I'm a professional bladesmith and I was planning on using a machete to make a falchion for myself simply because I knew it was a good steel and a close enough profile that I could make a reasonably good blade out of it, I'm tempted to send it to you now once it's done for abusive testing 😂

I love how there's a warning label on the machete. If you don't know a large sharp blade is dangerous you're not a big reader.

My favorite wrongly named weapon is the Ogre Morningstar from Gothic 3. It's a big and heavy sledgehammer and the description mentions how it's not actually a morningstar but are you really going to explain that to an ogre?

The machete reminds me of my childhood in the Philippines. When I was young, we were expected to help keep the grounds clean at my school. Students are grouped and are expected to take turns removing weeds growing from the school garden and the premises. Once a week I would board the bus carrying a machete and half of the passengers too would have a group of young teens with blades on them. Nobody bats an eye. Well, it was a rural school I attended and we had some kids that were in the agriculture club that actually had to work a 6-hectare land to grow produce or they don't get a grade at the end of the term. The 2 farm water buffalos we were using became our mascots.

Unfortunately when it comes to big name manufacturers they don’t know what a falchion is, the condor one in the video is a great example. Windlass actually had a decent model for under 160$ usd for years but they discontinued it as they had quality control issues with the thinner blades warping during heat treatment. If you want something good it’s going to hurt the wallet. So we actually did what you are planning with the machete, it works, so good luck and can’t wait to see results.

Hi, just a little fact. The machete with the orange grip is from the mexican brand "Truper". Truper is the top brand regarding tools here in Mexico. As a mexican I can confirm that even if you neglect that machete (no maintenance and a lot of work abuse) that machete will keep its shape and will be as easy to sharpen as new. That machete will also exist across generations in your family. Also please note that all brand new machetes sold here in Mexico are always dull. You have to sharpen it. This is primarly to make them a bit cheaper aswell to be sharpened to the user preference

Falchions and messers are possibly my absolute favorite kinds of swords/bladed weapons out there. I just love the shape of the blade, its so lovely.

Machetes were used as weapons by the Cuban Liberation Army in the Ten Years’ War and the War of 1895 as cavalry weapons and infantry sidearms. The common availability of these instruments combined with the military tactics used by insurgent generals allowed for devastating attacks and conservation of scarce firearm ammunition.

The cameraman deserves a lot of credit! The panning and zooming is perfect

What if we made a... Machalchion? Or a falchete?

I am extremely familiar with machetes, I own 100-200 of them. For me they are very nimble.. I'm not saying there aren't drawbacks, but I personally feel very confident with them as weapons (I prefer them over swords, because at the end of the day it's a tool), especially in a modern context.

I was feeling bad this morning, but than I saw that Shad uploaded!

When I lived in Florida I owned 3 machetes for maintaining my yard. One was a great big 3mm thick plank with a deep bevel, it was an amazing chopper but it was tiring to use. The Fiskars was thin and light, great for grass and weeds, but just couldn't cut deep. The $1 unbranded one from a flea market bucket was balanced and had a nice taper and held an edge well, it was a great compromise. I was rather annoyed when it got stolen.

It struck me today that Shad's hair/beard combo REALLY looks like a medieval aristocrat or a knight errant. Looking sharp, Shad!

I like how slowly he's moving from leather bound peasant fighter to full plate knight!

I wasn’t aware that falchions were so thin historically but then that’s not a blade type I’m familiar with. Thanks for the info

Since, there's a cutlass in the collection shad has, I'd like to see him cover pirate sword styles. That would be amazing.

Thank you Shad! This was a GREAT video. (Greetings from Missouri in the USA. 😊) I have actually wondered a few times if a common machete blade is anything approaching the "threshold" of what a falchion should be. I found your video to be EXTREMELY useful on this! I seriously want a short-ish falchion or a messer with a nice scabbard; your expertise on these is just wonderfully helpful.

