Wow. An OSP video feat Matt and Ilya, with a shoutout to Shadiversity and screens from Skall and Primitive Technology. DUDE. This is a better crossover than Infinity Wars
IKR. All we need is Metatron and we'd have ultimate peak cool. Edit: Also how could I forget Scholagladiatoria, Lindybeige, and my boy Knyght Erreant. Add them in and it truly is the Avengers of TH-cam HEMA enthusiasts.
There's a game called Tyranny which is set in a bronze-age fantasy world. In the setting, iron is considered to be the super-metal that can only be crafted using fantasy methods. This is because the forge-mages are able to magically shield themselves from the heat and thereby forge iron, something which is considered to be a mystical art in the game's world. Just something I thought was kind of cool, similar to how iron blades used to be viewed, as you mentioned.
When I played that game I thought the forgebound made steel, because their iron weapons were better than the regular ones. It was kind of like Clarke's third law... Also, woohoo another Tyranny fan!
while watching the video, somehow I couldn't help but think that maybe all those legends about mythical weapons like king Arthurs' sword or Mjölnir came from people who saw those early steel weapons. In an age were the most sophisticated commonly available metal was bronze, weapons or tools made out steel must have seemed outright magical.
@@FreshestSoup that is certainly a possibility, and in terms of Arthurian myth at least can bring up some interesting ideas. Firstly swords are status symbols in the Dark Ages, so to own one showed you probably were a step above a common soldier. To have sword which performed better than any other... well they'd have to be a king. And if it was a wootz steel sword, that steel would have come from a clay crucible and poured into a mold, possibly made of stone. As for how a wootz steel blade would end up in Britain, Cornwall has traded its tin to Mediterranean traders since the bronze age and Byzantium, trading hub of the world has easy access to there. Which all ties in with Arthur's supposed Romano-Celtic origins given that Cornwall is one of the last places Celtic culture clung on in England after the Saxons invaded and Byzantiumviewing itself and the new Rome.
That's pretty cool, but they're not just protecting themselves from the heat. They're using a kind of magical attunement to make themselves literally one with the metal they're forging. You can accidentally (or not) cause one of them to explode by distracting him and making him overheat his metal.
So what if you're stoned before getting stabbed with an obsidian spear.....would it make you super stoned..... i need test subjects, any volunteers? C'mon people dont be shy(FYI bring your own chronic and obsidian spears)
This is actually not true. There was a researcher and blacksmith that were able to make something almost exactly like the original Damascus steel in the late 90's. I don't remember their name or where they published it, but I do remember reading about it in Scientific American at the time. The process was not industrially viable and was more complicated and time consuming than just pattern-welded modern steel, so it was more of a footnote discovery.
Carbon found in plant matter which contaminated the process, likely through incorrectly made charcoal. Either that or the addition of human bone fragments, a carbon rich substance, to “enchant” the metal. Those are what I’ve heard.
Early iron was actually considered a poor substitute to bronze. Pure iron was softer than bronze and would rust away to nothing. It wasn’t until the Bronze Age Collapse where the shipment of tin stopped that new techniques of hardening iron were developed.
Actually, iron isn't that much better than bronze in some ways it actually performs worse in combat), and I'm pretty sure bronze is shinier. Iron is just common enough that you can mass-produce it in a way you never could with bronze (tin being limited as it was).
I wonder if we will ever figure out how the hell they got carbon nanotubes in there, especially when we modern Hoomanz with our new-fangled techno-wizardry only started making them relatively recently...
@@Lh0000 Carbon nano-tubes are actually easy to make, it's just very hard to make in high concentration and low impurity in a consistent way for industrial purposes. Basically, randomly spraying certain very hot materials with methane, carbon monoxide, etc. (all of which naturally occur in fires from a carbon-rich source) create CNTs. Their presence in Damascus steel is almost trivial.
I used to be obsessed with ManAtArms, both the original incarnation and Reforged. Maybe it's finally time to dive into That Works and reignite my interest. Also, THANK YOU SO MUCH for making the distinction between ancient and modern "Damascus", as the modern usage is something of a misnomer and not enough people realize that sometimes.
Hello there! Yeah, so, Paolini mentioned in the end of "Brisingr" that he based the sword making process on a book about the tradional Japanese technics for making swords. (You probably knew that though.)
In classical Arabic a good sword was called mohanad (مهند) and a direct translation for this word would be "Indian" or "made in India". My teacher told me that back then, Indian sword we're the best swords . Maybe because they were steel swords?
1:11 - "But there are a lot of problems with dating entire eras..." Yeah, deciding who pays the check, where to go on the date, too many people on a first date.... a ton of problems
I *love* that that you showed Primitive Technology to illustrate "making axes, arrowheads, and spearpoints" in your opener. Very nice, as he really does show how to make such items on his channel.
Fun fact about the pottery-iron connection: In many parts of particlularly West Africa up until today the smiths belong to a particular ethnic segment of the population that also includes specialised potters - their wives.
As a materials engineer, this video makes me super happy. It is really cool how you put accurate information like this in a nice and understandable way. Good stuff!
