in today's first round of competition we
won't be doing any signature styles
instead we'll be making one of J
Nielsen's favorite weapons the European
dagger I have actually never made a
dagger it's not something I really
wanted to do but I guess I'm doing it
now gentlemen your blades must fall
within the following parameters the
length of the blade must fall between 10
and 12 inches the width of the blade at
its widest point must be at least one
and a quarter inches and you must have a
double-edged blade with a ricasso that
is at least three quarters of an inch
long your three hour starts now okay so
we've got 50 to 100 ball bearings we got
chainsaw springs powdered steel you name
it everything out there could be turned
into a knife you could do a canister a
break canoe cube you could do a laminate
layer it up to multiple different
patterns there's possibility of
thousands of patterns and designs right
there on that one table I'm thinking
layered steel because it's not really
tough to well it's really easy to draw
out there's less of a chance of it
failing I immediately start to clean off
the steel because they've got iron oxide
on us really bad for a well it's just
evil for bladesmiths taking that few
extra minutes to clean up that steel is
just a smart move
oh my god negative band-aid I ran my
thumb across 36 grit belt and it ripped
the tip of my thumb off and left it
flapping in the wind I'm off to a
wonderful start less than three minutes
one of our contestants is already
bleeding on the floor that's a record
that hurt David Baker I feel like I look
like him today with the best and the tie
is Drew underdressed for this no no I
think Bruce dialed it in I've got to
make this unique first thing is batter
pattern this won't do anything to the
functionality of the blade but it'll
make my plate look different hey drew
talk to me about what you're doing with
your patterning here I don't think
that's my concern you've got a large you
don't want to put the work into that
pattern have it disappear once you Forge
it out I'm not a fool I've seen people
lose because they don't take advice from
the judges and I'm gonna take every
single bit I can get
I think it'll do we just had drew wench
his blades when surely that doesn't hurt
the blade you can grind it flinch play
yep grinding the blade especially for
European dagger
it's very important because you got to
get everything straight I'm spending a
ton of time on this and I think it's
time well worth spent all right blade
Smith's over the last three hours you
worked on your European daggers let's
see if your blades are up to specs
Jason you're up first well first off
your steel looks really good it's nice
and clean
I'd love to see a lot of that material
taken out maybe a distant taper put in
to this where Casso is good nice and
done thank you
all right drew please present your work
to the judges yeah drew watching
somebody work as well as you did half of
my age really impresses me your steel
looks good and tight but you do have
quite a warmth
there's a few different ways that you
can go ahead and fix that overall a very
nice job thank you all right so drew
first off if you're gonna grind into
vest make sure it's 100% cotton that
thing can go up in flames I really like
the shape of this the fact that you're
ricasso sets in you just have enough
ricasso there the lines are really clean
I like the fact that that spine goes all
the way to the tip nicely done I'm
impressed by your work all right Larry
you're up
well Larry your steal looks pretty nice
but we've got a few different issues
here you're really thin down here and
thicker up here and you've got quite a
wave in your blade as well big thing
where's your Picasso I got behind the
eight ball ran out of time all right
well that's that's a problem yep Larry
your blade was required to have a
ricasso it doesn't it's grounds for
immediate dismissal from this Forge that
reason I had to ask you to please leave
you