Awesome Metalwork

Ever since seeing The Sword of Exact Zero in The LEGO Movie, swordsmith Michael Cthulhu has contemplated making a larger-than-life X-Acto knife blade. With a sponsor in hand for his video, he finally took the time to make his cutting tool for giants a reality. He’s auctioning it off for charity to help save animals from Australia’s fires.

Metalsmith Shurap shows off yet another unconventional material for creating damascus steel. This time, he took the woven metal of protective chainmaille butcher’s gloves and turned the mesh into a beautifully-patterned blade with a cool blue sheen.

Russian YouTube channel Creative Forging shows off a neat technique for creating an awesome dragon scale patterned handle from a solid bar of steel. The trick involves making a series of 45º cuts into the metal, then heating it in a furnace and twisting it while still pliable.

Artist and builder Uri Tuchman is working on an automaton which will presumably be using some tiny tools. As part of the project, he created this miniature hammer and chisel set, which look just like the real deal after they went through a shrink ray.

As metalsmith Shurap has proven before, you can make damascus from just about any kind of steel hardware. In this clip, he melts down thousands of tiny ball bearings, and transforms them into a uniquely patterned blade. Because of their sheer number, they appear to be one of the more challenging materials to work with.

For this project, metalsmith Shurap created a gigantic chisel using numerous layers of steel. The oversized tool is designed for woodworking, but is so beautiful that it could just be a work of art on a stand. Watch how the intricately-carved handle was made here.

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.

While the metal helmets worn by soldiers in ancient times weren’t exactly cushioned like today’s foam-filled models, they did save lots of heads. In this clip from metalsmith Andrey Yumanov, he takes us through the process of heating, forming, and finishing sheet metal to form one of those old-style military helmets.

Did you know that many bike tires contain a metal wire to form their bead? Metalsmith shurap decided to see if he could extract the steel from eight old tires and melt it down to form it into a damascus steel blade. We don’t quite understand the use of the pepper in the process though.

Mt Phillip Metal Works shows off an amazing method for turning a bar of metal into an intricate and sculptural decoration inspired by the scaly tail of a dragon. The technique was inspired by the work of fellow metalsmith Matt Harris.

Jewelry artist Pablo Cimadevila shows how a pair of ordinary brass hex nuts can be transformed into an elegant diamond ring. Of course, the 1 carat diamond added significantly to the cost, but the ring itself was all about time, talent, and effort.

DiesInEveryFilm Customs‘ latest build is pretty nifty. He crafted a teensy version of Thor’s mighty hammer using a layered, damascus-style steel head. He got the idea from fellow artist Brandon Hyner, who makes mini Mjölnir pendants.

How to Make Everything decided to how many U.S. one cent coins it would take to make a copper sword. He first had to separate older and newer pennies to get the ones that are mostly copper, then set about the task. We’d love to see the blade patina over time.

Among his many projects, maker M.N. Projects likes to take old bits of metal and transform them into shiny new objects. Here, he takes the sleeve from a large bearing, cuts out a section, flattens it, and sharpens it into a tomahawk.

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.

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.