[MUSIC PLAYING]
Kyle and Ben, congratulations.
You guys are moving forward into round three.
Only the man next to you stands between you, the title
of "Forged in Fire" Champion, and that coveted check
for $10,000.
In round three we're going to send you guys
back home to recreate an iconic weapon from history.
That weapon is--
[MUSIC PLAYING]
--the Vajra-musti.
Wow.
DOUG MARCAIDA: Originating in India,
the Vajra-musti is an edged knuckle duster.
The unique design features sharpened blades
on every side of the handle, making
it a specialty weapon only wielded
by well-trained Indian warriors.
The sharp edges on all sides provided the user
with a wide range of lethal attacks,
from deadly stabs and slashes to devastating punches.
A traditional Indian martial art where the weapon
is tied to the fist of wrestlers has lineage dating back
to the Middle Ages and is still practiced today
by professional wrestlers in India, using
non-lethal knuckle dusters.
I don't even--
[LAUGHS] I don't even know what to say.
The closest thing I've seen to that
is probably a pair of brass knuckles.
We're going to send you guys home for four days.
And when you guys come back, I want to see two blades
worth at least $10,000 apiece.
So do your absolute best work, and good luck.
We'll see you in four days. - Awesome.
Good luck, man.
Good luck.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
KYLE: I feel good to be back home, here
in Bellows Falls, Vermont.
And we're going to make the Vajra-musti.
I've never made a Vajra-musti, or anything close to it.
So I decided to use 1084 carbon steel because it's something
I'm more familiar with.
I think the most difficult part of the challenge
will be making the handle--
something that I'm definitely going to have
to pay a lot of attention to.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The two smaller blades are basically the same.
One's a little longer than the other.
You know, then the other blade is just a big rectangle.
Five hours into it, I feel pretty good.
One more soak in the forge.
And then I'll quench them.
I got all the forging out of the way, so I'm feeling good.
End of day one, and I'm really glad I got the heat treat done.
Looks good.
[BARKING]
BEN: Day two, I'm a little tired this morning.
But I feel great, ready to get this show on the road.
I decide that I'm going to go with a torch heat treatment,
because the handle doesn't need to be hard.
I just need the blades hard and the knuckle blade hard.
[SIZZLES]
So I did one.
And I'm scared I'm going to crack it in half.
Because right after the quench, it is brittle.
So any little shock or hit could cause catastrophic cracking.
Luckily, I don't see any cracks.
So I think the quench went well.
That's going to have to do.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
KYLE: It's beginning of day two, and I
can't wait to get started.
For the handle, I'm going to go with copper.
It's moving a lot better than I thought it was going to.
I want to pay really close attention to detail.
I want to make a $10,000 knife.
Today I'm able to remove three pounds
off a five-pound chunk of copper and knock
out a nice workable piece.
Tomorrow I'd like to get the handle all finished up
and the blades fitted on.
Well, that's basically it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
BEN: It's day four.
Ready to get this thing done.
So I just got done doing the profiling on my Vajra-musti.
Feels pretty good.
I'm going to start doing fit up on the handle.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I'm feeling great.
At the end of the day, I used every minute that I had.
There's definitely some finishing touches that I didn't
get to that I wish I had.
Mainly, the handle.
I'm hoping that there's not, you know,
major hot spots around the knuckles or anything like that.
It can look like crap.
But as long as it feels comfortable in your hand,
you know, that's fine.
I feel good.
I mean, I definitely did the best that I could.
Bladesmiths, welcome to the kill test.
To find out what kind of lethal damage your weapon will do,
I will take your weapon and deliver multiple lethal blows
on this ballistics dummy.
Kyle, you're up first. You ready?
Oh yeah.
[ROCK MUSIC PLAYING]
[SQUISHING]
[THUDS]
[SQUISHES]
Wow.
[EXHALES]
All right, Kyle, let's talk about your weapon here.
I was worried about the finger wells
that you had there, that they would be an issue,
especially when I'm punching.
No issues there.
I like the fact that as it gets slippery,
it gave me a very good grip.
Overall, it is a beautiful piece.
And your weapon will kill.
Oh yeah.
All right, Ben. Your turn, sir.
Are you ready?
I'm ready.
