HOW SWORDS ARE MADE at Windlass Steelcrafts of India
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- Опубликовано: 15 окт 2024
- How swords are made at Windlass Steelcrafts (products available in the USA at bit.ly/3PkiTOb ) in India, using a variety of traditional and modern manufacturing methods. You can find Windlass products at www.museumrepl... and www.windlass.com . See the full manufacturing process with Matt Easton.
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How swords are made at Windlass Steelcrafts (products available in the USA at bit.ly/3PkiTOb ) in India, using a variety of traditional and modern manufacturing methods. See the full process with Matt Easton.
Oh hell yeah.. nicely done Matt...
Matt, I beat you to it by about 7 years. My wife is from Dehradun and I toured the factory back in 2016. I did a write up on it at the truth about knives (TTAK) when the website was still running. I even had Nimit as my tour guide. So cool seeing all the weapons there.
I am completely astonished. I had no idea so many swords were being made on a regular basis. I'm impressed by the quality of their production line. Absolutely fascinating.
The Swords and Knives (Fighting Swords & Knives) are there to supplement the Rifles and Pistols.
Really makes you wonder where they all go
Windlass started in 1941 as a Govt Contractor- to supply kukris to the British Gurkha Regiment in India. Later, in 1995, it acquired two U.S. firms, Atlanta Cutlery Corp and Museum Replicas Ltd In the same year, they started R.S. Windlass & Sons, to supply historical, military, and contemporary apparel to the commercial industry
In 1941 im sure hed be using Tata steel for there Kukris
Wait, windlass owns Atlanta cutlery and museum replicas?
I guess that would explain why Atlanta cutlery gets to sell the antique kukris in the US. The Nepalese probably just sold the whole batch to their existing arms manufacturer.
So buying a kukri from windlass could be considered buy a pretty "authentic" kukri?
And the factory is in Nepal if im not wrong so you cant get more authentic than that @@woopize
@@braddbradd5671 nice!! Better than any random "arthesanal" kukri I can find on ebay for sure.
Just amazing! The gentleman wearing sandals barefoot whilst aiding the pouring of molten metal was wild 😂
I was sitting barefoot when I watched this and I have to admit I cringed and pulled my feet back when I saw that pour 😮
Factory tours are always so interesting
Fascinating to see craftsmen at work, Windlass are clearly outstanding in their field particularly given their customers and museums they work with and for. Really enjoyed this video.
Same. 🙂
Almost my whole collection is from Windlass, going back decades. Thank you for posting this!
I am exactly the same!
If you buy from anyone else, I've found you're taking a chance. My favorite is the hand and a half sword, and Damascus viking sword.
A medieval craftsman would probably have willingly given up a leg for a steady supply of steel that good. What we consider average blades today would have been highly desirable at some times in history. It's remarkable how far we've come in just a couple of centuries.
high desirable is a understandment, blades that for the most part look perfect, made at a speed that will be seem like dream, and steel that is consistent with good grain, at a price that is affordable for the most part. not only craftman, a medieval lord would want this for their army.
@@panoctiche was just talking about the steel, you're talking about the production process including powerhammers
The medieval sword makers, at least in the major centers like Solingen and Toledo, had power hammers, via water mills @@stefthorman8548
It’s fascinating to see how much their quality has improved over time. When I bought my first sword, Windlass only made decorative wall hangers.
It's great. A lot of companies aim for an initial standard and then plateau. Windlass have continued to evolve their craft.
Not the "Indian Marto", then? 🤔
@@peterchristiansen9695 Not so much any more.
i have two windlass rapiers, i think they were both about $350-370 ish. -maybe a little less. they both arrived unsharpened and i seriously doubt if either of them are actually quench tempered
@@mikebockey4125when did you get them, and from where?
It’s great seeing these artists at work! I have to confess that in the past I’ve held the mistaken stereotype that Indian made products are automatically poor quality. Fortunately I learned better many years ago and this video will hopefully help more people come to the same realization
Eh they still have a bad rep. Too low temper and ripply finishes.
