- Here in the Forge,
America's best bladesmiths have gone head to head...
- Creating some of history's deadliest weapons.
And now, we're turning up the heat,
because tonight, in a "Forged in Fire" first,
all four judges will take a seat at the table.
And for the first time,
each has selected a smith to represent them
in the ultimate battle for supremacy.
- Starting to get a little nervous here.
- It's smith versus smith
and judge versus judge
with everyone's reputation on the line.
- My name is Josh Smith,
and the fact that Jason picked me, it means a lot,
'cause he's a fellow Mastersmith.
He expects the same level from his knives
as he expects to see from my knives.
- My name's Mareko Maumasi.
I'm excited that I get to be Doug's champion.
I wanna do everything right by him.
I wanna make a sexy knife and just make him proud.
- My name is Erin Simmons.
The biggest reward is that Dave Baker invited me back,
so I feel like I've already won in some ways.
- I'm David Goldberg.
After I won "Forged in Fire,"
I was in a motorcycle accident and nearly died.
The judge who selected me was J. Neilson,
and I respect his work and him,
so it was very nice to hear that he chose me.
- Gentlemen, welcome to the Forge.
Each of one of these judges has chosen one of you
to be his champion in this competition.
Let's find out why.
- Josh, I chose you,
because you made the best blade that didn't win,
and that's why I don't think there's anyone
more deserving of a second chance.
- Thank you.
- Erin, you're my choice.
Ever since I was a kid,
I have always loved to watch farriers work.
I still remember your incredible hammer work,
and I know you're hungry to prove yourself,
and that's why I asked you back.
- David, you're our only returning champion.
You've given us clean work.
You got one hell of a comeback story too,
which is very inspiring.
- Mareko, I chose you, because you presented us
with a gladius that was one of the most impressive blades
in the history of this competition,
and I think with those skills, you can win this whole thing.
- Well, I hope you guys all feel warm and fuzzy now.
It's quite a compliment to be singled out by these judges.
But that's about to end.
This competition can only have one "Forged in Fire" champion
who walks away with $10,000.
On your anvils in front of you is a bar of high-carbon steel
from which you will forge a signature blade.
there's a twist.
You will also have to forge your blades using these.
These are all random pieces of steel
from the urban environment.
We've got fire hydrants, fire escape ladders,
subway grates, road signs, pieces of railroad.
Each item can only be selected by one contestant,
so choose wisely.
And in order to keep things fair,
you will all be given equal amounts of the steel you choose.
Names were drawn from a hat.
Mareko, choose your item.
- I'm gonna go with the sign.
- David, go ahead and choose.
- I choose the grate.
- Josh, you're up. Choose your item.
- None of it's anything I would ever use for a knife,
so I'm feeling pretty nervous.
I choose the stairs.
- And Erin, what would you like to use?
- I choose the railroad track.
I'm last to pick,
and they left out the best steel.
The railroad track has
a little more carbon in it than mild steel.
I think it'll make a tougher blade.
- The blade parameters are as follows.
The length of the blade, not including the tang,
must fall between 12 and 14 inches.
The overall length of your weapon
must not exceed 22 inches.
Keep in mind that in the second round,
you'll be putting handles on your blades,
turning them into fully functional weapons.
They will then be tested in an apple slice
and an antler chop.
You impressed the last time you were here.
Impress them again.
Their reputation depends on it.
Your three-hour forge time starts...
Now.
- Sometimes, they say you can take chicken poop
and make it into chicken salad,
and that's kind of the way I see this challenge.
But at least they have a really good piece of steel
to blend these other pieces of steel with.
- They just have to blend the two
and make it a functional piece.
- Feeling a little anxious.
This challenge is gonna be tough.
I decided I'm gonna make a long slender blade
that I really liken to a bush knife.
What I'm gonna do is first take the high-carbon steel
and make it into a bar,
and then take two layers on either side of the grate
and laminate it together.
- He's gonna have to be careful blending those layers,
so he's got the high-carbon steel on the edge.
- This knife is the first knife that I've made since I crashed.
I'm excited, I'm back. Let's do this.
- I'm going to make a big bowie hunting knife,
because the blade is just the right thickness.
Nothing about the railroad track is useful...
In the state that it exists.
It has to be completely re-profiled, reshaped.
