Forged in Fire (2015) s01e07 Episode Script

Since the dawn
of human civilization,
mankind has made weapons.
- Whoa!
Bladesmiths have honed
and perfected their craft
over thousands of years.
And now,
for the first time ever,
these men will go head-to-head
and put their skills
to the ultimate test.
Welcome to the forge.
It starts with a lump
of raw steel
and a ticking clock,
and by the end of three rounds,
the bladesmiths must deliver
handmade weapons
that are works of art
as well as deadly instruments
of war.
These weapons must survive
explosive tests
as well as the scrutiny
of an expert panel of judges.
In the end, only one bladesmith
will take home $10,000
and be crowned
a Forged in Firechampion.
My name is Jamie Lindel.
Years ago,
I got into medieval reenacting,
so a lot of things that I create
have to do with history.
My name is Maxon McCarter.
My flare is my weird brain.
I do base some things
off historical stuff,
but otherwise, I sit there
and dream up something cool.
My name is Adam Ison.
I'm a welder fabricator by day,
and I forge blades
and knives at night.
My name's Mareko Maumasi.
After working in restaurants
as a line cook
for six or seven years,
I quit my job
to take on making knives,
and I've been happy ever since.
Gentlemen,
welcome to the forge.
There are three rounds
in this competition.
Each round is
specifically designed
to test a different aspect
of the weapon-making process.
After each round,
you will hand your blades
off to our judges.
Solo weapons making expert
J. Neilson,
rare weapons re-creation
specialist David Baker,
and edged weapons specialist
and martial artist
Doug Marcaida.
They will decide who moves on
to the next round
and ultimately
who will be crowned
the Forged in Firechampion
and walk away with a check
for $10,000.
In front of you on your anvils
is a cloth.
Go ahead and lift that up.
That is a ball bearing
of high-carbon chromium steel.
Your challenge is to take
that ball bearing
and turn it into
a fully functional weapon.
Holy crap.
I've never worked
with this before.
The blades themselves
must fall into the following
size parameters.
The length of the blade,
not including the tang,
must be between
9 and 13 inches,
and the overall length
of the blade
will not exceed 22 inches.
Just to push you even further,
you must also include
a hollow grind.
A hollow grind
is the concave grind
running just below
the blade's cutting edge,
reducing the weight of the blade
while keeping it razor sharp.
You will have ten minutes
to work on your design
and three hours
to forge your blades.
Your time starts
Now.
As far as having a specialty,
I am a more
a jack-of-all-trades.
I decide I'm gonna
forge out a kukri.
It hacks down small trees,
much like a machete.
When it comes to blades,
I like to add a Celtic
and Scottish twist.
I plan to make
a double-edged dagger.
My strategy is keep it simple.
Don't do anything fancy.
Just make sure it's functional
and it passes
destructive testing.
My passion is making knives.
I'm definitely
following my dream
and knife making
and bladesmithing
really is the one thing
that I'm great at.
My blade is a combination
between a bowie knife
and camp knife
that blends
the two styles together
to make
a large chopping tool.
What I bring
to this competition is design.
I have an eye for lines,
and I know what looks good,
and I know what feels good.
I decided to do
a Persian fighter,
nice sexy blade.
The other guys should be scared
because my looks good.
Gentlemen,
your design period
is now over.
You may now start forging.
I'm gonna have to make a knife
out of this ball bearing.
Uh,
I've never did that before.
Usually my blade steel,
it's all square and precut,
so obviously,
it's gonna be a challenge.
These are 2 1/2 inch diameter
ball bearings.
It's gonna take a while
for those to heat up.
Ball bearing.
The first problem
is how to hold on.
So I grind two flats.
Now I got a place
to hold it with tongs.
Bring the tongs over.
First thing they do
Top falls off.
This is why
I can't have nice things.
I'm now looking
for a new pair of tongs,
and they end up
working out really well.
