jeff craig congratulations you both made
it through to the forged and fire final and you're both one step
closer to a check for 10 000 in the first two rounds of competition you forge
a weapon in your signature style now we're sending you back to your home forges where you will forge
an iconic weapon from history the war hammer nice the warhammer is a medieval weapon developed
in the 14th century they came about primarily as a response to advanced armor technology by this
time the armors had created suits of plate armor that was so hard and smooth that swords would
bounce off them the warhammer could deliver its full force to the target and do serious damage
without having to penetrate the armor its steel head with a spike on one side had a handle
that varied in length but was generally just long enough to be wielded with one hand the spiked
end could be used for hooking the target's legs reins or shield or used as an armor-piercing
device as the use of body armor declined so did the need for the warhammer however it can still be
seen today in the popular film trilogy the hobbit and has lent its name to the board game warhammer
good luck blade smiths we'll see you in five days i'm happy to be here at the home
forge i'm in my element i know what all my tools are i know how to use my tools so
being here at home is a big advantage for me it takes a lot of steel to make the
mount of damascus that i'm going to make the plan for the day is we can get my damascus
made i'm gonna take the two dissimilar metals i'm gonna heat them up in my forge
get everything hot i'm gonna flux them keep the oxygen out of there so the scales
doesn't form then i'm gonna beat them together i'm feeling a little nervous
right now making this damascus i can get a bad weld i get a bad weld
in it though everything i've done so far is ruined it's not a serviceable weapon at
that point i'd have to scrap it and start again i'm halfway through day two and i'm
getting the horns on the ram's head now i'm bending the horns down so i have like a very
organic curve to it i run out of oxygen on my oxy acetylene torch i'm not exactly where i want to
be on the horns the hammer head it's starting to wear on me i'm just going to have to come
in the morning focus and hustle and make sure i'm doing things right don't make any
mistakes i don't have any room for that right i read rock and roll yesterday was a busy
day for me i got the damascus forge for my head and i've got it squared to about the right
dimensions hammerhead's gonna start taking shape for me today the langlets are pretty
much gonna lock everything in that is cool i'm looking at these sharp corners in these
slots and i know that i'm going to have a problem with this if i try to full quench
it where i put the langlet pockets in there that can crack it's thinner than everything else
i could literally end up with two pieces of hammer i'm gonna do a differential heat treat
on it i'm gonna try to harden the front and harden the back but leave the middle soft if i crack the hammer while i'm quenching
it that could be disastrous for me yesterday i was able to get the hammer
head finished with all the detail get it quenched and today
i'm getting into the handle my plan is to add some upholstery rivets down
the sides and the front and back of the handle it's gonna be a mix of unique decorative work and traditional style warhammer
with the spike and the hammerhead pretty happy with that gentlemen the warhammer
was primarily a close quarters weapon but it was devastating to anything it went up against which
occasionally was a castle door so i'm going to take several strikes against this oak door to
see how well the pick on your weapon penetrates craig you ready i'm ready well craig this really felt great in my hands
it's got a nice balance to it your pick i don't see any real distortion on it the shape of your
pick with that nice drop hook to the end of it really penetrated well and you could see when
i got it in that door how hard it was to remove yeah nicely done appreciate it
beautifully executed thank you so jeff your turn you ready
we'll smash it all right so we started losing pieces i can tell that
they're on there only decoratively so i was able to continue on good thing head's still right
and tight all right the way your pick leans out towards the front gave a lot of penetration i was
really able to just blow parts out of this door nicely designed well executed thanks bladesmiths
now it's time for the kill test warhammers have been known to deliver piercing blows into armor
and crush the person behind it i will deliver strikes at this ballistic dummy that's
wearing armor then we can see how much lethal damage your warhammer can give craig
you're up are you ready i'm ready let's do it craig love the balance of this blade no
indentations now let's see how much damage we put on the dummy no visible broken bones
but it definitely did pierce the skin nice this will definitely kill nicely done sir thank
you jeff you're up next are you ready yes sir well jeff looks like the other line j did break
off do you know what this is still very sturdy but let's see how much damage is done internally he's got some broken ribs right here broken
bones throughout it went all the way through and even through armor you pierce the
skin and you cause some internal damage jeff your weapon will kill awesome good job
thank you gentlemen this is the strength test the warhammer was a favorite on the
medieval battlefield so i'm going to take your warhammer and to test its strength
and durability i'm going to take several blows against our stone wall and see how much of this
i can move craig you're up all right let's do it wow that that held up really well and that's
pretty much a hole i could crawl through that'll work perfect so the handle what i do like
is i could swing it one-handed but with two hands i could generate a heck of a lot of energy
beautiful job excellent excellent thank you jeff you're up let's knock it down it's long and when i was swinging it was
way out in front of me as opposed to being close and in control shot some sparks off right
seen that all in all a good performance great craig jeff you were given five days at your
home forge to fabricate war hammers and they both performed very well in our weapons tests
but there can only be one forged empire champion craig you are the forged
empire champion congratulations thank you jeff your weapon did not make
the cut please surrender your warhammer i respected the judge's decision if i knew what
i knew now i would have changed some things craig congratulations you were the forest
and fire champion it was a fun challenge craig you will also be receiving a check
for 10 000 i'm just stoked it's crazy this experience it was a grueling process you
know i got to do something that i really enjoyed and i'm really passionate about i came here for
my son i mean it doesn't get any better than that you