I'm sure that is part of the challenge.
- I'm gonna make a chef's knife.
Kitchen knives typically have a very thin edge,
so my plan was just to forge the knife in a way
so it had a more robust edge,
which can withstand the impact of hitting a hard antler.
I'm gonna forge my high-carbon bar
down into flat stock,
cut it up into a bunch of pieces,
and then I'm gonna mix that in with the street sign material,
but only have the street sign material on the outer edges.
- I'd like to make a fighter.
I don't generally make 'em 12 inches long, though.
It starts to limit my design capabilities at that length.
- I wonder what's up his sleeve.
- His last name is Smith, man.
I mean, he knows what he's doing.
- My game plan with that stair material
is to draw it out and thin it out,
and get on the outside of my billet.
If that billet's a sandwich,
it's got everything in the fridge, the pantry,
and something from the garage in it.
I am very impressed with David right now.
He's already forge welded his stack.
You can see how much he's drawn it out already.
- I have to grate together with the high-carbon steel.
I'm feeling really good.
As long as I remember to stay focused, to stay calm,
I'll do well.
And I'll use some of my foundational
martial art exercises to keep me centered.
Some Kihon Waza, it's called--
some basic exercises to balance me
and to strengthen me during the competition.
- Man, I'm concerned about Mareko's time.
- He must have a lot of confidence
in his ability to get those welds to stick
and draw them out.
- I know the clock's ticking over my shoulder,
but when I forged the round stock out to flat bar,
there's a bunch of forge scale on it.
Before you put that all back together,
you gotta grind all that,
otherwise you won't have good clean weld bonds.
- I'd like him to start getting the stack together
and start setting the welds.
- Looks like Erin just chopped his billet in half.
Do you think that was intentional?
- Yeah... - Well, I hope so.
- But I don't know why.
- If I use the entire length of that tool steel,
I'll be greater than the parameters they asked for,
and then I'm immediately ejected,
so I cut some material off.
- Josh is going to town with the hammer,
so he's obviously pretty happy with that steel.
- I think that he's ahead of the curve right now.
- I knew he would be.
- Once I see that bar's drawing out,
and I don't see any major cracks,
I'm starting to feel some cautious optimism.
But it's really hard to get too excited
when you know that there's a potential disaster
waiting around the corner.
God, I wish I wasn't so fat.
Sweating like a bastard.
- You have just 60 minutes remaining
to finish your blades!
- Now we're .
- It looks like Dave's dealing with
a little bit of a warp or a bend to one direction or another.
- It's important to straighten the blade
before you harden it.
If it's curved when you harden it,
it will curve more.
- David, what are you doing?
- Dave...
- Ah, he's gonna break it.
- If I bend it too much, it could crack.
If that happens, I'm finished.
.
- It looks like Dave's dealing with
a little bit of a warp or a bend to one direction or another.
- It's important to straighten the blade
before you harden it.
- David, what are you doing?
- Dave...
- Ah, he's gonna break it.
- If I bend it too much, it could crack.
.
If the blade cracks, I'm finished.
So I decide I'm gonna take the blade to the grinder,
and hopefully it'll work itself out.
- Why does Erin have a hole in his blade?
- I'm gonna tell you exactly what Jason's gonna say.
It's to lighten the blade
and help the air flow through it,
so it moves faster in the cut.
- No, no, no,
it's to hang it on a nail when you're not using it.
- The hole is to expand the handle a little bit,
so you have a place for the hand to feel secure.
- You have just 30 minutes remaining to finish your work!
- Looks like Mareko's preparation is paying off.
- He's taking that blade,
and suddenly it's a knife.
- I got the blade forged out really fast.
Now I can quench the blade.
- Mareko's in.
- The first thing I wanna do is check it with a file,
because I know that's something they're gonna do.
.
It's soft.
I can't submit a soft blade to the judges.
I have to heat-treat it a second time,
but I'm a little worried about running out of time.
- There we go. David is in the quench.
And Josh just quenched. - Yeah.
- . Not the hair on my arm.
I'd like to say that's the first time
I've burned all the hair off my arm,
but it's happened many times before.
Pulled the blade out of the oil,
and it's got a pretty good warp to it.
I can fix it in the next round,
if I'm fortunate enough to make it.
