Even if spiked maces are ugly, the amount of badass and brutality in their design makes them beautiful to me.

The blacksmiths that made these weapons couldn't even be able to comprehend that in the future someone would make fun of their work for thousands of people as a form of entertainment. What a crazy world we live in. I do really like spiked maces though, although more like Sauron's mace and not the billyclubs with some spikes in it.

Utility is it's own beauty.

Imagine being a 10th century apprentice blacksmith half-assing your final coursework only for some guy on the Internet to call you out on your shoddy work a thousand years later

Imagine creating a simple bronze knife. You have done many of them. Nothing special. And thousands of years later, with your name, family, gods and kingdom thoroughly forgotten. And all people know about you is that knife. And they shit-talk it :D

Me looking at number 9 "Oh, that's a nice spear head" Him presenting it "Here we have the bronze daggers" My reaction: "THAT'S A DAGGER?"

I may be alone in this but I actually like the simple weapons. "Engravings give you no tactical advantage whatsoever" -Ocelot

Is it possible the term sword breaker is less about breaking the blade and more about breaking the attack?

Who else here is kinda interested on the “one of a kind” weapons that Skall mentioned? Personally, I’d love to see a video like this one discussing some of them.

"They come in all shapes and sizes... of ugly. It's like a rainbow... of ugly." zefrank on angler fish... and certain billhooks.

I personally think "swordbreakers" look kinda badass.

I actually thinks some of the "cheap" dussacks look really freaking cool. I think it tickles my practicality bone when the entire sword is just the same single piece of metal shaped into a weapon. The hand shock on that thing must be awful though.

This reminds me of the Douglas Adams line from Restaurant at the End of the Universe: "The designer of the gun had clearly not been instructed to beat about the bush. 'Make it evil,' he'd been told. 'Make it totally clear that this gun has a right end and a wrong end. Make it totally clear to anyone standing at the wrong end that things are going badly for them. If that means sticking all sort of spikes and prongs and blackened bits all over it then so be it. This is not a gun for hanging over the fireplace or sticking in the umbrella stand, it is a gun for going out and making people miserable with.'"

I always assumed that "sword-breaker" was just terminology being different over the years, and they mean 'defeat' by 'break'

Ugly firearms are still made today, good idea to leave them out

6:45: "slightly curved". I don't think it's intended to be "slightly curved". I think it's bent, not curved.

NOT GONNA LIE, the cheap dussack gives me aesthetic vibes. I like it.

I bet the bollock dagger was invented by a guy who thought "Hmmm, you know what would get a laugh at that party next week?"

i personally like the “sword breaker” it looks very interesting practical ehhh depends on your opinion, but it does look cool and unique.

8:21 when you turn Oklahoma into a weapon

>Rhodok war cleaver >"Ugliest" only crossbow reactions

The sword breaker looks like a comb

I’m not butthurt but the sword breaker didn’t literally break the blade it was called that because they broke your defense those the sword. I hope you see this

5:48 "would be better to call it 'off-hand dagger', but they're all dead and i can't convince them anymore"

Sword breaker could be named that not for the ability to break a sword but more to break it's momentum, motion something like that

I actually like most bills. Given, they can seem crude and kind of ugly but I like the raw practicality. It's an everymans weapon, every village smith you can get your hands on could make you one of these. Well. That's probably why many of them are so crude.

Baseball bats with nails in them are modern day maces. Change my mind.

This channel is awesome, I didn’t realize it was gunna be educational and captivating... Good shit🤟

Spadroon at number 10? Quick someone call Matt Easton! Legends say if you say 'context' 10 times to a mirror Matt will appear to talk about military sabers.

I hope there will be a video of weirdest firearms like the Apache pistol

Loving It! I've always been fascinated by looks, creativity, and ease of USE. Love 💞 the DEMOS.

I’d love to see a top 10 elegant/beautiful weapons following the same rules...

*Most* rapier blades are quite sturdy. This is the same issue I have any time people talk about cutting sword blades or any other sort of destroying an enemy's weapon in combat: no one ever mentions quality of craftsmanship. It's always just assumed that everything is at least competently made, and that's not a valid assumption. I know full well that cutting one sword blade with another can be done, because I've seen it happen up close (I was holding the blade that got cut, borrowed from the guy who cut it with another of his own swords). It was made possible, in main part, by the extreme difference in quality of the two blades in question. This is not just a modern thing, either; shitty craftsmanship was a thing historically. If you have a properly-made blade, then yea, there's no way it'll ever get cut in combat, or broken by a sword-breaker dagger, or anything of the like, at least not without you and your opponent both having superpowers. But "if you have a properly made blade" is a qualifier that needs to be specified, it's not something that can be simply assumed.

