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The Pale Spear by Man at Arms


Cerbero666

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While interesting (especially for those of us that are interested in weaponsmithing), this isn't news, a rumor, or a board announcement. Since it's the Primarch Alpharius's weapon, I've moved it over to the Alpha Legion forum (the alternative that I considered was the Horus Heresy forum).
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That was actually a really interesting video and very warhammer related :wub:

I love me some Blacksmithing , thanks for posting this!

 

cheers, Mithril

 

++EDIT++   you'd reckon Salamanders fans would be into this as well  :wink:

Edited by mithrilforge
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Just a note, this team previously made a working Astartes Chainsword:

 

 

As a member of the Shattered Xth, and I guess as someone who trained in kendo as well, I also like to watch some smithing.  I'm not a practitioner, but just as a spectator it really elevated my appreciation of swordsmanship and actually even Warhammer.  Example - you know that story about the 2 Guardsmen discovering the STC for Marine Combat Blades got so rich they started like these aristocratic dynasties?  After learning how much effort goes not just forging, but heat treating, then grinding a blade strong enough for an Astartes that can retain its edge, I realised they deserved it.

 

Now about the Pale Spear build, awesome.  I'd just like to compare notes with you guys.

 

 

+++ "Damascus" Steel +++

 

What a great idea for this project.  INB4 actual historians (we got some good ones here on B&C) have to jump in to clarify, what this Pale Spear calls "Damascus" is Modern Damascus rather than Historic Damascus.  Modern Damascus is a pattern-welding technique that creates a look merely RESEMBLING actual Historic Damascus blades, whose forging techniques have unfortunately been lost.

 

But what a look it is, it creates these patterns of wavy lines.  Very fitting for the Hydra.

 

 

+++ Forging the Rough Form with mostly the Power Hammer +++

 

That was both amazing and very clever, how they drew out the blade in its rough form, just using the power hammer and a round chisel.  The two-man team is a very professional pair not only in how well they work together, but they clearly know how to turn in projects under time constraints, because they just used a chisel to do all those exotic multi-curved edges.

 

The downside was, with the power hammer jackhammering this "Damascus" billet, it could've been more risky, splitting the seams between the thin plates of metal, which could have turned it into a very pretty but non-functional piece of scrap.  They mentioned they took care of that by being very alert and just constantly putting flux (a chemical compound), as in any forge-welding project.

 

That was such a clever shortcut for a really weird, practically unique project, especially considering the next step...

 

 

+++ Using the Plasma Cutter +++

 

Using the plasma cutter was the one thing I I thought was such an incredible shortcut, it was almost cheating lol.

 

It's a forked blade, 2 forks.  Normally, what I've seen more traditional smiths do (I recently saw this on a clip of the Forged In Fire gameshow on the History Channel) was they draw a piece of metal out 2x the length, then bend it in half to make 2 forks.  Here they just used the plasma cutter.

 

But doing it this way is probably a good idea, because it's risky enough with "Damascus", I guess.  Again, I'm not an expert.

 

 

+++ I think that Shaft is also Steel +++

 

This surprised me, but I guess it made sense from their perspective.  It's the staff and I thought they might use something lighter like aluminium.  Then I saw how they used magnets to hold the ring in place as they welded it...so it must've been steel.

 

That's way heavy.  I guess you could say it's for Alpharius, a Primarch, so weight's not an issue for him, but I was a little surprised is all.

 

 

+++ The Quench +++

 

That blue St. Elmo's Fire looked pretty cool!  They didn't mention in the video, but I wonder if there was any bend in the blade after the quench.  I know they had a rig set up to hold it straight, but wasn't sure how necessary it was, though they must've set it up out of an abundance of caution.

 

 

+++ The Post-Forge Cutting Tests +++

 

This wasn't wielding a spear.  This was a weightlifting barbell that had pointy ends.  I know it was for a Primarch, but all these smiths are very strong from the nature of their work.  

 

 

+++++

 

 

All in all, what an amazing build.  These shows really get me in the mood to get back to painting.  Thanks for letting us know about this.

 

Edit - what did you guys think?

Edited by N1SB
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My thoughts: I need to find this show!

 

The use of the classic citadel paints was heart-warming, shows someone here is truly an old school fan or they did their homework.

 

finally they need to get a real barbarian-looking dude on the show at the end to demonstrate these builds. They looked hilarious trying to wield this thing (thought performed better than I expected)

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