Weapon Metallurgy: History and Shoptalk (swords, etc...)

[kemp]

Historically, the swords here in Australia were imported from Britain in the 1800’s, and you can find good examples of British cavalry swords.


Here is a blade made by Wilkinson in 1901 and marked to the than New South Wales Government Cavalry.

[kemp]

In the contemporary sense there are bladesmiths in Australia these days churning out good blades to the custom sword and knife market.


Brendan Olszowy of Fablebldes is prolific when it comes to neo historic and fantasy inspired swords.

[zaskar24]

Mar 31, 2018 2:49:46 GMT -5 kemp said:

In the contemporary sense there are bladesmiths in Australia these days churning out good blades to the custom sword and knife market.


Brendan Olszowy of Fablebldes is prolific when it comes to neo historic and fantasy inspired swords.

There is no doubt that Brendan's pieces are beautifully crafted pieces of functional art. Art which I one day hope to own a piece of along with a few other smiths.

[kemp]

14th century swords. We can see here the development of early two handed swords, some of these referred to as bastard swords and hand and a half swords. The blades become even more thrust oriented at this time, to suit the developments in armor, as cutting at heavily armored opponents is ineffective, but thrusting into gaps in their armor can effectively wound or kill an opponent.
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[kemp]

Here are three sword types that were commonly used by Turks.


The Shamshir. Originally brought to Persia in the 12th century by the Seljuks, the Persian name shamshir was adopted for the curved scimitar blade. This style of blade was used centuries earlier in central Asia by the nomadic peoples.

A Turkish shamshir with a Wootz blade.



A Russian Cossack Shamshir

[kemp]

The Kilij. A moderately curved saber used by the Uyghur Khaganate, Seljuks, Ottomans and Turkic Khanates from central Asia.

[kemp]

The Yataghan, short saber used by the Ottomans. I made a brief passing note on this sword type earlier on, but here are some more pics.





An 1867 French Yataghan Sword Bayonet draws its influence from the earlier Turkish sword type.

[kemp]

The Youtube 'MAN AT ARMS: REFORGED' series mostly deals with recreating swords and axes from fantasy movies, games and television series. Although I am not interested in watching all of the Man At Arms episodes ( unlike Forged in Fire  ) I still find myself looking at a few of the episodes that pique my interest, mostly from a bladesmithing point of view. 

[kemp]

Man At Arms Reforged focus is on weapons from fantasy, which is great when the weapons are based on historical examples, albeit with an individual flare, that is a good combo, but I find that too many times they are trying to recreate 'weapons' that just would not hold up to actual combat, for example Optimus Prime's sword from the Transformers Last Knight movie.

For me it has to be kind of neo historical. I would like to see more like the episode dealing with the recreation of an Ulfberht Viking sword. In this one they also make the crucible steel used for the sword blade. Very educational. 




Fun fact, Ilya Alekseyev, the master bladesmith from the Man At Arms series appears in Season 2, Episode 4 of Forged in Fire. My above criticisms aside, the bladesmiths from Man At Arms are highly skilled artisans. 

[kemp]

The net has more than a few instructions on making these interesting piston pump blowers. Most of the information are on the style used in Japan and some parts of southeast Asia ( the ones I based mine on. )




Here is a good tube on making a Chinese/Korean style box bellows. The difference in this version is that there is no external outflow chamber. That chamber is located inside the piston chamber in the Chinese/Korean variation.

[kemp]

Some time ago at an exhibition I was fortunate enough to get to handle one of the Albion made replica Viking swords. It was a wide, but very flexible cutting weapon. The five lobed pommel and the grip oriented me to full sweeping motions with the hand and arm.

[kemp]

Perhaps one of the best swords that I liked was a custom blade that was very similar in form to the Henry V Sword. It was at the Scottish medieval re-enactment event at Bannockburn in my home state of Victoria. An amazing sword with a blade section of maybe 26 or 27 inches, very light and strong, a single hand grip and comfortable rounded pommel that easily allowed me to orientate my grip when wielding the sword. A cut and thrust sword of the XVIII Oakeshott type, a type that became popular in the late medieval era, but the blade form was known in the ancient world. 



Henry V Sword. I think there may be some dispute as to whether it was actually Henry's sword, but it was nonetheless a great example of the XVIII type.  

I could easily imagine wielding it in some dungeon in a fantasy setting or historical medieval Keep, easy to carry, also suited well for use with a shield strapped to the other arm, or sword and dagger combo.

[deuce]

Metatron has a good clip on the Goujian Sword, including info on the metallurgy that I hadn't seen before:

[kemp]

Apr 29, 2018 1:31:01 GMT -5 deuce said:

Metatron has a good clip on the Goujian Sword, including info on the metallurgy that I hadn't seen before:

Interesting, especially considering that the bronze sword is 2500 years old and did not have any sign of tarnish ( green patinasation ) that would normally show up on a bronze blade found in locations such as the Goujian. The video notes a combination of factors, air tight storage in the scabbard and the high copper content of the blade being some of those, and of course there would be other debatable factors that went into the preservation.


It would be fascinating to see a replica, made in the same style and using the same metallurgical composition as the Goujian sword, put to some cutting and strength tests.

[kemp]

The African knife/axe style Hunga Munga is certainly a lethal weapon. 

Skip to 33 min of this forged in fire episode where the blade style ( made by the two finalists on the show ) is put to cutting and throwing tests.