So disaster avoided.
Now I got a hot ball bearing.
At this point,
I need to draw it out into a bar
and start forging my knife
from there.
Mareko's done something
really interesting here.
- He has actually made a stand.
- Yep.
A stand is crucial,
especially if you're working
with long handles
that are gonna be hanging out
and potentially just
falling down out of the forge.
You want that support.
I have always been really good
with working with my hands
ever since I was a little kid.
Hot.
I was always taking things apart
and trying to figure out
how they work.
Mareko is pressing out
his steel now.
Wow.
When I'm under that press
and trying to squish it
because it's such a slow motion,
it's also simultaneously
sucking heat out of it.
It feels like it's just
turning into stone.
I'm like, "Holy crap."
I relight, you know,
put it put it back in the forge
and just keep making trips
back and forth, back and forth.
Hot coming over.
It's a lot of work
running back and forth
moving that material.
I mean it's heavy.
And swinging
the heavy-ass hammer,
and that's a lot of work too.
I felt like I'd just gotten
done running a half marathon.
I'm exhausted.
I don't even know if
I'm gonna finish this thing,
if I'm just gonna collapse
and pass out or what.
Little warm.
So I grew up off the grid
in Montana.
Living out in the woods,
I didn't have the resources
that most kids had,
so I drew hot girls with swords.
Maxon was really
squeezing that metal
to a pretty cool temperature.
I'm not sure
that he had it hot enough
because he didn't leave it
in the forge for that long.
So I'm hoping he's not
pushing cracks into his form.
This is the fascinating part,
just making it a straight
and flat.
Two hours, gentlemen.
You have two hours
remaining.
It's good to see Jamie
and the other guys
checking these measurements
to remind you the minimum
and maximum you can go with.
I have my profile forged in.
It's getting hot in here.
So now I have to head
to the grinder
and start removing
some of the scale.
The one thing
I'm really keeping track of
is trying to keep
my edge thickness consistent.
Things can get all woogidy,
and I'm looking
to avoid the woogidy.
Jamie's blade, the profile
is really coming along.
It has some curves to it, man.
It looks nice.
It's got beautiful
curves to it.
My only concern
about Jamie's knife,
it looked as though
he had brought it down
too thin to get
a good hollow grind on there.
Could you explain what a hollow
ground blade looks like?
You want to start at a thick
point on your blade
and draw in, creating a concave
with the blade on both sides.
So basically, it's giving
your blade shoulders
and a narrow waist.
Exactly.
What that hollow grind's
gonna give you
is a nice sharp cutting edge,
but still have the blade
supported by that spine.
I've never hollow grind before.
I understand how it works.
I've seen people do it,
but I've never done it myself.
And I start seeing
stress fractures.
What the hell am I gonna do?
They're small, though.
I got enough length.
I'll just grind 'em out.
He does have time to recover.
- Oh, definitely.
- No doubt about it.
Definitely does.
You know,
I have some room to play with.
I can grind those out
and go back to
getting that hollow in there.
Gentlemen,
you have one hour remaining.
Oh, we got a bar
on the floor.
Taking a ball bearing
and then making the blade
I wanted to make, there's a lot
of forging involved.
Whoa.
Adam's really starting to fight
with that piece of steel.
Starting to feel the pressure
when I see people start grinding
and I'm still forging.
Adam is forging out
a gigantic knife,
and I can't help
but laugh a little bit.
It's just a huge knife.
- Wow.
- That's a beast over there.
Good God.
I hope that Adam
measures that blade.
Well, 13 was the maximum,
so we'll see.
I did a couple measurements
for the blade.
.
Devastating.
My blade is about 21.
.
Is this happening right now?
This sucks.
.
I hope that Adam
measures that blade.
It must be 16 inches
long right now.
Well, 13 was the maximum,
so we'll see.
.
And I believe that concern
about Adam's blade was accurate.