- Ten! Nine! Eight!
Seven! Six! Five!
Four! Three! Two! One!
Bladesmiths, drop your tools, shut down your machines!
- My blade stacks up very well
with the other bladesmiths.
I can see it in their eyes that maybe there's some worry,
and that right there was worth my trip.
- Bladesmiths, you were each handpicked
to represent a judge in this competition.
Now it's time for them to take a closer look at your work.
Josh, you're up first.
- Josh, you turned in beautiful work last time,
and that's why I asked you to come back.
I think your blade looks really nice overall.
I like your edge geometry.
There's a little bit of a warp in it,
but I think that's something that you know how to fix.
Well done. - Thank you.
- Mareko, you're up.
- Looking at your blade,
this is exactly why I chose you.
Classic things that you did.
You prepared everything, you weren't in a hurry,
you stayed cool.
You have a slight warp,
but overall, I feel like a proud papa.
Congratulations. - Thank you.
- Erin, you're up next.
- One of the reasons I wanted you back
is your hammer work's great.
You moved metal by hand
more than you moved it with the machines,
which is amazing to watch.
And seeing you drift these holes.
Now, I'm sure why that one's there.
- Back home, we have fish with teeth,
so I slide that hole over the shank of the fish hook.
and turn it.
It rolls the hook out of their mouth.
- Cool, so you brought us a unique design as well.
And the fact that you drifted those in by hand--
I just love that.
- David, you're up.
- Well, David, you spent probably a good 15 minutes or so
just playing around with torquing that blade,
trying to straighten it out,
but you still ended up with
a substantial warp in there.
- I can get it out in the next grind.
- It feels really nice. I like the thickness of it.
Nicely done. You did a great job.
I'm glad I brought you back.
- Well, bladesmiths,
the judges have a lot to talk about,
so they're gonna take some time to deliberate.
- Wow, that's a brutal challenge.
- It was pretty wild.
- All right, gentlemen,
let's get into the finer details.
Let's start with Doug's pick, Mareko.
- Overall, I liked the shape of his blade.
I liked the feel. The beauty is in there.
There are some issues, like the warp,
but nothing I would look at as a catastrophic failure.
- Jason, let's move on to your guy.
- Overall, I liked Josh's finish.
I mean, he's got the nicest finish.
I think it's a little skinny--
I'd prefer a wider knife for chopping--
but his edge geometry is excellent.
He did great.
- All right, J., how do you think Dave did?
- I think he over-forged this.
He ended up with, you know, deep hammer marks
up here in the spine.
It'll be very difficult to get rid of those,
and that could cause a serious failure.
- And last but not least, Dave's pick, Erin.
- One of the things I really enjoyed seeing
was a new technique,
having someone drift holes in their blade.
I've never seen anybody do that.
But it seems to me he actually cut
inches off the end of this blade.
- Oh, they're measuring.
- So, gentlemen, have you made your final decision?
- Yep.
- All right, let's go tell our smiths.
but it's time for one of you to leave the Forge.
Erin, unfortunately, your blade did not make the cut.
Since he's the guy who advocated for you to come back,
Dave will explain.
- Erin, it came down to one thing,
and that was the length of that blade.
Your blade didn't make the basic length parameters.
About a inch shy.
But I gotta tell ya, you didn't let me down at all.
You brought us a technique
we have never seen on the show before,
and that's drifting those holes.
I really appreciate you bringing that to me,
and I appreciate you being my champion.
- Thank you.
- Erin, please surrender your blade.
- Disaster. Disaster just happened.
I'm going home because my blade was a little shorter
than the specs required.
Love you guys. - All right, brother.
- Dave Baker said that I didn't let him down.
Think that's an honor.
I just, uh...
it's in a touch place right now.
I think I'm done.
- Bladesmiths, congratulations,
you've made it to the second round,
and of course, in this round,
you know you'll be attaching handles to your blades
to turn them into fully functional weapons
that will then be tested in an apple slice
and chopping into an antler.
Just to make things a little bit more complicated,
you must incorporate
at least two of the handle materials
into your handle's design.
You will have three hours in this challenge.
desmiths. into Your time starts now.
- My plan for the handle is...
I don't really have a plan.
When I heat-treated the blade,
it ended up being a little wiggly,
so I have to grind that straight.
