right we're having very the important
conversation that's got to be had
which is what sort of sword do I want
now as viewers of my channel will know
I'm putting together a 1450 period suit
of armor so it seems sensible to have a
sword suitable to go with that suit of
armor because a knight must have a sword
and the recommended type in the Oakshott
typology is a type 18 but that doesn't
answer the question completely because
there are several types of 18 so what
we've got is one of the bigger groups in
the Oakshott typology the type 18 plain
is very different from say the type 18 d
and but they all have similar
characteristics they run through them so
apart from the 18 a none of them got
fillers no all of the flattened diamond
cross-section and they all taper they
have a parallel taper towards a point
which ends up like a fairly thick point
apart from type 18 B oh yes that's a
terrific Jesus well it's very pointy and
needle-like actually to me that looks
like I would give that a different type
name because that's got a very different
point yeah but the other type eighteens
have all got the same proportions of
point in the same general proportions of
taper some are very clearly one-handed
that one is very clearly two-handed and
that one's possibly a bastard sword
anyway I'm thinking going for a bastard
sword because it's it's sort of English
and it's a long sword and not a long
sword but a long sword but it's wearable
it's not to be dragging on the ground if
you have it on the scabbard you can have
it by your side it looks Knightly it
might not be your principle fighting
weapon anyway Lance and mason axe and so
forth might be your principle fighting
weapons so it's more yeah your badge of
I'm a knight badge of honor and I've had
put into my hand this piece of metal
which has a fuller going the whole
length of it which is very pretty just
like Excalibur from that film Excalibur
but unfortunately apparently type A
teams never have a full way down the
blade but I can have a bit of a fuller
because I can have one going about a
third of the way down so I get a go or
finding out just how flippin difficult
using traditional
methods putting a fuller on the blade is
and if I make a mess of it while then on
my own head be it a fuller in just in
case you don't know is what and in books
being read that written thirty years ago
people would call a blood groove because
all the books used to tell you that it
was for letting the blood flow out of
your enemies yeah we know no one says
that anymore it's it's just it's to
lighten the blades it give it the
flexibility and and quite possibly also
because they are quite pretty they do
look very pretty when done nicely even
the Mitch that they aren't very pretty
anyway this I'm just holding in my hand
here this is a really nice length of the
nice feel it's it's a length which would
work nicely in two hands and quite
feasibly in one hand as well so
something about this length and perhaps
about this weight of blade as well would
suit me I think rather nicely but a type
eighteen version of this so it's got a
slightly different proportion of point
wonderful okay great so we've had the
conversation that there it is okay but
we don't know exactly what twiddle we're
going to have with the quillin's there's
quite a bit of little later okay yeah
first the bladder that's the blade first
the blade
what is this piece of metal this is a
bar of yen 45 spring steel it's my
favourite steel for making swords the
the chemical composition of it is in
such a way that when we heat treat it
correctly which we will you get an
incredibly tough sword there will also
hold a really nice edge which for me the
two main criteria of a sword right will
it break no will it hold an edge yes
okay win but the drawback is it's
incredibly difficult to forge no it's
actually one of the easier spring
Steel's to forge it's very forgiving
right which lends itself well to
beginners and the drawback is it rusts
ah it will rust on you so you've got to
take really good care of it for instance
here we are some sword that hasn't been
taken care of very well and it's been
left in the workshop for a few months
right so that's just been left in a
workshop in ordinary air possibly even
drier than normal air considering
whether fire okay
but it hasn't it hasn't been dredged up
from a lake or anything that's just an
ordinary atmosphere has done that so so
probably get some get some oil might get
some idea about me no idea okay so we're
good to start at the pointy end and work
our way towards the handle end and all
going well by the time we we get to the
handle end we live we live lengthened it
by so much and push so much metal that
way there'll be enough metal left over
to make the tang correct but you're
still not tempted to just put you know a
little bit on because I 9 think would be
just stick enough on for a tang anyway
just in case but I don't know maybe this
is extremely expensive stuff or
especially so is it that actually
physically it's just harder to handle a
big bit of metal no I just don't like
wasting steel
okay and you're completely confident
that they'll be enough left over for a
tank you know what Louise for you haha
we'll put an extra few inches on
[Music]
right so the very start of the sword
first the tip tom started to make a
similar sword but longer so that he
could show me how it's done