For a lovely description of Japanese sword forging in comic form, see the Usagi Yojimbo trade paperback called Daisho. Usagi's daisho (matched sword set) is taken by an enemy and the book takes an intermission from the story to explain how his swords were made and their significance to Usagi before throwing the reader back into the action made more emotional by this knowledge. I mean, Usagi Yojimbo is worth reading from beginning to end for both historical and mythological reasons. Sakai is very accurate with both despite it being an anthropomorphic comic. Daisho just happens to have the bit that's relevant here.
I have an immense respect for people who do the things that I can only dream of. And that is why I'm so grateful for the time and effort put into researching videos like this. Well done guys. And I also enjoyed Ilya's narration.
Thanks for the collaborators reporting from an actual forge on the history of this light-weight, strong impact material being used to make weapons. I never thought steel could be connected to making pottery either, but I do remember different chemical compounds creating different colors and finishes of glazes from the few times I have painted pottery in my lifetime. Blue, this was great.
I probably said this before, but still... I LOVE THIS CHANNEL. The snippet that contextualizes the aura the world alchemist have with their actual scientific (albeit often accidental) contributions is amazing. Makes you think about how much we used to value smart people as a group in the past. I mean, we did burn some of them, but still.
Pattern welding was also used historically; bloomery gives you chunks of iron with various carbon contents, so you take some bits with higher and lower carbon contents, forge-weld, fold and twist them together to average out the properties, and you get a high quality and very pretty metal object.
This is a great, fascinating spotlight on a very specific, yet also very broad and widespread aspect of ancient history. It gives you so much information but also leaves lots of room to learn more information on your own time. Fantastic work as per usual!
@@ogfat9277 realistically the hilt of a lazer or plasma sword wouldn't stop moving when it's blade makes contact with another blade. Meaning real life lazer swords wouldn't clash, they'd just phase through each other.
No, guys, it's not. The answer to the riddle of steel is basically, that steel is only as strong as the arm that wields it. Flesh is metaphorically stronger, because it is in command.
@@thebeaverpope3538 I don't think there's as much point in the spear if you're using it with one hand. Maybe if it's a relatively short one. Spear and shield can still be fine if you are able to use one hand for both the shield and the spear, but spear and sword gives you no chance of ever putting two hands on the spear.
11:50 - also, "spring steel katanas" are modern invention. Differential hardening (as mentioned in the video) was the game back in the day, and historical katanas were not made out of the spring steel (1. the purity level of steel used wasn't up to snuff, 2. the proper technique of heat treating of the weapon made out of different types of steel would destroy the whole construction). Really interested in your book Blue, by the way.
my favorite kinds of steel are glassteel and something I've heard referred to as "magnasteel" not sure if that's the actual name or just what it was being called where I was reading about it. glassteel is a glass/steel alloy that sounds like something out of a fantasy novel, it's pretty soft by steel standards but it is incredibly flexible, as in you can tie a knot in it and it will return true when untied, it's also *VERY* resistant to some kinds of wear and tear as a result, I'm guessing it's got some crippling issues that weren't mentioned where I was reading about it though since I haven't heard about it actually being used for stuff. magnasteel is both much simpler and much more complicated: it is essentially just drop forged steel made inside a carefully structured magnetic field, as the whole process goes on and everything crystalizes the field keeps it all in place and you end up with crystals forming in a regular pattern instead of every which way. the result is about the difference between making mudbrick with some handfuls of grass thrown in and making mudbrick with a net of woven fibers laced and placed carefully throughout. stat wise it's pretty much just high carbon toolsteel but better: better structure results in the material being both somewhat harder and significantly more flexible, and able to absorb more energy while deflecting / before denaturing. magnasteel is actually used but it takes a *LOT* of prepwork to make anything out of it so it's pretty much only worth it for mass producing small critical parts that you're gonna need a lot of, I suspect that drawback could be reduced with groundwork software but I don't know bleep about the actual specifics of this and you'd probably still need custom setups for each piece and a heck of a lot of calibration work even if you could get the required design out of a couple hours work in an overgrown version of autocad.
@@JaelinBezel while I'd be genuinely surprised if that's _not_ the name of something in real life the only place I've seen it used is across several sci-fi settings, I'm pretty sure that list includes Dune so that's a decent bet for where it's coming from at the moment, "plascrete" is another really common one. also crystals, so many crystals...I think those are probably more common in sci-fi than in fantasy really.
Man, Blue, your fantastic taste in background music really rounds out your videos. I'd love to get a list of the ones you commonly use so I can dump them into my relaxation music playlist.
Out of context, but we just lost la belle Notre Dame de Paris. Could we please have a video honouring her and her history? Either from Blue or Red (due to the novel) it would mean a lot. What happened is one of the most unthinkable tragedies of the entirety of human existence.
wow this video made me feel sooo nostalgic seeing this conventional lathe from the times when i did a professional formation in industrial machining mechanics, so many good memories lol good quality content my dude it made me realize that i need to return to my roots thanks for sharing
I’m a hobbyist blacksmith, and it blew my mind when I learned how little carbon is used to make Steel. Too little and you get wrought iron, anything over 2% becomes pig iron. It’s crazy how just a tiny amount of carbon vastly improves the qualities of iron. As much as I don’t like Japanese swords I have to appreciate the amount of work that goes into them. That iron bloom is extremely brittle and difficult to work with to start, and then That folding technique can potentially can ruin the blade, unless you know what you are doing you can irreparably damage the steel creating cold shuts, bad welds, and cracks. My hat goes off to anyone who does that sort of thing on a regular basis.
