i'm burt foster i've been i'm knife maker for 14 years
probably make between two and 400 knives a year i still am fascinated by the process of
completely transforming a raw material into something different my name is chad osborne
i'm a farrier i shoe horses for six months out of the year the other six months i forge blades
chad bert congratulations you've made it to the forest and fire final
now we're sending you back to your home forges to recreate an iconic blade from history
the chatel
the chatel is a blade that originates from abazinia part of ancient ethiopia
the curve of the chatel's blade is almost semi-circular similar to the persian sham
sheer and its sharp double edges make it a highly functional and effective weapon in battle
its shape was designed for warriors on foot to hook around an enemy shield to strike vital organs
and to dismount an enemy from their horse the chatel has also been popularized in gaming culture
notably in the mythological dark souls gaming series
it must be a lethal working version of that deadly blade you will have five days to
accomplish this task at your home forge good luck blade smiths we'll see you in five days good luck
i'm going up against the master bladesmith this is what he does this is his living but the
playing field could be even he's never made it the first thing i do today is i'm gonna make damascus
i gotta get the blade bent yeah i gotta shape it in the correct form
tweak all the edges a little magic in the leg
dink with that blade till it gets good i gotta get the chatel heat treated
that sounds like success i really feel good about my blade but the mask is worked
the quench worked everything just came together beautifully on display
even if i don't win i'm really proud of this plate awesome i'm excited this is the part of
the competition i was looking forward to day one we're gonna design we're gonna make the steel
porch into a blade all right here we go the first fold of the damascus it's
probably not really quite hot enough to make the fold properly but i do it anyways
and that sets up this off kilter fold that's got me a little concerned i think we'll be okay
because of this ladder pattern the blade will have what's referred to as a chatoyancy which
is the illusion of movement when light plays off it in different directions the hard thing about
this is that i'm not going to know how it really feels until i'm like two or three days into this
this is a shape i've never made before i cannot get in and just go
full speed and bang it out because by the time i realize there's a problem it's going to be
too late i'm going to grind the bevels in grind the tapers and then we're going to heat treat it
i think we're good this is where the magic happens with quenching there's
more that can go wrong and one tiny span of time than any other part of it
i am good look at that oh my gosh today's all about the handle the only way i can design it
is against my own hand but i actually paid attention when i shook the judge's hands
so that if anybody had oompa loompa hands or like king kong hands i was gonna bear that in mind
all of a sudden it just occurs to me what if the blade breaks
i decided to stop and just throw that handle on there and go out and cut something
see what happens
it really cut had a lot of power in the cut i mean it's brutal it's raw
we laid waste to a couple of small trees i feel a lot better about finishing this up now
bert chad welcome back to the forge you've had five days to work on your chatel so i hope you
used your time wisely we will now be testing your weapons in three different trials doug
bladesmiths this is a strength test the ethiopian chateau
evolved from a sickle an agricultural tool that was used to harvest crops
and cut plants to test the strength and function of your blade according to its historic design
i will slash you these vines bert you're up you ready i'm ready let's do this
well bert your edge held up i don't see any
deformations or anything in there it's got very good balance i love the feel of your handle the
way you made it there's a good flare to prevent it from slipping cut through the vines easily
and for the strength test it held up good job sir thank you chad you're up ready i'm ready
i'll chat for the strength test looks like your edge held
no deformations handle feels good and as expected with the hook design it would catch on that
this sir is a strong blade good job thank you next test is the kill test
to test the lethality of your blade i will attack this ballistics dummy
bert you're up you ready i'm ready welbert it's a sharp blade to penetrate
all the way through a new slice of the clavicle into the breastbone obviously
probably gutted him pretty well it will kill chad you're up are you ready i'm ready
that really dug into this dummy and they want to let him go get a good laceration on the side
this will also kill good job sir thank you next to test the sharpness of the inside edge of your
blade i will take your weapon and i will slice you the slab of meat bert you're up you ready
ready
this is a very sharp blade no indentations no deformations it will cut thank you chad it's
your turn you ready i'm ready well chad it didn't slice you the way i was hoping it would the inside
edge isn't razor sharp it did cut through a little bit but then again because for your design being a
hook it got caught up on the meat well gentlemen there can only be one forest and fire champion
bert congratulations you are the forest and fire champion thank you chad your chatel did not make
the cut chad your chatel was designed to go around a shield and puncture deeply but it's also that
hook that prevented you from making it a very good slashing one please surrender your shitelli
ted thanks so much i've come a long way my creativity has been awakened
doing things i've never done and i'm proud of that bert congratulations
you were the forest and fire champion and that title comes with a check for 10 000
thank you i won i won it's got all the historic aspects that a chateau should have
but it's really got your sickness to your silence this taught me that i can do something completely
outside my comfort zone and i can figure it out guys i did it kids you can do it take risks
you