@@notanotherswordreviewchann4901you’ve been buying wrong or are a person who can be swindled easily.
Yeah there's a whole world of quality out there, sometimes it's just hard to find. Windlass itself has also improved its quality a lot in the last 10-15 years.
It's Pakistani "forges" that are garbage. They are all mass-produced wall hangers.
Love the indian safety sandals all through the factory
Thanks so much for the transparency! Appreciate seeing how the sausage is made! Hope the second batch of the Royal Armouries Collection is a great success!
How's It Made: Scholagladiatoria Edition Starring Matt Easton.
This needs to be a thing.
Aaaand I'm sold. Outstanding video. The folks at windlass are doing some great work.
Some OSHA guy is watching this video shaking his fist at the sky and screaming about steel toed boots, having a conniption about all the flip flops and sandals.
I used to work in a factory and all I can think of is the metal splinters. They stay for years.
I visited a factory making Holy Statues in South India (Tamil Nadu). They used the "disappearing wax" hollow mold method. Then the rough statue of bronze had to be shaped and finished with chisels. Since it was a considered a Holy Place, all the workers (and visitors!) had to leave their shoes the the door. There were sharp curly shards EVERYWHERE and they worked in bare feet even around the molten pour stage. Scary for the feet to visit there; can't imagine working there.
@@kaoskronostyche9939 that's so much worse than the time I lost my shoes in a national park and kept stepping on cactuses
I worked in Fettling and know where your coming from.😂
Thank you very much Matt and Windlass. That was wonderful to watch.
This is just one factory, and theres enough to equip entire armies.
Amazing.
My grandmother used a foot powered sewing machine. It was amazing to watch her make a shirt.
Holy OSHA batman. I wonder what the injury and type rate is in a place like this; wearing sandals around molten metal is just plain negligent.
Ive forged and made most of my knives while wearing pajama pants and crocks, no problems. It makes you be extra careful.
Yes!
Very cool of you to show the actual production side.
I can only imagine if I could go to Solingen or Liege in the 18th century and see how the workshops made all those blades. Very cool! Your videos are as always lightyears beyond other youtube or TV historians.
Someone get the bros on the grinders proper glasses and mask💀 😭
Fascinating. Thanks for making such a detailed video of the process. Thanks to Windlass for allowing you to do it too.
The investing compound is not a ceramic, but a refractory compound that is a type of plaster that can be dissolved after the molten metal cools.
Fascinating. It's great to see craftsmen create beautiful and functional swords. Thank you.
Spring steel is a marvelous material.
Extremely interesting and impressive. What a huge factory. This made me appreciate Windlass products even more than before.
1:35 Those safety glasses are doing a great job protecting the top of that guy's forehead ;)
Absolutely wonderful video of the background work in the factory. Thanks very much.
I had seen an old video like this on RUclips and your detailed video was much needed. Thanks. Also, it's fitting that you put this out on what is the U.S. Labor Day holiday. I appreciated seeing how modern their facility is but the sandals sure wouldn't be allowed by OSHA over here or a very good idea in general!
I have two blades from Windlass, the Cold Steel 1917 Frontier Bowie, and the 1849 Ames Rifleman's knife. Both are very well made. But I do have one minor complaint, they did not come very sharp. I was able to sharpen both to a nice edge. Windlass makes good things :) Take care and keep em sharp.
I don’t think Windlass can legally make sharps
Holy shit, 40 years from now i would love a neat walking stick that's also a mace!! All in all great video, i didn't just watch it, i absorbed it! Keep up the good work! Im going to be sharing this with people!
Homie wrapped that grip wire in just over 30 seconds. This was great to see all the parts of the process that aren't normally covered. I never would have thought of that jig to make multiple grips at once from a template.
I already love my windless swords, but now this video makes me want to go buy some more.