The moment I see my blade
is over specifications,
had to come up quick on my feet
to figure something out.
He still has time
to correct his mistake.
Yeah, but here's the question.
Which end is he cutting on?
I already had my point
on the front,
and I spent all this
time on this tang,
and now I got to cut it off.
That blade still looks huge.
He didn't chop off the tip
at all.
Remember,
we need a finished blade.
We didn't say we needed
a finished handle.
When you start
destructive testing,
the blade is more important
than the tang right now,
and holding its edge
is where it counts.
The more tired Mareko gets,
the more frustrated he looks.
30 minutes left,
and I'm still grinding.
I'm fixing the issues
with the stress fractures,
but I'm also trying
to put hollow grind on the edge
that I've never done before.
And so I'm crossing my fingers
that I'm gonna
get this thing done.
15 minutes.
You have 15 minutes remaining.
After my edges are cleaned up,
I realize that I've
got some stress cracks.
So there's 10 minutes left,
and I don't want to put
any more stress on it.
I'm worried that it's gonna
crack even worse,
so I'm done.
Maxon's blade
is sitting on his anvil.
Sitting on the anvil
with over eight minutes left.
So is there anything that
Maxon could be doing right now?
Absolutely.
If I start doing
anything else to it,
I'm gonna have to
finish that part too, so--
Oh, it's making
me nuts.
I want to rip this table
into pieces.
I wish I could be this casual
with $10,000.
Exactly.
Yeah, I could use
another hour or two?
Another hour, yeah.
2 1/2 minutes left
and these guys are standing
around chit-chatting.
Yes. Yes, it would.
Adam hasn't even
quenched his blade yet.
The most crucial part
of this blade is the quench.
If it cracks, it's failed.
Come on, guys.
Focus.
Let's finish this up.
It was do or die.
And the pressure
goes up a notch.
Ten, nine,
eight, seven,
six, five,
four, three,
two, one.
Gentleman,
your forge time is complete.
That's the most cardio
I've done in a long time.
I need some whiskey
on the rocks.
Looking back to the mistakes,
definitely bummed
that I couldn't finish
some aspects of the blade,
but I'm happy with how it looks.
I think my knife looks good.
I'm disappointed
that it's got cracks in it,
but it is what it is.
Well, gentlemen,
now I'm gonna ask you
to turn your blades over
for the judges to examine.
Mareko,
please present your weapon.
I like the grind.
It's nice and even.
Got a little bit
of a slight twist,
and we do have a crack
that goes all the way through.
Well, nice hollow grind.
I mean, on a blade
this thick,
you could've pushed
that further up,
but I understand
the time constraints.
I was really rushing
to do that
'cause I'd never done
a hollow grind before.
Oh, okay.
Jamie, it's your turn.
Well, Jamie, it's beautiful.
I mean, I love the hollow grind.
It feels good,
even on the upsweep.
This belly that you added to it
and the point over there,
you'll definitely be able
to thrust with this.
There's a small line on here,
and I can't tell
if it's a crack or not.
It doesn't go
all the way through,
but it's pretty visible
on one side.
All right, Maxon.
I like the shape.
Grinds look good.
I like you left
a bunch of heft in it,
especially for chopping.
Little bit of a wiggle
on the top edge here.
I've never used
ball bearings.
I think I just
let it cool too much.
Well, you do have
several fractures in the blade.
I'm sure it probably
was from hammering on that steel
when it was cold.
I think it was
the power hammer that did it.
All right, Adam.
Watching you move the metal
in the beginning,
it was impressive.
You kept the temperature up.
- Right.
- You kept working on it.
I actually don't see any flaws
in your blade.
So let's see.
Length.
So the specifications were?
The length of the blade,
not including the tang,
must be between
9 and 13 inches.
Unfortunately, your blade
is about 18 inches long.
Oh.
It's actually
not the correct grind.
A convex grind goes like that,
which is what you have.
