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Why is everyone being so harsh? Guy showed decent technique, didn't do a bad job at all. Yes he would for sure do a better job if the material was cut and forge welded into a bar, but the whole experiment as it was proposed wouldnt make much sense. Keep it up. I like this a lot.

Theo did a great job explaining the setbacks and why they we're happening!

"Svo má brýna deigt járn að bíti!" Even soft iron can be sharpened to an edge, it is a rough translation, but it gets the point across. In one of the Icelandic Sagas, Gunnlaugs-saga ormstungu (Saga of Gunnlaugur Wormtounge), it tells of a duel, where they agreed to a pause so they could straighten out their swords, who had become quite bent after the fighting. Gunnlaugur was nicknamed "wormtounge" because he was a good poet, and came up with some sick burns and good one-liners!

You could have made a reforged scythe, a common repurposed polearm often used by peasants, which is basically a scythe made into a spear

"Beat our ploughshares into swords," Historically, peasant militia could be armed with a war-scythe by just taking a scythe-blade and affixing it parallel to the haft rather than perpendicular.

If you had kept the curve of the blade you could have made a falx like sword with it. The falx was A deadly weapon used by the Dacians when they fought the Romans. You could have also made the blade into a war scythe pole arm which would have been historically accurate for the medieval era.

Theo did an excellent job turning that scythe into a sword! He should be super proud of himself! Don't let Andy touch it! 😂

The beauty of blacksmithing is the ability to recycle almost anything steel into something else. Just a side note, scythes are mild steel with a work hardened edge. That is why the sword bent so easily on that last blow. I think if the Smith would have ground both edges back to make them thicker, then cold peened the edge like you would do with a bronze edged weapon/tool, it would have held up a bit better. At the end of the day, I still wouldn't want to be on the receiving side of the sword you made. Well done!

I think their attempt was not "how to make a proper sword from a scythe blade" but "how difficult is it to reforge a scthe blade" and just heating up the tang and putting a single bend in it for a war scythe is obviously not as interesting as a video than making a sword blade from it. Still a very interesting video, and I hope you can maybe at some point redo this with someone like Alec Steele and make a properly working sword from it :D A very cool video, showing that it's not that easy as one might think

Great and interesting content as always. Video was about recycling old metal into a weapon quickly and did that well. I can imagine cities under siege with blacksmiths churning out swords like this to arm the populace. Glad to see the team expanding too. Welcome Theo!

Please make a proper grindstone using compacted concrete. 5% to 10% cement, 2-3 times as much water, and the rest being local soil, mix well, get it to a clay-like consistency, then form it into a wheel and compact it really well as if you were compacting rammed earth, and the result should be very close to natural rock, once it cures enough. You can use quick-setting cement, if needed, to speed up the process.

I know they are working the metal in a brightly lit shop for the sake of filming but they really need a dark workshop to see those temperatures. I’m envisioning all the stress fractures from working that metal as cold (relatively) as it looks. I know the light bleaches the color out so we can’t really see it. I know they’re bright lighting for the sake of filming. And I thank them for all the work.

Okay so two things. 1) While we can all agree that this was a novice attempt at this project, I'm a relatively experienced blacksmith and as soon as making a sword out of a scythe blade came up I immediately thought that it was a deceptively difficult project. There's a reason you beat swords into ploughshares and not the other way round. At each step he was forced to use a very basic skillset to do something that was better achieved using some much more well developed skills. Regardless, he made a blade that survived a water quench and warp straightening in temper that didn't immediately shatter, yet held an edge of some variety. That could have gone disastrously worse at any of those stages, but he succeeded in that. While there may have been an amount of luck that went into this project, Theo also used enough caution at each step that it came out looking as good as it did. THAT is a skill that might be really useful in someone you want to try doing a whole bunch of new things. 2) Seeing Theo take this on makes me want to get out in the shop and challenge my abilities to get better. Try doing more complex forge welding than I've usually done, something like that. I remember being at Theo's stage in smithing, and seeing the beautiful things people can make and wanting to try doing that one day. Theo's attempt at this has motivated me to get out and do more of the trickier techniques you'd need to use to do a good job of this idea. TL:DR yeah, it wasn't great but smithing is hard and he seems like he may just be an asset to the team when it comes to trying new/tricky stuff

I know everyone is going to have their input on this, and I think that's fine so long as it's constructive. In future reclamation projects with steel and iron, consider forge welding your material into a bar first, then drawing it out into a blade. I have done a number of similar projects as this and I have found that when working with such thin material, you get a better final result by just consolidating it into a bar first. The trade off in work usually ends up in your favor. Rather than trying to correct for warping and cracking of an already over stressed steel, you just draw out a blade with the proper taper and balance from begining. Little things you learn after countless hours at the forge.

