@@Edwinthemountainman8454 yeah, they got everything right and then did that lol That being said, they did some hammering after, which would’ve been correct if the casting was a billet rather than to-form.
In slight defense of the last scene, the guy who somehow cut through a steel blade with that weird looking sword is from the future, in early medieval Scandinavia. The sword is made from harvested pieces of his spaceship. So the guard is likely some piece of machinery. Still a ridiculous sword, but they're at least trying to explain it away as some sort of space age material.
Also, it is hard to comment about the forging effects as this is intentionally "unknown" material, a metal of extraterrestrial origin. They used it as their normal medieval swords were too weak for the enemy they were fighting. So this material could be forged in lower temperatures or could look "cold" while actually being hot. And could send sparkles when hit. ;-)
No matter the material or what the forge process would allow for it wouldn’t allow a blade to be forged then come out of the quench 100% complete with handle mirror polish and impossibly sharp. I didn’t see a grindstone or polishing anywhere.
I would actually love to see something hardened in blood... I do suggest using Pigs blood instead off human blood.... My prediction is that the blod will clot and burn onto the blade with a horrible sizzle... and actually give the blade a softer hardening due to the burned blood forming a charcoal barrier on the blade and slowing the heat exchange down... p.s. I suggest noseplugs for the job!
Blood has the same boiling temperature as water, so I think the outcome will be pretty much the same. You have made me curious though on what effects the organic material will do to the blade. Since cells hold co2 and oxygen might be some surprising outcome. I do doubt it will be enough to make a big difference
@@tummytub1161 I am all guesses. Also just curious to the effects...you got some good points. But one thing is boiling point, another is viscosity and drying out/burningpoint, wher insulating carbon layers are left bwhind... :)
You missed the scene right after Sokka correctly smelts the meteorite ore in a crucible where he then casts the metal into a sword shape in an open top mold 😂 ATLA does have some excellent research and detail in it though. The culture of the land they are making that sword in was inspired by feudal Japan so it is neat that they have a Japanese style bellows.
Yeah, they did better cultural research (using a japanese style box bellows) than they did blacksmithing (casting a sword open faced). I mean they did get the crucible part right and they did also show them hammering after casting it, but it's definitely not perfect
@@lorenzomariasantini To avoid copyright issues I bet. None of these clips are long nor the full clip and that's probably the reason. It's better to show just a small snip of the clip to avoid any bs that might be thrown at them. This way, there's no way anyone can claim the video so won't even bother to try.
re: quenching in human blood, I'd imagine that would achieve a rapid spike in temperature on the skin of the blade from the initial water evaporation, but the blood would quickly congeal and char around the blade into an insulating jacket that would limit the cooling rate after that point.
I think a blood quench might be somewhat similar to a salt water quench. A salt water quench is a very fast quench, much faster than a plain water quench as the salt makes the water 'stick' to the steel (might be adding nucleation sites with the salt?). Most anything over 50 points of carbon will shatter, but I've used it in making a very hard die from 4140 steel. Look up Rob Gunter's Superquench for methods and recipes.
The last movie is "Outlander " basically a human-like alien crash lands in Norway during the Viking age and the alien works with a local village to hunt down a dragon like creature that escaped from the wreckage. The sword forged is from metal of his ship.
Hi Alec. You can search BENDEGO a Brazilian metheorit a 5 ton of nickel iron. It is not ore, is metal indeed. It is so big (as seen in the movie) It was cut in pieces and donated to several museams.
10:40 that is from the movie "Outlander", the premise is that a man from space (who looks human) crash lands on earth hundreds of years ago. But in his ship was this dragon-looking beast that gets loose. No conventional metal blades can cut the dragon, but the metal from the man's space ship can, so they cobble together a sword from his ship, and thats what you see. It actually a very good movie. Wasn't reviewed well when it came out but I enjoyed the premise.
@@Michael-Archonaeus now I want a tacti-cool sword that’s squid themed, thanks. I’ll be lost in that rabbit hole when I’m supposed to be sleeping. You dirty rattata bulbasaur.
So some numbers to back up Alec’s statement on the blood quench. Motor oil (which you can quench with) has a thermal conductivity of 0.145 W/(m k) and water has a thermal conductivity of 0.598 W/(m k). Higher conductivity = faster quench = more martensite formation = harder and more brittle steel. Blood (unspecified) has an average thermal conductivity of .52 W/(m k) across 7 studies according to the IT’IS foundation.
The outlander sword at 10:32 was made out of a piece of crashed space ship so its supposed to be made from 'space ship hull/metal' which they couldn't really process properly. Its used to cut through a 'normal' metal sword in that scene. It doesn't make sense but I thought you might like to know why the sword looks like that, its because its just a sharpened piece of space ship.
