cut the long beard that you have right
there, hooked all the ribs.
And of course, the beauty of having a secondary weapon
is that when he pulled it out, he had enough attacks
to disemboweled everything.
Overall sir, your Viking War Axe will kill.
Thank you.
Jeremiah, shall we do this?
Yes, we shall.
[music playing]
All right, Jeremiah, your Viking Warrior Axes
are razor sharp.
It not only blew through the ribs,
but dug in breaking through the lungs and into the heart.
It is fast and light and it will kill.
Thank you.
To test the strength and overall construction
of your War Axes, I'll be throwing
them three times with each axe into our mock-up
of a drawbridge.
Now hopefully they'll stay tight and right, not loosen up.
Chris, you ready?
Let's do it.
[music playing]
All right, Chris, first off--
they're balanced nicely and they match, which is
really what I was looking for.
That stout edge though kind of keeps them
from penetrating overly deep.
You can see right about here there's
just a small role in two spots.
But they're solid, they're still together.
Nicely done.
Thank you.
Jeremiah, you're ready?
Didn't get dressed-up for nothing.
[music playing]
So first off, Jeremiah, they feel like they weigh the same.
They definitely throw the same and having that curve
on the blade, allows them to dig a lot
deeper than having a flat edge.
But the bottom-line is neither of your blades took any damage.
Well done.
Thank you.
To test the sharpness of your blades, see how they held up,
I'm going to take your axes and deliver it three
shots to these three fish.
Chris, you're up first. You ready?
Let's do it.
[music playing]
Well, Chris, the gods of war will be happy.
There's blood on your axe.
It's a good day.
The shape of that blade, I was a little concerned
just because it's flat, but it really just
cut right through those fish.
Very, very sharp blades, well done.
Thank you, sir.
Jeremiah, you're up.
You ready?
Time for sushi.
[music playing]
Well, Jeremiah, same effect.
Your axes are bloodied.
They're now honorable Viking War Axes.
They are beautiful.
I like what you did with the copper inlay.
I'm not a huge fan in how thin the handles are.
To swing it took a little bit more finger gripping.
Two very well-made axes.
Obviously sharp.
Well done.
Thank you.
Chris.
Jeremiah.
The judges have examined your work
and they've tested your weapons.
They've made their final decision.
The Forged in Fire Champion is Jeremiah.
Congratulations.
Chris, your axes did not make the cut.
Doug Marcaida will tell you why.
Chris, both weapons performed equally all the way through,
but in the strength test, one of your axes
took damage on its edge that made us
decide that you're going home.
I understand.
Chris, please surrender your War Axes.
Always disappointed if you don't win, but the experience
that you get from this competition,
I've loved every minute of it.
I'm going to go back home and keep making knives.
And I'll probably make a Viking Axe on the side.
Jeremiah, congratulations.
You are our new Forged in Fire Champion
and that's a title that comes with a check for 10 grand.
How do you feel?
That's amazing.
You did excellent work.
Please present your axes to the judges.
I did it.
I won Forged in Fire.
To be validated as a smith this way, is really cool.
This is a win for my family.
Certainly a win for the history books.
Stay in school, study your history and it'll
come in handy.
[music playing]