9:37 Skall wanted to exclude firarms. But the *shots* fired here are *real*

Bronze age smith: 'It's not a dagger, it's my latest design for a spoon'

I have but one question: How quickly can these things kill the target? I'll admit that a number of these weapons are indeed ugly, but they are also interesting. That being said, if these weapons weren't effective, they wouldn't have been made. After all, it doesn't really matter if you got your head chopped off by say an elegant katana, or it was bashed in by an ugly spiked mace, you'd still be just as dead.

I actually like the meat-cleaver-on-a-stick, a.k.a voulge. It has a simplicity to it. And I've always liked the dusack/tesák with the wrap around tangs. They're so straightforward and to the point. There's just something about that blunt practicality that appeals to me.

10:55 Eyy that's an Rhodokian Cleaver!

9:49 I actually think that looks rather cool. It looks cool in a simple way and to me it doesn't look crude, but it also doesn't look like it took forever to make either

"Well folks the world is full of ugliness, but people never tire from looking at it" I guess that's why you have so many subscribers! Boom roasted! Don't worry it's a joke

Is it weird that all of those weapons look cool to me? Especially the last one... how can a spiky stick *not* look awesome?

5:29 *Oh, Skall. That's a goth/emo hair brush from Hot Topic*

10:24 "this is my sword I call it ... The salami"

I love your voice and how you explain stuff it's great keep up the good work

Ew, no, you can't have my butt-tears, Skall.

The voulge looks like it was designed to be made quickly, cheaply, and by lower skilled craftsmen. Basically a weapon to arm up a bunch of peasants real quickly and cheaply.

10:07 i actually find the sword look nice

You sir are awesome. I like your commentary.

6:35 My guess is that the dagger is bent from use, and not intentionally curved. It looks like the grooves weakened the spine of the blade, so an impact from an opponent's sword might have bent the entire thing, making it curved from its original shape. If you look, the spacing in the "teeth" of the grooves is uneven in one place, and it looks like there might be a bit of fracturing (is that even the right term?) at the base of the uneven groove. So it could be merely distorted from use, rather than made that way. But that's just a guess.

I've spent the past four years of my life, 9-5 doing video editing, and special effects. I really like the creativity with the sword-shing title cards, and such. It really shows that you put some TLC in this. Love it. I know it might not seem super important, but trust me, it makes it a lot of fun.

I liked the sawfish blade, it looked like it could do some vicious damage to something, the outcome would definitely look absolutely hideous. Edit: just realized the blade probably was a little to heavy.

3:40 That would look great as a spearhead, but as a dagger it looks atrocious.

Imagine all the smiths from earlier times you offended by roasting their work lol

but Number 3 is one of the best Swords in Mount and Blade Warband :(

8:21 Skallagrim talkin smack about lego spears

The Guisarme on the left in 11:42 looks like it has a radio antenna so men at arms could hear their favourite gregorian chants and the Gospel while fighting.

8:50 When the subtext was supposed to remain subtext, but the author decides to upgrade it to text anyway, and then rubs it in your face in the most unsubtle way possible.

spiked wooden clubs were still being used during ww1.

As a polish person I just wanted to say that you pronounced "Maciejowski" very properly!

Those are some of my favorite weapons, particularly the polearms! The guisarme is possibly George Silver's Welsh hook or forest bill, which he considered the best weapon of all for single combat without armor.

I take personal offence to the #5 spot. Nothing is as beautiful a source of inspiration as a human's body. This is the finest that that age has produced. Shame on you you taboo-embracing snob! oxoxo

Great video, I really love the "cheap" dussack, just give it some work on the hilt and it may be my favorite "sword" right after the "Messer". I really like the design approach: cheap, effective and awesome looking! I'm german, this may explain something...

These are all my favorite pointy & sharp things :c beauty is in the eye of the beholder

I do like that 19th century spadroon you showed, but I agree on the earlier ones!

I like the early leaf shaped blades, they are kind of living history, you look at it and you understand the thought behind it’s confection. It’s certainly flawed, but by looking at it you understand all later models, where they came from and why they became what they became, and I find some subtle beauty on the fact those early models basically contained everything the sword would become across millenias

I love that you mentioned the spadroon. I've been reading Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle and there are two vagabond/soldier characters who favor spadroons. At one point, one of them gets into a duel/street fight on a bridge with a nobleman who gives him all sorts of shit for his spadroon, while his servant circles around and flanks the vagabond. I love your channel!