For what it's worth, the prop on my ski boat is Nibral... A metal alloy made of nickel, bronze and aluminium, often used for underwater parts of ships and boats, such as propellors, stabilizers, and foils. In my case, and probably most...the Nibral is intended to bend, distort, and roll over when hitting anything hard. To prevent damage to the steel drivetrain.
You should check out. The Hunted. At about an hour and 15 mins, Benicio DelToro forges a knife from spring steel over a wood fire and quenches in a river using another piece of spring steel for a hammer.
One to maybe look at would be Sharpe's Sword where Harper reworks a blade, It's set in the Napoleonic era so would be a good choice to look at it for historical accuracy maybe?
I’d love to see you break down some of the major Forged in Fire failures. Like the bent claymores, the broken blades, and so on. If you do it respectfully I see no Issue with you breaking it down
@@YandreYak exactly that’s why I said if he does it respectfully, so pretty much not saying “You should have spent less time on the guard and more time on the hardening process you idiot” he should be fine
My great grandfather was an early oil man here in the States. He lost his business in the Great Depression, but he kept all the tools and machinery. The larger stuff was donated to an oil museum a few decades ago, but the anvils and blowers made it to my grandfather’s garage and now to mine.
I think my favorite dumb thing about swordmaking in movies is when they hammer out the sword and it's razor sharp right off the anvil with no grinding or sharpening needed.
You got me into smithing, and convinced me to make a small knife forge from a soup can, thank you. If it weren’t for you I never would’ve tried my favorite hobby.
@@eugenescott7615 There are smiths selling experience days and ongoing lessons all over the world. An internet search in your region should turn up a few possibilities. If this is not something you have access to then you could watch loads of YT vids about how to build your own forge, fuel it, find something to use as an anvil and all the tools and techniques needed to learn by yourself. I would not recommend the latter, it's too fraught with the possibility to injure yourself, or just simply make dire mistakes with shaping metal. If you can find a smith you can pay to teach you then you will learn the correct techniques and more importantly the proper safety measures to prevent potentially catastrophic consequences to yourself. ** Dire Warning** Even experienced smiths have been injured or even died when something went wrong. Just a few generations back one of my own smithing ancestors was burned to death tackling a job in his own forge. Fortunately for me, not before he sired children. It has been a cautionary tale for my family since. no other blacksmiths have been harmed in the interval. Yet.
@@Moondog-wc4vm thank you for such a thorough reply. Doesn't look like I can find an actual smith where I'm currently at, but I'll keep looking. As for the story: thank you for sharing, what a gruesome tale! There's a saying in my country: 'Safety measures have been written with blood'. As a guy with a degree in chemistry, I can attest to that
@@eugenescott7615 Doors and corners kid, that's where they'll get you. Stay safe and use that safety sense learned from chemistry to avoid any pitfalls in the smithing world. Keep your wits about you and you'l do fine.
I think you were going to say the wheel is powered by inertia... fyi inertia flywheels are coming back as they are ridiculously efficient at storing energy when done right
7:00 Important to note that this is slightly wrong, most cities back in the old days would have guilds and organizations that would control who made what. So a swordsmith would be able to make swords and perhaps other weapons, a knife makers would make knives, and someone who made horseshoes and was a farrier would do just that. There are interesting "knives" that came out of certain cities in Spain and Germany that were basically swords but they had the characteristics of knives in order to get around this rule and also rules cities had on carrying around weapons. So depending upon the setting its actually not realistic at all for a smith to do multiple things, unless they were in the army and then they would probably wear as many hats as needed.
Couldn’t help but notice the last blade was pulled from the water quench and was already mirror polished and sharp, while blade start to finish while 2 guys stood there and watched him like it takes 5 minutes.
Thanks for the tip! I melt aluminium, copper, silver and gold... I tried to forge weld a scrap of iron that was lying around into a scoop... didn't work and now I know why...
Alex, Next time you are in Washington DC go to the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art. In the Gem room there are some huge meteorites- hundreds of kilos. Really cool Frank
the last scene is from the film Outlander. It's a Sci-Fi Movie of an extraterrestrial crashing in the eighth century Wiking-Norway. So the tactical blade is not far off
Hey Alec have you ever used an induction heater when forging metal? I think it would be cool if you could do a video trying it out as it might be a good options for smaller workshops that don't want the size and hassle of a large furnace.
The last scene for the outlander movie, the guy got some space ship hull material to make the blade. So it's supposed to be some scifi metal that's lighter and stronger than steel.
I found the bit about your great-grandfather to be close to home. My great-grandfather (a generation older than yours) was also a blacksmith, and a farrier, and once automobiles came onto the scene he was a mechanic.
Sokka the goat forging a meteorite sword will always be one of my favourite scenes, it would be my dream if you recreated his blade, perhaps with not meteorite as it mayyyy be a bit pricey
So, if the production team got an actual Damascus blade, why couldn't they ask the guy who made it about the process? Maybe he did make some suggestions and they said, " yeah, yeah, yeah, we don't care- thanks for the sword, here's your check, now go away."
