Steven, Cade, congratulations.
You guys have made it into the third and final round
of this competition, and let me say this-- you
fellas can forge, man.
You guys really brought your A game.
But you're going to have to step it up,
because now we're sending you back to your home forges
to recreate this iconic weapon from history.
The Rooster Head French Pioneer Sword.
[rooster crowing]
Gentlemen, good luck.
We'll see you in four days.
CADE: We're here in Loranger, Louisiana,
and I'm ready to get going.
We're going to try to whack this piece of metal
out and get it into profile.
I start off at the tip because it's
probably the most demanding, and I work my way back from there.
Traditionally, these blades have a slight saber type bend
in them, so I heat it up, and I whack
it over the end of the anvil.
I'm very tired, but I got the forging of my blade done.
While I'm waiting for it to cool off,
I'm just going to go and work on my rooster head pommel.
I found this chicken head.
I thought it would be perfect.
So I can make the mold to cast with bronze.
It wasn't able to heat treat, but
what I didn't get done on the blade, I got down on my mold.
So I still feel like I'm on track.
STEVEN: So it's the morning of day two,
and I've got a lot of work to do today.
I have to cut my saw teeth into the back.
Now I'm ready for the heat treat.
This is proving a little more difficult than I thought
it'd be to get an even heat.
This plate isn't all that hard.
[bleep],, can't turn in a blade that's half hard.
I am screwed.
So here we go again.
I'm going to sit here and re-quench this,
and re-straighten this until it's hard.
There's some flames.
That's what we want to see.
I file test it, skating my glass That's a hard blade.
CADE: I'm starting off the day grinding my fullers.
Don't know how that's going to go.
One danger of having double sided fullers--
you can grind straight through your blade.
And so I just kind of go down the blade
and check, and make sure I'm not doing that.
I've got to sharpen the saw back, too.
I don't know what they're going to test this thing on.
Hopefully it'll hog away some stuff.
Now that I'm done with that, it is time to heat treat.
It's hard.
Today I'm going to try to conquer casting.
This is my absolute first time doing any casting,
so hopefully I can get it figured out.
I want to cast three pieces.
There's the guard piece, handle, and then there's
the rooster headed pommel.
My first casting is just a piece of bronze
that's going to be the guard with the up-swept quillons.
All right.
That's way more than enough for a guard.
I have the guard cast, which I'm pretty happy about.
I have the handle cast, then I got this rooster.
I can see an eye, I can see the detailed feathers on this side.
Friggin' sweet.
This is a lot denser and heavier than I thought, which I'm
happy about because my blade is super forward heavy,
and I want that balance point to just
get farther back on the blade.
Going into day four, I have the three pieces of my handle.
So my day tomorrow is going to be tedious.
Finish work.
CADE: It's the morning of day four,
and today it's just putting it all together.
I casted my rooster head and my guard.
And if I may say, this is one bomb chicken head.
[rooster crows]
Look at that bad boy.
Cock-a-doodle-doo.
Handle comes next.
That's about it.
Everything's looking pretty good.
I got a sword!
All right, bladesmiths.
Your blades look lovely, but are they deadly?
I'm going to take your weapons to deliver
some lethal cuts and slashes on this goat carcass.
It's time to find out if they're ready for a cockfight,
or are they going to play chicken?
Steven, you're up first.
Are you ready for this?
Let's do it.
[chopping]
[music playing]
All right, Steven, let's talk about your sword here.
It's beautiful looking, and it's a heavy sword.
But that lends itself to deliver very
deep cuts with every swing.
And more importantly, it will kill.
All right, Cade, your turn, sir.
You ready?
Yes, sir.
[chopping]
[music playing]
All right, Cade, let's talk about your sword here.
Your handle construction fits perfectly in my hand.
Now, your edge is pristine, no glints, no rollings whatsoever.
And most importantly, it will kill.
All right, gentlemen, welcome to the strength test.
The log chop.
Now, to test the strength and overall durability
of your blades, I'll be chopping on this log.
All right, Steven, you're up first.
You ready for this?
Let's do it.
[chopping]
[music playing]
Right.
First off, Steven, nice job on the castings.
They're nicely done.
Your handle is about an inch too long.
It allows my hand to travel around a lot.
Your blade took no damage whatsoever.
Good job.
Thanks.
All right, Cade, you're up next.
You ready?
Yes, sir.
[chopping]
[music playing]
All right, Cade, your blade is in good condition.
No rolls, no chips.
Still sharp as it was when I started.
Good job.
All right, bladesmiths, this is the sharpness test--
the scarecrow saw and slice.
To test the saw backs on your weapon,
I'll be sawing into the wooden dowels.
Then I'll test the edge by cutting the watermelon
and a sugar cane bundle.
Steven, you're up first.
You ready?
Let's do it.
[sawing]
[music playing]
All right, Steven, let's talk about your saw back here.
Once it gets started, it starts to saw.
It works.
It's a functional saw back in there.
You're able to dig into the dowel.
Your edge is sharp.
No issues cutting on the watermelon,
and the weight alone is going to just chop that whole thing off.
Overall, sir, it'll cut.
Thank you.
All right, Cade, your turn.
You ready?
Yes, sir.
[sawing]
[music playing]
All right, Cade, the saw back.
These teeth are sharp.
Even at the start, it already digs in.
A couple of slices in there, it's already digging
right into the wooden dowel.
Your edge-- no issues whatsoever.
Cuts through the watermelon, and cuts the rest
of the sugar cane bundles.
Overall, sir, it'll cut.
Thank you.
All right, bladesmiths, the weapons tests are complete
and the judges literally had to weigh the details.
The new "Forged in Fire" champion is--
Cade.
Congratulations, you are the "Forged in Fire" champion.
Steven, your blade is 2 pounds heavier than Cade's blade,
making it less wieldy.
Additionally, your handle is a little bit out of proportion
with the blade, and it's for that reason that you cannot be
the "Forged in Fire" champion.
Come on forward, my friend.
Even though I feel somewhat defeated right now,
I'm still proud of what I've done,
and I'm proud of what I turned in.
- [inaudible]. - Thank you.
You're a great competitor.
Thank you.
Steven, this cast is [inaudible]..
I'm not going to say I'm going to go
home and start making swords, but I did
really enjoy the whole process.
And it also taught me what I could do in a short amount
of time, Not that it's my best work, but I'm proud of myself
for not giving up there.
Cade, congratulations.
You are the "Forged in Fire" champion,
and that is a title that comes with a check for $10,000.
How do you feel right now?
Cock-a-doodle-doo?
[laughter]
Good job, my friend.
You made a fine Rooster Headed French Pioneer Sword.
Come on forward and shake our head.
I am super psyched right now.
I am so proud of myself, and I thank God
that I had this opportunity.
I gotta keep working hard, and keep on trying
to climb that ladder, you know?
10 grand is college funds.
[laughs]