I'm glad you talked about the weight. Because pictures and movies do not do it justice. I've used a machete before but never a falchion or supposable falchion. I noticed that the machete was a great hacking tool like an ax, so when you started talking about falchion I thought they would be used more like an ax then a sword. Thankyou for correcting that.

I love how you have knowledgeable peers to chat with now. You guys look like you have a lot of fun together making these videos.

Shad you're the #1 swordtuber now, you can't have things like "falchion stand-in"s anymore.

Shadiversity: *Uploads* My left mouse button: "I AM SPEED!"

"the blades were so thin that the rusting has put holes in them" ...sounds like the sheet metal on my first car....

Thank you for the explanation, now to challenge the nearest underbrush with the correct blade!

Machetes evolved from sailor's hangers. The "fullers" we still see on many machete patterns are remnants of the fuller from 17th century Dussäge/Sinclair hilt hangers ships were armed with and that were used as bush clearing and bivouac tools when landing in the Caribbean or other parts of Latin America. Blade manufacturing centers like Solingen and Sheffield simplified the design over time to make it easier to manufacture, but the advent of the industrial revolution, mass production of cast steel, steam powered rolling mills and stamping press turned the manually forged blade of the early 19th century into the modern mass produced machete. But while machetes made in Solingen and Sheffield were flat with distal taper, the machetes made in France have no distal taper but a proper grind from spine to edge.

Falchions always felt super under appreciated to me. It’s not as iconic or flashy as a Longsword, Scimitar, or Katana, but dog goneit if it ain’t a reliable weapon.

I like how you touch on how much variety in a single type of weapon there would be. The shape and weight of a weapon would depend on the enemy you are fighting. Armored enemies would require heavier weapons.(without considering piercing weapons) The light razor type weapons would do great against unarmored enemies. I use to make swords for Botn and other armored combat groups plus I have spent decades doin mostly SCA and other groups like Botn and some Larp.(I use to be a pro athlete playing american football) So I understand the Combat quiet well.

The "Falchion" Shad got looked like they googled what a Falchion was supposed to look like and just mindlessly copied it without understanding its core design principles.

Thank you Shad! You have confirmed my decision to make a cheap replica falchion from a 28" Gavilan machete, adding a crossguard and pommel. The handle is messer rather than falchion but easily disguised. It is probably closer to a historic cleaver falchion than anything commercially available. Slices light targets like the proverbial hot knife through butter even if it looks a little clunky. 😊

Speaking of the machete, have you ever done a video on movie serial killers, like Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Leatherface? I know this isn't Medieval per se but it would be interesting to see a comparison between the effectiveness of using a machete vs a chainsaw vs a large kitchen knife as a weapon. Maybe throw in Freddy Krueger's bladed glove for fun. Just a thought.

Never really thought too hard on how similar the two are but I definitely am now!

Love falchions. Would be interested in an assessment between standard falchions (which were thin and designed to take on gambesons and other lightly armored individuals) and the cleaver falchions (or whatever other names they have) that did seem to be depicted as beefier and being used against armor.

I have the impression that the falchion is a type of sword made to cut through gambeson, I remember from a Skallagrim video where he tests multiple kinds of blades against gambeson that the swords with thicker blades and thicker edges didn't get through the gambeson at all while the thinner swords were able to cut through it, so I'm thinking that's the reason why the historical falchions were razor sharp and the reason why it's a broad sword in profile is so it has more space to get thinner towards the edge, not to be heavier and hit harder, probably a kind of sword more likely to be found as a secondary weapon at the battlefield rather than as a personal defense weapon at the streets, a anti light armor weapon

My paternal grandfather at one point worked in a steel mill in his life and he got his hands on a chunk of railroad steel that he cut, forged and hardened into a really nice machete (total length was about 23" long) with a wrapped wooden handle that I used to take when I'd go hunting or fishing with my father as a 8 and 9 year old child. Was really lightweight for what it was and quite easy to wield for a small child, did a great job chopping through brush and small trees. Unfortunately it was one of those items that got sold or lost when he passed so I was not able to keep it for myself, which is a shame as it was truly a beautiful blade.