Maybe they just found one online or something and just bought it. If they went to a blacksmith to get a blade like that made, You would think they would have the foresight to film the process as the blacksmith made it. but who knows. 🤷♂
I've read comments from two different bladesmiths who were hired to give expert opinion for movies. They both said they gave instruction how to properly create weapons, but the producers didn't think it was flashy enough.
I've been writing a book and in it a woman gets a Damascus dagger made for herself. And I describe a second persons point of view in watching the man harden it, skate a file across it, fit it for a handle and some other steps and all of the knowledge I poured into that segment... I got from your channel.
I love that Avatar was shown in this video AND was the most accurate! Avatar needs more love! The writers worked so hard to make it so genuine and authentic. Love it.
For the brushing action on the Kingdom of Heaven blacksmith. There is the required context the other person in the shot is the smith's half brother that is trying to get him to snap and go away. So it is more that the blacksmith isn't caring or paying attention to what he is doing. He is just doing anything to keep busy so he doesn't snap or think about his recently dead wife.
Yeah, about that last scene, in Outlander. It's the story of a human-alien (don't ask) crash landing on earth during the Viking age. That sword was made out of a piece of his space ship.
In the movie The Hunted the bad guy finds an abandoned car. He uses metal from the car to make a knife for fighting. I don't remember about the fire. It would be cool for you to make a knife using only parts from a car; leaf springs, coil springs, rotor etc... No hammer and anvil, only use the car metal.
The last sword is a chunk of spaceship from a movie called outlander, needed to kill a beast impervious to local weaponry. So i guess its supposed to be some kind of future alloy
I’ve read somewhere that some blacksmiths have used honey to quench blades. But now that I’m a bit more educated on the art, I hesitate to believe it… I’m pretty sure that in that last scene, the metal used was from the hull of a crashed space ship, hence the weirdness of its looks
Take it with a grain of salt, but from what Old Timers and reading has told me, up until the late 19th and early 20th century, a Blacksmith was a master craftsman who wouldn't touch a horse shoe - unless he had fallen on hard times. It was only the industrial revolution that forced the blacksmith to seek out any work he could find, that they took on more and more Farrier work, as the traditional smithing had been taken over by machines and factories.
About blacksmiths and horseshoer, in Dutch, someone showing hoofs is called a hoefsmid (literal hoofsmith), and blacksmiths are just 'smid' (smith). Connecting the professions with the word smith.
About quenching... There are legends about quenching sabers in oil but in an exact way. The container should be flat, and the blade should be dipped horizontally. Also (this is a more legendary part) the container should be aligned with the Earth's magnetic field, supposedly minimizing the risk of bending while quenching... What do you think, Alec?
Regarding the blood quenching, Our professor for the metal lectures in my material science degree opened the semester with old Smithing myths/legends. One of these myths comes from medieval europe: one smiths would make the strongest blades but would not tell how. The years go by and he gets a apprentice who seems worthy. On his deathbed the smith tells him the secret: "Pierce a live chicken with the still glowing sword, the blood and life of the chicken will make the blade unbreakable". Some material scientist think that it might really have been beneficial for the blade. The flesh and blood would quench the the blade slower than water and especially at the cutting edge and not the whole sword. Also they theorized that the carbon content of the chicken might diffuse into the outer layer of the sword and carbon enriche it to further case harden the cutting edge.
I think a really neat challenge for Alec would be to make a damascus sword with lettering made out of the Damascus patterns itself. Kind of like what you see at 1:53.
If that last clip is the movie I think it is, they made that sword out of a starship hull. I'm guessing the guard is just supposed to be some random chunk of riveted metal that had roughly the shape they needed.
I don't know about you but I keep a 3.5' sword with tactical seatbelt cutter in my car at all times. Its also great for parachuting and scuba if you get a bit tangled.
3:45 Is the word you're looking for "treadle"? I know some potter's wheels used a kick wheel, but that's gonna be a little weird because it wouldn't translate to a vertical spin well like a treadle might.
As I recall, it was to provide nitrogen to assist in forming carbon nitride on the surface of the steel for increased hardness. Blood is relatively high in nitrogen.
To be fair to the last clip, the metal being used to make that sword was off a spaceship, so the metal would've been resistant to any heat the viking forge could reach. Y'know, since it's supposed to resist the heat from entry into atmosphere. Sprinkling burning charcoal was the only way they could make it look hot enough to hammer.
Hey Alec, quick fact check, the worshipful company of farriers was established in 1356. It’s not exactly a recent distinction between the two trades, though you are right in saying there was more crossover historically than there is today, being a specialist farrier is old as dirt.