Concave is the hollow.
Adam, your blade
missed the length,
and it did not have
a hollow grind.
You did not make the cut.
Adam, you were doing
a great job moving that steel.
- I was really impressed.
- Thank you.
But those are just two things
we couldn't overlook,
so we had to cut you.
I understand.
Adam,
please surrender your weapon.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Towards the end,
I kind of lost concentration.
That's what ultimately
sent me home.
If I had a little more time,
I could've fixed those mistakes
and probably had
a winning blade.
All right, gentlemen,
congratulations
on getting your blades through
to round two.
Your challenge
in the second round
is to turn in a fully functional
lethal weapon.
You will have three hours
to complete this challenge.
You can use that time
to address the issues
that were brought up to you
by our judges,
but be careful
because you must also design,
fabricate,
and attach a handle
to your weapons
using the range of materials
provided for you.
At the end of this round,
your weapons will be subjected
to a strength
and durability test.
Remember,
at the end of this round,
one of you will have
to surrender his weapon
and be dismissed from the forge.
Your time startsnow.
In selecting
the handle material,
I'm gonna go with micarta.
It's really durable,
really traditional
on more of a tactical,
chopper kind of knife.
The first thing I'd like to see
is some repairs
going with those blades,
like the cracks and whatnot.
- Well, he's working his edge.
- That's all right.
He's probably seeing
if he can grind that crack out.
I'm not planning on addressing
the stress fractures in my knife
because the stress fractures
on my blade
are closer towards the tip,
which is good for me
because the chopping
is gonna be done in the middle.
So I'm just gonna hope
it survives.
The vibe in the forge is tense.
Everybody's got a crack
in their blade,
so that is the first task.
Get rid of that crack.
I'm sanding because I want
to remove as little material
as I possibly can
from the blade.
The more weight you have,
the better it's gonna be
for chopping.
15 or so minutes
into the competition,
and I'm sanding.
Half an hour,
I'm sanding.
All right, come on, Jamie.
Stop hand rubbing that blade.
He's either lost that crack,
or it's not a crack at all.
Exactly.
The good news is,
it looks that that crack
was pretty superficial.
And that is a big relief.
I'm rather surprised
that Maxon
is cutting straight to a handle.
Right, he's got a lot
of blade issues to work on.
I pick out some blue
stabilized wood,
and I've got a hidden tang
on my knife,
and so I just start
grinding things away
until the tang
goes through the hole.
What do you think
of Maxon's technique
of sitting on a box,
crossing his leg?
That's definitely
a new grinding technique to me.
My big issue with thinning
that tang out more and more,
that's just gonna make it
a even weaker blade.
And if he doesn't address
the cracks in that blade,
we're gonna have a break
dance-off between Maxon's blade
and Mareko's blade.
A break dance-off?
Well, you know,
if these cracks aren't fixed,
it'll be very interesting
to see.
I feel like I definitely
got my second wind
in this part of the competition.
I feel like the grinding
and the handle fit and finish
is what I'm great at.
Trying to get the tang
of my knife drilled
so I can use
these little tiny nut and bolt
that go in the handle.
- I like that.
- Always a good thing to see.
- More security.
- Yeah.
Well, if you hear that sound,
you're starting to overheat
the drill bit.
I got the first hole drilled,
and then the second one
is squealing.
I'm putting oil on there
to help encourage the cutting,
and I'm almost through.
- Ooh.
- And the bit breaks.
Oh, and it's in the hole.
This is not good.
I had this whole plan
built around the way
I was gonna build the handle,
and now I have to change that.
I'm totally screwed.
.
I'm trying to get the tang
of my knife drilled,
and I'm almost through.
- Ooh.
- And the bit breaks.
Not happening.
He was trying to force it
through too much.
- In the hole.
- Yeah.
I'm starting to get frustrated
because I had this whole plan,
and now I have to change that.
