I heard a description of a falchions as "The things armoured men use to chop up the un-armoured peasants" Seems appropriate in many ways.

Armoured fighting is about, "Poking holes in the bits you can find to poke holes in." - Tod Todeschini. You're a legend and we love you.

As far as bushcraft goes, George Monck's 17th-century military treatise recommends equipping pikers with tucks (estocs, thrust-only swords) instead of cutting swords, "for if you arm your men with Swords, half the Swords you have in your Army amongst your common men, will upon the first March you make be broken with cutting of Boughs." So, even if using swords to chop wood wasn't ideal & wasn't a great idea, soldiers apparently did it under certain circumstances.

"Plate, doesn't touch it. You'd be an idiot if you tried." Epic self-roast, Tod.

Mrs Tod “where is the joint of pork I put in the fridge?” Tod “I’ve no idea my love,” 5 mins later, Mrs Tod “Why are there a 2 machetes in the sink and what is that on them?” Door slams as Tod retreats at haste to “Tod’s workshop”.

Hi Tod, salutations from Brazil! You mentioned "edge damage" in this video. I would love to see a video discussing how medieval people(specially soldiers mid-campaign) would deal with such damages and how much damage was to much for them to deal with. Love your content.

Tod sacrificing precious arm hair, just to prove the edge was sharp. The true dedication we have come to expect

I recently took delivery of my clip point falchion from your store. It's easily the most impressive sword I own now. In terms of handling you can tell straight away that it's a cutter, it's balance is much more to the tip than my other swords. It still has that mean point on it, however so thrusts are still more than doable.

I always figured the falchion was a sword carried by wealthier people who presumed they would be fighting those that couldn’t afford mail and wanted to maximize effectiveness cutting fabric armour.

Bought one of Tod's grossesmessers about a year ago, and I can personally attest to how brutally it can cut and how durable it is, having used it extensively as a machete on thick tree limbs

For whatever reason I have always been attracted to falchions, messers, and dussaks, all closely related swords. Thanks again for another great video!

Tod: "Work out how you can help us and get involved in these things" Also Tod: Proceeds to chop up meat

This corroborates the impression i've also gotten elsewhere, that the falchion is a weapon specialised for fighting unarmoured and lightly armoured foes. You'd put a peasant revolt down with it, but you'd leave it at home if you were facing armoured knights.

I don't know why, but ever since I learned about them, I've always loved the look and style of falchions

Hey Tod, fun little thing to point out about falchions depicted in source material. Every blow depicted is at the head, both when armor is present and when it not. When on horse and when not.

Aww, man! So close to the classic line at the end there: "That'll do, pig, that'll do."

If Skallagrim has taught me anything, its that you're not suppose to cut towards your leading leg, or you might end up hitting it when you over-swing. But damn, that difference between regular sharp and razor sharp on gambeson was huge.

So the Bowie Sword of US Civil War just reinventing the Falchion.

I feel like the comparison between the slightly duller and "razor-sharp" blades during the gambeson cut really dispels the myth that medieval blades weren't super sharp--that difference could change the whole course of a battle, definitely worth the effort.

Last statement had me thinking of babe the pig, "that'll do pig" you cut well.

I could honestly look at that wakefield hanger all day

Falchions and Messers are two of the most underrated swords. They are really brilliant tools for so many different things.

Tod's local Butcher talking to a housewife - "Sorry Madam, I've just sold my last joints of pork. There's been a sudden run on them lately. I can't imagine why..." ;)

Todd, just a thought if you have a local butcher near you you should be able to purchase smaller pieces of skin on pork. A butcher will often purchase entire halves of pork and then butcher them into cuts. Leaving the skin on would be very representative for the purpose of weapon damage and might even save you a couple of quid.....

Do a sword sharpening video Todd ... would be very helpful ! (thank you, great video)

I'm trying to get my mate to understand how light and maneuverable Medieval weaponry was/is, and this video will help a lot!, Thanks for another great video Tod!

