1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:17,880 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:20,959 Speaker 1: and how the tech are you? It's time for a 5 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:26,239 Speaker 1: classic episode. This episode originally published on July eight, two fifteen. 6 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 1: It is called Swords the Real Cutting Edge Technology, and 7 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:35,240 Speaker 1: my good friend Ariel Casting joined me as co host 8 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,560 Speaker 1: on this episode. You can hear me and Ariel talk 9 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:43,400 Speaker 1: about geeky stuff on a podcast called Large Nerd Drown Collider. 10 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: If you have not checked it out, you definitely should 11 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:48,479 Speaker 1: because we have a lot to say about geek culture 12 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: and nerd news and we always take two geeky properties 13 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: and then say what would happen if you mash these 14 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: up together? Well, in this we're not mashing things up together. 15 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 1: We're sly sing him apart with swords. Hope you enjoy 16 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:06,759 Speaker 1: this classic episode of tech stuff. For people like myself 17 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: and an aerial, this is beyond something that we're just 18 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:13,960 Speaker 1: interested in. The both of us have done stage combat, 19 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:17,959 Speaker 1: some extensive stage combat. Ariel, I think you prefer the 20 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:20,679 Speaker 1: broad sword to the rapier. I do. Yeah, the bigger 21 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 1: the better. You're crazy. I'm more okay, fine, I'm more 22 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 1: of a rapier person because I think finesse is sometimes 23 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 1: called for uh. And also I have a body type 24 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:34,360 Speaker 1: where rapier works better than a big old sword. But 25 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 1: we both are interested in this source stuff. Actually, Ariel 26 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:41,520 Speaker 1: and I first met working for the Georgia Renaissance Festival 27 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:46,400 Speaker 1: back in two thousand and one. I believe that's correct. Yeah, 28 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 1: so long time ago two thousand one we started working 29 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:51,000 Speaker 1: there to I had been there a couple of years 30 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,240 Speaker 1: an Ariel joined the cast and she jumped right into 31 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:57,080 Speaker 1: doing combat as soon as possible, whereas I was, I 32 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: decided that was not for me. And it was one 33 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 1: of those things where both of us have this interest 34 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: in the topic. Uh. And you know, we both like 35 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:09,800 Speaker 1: the whole swords and sorcery stuff too. So when I 36 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:13,119 Speaker 1: said let's let's cover something and we started talking about 37 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 1: the possible topics, swords was one of those things that 38 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:21,680 Speaker 1: it's a technology that's been around for longer than longer 39 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 1: than written history. In some cases, possibly that's debatable, but 40 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 1: we'll get to that. So to start us off, aerial, 41 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:32,160 Speaker 1: can you walk us through Let's say you're looking at 42 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 1: your typical sword like a Viking sword. Let's say, what 43 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:39,959 Speaker 1: are the parts of a sword? All right, so there 44 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:43,639 Speaker 1: are lots of different kinds of swords, but um, they 45 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 1: all basically are made the same way with the same pieces. Uh. 46 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: So you've got the blade, you know, the part that 47 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:55,080 Speaker 1: you've hurt people with, and then you've got the hilt, 48 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: which I guess you can hurt somebody with a help, 49 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: but it's not as fun. Um. And a lot of 50 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:04,360 Speaker 1: hilts also have a guard which protects your hand uh 51 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:08,400 Speaker 1: from other people's swords, um, which I personally know is 52 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 1: a good thing because I've been cut open on the 53 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:12,920 Speaker 1: hand by a sword before. So there was actually a 54 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: day where Ariel was doing stage combat, got hit in 55 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:19,959 Speaker 1: the hand, had to go and get stitches or staples, stitches, stitches, 56 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: and then came back and finished the day. Yep, yep, 57 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:27,079 Speaker 1: worth it, so worth it. But so yeah, so a 58 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:30,800 Speaker 1: guard is really important. Um. And then you've got a 59 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 1: pommel which is at the very base of the sword, 60 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:35,840 Speaker 1: and that helps keep the sword from slipping out of 61 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: your hand because when you're gripping on a sword and 62 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: you're swinging it around, your hand gets really sweaty. Yeah. Um. 63 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:43,280 Speaker 1: And it also acts as a counterweight which balances the sword. 64 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,880 Speaker 1: Otherwise you're using far too much muscle and strength to 65 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: try to finesse the sword around. Um. Yeah, and that 66 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 1: speaking from experience, that can get very tiring, even with 67 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: the pommel. But if you didn't have that counterweight helping 68 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: you with those uh those moves, then just the your 69 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 1: wrist would get exhausted and your forearm in order to 70 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 1: control the sword while making those swings, you'd be very 71 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: quickly become an ineffective swordsman. Now, the hilt in the pommel, 72 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: the back end of the sword, the decorative part um 73 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 1: is called furniture because it's furnishing the sword um and 74 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: really interesting. In ancient Europe, the hilt of the sword 75 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:26,280 Speaker 1: was the entire back end from the guard to