TWO OF MY FAVORITE TH-cam CHANNELS BASED ON HISTOEY AND METALLURGY COME TOGETHER *feints from metallic beauty* also the clip "Carbon god damn Nanotubes" Cracked me up
As for weapons you can get a harder and more durable edge with a bronze blade than you can a pure iron one. Pure iron and mild steel are both relatively soft, and bronze has the added convenience that the final working is at room temp, which is not only safer to work than hot iron but saves fuel used in a forge in areas where that may matter.
Yooo now that's an unexpected but highly welcome crossover! I also highly recommend checking out That Works if you haven't already. Their videos are super cool.
I thought I watched all your old videos?! I have a Materials Engineering degree, how the f did I miss this?!?! We spent almost a whole year studying steel mostly from a chemical aspect, but we also had a part where we studied the history of it. One of my favorite facts (besides the Damascus blades having nanotubes which is SO COOL) is not only did the Japanese swordsmiths use the clay to control which bits of the sword became which crystalline structure, sometimes they would also embed different types of steel within different parts of the blade to control the carbon content in that part. Which I imagine cannot be the easiest thing to do with hand tools and a very hot, very thin blade.
If you check out That Works channel, they've made a few weapons using the technique of having a high carbon center with a lower carbon exterior. The Skalchion (the falchion they made as a gift for Skallagrim).
You might want to check out Scholargladitoria's videos on Wootz steel and Demascus because we now know how it was made, long story short a couple of master blacksmith's got steel from the place that it was originally from did some spectroscopy and found that an element was present in a trace amount that had an amazingly important effect on the entire structure of a piece of metal made with it, also 'true Damascus' is cast rather than forged. Genuinely though this is a surprisingly big thing and has literally been discovered within a years time people have been trying to work this out for over a century.
Literally had just a test about the process of making steel with austenite, ferrite, how you need quench it to get martensite instead spheriodite, and how martensite can be annealled to increase ductility so it is not so brittle. This was a materials science and engineering class
Having said that, it would have been nice to talk about the development of other swords a little besides just the Japanese and the European. I mean, I'm biased because I'm an Arab, but blade-making in the Near East didn't stop in the BCs. There's a reason Damascus steel is called just that, surely?
"Deeply complex subject." Understatement... There are entire required courses dealing primarily with steel (and other materials) in Engineering coursework. You could have made a video this length on the austentite/martensite/tempering process... but you'd need another video to explain the phase diagram(s) of iron and carbon,
The most beautiful blade I have ever seen is the Munechika Mikazuki. It has crescent moon imprints all along the blade (hense the name) and even though it was made in the 10th century, the thing is still flawless. I just wish that the handle had survived as well as the blade itself.
I remember reading a study about a year ago or so where some researchers think they cracked the secret of Damascus. They traced it back to Vanadium and Molybdenum impurities in the iron which would consolidate in specific ways when the iron was processed into steel. But, when that source of iron with those specific impurities (wherever they were getting it from, we still don't really know) ran out and the smiths started getting iron from other places, they found their techniques didn't produce Damascus anymore, so they just abandoned the process wholesale and started making more "standard" steel that was made in other places.
Given that "wootz" was being made up until the british put a stop to it in the 1800's, though it wasn't all of the high quality stuff we talk about today, that isn't correct. But yes, high vanadium and molybdenum are responsible for some of its qualities and pattern; still, apart from the pattern it's not very special apart from historical significance in a world of modern steel.
@@farmerboy916 Keep in mind that _wootz_ and _Damascus_ are not interchangeable terms. _Wootz_ refers to the general Indian method of smelting steel while Damascus is a very narrow subset of forged items made from _wootz_ steel which created unique physical properties due to a combination of specific impurities and a method which took advantage of those impurities (albeit, unknowingly). Not counting "welded Damascus", since that's faux Damascus, true Damascus is all made from _wootz_ but not all _wootz_ is Damascus. So, yes, India *was* producing _wootz_ until very recently in history, but production of true Damascus did indeed fall out of vogue when the smiths' techniques stopped producing the desired patterns. Furthermore, the pattern wasn't purely aesthetic in nature. The Damascus weapons were, in fact, more robust compared to non-Damsacus steel that would have been produced around the same time and more comparable to modern mono-steel in terms of mechanical properties.
Omar Goodman I do not believe the distinction you draw existed, certainly not in terminology. There was certainly different grades of wootz, in terms of pattern and strength, but I have never heard of such a distinction being made nor do I think one is necessary or helpful. Moreover that comes to bite you in the ass when you start talking about 'damascus' patterns per your distinction being better. No, the sheer fact that it was crucible steel was always what set it apart from the rest at the time. As I said, it's nothing special compared to todays steel but was special then because it was as close as they could get.
