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  • [Music]

  • I'm Matt. I'm Kerry.

  • We are the Stagmer brothers of Baltimore Knife & Sword.

  • We're gonna be building some of your

  • favorite weapons. And some weapons that you've

  • never seen before.

  • This is Man at Arms Reforged. So we're going

  • to be making Excalibur, King Arthur's sword

  • from the new game King of Avalon

  • done by FunPlus. They sent us some

  • really detailed images. Ilya had to do

  • a few minor adjustments to make it

  • really on steel, but for the most part

  • we're gonna work straight from

  • their designs. The first thing I got to do

  • is trace these two central plates here and here.

  • We'll cut those out on the plasma

  • everything else will be handmade

  • forged or fabricated. We could just trace

  • this all the way through, but we know

  • that these pieces are symmetrical

  • so we'll just mirror it over. Now we can cut

  • two of each of these, they'll be stacked

  • on top of each other

  • to create the central portion of the guard.

  • One of the really cool things about this

  • whole project, is that this sword that we

  • make will become the sword in the game.

  • Can't beat that. This Excalibur is gonna

  • have a lot of engraving. So i choose 1045.

  • This is the same steel I make my hammers out of.

  • What I know about this steel is that

  • I can engrave it fairly efficiently and

  • it responds very well to my cutters.

  • Let's make the blade.

  • I'm gonna start by breaking down this large 1045 round stock.

  • It's gonna draw out to a bar

  • and then begin the blade forging.

  • Ilya's first goal is to turn this round stock to square.

  • Every once in a while you'll see

  • him turn it on the diagonal to true it all back up.

  • Then over turn to the flats and

  • continue drawing it out.

  • Now that he's got his desired length, he's gonna

  • cut off the handle, draw out the tank

  • and define his shoulder area.

  • The crossguard for our sword is gonna be

  • made out of five separate pieces.

  • The forged middle section and then four

  • separate overlays, two on each side.

  • John is gonna move the plasma cutter

  • and get those overlays cut out.

  • Billy is then gonna lay in a whole ton of

  • hand engraving work on them afterwards.

  • Now that the blade is forced to shape

  • it's time to start laying in the bevels.

  • Ilya is gonna use a hand hammer

  • and hammer those bevels in. He's gonna be

  • really careful to avoid the area that

  • has to be engraved and he'll hand it off to me

  • to start the grinding. Ilya is

  • gonna heat up very specific portions

  • of this blade because it's so long.

  • And work his way from the tip

  • to the shoulder making sure his bevels are even

  • on both sides or this blade will just curve.

  • Arthurian legends and stories

  • have been told in a hundred different ways

  • and Excalibur comes in a ton of different forms.

  • In this case it's a beautiful

  • two-handed longsword with a

  • ton of engravings, that's gonna happen

  • in this panel that I drew with a sharpie up here.

  • I don't want to go anywhere near that

  • when I'm grinding. I'm gonna just

  • bring that edge up and taper it in

  • right here and here. But first I'm gonna grind in the fuller.

  • Here's a tip for anybody out there

  • trying to make swords himself.

  • Anytime you're gonna hand grind a fuller in,

  • do it before you grind your edges.

  • That way when you grind your edges,

  • you can taper that fuller all the way to the point

  • like I'm gonna do or just fix it

  • if it wanders a little bit.

  • So that's where I'm gonna start. I'm gonna go to

  • the 2 inch wheel and I'm gonna strike in my

  • fuller all the way down the center,

  • then lay in my edges. And by doing that I'll

  • be able to taper that fuller narrower

  • and narrower as we get closer to the point.

  • [Music]

  • The plates for Excalibur's guard are ready.

  • One is already set in pitch. This is gonna be

  • the overly plate that goes like this.

  • And on this back plate that is already

  • set and finished, there's not much engraving.

  • But every little bit little bit, as you will see in the end,

  • contributes to the whole.

  • I'm gonna be doing bright cut engraving

  • and it will have a little bit

  • background texture but not much.

  • You usually see me doing Eastern and

  • Japanese engraving and this is closer to

  • Western European as well as picked up

  • by the American School of engraving.