He just picked out a brass pin,
so maybe he's abandoning
the mechanical connections
'cause he can't get
a big enough hole.
I whip up the epoxy,
and pin it together with
a little 1/8 inch brass rod.
I get all my clamps on
and everything,
so then I take it over
to the grinder,
with all the clamps
and everything on there.
I'm not feeling rushed,
but I'm pushing myself to get
things done sooner than later.
Mareko's shown us a lot
ofofll
- I have--I agree.
- In the second challenge.
He's thinned things out.
He's actually put his grind
back in.
It looks a lot better now.
One hour, gentlemen.
You have one hour remaining.
I'm kind of starting to feel
the crunch a little bit.
There's an on switch somewhere.
Ah, there we go.
I'm kind of riding that edge of,
"What is the fastest way
for me to do this?"
We have a handle helicopter.
And I find a nice piece
of stabilized burl.
I got a feeling
Jamie's gonna go pin-less.
No.
I didn't go for a pin
because at this point,
I don't have enough time.
To finish off with just gluing,
he just brought himself down
in equal standing
with the other guys.
That's definitely
a big structural mistake.
You want some kind
of mechanical lock
to keep that blade
in the handle.
Gentlemen,
you have 30 minutes remaining.
I want to get the tang to fit
the brass guard piece
nice and snug,
and I just can't seem
to get 'em to fit.
Maxon, I think the nerves
are getting to him.
I'm running out of time,
and I'm committed to it, so--
- Don't do it. Don't do it.
- Let's see. Let's see.
- There he goes.
- Oh.
I'm grinding my tang round
to fit the holes
that I put into the brass.
Oh, boy.
Yeah, it's just gotten
ridiculous at this point.
It's about the diameter
of a pencil.
There's not gonna be
a tang left pretty soon.
You know,
go with an ice pick.
That is the stronger part
of the blade right now.
I'm running out of time.
At this point,
I have the pieces that I made,
so I just got to
make something work.
I hate to say this,
but I've no faith
in the in structural integrity
of Maxon's knife.
Ten, nine,
eight, seven,
six, five,
four, three,
two, one.
Gentlemen, stop working.
Not the greatest,
but it should work
for chopping things.
All right, bladesmiths.
This is the ice chop.
This is gonna test the strength
of your forged blades
and the ability
to retain their edges.
It does six whacks,
and we'll see how it goes.
Jamie, you're up first.
Let's do this.
Take that.
Well, Jamie,
the edge held up very well.
No deformation.
Everything's still
in line.
No chips.
Very comfortable.
Not having a pin
still concerns me over time,
but for this chop,
it seemed to do just fine.
Did a number on the ice too.
Good job.
Mareko,
let's take a look at your blade.
Okay.
I hope it doesn't break.
I hope it doesn't break.
I'm concerned about
the stress fractures.
It held up very well.
The cracks concern me.
They didn't let loose.
It had enough weight
to hammer into that ice,
and your hollow grind
split the ice very well.
They handle didn't turn around,
didn't move,
stayed nice and solid,
and it kind of
obliterated the ice.
- Nicely done.
- Thank you.
All right, Maxon.
You're up next.
I'm confident in my blade.
I've got a few red checkmarks
on it,
but you know,
solid 80%.
All right, Maxon.
You're up next.
Oh, no.
There you go.
Well, Maxon, we didn't have to
worry about the stress fractures
because the tang snapped.
I mean, it's a shame 'cause
you had a nice beefy blade here.
Your hollow grind
was nicely done,
and with the heft on here,
I was really looking forward
to ripping some ice up.
Bladesmiths,
in this competition,
only two of you may go through
to the final round.
Maxon,
you did not make the cut.
Maxon,
you had a great design working.
Your hollow grinds
were nice and deep, clean.
Yep.
But grinding your tang so thin
and then having
that handle snap off,
that's just not something we can
let go in this competition.