Matt, you said it quite well: MESMERIZING! This video kept me glued to the screen for the entire 34+ minutes. Well done, indeed!
I love my new Windlass 1796 saber.
Glad to see them getting attention!
This is neat. I have a rapier from Windlass, i bet it was made in one of these rooms you've shown here. 😊
what a great opportunity, inspires me to pick up a windlass I've had my eye on for awhile..
Brilliant! I loved seeing the traditional copy duplicators used on the wooden parts. Not sure about the feet protection used in the molten metal pouring process? Overall, it looks like a top class facility. If I could afford one, I would certainly order one of their products.😍
Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Very cool. But where was OSAI? Practically bare foot men working with molten metal! Well, on this Labor Day in the US, I hope these men are making more that a living wage. They deserve it.
Very happy to see this. I have 121 different Windlass items in my collection
Please , do more like this! I love watching stuff being made, especially by craftsmen.,and with your commentary. Cheers
What a cool glimpse behind the scenes! Thanks for bringing us along Matt!
i own two windlass rapiers. they weren’t cheap but definitely not high dollar either, i think both were in the $300+ range. both arrived unsharpened and i highly doubt if they were quench tempered. save your money, folks, unless you’re looking for a costume piece or a wall decoration.
Not exactly EU work place safety standards.
But I can see a lot of medieval european kings being very envious of the number and quality of that production 😗
Thank you for this informative look at Windlass. It has enlightened my previously negative view of the quality of it it’s products.😊❤
This was a really interesting video! Thanks, Matt!
I was literally mesmerised by this video. Very very interesting.
Both wonderful and fascinating. I love seeing craftsmen at work. Thanks for posting this Matt.
legitimately one of my favorite video seen in a long time!
Excellent,tour.thank you!
This is finaly fantastic video that shows that today, for the budget prices, we can buy traditionaly made swords, which can outperform most of their historical counterparts.
The level of craft is absolutely staggering!!!
How many swords and knives are being purchased every year? That business is so much larger than I had imagined!! I am in 😲.
If you don't live in an poor zone, then it just isn't profitable, imagine the mark up if it's made in California, shudders.
It’s not called „liquid ceramic“. What you see is called „Investment casting“ und the white material - the investment- is just gypsum. Also the large containers are vacuum chambers, so that there are no bubbles in the gypsum.
Wow, this was a really great video. What a fun and fascinating opportunity to tour their facility. Matt, I love your regular content, but I also really enjoy the videos in which you go on an excursion - whether that's to check out something in the Wallace with Toby Capwell, to test Tod's latest creation in a muddy field in Oxfordshire, or halflway around the world to visit Windlass! Great content!
I love that there is a random empty coke bottle, it really shows that these are actual people who are making the wonderful products at windlass
I enjoyed this video, thank you from Canada.
Amazing stuff! A lot more high end tech involved than I had anticipated
This video is an absolute treat.
I love this kind of video! Makes me feel a lot more confident in buying one of their products. I'd love to see factory tours of other manufacturers as well. Although I can't seem to find anything on the partisan heads at 12:26
It is wonderful to see specialist craftsmen at work and to know that one can still buy products produced using traditional techniques, and that there are companies that still do 'everything' in-house.
On the other hand, it is deeply saddening to see those valuable, skilled craftsmen working in conditions of 'traditional' workplace safety! The timber may have smelt great but the complete absence of dust extraction was obvious, bare-handed nonchalance with aerated ferric chloride is taught by the burn when you get it wrong, grey sweat stains on your shirt show what you're breathing in the polishing shop, foundry sandals are available with and without toes, fans in the wall make dry grinding feel less dusty than turns out to be, power hammers throw scale at your eyes just as hard as they throw it at your overalls, and the bloke with the 'spectrometer' appears to have been giving his fingers an unintended X-ray.
None of these observations is intended as a criticism of the company whose work is shown here, they're just doing business in the same conditions as their local competitors. My hope is that people will pay attention to the costs of inexpensive high-quality craftsmanship.