What a goodman keep it up

The "spatula" daggers were throwbacks to stone dagger designs. The benefit of the shape being it can withstand more sharpening over the life of the tool. I think the flat pommel was an additional tool surface, mimicking the standard pointy-end/blunt-end form of other tools (also a pounding surface, you can stab the wide point and have a large area to push against like a nail)

"But to get to the point" I see what you did there

I love the spikey sticks. They look like a mental patient. If a mental patient was a weapon. The intimidation factor of one of those hitting you could be overwhealming. A cut is a cut. Someone breaking your bone and leaving puncture wounds is just, scary.

really like some of these polearms, the dussack and falchions

The guisarme actually looks incredibly useful, and terrifying to fight against, imagine everytime you block or strike at someone they have a chance to literally hook your weapon (or maybe even shield) and snatch it right out of your hands. also 13:24, im trying really hard not to imagine someone getting hit with that..... disgusting xD

You seem to associate beauty with complexity / intricacy, which is interesting.

4:06 looks more like a spatula or spoon...

The moment you actually like and find very nice some of the simplistic designs

love a man with some hot takes about spadroons

10:32 It's Nosferatu Zodd's sword.

Have you ever seen where they kept wearing the bollocks dagger? Also some did wear another big pouch right underneeth it, if you really felt like you had to compensate...

Have you done any videos on Gunstock Warclubs? I went searching but couldn't find one.

I kinda love the cheap dussak, especially the one at 10:03. seems like it would make a great cheap, throwaway bush cutter. the end was broader, i'd love a machete in that style.

How dare you insult the bollock dagger, good sir! A duel it must be!

The spadroon, especially the later version, reminds me of a bayonet. Given the time period, do you think there was some cross pollination going on?

Dude, the swordbreaker is great! it doubles as a hair comb!

I like these kind of videos, make one on ones u like.

Whenever I see spiked maces/clubs I can't help but wonder if they wouldn't be just as effective without the spikes. Isn't there a risk of the spikes getting stuck or bending/breaking?

I like the spiky maces. :( Seems very practical. So you don't have to just swing; you can stab.

What are your thoughts on "Man-catchers" as they were so termed?

I went to the German history museum in Berlin a few weeks ago and I saw a Sawfishblade like that there! They had it almost hidden in one of the display windows and the description basically stated that they had no idea what its purpose was. :D

Hi skal can you do a review on middle eastern swords and weapons please I’ve always had an interest in them thanks, love your channel.

10:18 looks like a banana with a handle

That number one is basically the medieval equivalent of a baseball bat with a nail through it.

on the sword breaker wouldnt you use your own rapier and main hand to break the blade? I know nothing of HEMA but thats how id use it.

Wow, I loved just about all of these... Hmm, I never knew our tastes in weaponry were so different. Perhaps I’m just not as picky as I should be...

I do have to disagree with the Swordbreaker, for me I think the right type of them look absolutely beautiful and I would love to own one. A perfect example is the one you pictured at 5:52 in the video. I think that is an absolutely beautiful and badass looking piece of art. Every cutout is so meticulously crafted and I just absolutely love it. I also know that they are not made to actually 'break a sword', they're supposed to be used to disarm or catch the opponent's weapon and leave the opponent venerable to your own attack. Also, I'm not one that dislikes very plain and boring looking swords. Some of my favorite longswords are of a very plain design. As for your number 1, really wouldn't have guessed that. I really like spiked maces actually. Not the wooden ones of course like a couple you showed, but the more well made forged ones. I personally thought that example from India was very interesting as well. You can't look at something like this and say it's not a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. i.pinimg.com/originals/54/dd/7c/54dd7c262cf5082dfa0df618d3e644d7.jpg I did generally agree with the majority of your list though. Some of your most hated polearms ans halbreds I also truly find to be disgusting and just disjointed looking, and when I saw a couple I really hated and have seen before on this video I got a good chuckle.

I know you've been struggling a lot lately, and i'm not ordinarily a supporter of the "just think positively" philosophy lol. I have to say though, this video was great. The last few videos of yours have been much more energetic and hopeful, and makes for a REALLY enjoyable watching experience. I just wanted to share how i feel. Best of luck to you, friendo. Your efforts are being noticed :D

By spiked mace, do you exclude the Japanese Kanabö? Just wondering. It isn't really a spiked mace, but some come close, as with anything else, there is variation.

Let the Sweet tears of butt Hurt flow.... XD

About number 1, yeah those look extremly crude, but what about morningstars? Also I made the medieval cleaver the main sword used by the orcs in my homebrew setting, so...

Ive seen maces with blades on them in video games but is it something that was actually used in medieval warfare?

you may have covered this somewhere, but can a weapon's blade like a sword blade be made out of bone? I'd imagine it might hold up due to the density of bone, but what an edge be made sharp enough to actually use in combat?