You guys have made it into the third round

of this competition.

Now, it's not going to get any easier

as we said you hoped to recreate this iconic weapon

from history--

the Jian.

Good luck, gents.

We'll see you in four days.

It's day one.

I'm here in Mount Airy, Maryland,

getting ready to build the Jian sword.

Here we go.

It's that quick.

I've decided to use ADC RB2.

It's going to give it additional toughness, more springiness.

Start at the tip and work my way back.

I have never made anything as long as a Jian sword,

so this is completely new territory.

Well, that's not good.

So I got a band.

As I forge the blade, I keep having this little ghost

visiting and kinking the blade.

When I get it straightened--

not quite.

All right.

I think I'm OK.

Today was pretty good, actually.

Got the blade more or less profiled,

and so far it looks pretty good.

I need a shower, and a cold beer would not hurt.

So it's day one.

I'm back in Oklahoma.

I'm ready to get started on this Jian sword.

I'm gonna go prep my steel.

I'm going to try to spice it up a bit with a little Damascus.

I'm doing 1084, and 15, and 20.

I figured that would look cool.

Low layer with a twist.

Whoa, that's good.

I've got this thing drawn out, and as you twist it,

it cools it even faster.

And the more it cools down, the harder it is to twist.

So you don't want to fight it.

When it tells you to stop, you want to stop.

I don't want to risk it.

If it gets too cold, you can induce stress fractures.

I'm looking good.

I've got that twist in there, and now I've got to square

it back up and draw it out.

It's looking good, I think.

Today's day two.

Got a good night's sleep.

Hopefully I get to quench by the end of the day.

Just trying to get the bevels established.

I think that's pretty good.

So I finished all my bevels, and I'm ready to quench.

I'm trying to hurry up in here.

We have thunderstorms coming.

With the rain, it can cause all the oil to splatter out,

and I will end up burned.

So I really need to get this done.

Here goes nothing.

So I get the blade to temperature.

And I pull the blade out, and it's got a slight warp.

I'm trying to correct it while the blade is still hot.

It's on fire, but we've got a straight blade.

I feel excited--

Yes!

--and I know I have a good chance of winning this thing.

Perfect timing.

So it's the beginning of day three.

I've got the guard on.

I've got the handle where I want it.

I've got to get this pommel on there.

So I'm going to grind this tang down.

I've got the pretty thick tail end of this tang here,

and I'm trying to thread it.

Oh, that's ugly.

This thread is just not working.

Oh, that's disappointing.

So, I go back to the grinder and grind it

down to the next size threader.

It's too thin.

So I've got this dinky threaded tang here.

Cut that tang right off.

This might cost me $10,000.

Now there's nothing left to thread.

I've got to fit a bolt into this position.

Here goes the welding.

All right, we'll see how that works.

Today's day four, and we're going to put

the last few things together.

Right now I'm just tool blacking this.

I chose to do gun black for the guard.

I'm pretty happy with it.

And then I'm on to polishing and sharpening the blade.

I really have to be careful now, because this is sharp.

So I put the whole thing together,

and I notice that it's a little too big.

We are just over three pounds.

I'm shooting for under three pounds total weight.

I start shrinking my pommel.

I know I have too much metal.

It's too heavy, it's too big.

That reduced about a quarter of its weight.

And now I've just got to put it together.

Here goes nothing.

Now that everything is together, it's finally done.

It's day four, and I'm ready to start

getting this sword together.

It's looking like a sword, man.

I'm going to finalize the edge.

Haven't done really any double-edged swords, actually.

So a little bit challenging, because now you've

got two blades that can cut you.

So I'm taking it nice and slow, real calm and collected.

The sacrifices we make for our art.

So once I get everything assembled,

I'm gonna take this thing out here and swing it around,

see what I can cut up with it.

Two pounds, 10 ounces of kill-you-quick Jian sword.

All right, bladesmiths.

Welcome to kill test.

Now, your Jian swords look beautiful, but are they deadly?

Well, to find that out, I will take your weapon

and do some slashes and thrusts on this ballistics dummy.

Vince, you're up first.

Are you ready?

Give her hell.

I always wanted to hear Doug say, "It will kill,"

so the anticipation is just killing me.

I want to see him get through the test and see what he does.

[impact sounds]

All right, Vince.

Let's talk about your Jian sword up here.

Overall, I like the aesthetics of this sword.

Now, your handle construction is within scale of this blade.

It's comfortable when I wrap around it.

Now, your edge is razor sharp.

In thrusting, it cuts out, and when you swing

you can feel the impact of this sword.

Overall, sir, it will kill.

Wanted to hear that.

Good job.

Hey, Casey, you got the stomach for this?

You're next.

I'm ready.

"Forged In Fire" makes you nervous, excited, scared,

and happy all at the same time.

I'm very confident in my blade.

It's just, you never know.

I've seen blades break.

I don't want that to happen to mine.

[impact sounds]

All right, Casey.

Let's talk about your Jian sword here.

First up, I like the lines that you have with your sword here,

and the Damascus pattern.

I can appreciate that.

And now, in cutting.

It was much fun just to be able to slice over and over

and over with ease with a blade that moves.

This, sir, will kill.

Thank you.

Bladesmiths, welcome to the strength test.

Now to test the edge-holding ability of your blades

and the overall strength and construction,

I'm gonna take each of your swords

and smash them repeatedly into these heavy pots.

Now, I'm not really concerned what your blades do the pots,

even though it's going to look really cool

and be a lot of fun.

I want to see what the pots are going

to do your blades and edges.

Vince, you're up first.

You ready to go?

Yes, sir.

Jay picks up my blade, and he looks excited.

He's just looking forward to smashing it.

But at the same time, if it survives Jay,

I know it will survive anything.

[pots shattering]

Well, Vince, I've got to tell you, it's a great blade.

I mean, where I was striking is still

sharp, still straight and true.

But the problem is doing your pommel,

your threads here didn't go very far through.

So the pommel broke loose.

A bit of a problem.

Vince, your blade has suffered a catastrophic failure

after three shots on the pots.

A pommel is critical to a one-handed weapon's retention.

But that doesn't mean that this competition is over.

Casey, these are some pretty strong terracotta pots,

and you'll have to survive three pot

shots to make it out of here.

I feel ready.

All right, Jay.

Are you ready?

If the pots can knock off a pommel, they could do anything.

It all comes down to this.

Got a little bit of knots in my stomach.

We'll see what happens.

[pots shattering]

Looks good.

Casey, congratulations.

Your blade survived.

Vince, unfortunately you cannot continue testing.

Please exit the forge.

I'm disappointed.

I think I made a hell of a blade.

It was still sharp after the three terracottas,

but the blade needs to be 100%.

Mine was 98%, and it failed.

Congratulations. - Good job, brother.

Thank you.

You put up a hell of a fight.

This is bringing me one step closer

to continue to achieve my dreams,

and I wouldn't change a thing.

Casey, congratulations.

You are the "Forged in Fire" champion,

and that's a title that comes with a check

for 10,000 big ones, buddy.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

The deed is done, and I won.

Great steel and a great job on that handle, too.

CASEY: I've proven to myself that I

can make a damn good blade.

For me, there's nothing better.

[music playing]