@@farmerboy916 Argument from incredulity: I don't believe it, therefore it must be false. I've never heard of such a thing, therefore it must be false. And, as I already stated, it was specific processes that could *utilize* the impurities and get them to form specific patterns in the forging process that made the specific striated patterns and helped the steel crystallize in useful ways that was an important part of the process. Even if you used the correct steel cakes with the correct impurities, if you didn't know the method to get those impurities to work the way you wanted them to, you still couldn't produce Damascus. The metal needed to be heated, worked, and cooled in specific ways *in addition to* the proper impurities which served as nucleation points for the crystallizing steel. Also, you're literally *on the internet*; you could easily just look up the article yourself and see what it has to say. This isn't some hypothetical "what-if" scenario; they tested it out and compared it to ancient examples as well as to control samples where they used the same process, but lacking the specific impurities. Furthermore, you seem to have completely missed my statement regarding how it's comparable to modern steel and the distinction is in how advanced it was relative to other cultures of the same timeframe. A gasoline engine from about 30 years ago is "nothing special" by today's standards, but if you had the ability to produce gasoline engines and fuel in, say, ancient Rome or Greece or China, that would be a real major game-changer. So it becomes special because of how relatively advanced it was for the time. So believe it or not, that's your own gain or loss. You've been provided an opportunity to learn something new and so has everyone else who might read this little comment thread. I hope a few of them don't squander the opportunity.
Omar Goodman Just cite your source, or I'll assume it doesn't exist; it's not my job to find it. Dunno why you're arguing about the latter, that's what I said. You're a cocky little bastard aren't you? Someone having never heard of a difference in terminology despite bekng relatively well versed in a subject means it is likely not widespread and agreed upon.
!["ซี - เอมี่ " ย้อนความรัก 19 ปี ที่ต้องทนกันและกัน... | แฉ 22 ต.ค. 67 [2/3] | GMM25](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ykv9ILzatHM/mqdefault.jpg)
We've made great strides but, there's steel so much to learn.
You know where the exit door is, go on im waiting
Please leave, I’m waiting for my turn
We just need to iron out some of the details.
Puns are steel bad.
I’ll give you a nickel to stop
Wow. An OSP video feat Matt and Ilya, with a shoutout to Shadiversity and screens from Skall and Primitive Technology.
DUDE. This is a better crossover than Infinity Wars
Yahs
Does that make TH-cam algorithms Thanos?
IKR. All we need is Metatron and we'd have ultimate peak cool.
Edit: Also how could I forget Scholagladiatoria, Lindybeige, and my boy Knyght Erreant. Add them in and it truly is the Avengers of TH-cam HEMA enthusiasts.
HELL YEAH!!!
But the sword Skall was holding didn't have an unscrewable pommel.
There's a game called Tyranny which is set in a bronze-age fantasy world. In the setting, iron is considered to be the super-metal that can only be crafted using fantasy methods. This is because the forge-mages are able to magically shield themselves from the heat and thereby forge iron, something which is considered to be a mystical art in the game's world.
Just something I thought was kind of cool, similar to how iron blades used to be viewed, as you mentioned.
When I played that game I thought the forgebound made steel, because their iron weapons were better than the regular ones. It was kind of like Clarke's third law... Also, woohoo another Tyranny fan!
while watching the video, somehow I couldn't help but think that maybe all those legends about mythical weapons like king Arthurs' sword or Mjölnir came from people who saw those early steel weapons. In an age were the most sophisticated commonly available metal was bronze, weapons or tools made out steel must have seemed outright magical.
@@FreshestSoup Ooh, it's certainly an interesting possibility.
@@FreshestSoup that is certainly a possibility, and in terms of Arthurian myth at least can bring up some interesting ideas.
Firstly swords are status symbols in the Dark Ages, so to own one showed you probably were a step above a common soldier. To have sword which performed better than any other... well they'd have to be a king. And if it was a wootz steel sword, that steel would have come from a clay crucible and poured into a mold, possibly made of stone.
As for how a wootz steel blade would end up in Britain, Cornwall has traded its tin to Mediterranean traders since the bronze age and Byzantium, trading hub of the world has easy access to there. Which all ties in with Arthur's supposed Romano-Celtic origins given that Cornwall is one of the last places Celtic culture clung on in England after the Saxons invaded and Byzantiumviewing itself and the new Rome.
That's pretty cool, but they're not just protecting themselves from the heat. They're using a kind of magical attunement to make themselves literally one with the metal they're forging. You can accidentally (or not) cause one of them to explode by distracting him and making him overheat his metal.
* Gets stabbed with obsidian spear *
Oh no it looks like I’m stoned
Kole Williamson oof
@@Integer_Overload stoner squad assemble the chop.
So what if you're stoned before getting stabbed with an obsidian spear.....would it make you super stoned..... i need test subjects, any volunteers? C'mon people dont be shy(FYI bring your own chronic and obsidian spears)
th-cam.com/video/7rHm8GbTHyE/w-d-xo.html
They tried stoning me. Let's just say it didn't work.
Great stuff mate!
Steel, or the video?
@@bazzfromthebackground3696 yes
This video does mention swords so it's no surprise that Shad showed up
Never thought I'd see matt and ilya on this channel
But no bishi Red Anime style?! I am disappoint! But seriously this is awesome.
I expected Shad to be here
*somewhere in Australia....*
"SWOOOOORRRRRDDDDDDSSSSSS!!!!!"
Pretty sure that can be heard anywhere on the planet...😂
But, what about dragons?
That's not a knife, well, unless it is one of those German long knives or war knives.
I was just thinking, "Hmm, you know what you can make from steel...?" Then Shad's videos popped up. :)
Did someone call?
I guess no one ever managed to steel the secret of Damascus.
I'll see myself out.