You cool it in oil to achieve a desired hardness. In mass production processes they actually have these cooling rate curves that will define the final hardness of the material. Using simulation you can actually create a cooling configuration to create a desired hardness profile through the steel. Yes cooling too quickly could lead to crack formation but that’s because of the phase change properties of steel that results in density changes. But those density changes are also present in other cooling configurations. But the primary purpose of oil selection, at least from an engineering perspective is hardness control of the material
I would really like to see you make an knife or sword equal to the multi bar construction (as you've named it) with solid steel on the outsides and damascus just in the middle. I guess that must be an interesting and challenging task.
That construction is fairly typical of many earlier viking era swords (towards the end they started getting ahold of crucible steel for some of their blades), the pattern welding was primarily done because the smelting technology couldn't reliably get the desired carbon content, so they would pick out the best steel to form the edge, then stack up alternating layers of steel with too much carbon and too little carbon so that they would hopefully average out to an acceptable carbon level in the middle. Multiple bars was due to a combination of it being harder to produce large pieces of steel and easier to work with smaller pieces.
Jamie coming in with the snarky comments😂 Alec: "How do i know that heating the metal up and hitting it with a hammer makes sparks?" Jamie:" Because you do it once every six months!"
In the African Queen scene, my guess is the forge scene was relatively safe for two of the highest paid actors of the time, but handling red-hot metals was the step too far. Any delay could kill a production, and losing either could kill the studio.
@@rockysquirrel4776 there's a thing over in Holywood called OSHA. Look into it, it applies to all fields of work. Pretty obvious that a company would want to minimise risk of the people involved, that's why there's stuntmen, props, etc.
with all due respect, Alex, I'm sure that if anyone could cold fuse bronze, it would be Humphrey Bogart. Been enjoying your channel since the early days.
Medieval 15th century steals in Japanese tamahagai I actually the two types of steel that I know of that prefer to be water quenched rather than oil quenched
I love that atla had the most accurate scene and it's a cartoon. On a separate note Sokka's Master is one of my favourite episodes
Dont they pour it after that in a open top cast
@@Edwinthemountainman8454 yeah, they got everything right and then did that lol
That being said, they did some hammering after, which would’ve been correct if the casting was a billet rather than to-form.
That whole show was a work of genius. Otoh, it's no fair criticizing a bit of Hollywood hand waving in The African Queen- also a work of genius.
@@Edwinthemountainman8454 yeah I think they did and I'm bummed that Alec didn't continue after finally getting to the clip
I watched the episode to much
In slight defense of the last scene, the guy who somehow cut through a steel blade with that weird looking sword is from the future, in early medieval Scandinavia. The sword is made from harvested pieces of his spaceship. So the guard is likely some piece of machinery. Still a ridiculous sword, but they're at least trying to explain it away as some sort of space age material.
Also, it is hard to comment about the forging effects as this is intentionally "unknown" material, a metal of extraterrestrial origin. They used it as their normal medieval swords were too weak for the enemy they were fighting.
So this material could be forged in lower temperatures or could look "cold" while actually being hot. And could send sparkles when hit. ;-)
It's a big ass can opener.
No matter the material or what the forge process would allow for it wouldn’t allow a blade to be forged then come out of the quench 100% complete with handle mirror polish and impossibly sharp. I didn’t see a grindstone or polishing anywhere.
@@taintedsasquatch398 And then the last guy "inspecting the edge" of a sword that was just forged seconds ago by holding the blade in his bare hand
@@MrMartwy Black body radiation can only be bypassed by magic tho, everything glows in the same way at the same temperature.
I would actually love to see something hardened in blood... I do suggest using Pigs blood instead off human blood.... My prediction is that the blod will clot and burn onto the blade with a horrible sizzle... and actually give the blade a softer hardening due to the burned blood forming a charcoal barrier on the blade and slowing the heat exchange down...
p.s. I suggest noseplugs for the job!
plus having a barrel full of pigs blood is a lot easier to explain to the police than a barrel full of human blood.
@@wanderinwolf3804
I tried to be subtle about it!😂
The blood of the next pig I slaughter will be used for this.
Blood has the same boiling temperature as water, so I think the outcome will be pretty much the same. You have made me curious though on what effects the organic material will do to the blade. Since cells hold co2 and oxygen might be some surprising outcome. I do doubt it will be enough to make a big difference
@@tummytub1161 I am all guesses. Also just curious to the effects...you got some good points. But one thing is boiling point, another is viscosity and drying out/burningpoint, wher insulating carbon layers are left bwhind... :)
You missed the scene right after Sokka correctly smelts the meteorite ore in a crucible where he then casts the metal into a sword shape in an open top mold 😂 ATLA does have some excellent research and detail in it though. The culture of the land they are making that sword in was inspired by feudal Japan so it is neat that they have a Japanese style bellows.
Yeah, they did better cultural research (using a japanese style box bellows) than they did blacksmithing (casting a sword open faced). I mean they did get the crucible part right and they did also show them hammering after casting it, but it's definitely not perfect
Fun fact: In 13th Warrior, the people see in the movie making armour are the armourers who made the armour and props for the movie.
