We love how metal can be used over and over again. After one object has served out its life, it can often be melted down and turned into something new. In this clip by metalsmith Random Hands, he shows us how he took a rusty link from an old piece of ship’s chain and hand-forged it into a beautiful new samurai sword.
What’s cooler than a regular katana? One that hides in its handle and extends like a lightsaber. After seeing an example of this awesome collapsible katana design at a convention, Maker David Miao printed a copy of it at home on his Prusa XL 3D printer. He made it look even better by printing it with Fixdry’s tri-color PLA, which gives it a rainbow sheen.
The energy sword from Halo is the game franchise’s ultimate melee weapon. We’ve seen a number of real-life replicas of the sword over the years, now here’s another take on the weapon. Random Hands started out with a rusty old leaf spring from a truck, which he cut, forged, hammered, and split down the middle to form the two halves of the blade.
A while back, How Ridiculous built a helicopter with baseball bat rotor blades. After putting that machine through its paces, they fitted it with metal fly swatters. Now they’ve retrofitted their high-speed spinner with katanas. After a scary incident with a loose blade, they tightened things up and played some Fruit Ninja.
Maker DiesInEveryFilm wanted to see a sword with a flexible blade could be as effective as a straight blade. He created his unusual weapon by machining a custom blade, cutting it into segments, sliding them onto a length of aircraft cable, and welding them into place. The result is a bit floppy but still dishes out damage.
The zombie-slaying game Dying Light 2 Stay Human encourages players to improvise weapons to take down the undead. Thanks to Integza, we have a real-world, 2-for-1 weapon that combines the reach of a sword with the power of a chainsaw. The finished chainsword is driven by an 8 horsepower brushless DC motor.
Ross the Random is back with another cool transformation video. This time, he took an ordinary steel spoon and turned it into a beautiful work of art. First, he carefully cut out a dragon pattern using a jeweler’s saw. Then, he used a grinder and file to turn its handle into a tiny sword. We love the blue finish he added with the torch.
We always enjoy watching rusty metal objects being reworked into new ones. In this satisfying blacksmithing video from Faraway Forge, they start off with a big old industrial hook, get it fiery hot, and hammer it into a bar shape. From there, it takes huge amounts of handwork to shape and hone it into a blade for a katana.
Wootz steel is a tough high-carbon metal that’s been used to make swords since the 5th century BC. FZ – Making Knives used the technique to create a beautiful and strong katana by melting down an ingot made from ball bearings, forging it into a blade, then honing it to an incredibly sharp zero-point edge.
For those unfamiliar with ancient Egyptian history, a khopesh is a sickle-shaped sword that evolved from battle axes. Black Beard Projects created this replica of the deadly weapon by forging bronze alloy, pouring it into a sand cast made from a CNC-milled wood form, then grinding and polishing it to a shiny finish.
We love watching rusty old objects get turned into shiny new ones. In this video from Random Hands, they transforming a weathered railroad track into an elegant Japanese weapon. The process starts by cutting off a hunk of steel, forging it into a bar shape, then gradually shaping and grinding it into its final form.
The energy sword is one of our go-to weapons in the Halo series. We’ve seen lots of cool replicas of the sword over the years, but they’re usually toys made from plastic. Hacksmith Industries went above and beyond with their working version of the iconic sword, which is basically a quad-blade version of their plasma lightsaber.
The choreography in Star Wars lightsaber duels has isn’t exactly realistic. The guys at Corridor Crew enlisted stunt coordinator Luke LaFontaine to help choreograph a fight scene that much better captures realistic swordplay tactics and how you might wield a lightweight plasma weapon. Then, they cranked up the VFX wizardry.
Leaf springs from cars and trucks might not offer the best ride quality, but they make some pretty awesome weapons when recycled by a skilled bladesmith. Faraway Forge crafted a beautiful Japanese tanto-style knife from one such rusty piece of metal. We love how he kept the pitted texture as part of the finished piece.
Inspired by a weapon in the RPG Genshin Impact, Ilya and Matt of That Works created their biggest sword yet. They crafted the hefty claymore-style weapon using traditional bladesmithing techniques. The two-handed sword has an enormous angled blade, and an ornate handle with a gleaming red glass sphere a its center.
Swordsmith Ilya Alekseyev of That Works walks us through the process of making the weapon that won the Best Sword of the Year award at Bladeshow 2021. The ornate, hardened steel sword incorporates a beautiful mosaic Damascus, along with incredible engraving and inlay work.
The gigantic Switch Axe from Monster Hunter would likely be impossible to wield in real life. To solve this problem, Crafty Transformer built a lightweight replica of the transforming weapon out of cardboard, complete with the ability to convert from a sword to an axe. Though we don’t recommend lighting this one on fire.
The coiled sword in Dark Souls III is one of the coolest fantasy swords we’ve seen. Aleksey from Bellerophon Studios demonstrates a number of classic blacksmithing techniques to bring this awe-inspiring twisted blade to life. Matt from That Works provides the informative narration.
Ilya from That Works turns to traditional Japanese blacksmithing methods to create a short sword known as a tantō. To accompany the crafting footage, he offers an in-depth lesson on the history of these weapons and their swordsmiths. The finished sword is a true work of art – and deadly sharp.
Those massive swords you see in anime look cool, but they’d be totally impractical in the real world thanks to their weight and shape. But that didn’t stop Allen Pan from coming up with a solution. After asking his pal Rob to fabricate a Buster Sword, Allen bought himself an upper-body exoskeleton to help him wield the hefty blade.
Inspired by the Jackie Chan movie The Spy Next Door, maker JLaservideo created a sword that stores like a belt. The tempered steel weapon works like a tape measure, bending around his waistline, then maintaining a semi-rigid shape when deployed. We’d be afraid of cutting ourselves pulling it out of its sheath.
The guys from Australia’s How Ridiculous have made a business out of dropping stuff off of a 150-foot tower. In this clip, they got their hands on a massive sword built by Alec Steele and proceeded to put it to the test to see how deep it would plunge into things on the ground below. Perhaps most impressive is how durable the sword is.
The swordsmiths of That Works take on another great video game inspired build, this time crafting the Lothric Knight Sword from Dark Souls III. Rather than an over-the-top fantasy weapon, this impressive and strong straight blade is as practical as a real world sword that could have been wielded by an actual knight.