Forged in Fire

‐ My name is Brian Evelich.

I am 54 years old.

I'm from Wolcott, Connecticut.

I'm a full‐time minister

working with people that are sort of

floating nebulous‐‐ they don't have any purpose‐‐

helping them find purpose through faith.

It's very similar taking a valueless piece of steel

and converting it into a knife.

‐ My name is Deke Parker.

I'm 19 years old, and I'm from Elkhart, Kansas.

I got into knifemaking because my dad would say

I was using up all of the internet.

My Xbox got thrown down the stairs,

and I was told to go outside.

That was when I made my first knife.

‐ My name is Eric Ratliff.

I don't really consider myself a typical bladesmith.

I like doing things different.

I'm a tattoo artist, I play metal music.

I let the artist part of me take control of that first

and then be a bladesmith after that.

‐ My name is Don Cantrell.

I'm from Dos Palos, California.

Everybody calls me Bubba over there.

I definitely feel like I'm

representing my town, you know?

We're not on any map.

We're just kind of out there.

It's kind of like an oasis without, you know, water.

It's very dry.

‐ Bladesmiths, welcome to the forge.

You are here for three timed rounds

of edged weapon making specifically designed

to test every aspect of your skills

in front of a panel of expert judges

that will tell us which of you

is the next "Forged in Fire" champion

leaving here with a check for $10,000.

Let's meet your judges now.

Up first, two‐time

"Forged in Fire" champion Ben Abbott.

Next, historic weapons re‐creation specialist,

David Baker.

And last, edged weapons specialist,

Doug Marcaida.

One of the things that I like most

about knifemaking is the selection of your steel.

Do you guys want to know what you're using today?

‐ Yeah. ‐ All right.

We've got every type of steel you could possibly imagine,

from 1095 stock steel

to 52‐100 ball bearings.

You'll have to select at least four of these steels

to use in a Canister Damascus.

Gentlemen, we've got canoe canisters

and we've got top‐fed canisters.

You must choose one of these canisters to use

during this forging process.

In the second round,

you'll attach handles to your blades.

Then we'll test them for strength and durability

in a paint can stab and chop,

and for edge retention in an apple slice.

You have ten minutes to work on your designs.

You've got three hours to forge your blades.

Bladesmiths, choose your steel, choose your ken.

Your ten‐minute design window starts now.

‐ Canister Damascus I've never done before,

but I know it's important to make sure you pack

all the powder and the metal tightly

into the canister.

If you don't, it's not gonna be very good.

‐ Eric's got some fish hooks over there.

Files, horseshoes, some other square stock.

‐ I chose a tanto because I wanted something

with a really straight and pointy tip for stabbing.

My biggest strength would be just being different, creative.

I can look at a scrap piece of metal, and I could

turn it into something that's shiny and chrome.

‐ I'm going with what I'm most familiar with.

Ball bearings, the roller bearings,

the spring steel, the rebar.

I chose to do a drop‐point recurve

because it's the first successful blade I made

in my shop for someone else, so it's kind of become

personal for me.

As far as competitiveness,

my sons have never beaten me

in basketball in my driveway and have given up trying,

so if you beat me, it's because you've earned it.

‐ I'm very concerned.

I've never done any kind of Canister Damascus,

upright or canoe.

I'm choosing the upright canister.

The canoe canister, that looks like it requires

a lot of welding, and I am a terrible welder.

‐ Is there any advantage to using a canoe canister

versus an upright canister? ‐ Most definitely.

With a canoe can, what you can do

is you can pick your steels and layer them.

‐ I get the bicycle chain, the chainsaw blade,

the band saw blades, and the larger cubes.

My game plan is to make a clip‐point hunter.

It's got a really stout edge to it.

I'm really into fantasy genre of novels.

You know, I do a lot of reading.

In fact, I have a tattoo from the One Ring

from "Lord of the Rings."

That was a big inspiration

into getting into knifemaking.

‐ Wil tells us we have to do Canister Damascus

and I'm a little bit scared of the timeframe.

It takes a lot of time to prep, and if you don't get

that initial forge weld perfect on the first time,

you might as well start over.

‐ Well, I see Deke grabbing some ball bearings.

‐ I want a random pattern,

so what I'm gonna do is really mix it up.

‐ What else has he got over there?

‐ Fish hooks, bicycle chains,

the W‐1 round.

‐ I like those materials because they're all

hardenable metals.

I'm designing a drop‐point Bowie

because I think it will stab well,

and it will slice just the same.

But I do everything on the fly,

so I know it's gonna change.

‐ Bladesmiths, your ten‐minute design window has closed.

Your three‐hour forge time starts now.

And off they go.

Now, Brian is coming back from the pantry.

He's got a lot of white‐out.

What's he gonna do with that, Ben?

‐ He's gonna line the inside of his can to stop the steel

from sticking to his can. ‐ So while the liquid paper

is drying, I'm washing down with a solvent

all of my steel to make sure I don't have

any grease or oil on it.

‐ Brian's doing a lot of careful work.

It's good to see.

‐ What's hard about a Canister Damascus

is you don't know what's going on on the inside.

It can be something really good, or it can be

something that sends you home.

‐ Now, the first part of this challenge

is all about the heat.

It's a really good, tough test

of a bladesmith's skill.

‐ What I would love to have seen

is that can overfull.

If it's under‐full, what happens when you go

to compress the can is it just kind of squirts

in all directions.

‐ Every time I've failed at Canister Damascus

it's usually because I had space

that wasn't filled in there...

so I'm gonna spend a lot of time prepping and tamping.

‐ Well, here's something I didn't like

that Deke just did: we saw him pour

that 1095 powder directly into that can.

He just filled that can with white‐out.

‐ You really need to let that white‐out dry.

That gives you the easiest time

peeling off the can later.

‐ But here's the other thing: this is a 19‐year‐old smith.

He's adjusting those tongs perfectly

for what he needs and‐‐ and I've seen master smiths

skip this stage and fight for hours

with their tongs. ‐ Yeah.

‐ Yeah, buddy. ‐ Whew!

‐ Get her done. ‐ Let's get her done.

‐ I got the canister all set and prepped

and brought over to the welding station.

After a while, the tip starts gumming up with metal

and it's not coming out.

‐ Trying to get it running? ‐ Yeah.

The beater's on a wire.

‐ Come on, you son‐of‐a‐bitch.

‐ This young man has it on.

I mean, he's‐‐ he's going for it.

‐ The rebar for the handle...

‐ Thanks, man.

Starting getting back to welding,

and it's much appreciated.

‐ I think it's going pretty well.

I'm trusting good preparation's gonna pay off in the long run.

I have a pleasant surprise of my can opening itself

and I can see the billet inside is one piece,

and that gives me great comfort.

There we go! ‐ All right!

‐ One hour in and one of our smiths

has their can off.

‐ The one who took time to clean

all the metals that they were putting in there.

‐ As I'm trying to open up this canister,

I'm seeing good things on the sides.

And then I get the top completely off...

Uh‐oh.