Sweet not only did Avatar get the martial arts right. They git the blacksmithing part kinda right as well props to their research team.
Yeah but it showed a fraction of the process... Could have taken a slightly longer clip...
@@lorenzomariasantini To avoid copyright issues I bet. None of these clips are long nor the full clip and that's probably the reason. It's better to show just a small snip of the clip to avoid any bs that might be thrown at them. This way, there's no way anyone can claim the video so won't even bother to try.
re: quenching in human blood, I'd imagine that would achieve a rapid spike in temperature on the skin of the blade from the initial water evaporation, but the blood would quickly congeal and char around the blade into an insulating jacket that would limit the cooling rate after that point.
I think a blood quench might be somewhat similar to a salt water quench. A salt water quench is a very fast quench, much faster than a plain water quench as the salt makes the water 'stick' to the steel (might be adding nucleation sites with the salt?). Most anything over 50 points of carbon will shatter, but I've used it in making a very hard die from 4140 steel.
Look up Rob Gunter's Superquench for methods and recipes.
Plus 5 points for the Avatar meteorite forging
Minus 2 points for cutting off so early!
6:45 it’s actually common for farriers to have a small forge on their truck so they can shape the shoes and fit them on the horse.
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The last movie is "Outlander " basically a human-like alien crash lands in Norway during the Viking age and the alien works with a local village to hunt down a dragon like creature that escaped from the wreckage.
The sword forged is from metal of his ship.
Hi Alec. You can search BENDEGO a Brazilian metheorit a 5 ton of nickel iron. It is not ore, is metal indeed. It is so big (as seen in the movie) It was cut in pieces and donated to several museams.
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10:40 that is from the movie "Outlander", the premise is that a man from space (who looks human) crash lands on earth hundreds of years ago. But in his ship was this dragon-looking beast that gets loose. No conventional metal blades can cut the dragon, but the metal from the man's space ship can, so they cobble together a sword from his ship, and thats what you see.
It actually a very good movie. Wasn't reviewed well when it came out but I enjoyed the premise.
It would be fun to see you make an actual tactical sword. Or a legit version of the last sword you talked about.
Serious question: tactical, or tacti-cool?
@@demonzabrak maybe one of each🤔🤣🤣
@@jonreyes2580 honestly same
@@demonzabrak Tentacool
@@Michael-Archonaeus now I want a tacti-cool sword that’s squid themed, thanks. I’ll be lost in that rabbit hole when I’m supposed to be sleeping. You dirty rattata bulbasaur.
So some numbers to back up Alec’s statement on the blood quench. Motor oil (which you can quench with) has a thermal conductivity of 0.145 W/(m k) and water has a thermal conductivity of 0.598 W/(m k). Higher conductivity = faster quench = more martensite formation = harder and more brittle steel. Blood (unspecified) has an average thermal conductivity of .52 W/(m k) across 7 studies according to the IT’IS foundation.
I’m surprised y’all cut out the trailing end of the ATLA clip. I figured Alec would have some reactions to the meteorite casting…
The outlander sword at 10:32 was made out of a piece of crashed space ship so its supposed to be made from 'space ship hull/metal' which they couldn't really process properly. Its used to cut through a 'normal' metal sword in that scene. It doesn't make sense but I thought you might like to know why the sword looks like that, its because its just a sharpened piece of space ship.
Loving how, in the last scene, they sharpened a blade by hammering it cold and quenching.
For what it's worth, the prop on my ski boat is Nibral...
A metal alloy made of nickel, bronze and aluminium, often used for underwater parts of ships and boats, such as propellors, stabilizers, and foils.
In my case, and probably most...the Nibral is intended to bend, distort, and roll over when hitting anything hard. To prevent damage to the steel drivetrain.
I'd love to see his reaction to the blade reforming in his dark materials. It's sooooo bad
I mean, that was reforged almost entirely by magic, so I’m not sure the same assessment can apply xD
I was disapointed not seeing the bear wield a hammer
I used to make film.
I work retail now.
If I ever get back into directing, I'll make you proud, man.
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You should check out. The Hunted. At about an hour and 15 mins, Benicio DelToro forges a knife from spring steel over a wood fire and quenches in a river using another piece of spring steel for a hammer.
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One to maybe look at would be Sharpe's Sword where Harper reworks a blade, It's set in the Napoleonic era so would be a good choice to look at it for historical accuracy maybe?
I’d love to see you break down some of the major Forged in Fire failures. Like the bent claymores, the broken blades, and so on. If you do it respectfully I see no Issue with you breaking it down
probably most of the mistakes there are from time pressing deadlines. or script-edited for the drama, since it's "reality" show
@@YandreYak exactly that’s why I said if he does it respectfully, so pretty much not saying “You should have spent less time on the guard and more time on the hardening process you idiot” he should be fine
My great grandfather was an early oil man here in the States. He lost his business in the Great Depression, but he kept all the tools and machinery. The larger stuff was donated to an oil museum a few decades ago, but the anvils and blowers made it to my grandfather’s garage and now to mine.