You had me at “swelling at the tip”.

I seriously wish I could click the "like" button more than once on this one. 🙂

You should DIY a new hilt for that machete to give it a crossguard and a pommel.

I appreciate this, I really need this video right now.

I have to tell you, the machete also has numerous blade profiles in the family. Depending on what the machete is designed for the blades can be thicker. The one you were flexing was a lighter grass machete and what most people would consider the stereotypical machete. I believe machetes of the Central American region evolved from the Cutlasses via deserters from Spain, France, and England. So it would make sense that there is quite a bit of similarity. Thanks for discussing the cross section/distal tapering, etc. and what really makes the difference instead of just basic profile! Learned a lot!

Great content shad.

Heres to hoping we get a scythe demonstration video! Wanting them to really debunk how useful it is in a fight.

Whatever Shad told I take that granted. We could end all disagreement just listening him and agreeing obvious wisdom of his words. So simple so easy.

Your videos have really motivated me to learn more about swords/medieval culture and even working on my health. Thanks shad and crew for everything you do.

As soon as I saw you with the sword in hand I was like "Yes you beautiful beast you gave us a double feature!" We love you Shad, keep it coming

Great one, thanks.

The best machetes have distal tapers, but I imagine the machetes spine is a little thinner

these videos on falcons are very helpful to me as someone who has no personal l experience with them outside of silly video games and other stuff.

Machete, or as we call it here in Indonesia: a common farming tool or gangster weapons. Seriously though it's called parang/golok in Indonesian.

I'm diggin' this new hairstyle Shad

A real expectional Flachion can be seen in the Maciejowski Bible (f.14) , where you can even see a two handed version (first one of ´f. 3). I think that type is for cleaving, because of the top-heavy-ness.

Some time ago I decided to make a falchion with a machete, I've never had a sword but there are things I learned about machetes. The first one is the quality they have, the main brands that distribute them in America are the following and they handle different qualities/characteristics: Acorn, their machetes are of excellent quality, they have a marked distal cone (2/1.5mm at the base and less than 0.7mm at the tip). They use 1060 steel if I remember correctly, with a treatment that makes the blade extremely flexible and resistant, although their models vary in specifications, in this case I am referring to the standard model (known as the Latin machete) with a red handle. Their blades vary in size from 12" to 26" and 28" in the case of Acapulco/Caguayan machetes, they would be one of my first options in the case of starting another similar project. The next brand is Tramontina, until a few years ago their The quality was deplorable but they have already improved their steel (1065) and heat treatment, I don't know if they have a distal cone but their thickness is around 2mm, together with acorn they are the best commercial machetes that can be obtained in North America. There are also brands like Truper, made of steel 1060/1065 with chrome, although its quality is not bad, it is not ideal either because they have an irregular or crooked blade many times, just like the visel, and the chrome makes the blade brittle after long and exhausting days of work. but they are cheap and abound. Other brands that stopped being commercial a long time ago due to the closure/purchase of their company are Legitimus Collins and Campos Hermanos (CH), they used 1095 steel with an excellent heat treatment, they had at least 3mm at the base and a blade with a distal cone (from 3mm at the base to 1.5mm at the tip in the case of my 26" blade CH machete) its edge retention is very good and there were specialized heavy-duty or combat models in the case of both brands. (Collins wielded 4.5 mm thick machetes, 26" long blades and others that were practically sabers, while CH made machetes known in Mexico as "guaparra" with a longer blade, made to be wielded on horseback by charros. Both brands can be found on the second hand market for $40/75/100 dollars depending on the brand and condition. I am personally using a CH 26" blade machete for my project and I am quite happy with the result One more detail, the new machetes are "despalmed" with a triangular file to finish sharpening them, new from the factory they come with an unfinished bevel.

That's Skallagrim's cutlass! I recognize the dent he put in the guard

Excellent video!

