[MUSIC PLAYING]
Mark, Chris, congratulations.
The strength of your weapons has carried you
into the final round of this competition.
Now we're sending you back to your home forges
to recreate an iconic weapon from history.
That weapon is-- the tabar shishpar.
Good luck, bladesmiths.
We'll see you in five days.
Good luck.
I have to build this tabar shishpar.
I have never made a bludgeoning weapon.
Today I'm going to work on the shaft of this weapon.
I have material, but I don't think it's quite tough enough,
so I'm going to put another one inside of it
to make sure that it can stand any challenge that they
give me.
A little bit heavier, but I think the judges
are up to that challenge.
I've forged the handle areas into my shaft.
The whole shaft is as straight as I can make it,
so we'll get ready to heat treat this.
I've never quenched a hollow tube before.
Kids, don't try this at home.
That was exciting.
It's like Mount Vesuvius exploding.
It's kind of fun to watch but a little bit scary too.
There is our hardened tube of 1084 steel.
I got a lot of work done, but I've got a lot of work
still ahead of me.
I got all the forging done, everything
forged into rough shape.
The first step today is get the parts of the mace cut to shape.
So far, so good.
The five pieces have to be consistent,
so when you look at that mace everything's perfect.
All in a row.
Kind of feeling pretty good.
I'm ahead of schedule.
Finally done shaping.
Now it's time to heat treat.
What could go wrong?
All the work so far is coming down to this step.
If I don't get this right, the rest of the time
will have been for nothing, really.
OK, ax heads going in.
I got the heat treating done.
I couldn't be happier.
I feel like I'm a bit ahead of my game.
Yesterday I forged out my tabar ax as well as my flanges.
Today I need to do all my heat treating,
and that's really important.
Grab my wire, and do all these together.
And then do the ax, 'cause I want to be
a little more careful with it.
I need to focus on not making mistakes.
Without the heat treat, I don't have a weapon.
Despite all the work I've done, nothing
matters until this thing comes out of that oil looking happy.
It's an ax.
I'm feeling really good.
I got my flanges heat treated.
I got the ax heat treated.
And tomorrow I can work on assembly.
I will be spending a lot of time on the grinder today.
It's time to start grinding things to shape.
So we're cruising downhill from here.
Yeah.
For three days I was thinking, everything
is going too darn smooth.
Something's gonna happen.
And it did.
I found two cracks.
Right now, I'm looking at two options.
I can try and make this one work,
or start over and make a new one.
I may be able to save this blade.
I'm going to cut this out right like this.
I could cut around the first crack
and grind out the one on top.
I'm not taking any chances with this.
I don't want to have it fail on me.
So I'm going to give this thing the toughest
test that I could give it.
I think it'll be good.
Bladesmiths.
A tabar shishpar is one weapon with multiple personalities.
To see what kind of lethal damage your weapon will do,
I will take your tabar shishpar and use
both hands to deliver killing blows on this ballistics dummy.
Mark, you're up first. You ready?
Mm-hm.
Let's see it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Well, Mark, it is sharp.
That chopped right into the chest cavity, breaking a bone.
This ax dug in and gutted him.
Your mace definitely will crush.
You could see the breaking bones inside.
Your weapon will kill.
Thank you.
Chris, you ready?
I am.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[LAUGHS]
Oh, my gosh!
Into the lung, into the heart.
Your mace definitely penetrated through the skull.
Bones are broken.
I don't think it's going to end well.
Your weapon is heavy.
And I'm not a fan of heavy weapons,
only because you have to carry it to battle.
But overall, it will kill.
Thank you.
All right, gentlemen, this is the sharpness test.
The tabar only has one sharp area, which is the ax head.
So I'll strike into this side of beef six times
with each of your axes.
Mark, you're up first.
Are you ready for this?
Mm-hm.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ugh!
Your weapon's nice and light for a weapon
that looks as heavy as this is.
You can see that this just went right through the ribs.
This is definitely a cutter.
Good job.
Thank you.
Chris, you ready?
Let's do it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[LAUGHS]
Well, right off, the weight difference.
I mean, this thing hits like a ton.
These hooks tear meat coming out the back way.
Your edge-- there's no damage that I can feel.
It's heavy, but it does a hell of a lot of damage.
Nicely done.
Thank you.
All right, gentlemen, this is the strength test.
Now, to test the strength and durability of your tabar
shishpars, I'll be using all parts of it
to strike this suit of armor.
Mark, you're up.
You're ready?
Yes, I am.
Let's see it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Edge is still perfect.
No chips, no rolling.
The hammer gave that armor a nice dent.
It didn't take any damage.
The mace is fine.
The guy inside there was not happy.
[LAUGHS]
All right, Chris.
You ready for this?
Don't hold back.
I'm not gonna.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
This is a heavy weapon.
Yeah.
I mean, I can control it, but I don't have any rebound.
And you got just the smallest bit of edge deformation here.
Other than that, the mace is a devastator.
You made a beautiful piece.
Thank you.
I hope the judges appreciate the devastation my weapon's
capable of bringing.
It's hard to say who's going to win.
Bladesmiths, the judges' deliberation is complete,
and there can only be one Forged in Fire champion.
And that champion is--
Mark.
Congratulations, you are the Forged in Fire champion.
Thank you.
Good job, buddy.
Thanks.
Chris, your blade did not make the cut.
David Baker will explain.
Chris, Doug and I both agree that
the extreme weight of your weapon
made it difficult to control.
And, frankly, I'm still feeling it in my arm.
That combined with that minor edge damage
you took in the strength test, those are the reasons
we're letting you go.
Understood.
Chris, it's that time.
Please surrender your weapon.
[YELLS]
[LAUGHS]
I just--
[SIGHS]
I think I put up the best I was capable of in the time
that I was given.
See you later, buddy.
It's been a pleasure.
Mark did good work, and his was just a little bit better.
Mark, congratulations.
You are the Forged in Fire champion
and will be receiving a check for $10,000.
Good job.
[APPLAUSE]
How do you feel right now?
I feel great.
Chris, a hell of an opponent.
I'm glad it went to the very end.
I wanted to see a real competition.
Mark, please present your weapon to the judges
and shake our hands.
I won.
I am the champion.
Phew.
Unbelievable.
I just won $10,000.
My wife and I, we made a deal.
She gets 9,000, and I get 1,000.
So congratulations, dear.
[MUSIC PLAYING]