Seinfeld theme
I Iiked it.😊👍
It feels like a time traveler took pity upon a non steel making society and showed them how he does it XD
😌😁
This is actually not true. There was a researcher and blacksmith that were able to make something almost exactly like the original Damascus steel in the late 90's. I don't remember their name or where they published it, but I do remember reading about it in Scientific American at the time. The process was not industrially viable and was more complicated and time consuming than just pattern-welded modern steel, so it was more of a footnote discovery.
THIS IS THE BEST CROSSOVER EVER.
"Carbon. Goddamn. Nanotubes. How does that even happen?"
You tell me.
No one knows, because the technique is lost to time.
Possibly human bone.
www.nytimes.com/1981/09/29/science/the-mystery-of-damascus-steel-appears-solved.html
Carbon found in plant matter which contaminated the process, likely through incorrectly made charcoal. Either that or the addition of human bone fragments, a carbon rich substance, to “enchant” the metal. Those are what I’ve heard.
CAAAARBOOON NAAANOOOTUUUUUBESS
“There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one's self.”
-Benjamin Franklin
"And Me" -myself
Benjamin Franklin was good at coming up with quotes.
I play Civ 6 too😉
And a dick before a presentation
Also to know oneself and your enemy is better than a sword in battle - somebody
Avenger: Endgame is the most anticipated movie ever.
Blue: Hold my steel.
Blue: Hold my book that nobody want to buy )=
Steel=Slightly less lumpy and sad rocks
Agree
Dr. Vikyll I for one was tired of my rocks being sad and lumpy. Bronze was just not cutting it
is that a Bill Wurtz reference
Mareizia YES
@@mareizia yup
“...Now there’s *just* *enough* chemistry here to give me unpleasant flashbacks-“
Me, too, Blue...me, too
OSP: steel
Some 24 companies: I own steel so I own this video.
*andrew carnegie wants to know your location*
It's like bronze but better and shinier - Iron Age
Yeah but bronze always get dull and snap after over use i think 🤔
Pfft! It's a fad!
It won't last...
Early iron was actually considered a poor substitute to bronze. Pure iron was softer than bronze and would rust away to nothing. It wasn’t until the Bronze Age Collapse where the shipment of tin stopped that new techniques of hardening iron were developed.
No bronze is shinier. look at skallagrimms video about bronze. It is definitly shinier.
Actually, iron isn't that much better than bronze in some ways it actually performs worse in combat), and I'm pretty sure bronze is shinier. Iron is just common enough that you can mass-produce it in a way you never could with bronze (tin being limited as it was).
when you brought up damascus steel, i was like "oh red covered this in one of her videos" and lo and behold, you flashed back to it. nice.
I'm relatively new here. What video was that?
@@bluesbest1 It's from "Beowulf"
I wonder if we will ever figure out how the hell they got carbon nanotubes in there, especially when we modern Hoomanz with our new-fangled techno-wizardry only started making them relatively recently...
@@achronalart Thanks. I'll check up on that.
@@Lh0000 Carbon nano-tubes are actually easy to make, it's just very hard to make in high concentration and low impurity in a consistent way for industrial purposes. Basically, randomly spraying certain very hot materials with methane, carbon monoxide, etc. (all of which naturally occur in fires from a carbon-rich source) create CNTs. Their presence in Damascus steel is almost trivial.
I used to be obsessed with ManAtArms, both the original incarnation and Reforged. Maybe it's finally time to dive into That Works and reignite my interest. Also, THANK YOU SO MUCH for making the distinction between ancient and modern "Damascus", as the modern usage is something of a misnomer and not enough people realize that sometimes.
Literally my two most favorite channels making a video together. what is this Christmas?!?!
Everyone: Infinity War is the most ambicious crossover.
Me:
Ambitious
Am I the only one who got flashbacks to Eragon making Brisingr, during the part when Eastern technique is being explained? :D
Hello there! Yeah, so, Paolini mentioned in the end of "Brisingr" that he based the sword making process on a book about the tradional Japanese technics for making swords. (You probably knew that though.)
This video so old, blue isn't sweeping all references to his book under a rug
My two favorite youtube channels working together, this awesome
In classical Arabic a good sword was called mohanad (مهند) and a direct translation for this word would be "Indian" or "made in India". My teacher told me that back then, Indian sword we're the best swords . Maybe because they were steel swords?
The tie between ceramics & metallurgy is really cool & something I had never heard before. Neat!
1:11 - "But there are a lot of problems with dating entire eras..."
Yeah, deciding who pays the check, where to go on the date, too many people on a first date.... a ton of problems
Anybody else expecting a wild Lindybeige appearance as soon as they mentioned "The Katana"?
hypergrip No, it made me think of a Suzuki 600 that I used to own.
@@justsayin3647 the Feels
Mechanical Engineering student here, and now one of my favorite channels is covering some of what has been my life for a year... I CANT ESCAPE.
I *love* that that you showed Primitive Technology to illustrate "making axes, arrowheads, and spearpoints" in your opener. Very nice, as he really does show how to make such items on his channel.
Fun fact about the pottery-iron connection: In many parts of particlularly West Africa up until today the smiths belong to a particular ethnic segment of the population that also includes specialised potters - their wives.
As a materials engineer, this video makes me super happy. It is really cool how you put accurate information like this in a nice and understandable way. Good stuff!