It's interesting to see a truper machete all the way up to Australia, I though they were only sold here in México

God bless you and excellent video! These are the types of swords you need to be doing one-handed reverse grip with.

Wow! What a wonderful video! The falcion is one of my favorite sword designs and it's interesting to learn more about it here. I look forward to seeing more on the topic, as well as my other favorite sword someday: The Falcata

Great video! Very informative.

Finally, content is back

Its clear that falchions came in all shapes and sizes, it was a feature of the middle ages that everyone was doing their own thing. i have no doubt that some falchions wielded in 1275 somewhere in germany were exactly the same in every respect to a modern machete. Still, its a good video. thanks.

Keep making these kinds of videos... Its very interesting 🤔👍🏼

Hey guys I'm here to watch!!

Finally a shad video 🤍

2:58 "We're talking about Distilled Tapah! So now Distilled Taper-" That moment when you slip your own accent. XD

Great to know the differences ❤

I'm like 2 and a half minutes in and my immature ass can't help smirking every time Shad says "swelling at the tip". I just can't help it.

i didn't know the difference now i do thanks shad

The Windlass falchion that Matt Easton helped with and also did a video on, is a beautiful piece.

Not a falchion fan myself, none the less it is still very usefull information. Maybe I should create a character which uses one. Thanks Shad!

Nice content. Great explanation of a sword type I apparently knew nothing about!

Hold up, are we witnessing the beginning of fit Shad? You're looking good mate!

worried seeing the fatigue behind Shad's eyes. Thank you for the videos and dedication Mr. Brooks. Stay well.

Now I want to see a full review of the Kult of Athena "falchion" as a machete that it truly is. ;)

Thank You Shad!!! I'd commented on the last Video you showed us that Machete on(I think it was the Messer Video iirc) asking about that Machete and who made it because I wanted one and couldn't find it online myself. At around 4:50 in this Video you finally answered that question for me by telling us, so thank you very much!!! I very much doubt it, but I'm going to keep telling myself that you were responding to my comment question, knowing you'd be doing another video soon showcasing it again. xP Thanks Shad, love the content, keep it up mate!

Ever since your video on the weapons a ranger would carry I’ve fallen completely in love with the falcion,

I was looking this up last week as I have a cheapish machete I wanted to change the handle on, so it was a little more falchion like. Perfect timing

I have been waiting for this video since you made the video of you cutting plants on your property. Once this video is finished, your task here on youtube will be complete.

Well, now I've got to add falchions to my story.

I look forward to seeing a video with stress testing the falchions and the machetes.

I’ve been a fan for a long time I just wanna say you look absolutely amazing. I know you’ve had a lot of hardships and stuff but you look like you are at your best.

Interesting. A fun comparison. I did find the video informative.

Living in the country as a teenager I always loved singing my machete. They just feel so satisfying to swing

I can't wait to see this with a custom handle and whatever else they have in mind

Before watching this, I thought falchions were a fire emblem thing lol. Glad to know a lot more now!

Looking forward to the machete makeover vid!

Great video

very good video, short informative entertainig and still with thy typical shadiveryity style very very nice

The issue w/ most modern machete is how flimsy & flexible they are. Not all are though. Cold steel, Aranyik & Condor are all examples of brands that are reasonably stiff for machete.

Tramontina makes excellent full tang high carbon steel machetes. Got myself a short latin style blade since typically in Canada we use machetes for light chopping tasks and as a backpacking tool rather than clearing bush down to foot level. It is a beast, just didnt come with a sheath but I only paid $30 CAD for it

Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh, my God. It even has a distal taper.