  • However I still use my old trusty tools.

  • I'm gonna be mostly using this hammer.

  • [Music]

  • Now that I'm done engraving the bottom plate,

  • it's time to pry it off and start

  • with the top plate.

  • [Music]

  • [Music]

  • So I have most of this blade run all the way

  • through the grits.

  • I just have to do the one side here on the fuller

  • and then clean up the flats afterwards.

  • Normally you see us polish a blade

  • after heat treating. In this case it has to be before

  • because this fuller has some

  • engravings in it. Also the flat down here

  • has to be nice and clean so Ilya can

  • engrave the dragons. I'm gonna go

  • diagonally on this soft larger wheel.

  • You saw me strike that fuller with

  • a 2 inch wheel, but this wheel's nice and soft

  • and I'll be able to just kind of go

  • at an angle and really jam in and push in

  • and force that standing belt to the shape

  • of my fuller and it'll polish it out

  • all the way down. I'll change my angles

  • a little bit and then I'll finish up

  • the polish on the Scotch-Brite wheel.

  • [Music]

  • [Music]

  • Matt has ground the blade and brought it to

  • a medium polish. I don't want to polish

  • too high otherwise the light will

  • shine in my eyes preventing me from

  • seeing my design and mess with my depth.

  • First I have to apply the basic sketch

  • to the surface. Then I'm going to be

  • refining the pattern as I'm getting

  • deeper and deeper into my cuts. I'm going

  • to start first with the design that

  • depicts the dragon breathing fire onto the anvil

  • and once that side of the blade is done,

  • I'm going to flip the blade over

  • and start the design that depicts

  • two dragons locked in combat.

  • According to the King of Avalon lore,

  • the blade of Excalibur was hardened using

  • dragon's fire. And that part of the story

  • is emulated on the rear engraving that

  • depicts a dragon reigning fire down on the blacksmith's anvil.

  • I'm going to be turning the basic form for the pommel on this sword.

  • We're going to do this all in one piece.

  • We got some free machining steel here.

  • I'm going to take it down to an inch and three-quarter.

  • There's also a gemstone

  • mounted on the top.

  • I've got a fairly large piece of rutilated quartz.

  • We're going to cut in here.

  • We've got to cut to the size of the stone,

  • we're not going to recut the stone.

  • So we've got a full inch here and

  • then after all this engraving is done,

  • I'll cut a small series of cuts on the bottom

  • of these prongs. They'll be bent in and

  • will grab around the stone.

  • As a boy to save his own life from

  • sacrifice by his King, Merlin foretold

  • his kingdoms fate by interpreting the

  • meaning of an epic battle between two dragons.

  • This battle is represented by

  • the two entangled dragons on the front engraving.

  • [Music]

  • We got the artwork that Ilya is working from.

  • This is the basic layout for the sword guard.

  • Just taking some silver coins that we've purchased.

  • This is what he's going to engrave from.

  • So the dragon is going to be

  • engraved here in the center.

  • We're going to create this entire thing

  • from free machining steel. It's going to

  • allow us to do this detent work around the outside.

  • Just with a chisel we'll work it out.

  • We're going to cut into it for an inside diameter

  • that's gonna hold this silver coin.

  • Then I'll be able to go in with

  • a boring bar and increase the size of that

  • until my coin fits.

  • For the center medallion that goes in the

  • middle of the guard, I've flattened out the

  • piece of coin silver but only on the edges,

  • never touching the center.

  • You can still see part of the logo right here.

  • The center dragon, after it's finished,

  • will go right here and will be captured

  • with the bezel that Kerry's working on right now.

  • Now I'm going to proceed drawing out my

  • dragon design by scribing it.

  • The technique I'm going to use is going to be

  • a combination of Engraving and Uchi-Dachi.

  • The reason for that is: I need to produce

  • the maximum depth out of this coin.

  • And the depth has to work very well together

  • with the depth I achieve on the blade engraving.

  • I'm going to use a tool known as a liner.

  • What it does it just pushes

  • the material back creating a crease.

