All right.
Gary, Eduardo, congratulations, guys.
Your hard work has paid off, and it
is now down to the two of you battling it out
for the title of "Forged in Fire"
Champion and that check for $10 grand.
And because this competition's all
about iconic weapons from South America,
we're sticking with that theme.
We're giving you four days to build this--
the Argentinean saber.
[music playing]
DAVID BAKER: The Argentinean saber was a fierce 19th century
weapon used by the cavalry soldiers known
as the Argentinean Grenadiers.
These mounted warriors used the lightweight single-edged blade
to deliver swift and lethal slashes
against enemies, while the large hilt protected their hands.
After their crucial service in the Argentinian War
of Independence, the Grenadiers were
given the honor of becoming the presidential escort guard.
Today, these elite soldiers still
protect the president with this powerful saber at their sides.
All right, guys.
We will see you in four days.
- Good luck. - We got this.
Stay safe, dude.
[music playing]
EDUARDO: My name's Eduardo Sol.
I am originally from Mexico.
I moved to the US because I was a foreign exchange
student during college and met the woman of my dreams.
And she got me into blacksmithing.
And I got hooked on knives.
My concern is that pipeback spine.
Here we go.
I never knew that existed until today.
The biggest challenge is putting in the curve
that's the requirement while still keeping
the pipeback spine intact.
Forging is going really well.
It's good enough, it's close enough,
and I am ready for the quench.
Ooh.
The blade is hard, the blade is straight, and I am exhausted.
All I need to do now is get started on my hilt.
One of the parameters is drilling
the piercings in the hilt.
There's that disk.
These rotary disks are literally exploding
as soon as I put them on.
The guard is too hard for the rotor disks to cook through.
[groans]
This one line right there took two and a half cutting disks.
I am extremely aggravated by this.
This is supposed to be quick and easy.
I am burning through my day.
I'm falling behind.
I hope I'm going to have enough time.
All righty, now to make that pretty.
I finally finish the piercings on my guard.
I am down to a single rotary disk left.
[laughs] But I'm running out of time.
I need to fly through my handle.
Hopefully, everything's going to marry up perfectly.
That's it.
Overall, I'm still on schedule.
After I peen this on and close it,
I'm going to grind this extra steel off
so it's a much tighter fit to the handle.
It's time to peen the guard and then sharpen my blade.
That should be it.
It's really coming out great.
That is sharp.
[music playing]
GARY (VOICEOVER): I'm Gary Graham from Elkmont, Alabama.
12 days after I turned 18, I enlisted in the Army,
flying UH-60 Black Hawks.
Started making my first blade after I got home
from deployment, and it continued to grow
to a small business now.
I forged the blade out, got the length I want out of it,
got it forced to shape, drawing it out with my dies
and verifying that everything's nice and even.
It's looking good.
It's time to go and sharpen the blade.
So I'm at the point now I'm going to go out and do
some testing with my blade.
Whoops.
Missed part of it.
I bent my blade.
I come out with a blade looking like a boomerang.
Damn.
I only got one more day to get it done.
There's no time to waste.
I've got to get working on a new blade immediately
and make this one work.
We should have the process down pat now.
We're good on parameters.
It's been a hell of a day, but at the end,
I've got a quenched blade.
This blade looks a lot better than the blade
that didn't work out so great.
It's time for me to work on my hand and my hilt.
I grab a piece of sheet metal, cut out the shape that I want,
and I start shaping it in the swage block.
Now, I'm going to cut these piercings in in my hilt.
My plan to put this handle together to secure it properly
is I want to notch out my tang, weld in a machine boat
with a spacer so I can tighten it all up.
And the last thing I need to do is sharpen it
and assemble the sword.
That's it for Round 3.
It's in the judges' hands now.
All right, bladesmiths, welcome to the kill test.
Well, it's time to find out just how lethal your weapons are.
I'm going to take your weapons and deliver
some thrusts and slashes on this pig carcass.
Gary, you're up first. You ready for this?
I'm ready.
Let's do this.
GARY (VOICEOVER): Since I've already
warped one blade during testing at home,
I'm nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof.
I don't want my blade to crack, I don't want it to warp,
and I don't want it to break.
[music playing]
DOUG MARCAIDA: All right, Gary, let's talk
about your weapon here.
First up, most of the weight is right in the very tip
of this blade.
But the saving grace for that is that you have a nice
handle right there where I can grab onto it,
I can marry my hand, it's a void,
and I've got full control with this weapon.
As you can see, those were very deep cuts.
Overall, sir, your weapon--
it will kill.
Thank you.
All right, Eduardo, your turn, sir.
Are you ready? - I'm excited.
Let's go.
Let's do this.
EDUARDO (VOICEOVER): I know my edge is fantastic.
It can take a beating.
It's a killer blade.
I can't wait to see what it can do.
[sighs]
[music playing]
Gentlemen, I think we have a problem here.
That's a very small handle.
My hand barely fits in there.
And when I'm swinging, there was just
no retention or stop right here, especially in the slashes.
For thrusting it with a forward weight,
all that is on my wrist.
What do you think?
BEN ABBOTT: Oh, I see what you're saying.
I could swing it now. DOUG MARCAIDA: But swinging--
But I can't pull it back up because I
don't have the leverage.
Yeah, I'm looking at my fingers double up.
The problem is, is there's no space in there.
If it does cut loose, that's breaking my hand.
Is there any way to adjust and make it fair?
The problem with that is I can hold back
to make it work, but now I'm holding back,
and that's not an even test anymore.
OK.
You guys all agree, the blade's not safe to wield?
Yes. BEN ABBOTT: Definitely.
GRADY POWELL: OK.
[bleep]
Eduardo, we absolutely hate to see
a competition end like this.
But when wielding an edged weapon,
safety is always of the utmost importance.
Due to the small handle you've presented
and the lack of retention that it offers,
the judges have issued a vote of no confidence.
They can't safely test your weapon.
So unfortunately, your time in this competition has ended.
I'm going to have to ask you to please
step off the "Forged" floor.
It's all right.
Congratulations, buddy.
Thanks.
Thank you though, Eduardo.
I'm crushed.
I'm disappointed.
I worked really hard for it not to get tested.
It fit my hand perfectly.
Every step of this competition was a learning experience.
And I really think I'm leaving a better smith.
Gary, you are today's "Forged in Fire" Champion.
You got yourself a check for $10,000.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
I really appreciate it.
It feels great to be the "Forged in Fire" Champion.
What are you going to do with the $10 grand?
Do you have plans? - No, I'm sure my wife does.
[laughter]
GARY (VOICEOVER): I just want to savor this for a while.
There was a lot of work to get here.
It's been fun, I've met a lot of great people,
and I've enjoyed it.
[music playing]