Nice video!~ had some useful information to teach people about sword characteristics =)

Hey Shad, fun discussion; Falchions as you point out are a very broad topic since there are all sorts of different blade types across the centuries and their cross sections and properties change as we go through time. Since you are focused on earlier types in this discussion, let's stick with these Elmslie F1a style falchion for now. You are spot on about modern production falchions. On the market, as far as affordable flachions are concerned there is basically nothing out there that replicates how an actual medieval falchion operated. They typically exhibit minimal distal taper, and because of the very wide blade profile will carry too much weight far out from the hilt leading the the impression that these were perhaps percussive weapons. To have any idea of how a real falchion handles you will need to have a custom ordered sword at this time; I would always recommend ordering one from James Elmslie himself, but there are a few other bladesmiths that have taken the time and research to make reliable blades from historical examples as well (for example Maciej Kopciuch). As to Machetes; the steel used in machete's tends to be durable, but as you have pointed out in part they differ from swords by several notable ways. Their edge is put on completely differently as a secondary bevel to sheet metal body. They exhibit limited (or NO!) distal taper, and their tangs are often slab much like a knife/messer construction. All of these will make it difficult if not impossible to convert a typical machete blade into a faithful sword representation. For example, trying to turn a standard latin style machete into an F1a falchion would need a machete that starts at the shoulders at between 4-6mm. This is very atypical where most machetes as you point out are usually closer to 1-2 mm even at the base. Also, you mention re profiling the edge, in the case of faithful falchions the edge is not just apple seeded as on some other historical swords, but a continuous edge all the way up to the spine, which would require a tremendous amount of fineness in regrinding. I look forward to your next project!

My roommate just walked in at “swelling at the tip” so I said “what, you don’t have swelling at the tip? I don’t have swelling at the tip either. That’s what I’m not a stereotypical falchion.” He didn’t know what was a falchion was so I guess I’m stuck with him thinking I was talking about something else. 😂

I have finally been click-baited into one of these videos. For some reason, I have a weird fascination with the falchion. It is like the glass cannon of medieval swords.

Not that I don't like the other guys, I subscribed this channel because I liked Shad, it's nice to get a more shaddish vid

Great info as always shad! I don't know if you normally do this or if it just got missed this video but when you mention another one of your videos (in this case the kriegsmesser review) you should have it pop up on the video side bar (that little i icon that pops up in the top right hand corner) or at the least have a link to that video in the description. I'm gunna go search your channel for that video but i think it might drive more traffic if you had a link in this video to that one. Keep up the great content!

U. S. military special ops capable units have adapted various traditional martial arts styles, (with modern input,) to use machetes in combat. And yes, they do use tomahawks, longbows, etc. along with the traditional knives. One advantage is that they are all silent.

I train in FMA and we use dull Machetes as realistic trainers. It is a cheap and easy way to start training Eskrima. It's also historically accurate for us in Hawaii as our forefathers immigrated from the Philippines to Hawaii to work in Sugar and Pineapple Plantations. Money was tight, a good machete was invaluable for work as well as for around house and garden. Especially Sugar Cane workers. So FMA practitioners unable to get authentic Filipino blades such as Bolos or swords, utilized Machetes. Our system is a Bolo fighting system as opposed to a Stick fighting system so we are particularly focused on blade work. I own over 50 Machetes mostly Latin type, and yes the Ring of the blade is really indicative of quality. I greatly enjoyed this video about the resemblance of Machetes and Falchions and eagerly await any more videos on this topic. ⚔🤺🗡🤩

I found a picture of a Maciejowski style Falchione with a matching knife. So I chopped the tip off a 14" Machete and ground the shape to match the knife blade but I want to do the same with a 21" Machete. Thanks Shad I was blissfully unaware, now I have my work cut out for me getting that distal tapper, that'll be a battle as I'll have to hand sand it.

When I was a kid I always wondered why a machete wasn't considered a sword. I think I heard someone joke that it's for the same reason that not all knives are considered daggers.

Hey shad I don't really have any room to recommend video ideas but more of a like to see sometime. I was hoping for a deeper dive on knives/daggers for war, personal defense, survival, and " adventures" or a video on your preferred diy modernized medieval weapons that you could make with stuff from your local hardware store or junkyard.