  • After the liner, a simple flat bottom chisel.

  • As you notice I'm working from the outside in.

  • what I'm doing is creating a wave and

  • gathering some material as well as pitch

  • at the bottom of the coin up to the center

  • creating more height.

  • You're gonna notice that Ilya's going to

  • anneal the central medallion several

  • times during this process for two

  • different reasons. One, softer metal is easier

  • to move around and two, we don't want it to crack

  • after it gets work harden when Ilya is hammering on it.

  • To anneal silver, you just heat it up

  • and quench it in water.

  • The opposite of what you want to do with steel.

  • Ilya uses a heat gun to heat up the pitch

  • and removes the medallion.

  • For the guard on this sword, Ilya is going to

  • start with 1018 steel. It's one-inch square

  • He's going to get its length then he's

  • going to go to the iron cast

  • to create the form.

  • [Music]

  • [Music]

  • OK, so I engraved exactly one-quarter of

  • the crossguard for the sword. I have to

  • do it once again right here, symmetrically.

  • And then twice more on the

  • obverse side. So I have to do it three more times.

  • Then you can see already how the silver

  • is a different color than the steel.

  • Silver is naturally warm in its

  • reflection and then steal is naturally cold.

  • [Music]

  • I've used blue tape to protect the engraving,

  • while I got this on the mill.

  • I've marked out how the tank is gonna sit,

  • measured the thickness of the blade,

  • measures the size of my cutter and I'll begin

  • to take the cut on the gorton milling machine.

  • I first do a recessed area where the blade will sit.

  • And then I go back to the center

  • and cut all the way through where

  • the tan goes down through the handle

  • When cutting lettering you actually have to

  • be much more careful.

  • Rather than being able to go back

  • and redefine and show edges,

  • you've got to do your break cuts on the first run-through.

  • Ilya's going to take his time,

  • mark this out and make all his cuts.

  • [Music]

  • [Music]

  • I've soaped the engraving for the purpose

  • of protecting it from the scale that develops

  • during the heating process.

  • I heat up the tank and the thickets portion

  • of the blade, known as the ricasso, first.

  • And then flip over the blade and stick it back

  • in the heat treat forge. That way it will gain

  • the extra heat that is necessary

  • to accommodate the thicknesses

  • between the tip and the base.

  • [Music]

  • Looks like the quenching went well.

  • I didn't develop almost any scale on my engraving,

  • which is great because no damage

  • was incurred during the process.

  • Now all I have to do is temper it

  • and give it to Matt to polish and grind.

  • I don't know about you guys but that heat treat made me nervous

  • Ilya spent so much time on this carving.

  • It's the first time I really got to

  • see it up close. It's now my job to go ahead

  • and refine the edge and you can see he left

  • it nice and thick before heat treat to

  • play on the safe side. After that, I run

  • it through the polishing grits and we can put it together.

  • Gotta be really careful not to

  • touch any of the areas that he's engraved.

  • And when I polish the fuller out,

  • I'm going to completely avoid the area

  • that he has the lettering done.

  • I'll just add some little more distal taper to it,

  • sharpen it up, we're ready to go.

  • [Music]

  • it's now time to start assembling the

  • many layers of this guard. Ee don't want

  • to risk ruining any of the beautiful

  • detail work that Ilya has done by welding them together.

  • So we're going to drill and pin

  • each section to the central

  • portion of the guard.

  • Now that the base of the pommel has been turned on the leaf,

  • it's time to start adding in our detail.

  • Ilya is going to start on the narrow wheel in the sander

  • and just sculp some of that in.

  • He'll then later go on and engrave

  • the rest of the design.

  • We're usually hesitant to take on Excalibur.

  • It's such an iconic sword, but this design

  • was wonderful and it really highlighted

  • Ilya's engraving skills. I believe this is

  • the finest sword that's ever come out of our shop.

  • The King of Avalon is ready for battle.

  • [Music]

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  • Thank you to King of Avalon for making this episode possible.

  • If you want to check

  • out the game, click the link in the

  • description

  • [Music]

[Music]

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