Maxon,
please surrender your weapon.
All right.
The judges have it
totally right.
There's no real decision there.
My blade broke.
Theirs didn't.
I had no idea what to expect
coming into this,
but the judges were great,
and the other contestants
are just chill dudes
with great facial hair.
Mareko, Jamie,
congratulations.
You guys have made it through
to the final round,
and you're both one step closer
to receiving a check
for $10,000.
When you showed up here,
you took a ball bearing
and you forged that
into signature blade.
But now, you will work on
a blade of our choosing.
It's one of the most
famous weapons from history:
the Roman gladius.
The word "gladius"
means sword in Latin.
It was also adopted as the name
for those who would fight
each other to the death
for the entertainment
of the imperial crowds,
as depicted in the Hollywood
blockbuster Gladiator.
The gladius was the primary
weapon of the Roman legionary,
with a fearsome V-shaped tip
for thrusting and stabbing
and a double razor sharp edge
for slashing and slicing.
Originally a Spanish weapon,
the Romans were so impressed
by its simple design
and lethal effectiveness,
they adopted it as their own
and used it to help them
establish
one of the greatest empires
the world has ever known.
Your challenge is to forge
a Roman gladius.
It must be an authentic
fully functioning version
of that deadly weapon
that dominated the battlefields
of Europe
for nearly a thousand years.
I'm feeling slightly
out of my element.
I've never made
a gladius before.
You will have five days
to forge this weapon.
Just to give you
the best possible advantage,
we are sending you back to
your home forges to complete it.
At this point,
I'm feeling okay.
I've forged blades
similar to gladius before,
never in a very traditional way,
but I'm ready to beat feet
to the forge and get working.
At the end of five days,
you will return
and present your gladiuses
to our panel of expert judges.
They will put them through
a series of grueling
and stressful tests.
Ultimately, they will decide
who walks away with the title
of Forged in Firechampion.
Good luck, bladesmiths.
We will see you in five days.
- Good luck.
- You too.
I'm glad to be back,
working in my own shop.
A little nervous
about the challenge
'cause I've never built
a knife like this before,
especially this long.
My plan is to start
forging the Damascus
for all my fittings
as well as for the blade.
It's only gonna take me all day
'cause it's a bit of a process.
I started with 27 layers
of steel.
Now they're all one solid bar.
I'm gonna cut it into pieces,
restack them
on top of each other,
multiplying that layer count.
This'll make the blade
as strong as it can be.
I'm gonna do this one more time
after this
to give myself
around 680 layers.
I'm gonna honor
the history of this weapon,
but I am definitely gonna
put a few twists on it myself
based on my experience
with knives.
First day,
my priority is to get
the Damascus billet
all welded up and forged out.
Into the fire it goes,
and we got to crank some heat.
I'm going for
just over 100 layers.
That's gonna give me a nice,
bold pattern.
It's gonna be
really eye-catching
and stand out to the judges.
Mareko as a competitor
is gonna be difficult.
I really feel like
I got to pick my game up
in order to compete with
whatever he's doing
on the west coast.
It's just about time
to cut it up into four pieces
and restack it,
and that'll give me
my 108 layers of steel.
Day two.
I forged the blade out
to the rough shape
of the gladius,
and then I started grinding
on it.
The blade is 21 1/2 inches long,
and it takes a lot of grinding.
It's a cool blade profile.
I mean, you can see
all the different layers,
approximately
675 different layers in here.
Now I'm gonna start working
on the handle material.
All my handle components,
they all need to be drilled
and have these pins
made for them
so that they come together
as one solid construction
of a handle.
It's day three.
I have 30 more hours,
and I'm really happy
with how it's looking so far.
Time to get this guy
into heat treat.
This is where things
can go wrong.
I just need to make sure
that I take my time,
go slowly
just to make sure
that I get the heat treat right.
.
The fact that
my blade took a warp
pisses me off.
