Steve, Nick, congratulations.
The strength of your work, coupled with your competitors'
failures to perform, have secured you both a place
in the third round, where we will send you home to recreate
an iconic blade from history.
Are you ready to see what that weapon is?
Yes, I am.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Your final challenge is deerhorn knives.
Whoa.
NARRATOR: Deerhorn knives are distinctive double-bladed
weapons, used as an extension of the body
to counter and disarm opponents.
The knives are unique to the 19th century
martial art form Bagua Zhang.
Students of this discipline train
with the weapon in both hands to master techniques
in slashing and seizing.
Easily concealed in traditional Chinese garb,
these mighty knives can be swiftly brandished
to catch an opponent off-guard and deliver deadly cuts
with four horn-shaped points.
The weapons are notably employed in the film
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
I've never heard of a deerhorn knife.
It's definitely not a design I'm familiar with.
I was hoping for a fairly simple sword.
Good luck, bladesmiths.
We'll see you in five days.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Today I start the deerhorn knife.
I want to make this thing look like deer antlers.
I'm used to making straight pieces.
This thing has curves all over the place.
And I have to make two of these things.
Now I have to figure out how I'm going to make this out of this.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I want to forge this out of one piece of steel
because that's the strongest way you can do it.
I'm going to cut a slit down the center of this bar, spread
the handle and the front blade apart,
and hopefully it all is going to go to plan.
[TOOLS WHIRRING]
That looks a lot more like a deer antler.
Day two, well, I've decided to do a butt weld.
I'm cutting the crescents apart and welding it flat on.
So now the edges will line up.
It looks very nice.
Ready to do the heat treat. (HIGH-PITCHED VOICE) No, no.
I don't want to go in the fire again.
No!
My only concern right now is if this weird shape
decides to warp at all, it could be a problem.
In to quench.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
There we go.
That is as hard as a file.
They didn't warp into a pretzel.
So, hey, I'm great.
Day four, I've got both of these weapons shaped.
It's time to harden them.
This is the moment.
This has to work.
If it doesn't, I'm not going to have a weapon.
[SIZZLING]
Hey, no warp-age.
Let's see if we got hardened.
[CLANGING]
It worked.
I feel really great.
I'm grinding the bevels.
Everything is coming together.
And then I see it.
Uh oh.
I've got a crack in one of my blades.
That's heartbreaking.
It's going through both ends.
And there's nothing I can do about it.
I've got to test it.
[THUDDING]
I need a pole of some kind.
I know they're going to do something like this.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[THUDDING]
[CLATTER]
[SIGHS]
Day five, I feel like crap.
If it wasn't for the fact that I'm sick,
I actually kind of like this deep, gravelly voice.
If I didn't have to hack up my lung to do it,
I'd have it all the time.
All I have left to do is put the handles
on and sharpen the blades.
Putting the handles on is shaping the material
a little bit, gluing them on, drilling
holes, and putting the pins in place
to hold everything together.
That's all ready to go.
It's day five, and I have to start over.
I've got one day to build a pair of these.
I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it or not.
If I wasn't the underdog before, I definitely am now.
I just want to have something to take there.
I have three days of work to do in 10 hours.
At this point, I don't have time for any mistakes.
I just need to stay in the game.
Bladesmiths, to see how lethal your weapon is,
I will deliver multiple slashes of thrust on this pig carcass.
Steve, you're up first.
Are you ready?
Absolutely.
Let's
Do this.
I'm really hoping to hear, you know, it will kill.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Oh.
Well, Steve, you know, I was surprised,
being that you only have a scale on one side for the handle
and not on the other.
It is a rustic look.
But, nonetheless, it is actually comfortable to hold on to.
Your tips over there, sharp enough to cut, easy to thrust
with the bottom, and deliver a slice at the same time.
Overall, your weapon will kill.
Yeah!
All right, Nick.
You're next.
Are you ready?
Oh, yeah.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Well, Nick, your weapon is very sharp.
Grabbing your handle, it feels smooth with both scales
in there.
The angles you have really lacerate deeply.
And, overall, your weapon will kill.
Good job.
Thank you.
Next up is the sharpness test.
To see how sharp your weapons are, I will take your weapons
and deliver multiple slashes and stabs on this ballistic bag.
The bag is outfitted with two poles, which simulates blocks
or blows from pole weapons these knives
would encounter in battle.
Steve, you're up first.
You ready?
Yes, I am.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[THUDDING]
Well, Steve, the points are sharp.
They lacerate cleanly.
It feels good in the hand.
I can maneuver.
This, sir, will cut.
Thank you.
Nick, you're up next.
You ready?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm pretty confident mine can do at least that well, probably
better, because my points are more pointier.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[THUDDING]
Well, Nick, you can see that it penetrates deep,
the angles you have them in, and lacerates out.
They're comfortable in the hand.
And your blades will cut.
Thank you.
Next up is strength test.
Dave?
To test the strength of your weapons,
we're going to clamp them into our contraption back here.
Once triggered, a staff will strike the center section
of each of the blades one time with a force of 2,000 pounds,
simulating the kind of attacks these weapons could
historically encounter in combat.
Steve, are you ready?
Yes, I am.
Three, two, one.
[WHOOSH, CLANG]
In three, two, one.
[WHOOSH, CLANG]
Yeah, well, Steve, I don't see any damage,
any rolling of the edge.
So they held up beautifully.
That's great.
DAVE: Nick?
Just waiting for it.
Waiting for it.
And one, two, three.
[WHOOSH, CLANG]
And it broke the stick.
[LAUGHS]
DAVE: Three, two, one.
[WHOOSH, CLANG]
Woo!
[LAUGHS] And it broke the stick again.
All right.
Well, first off, let's remember that the test
wasn't about breaking sticks.
It was more about how your blade reacts
to being hit by that stick.
There is no damage whatsoever.
This is still a razor blade.
Nicely done.
Thank you.
Well, you've both done commendable work.
But there can only be one "Forged in Fire"
champion in this competition.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Nick, congratulations.
You are the "Forged in Fire" champion.
Steve, your weapons did not make the cut.
Dave will explain.
As Doug said, I really commend you for doing what you did
on such a compressed timeline.
Thank you.
In the end, it came down to the fact
that the scales aren't quite on.
There's gapping.
There's still some marks from where you cut the steel open.
And that's why we're letting you go.
I understand.
Steve, it's that time.
Please surrender your weapons.
Congratulations.
I'm not surprised at the result. There
is a natural energy that guides all of us throughout our lives.
And this is how everything naturally unfolded.
Unfortunately, it didn't go my way this time.
But I'll be back.
Nick, congratulations.
You're the "Forged in Fire" champion
and will be receiving a check for $10,000.
How do you feel?
Pretty darn good.
[LAUGHTER]
Awesome.
Good job, brother.
That's me.
That's me, the Nick.
That's me.
I won.
I'm going to hug my wife when I get home,
and then I'm going to hug my kitty-cat.
If any of you other bladesmiths out there are
thinking about it, I say do it.
Try not to have a cold when you do it though.
[COUGHS]
[MUSIC PLAYING]