The antler chop is potentially devastating,
so making sure that
the knife is able to handle that kind of work
is gonna be my top priority.
- I'm on the grinder to fix the warp in the blade
and to produce the type of geometry that I want,
so that it'll prevail in the cutting tests.
- Look at David just cranking on his blade over here.
I mean, he's really putting some stress into that thing.
- That takes some guts,
or something else.
Rhymes with guts.
- When the judges say I have to use two materials,
I'm actually excited,
because I was planning on that, anyway.
So I decide to step it up a little bit
and grab another handle material
to underlay under all the other stuff.
So I'm gonna be using three handle materials
instead of two, which should impress the judges.
- Josh's handle on his Kora is actually what lost him
the title of "Forged in Fire" champion.
Do you think he's gonna be paying attention and making sure
everything's indexed and just right?
- Oh, yeah. - I would think so, yeah.
- You have two hours remaining to finish your work!
- Never worked with this pine cone stuff,
but I always thought it looked pretty damn cool.
My biggest motivator, I would say,
is being able to provide for my family.
I have a fresh little six-month-old baby boy.
Until about six months ago,
my wife and I actually lived in a little 20-foot motor home.
Being "Forged in Fire" champion
is an opportunity to help get a good deposit down
and get a house for us.
- It seems like David is working at a different pace
than our other smiths.
- The other guys didn't have an accident.
They've been working straight through these last two years,
so I'm up against some pretty stiff competition here.
I ended up choosing
this lovely brown material with blue dots in it,
kind of like leopard skin.
And also this gray piece that has silver specks in it.
It's really important to me
to make the handle and the blade go together.
Kind of a feng shui, if you will.
- Josh is like the shop phantom.
He's just floating around, keeping quiet,
and knocking his stuff out.
- Two hours has elapsed!
You have one hour remaining to finish your work!
- I do feel like what I'm putting together
is a little bit on the simpler side,
but I think it's a pretty damn good looking blade.
It's a got a shark fin on the top.
Doug's got a thing for sharks.
But it also doubles as an egg cracker.
Boom! Right on the top of the head.
- With 30 minutes left, I'm feeling the pressure.
It's hard to stay focused.
I'm glancing at the clock.
- He's looking at that clock, like, every three minutes now.
- Yeah.
- Starting to get a little nervous here.
- . - Oh, .
- No.
- I'm glancing at the clock.
- He's looking at that clock, like, every three minutes now.
- Yeah.
- Starting to get a little nervous here.
- . - Oh, .
- No.
- The grinder pulls my blade out of my hands.
When it hit the steel table,
it put a little nick in the edge.
It's a pretty violent throw from a machine.
- That could've been bad. - Yeah.
- David's getting flustered right now.
And then over here, we have the picture of tranquility.
- Josh is just plugging along, doing the Josh thing.
- Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five,
four, three, two, one.
Bladesmiths, your time is up.
- Good job, man. - Very nice, gentlemen.
- Good job, brother.
I think this blade's gonna perform awesome.
- I'm proud of this knife, and win or lose,
I feel good, because I'm back.
- Bladesmiths, welcome to the strength test.
We're gonna have some fun today.
We're gonna take your knifes and strike antler ten times.
- Holy . - Not only is this gonna test
the strength of the edge of your knife,
but also the overall durability of the knife itself.
Josh, you're up first. You ready?
- I'm ready. - I'm ready too.
- All right.
The antler test is something I do at home,
and it's extremely aggressive on edge,
so I'm definitely a bit nervous.
- Damn.
- Whoo!
- Well, Josh, we kind of have
almost a little serration in the middle now.
- Yeah.
- It felt good swinging,
but that edge damage is concerning.
- Mm-hmm, yeah.
There's a lot of edge deformation in my blade.
I pretty much figure I'm finished in this competition.
- Mareko, you ready?
- I'm so excited.
- You know what, honestly, that's two of us.
- Looks a lot better than mine.
- It's good, man. Didn't break.
- Well, Mareko, for the size of this knife,
it's one of the lightest knives I've ever swung.
You got deformation.
Got a couple little pieces out. - Yeah.
- But it bit into the antler really well.
- Cool. - And it held together.
Good job. - Thanks.
- David, you're up next.