I'm levering on the blade,
pushing down, pushing down,
and that warp is just sticking.
It's got a little wibble
to its wobble.
If I had enough time,
I would go through
another heat treating cycle,
but my time is limited,
and I just got to make up
for that one flaw
by going to the nines
with everything else.
It's time to start
working on the handle.
I'm gonna add some bronze
to the mix,
olive wood,
and buffalo horn.
It's gonna look nice.
It's the end of day four.
I'm starting to feel
a little overwhelmed
with this assembly.
That handle was a bit
of an ambitious build,
but I'm too far along
to turn back.
So I got--
I got to make it happen.
There's one day left,
but I want to put
just a little bit more onto it
that'll signify my hand
in the work.
It says,
"Fortune favors the bold."
It's gonna take a miracle
to really get it all done.
.
Jamie, Mareko,
welcome back to the forge.
I hope that your five days
at home were very productive.
How'd you get on, Jamie?
I feel like
it went pretty well.
One thing that I tried
to really incorporate
was some references
back to Roman times.
I made a 108-layer billet.
Around the pommel,
I carved in Latin,
"fortune favors the bold,"
and that kind of spoke to some
of the chances that I took.
Pretty happy with the product
that I produced.
Great.
Mareko, tell us
about your overall design
on your gladius.
I made my gladius
from 675-layer
high-carbon Damascus.
It also features
blond birch burl in the handle
for a contrast
between the black grip,
which is made
from ancient bog oak.
It was a good challenge
to really kind of stretch
my abilities and see
what I was capable of.
All right, gents.
The weapon of choice
for the Roman legionnaire
was the gladius.
Not only did they use it
to chop through enemies
on the battlefield,
they also used it to cut
and slice their way
through the sometimes hostile
terrain of the lands
that they conquered.
Each of your blades will now
be put through three trials.
Doug.
For the slice test,
I will take your weapon
and slash through branches,
vines, and sugarcane,
so different layers,
different consistencies.
Jamie, you're up first.
Are you ready?
I am.
I'm feeling a little nervous.
There's a lot of stuff
to slow a blade down
when you're swinging
through there.
So I don't know.
Definitely a good impact weapon.
Only thing was at the end
as you're doing more shots,
it starts to rotate
with a very rounded handle,
but it is sharp,
and for this test,
it can cut.
Mareko, you're up next.
Are you ready?
I'm ready.
I'm a little bit nervous
considering my gladius
has never actually been put
to any testing.
Very light on the hand,
very sharp.
A lot of the sugarcanes
have very clean cuts,
despite being surrounded
by these branches.
The handle construction
felt secure in my hand.
Beautiful cut.
Good job.
Thank you very much.
Now it's time
for the kill test.
To test the lethality
of your weapon,
I will slash, cut,
and stab this ballistics dummy
that is dressed like a gladiator
in the Roman era.
Jamie, you're up.
Are you ready?
Absolutely.
Well, that lacerated
all the way through to the bone,
destroyed the clavicle
completely,
disemboweled here.
Thrust went through.
And that's definitely
a kill shot
all the way into the spine.
This will kill.
Good job.
Thank you.
Mareko, you're next.
You ready?
I'm ready.
That's all the way through.
Disemboweled on that pass.
Throat all the way to the spine.
It will kill.
Good job.
Thank you.
Now to test the strength
of your weapon,
your gladius we'll be placed
on this dynamic testing rig.
This rig is calibrated
to deliver a strong blow
similar to a Roman legionnaire
from his era.
Your gladius that will strike
our gladius
that is made
of 1055 high-carbon steel
three times or until
one of the blades break.
Jamie,
your gladius is already loaded
into this rig.
- Are you ready?
- I am.
At this point,
I'm a little nervous.
Any time you hit steel on steel,
you know,
any number of bad things
can happen.
But fingers crossed,
and we'll see how it goes.
In three, two, one,
engage.