Or use the curve like a falcatta/curved sword of similar time since the theme is expensive commodity. The large base size of the scythe was quickly reusable just given the tail lang.

At 6:40 that process is called normalising, not annealing. Annealing is purposefully causing the metal to cool as slow a possible to make it softer

This was pretty cool. Cheers, Andy!

I made a short sword type of thing from a sickle before and it was so annoying, bending all over the place like your scythe blade did. Im never doing that again.

you should've filed off that thin edge or bent it at a much higher heat to prevent those cracks. that edge is probably insuitable for combat anyway.

This was pretty cool to watch, do more of this

I love how a "Can it be done?" Video has been taken as a "This is exactly how you do this and the only possible way and the most correct way to make a sword" video. This channel is not a "how to do things" channel, it's a "learn history in an entertaining way" channel. Sit down, shut up, and enjoy the video.

I was just thinking about this channel yesterday! Heck yeah!

Historically, scythes were more often reworked into polearms I believe than into swords, as if your weapon was made from a scythe, most likely you weren't the most highly trained warrior, exactly, so it was more common to convert them into polearms- called "war scythes"- than into smaller weapons, such as a sword. Haven't finished the video yet though, so idk if you'd already mentioned this or not. Sorry, if so! Edit: After watching the full way through the video, I must say, I'm surprised and a bit confused by your choice of what kind of sword to create here. The arming sword you created seems like it would be too thin, and it looked to have a lot of major twisting and warping in it- and that tear in the blade is a major weak point where the blade is likely to break, should it ever encounter major stresses, such as through combat. It would have made more sense- in my opinion, at least- to have a forward-curved blade as it already was, with perhaps a small false edge near to the tip, and that thick spine slightly thinned out in the rest of the sword from its original thickness. This would've been similar to the design of some african swords, as well as other forward curved blades like the falx. Regardless, this was an enjoyable video to watch; I simply wanted to give my thoughts and suggestions here, as I do a bit of blacksmithing and bladesmithing myself, and quite a decent bit of experimentation with swords.

I wonder if folding over that edge so both sides were thick then create both edges later, would have worked

The better option would have been to cut the scythe up into smaller pieces, hammer them into as many usable bars as possible, then forge weld those together. And then draw them out into a blade.

theo's full name sounds like it came from a medieval hero

This video shows why they didnt make swords out of farm tools. Not just the lack of training, but imagine having to make 40-50 of them before the enemy gets near. Otherwise though, pretty impressive given the challenge

This is pretty cool. Usually with sword making content you never see this kind of semi-destructive testing. Also shows how much difference a good, well tempered and balanced sword would make in a battle against a crude one, wielders skill not considered. Edit: Also, I just noticed the forge you're using seems to be one of those gas powered ones? Normally I wouldn't complain, but for this purpose a coal powered one would've been better (others have already mentioned some stuff about carbon etc)

I have a section of bandsaw blade from Central Oregon’s first and biggest Lumbermill. I have been wanting to make a knife from a piece of it for a long time I just haven’t brought myself to cut it😅

Forget farm to table. Now it's farm to battlefield

My suggestion with the scythe would have been to fold the thin side back in, and continue folding and eventually just twist all the metal into a solid form (High risk of it de-laminating and splinter cracking in this process) from that re-folded then hammer out your sword.

They literally made the sword you start off with in a video game.

Yeah, a gme try but should've been pretty obvious from the get-go that there's not enough meat in a scythe blade to stop it being bent by any fair blocking blow from a stick. Scythrs, by their nature, are going to be as lightweight as possible and a sword just needs the mass. You'd really need to weld the thing into a brick and beat it out again into a shorter, thicker sword. Much work...

Yay! Fantastic day whenever you post.