You ready? - I'm ready.
- Nice job.
- So, David, you have a significant bend in this blade
after the testing.
We've got some chipping, some damage,
right in that center spot there,
but it survived.
- All right. - Good job.
- Thanks.
- Next we're gonna move on to the sharpness test,
- We're gonna test the sharpness of your blades
by maybe cutting through all of these apples.
It'll depend on your knife.
It it's sharp enough,
we should have a clean cut all the way through.
Josh, are you ready? - I'm ready.
My blade survived. At least it's still intact.
However, I'm pretty worried,
because my edge that used to be sharp
now is badly damaged.
I'm pretty worried it's not gonna slice the apples.
Oh, nice.
All right, brother.
- Good job. - Thanks.
- Well, Josh, despite your edge having
some chipping and wrinkling from the antler damage,
it's still sharp enough to cut through the apples.
Well done. - Thank you.
- Mareko, you ready?
- Yeah, man. - All right.
- I make kitchen knifes.
I should know how to make a knife
that slices through apples pretty damn well.
- Nice job. - Nice job.
- Nice work. - All right, man.
- Mareko, it went through that thing like a lightsaber, man.
It just zipped right through, like they weren't even there.
Well done. - Thanks, thank you.
- David, you ready?
- Kiai. - All right, let's do it.
- My knife is definitely more of an apple slicer.
Jason is going to cut through all the apples, I'm sure.
- My knife is definitely more of an apple slicer.
Jason is going to cut through all the apples, I'm sure.
- David, during the antler testing,
it has bent.
The bend is actually curving up.
And if I'm laying down like this,
it's accentuated,
so as I'm trying to travel down, it's very difficult
to accurately slice through those apples.
- Well, this is the Olympics of knife making, right?
I'll take a bronze any day.
- That's right.
For that, David, I commend you and I respect you very much.
- Thank you very much.
- David, as you acknowledged,
this time the judges' decision is an easy one,
and I have to ask you to please leave the Forge.
- Thank you, guys.
I'm feeling a little sad,
although I'm not ashamed.
I proved to myself that I could make a knife again.
I know that people had had
much more difficult times in their life than I had,
but I would tell anyone who had a setback in life
to get up, shake it off, and start again.
- Josh, Mareko, congratulations.
Both of you made signature blades
that have propelled you into the third round of competition,
giving you a chance at the title of "Forged in Fire" champion
and another shot at that $10,000.
Well, now we're gonna send you back to your home forges
to recreate an iconic blade from history.
And that weapon is...
The Ida. - Awesome.
- The Ida is a long cutting sword,
most commonly used by the Yoruba people of West Africa.
Their idolization of Ogun, the god of metal and war,
lead their blacksmiths to be among the most skilled
in West Africa.
With its leaf-shaped blade
that could be single or double-edged,
the Ida was a practical tool
for both agriculture and hunting,
as well as a deadly weapon on the battlefield.
In combat, it was often laced with pepper or poison
to paralyze enemies and ensure that
the slash of the Ida left many dead in its wake.
The length of the blade
must be between 22 and 26 inches.
Additionally, it must have a double edge.
- I've never heard of this weapon before.
I mean, I've seen weapons that are similar,
but I'm not really a weapons expert,
so if I come away with a win, it's not gonna be a cheap win.
I might make a great blade and get beat.
You know, I did last time.
- You will have five days at your home forge
to complete this challenge.
At the end of those five days,
you will return to present your finished Idas
to the panel of judges.
- I'm really proud that I've been able to make it
to the final round again.
I feel like I have what it takes to win this competition,
and I also really want to win for Doug.
- It's down to just Doug and Jason's picks.
Don't let 'em down.
Good luck, bladesmiths. We'll see you in five days.
- Good luck, man. - Let's do this.
- Today's day one. I'm back home.
It's a couple below zero this morning.
It's time to get to work.
Just gonna stack up a billet of Damascus here.
This is gonna be my river going down the center of the blade,
alternating layers of steel.
I'm gonna be doing a really complicated Damascus blade,
with a lot of welds and a lot of chances for error.
I was on the show last season,
and I was absolutely happy and proud of the Kora Sword
when I built it, and I still am.
Just didn't win.
This is a bit of a shot at redemption for me.