As an amateur low-fantasy writer, this channel is my greatest resource, and highly entertaining to boot. I've learned so much from your channel, and my WIP's have improved tenfold for it. Thank you for what you do, Tod, not just for medieval enthusiasts but for authors like myself

As much as I absolutely love Lord of the Rings, after seeing the experiments on this channel, I can't help but burst into laughter when I see arrows and spears going straight through plate armor like butter. Pretty sure Gondor makes their plate armor out of wax

Tod carving the Christmas ham. Must be exciting for all the guests.

once, on a trek, i was bored, waiting for the night to come, So i figure a nearby tree, a 10 years-old birch, and took my cabbage-cutter. I focused a while, and manage to cut it almost in half. Farmers tools are strongs tools. Even today, where ou can buy another tool in the day. farmers had pikes, machetes and falchions, falxes, billhooks... various "fun" stuff to play around with. And all of theses tools ages well : the more they are used, the more they are sharpened, and the more they become aggressive, thinned where they cut, etc... A man carrying a sword can be a moron with a wallhanger. A man with a billhook in an hand, an falchion in the other, this man is for sure a threat.

Moral here: If you're challenged to a duel in civillian dress and the other guy pulls out a falchion, apologize immediately and profusely.

oh yeah! Tod's got such good content!

Did you know that the Conyers falchion is the original vorpal sword? Lewis Carrol wrote "Jabberwocky" after visiting Durham cathedral, seeing the sword, and hearing the story of the slaying of the Sockburn Worm. In it, he coined the word 'vorpal' in keeping with his penchant for creating nonsense words. Gary Gygax then used the name vorpal for a blade that severs heads (or "goes snicker-snack" in Carrol-speak), and thus we have the legendary Vorpal Blade.

Sharpness really counts and it took off the shoulder!

Can we get you guys a ballistic gel dummy and a HEMA expert to try out some medieval weapons on some with and without armor? Maybe even a doctor to go over the damage and explain what kind of wounds would've been fatal. I would love to see something like that, and with a variety of weapons from different periods of the middle ages with weapons used around the world. I want more stuff like this.

Another splendid video. Thank you.

I've been watching Tod's workshop for years and only just noticed - he's only a Scrapheap Challenge veteran! :O I'd love to see him giving a behind the scenes talk on that - forgive me if he already has and I've missed it.

The Thorpe falcion is much on the way of swordification, but the Cluny falchion retains some traits of earlier falchions. The Cluny blade basically identical to the 3rd century machaira excavated in the sanctuary of Demeter in Eraclea, and now housed at the Museo della Siritide. I've never seen this piece in person, but the Cluny I have. There's really zero design limitation that prevent even these thin sweet spot falchions to be used as tools. The mass distribution isn't ideal because of the overweight hilt, but otherwise the Cluny is extremely close in design to the Guapote (number 284) pattern machete. Of course, the machete isn't as finelly designed, with the stiffened spine and concave grind, but the blade is 1.2-1.4mm at the sweet spot. Cane machete (the super wide kind) often have only 1mm thick blades. So it's really not a design issue, it's a material issue. While you can safely chop at seasoned oak with a 1mm thick machete (it will only give you tennis elbow), because it's modern eutectoid steel with consistant and finely tuned heat treat process, the Cluny falchion is extremely badly bent at the base of the blade were it's thickest, showing that it's not far from being in annealed condition or mild steel. It's important to notice though that while the Cluny falchion has a completely regular sword hilt, the Siritide machaira has a flat tang in the shape of pre-modern Italian cleavers and billhooks. And in general, non-swordified falchions (especially all the hook hilted ones such as seen on the Morgan Bible, Villard de Honnecourt notes, Porta Romana frieze, etc) are basically a variation on billhooks and cleavers (which, in Italy, belong to the same familly of tools, are constructed the same, etc). Swordification reduced their usefullness as tools, moving the sweet spot back on the blade, but initially they were just as good as tools than as weapons, just like parangs in South East Asia. catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/ArchaeologicalProperty/1700209365

Ok, I think I finally have got this: falchions are specialized shaving tools and kitchen swords.