For a lovely description of Japanese sword forging in comic form, see the Usagi Yojimbo trade paperback called Daisho. Usagi's daisho (matched sword set) is taken by an enemy and the book takes an intermission from the story to explain how his swords were made and their significance to Usagi before throwing the reader back into the action made more emotional by this knowledge.
I mean, Usagi Yojimbo is worth reading from beginning to end for both historical and mythological reasons. Sakai is very accurate with both despite it being an anthropomorphic comic. Daisho just happens to have the bit that's relevant here.
Awesome video man...makes me what to get a sword :)
This crossover episode just keeps getting better
Blue: "spring steel"
My mind: Bruce Springsteel
This is so rad, I had no idea Matt and Ilya did something with you guys!
I have an immense respect for people who do the things that I can only dream of. And that is why I'm so grateful for the time and effort put into researching videos like this.
Well done guys. And I also enjoyed Ilya's narration.
Thanks for the collaborators reporting from an actual forge on the history of this light-weight, strong impact material being used to make weapons. I never thought steel could be connected to making pottery either, but I do remember different chemical compounds creating different colors and finishes of glazes from the few times I have painted pottery in my lifetime. Blue, this was great.
the D in Sværd is silent. just. just wanted to mention that detail
I was expecting them to appear in the same dimension as an sketch.
And it even has pieces of infinity war in it, check and mate Marvel
I probably said this before, but still... I LOVE THIS CHANNEL. The snippet that contextualizes the aura the world alchemist have with their actual scientific (albeit often accidental) contributions is amazing. Makes you think about how much we used to value smart people as a group in the past. I mean, we did burn some of them, but still.
Pattern welding was also used historically; bloomery gives you chunks of iron with various carbon contents, so you take some bits with higher and lower carbon contents, forge-weld, fold and twist them together to average out the properties, and you get a high quality and very pretty metal object.
This is a great, fascinating spotlight on a very specific, yet also very broad and widespread aspect of ancient history. It gives you so much information but also leaves lots of room to learn more information on your own time. Fantastic work as per usual!
This has to be one of my favourite colabs so far
Shiny steel is great, but I'm still waiting for plasma swords.
@@Thomas.Wright Yeah, but...
Laser sword
@@ogfat9277 realistically the hilt of a lazer or plasma sword wouldn't stop moving when it's blade makes contact with another blade.
Meaning real life lazer swords wouldn't clash, they'd just phase through each other.
@@dinosaurusrex1482 Maybe so, but there's this one small detail you've overlooked...
Laser sword!
@@blarg2429 the fictional weapons equilivant of bacon
@@dinosaurusrex1482 what about plasma based beam swords? Those that use magnetic fields to shape and contain the plasma blade
Is Damascus the riddle of steel?
Paladin Demo Yes
Yes.
No, guys, it's not. The answer to the riddle of steel is basically, that steel is only as strong as the arm that wields it. Flesh is metaphorically stronger, because it is in command.
15:24 yeah swords are awesome and all I'm really more of a spear kind of guy.
Personally I think just using them both is a great idea, use them in combination and work swords and spears together, then it is the ultimate power
@@thebeaverpope3538 I mean yeah definitely I'm just saying I prefer Spears
@@thebeaverpope3538 I don't think there's as much point in the spear if you're using it with one hand. Maybe if it's a relatively short one. Spear and shield can still be fine if you are able to use one hand for both the shield and the spear, but spear and sword gives you no chance of ever putting two hands on the spear.
I see your spearish chaps and swordy fellows, and raise you mine: axalacious blokes.
Man, I remember when I had a ponytail, too many long trenchcoats, and an obsession with swords.
This is the most interesting video you have produced blue. I hope you see this and make more videos like this
5:29 Sarissa-wielding Phalangitai, thank you very much. :)
DUDE THE MAPS IN THIS VIDEO ARE SO COOL
This is so amazing to see Ilya and Matt here (and everywhere else, of course).
I mean, you're not wrong. this video... works.
11:50 - also, "spring steel katanas" are modern invention. Differential hardening (as mentioned in the video) was the game back in the day, and historical katanas were not made out of the spring steel (1. the purity level of steel used wasn't up to snuff, 2. the proper technique of heat treating of the weapon made out of different types of steel would destroy the whole construction).
Really interested in your book Blue, by the way.
my favorite kinds of steel are glassteel and something I've heard referred to as "magnasteel" not sure if that's the actual name or just what it was being called where I was reading about it.
glassteel is a glass/steel alloy that sounds like something out of a fantasy novel, it's pretty soft by steel standards but it is incredibly flexible, as in you can tie a knot in it and it will return true when untied, it's also *VERY* resistant to some kinds of wear and tear as a result, I'm guessing it's got some crippling issues that weren't mentioned where I was reading about it though since I haven't heard about it actually being used for stuff.
magnasteel is both much simpler and much more complicated: it is essentially just drop forged steel made inside a carefully structured magnetic field, as the whole process goes on and everything crystalizes the field keeps it all in place and you end up with crystals forming in a regular pattern instead of every which way. the result is about the difference between making mudbrick with some handfuls of grass thrown in and making mudbrick with a net of woven fibers laced and placed carefully throughout. stat wise it's pretty much just high carbon toolsteel but better: better structure results in the material being both somewhat harder and significantly more flexible, and able to absorb more energy while deflecting / before denaturing.
magnasteel is actually used but it takes a *LOT* of prepwork to make anything out of it so it's pretty much only worth it for mass producing small critical parts that you're gonna need a lot of, I suspect that drawback could be reduced with groundwork software but I don't know bleep about the actual specifics of this and you'd probably still need custom setups for each piece and a heck of a lot of calibration work even if you could get the required design out of a couple hours work in an overgrown version of autocad.
