I love every time he uses a knife or sword to point at something. Just imagine a professor in the middle of a lecture pulling out a long sword to point at the board.
@@weldonwin depends on whether he was planning to marry that daughter off to someone else or not. I mean, marrying a noble's daughter basically makes you the smith that nobles personal worker.
Dunno if this is of interest to people, but there is actually another naturally occurring form of metallic iron called Telluric Iron. It's extremely rare, though.
These types of videos might make the most sense while your not in an easy location to make more test videos and all that! These are super fun and you can offer opinions that most people wouldn’t be able to!
When taking into consideration that these were not only just made with hand tools, but they weren't using hand tools of the 'quality' we know now, like specialty high carbon steel and carbide. But tool's that would be considered dollar store junk by modern standards. Just mind blowing. I wonder if there are records on how long it took and/or examples or records of the tools used? Thanks! Enjoyed this video and wouldn't be disappointed to see more. :)
kojima sucks. great game mechanics, but his characters, stories, and direction are fucking horrible. i wish the gameplay wasn't so well done, i wouldn't have had to stomach his garbage storytelling.
@@Victor.-.E Kojima kinda caught lightning in a bottle early on,but he let it get to his head. He then started making stuff convoluted just because he could and tried to pass it off as exceptional storytelling, as well as blaming people for being too stupid if they didn't like it. But really his storytelling is pretty much what you'd get if you took Dark Souls storytelling but removed the overarching direction altogether. You get a nebulous mess that kinda just doesn't work whatsoever
Maximilian I's swords are the kind of stuff you'd get from beating a lv 99 superboss without getting hit once in a RPG. Probably deals like 50% holy damage and turns undead to dust as well. My favourite is probably the first Burmese Dha though. The colours are just so nice and it while it's very finely decorated,it genuinely looks usable
I wonder how much the craftsmen were compensated for these pieces. Like, if you made one of these could you live off the profits for years or did you just barely recover the cost of the time and materials?
I am not educated in this but I'd assume they weren't really compensated but rather were provided for, I can imagine that a lot of the artists that made these kingly weapons being closely associated with their leaders at that time and maybe even living in palace grounds or stuff like that, this is just an assumption though.
I should imagine in many cases the mere privilege of being requested by your liege lord or queen to produce work for them, was all the payment many artisans ever received. For to refuse would have surely meant the dungeons, or death.
@@7ali7 no, at the time it was fairly typical to have such an artist live in your manor, basically all needs and expenses covered for a period of time (enough to make at least one item) in addition to a cash stipend. It was called patronage. There was also some significant "poaching" of skilled artists between different nobles. There are very, very few recorded instances of a noble or king killing an artist for refusing to work for them. Doing so would have really pissed off all their neighbors who also wanted that artist to make something for them. Not to mention any guild that the artist may have belonged to.
I’d personally love to see your opinions on the techniques required to begin training with a spear, and possibly some interesting spear designs that allow for differences in fighting style based on their shape or design. Love the work you do, and I appreciate you taking the time to share your interests and passions with us. From mine to yours, thank you.
There are zero requirements to use many weapons but to be expert that’s different People spend years studying how to yield sticks and staff best, I can see those techniques being combined with spear but now u have point and more U can have various wings or things that you learn to use for deflection shielding etc Thrusting throwing or cut centric Pairing it with other things or formations So I can imagine complicated
I would definitely enjoy seeing more of these, those swords were gorgeous. You could probably do an entire video just on guns, I remember a wheel lock rifle from 1625 featured on the Forgotten Weapons channel that would definitely fit in a video like this.
Perhaps a video on fancy combination guns, like the old German matchlock pistols that could be used as a hatchet. Or, more recently, the ridiculous French carbines that fitted an OFFICER'S SWORD as a bayonet. It'd be fascinating to see Skall's opinion on one, seeing as it was specifically designed with up-close crowd control in mind.
This stuff is honestly fascinating, especially the quality, we forget that they had the same brains we do, just different tools and techniques or 'science'. The incredible craftsmanship and by hand is mind-blowing.
We really are doing our ancestors dirty. They were just like us, it's just society and technology that has changed. We've been the same humans for thousands of years.
