[music playing]
J. NEILSON: Bladesmiths, welcome to our strength test.
What your blades do to the ice, I don't really care.
I want to see what the ice is going to do to your blades.
Ashe, you ready to go?
Mm-hmm.
There we go.
ASHE: I think my handle's going to be a problem.
I don't know how well the epoxy bonded to the tang.
I'm worried that the blade could fly right off the handle.
[music playing]
[grunting]
Hell yeah.
Congratulations.
You survived the ice.
Your blade held up very nice.
You've still got an edge on here.
You do have a bit of a problem back here though.
The epoxy was connected back here before,
and it's not anymore.
You can see it moves quite easily.
But overall, nicely done.
Thank you, sir.
Geoff, you ready to go?
Let's go.
The ice chop is a terribly destructive test.
You'd have to be silly not to be concerned about it.
[music playing]
[grunting]
Wow.
She survived, Geoff.
This just feels like it wants to keep cutting and keep cutting.
You got a lot of handle here, but it was comfortable enough
at the radiusing.
Everything stayed tight.
Nicely done.
Thank you.
Levi, what are you thinking?
Let's dance.
J. is super tough on blades.
With my blade in his hands, of course,
I'm going to be nervous.
[music playing]
[grunting]
J. NEILSON: All right, Levi, we got a bit of an issue here.
If you look at those first two strikes, your blade's bent now.
The other issue is this knuckle right here.
I wish you had, like, another half an inch.
I could feel it beating onto my knuckle every time we struck.
Sorry, J.
My turn.
To test the sharpness of your blade,
I'll be using the serrated section to cut this rope.
Once that rope's cut, a melon drops from the ceiling,
and I'll use your blade to slash through that.
Ashe, you're up first.
Are you ready?
Let's do it.
OK.
[music playing]
This is a sharp blade.
Your serrations-- they're nice and sharp all
the way through those valleys.
Just a push and a pull on that rope, and I was through it.
As far as the melon goes, there was no resistance.
Good job.
Thank you.
DAVID BAKER: Geoff, you ready?
Let's go.
[music playing]
Dave's really struggling to get through the rope.
I know I'm in trouble.
DAVID BAKER: First off, the cutting edge of your blade
blew through the melon like it was nothing.
It's great.
But Geoff, we got a bit of a problem.
These are not serrations.
These are saw teeth.
On a serration, you've got a continuous edge, sharp
all the way through.
But saw teeth have what's called a gullet.
That's that low spot there that has no edge.
And these saw teeth hung up on the rope,
as opposed to sliding through the way a serration would.
All right, Levi, you're up.
Are you ready?
Let's dance.
[music playing]
Nice.
DAVID BAKER: Levi, nice job.
By putting these serrations only coming from one side,
it's giving it that super razor edge on the other.
One stroke on the rope, and it was gone and cut
through the melon like that.
I love the shape of this.
Well done-- cut beautifully.
Thank you.
[music playing]
WIL WILLIS: Bladesmiths, the judges
have made their final decision.
The bladesmith leaving the forge is Geoff.
Your blade did not make the cut.
GEOFF: I did some things that were extremely difficult to do,
and I did them pretty well.
I just didn't do them as well as my competitors.