 Brock, Page, congratulations.
You're both one step
closer to the title
of Forged in Fire Champion
and a check for $10,000.
All you have to do now
is go home and reproduce
an iconic weapon from history.
That weapon is the Akrafena.
 Kind of scared of it.
 The Akrafena is
a distinctive sword
hailing from the Ashanti
kingdom of West Africa
around the 10th century AD.
Initially used as a
weapon of warfare,
Ashanti warriors brandished
the sword in one or both hands
to deliver heavy strikes
in close quarters combat.
The sword's curved blade
and dumbbell shaped hilt
were embedded with symbolic
designs known as Adinkra,
evoking Ashanti principles like
courage, valor, or heroism.
Today, the Akrafena
is a national symbol
of the modern day
Ashanti city-state,
carried by the king's
royal emissaries
at prestigious ceremonies.
Good luck, bladesmiths.
See you in five days.
 Bring it on.
 Let's do it.
 We're back at my home forge.
Let's make some blades.
Looks like we're getting
some thunderstorms.
So I think Thor's
favoring me today.
All right, all right.
The Akrafena was
often made from iron,
so it's very easy to work.
I don't have to worry
about annealing it.
It's not going to
harden in that way.
Put some fresh coal here.
I'm a lot more comfortable
in a coal forge.
It's what I'm used
to working with.
We've got to get this up
to forge welding heat.
In order to create a blade that
will have a very strong edge
but still be mostly
iron, I'll have
to use a san mai
construction-- folding
the iron onto a
high carbon steel,
and create a layered billet.
But as I'm shaping this
blade, I noticed an issue.
Damn.
We've got stress cracks.
Probably because of
going back and forth
between thinning and shaping.
If those get too severe or
too deep, I'm in trouble.
 Day three, and a
bit of a setback.
I couldn't go forward with
the blade I'd been working on.
So I scabbed together a bunch
of bars of metal into one,
and forge welded them together.
Not seeing anything that makes
me more nervous than before.
So today, I am getting ready
to cut out the diamond shapes.
I was going to try to
cut something fancy,
but I don't have time.
Time is precious.
Diamond symbol means precious.
Now I have to figure out how to
wire up my heat treating oven.
Heat treating a blade
is a very stressful
process for the steel.
With the number of forge
welds involved in this blade,
there's a real possibility
that this blade
could just peel apart.
I didn't feel any bad noises.
It's still a blade.
I think I might actually be
able to finish this thing.
[ROCK MUSIC]
 Doing some blade
surgery this morning.
It's day three.
It's a very pivotal day.
It's OK, little blade.
Going to be all right.
Those cracks are
only surface deep.
I don't believe they're going
to affect my blade's integrity.
That's just something I'll have
to deal with via hammering.
That went pretty well.
I'm going to put some symbols
on the surface of the blade.
I've really been
drawn more to the ones
with the diamond shape in them.
Looking good.
I really need to heat treat.
The sooner I heat treat, the
sooner I find out if this blade
really is ready to go.
Woo.
That feels aggressive.
If anything goes wrong
with the heat treat,
I'll have to abandon it if
I can't fix the problem.
Got a real severe warp.
Messed that all the hell up.
There's no way this thing
can be tested like this.
I really need to
get that warp out.
I really don't want to be
beating on this thing too much.
I have to really be careful
with how I hammer this.
If it cracks, that would be it.
 Day four.
This blade's got a whole
lot of ugly going on,
so it's kind of necessary
to take that off.
Today, I've got to make it
pretty, finish the handle,
and decorate the
handle if there's time.
The major hurdles of the blade
are finally behind me, I think.
Unless I discover something
completely unexpected.
No.
I don't want delamination.
I don't like right there.
This might come back to bite me.
But I can't spend
time chasing problems.
I need to move on.
I'm not going to grind
anymore in that spot.
 So my plan for the
handle is to take this
really nice looking
African wood,
and turn the handle
on the lathe.
You spin it, cut
off whatever doesn't
look like your finished piece.
All right.
I want to test it.
That works.
I'm about to attempt
doing gold leaf.
It's going to take about 30
minutes for this sticky stuff
to be ready for leafing.
Looks like the historical ones.
