Tag Archives: tony swatton

Making a 93-layer Damascus Steel Roman Gladius Sword Is Beautiful

Posted on by

I’ve always rather fancied swords having grown up on kung fu and ninja flicks. This amazing short film shows master bladesmith Tony Swatton of Sword & Stone as he creates an epic sword that any roman soldier would have been glad to have. The sword is a reproduction of a Roman gladius sword. The build uses Damascus steel in a 93-layer technique and has a cool twisted grip.

forging_damascus_steel_sword_1zoom in

What makes director Phil Holland’s video of the build especially impressive is the image quality, as it was shot in 8K resolution using the new RED Weapon 8K camera. Naturally, you can’t hope to watch it in 8K, but it is still glorious in 1080p, and incredible in 4K if your system can handle it.

Making a sword looks like very hard and hot work indeed. I got sweaty just looking at the process. The video is well worth a watch.

[via Gizmodo]

Jon Snow’s Longclaw Sword Gets Forged for Real

Posted on by

Man at Arms’ Tony Swatton has forged many great fantasy weapons, bringing them into our world and making them real. This time around, thanks to many requests, he has made Jon Snow’s Longclaw sword from Game of Thrones. You know nothing, Jon Snow, but you do have a kick-ass sword.

john snow 2 620x493magnify


I don’t know how many swords Tony has made by this point (no pun intended), but by now he could probably make himself an actual Iron Throne with all of them.

john snow 3 620x409magnify

As usual, the finished sword looks pretty amazing, and even has the same intricate direwolf head pommel at the end of its hilt. You can see it in action at the end of the video.

Jon Snow would be so proud. Now I wonder if Tony Swatton has ever worked in Valerian steel…

It’s Hammer Time! Blacksmith Tony Swatton Forges Thor’s Mjölnir

Posted on by

One of the strangest mythological weapons out there in my opinion has always been hammer wielded by Thor. Mjölnir is an interesting weapon in that reminds me a bit of the Excalibur where only one person can ever wield the hammer. Even the Hulk is unable to pick it up.

man at arms mjolnir 620x346magnify

Blacksmith and armorer Tony Swatton operates a company called Sword and the Stone that makes weapons using methods similar to what they used in the old days. His hit YouTube series Man at Arms has featured a number of awesome weapon builds, and his latest is a replica of  Thor’s hammer similar to the one used in the upcoming film Thor: The Dark World.

The hammer was made out of sheets of chromoly steel and while it’s hollow, still weighs about 20 pounds. The entire process looks like it took a long time to complete and the finished hammer is impressive indeed. The only downside is that the hammer appears to be significantly larger than the one from the film.

Swatton says he plans on putting the hammer on display in his shop – but not before filling the hollow chamber with shot, to bring the weight up to about 200 pounds, so it’ll be impossible for mere mortals to pick it up.

[via Nerd Approved]