Jamie, your gladius
is already loaded into this rig.
- Are you ready?
- I am.
In three, two, one,
engage.
Engage.
Engage.
Well, your edge held
all the way through.
Little indentations there,
nothing major.
This crushed
right through the sword,
so this would've broken
the soldier's arm.
That's a strong sword.
Good job.
Thank you.
Okay, Mareko, you're up.
I'm ready.
My biggest fear
is that it's gonna make contact
and it's just gonna break.
In three, two, one, engage.
Engage.
Three, two, one, engage.
I am relieved
that it made it through.
It's like watching
your little baby.
You know, you've spent
all this time making this thing,
and it's still on one piece.
I'm thinking,
"Thank God."
And it held up.
More scratches to the blade.
That is a strong blade, sir.
Congratulations.
Thank you very much.
Honestly,
at this point,
it's a difficult call.
The blades
both performed really well,
so I don't know whether or not
I'm gonna go or stay.
Oh, man.
Some crazy stuff.
What a contraption
that was.
All right, gentlemen.
We'll start with Jamie's weapon.
He did a beautiful
Damascus blade.
There was a distinct bend.
Definitely curves
off to one side.
See there's big shiny silver
on the edges,
and I worry that
he brought things down too far
and actually weakened his edge.
And I think that's
where we get
a lot of this deformation
from there.
He's put an amazing amount
of detail into this sword.
The pattern
on the blade is spectacular.
The "fortune favors
the bold" is a nice touch.
I think it's a beautiful piece.
Design-wise,
because it's rounded,
it did roll in my hand,
preventing me from
really putting
a lot of better cuts in there,
but it's sharp enough
to cut through the vines.
It's a very beautiful blade.
Moving on to Mareko's weapon.
Right off the bat,
I think his handle bent.
They're talking about
the handle.
In the strength test,
the tang started to bend
within the handle.
It actually takes
almost an S-bend,
but, you know,
his design is beautiful.
Well, this blade,
the balance alone,
the fit and finish,
the way it felt in the hand,
it is a performance blade.
In this slice test,
the handle construction
did not roll off my hand.
I think it performed
much better than Jamie's blade.
Taking into consideration
all these factors,
have you judges
reached a decision
about who's gonna be the Forged in Fire
champion today?
Absolutely.
Tell me 'cause I don't know.
I don't know who it's gonna be.
Jamie, Mareko,
in just five days,
you have both produced
a pair of gladius swords,
and you've both done
outstanding work.
Mareko, that is one
of the most beautiful pieces
we've ever had on the show,
but man,
that handle is an issue.
Having a tang
that's gonna bend or deflect
in a combat situation,
that's a serious problem.
Comments for Jamie?
Jamie,
beautiful Damascus blade.
You went a lower layer count,
so you get a bolder pattern.
The only issue I really
have with the blade,
you had some damage on the edge
in the strength test,
and also you actually
gave us a blade
that had a bend down it
before we even started
the testing.
That hurt you
in the strength test some.
Mm-hmm.
There can only be
one champion.
Jamie,
you are
the Forged in Firechampion.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
Mareko, your blade
did not make the cut.
Mareko,
I honestly love your sword,
but functionality
is the key
and just cannot overlook
that handle coming apart.
Mareko, please surrender
your weapon.
Definitely sucks,
but it feels really good
to have had a chance
to challenge myself and to step
outside my comfort zone
and do a good job at it.
Jamie, congratulations.
You'll be receiving a check
for $10,000.
Thank you.
Do you feel like fortune
favored the bold?
I do.
I feel like I took some chances,
and those decisions helped me
when this competition.
For me,
it's all about the detail.
The choice of materials,
the way you laid it out,
that's just really,
really nice work.
Thank you.
I feel good.
It's $10,000.
Definitely helped me out.
Maybe might find some time
for a little vacation
somewhere here or there.
We'll see. We'll see.