"So, what do you do for a living?"
"I slam sword-blades onto wood."
"... And then?"
"I slam some more sword-blades onto wood..."
"You don't do anything else?"
"Sometimes I smack them instead, if I feel really feisty I will bash them, but mostly I slam them."
Thank you for the video and showing us the process
This was excellent, really appreciate this video.
My collection consists almost entirely of Windlass pieces and have always wanted to see the craftsmen that produced theses amazing works of art.
This has raised my confidence in Windlass quite considerably. I do suppose that was the intention.....that said, well done!
Every single one of theses craftsmen deserve to earn more than any single one Wallstreet banker
This video and being approved by you as a decent manufacturer has given me brand loyalty to Windlass before i even bought the first sword. Can't decide which kind fits my outfit, but it's going to be made by them.
I used to make jewelry and do metal casting. Cool process. Starts with making a wax copy of what you want to cast into metal. This was interesting thanks. I’m hesitant to buy from somewhere I’m not familiar with. This seems like a quality manufacturer.
Wow , that was really interesting. Thanks a lot for the insight matt!
An extraordinary process on an epic scale. Thanks for sharing
Wait, the molds aren't reused? So every single unit of hilt fitting that is cast had to be carved by hand from wax?
One typically casts the waxes in a silicone rubber mold which can be reused hundreds of times. You were seeing workers trimming and adjusting any excess material or flaws in those waxes. There are often some air bubbles or blobs from a torn or damaged area in the rubber, or flashing from a seam in the mold. You just use a hot metal tool and a scrap of the same wax to flow in a replacement and then a hot metal tool to scrape or gouge excess away. Cold knives and files for the finishing work. Faster to fix in wax than brass. But all the spruce areas have to be ground off anyway.
Be interesting to see what the indian workers think about their job of making blades from movies and history, is it just a job for them, or do they have an interest or understanding of what they are making, or even care.
It is just a job for most of them but a few take pride in doing what they do. They are paid well above average from the looks of it.
amazing people. ive seen documentaries where an indian, "factory" is a family squatting in a hut banging on things with a stick yet turning out world-class mirrors. these guys are running computer controlled cad and paying attention to chemistries... while some guys are banging on things on top of large sticks! so cool.
Wonderful behind the scenes video . I have a few windlass pieces and nice to see the people and their machine work.
Absolutely fascinating and VERY educational. Thanks Matt.
Thanks for the heads up on the Windlass company and their dangerous shop conditions! Having worked in a foundry and several metal-working shops here in the States I am dismayed by the working conditions on that shop floor..
The safety issues in that shop are APPALLING! NO safety glasses, no safety masks for the guys testing the blade's strength (Imagine a blade snapping and a piece of it under pressure striking the operator in the face!) One guy in a MEDICAL mask, that's all the personal safety gear?!? Pouring molten metal with absolutely NO SAFETY GEAR? No gloves, no masks, no safety glasses... No bueno, I will think three times before buying any more Windlass products. There are a LOT of Windlass products in my collection.. Had no idea the working conditions were bordering on SLAVE labor conditions! Those guys need a UNION...
The lack of care for employee welfare says a LOT both about the COMPANY and the labor and safety laws of India. Human life is obviously cheap in India. SAD...
Most of this work would be utterly familiar to anyone at Wilkinson back in the day.
A sprue tree of saber guards would be an awesome decoration! Big fan of Windlass, good swords at a good price.
Great video, Mr. Easton! I have been receiving Museum Replicas Limited/Atlanta Cutlery since I was a kid, and I own several of their pieces along with a few Indo-Persian antiques I was lucky enough to snag…I was SO happy when you reviewed their Type XIV Arming sword-(along with my Langes Messer, it’s been my favorite cutting piece, & I log several hours a day cutting with them). I recently purchased their “Crusader Axe”, and found your video on research methodologies as pertaining to axes very helpful…in truth, I spent the morning devouring all of your videos on axes and their use that I could find.