Probably would have been a better idea to try for something single-edged like a Falchion or Langmesser. You still would have had to straighten out the blade a little, but you could have had the thick part remain as the back and the thin part as the blade because frankly, I think trying to get a second edge on there wasn't great for the structural integrity of the blade.

This is backwards. You're supposed to be beat your swords into ploughshares. Speaking of which... are there any plans for making ploughs? You haven't really done much with agriculture lately. I would love a video where you make a simple scratch plough and then a more advanced Mediaeval one, so you can compare the two. You can also make a horsecollar and show how that was such a huge improvement over older ox-type yokes. I assume you could rent a horse for one day to test them out.

Very cool. Made me think of: Joel 3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears

I'm sad you didn't pair up with Skallagrim on this project. He does sword testing on his channel and probably would have been all about this.

agricultural scythe blades were indeed once directly converted in to forward curving single edged sword blades as well

With a ton of KZfaqrs quitting KZfaq now, it makes me feel more appreciative for those who continue to put out content. Thank you for pushing forward with the projects and making some incredible videos. I've been following you since 100k subs and I remember loving the idea of creating everything from scratch. These videos definitely highlight how difficult it is to creat these items that we take for granted. I appreciate this channel, thank you and best of luck forward!

You are supposed to beat your swords into plowshares, not the other way round.

first good on you it is a hard task and you did it. also great to show the issues that arise from the task it helps to show the bad just like the good. I do ask you to research a bit for terms and process's as many people are being educated from this. overall brilliant job.

Nice blade dude! I'm glad you got to repurpose that steel! I was literally gonna use those for swords!

Good job blacksmithing it definitely would be a challenge. Some higher heats might make it a bit easier to work into more of a bar instead of trying to keep the edge.

Doing something lik this is so cool! Ive wanted to do something like this for a long time!

Being a Norman this video popping up on my feed made me unbelievably happy.

The first thing that came to my mind was: this must be a reference to the mtg card swords to plowshares!! After watching to the video, I think that probably that would be an easier job. I'm not an expert, but seems easier to curve a sword to make a scuthe, or make one side of the blade dull and attach it to a long handle. But great video and nice work given the situation.

I don't know much but I would have heated it and worked the edge into the metal while straightening it then when I got it relatively straight than I would have worked on drawing out both edges.

Great content!

Love this channel!!

"A little thin" is an understatement. The tempering process was "done" three times, and there are more than 10 different historical ways of reforging steel. How he did it would've caused stress fractures, warping, snapping, imbalance, and dulling. He should have broken or cut the rusted blade and reforged it via forge welds. Then he should've drawn the blade out, leaving the previous tang. It would've taken longer, but given better results. I love watching you guys work, but this hurt to watch. Sorry, I felt I had to rant about that.

8:56 Oh so THATS how they would fix the handle to the sword. Always wondered about that and makes perfect sense in retrospect

Wow, I once stood in front of the scythe sword attributed to Thomas Münzer, and it looked just like the scythe blade after the tang was straightened out...

Dude did a great job for what he had to work with. I have no idea why anybody is complaining

Next episode: Swords to Plowshares

Great video. 😊

HTME should be making swords into plowshares next spring

As a weaponsmith I was trying to not yell at the screen LOL (Cut, clean and stack) What you made is not a sword, its a sword like object

Excellent. Weapon making is crucial. You should be able to defend yourself and your loved ones.

No criticism, just honest curiosity. Would it not have been simpler to keep to the single edged nature of the scythe and made a scimitar or falchion?

Check the Scythemen on Wikipedia. The Poles used scythes to fight during the Kościuszko Uprising.

I’ve been waiting for a upload all year😢😂

This is awsome

A scythe history would have been made into a warscyth, a pollarm that is basically just a scythe blade put sideways on a long stick

It might not fair well in battle. But for what it is, it is Awesome!

Plowshares to swords?

Next, the other way around! Turn the sword into a plowshare!

Great job! I'm sure it defeats the purpose in that they probably would have just did it your way to make it quick and easy. But I feel like if they had the time or a really good blacksmith, they would have tried to fold the steel back up, and then stretch it out and start anew. But I'm no blacksmith.

Actually the other way round: From sword to skythe would have been way more interesting and sending a message to the world: NO weapons needed.