I'm twisting this metal
to give it a really cool pattern
along the edge of the sword.
The twisting is a very intense process,
and you're just really watching that steel close,
making sure you're not shearing it in half.
The challenge is to build an Ida sword.
My plan is to make kind of a mosaic steel,
which is aesthetically really beautiful.
And into the forge and the great wide yonder.
I'm gonna do a full integral blade,
which means the blade, the guard,
and the full tang and the handle
are all gonna be forged out of the same piece of steel.
The biggest concern is that the welds might not take,
so I'm just gonna keep my fingers crossed,
keep my cool, and just do the things the way I normally do,
and it should come out just fine.
It's like I'm forging in fire or something!
You see what I did there?
- It's day three.
My blade's grown, I'm ready to heat-treat,
and I'm feeling pretty anxious.
Two days of work comes down to this.
You just never know what's gonna happen
when you actually go into that oil.
Here goes nothing.
Mm-kay.
Baby looks as straight as an arrow.
This test piece that I heat-treated with my sword...
I'm gonna beat up a little antler with it
and see how it does.
That one took a chunk out there.
I ended up with two chunks in the end that were missing,
but I don't feel like I have time to play with right now,
but I think I'll be fine.
- It's pretty damn cold in here,
so I used my little hobo fire,
an old turkey fryer.
What's most important is getting a good heat treat on the blade.
So I just need to bring it up, all to an even temperature,
pull it out, and give her a quench.
All right, that should be plenty.
It still looks pretty dang straight.
Whoo-hoo!
I actually feel a little bit ahead
of where I thought I was gonna be today.
I got my full tang. I actually feel a little bit ahead
So the rest of it pretty much from this point on is grinding.
- It's time to start a handle.
The handle's what cost me in the competition last year.
I'm gonna choose this African Blackwood.
This sword is from West Africa,
so I'm trying to keep it somewhat authentic.
I fight this battle between staying historically correct
and making something that the judges can hang onto.
I want the look to be a bit of my own.
The sword blade is real Ida,
and the handle is real Josh.
What the ?
There's a hole in the wood.
- What the ?
There's a freakin'-- there's a hole in the wood.
Right in the middle of the block.
Usually when you see a little pinhole like that pop up,
and you keep grinding, it just gets bigger and bigger,
and you've ruined the handle.
I actually think I might be able to
file through it tomorrow if I have time.
Today was a pretty wearing day,
but in the end, I've got a sword with a handle on it.
I'm pretty comfortable with where I'm at.
- We're in the homestretch.
I just have some light finish work
to touch back up on the blade before I etch it.
And then reattach the handle, and then sharpen the thing.
Feels like it's got a little bit of a toothy edge.
It will definitely cut.
I feel really good about what I was able to accomplish.
Question is whether or not it's actually gonna survive.
There's only one way to find out,
and that's to let Doug play with it.
- Josh, Mareko, welcome back.
You've had five days at your home forge
to complete your Idas.
Josh, how did it go? - It went great.
I built a three-bar composite Damascus Ida.
I used African Blackwood for the handle.
Sword came from West Africa. Thought it fit.
I'm really happy with it.
- Mareko, how'd it go for you?
- Went pretty good for me.
I built my sword out of ladder mosaic Damascus.
I did a full integral construction,
so the blade, the guard, and the tang
are all forged from one piece of steel.
I made the handle out of Ebony Burl.
Came together really nicely.
- All right, gentlemen,
your weapons will now be put through a series of tests.
Good luck to both of you guys.
Doug?
- This is a kill test.
To see how lethal your weapons are,
I will take your weapons
and deliver multiple slashes and hacks
on these ballistic dummies.
Josh, you're up first. You ready?
- I'm ready. - Let's do this.
- All right.
Those ballistics dummies are pretty tough.
They're a hard thing to lacerate,
so this test makes me a little bit nervous.
- Okay, Josh, this is a wicked blade.
On the initial hack right here,
the blade went all the way through
into the ribs and broke those ribs.
The other side--same thing.
That would disembowel this dummy.
Your weapon will kill.
- Thank you. - Good job.
- Thank you very much.
- Mareko, you're next. You ready?
- I'm ready. - Let's do this.
- All right.
I don't know how well my weapon's actually gonna perform,
because it has kind of a beefier edge geometry,
which doesn't necessarily lend it to slicing very well.
