Did you ever wonder how swords were made? My recent video series shows all the steps involved in making a sword. I start from scratch by heating and forging a piece of high-carbon steel into the form of a sword and finish by showing sharpening the sword and cutting exercises. The techniques are very similar to how swords were made for thousands of years. The video documentation is split up into four different parts - you can also go directly to the complete play list on how to forge a sword
In the first video, I take a flat piece of 1075 steel, heat it in the forge and forge in the tang and the tip of the sword. I then forge the bevels and the fuller. After checking that everything is straight and that I have achieved the right dimensions, I normalize the sword to relieve stress created by hammering it. The video shows how to make the sword blade hard by heat treating it - that is quenching it and then tempering the blade.
The second video shows to make the lower and upper guard as well as the pommel. I show how to establish the basic shape and spent a lot of time grinding the blade on a belt sander. This creates the correct geometry and reduces the weight significantly. It is important for the complete sword to be as light as possible since that makes it less strenuous to swing.
Now, I finish shaping the guards and pommel and use a laborious process to fit them perfectly to the shape of the tang. I also take a piece of wood and fit the tang by burning it through the wood. At the end of this video, all the pieces can be roughly assembled.
The final video shows how I create decoration with gold wire using a Koftgari-like process. The wooden core is wrapped with hemp cord and leather and finally everything is put together. I hot peen the tang over the pommel to create a strong mechanical connection. Finally, the sword is sharpened and put to use.
After watching these videos, you should have a very good understanding how the sword is made. The whole process took about 100 hours. The videos condensed this into about 40 minutes. Enjoy!!!