In the United States, it’s illegal to interfere with any aircraft soaring over your property. So if your neighbor’s drone is caught spying on you, you can’t just shoot it out of the air. But apparently the laws are different in Sweden, where you can take down drones using impossibly dangerous weapons; like a…
Adam Savage’s One Day Builds series for Tested has taken him everywhere from making faux Apollo-era spacesuit parts to a ping pong machine gun, but this time he went a little more medieval. In this week’s installment, Savage decided to remake the legendary sword from 1981 fantasy film Excalibur using some of the same…
Late last month, an excavator operator was working at a peat bog in the Polish municipality of Mircze when he accidentally stumbled upon this glorious specimen of 14th century craftsmanship. The remarkably well-preserved longsword is a unique find for the area, and its discovery has prompted an archaeological…
Mounting a GoPro onto a sword and then watching it chop the hell out of things is awesome, but it isn’t as easy as I thought. You can’t just tape a camera down on one end of the blade and hope for the best, because the shot will look all wacky. The sword moves too fast so it’s all blurry, the camera angle is capturing…
If you think about it, a crowbar already comes vaguely sword-shaped (or as sword-shaped as any long metal tool can be). You just need to hammer down the curved end of the crowbar to create a hilt and then sharpen the straight edge to create the blade. To add flair to the super simple concept, Miller Knives gave the…
Medieval Viking Ulfberht swords are some of the most famous swords in history because they were so obscenely strong that it’s almost unbelievable that bladesmiths in the 9th century were even able to make them. Made from crucible steel, the swords stood out from everything from that time period. Hell, the process of…
Does just the thought of February 14 fill you with dread? Did you spend the last couple of Valentine’s Days alone, in bed, eating Häagen-Dazs straight from the tub? If this video of roses being sliced up with a katana blade in slow motion seems like the perfect metaphor for your love life, it might also make you feel…
In order to harden the edge of steel, swords are often heated until they’re impossibly hot and then quenched in liquid to rapidly cool down. This creates a much stronger grain structure in the steel which obviously leads to a much stronger sword. An interesting thing that happens during this quenching process is how…
Watch as the guys from Baltimore Knife and Sword make a 400-year-old Dandao sword from China using some really old techniques and machinery. It’s awesome to see iron sand transformed into steel in a smelter that would be similar to the ones the Chinese used centuries ago. It’s almost cooler to see a block of steel get…
The Men at Arms folks can retire now. Not only did they faithfully recreate the blazing sword from Voltron, but they took “blazing” in the best, most literal way, in the sense that the blade itself is always enveloped by flames. It seems extremely dangerous but it’s also so damn cool.
Do you remember the Green Destiny sword from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I didn’t. But that damascus steel blade finished with jade is so damn gorgeous and stunningly detailed that after seeing the guys at Baltimore Knife and Sword make it, I don’t think I’ll ever forget it again. The whole build process is so…
Sending your child off to pre-school for the first time is apparently a stressful time for parents. But if you’ve properly prepared them for the challenges of dealing with other kids, like by playing with a 3D-printed baby rattle that looks like a miniature broadsword, they should be just fine.
Turn it up to 8K if you can (you can’t), because this truly awesome video of master bladesmith Tony Swatton working on a Roman Gladius Sword made from damascus steel is a treat to watch. Damascus steel is basically art in a material as the layers get built, this sword is especially awesome because it combines a…
Mythbusters may have finally called it a day, but that seems to have freed up time for Adam Savage to get back to what he does best: build props.
How often have you let your imagination run wild and waived around the key to your car like a tiny sword? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one. Someone has actually produced an entire line of sword-shaped blank keys that they’re now trying to realize through Kickstarter.
It sounds like something from a fantasy video game: While trekking the mountainous wild, a man in Norway recently stumbled upon an ancient, intact sword. And with the right treatment, it could still be used to vanquish baddies today, experts say.
Master swordsman Isao Machii is back! This time he’s here to cut a fastball in two.
Naama Agassi’s Branch Holders—a clever way to turn sticks into imaginary swords—first hit the internet back in 2011. They were a wonderful way to encourage kids to use their imaginations, the only problem was they weren’t available for sale—but now they are.
In 1825, a three-foot-long sword was uncovered from a river on the eastern cost of England. “If struck with sufficient force, it could easily have sliced a man’s head in two,” writes the British Library’s Julian Harrison. Though its potential uses might be obvious, the gold inscription on its face is not.
For the first time since its discovery in 2011, this ornate 1,000-year-old Viking sword is being shown to the public. Dating back to the final days of the Vikings, it has been linked to battles in England.