I was always wondering about them. Thanks for the demo!

That episode with the fire arrows was a blast!

Awesome fact findings there and I always am so glad that we have channels like yours to show us the truth!

I applaud your efforts here; great demonstration and good sense. Sadly in the face of internet 'expertise' I fear it will be wasted on many. Keep fighting the Good Fight.

Hammer time Todd.

Always interesting. Knowledge backed up by demonstration. Thank you

I love this dudes verbiage and commentary. Immediately subscribed

no matter how good it is in the name of science, ill never get used to perfectly good weapons going up against steel

Cool video, thank you sir! Amazing how well it cuts a gamberson after being sharpened.

I Love ALL Tod's Workshop videos!

Awesome video! Cheers

Awesome video!

I have never forgotten the words to the song Black Sir Harry, which I learned in junior school in the 1960's: Black was his plume, black was his shield, Braver ne'er did falchion wield.

Yes so I was like "oh, (being from Germany) basically I have never known how to pronounce "falchion". Let's just take a quick look inside and find out. But you, Mr. Cutler, make content you just can't escape. Thank you, it's always a pleasure.

Tod's Cutlets

Thank you Tod

Awesomeness in Action 👍🏻

Loved that, thanks Tod. I was just thinking towards the end, "chop a joint of meat" & you did just that!

Nice touch with the pork at the end. Thank you. :)

I didn't know about the cross sectional profile change in falchions before. Really interesting and totally makes sense in hindsight. Also I recognised that gambison straight away. Loved your fire arrow videos.

The birds in the background are really nice.

You should have tested a cut at the gambeson alone after one cut to the maille, would have been interesting how much less it would have cut.

Yeah I’ve chopped off lots of heads limbs with the different Falchions. Just slices through enemies on their soft spots. I use this historic info in Blade and Sorcery VR. It’s incredibly accurate and the tech is only getting better.

if you had to fight someone in mail, it might be a good idea to turn the falchion around and strike with the spine of the blade to avoid edge damage.

"be an idiot if you tried" But you did try... Great video!

I wonder how nervous the smiles his neighbours give him are. :)

looks like i'm buying a falchion good stuff thanks tod

you should invite matt easton for this. really wonder what would happen if a sword expert did this.

Bjorn Ruther suggested that it may have been done that falchions with simple ambidextrous grips could have allowed for alternating sharp and blunt edge strikes using the cutting edge against vulnerable targets and the blunt edge like a hammer against sturdier targets. He has a video on his channel where he talks about it.

I know you focus mostly on medieval weapons, but could you take a look at more Bronze Age and Ancient weapons, like a khopesh and kopis and similar weapons and how they behave against flesh and armour? I'd love to know! Thank you for the constant amazing and informative content, Tod! Keep it up!

Yess, falchions are my second favorite sword type

regarding the comment about mail's purpose @8:52 "its not so good against piercing things like arrows and spears, but swords, axes that's what its made for". Mail appears to work fine against piercing weapons as is attested to in both historical sources and in modern testing with accurately made mail. KZfaqr Airnt's video "Lance versus Armour" showed that well made mail is capable of stopping a lance from a charging horse so it seems quite likely the same armour would be capable of resiting a one handed spear thrust or an arrow from the lower poundage bows found in most periods. As is often said on this channel, our ancestors were not stupid and piercing weapons (spears, arrows and javelins) made up the vast majority of the threats mail would need to stop. For many centuries mail was the preferred choice for developed European armies, even for high status individuals, despite the availability of other metal armour types such as breastplates, scale or segmented plate armour. So it does seem that our ancestors felt mail worked against piercing weapons.

Now this is the kind advertisement I don't mind watching.

"any tool that is badly designed won't get used" Generally i get where you're coming from but the Sa-80 rifle literally exists and was forced into use despite being a stinky doodoo

Minutes from going public and already watching!

I would personally choose the clip point, probably a one even more aggressive than what Mr. Todeschini has. That way it would still be relevant against mail.