- Well, Mareko, it is sharp.
As you can see what it did,
it lacerated right in all the way to the chest cavity,
breaking the ribs that are in there.
On the horizontal slashes, same thing.
It lacerated deep.
Feels good, balances out,
and your blade will kill.
Good job. - Thank you.
- Next up is the sharpness test.
To test your double-edge sword, I will take your weapon
and deliver three slashes per blade
across this web of ropes.
If your Ida is sharp, it should meet no resistance.
Josh, you're up first. You ready?
- Let's do it. - Let's do this.
I'll tell you, Josh, this is definitely sharp.
It met no resistance cutting through the ropes.
It feels good in the hand.
Your sword, sir, will cut.
Good job. - Thank you very much.
Appreciate it.
- All right, Mareko, you're my choice.
You ready? - Bring it on.
- Let's do this.
- Doug's the reason I'm here,
and I really wanna make him proud,
so I'm just really kind of
praying and hoping that it does well.
Oh, .
- All right, Mareko, you're my choice.
You ready? - Bring it on.
- Let's do this.
- Oh, .
- Well, Mareko, your blade is fast.
It's light.
It did lacerate through some of the ropes,
and some of them it didn't.
Overall, though, your blade will cut.
- Thanks, Doug.
- Next up is the strength test. Dave?
- Gentlemen...
to test the strength and durability of your blades,
I'm going to chop into these femur bones three times.
Now, the point of this test
is not to see how many bones I can break,
but to see how well your blades hold up
through that punishment.
Josh, you're up. You ready?
- I'm ready. - All right.
- Damn.
- Everything stayed straight,
everything stayed tight,
but you can see we've got some extreme chipping on that blade.
It did sizeable damage to what we were swinging at,
but you can just see those...
Those chips.
All right, Mareko, you ready?
Yeah.
- All right.
- I did my best to make the geometry,
so it could withstand this kind of use,
but seeing the damage that happened to Josh's sword
makes my heart, like, sink down to my stomach.
- Well, Mareko, you did pick up that slight bend,
but your edges are beautiful.
They've held up quite nicely.
Nicely done. - Thanks.
This is my second time competing on "Forged in Fire."
It was a really tight race the first time I was here,
and it's a tight race again.
My blade didn't perform
as well as I would've liked in the rope cutting,
but Josh's blade did take a lot of damage
chopping on the femurs, so it's in the judges hands now.
- The judges have made their final decision,
but before I give you that decision,
they have some feedback for both of you.
Jason?
- Josh, I'm glad I chose you, because I love that sword.
You're pushing the boundaries
of beauty and performance in one piece,
and it was impressive.
- Thank you. - Doug?
- Mareko, again you turned in a beautiful piece.
And that final strength test--
none of your blades should ever be
put through something like that.
It's almost criminal, 'cause they're beautiful.
But when yours held up, it showed me why I chose you.
- Josh, Mareko, it was definitely a battle,
but there can only be one champion.
The Judges' Pick "Forged in Fire" champion is...
Mareko, congratulations.
You are the "Forged in Fire" champion.
Good job.
- Congratulations, man. - Wow, thanks, buddy.
Appreciate it.
- Josh, that's a beautiful piece,
but with that coarse-grained structure and the brittle edge,
your sword just wasn't able to hold up in the strength test,
and that's why we got to let you go.
- No, I understand.
- Josh, please surrender your weapon.
- I feel they made the right decision.
I may not be the "Forged in Fire" champion,
but I'm still a great bladesmith and a better dad.
But I showed my kids that
you step up and you do it again
and you give it your best, and I think I did that,
and I brought a beautiful sword.
Looks nice, but looks don't cut.
- Mareko, how does it feel rising to the top,
earning a check for $10,000,
and being the Judges' Pick "Forged in Fire" champion?
- You know, it's definitely been a serious challenge,
but to be able to represent for Doug,
a man who I respect very much,
and to make it to the end and win--
that makes me really proud.
I came so close to winning last time.
It feels really good
that I was actually able to pull out the win this time.
Winning the $10,000--
it's gonna be so helpful for myself, for my family.
Doug, your horse won the race.
I hope that I made you proud,
so thanks for bringing me back, man.