3:40 werent grindstones originally pedal powered like the first sowing machines?
A classic your mum joke, oh how we laughed. Amazing! 💪
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I think my favorite dumb thing about swordmaking in movies is when they hammer out the sword and it's razor sharp right off the anvil with no grinding or sharpening needed.
You got me into smithing, and convinced me to make a small knife forge from a soup can, thank you. If it weren’t for you I never would’ve tried my favorite hobby.
May I ask how you've started? I would really love to learn smithing, but I don't even know where to begin
@@eugenescott7615 There are smiths selling experience days and ongoing lessons all over the world. An internet search in your region should turn up a few possibilities. If this is not something you have access to then you could watch loads of YT vids about how to build your own forge, fuel it, find something to use as an anvil and all the tools and techniques needed to learn by yourself. I would not recommend the latter, it's too fraught with the possibility to injure yourself, or just simply make dire mistakes with shaping metal. If you can find a smith you can pay to teach you then you will learn the correct techniques and more importantly the proper safety measures to prevent potentially catastrophic consequences to yourself. ** Dire Warning** Even experienced smiths have been injured or even died when something went wrong. Just a few generations back one of my own smithing ancestors was burned to death tackling a job in his own forge. Fortunately for me, not before he sired children. It has been a cautionary tale for my family since. no other blacksmiths have been harmed in the interval. Yet.
@@Moondog-wc4vm thank you for such a thorough reply. Doesn't look like I can find an actual smith where I'm currently at, but I'll keep looking. As for the story: thank you for sharing, what a gruesome tale! There's a saying in my country: 'Safety measures have been written with blood'. As a guy with a degree in chemistry, I can attest to that
@@eugenescott7615 Doors and corners kid, that's where they'll get you. Stay safe and use that safety sense learned from chemistry to avoid any pitfalls in the smithing world. Keep your wits about you and you'l do fine.
Amon Amarth's Odin Owns You All music video is probably the best blacksmithing scene I have ever seen
I think you were going to say the wheel is powered by inertia... fyi inertia flywheels are coming back as they are ridiculously efficient at storing energy when done right
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7:00 Important to note that this is slightly wrong, most cities back in the old days would have guilds and organizations that would control who made what. So a swordsmith would be able to make swords and perhaps other weapons, a knife makers would make knives, and someone who made horseshoes and was a farrier would do just that. There are interesting "knives" that came out of certain cities in Spain and Germany that were basically swords but they had the characteristics of knives in order to get around this rule and also rules cities had on carrying around weapons. So depending upon the setting its actually not realistic at all for a smith to do multiple things, unless they were in the army and then they would probably wear as many hats as needed.
Couldn’t help but notice the last blade was pulled from the water quench and was already mirror polished and sharp, while blade start to finish while 2 guys stood there and watched him like it takes 5 minutes.
Thanks for the tip! I melt aluminium, copper, silver and gold... I tried to forge weld a scrap of iron that was lying around into a scoop... didn't work and now I know why...
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Alex,
Next time you are in Washington DC go to the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art. In the Gem room there are some huge meteorites- hundreds of kilos. Really cool
Frank
the last scene is from the film Outlander. It's a Sci-Fi Movie of an extraterrestrial crashing in the eighth century Wiking-Norway. So the tactical blade is not far off
Hey Alec have you ever used an induction heater when forging metal? I think it would be cool if you could do a video trying it out as it might be a good options for smaller workshops that don't want the size and hassle of a large furnace.
The last scene for the outlander movie, the guy got some space ship hull material to make the blade. So it's supposed to be some scifi metal that's lighter and stronger than steel.
I found the bit about your great-grandfather to be close to home. My great-grandfather (a generation older than yours) was also a blacksmith, and a farrier, and once automobiles came onto the scene he was a mechanic.
Sokka the goat forging a meteorite sword will always be one of my favourite scenes, it would be my dream if you recreated his blade, perhaps with not meteorite as it mayyyy be a bit pricey
I made my mom a Crochet hook from some masinairy drill bits I had laying around and am currently making a coffee scoop for christmas.
I like how excited you got at the research A:TLA put into their blacksmithing. they put so much research into that show and I'm very glad it shows.
Alec, would you consider doing an episode or two or fourty about making some bellows? You've just set up a coke forge to use them with..
That tacticool sword has a mandatory bottle open on the guard for very large bottle tops.
So, if the production team got an actual Damascus blade, why couldn't they ask the guy who made it about the process? Maybe he did make some suggestions and they said, " yeah, yeah, yeah, we don't care- thanks for the sword, here's your check, now go away."