Really good Video. The reforging is very very lot of hard work. But the forging temperature looks really cold and the Tempering and hardening was not right. If it where properly hardend, it wouldn't stay bent! Also another variant would be to cut the sickle and weld forge ist. But this example from the video is maybe more historical correct, im not sure. ⚒️

I love this

Have you tried turning a "bark spud" Into a spear, and back into a bark spud. It just seems the most logical tool to turn into a weapon and back to its intended purpose.

Love you RCE

Keep up the good work ❤

And there was me thinking that the quote was "swords to ploughshares"... my bad xD

I know that this isn't very the argument of the video, but, ever thought of doing a collab with the channel Tasting History with Max Miller ? By the way, excellent video.

fantastic

Wow those cookunity guys must have a terrible marketing team. "Hey this guy Has a channel about how to DIY literally everything, im sure his viewers will be intrested in pre-made food"

Tool steel is usually pretty high in carbon, making good material for blades. Not on only is it possible, there was a show on the History Channel called "Forged in Fire" that had smiths make blades from tools all the time.

Great now all you need to do is beat your swords BACK INTO plowshares

Reversing the classic M:tG card Swords to Plowshares

Very impressive working with an already thin blade. Making a damascus blade would of course solve this but it still worked

I feel like if you had a local blacksmith and you needed that sword your probably just leave the curve. It would get less thin, be warped less, and be more ridged.

I feel like a spear would had been better , since it saw more use in battle and you could theoretically more weapons from the same material But otherwise good episode

Not the way I would have gone about it, being a blacksmith of 18 years. It worked... But I wouldnt trust it in battle. Unless you cut some footage, the blade wasn't annealed.. it was normalized, the quench was uneven/spotty, the temper is non existent. It's a bit heavy in the handle, but the furniture looks decent. Owning many scythes, I wouldn't have gone for a straight sword profile, curved swords cut better anyway.. But if I were forced to (and couldn't just cut and forge weld it into a new billet), I would chisel cut the flat edge off first, straighten out the remaining stock, and anneal it overnight in wood ash. Then hammer it to shape working both sides evenly, grind, heat in a long fire and quench at an even temperature (except the tang), and temper accordingly (about 400°). Normalizing the steel doesn't remove stress in the steel as well as actually annealing it, especially steel that's been work hardened for years.. hell, scythe blades are sharpened with a hammer and a stake anvil, the original scythe blade is so full of work stress that it's only suitable for cutting grass at this point anyway. Best to just remove it early on in the process. I've seen worse, for sure. So I'm not trying to be too critical, I just know better. The kid has a lot to learn, but he's definitely a better smith than most of the folks bashing him in the comments.

Out of curiosity, would it not have been easier to cut the scythe blade into pieces and forge weld those into a brand new billet for a sword? I'd suspect it might not have enough metal since then you'd need to re grind everything etc but it seems like the obvious solution

maybe it would have been better to go from a sword to farm equipment? a lot of people can fight few can grow food anymore

Title should have been "Farm to Harm", smh

i think i would personally have folded the steel to get more of a even sword stock to starat off with.

1960 car leaf springs make great weapons.

I always thought the phrase was "Swords into plowshares"?

The scythe is made from mild steel and only has a high carbon steel edge which results in the sword won’t hold an edge well.

reminds me of haleth son of hamahs sword. Better than nothing, and I think some folks forget that a lot of common swords were lower quality when compared to the blades professional warriors and nobles used. If you were going to be pressed into service to respond to a northman invasion youd take this sword over no weapon at all.

No wonder the swords you find in battlefields look so rough, because they were rough looking to begin with.

That particular design is late 19th century medieval period would have looked a lot different and honestly most peasants would have been using a flail as they knew how to use one vs a sword absolutely no experience. Hell if they got caught with a sword they’d be meeting the axe man .

The sword looks like the grey items you get dropped in mmos from low level mobs.

Great results with the given limitations... xD I'm guessing that for better results, you'd just keep the original tool shape intact for a different type of weapon, or just melt the entire thing and recast, rework into something completely different.

The Bible in several places talk about beating swords into plows and fishhooks for when peace is coming and beating plows and fishhooks into swords for when war is coming.

THE SWORD OF FEAST AND FAMINE.