@@trulyinfamous I think the Internet fundamentally changed the game. The amount of information being spread world wide is unlike anything recorded history has ever seen. Not to mention. Technology in of itself is a form of Art. The Large Hadron Collider? Beautiful.
I’m so proud Burmese Dhar is getting recognition! Thank you! The ones you showed are called “Ngat Gee Dawng” which means big bird’s wing. As beautiful as they are,they were used in battles and are fierce weapons! Some are even decorated with jewels. The most famous one in Myanmar history is the one decorated with Burmese ruby which existed in Bagan era!
My god, it makes your jaw literally drop. I have made knives, and to imagine a human making this... it is beyond belief. Those Egyptian daggers look like they come from a different world entirely, one where the orange leaves and the sunset never fade away, and where their golden color is wrung out into solid metal and made into these unbelievable works of art. This art is beyond Earth.
Sword Jesus and Gun Jesus should do a colab about the effectiveness of different firearms against different types of medieval armor, from gambison and mail to full plate and beyond.
Or maybe even an indepth look at bayonets and the erasure/modern application of sabres. O.O good idea. Ian would be all about some Kabars and Ak knives. (The latter cut barbed wire with the sheath!)
@@johndododoe1411 yes. Ian has a rather large and varied collection of firearms that skall doesn't have. And skall has fired at a couple of helmets, a breastplate, and a set of mail if i remember right. It would be very cool to see a wider variety of armor tested.
They are all such stunning works! Thank you Skall for showing us the Aztec dagger! You should read Zelia Nuttal’s descriptions of atlatl & atlatl darts inlayed with shells & gems, intricately carved, gilded in precious metals, painted feather designs in vibrant colors & dart heads bound on shafts with metal wire! And so much more!
This was fascinating, those blades are definitely what one would call a cultural heritage. The rifle as well, though that probably would already go as a national treasure.
sometimes you become a bit jaded, you feel like you've seen everything. but then you see something so impressive and so rich in history and implications, here I am as a modern person in awe at a thousand year blade. if I was a 12th century farmer Joe tending to my farm, and I saw some of those, I'd believe them if they told me they were sent by god
I do essays and content on Mesoamerican history: The "pokeball" symbols on the Aztec Mosiac knife is a pretty widespread iconographic motif in the art of civilizations in or around Central Mexico during the Postclassic period (that shared art style being known as the Mixteca-Puebla or the International style). As Skallagrim says, they can represent eyes, but they're also sometimes used to represent stars and are associated with deities with night sky and stellar ties, and also commonly with death deities like Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl... but if you wanna talk about extremely ornate & pretty martial armaments in the context of Mesoamerica, I think their warsuits, helmets, and shields are what really deserves attention. The most basic type of armor worn amongst the Aztec was a sort of gambeson vest or tunic (known as Ichcahuipilli in Nahuatl, the Aztec language), but over this more elite soldiers wore additional armor, known as either Tlahuiztli for a full body suit or Ehuatl for a ornate tunic. These were made from an additional thick textile base, and then covered in tens to hundreds of thousands of feathers, with feathers of different colors being arranged in such a way to make different patterns and insignia (such as geometric designs, jaguar spots, mythological motifs, etc.) to indicate rank and unit division. Many of these feathers would have been iridescent (coming from hummingbirds or quetzals) so they would have had a metallic sheen that changed color based on the viewing angle. Shields and helmets also were adorned with Feather Mosiasc, but sometimes also precious stones (like the knife in the video, though the shields made entirely from stone/shell mosiacs are probably ceremonial. There are also very similar stone/shell mosiac masks over a wood base too) gold, copper, or bronze ornamentation, etc. What's truly remarkable is some of the Feather mosaic "paintings" produced in the early colonial period by Aztec artisians for the Spanish, which depict catholic religious scenes, but again, made from tens to hundreds of thousands of feathers indivually arranged rather then out of paint, many of which were iridiescent and glimmer. Some of these are so detailed it is impossible to even tell it's not made out of paint if not for that shimmering and if you don't closely inspect them. A quickj search of "Aztec feather painting" on google will bring some up. I'd go into more detail about all of this, about each of the 3 types of armor I mentioned, who got to wear them specific variations of patterns, shield insignia, etc (and I'd love to talk about the variety of weapons used amongst Mesoamerican civilizations, there's so much more then just knives and Macuahuitl) but RU-vid tends to mark my comments as spam when they are too long, so I'll leave it here. If people wanna learn more there was actually a Webinar earlier this year as part of a CLAAS Webinar series where Laura Filloy did a presentation on some of the surviving Aztec shields, how they were constructed, where feathers were sourced from, etc, which I highly recommend. Feel free to also reach out to me via DM on twiter, I'm Majora__Z there, i'm always happy to answer questions on Mesoamerica and provide resources/.