What can you tell me about durasteel?
@@JaelinBezel while I'd be genuinely surprised if that's _not_ the name of something in real life the only place I've seen it used is across several sci-fi settings, I'm pretty sure that list includes Dune so that's a decent bet for where it's coming from at the moment, "plascrete" is another really common one.
also crystals, so many crystals...I think those are probably more common in sci-fi than in fantasy really.
That level of awesomeness crossover that can never be achieved again.
My two favorite channels, TOGETHER AT LAST
Love the teamwork on this video.
This episode has all my favorite channels And SWORDS!
Man, Blue, your fantastic taste in background music really rounds out your videos. I'd love to get a list of the ones you commonly use so I can dump them into my relaxation music playlist.
congrats for the book blue.
12:54 *suddenly, a wild red appears!"
This crossover was made in historian heaven. Thank you both so much for this.
OSP over here casually pirating the Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey OST.
Out of context, but we just lost la belle Notre Dame de Paris. Could we please have a video honouring her and her history? Either from Blue or Red (due to the novel) it would mean a lot. What happened is one of the most unthinkable tragedies of the entirety of human existence.
0:50 that Primitive Technology sneak was awesome
wow this video made me feel sooo nostalgic seeing this conventional lathe from the times when i did a professional formation in industrial machining mechanics, so many good memories lol good quality content my dude it made me realize that i need to return to my roots thanks for sharing
I thought you guys were awesome before this but giving some much needed exposure to the BK&S guys kicks so much ass I absolutely love it
I’m a hobbyist blacksmith, and it blew my mind when I learned how little carbon is used to make Steel.
Too little and you get wrought iron, anything over 2% becomes pig iron.
It’s crazy how just a tiny amount of carbon vastly improves the qualities of iron.
As much as I don’t like Japanese swords I have to appreciate the amount of work that goes into them. That iron bloom is extremely brittle and difficult to work with to start, and then That folding technique can potentially can ruin the blade, unless you know what you are doing you can irreparably damage the steel creating cold shuts, bad welds, and cracks. My hat goes off to anyone who does that sort of thing on a regular basis.
TWO OF MY FAVORITE TH-cam CHANNELS BASED ON HISTOEY AND METALLURGY COME TOGETHER *feints from metallic beauty*
also the clip
"Carbon god damn Nanotubes"
Cracked me up
The crossover I didn’t know I wanted, but desperately needed.
As for weapons you can get a harder and more durable edge with a bronze blade than you can a pure iron one. Pure iron and mild steel are both relatively soft, and bronze has the added convenience that the final working is at room temp, which is not only safer to work than hot iron but saves fuel used in a forge in areas where that may matter.
Holy heck, *"Man at Arms"* (& the "Reforged" seasons), whoa.
That takes me _waaay_ back. Awesome blast from the past. :-)
MagicMaster667 gah! I thought I had somehow commented already, and yeah same here
Yooo now that's an unexpected but highly welcome crossover! I also highly recommend checking out That Works if you haven't already. Their videos are super cool.
I thought I watched all your old videos?! I have a Materials Engineering degree, how the f did I miss this?!?! We spent almost a whole year studying steel mostly from a chemical aspect, but we also had a part where we studied the history of it. One of my favorite facts (besides the Damascus blades having nanotubes which is SO COOL) is not only did the Japanese swordsmiths use the clay to control which bits of the sword became which crystalline structure, sometimes they would also embed different types of steel within different parts of the blade to control the carbon content in that part. Which I imagine cannot be the easiest thing to do with hand tools and a very hot, very thin blade.
If you check out That Works channel, they've made a few weapons using the technique of having a high carbon center with a lower carbon exterior. The Skalchion (the falchion they made as a gift for Skallagrim).
Two of my favorite TH-camrs collaborating. Nice!
Please do a video like this for every Civ V resource, that would be an amazing series.
Matt and Illya? I LOVE YOU GUYS ALL OF YA!
So my stainless steel eating utensils would have once been an extravagant luxury once upon a time?
You might want to check out Scholargladitoria's videos on Wootz steel and Demascus because we now know how it was made, long story short a couple of master blacksmith's got steel from the place that it was originally from did some spectroscopy and found that an element was present in a trace amount that had an amazingly important effect on the entire structure of a piece of metal made with it, also 'true Damascus' is cast rather than forged. Genuinely though this is a surprisingly big thing and has literally been discovered within a years time people have been trying to work this out for over a century.
I'm only just seeing this and this is so well done!
How did you not talk about the Bessemer process? That was the first time we were able to make steel on a huge mass scale!!
Nothing like a complex metallurgy lesson from a history nerd and two smiths.
"And come on, you know you can't say 'no' to swords."
Screw you Blue! I can, and easily! #crossbowman4life
Literally had just a test about the process of making steel with austenite, ferrite, how you need quench it to get martensite instead spheriodite, and how martensite can be annealled to increase ductility so it is not so brittle. This was a materials science and engineering class
Love that callback to Red's Beowulf episode. Nice.
