Awesome Weapons

Maker Mike Shake follows up on his shiny “transparent” katana with another nearly invisible weapon. Like the sword before it, he made his hunting boomerang by cutting and polishing high-strength polycarbonate. The big takeaway: you wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of a hunting boomerang.

Maker Lis X has created some interesting weapons using unconventional materials. He used PVC tubing to build the frame for this unique slingbow and provided step-by-step directions so you can make your own. It’s designed to fire arrows and has a sturdy handgrip underneath for stability and aiming accuracy. Here’s another video showing it in action.

Scott from Kentucky Ballistics got his hands on one of the most ridiculous weapons we’ve ever seen – a 9-foot-long shotgun. After testing it on an an armored truck he met up with The Slow Mo Guys to record its destructive force at speeds up to 200,000 fps. Suffice it to say, bulletproof glass is no match for a 1 lb. iron projectile.

The single-seat Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, aka A-10 Warthog, is one of the most successful military aircraft ever made. The USA Military Channel posted this fascinating footage captured from the underbelly of an A-10 as it performs operational tests of weapon deployments after software and systems upgrades.

The fastest production NERF blasters fire around 15 darts per second. It’ll Probably Work set his sights a little higher when he built a spring-loaded NERF weapon that can blast out hundreds of projectiles at once. By switching from foam darts to balls, he packed in 6x as much ammo. Fully loaded, it’ll hold up to 288 balls and launch them all in about a second.

The Slow Mo Guys were joined by Scott from Kentucky Ballistics to test how destructive a .577 Tyrannosaur rifle cartridge is by firing it at close range into thick blocks of ballistic gel. It’s amazing (and terrifying) to see how the bullets deform the gel and the destructive forces at work. No wonder they say these things can stop an elephant.

This long-nosed NERF blaster uses a pump-action mechanism to fire five soft gel rounds at a time. Its hopper holds up to 800 rounds, which you saturate with water so they burst when they hit a target. No batteries are required, and you don’t have to worry about electronics getting wet. Includes 10,000 NERF Pro Gelfire rounds plus eye protection.

This wild-looking LEGO Technic weapon uses compressed air to spray up to a dozen projectiles at a time. Jamie’s Brick Jams walks us through the construction of his triple-barreled toy shotgun and how it un-crimps hoses to release pressure in an instant. The blast of air alone is quite powerful.

Japanese swordsmiths have been making bladed weapons for centuries. Veritasium offers a scientific explanation of the process, starting with a charcoal smelting method that produces steel from tiny deposits of iron sand collected from riverbeds. After that, a swordsmith forges, folds, and welds different kinds of steel to create a beautiful and sharp blade.

A number of makers participated in The Viking Challenge. Among them is DiesInEveryFilm, who avoided the more popular bladed weapons and went with a war hammer. He built it using a hollow steel tube, thick steel plates, and a wood handle with brass and leather accents. Check out all of the Viking Challenge videos, then cast your vote for your fave.

After seeing an illustration of a mime wielding an invisible sword, maker Mike Shake was inspired to build one in real life. While his see-through katana isn’t completely invisible, it’s still an incredibly cool and effective weapon. Mike’s opponents will never see what hit them. After considering using a glass blade, he went with a clear and strong polycarbonate.

Typical slingshots fire steel balls. DIY Crossbow built a homebrew version of the elastic-powered weapon that fires deadly ninja stars. The design is simple – wood strips glued together and attached to a handle. A slot down the center of its barrel is just wide enough to hold one of the metal stars, and a guide at the front helps keep the star flat as it exits.

It’s not often we see a truly unique weapon. In this video from maker DiesInEveryFilm, he shows us how he fabricated a custom sling bow from a kid-sized bicycle wheel and steel tubing. It’s held like a pistol and uses elastic tubing like a slingshot but fires full-length arrows. It looks like something that Hawkeye might have in his bag of tricks.

Damascus steel is made by pressing layers of forged metal together. HANS shows how he made a gorgeous dagger using thousands of steel bearing balls. The resulting metal pattern is something he calls Dragon Skin. After making the blade, he fabricated a brass crossguard and a wooden handle. It’s based on a design by Neels Van Den Berg of Black Dragon Forge.

Flasutie shows off an insane toy gun that looks and works like an oversized revolver. It fires plastic projectiles using a high-voltage igniter and oxyhydrogen (HHO) gas as a propellant. Before building the main weapon, he made a single-barrel unit to test its firing system. Despite the TPU bullets being relatively soft, they could still leave a mark on unprotected skin.

Medieval weapon expert Tod’s Workshop happened to have five different types of crossbows in his workshop at the same time, so he thought it would be fun to compare how they work and how effective each is at its job. The collection ranges from a tiny handheld crossbow to massive ballista that requires a time-consuming tensioning process.