Although I must admit some jealousy on my part, You are my favorite RUclips source for all things edged and HEMA related…thank you so very much from your biggest fan “across the pond”
Incredible. I had no idea that shops were still manufacturing on this sort of scale!
This was a wonderful video! I own a few of their swords, and it was great to see the manufacturing process. :)
Very impressive setup and the tech they use alongside the traditional handmade craftsmanship
7:15 I don`t need no safetyglasses!
(yes you do)
Hearing protection? You just get used to it...
WHAT?
Yeah, that part was a sad picture.
I was immediately wondering about that. Those sparks were flying much further distances away than their faces.
Next year windlass should bring back their discontinued stuff but in groups each month with a preorder page open until end of month and produce only the number that was ordered
Mind-blowing the way all this works.
Holy crap, each pommel, each guard, is made by hand from wax first? I just assumed it was CNC'd from a sheet of metal. I all the sudden understand where all the cost is. Thank you for this tour and the eye opening revelation!
Not exactly, Someone made the original pattern (a 'positive' ) that was then used to make a rubber mould (a 'negative) or more likely several for production runs. The wax is then cast in the rubber mould producing the wax 'positives' that are then assembled into an array by hand as we saw in that section.
@@stonedog5547Oh that makes more sense. They're just cleaning them up before assembling them on the mold.
I am sure this was not a comprehensive look inside their operation, but it sure was detailed. The biggest takeaway I have from this is that they employ a lot of people, their production is quite sophisticated, and the only limitation to the quality of their reproduction is design. I think they have proved they can manufacture more exacting mid-range replicas of European swords. I really appreciated all the small details of their operation that are overlooked. I was especially impressed by their use of tumblers for polishing. I also enjoyed seeing workers who specialize in certain functions. The gentleman who wraps with wire was especially enjoyable to watch. I couldn't stop staring at his hands. Thanks so much for this, Matt.
Do anybody (possibly Matt?) have any updates on the ‘Windlass Munich Cut and Thrust Sword’? Specifically information on whether they have improved/upgraded specs like the (blatant lack of) distal taper, and the overly heavy, barrel-shaped pommel?
Also; Has anyone checked out the new ’LK Chen Munich Town Guard sword’? It appears to be much more historically correct, and better balanced as well…
Very well done from start to finnish give us a real good feel as to what goes on in this process. Happy Trails
Thank you Matt for sharing this! Much respect to these guys for working a hot, loud, dirty job to make all this very cool stuff. Loved this video!
Awesome! How frequently does a blade fail one of the quality control tests? Several per day? Once a month? Almost never?
proper little armory there
excellent video Matt and certainly alot lot bigger production facility than i was expecting, count me in as a customer for windlass
I like the guy wearing the sandals in the foundry😅
Been looking forward to this video for a long time!
Always interesting to see the Windlass operations, although the guys using grinders and working with the crucible without safest glasses cause me some cringe! I have a couple of Windlass swords, spear and pole arm heads, and a mace. They do excellent work. All the different operations and techniques are fascinating.
Brilliant, very interesting.
I recently watched Reclaiming the Blade, nice to see you in it lol. Are there any other documentaries you would recommend watching concerning the history of swords?
Very cool. Thanks for sharing this.
32min24sec yep. Matt unintentionally confiemed where Vold Steel messers come from 😂
😍😍😍 I am in love with that hand hammer seen at timestamp 4:55 to 5:00. That geometric style of Hammer is fantastic for beveling...but that one looks like it has a functional cross-peen. Typically you see that geometry on Japanese-style hammers(i am fortunate enough to have been able to buy two 'hand made' one Japanese syle and dog head style hammers.) but i have never seen one with a cross Peen. what feels like a little-known fact even in the bladesmithing world: The cross peen on a hammer is used to move material in just 2 directions