Season 5
40 episodes
42 min. per episode
Where to watch
Master craftsmen battle their limits, forging blades that test their skills and ignite fierce rivalries, all for glory and respect.
Episodes
The rhomphaia was a close-combat bladed weapon used by the Thracians as early as 400 BC. Rhomphaias were polearms with a straight or slightly curved single-edged blade attached to a pole, which in most cases was considerably shorter than the blade.
Five novice smiths must earn their way into the competition because one smith will be sent home before the forge lights up; the two left standing must re-create a 16th-century weapon known as the War Golok.
For the first time ever, the bladesmiths begin on a farm where they harvest steel from farming tools, then must use coal forges to make their signature blades with a hidden lanyard hole. Can they keep the fires burning to match the pace of the ticking clock? Ultimately only two smiths return to their home forges to recreate a decorated and deadly Schiavona sword.
The smiths get locked and loaded to forge a signature blade out of a 50-caliber flintlock pistol. Despite giving it their best shot, it's a struggle turning a gun into a blade and after two grueling rounds two smiths are sent barreling towards elimination. In the final round, the remaining competitors must recreate a lethal gladiator sword, the Sica.
Smiths must forge functional friction folders and find the critical junction where skill meets resiliency; two finalists must re-create a Japanese trident called the Jumonji Yari, a weapon of unparalleled strength.
Four custom knife makers compete to make the best usable knife through a series of challenges.