Maybe they just found one online or something and just bought it. If they went to a blacksmith to get a blade like that made, You would think they would have the foresight to film the process as the blacksmith made it. but who knows. 🤷♂
I've read comments from two different bladesmiths who were hired to give expert opinion for movies. They both said they gave instruction how to properly create weapons, but the producers didn't think it was flashy enough.
It’s the African Queen starring Humphrey Bogarde and Audrey Hepburn! It’s a classic and still worth a watch. Cheers and Merry Christmas boys !
How can Avatar be so perfect? xD it cant even screw up in a trivial forgin shot
I've been writing a book and in it a woman gets a Damascus dagger made for herself. And I describe a second persons point of view in watching the man harden it, skate a file across it, fit it for a handle and some other steps and all of the knowledge I poured into that segment... I got from your channel.
I love that Avatar was shown in this video AND was the most accurate! Avatar needs more love! The writers worked so hard to make it so genuine and authentic. Love it.
I would love to see a breakdown of Sokka making his sword from the meteorite
For the brushing action on the Kingdom of Heaven blacksmith. There is the required context the other person in the shot is the smith's half brother that is trying to get him to snap and go away. So it is more that the blacksmith isn't caring or paying attention to what he is doing. He is just doing anything to keep busy so he doesn't snap or think about his recently dead wife.
Yeah, about that last scene, in Outlander. It's the story of a human-alien (don't ask) crash landing on earth during the Viking age. That sword was made out of a piece of his space ship.
In the movie The Hunted the bad guy finds an abandoned car. He uses metal from the car to make a knife for fighting. I don't remember about the fire. It would be cool for you to make a knife using only parts from a car; leaf springs, coil springs, rotor etc... No hammer and anvil, only use the car metal.
The last sword is a chunk of spaceship from a movie called outlander, needed to kill a beast impervious to local weaponry. So i guess its supposed to be some kind of future alloy
I’ve read somewhere that some blacksmiths have used honey to quench blades. But now that I’m a bit more educated on the art, I hesitate to believe it…
I’m pretty sure that in that last scene, the metal used was from the hull of a crashed space ship, hence the weirdness of its looks
"The lady" is CATHERINE HEPBURN Alec, how don't you know that ?
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Make the tacticool sword, that thing looks badass!
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Take it with a grain of salt, but from what Old Timers and reading has told me, up until the late 19th and early 20th century, a Blacksmith was a master craftsman who wouldn't touch a horse shoe - unless he had fallen on hard times. It was only the industrial revolution that forced the blacksmith to seek out any work he could find, that they took on more and more Farrier work, as the traditional smithing had been taken over by machines and factories.
About blacksmiths and horseshoer, in Dutch, someone showing hoofs is called a hoefsmid (literal hoofsmith), and blacksmiths are just 'smid' (smith). Connecting the professions with the word smith.
Wooooo Avatar!!! And it was done mostly right!! Except for probably the next part with an open mold and they pour the metal in
i'd like to see longer videos like this. I would have liked more commentary on the Avatar soka scene, I just recently watched that episode
About quenching... There are legends about quenching sabers in oil but in an exact way. The container should be flat, and the blade should be dipped horizontally. Also (this is a more legendary part) the container should be aligned with the Earth's magnetic field, supposedly minimizing the risk of bending while quenching... What do you think, Alec?
Regarding the blood quenching,
Our professor for the metal lectures in my material science degree opened the semester with old Smithing myths/legends.
One of these myths comes from medieval europe: one smiths would make the strongest blades but would not tell how. The years go by and he gets a apprentice who seems worthy. On his deathbed the smith tells him the secret: "Pierce a live chicken with the still glowing sword, the blood and life of the chicken will make the blade unbreakable".
Some material scientist think that it might really have been beneficial for the blade. The flesh and blood would quench the the blade slower than water and especially at the cutting edge and not the whole sword. Also they theorized that the carbon content of the chicken might diffuse into the outer layer of the sword and carbon enriche it to further case harden the cutting edge.
I think a really neat challenge for Alec would be to make a damascus sword with lettering made out of the Damascus patterns itself. Kind of like what you see at 1:53.
this type of Wiking Blade is called Ulfberht. They have the reputation of being the best swords of their time.
If that last clip is the movie I think it is, they made that sword out of a starship hull. I'm guessing the guard is just supposed to be some random chunk of riveted metal that had roughly the shape they needed.
I don't know about you but I keep a 3.5' sword with tactical seatbelt cutter in my car at all times. Its also great for parachuting and scuba if you get a bit tangled.
That sword from outlander looks like this, as it was made out of alien spacecraft parts the protagonist salvaged from his crashed ship.
3:34 Not sure about Norse history but there are lots of pulley powered grinding wheels around the world. Some still used today in some places.