Very interesting information. I saw an Aztec feathered shield in a book and it looked amazing, even though the color of the feathers had rather faded after nearly 500 years. It was brought to Europe after the conquest as a gift for the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and was described by the artist Hans Holbein, I believe.
Beautiful and inspiring. Your commentary is great too. I would appreciate more of this. It wouldn't necessarily have to focus on the most intricate or gaudy pieces: some weapons are just esthetically pleasing by design. I like learning new things about how craftsmen around the world have made things and found beautiful solutions to problems or shown off their incredible skill.
Yes more , i love to see this stuff. Its crazy how the nicest weapon was the oldest. The dagger. Perhaps a video on sword maintenance and where to get tatamimi mats and stuff.
I can't even begin to imagine how stressful it must have been to craft some of these. They'd probably have to live and work in the middle of nowhere to get away from unwanted sounds. It'd be nerve-wracking enough trying to carefully work away at these inticate details, but if you hear someone step on a twig or something, you'd have a heart attack thinking you'd just ruined the masterpiece. There must have been times when these guys were living on the borderline of perpetual nervous breakdowns. The fact that all of these pieces were created with primitive hand tools, in some cases using Bronze Age technology, makes it all the more impressive. Especially working with meteoric iron. Even in comparatively modern times, working with meteoric iron isn't easy, so to do it in the Bronze Age... just damn, it's hard to get more impressive than that.
funny thing about "primitive handtools" is that the handtools for woodworking/carpenter and smithing/metal processing and other crafts did not change much for the last ~500-1000 yrs. The tools might be of slightly better quality today, if it comes to clean homogenous material, but apart from that, the only thing that really changed are the handles. Most of them are slip-proof rubber-plastic handles today. And you can get abrasives for fine-sanding much easier and in all shapes and formes today. But if a craftsman of today (hi it's me) looks at tools from the 10th century, it all looks quite familiar. :) (same for tools from the celts, like tools found in La Tène) -ofc powertools make work easier today. But keep in mind, they are not completly new tools, they only do a fast job on the energy-consuming part for the human handling it. Like moving a sawblade, turning sanding material and so forth. And a prestep to modern powertools were probably waterwheels that transfered energy to swing smithing hammers for example (nothing for delicate work though, i give you that). But still, the tools they used were not primitive. They were hand-pwered, thats all xD
Yeah King Tut's dagger is my favourite of the bunch. Because the material is actualy very good for the time from practical standpoint and not just ornamental. It is better than most blades would be at the time I immagine. So it would realy be like a dagger of legends, sent from the sky to defeat pharaoh's enemies, supperior to all other weapons. The handle and scabbard are just a bonus - to reflect balde's fighting characteristics. If a blade like that didn't have a golden hilt ... that would be just an insult. Didn't save the guy from his hunting accident tho ... wielded a blade of gods ... got pwned by deer :P So maybe ... the dagger was cursed!
In a similar vein of blinged-out swords, I would appreciate it if you made a video about sword hilts that are made out of different material such as bamboo (katanas for example), ivory, etc.
“It’s made of meteoric iron, which tends to capture people’s imaginations” what a diplomatic way of saying there are a bunch of alien crazies out there
@@seanheath4492 Yeah,hard to not get wild theories and ideas in your head when a new,unknown metal that's better than the best you have in almost every aspect falls down from the sky to be forged into a blade fit for a god-king
This is definitely one of my favourite videos of yours! I also appreciated the Premiere feature use :) Mostly just commenting for the algorithm, but figured I'd throw in some nice words! Keep it up!