DOUG MARCAIDA: Let's do this.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[SQUISHES]
[SQUISHING]
[GRUNTS]
[THUDS]
All right, Ben, let's talk about your weapon here.
The edges are very sharp.
But there are some sharp edges that you have in here.
Every movement started to give me a little bruise
and cut off some skin right there.
But in terms of what this weapon will do, it will kill.
BEN: Thanks, Doug.
My hand.
All right, bladesmiths, welcome to the strength test.
To test the strength and durability
of your Vajra-mustis, as well as their overall construction,
I'll be stabbing and punching into this sheet
metal and chain.
Kyle, you're up first.
You ready for this?
Yeah.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[BLADE IMPACTS]
[CLANKING]
All right, Kyle.
In this strength test, your two long blades held up great.
The center blade here took some chipping on that chain.
I'm looking at the grain in there.
And it's-- it's pretty big.
I would have liked to have seen that refined.
But in general, these two blades held up well.
Nice job.
Awesome.
Thanks, Ben.
All right, Ben, you're up.
You ready for this?
Sure am.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[BLADE IMPACTS]
[CLANKING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
All right, Ben.
Well, the first thing I feel when I pick this weapon up
is its sheer mass.
I mean, it's a heavy, heavy weapon.
That did you some justice in the strength test.
The only thing I could see is a little bit
of glinting on the lower blade.
But the middle blade, it took a pretty major deflection
right here.
It kind of cracked.
One more little-- little hit here
and that would just come off.
The main thing working against you on this blade
is the rough inner surface.
I couldn't really find a real comfortable way of getting
this finger out of harm's way.
But after the strength test, it's all in one piece.
Nice job.
Thank you.
All right, bladesmiths, we know your weapons can kill.
And we know they are strong.
Now it's time to find out just how sharp they are.
To find out, I'll take your weapons
and deliver some stabs and slices on these spice bags.
Kyle, you're up first. You ready for this?
Yup.
DOUG MARCAIDA: Let's do this.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[BLADE IMPACTS]
All right, Kyle, let's talk about your weapon.
It is comfortable.
It's a good fit on my hand.
It's got a pointy enough tip over there.
But with that one piece where you're missing some edges,
it was more of a jagged cut.
When it came to stabbing and slashing on both weapons
on each end, it'll cut.
Good job.
Thank you, Doug.
Ben, your turn, sir.
You ready?
Ready, let's go.
DOUG MARCAIDA: Let's do it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[BLADE IMPACTS]
All right, Ben, let's talk about your weapon.
The weight that you have here back up the cut,
because you have very sharp edges.
And the cuts are very deep.
But my hand, when I'm making impact,
still rubs on the inside of your handle.
But other than that sir, your beast, it will cut.
Thanks, Doug.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
GRADY POWELL: All right, guys.
You guys both came through with unbelievable pieces of work,
verging on art.
And they performed almost equally on all the tests.
Unfortunately, we can only send one of you guys
home with the title of "Forged in Fire"
champion and a check for $10,000.
And our champion today is--
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
--Kyle.
Congratulations.
Ben, unfortunately, you're not walking
home the champion today.
Doug's going to tell you why.
DOUG MARCAIDA: Ben, I commend you on building
a very unique weapon.
But only your handle affected both of us
when we were testing it.
And for that reason, we're sending you home.
Totally understand.
Well, Ben, you obviously showed
you have what it takes to be in the forge
and to compete with some of the best.
But unfortunately, the time has come.
I'm going to have to ask you to leave the Forged floor.
Thank you, guys.
This was awesome, for sure.
Good job.
Kyle, amazing job.
Honestly, I feel great.
I mean, it was an amazing experience.
I'm super happy for Kyle.
I had a feeling that handle was going to get me.
But I busted my butt and honestly
did the best that I could.
So I don't have any regrets.
GRADY POWELL: Well, Kyle, congratulations.
You'll be leaving here with the title "Forged in Fire" Champion
and a check for $10,000.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
My wife's going to be super pumped
when I tell her that I'm the next "Forged in Fire" champion.
What are you going to do with that cash, man?
My wife and I are probably going to use it
for a down payment on a house.
- That's absolutely fantastic. - Nice.
Cool.
18 months ago, I would have never imagined being here
today.
Hell yeah.
I'm a "Forged in Fire" Champion.
[LAUGHS]
[MUSIC PLAYING]