When you're back here, assume that everything is hot, sharp & poisonous

October 8, 2013 12:06 PM

Making realistic weapons from earlier time periods* is all fine and dandy, but what about watching a blacksmith make Cloud's ridiculously large Buster sword from Final Fantasy VII, or the diamond sword from Minecraft? You can also browse all of Man At Arms videos as sorted into playlists, or watch the complete series.

You can see an interview with Tony Swatton at Sword and the Stone and learned that he started out as a very young jeweler, or see a shorter clip and read more from Wired, in which he explains how he started making his own machinery and tools to make his pieces.

* I'm sure these weapons aren't as accurate period pieces as they could be, but you get the idea.

posted by filthy light thief (13 comments total)

I think a few of Man At Arms' work has been featured on MetaFilter before, but my MetaFu is weak today, and I'm lazy with a bit of a flu. I figured they were focused on the individual pieces, instead of Tony's work at large, so it would be suitable for a new post.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:07 PM on October 8, 2013

I think a few of Man At Arms' work has been featured on MetaFilter before

Metallurgical!
Guy Forges Klingon Bat’leth, Earns Much Honor
posted by zamboni at 12:19 PM on October 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

Yay! I love this guy and his stuff is rad as heck.
posted by lazaruslong at 12:20 PM on October 8, 2013

Thanks, zambonie! (Oh bother, the prior post even included some of the same tags from my post...)
posted by filthy light thief at 12:24 PM on October 8, 2013

I love that the Buster sword is completely unwieldable. They test it by having someone hold the base, someone pick up the blade by the tip (with gloves), and simply dropping it on the target. Even after making it mostly out of aluminum, it's so heavy they can barely lift it, much less swing it.
posted by Mitrovarr at 12:25 PM on October 8, 2013

There is a very real sword that is also almost unwieldable:

Zweihänder

The notion is that you use it to cut off pike heads.

Still, the buster sword ended up weighing almost 10 times as much.
posted by poe at 12:45 PM on October 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

From poe's link:

Soldiers trained in the use of the sword were granted the title of Meister des langen Schwertes (lit. Master of the Long Sword) by the Marx brotherhood.

And then Groucho waggled his eyebrows and puffed on his cigar.
posted by logicpunk at 1:03 PM on October 8, 2013 [5 favorites]

Soldiers trained in the use of the sword were granted the title of Meister des langen Schwertes (lit. Master of the Long Sword) by the Marx brotherhood.

I should say you are intruding!

*CHOP*

I should say you were intruding.

*SLICE*

Pardon me, I was using the subjunctive instead of the past tense.

*CUT*

Yes, we're a ways past tents, we're living in bungalows, now!
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 2:39 PM on October 8, 2013 [4 favorites]

I love that the Buster sword is completely unwieldable.

Yeah, that's one of the things I hated about that game. They just threw out even the pretense of reality with that thing. And you can also buy upgrade replacements at every town, so there must logically be a lot of people out there swinging those things around.
posted by JHarris at 3:08 PM on October 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

The first video I saw of their work was for Link's Master Sword.
posted by linux at 3:09 PM on October 8, 2013

Nifty. I love that master blacksmiths still exist. Even better that they're taking on these types of challenges. Man oh man, the ideas this thread sparks....

I love that the Buster sword is completely unwieldable.

You haven't seen anything until my blacksmith acquaintance and I try to replicate Pyramid Head's Great Knife from Silent Hill.

_{Kidding. I think. Mostly. Kind of...}
posted by quiet earth at 7:46 PM on October 8, 2013

quiet earth: You haven't seen anything until my blacksmith acquaintance and I try to replicate Pyramid Head's Great Knife from Silent Hill.

Whatever you do, you can most likely improve upon this guy's effort. Painted cardboard? Not even an aluminum foil finish?
posted by filthy light thief at 8:00 PM on October 8, 2013

About the only thing that he's done that I haven't thought was the most excellent bitchin' thing was Captain America's shield. I'm pretty sure that, in Marvel Comics canon, the original was cast, not forged, and you can still see unevenness in Swatton's final product, and--most importantly--he doesn't throw it. Otherwise, everything is spot on.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:14 PM on October 8, 2013