3:45
Is the word you're looking for "treadle"? I know some potter's wheels used a kick wheel, but that's gonna be a little weird because it wouldn't translate to a vertical spin well like a treadle might.
Love that the cartoon got the most accurate clip. Next time someone asks why i watch "kids stuff" ill share this hahahah
I'm sure others have said this: Quenching in blood was used to try to add Carbon to the outer layers of the blade. Especially for low carbon steel.
As I recall, it was to provide nitrogen to assist in forming carbon nitride on the surface of the steel for increased hardness. Blood is relatively high in nitrogen.
To be fair to the last clip, the metal being used to make that sword was off a spaceship, so the metal would've been resistant to any heat the viking forge could reach. Y'know, since it's supposed to resist the heat from entry into atmosphere. Sprinkling burning charcoal was the only way they could make it look hot enough to hammer.
as a hobby metallurgist, I can't help but point out unrealistic metal working scenes in movies as well. xD
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Hey Alec, quick fact check, the worshipful company of farriers was established in 1356. It’s not exactly a recent distinction between the two trades, though you are right in saying there was more crossover historically than there is today, being a specialist farrier is old as dirt.
You cool it in oil to achieve a desired hardness. In mass production processes they actually have these cooling rate curves that will define the final hardness of the material. Using simulation you can actually create a cooling configuration to create a desired hardness profile through the steel. Yes cooling too quickly could lead to crack formation but that’s because of the phase change properties of steel that results in density changes. But those density changes are also present in other cooling configurations. But the primary purpose of oil selection, at least from an engineering perspective is hardness control of the material
Alec!!! Wind Rose: Together We Rise!!! I adore this song but the blacksmithing techniques make me lose it!
I wish you would react to some of the awesome/horrible creations on forged in fire :)
That last sword is forged from his crashed space ship. He's an alien who landed in Viking Era earth.
Its the African Queen BTW. Its a Humphrey Bogart movie. A great classic and I would recommend it.
I would really like to see you make an knife or sword equal to the multi bar construction (as you've named it) with solid steel on the outsides and damascus just in the middle. I guess that must be an interesting and challenging task.
That construction is fairly typical of many earlier viking era swords (towards the end they started getting ahold of crucible steel for some of their blades), the pattern welding was primarily done because the smelting technology couldn't reliably get the desired carbon content, so they would pick out the best steel to form the edge, then stack up alternating layers of steel with too much carbon and too little carbon so that they would hopefully average out to an acceptable carbon level in the middle. Multiple bars was due to a combination of it being harder to produce large pieces of steel and easier to work with smaller pieces.
this is the first one I watched but the Conan the barbarian begining I laughed so hard at the "Blacksmithing"
Jamie coming in with the snarky comments😂 Alec: "How do i know that heating the metal up and hitting it with a hammer makes sparks?" Jamie:" Because you do it once every six months!"
The farrier that comes to the ranch I do odd industrial jobs at does carry an anvil and a baby propane forge.
You should make the sward from that last clip!
3:27 the guy in the back could be powering some dual stage bellows
to note bronze is very popular for props in the EU, while aluminum is more common in America, steel in Asia and iron in Africa.
I was also thinking seatbelt cutter. 😆
In the African Queen scene, my guess is the forge scene was relatively safe for two of the highest paid actors of the time, but handling red-hot metals was the step too far. Any delay could kill a production, and losing either could kill the studio.
Ok Gilderoy Lockhart
@@RyanYoxo - how high are you?
@@rockysquirrel4776 I must've mistook you for someone else. When I seen your comment the words "pretty obvious" came into my head my bad.
@@RyanYoxo - If it was actually "pretty obvious", the movie wouldn't be the long-lasting classic it became.
@@rockysquirrel4776 there's a thing over in Holywood called OSHA. Look into it, it applies to all fields of work. Pretty obvious that a company would want to minimise risk of the people involved, that's why there's stuntmen, props, etc.
I recommend reacting to Highlander 3 when Conor MacLeod is forging his katana.
I second that. actually commented just this before
I was thinking of this movie too. 👍
It might just me, but that part at 4:05 is cutting a tatami mat
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Informative and entertaining. You should watch the Mandolorian Beskar Forge scenes
That last guy just tossed the blade tip-forward to the other guy, and it had magically flipped during the five feet it travelled.
The Outlander sword is made from parts of his spaceship :)
The Mandy Axe scene definately
with all due respect, Alex, I'm sure that if anyone could cold fuse bronze, it would be Humphrey Bogart. Been enjoying your channel since the early days.
African Queen, a great movie…Bogart and Hepburn…a must watch at least once
Thanks Alec, for the explanation. 👍😁
Medieval 15th century steals in Japanese tamahagai I actually the two types of steel that I know of that prefer to be water quenched rather than oil quenched
Raid Shadow Legends must have an insane advertising budget. I see so many people advertising it but never anyone playing it
You should forge the last Sword with the seatbelt cutter