Metalwork

Not only is this teensy axe that blacksmith Paul Pinto made adorable, he upped the challenge of creating it by using a miniature anvil and hammer he previously made. The only problem with the video is the sped up drilling sound reminds us of the dentist too much.

Change You Can Wear takes a momentary break from from crafting cool rings out of coins to transform a pair of U.S. half dollar coins into a tiny bell. It’s not exactly a useful thing, but it is a pretty nifty conversation piece.

Translating to “wood-grained metal,” Mokume Gane is an 17th century Japanese metalsmithing technique that fuses layers of nickel silver, copper (and sometimes brass) to create damascus-like patterns. Alec Steele shows off one of the ways to achieve the slick effect.

Miller Knives shows us how to take an ordinary stainless steel bolt and transform it into a nifty little tomahawk. It’s a time-consuming process to flatten out the heated hardware, but once it’s squashed, it’s just a matter of cutting and finishing the piece into the right shape.

Fabricator Brian Oltrogge walks us thorough a truly modern process for casting a custom hammer. He used a 3D printer to generate patterns, hand-sanded and smoothed the parts, then used them to make sand molds for its aluminum handle and lead head.

To celebrate his 1 millionth YouTube subscriber, metalsmith Alec Steele went out and spent over $4500 on a 100 gram solid gold bar. He then set about the task of seeing if he could apply his forging skills to the notoriously soft metal. We wonder how many dollars he left on his anvil.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the many knifemaking videos we’ve seen, it’s that metal is highly recyclable. Miller Knives provides further evidence of this by transforming a rusty hammerdrill bit into a beautiful and unique new karambit-style curved blade. That Vikings ad was totally random though.

After showing us how to damascus steel using a bunch of melted down steel washers, metalsmith Shurap is back with another cool upcycling video, as he takes a few sections of braided steel cable, heats them up, and works them into a sweet looking blade.

Given where the Starks and Targaryens are headed on Game of Thrones, we thought it would be appropriate to share this duo of “making of” videos from Rextorn Metalwork, as they show how they handcrafted one of Dany’s dragon eggs, and the Stark’s direwolf sigil.