King Tut dagger made from metorite iron, keep that in mind, Pharoah is a god, so his weapon should only come from heaven, it would have been an incrediblely powerful ceremonial and political tool.
Reminds me of the ceremonial parade stick made from the spoils of operation Paul Bunyan. Carried by the victorious US officer in liu of an officer's sabre.
These are definitely my all time favorite weapons especially The Sultan's Golden Jewelry Dagger 🪙💎🗡️. Just imagine being stabbed by that or stabbing something and or somebody with that.
Just a small thing I noticed, Tutankamun is actually from the New Kingdom (14th century BC) so more like 3300 years old, which is still very old. Great video regardless, love your content!
Metallurgical pedantry: an alloy being defined as stainless has to do with a minimum chromium content, not nickel. An example with 15% chromium and 3% nickel can be considered stainless steel, while the inverse is not true. Some stainless grades have no nickel at all! Great video!
1- If the decorations on your weapon can not withstand very hard usage and abuse , they are an insult to the material , the weapon itself , the arts of using the weapon and decorating it , yourself and even the person that might be harmed by it . 2- The fact that engravings , inlays and especially in-setting of gemstones in crossguards and pommels of Arming Swords rarely ever happened and still rarely happen now is insulting and a detriment to Human existence .
All of that is only true if your weapon is actually a weapon; most of the things Skall is looking at were decorations and status symbols, and never intended to be used in combat. This specific use of weapons exists to this day; when I was in the British army, there was all sorts of ceremonial crap knocking around the various regiments, including (generally) blunt swords, uniforms that were obviously wildly unsuitable for actual use in the field, actual bore loading cannons, totally impractical polearms(!), goats, nicely shiny but useless armour, some truly ridiculous helmets and hats, you name it. I can look back on it with a sense of humour now, but at the time, those symbols, though not intended for combat, were very important for fostering a sense of identity and togetherness, amongst other purposes. Making some bizarre blanket declaration otherwise is basically revealing your ignorance of human history and culture, not revealing the truth to all those who are ready for it, or whatever you think it is you're doing. You're not a samurai, mate, even if you have convinced yourself you are, in your own head.
Never expirenced i could not tell. I did not see a counter. Im casting. Maybe put something on the still with note and utc in case of problems. Telling u because I have heard you wanting feedback to reach more and understand feature and quirks. I reacon yt changes and bugs around from time to time so maybe different next week :)
Gosh dang it. RU-vids algorithm didn't show me this, again, even though I was super hyped, and I set a Premier reminder. Please just do a community post when these things go up.
I can tell this took a ton of time between getting and editing the pictures, doing the research, setting up the green screen and camera, the script and editing. I also know sometimes when you put a lot of effort into a video it can be disheartening when it doesn't get a view count commiserate with the amount of work that went into it. Regardless, know that it was noticed and appreciated. 🙂
Side note about Tutankhamun dagger Not only is it made of iron from meteors which was the only place place they could get iron in those times which was extremely rare Not only is it an iron dagger but it also contains nickel which you Find a meteor iron This means that his dagger is actually a stainless steel
Amazing craftsmanship and detail. I am more of a silver and brass person than gold and bluing, but the contrast is amazing on those darker pieces. I prefer the Dha's for sure. Nice video Skallagrim.
"So you want to see pretty things, huh? Something for your tired eyes to feast upon?" "He's doing a fireman calendar?" "We're talking blades." "Oh right, right."
Can we just talk for a moment about professor skall looking like the most threatening teacher of all time with his dagger pointing stick? "Alright kids I'm gonna learn you some knowledge today, and you better pay attention because this thing is sharp!" I love it, great video
I absolutely love this kind of videos. Those objects are truely mond blowing. You could do similar videos about fancy axes, polearms or helmets or other pieces of amour. I'd love to see that.
Hey Skall, I remember a sword from one of your videos whose blade curled into the shape of a snail shell, (i.e it spiraled in on itself) I haven't been able to find it since. Any idea what it might be?
Can anyone recommend a good combat ready rapier? I was originally considering getting the "Christus Impirat" rapier, but heard that the blade was very wobbly for a rapier. If anyone has any good recommendations, it would be appreciated!