I built a weapon.
This is the first time I really
feel confident that I can win.
 Day four.
I need to straighten the
blade toward the tang,
so I hammered that a little bit.
That's nice and straight.
So I finally got my
Akrafena straightened.
But before I can really know
if this thing's going through,
I need to test it.
All right.
So let's take a
few light swings.
Let's do some harder swings.
I don't see the judges hitting
it any harder than that.
Let me get on shaping this.
I'm going to start
working on my handle.
And I'm using an
African wood, tamarind.
I think it'll suit
this Akrafena well.
That is what we're looking for.
I've chose to incorporate
some symbols on the handle--
humility, and
strength, endurance.
All of those elements
are in this blade.
And I'm very proud of it.
It's going to kill.
Time for judgment, Page.
 Bladesmiths, the
Akrafena was a weapon
used by the king's emissaries
to dispatch their enemies.
To see what kind of lethal
damage your weapon can do,
I will deliver killing
blows on this lamb carcass.
Brock, you're up first.
You ready?
 Yeah.
Let's see what she does.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
Oh [BLEEP].
 Well, Brock, your sword bent.
 Can cut around corners now.
 But blades bend in combat.
 It's reassuring to hear
him say that, oh, well,
blade's been in battle.
That gives me some
reassurance that, you know,
I'm not just out of the game.
 It's got a nice feel to it.
I don't see any visible
chips on the edge.
Overall, your weapon will kill.
Page, you're next.
[ROCK MUSIC]
All right, Page, let's
talk about the balance
of your blade.
It actually feels
good for chopping.
Your blade cut in deep.
And it cut through the ribs.
And those kinds
of cuts will kill.
 Gentlemen, to test the
strength of your weapon,
I'll take two chops into
these pieces of bamboo.
Now remember, this
isn't about what
your weapon does to
the bamboo, but what
the bamboo does to your weapon.
Brock, you're up first.
 No turning back.
[ROCK MUSIC]
 All right, so, if you
take a look at that,
we've actually straightened
the blade out quite a bit.
It's very hard to
line that blade up
when it's got that bend to it.
But it did cut.
And I'm not seeing any
damage to the edge.
Nicely done.
Page, you are up next, sir.
You ready?
 Yes, sir.
[ROCK MUSIC]
 You seem to have a issue
developing right there.
There's a flake of metal
starting to come up.
Things like that
start to give me
pause about whether that
blade is going to hold up
as we go forward and test it.
Still sharp.
All right, I'm OK pushing
this onto the sharpness test.
 Thank you, sir.
 Bladesmiths, to see how
sharp your Akrafena is,
I will take your sword,
and deliver a slash across
these ropes and cargo straps.
Let's see how many
they can cut through.
Brock, you're up first.
 Let's do it.
 I'm ready.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
OK, Brock, your
blade was able to cut
through two ropes, two of these
ratchet straps, and almost
through the fifth rope.
I don't see that it's picked
up any more of a bend.
But overall, your
blade will cut.
Page, you're next.
You ready?
 Yes, sir.
[ROCK MUSIC]
 All right, basically, we were
able to cut through at least
eight strands over here.
I don't see that you picked up
any bend on your blade here.
And overall, your
blade will cut.
 Thank you.
 Good job.
 Bladesmiths, the judges have
finished their deliberation,
and I have a final decision.
You've both done fantastic
work, but there can only
be one Forged in Fire Champion.
And that champion is--
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
Page, congratulations.
You're the Forged
in Fire Champion.
Brock, please
surrender your weapon.
 I came here to win.
But, you know, I'm
happy with what I did.
I learned a lot
from the experience.
I don't think you should ever
stop challenging yourself.
It's back to the forge,
making new things every day.
So I'm excited to
get back to that.
 Page, congratulations.
You are the Forged
in Fire Champion,
and will be receiving
a check for $10,000.
How are you feeling right now?
 I'm very relieved.
I'm very happy.
I'm a metal geek.
And I've never won
anything like this.
What "Forged in Fire"
pretty much forced me to do
is step way the heck
outside of my comfort zone.
I'd like to think Brock for
being a worthy opponent.
He gave me a fair
run for the money.
He really made me
work for this one.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