so with a few death strokes he puts the
point that was at one edge he puts it
into the middle all right so all I got
to do is that
the other PCC now what are you best
friend I have a new best friend why
brush
ah but descaling the descaling so if you
don't why brush
mm-hmm you end up with a piece covered
in little piss because as you're
hammering don't be hammering in the
hammer scale all the little stuff
is coming off this right gets hammered
in and makes it so a new a new addition
to the routine yeah steel comes out
right so you didn't do that on the first
heat but thereafter
so all this scale that's forming and
turning darkly flaking off is is iron
oxide what percentage of the weight of
the bar we're gonna lose through scaling
okay not very much to know so start
hitting this side get over it more wow
it's not moving anything like as fast as
when you did it okay it starting to
twist don't like that
let's having to get rid of the twist now
okay didn't get very far
never mind starting to look like a song
okay
now this is quite efficient this doing
it old alternating yeah now what did you
forget to do okay right start working
this much further back
Wow okay what we're going for is a much
more tapered yeah and also what we
we're gonna see later in sports pedals
which will actually make it make the
whole thing wider right so you you want
that you want to switch this down a fair
a bit if you want to cut an arrow
pointing
we can switch to analyze it sighs just
not to say I think this yeah I think I
[Applause]
can feel when I've hit it well because
my left hand doesn't feel any vibration
going down the blade because the thing
I'm hitting is in perfect contact with
the anvil right there and I'm not quite
there there though it also sounds
different now it was time to have a
practice with the next tool I would be
using the power hammer on a piece of
spare steel rod there is a bar that I
pushed down on with one foot that alters
how alarming it is each time the things
smashes down on the hot metal I quickly
mastered two alarming and not alarming
enough for the ideal middle line eluded
me for some while
then our two blades heated together in a
gas furnace and it was time to apply
power hammer to thing that mattered
[Music]
now you may feel that this is cheating a
bit that this isn't authentic medieval
technique to you an electrically powered
hammer but as far as the metal is
concerned the effect is much the same in
the early days instead of a power hammer
you'd have two apprentices with big
hammers thrashing alternately and by the
period of the swords that we're making
medieval blacksmiths were using water
powered trip hammers so not very
different in effect from this machine
right now we're at at the stage where
we're heating the the blade somewhere in
the middle now whereas before we are
working on the tip and now on pulling it
out of this heater it's possible for the
sort to bend under its own weight
because of the soft bit in the middle of
it so I've been told to turn it sideways
so it's width raise on and take it out
that way and now this is easier because
we're using you know a fairly broad
blade ease thought but imagine if you're
trying to do this with a rapier how much
more difficult it is fortunately I'm not
trying to make a rapier
oh and after having just said that did I
remember no as well as the profile
tapering I was putting in what is called
distal taper a gradual reduction in
thickness from hilt to tip if I made a
part of the blade thinner than a bit
that was nearer the tip I would ruin the
sword you'd can't hammer it thicker
again
now to put all the time which means
there's no going back once I've done
this I've decided how long the blade is
going to be put your little box there a
typical to say so
standby
[Music]
whoops you're not supposed to clash the
jaws of this together with nothing in
between
right
it wasn't very good due to this as
before Tom would do something first so
that I could watch and copy switch down
the width even out the thickness squidge
the width of it more repeat
the tang is anything slightly too narrow
now but it's also quite thick so should
be able to give the couple of whacks
that'll be perfect
Johnny good
so and key for judging the sizes of
various bits of a sword
and the to of is called the key for
judging various bits of a sword
and now the cutting off of the excess
metal a stage that would have been
unnecessary have they not been such a
coward when we were measuring out the
steel in the first place you can see
that the hammering has lengthened the
blade by at least the length of the tank
yeah
which is done then I needn't up the end
of the tang and on the anvil gave it a
bit of a profile paper we wanted the bit
of the Tang right at the base of the
blade to be the thickest point so that
required getting back on the power
hammer and thinning out and tapering the
rest of the tang of it
quick straighten fine-tuning on the
anvil willing it into places like
Charlie certain where it should be when
did that hit approx everywhere until
eventually
okay it
it's not as bad as it was
so that's stick a point on it start the
profile near the end of the blade extend
the profile taper with the power hammer
add the distal taper down the whole
blade crudely shape the Tang draw out
and taper the tang
[Music]
it's good enough adequacy that's what we
want
[Music]
Sydney man
[Music]