Having said that, it would have been nice to talk about the development of other swords a little besides just the Japanese and the European. I mean, I'm biased because I'm an Arab, but blade-making in the Near East didn't stop in the BCs.
There's a reason Damascus steel is called just that, surely?
YES TWO OF MY FAVORITE CHANNEL IN ONE VIDEO!!!! YOU JUST MADE MY DAY!!!
Ooh, a good brief history of steel. I like this very good blue.
*Takes Damascus Steel spoon back to the "stone age."*
Am I a god?
Soon ill have a metallurgy exam and i love it
I don't know why but I have no memory of this video. Well, I guess I have no choice but to watch it now.
"Deeply complex subject." Understatement... There are entire required courses dealing primarily with steel (and other materials) in Engineering coursework. You could have made a video this length on the austentite/martensite/tempering process... but you'd need another video to explain the phase diagram(s) of iron and carbon,
The crossover I didn't knew I wanted till right now
I’d love to see a follow up with aluminum, especially considering how widely used it is today
The most beautiful blade I have ever seen is the Munechika Mikazuki. It has crescent moon imprints all along the blade (hense the name) and even though it was made in the 10th century, the thing is still flawless. I just wish that the handle had survived as well as the blade itself.
Wait, you guys did a video together!?!?! OMFG! I love their work, and love yours too! You guys are awesome!
my favorite youtubers are coming together to bring amazing content.
I remember reading a study about a year ago or so where some researchers think they cracked the secret of Damascus. They traced it back to Vanadium and Molybdenum impurities in the iron which would consolidate in specific ways when the iron was processed into steel. But, when that source of iron with those specific impurities (wherever they were getting it from, we still don't really know) ran out and the smiths started getting iron from other places, they found their techniques didn't produce Damascus anymore, so they just abandoned the process wholesale and started making more "standard" steel that was made in other places.
Given that "wootz" was being made up until the british put a stop to it in the 1800's, though it wasn't all of the high quality stuff we talk about today, that isn't correct. But yes, high vanadium and molybdenum are responsible for some of its qualities and pattern; still, apart from the pattern it's not very special apart from historical significance in a world of modern steel.
@@farmerboy916 Keep in mind that _wootz_ and _Damascus_ are not interchangeable terms. _Wootz_ refers to the general Indian method of smelting steel while Damascus is a very narrow subset of forged items made from _wootz_ steel which created unique physical properties due to a combination of specific impurities and a method which took advantage of those impurities (albeit, unknowingly). Not counting "welded Damascus", since that's faux Damascus, true Damascus is all made from _wootz_ but not all _wootz_ is Damascus. So, yes, India *was* producing _wootz_ until very recently in history, but production of true Damascus did indeed fall out of vogue when the smiths' techniques stopped producing the desired patterns.
Furthermore, the pattern wasn't purely aesthetic in nature. The Damascus weapons were, in fact, more robust compared to non-Damsacus steel that would have been produced around the same time and more comparable to modern mono-steel in terms of mechanical properties.
Omar Goodman I do not believe the distinction you draw existed, certainly not in terminology. There was certainly different grades of wootz, in terms of pattern and strength, but I have never heard of such a distinction being made nor do I think one is necessary or helpful. Moreover that comes to bite you in the ass when you start talking about 'damascus' patterns per your distinction being better. No, the sheer fact that it was crucible steel was always what set it apart from the rest at the time. As I said, it's nothing special compared to todays steel but was special then because it was as close as they could get.
@@farmerboy916 Argument from incredulity: I don't believe it, therefore it must be false. I've never heard of such a thing, therefore it must be false. And, as I already stated, it was specific processes that could *utilize* the impurities and get them to form specific patterns in the forging process that made the specific striated patterns and helped the steel crystallize in useful ways that was an important part of the process. Even if you used the correct steel cakes with the correct impurities, if you didn't know the method to get those impurities to work the way you wanted them to, you still couldn't produce Damascus. The metal needed to be heated, worked, and cooled in specific ways *in addition to* the proper impurities which served as nucleation points for the crystallizing steel. Also, you're literally *on the internet*; you could easily just look up the article yourself and see what it has to say. This isn't some hypothetical "what-if" scenario; they tested it out and compared it to ancient examples as well as to control samples where they used the same process, but lacking the specific impurities.
Furthermore, you seem to have completely missed my statement regarding how it's comparable to modern steel and the distinction is in how advanced it was relative to other cultures of the same timeframe. A gasoline engine from about 30 years ago is "nothing special" by today's standards, but if you had the ability to produce gasoline engines and fuel in, say, ancient Rome or Greece or China, that would be a real major game-changer. So it becomes special because of how relatively advanced it was for the time.
So believe it or not, that's your own gain or loss. You've been provided an opportunity to learn something new and so has everyone else who might read this little comment thread. I hope a few of them don't squander the opportunity.
Omar Goodman Just cite your source, or I'll assume it doesn't exist; it's not my job to find it. Dunno why you're arguing about the latter, that's what I said. You're a cocky little bastard aren't you? Someone having never heard of a difference in terminology despite bekng relatively well versed in a subject means it is likely not widespread and agreed upon.
I feel like I'm going through a longer, detailed version of the Age of Empires 2 blacksmith upgrades.
I needed this in my life