I gotta start saving, I desperately want one of your Falchions!

Dostal taper is what sets swords apart if it is done by a pro like tot it feels amazing to handle

In the Elmslie typology, there are (respectively): Type 1 Type 3c Type 5c

That is a good sword for the explorer in a dense forest. Today we have the machete.

plate aside, I'd strike the gambeson more with the tip, letting the sword cut along the body, not whack with it like its an axe or a broad sword. for the chain, I'd consider poking with the longer falchion, that tip might have a chance of some penetration. my 2 cents. ;-)

Awesome. Cool.

I recall reading a story once where man had been ambushed and just barely gotten his mail shirt on with no padding underneath, by the time it was all said and done his friends remarked on the "peculiar bruises". Wish I could remember what story it was... Also I love the Clipped Point design on Falchions ;-)

I've always like falchions. I've also imagined them to be more defensive and utilitarian weapons; the wider blade makes for easier blocking and deflecting, while also being more resilient to abuse. Then again, the times I've actually held a sword can be counted on one hand.

I have found that angling your wrist towards you as you cut will also help get through that cloth armor. The drawing/slicing action it creates is far more effective at such than a static chop.

I have heard that it was a practice when using a falchion to use the back of the blade against people in metal armor, that way you get the bludgeoning without damaging the blade.

"I've got a lovely bunch of falchions There they are, all standing in a row Big ones, small ones, some as big as your leg! Give them a twist a flick of the wrist That's what the swordsman said" -I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts - Fred Heatherton, paraphrased

Awesome video! One of the things I heard on another channel, Dequitem, is that against mail and plate they may have flipped it in their hand to strike with the spine of the blade since the impact is all it can do anyway. Then of course with the clip point you can also use it to thrust into the gaps. Gorgeous blades and interesting to see that evolution in design as armor changed as well.

Greay video Tod. Speaking on the topic of utilitarian swords I'm fascinated to which kind of swords would be for you the ideal ones to carry in the medieval period, perhaps looking at what someone might carry in a more urban compared to a more rural area or even profession etc. Of course we have sources in art and writing to get an idea but I do wonder how much fashion influenced people over practicality. Food for thought. All the best! Love the content matey.

A couple of other things that I’d be interested in: The “reasonably sharp” against clothing. (Linen tunic and wool cote. Maybe a wool hood too.) The “reasonably sharp” doing a pull or push cut against the gambeson.

I like that the plate is still being used. Something I'm very curious is about the wear and tear/rust of armor that is used for a long time without reforging. I feel people nowadays don't think about the fact that the armors were expensive and probably used for a long while so they probably weren't as durable or consistent on average as people think.

Blaize de Montluc wrote that men at arms circa 1520 used to carry curtilaces (coutelas) to cut arms of maille and to cleave (destrancher) morions (Blaize de Montluc was an archer in the Ordinance Companies, as well as serving as a man at arms for a short time during that period). Rarely does he exaggerate, and wrote that he never saw such cuts (before) in his life (ie, they were surprising to him). Joachim Meyer likewise describes "hewing" with the blade of the "sabel" (depicted as the typical long knife/curtilace of the period) against an armored opponent, particularly at the hands (as well as thrusts, obviously). He says the sabel should be strong and good at cutting, but *explicitly* not too heavy.

This takes me all the way back to my first time seeing James Burke slash into that meat on Connections.

5:59 during the English civil war soldiers apparently used their swords so much for cutting firewood that they became too dull for combar, but they could use their muskets as clubs anyway

Thanks for the fascinating video! If you intend to do more tests, always wondered what striking with the back edge or clip point would do to mail

Who else wanted to see Tod jab the clip pointed falchion into the maile too?

Finally he gets the ballistic gel torso!!

I have a bunch of your stuff, all excellent. Been drooling over your falcion blades for a while now, but I'm skint. This doesn't help, you git!

"Can you cleave through plate armor?" "Yes... if your sword is made of mithril and the plate armor is not." 🤣

Always pork pies, never pork roast at Tod's kitchen...

excellent