the pommel, 76 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:30,680 Speaker 1: and in uh Norse and Viking culture it just meant 77 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 1: the lower hilt in the upper hilt, which was like 78 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: the pommel and cross guard, but not the actual grip. Now, 79 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:39,360 Speaker 1: so so the parts that were on either side of 80 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:43,680 Speaker 1: the actual grib interesting, and when we talk about blades 81 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:46,599 Speaker 1: blades also we can break that down a little bit more. 82 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:53,480 Speaker 1: Blades typically have six and sometimes seven different areas to them. Uh. First, 83 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: you have the edge. This is the important part of 84 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:01,039 Speaker 1: the sword. This is the actual cutting side of the blade. Now, 85 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: some swords are single edged, like the katana is a 86 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: single edged sword. A lot of different um uh swords 87 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: and throughout the ages have been single edged. But others 88 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 1: are double edged swords like long swords and a lot 89 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:19,760 Speaker 1: of short swords, and even some swords like pas or Yeah, 90 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: that's true, they technically have three, although those tend to 91 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: be used more for stabby stabby than cutty cutty. And 92 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: then you've got the tip that would be the stabby 93 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:31,000 Speaker 1: stabby part. You've got the back of the sword. Now, 94 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:35,919 Speaker 1: the back only exists if you have a single edged blade. 95 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 1: The back refers to the non sharpened edge of the sword. 96 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:44,240 Speaker 1: So if you had a h you know, a scimitar, 97 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:47,840 Speaker 1: for example, is sharpened along the front side, but not 98 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:50,360 Speaker 1: the back side, so the back you don't since you 99 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:51,919 Speaker 1: don't have two edges, you do have a back on 100 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:54,240 Speaker 1: that one, whereas with a long sword. You know, your 101 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:57,800 Speaker 1: typical long sword had an edge on either side, so 102 00:05:57,839 --> 00:05:59,799 Speaker 1: you don't have a back on that type of sword. 103 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:03,799 Speaker 1: There's the flat of the blade that refers to the sides, 104 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:06,480 Speaker 1: not the edges. So if you were to slap someone 105 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 1: with the flat of the blade, it would sting, but 106 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 1: it wouldn't cut them, right, You just do that to 107 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:12,760 Speaker 1: be a jerk. Yeah, And actually that's a go to 108 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:17,040 Speaker 1: move from stage combat because you usually there's a Usually 109 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:22,760 Speaker 1: it's the cocky hero who, uh, while dodging a villain's attack, 110 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: will slap them on the rear end with the flat 111 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:27,599 Speaker 1: of the blade. And and by the way, that does sting. 112 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:31,080 Speaker 1: Then you have the fuller. Now, the fuller is a 113 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:34,000 Speaker 1: narrow groove that runs down the blade of lots of 114 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:36,360 Speaker 1: different sorts. Not all sorts have these, but a lot do. 115 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:41,560 Speaker 1: Sometimes they call it the blood groove or blood gutter. Uh. 116 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:43,880 Speaker 1: And it's not what a lot of people think it 117 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:46,800 Speaker 1: is there. I have heard folks say, oh, well, it's 118 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:50,000 Speaker 1: it's a channel for blood to flow through so that 119 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:52,920 Speaker 1: when you stab someone, the blood has a place to go, 120 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:56,560 Speaker 1: so you know, as you're stabbing them over and over 121 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:00,200 Speaker 1: they continue to bleed out. That's not what that for. 122 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: In fact, it has nothing to do with blood. It 123 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:06,120 Speaker 1: has everything to do to making a strong sword without 124 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:09,440 Speaker 1: having to use as much material to make that sword. 125 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:16,160 Speaker 1: So the the gutter that that channel actually adds structural 126 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: integrity to a blade, so it is able to maintain 127 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 1: its shape while still being a little flexible UM and 128 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: is able to cut through stuff without breaking. And I 129 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:28,520 Speaker 1: guess that would mean it would also be lighter weight. Yeah, 130 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:30,440 Speaker 1: because you don't have to use as much material. Instead 131 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:33,920 Speaker 1: of a solid steel sword, where you know, you have 132 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,400 Speaker 1: the whole mass made up like that, you have that channel. 133 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: It means that you use less material. It means that 134 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:43,640 Speaker 1: less material means less weight. Very important, as it turns out, 135 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:47,040 Speaker 1: I mean they're not everyone is the mountain in Game 136 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 1: of Thrones. You know, some some of us mirror mortals 137 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 1: need a little bit of a rest. I'm the mountain. 138 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: Aerial is the mountain, but I I need more, uh, 139 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: you know, a light sword I appreciate. Next we have 140 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:02,080 Speaker 1: the aang. Now, the tang is the part of the 141 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:06,080 Speaker 1: blade that is actually covered by the hilt. Uh So 142 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 1: a sword. If you were to strip the hilt away 143 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: um and take away the guard, take away the pommel, 144 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:15,040 Speaker 1: you would see a blade that on the base of 145 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 1: it turns into almost like a rectangular solid steel um 146 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:24,040 Speaker 1: usually steel because we're talking about steel today, but solid 147 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 1: steel tab essentially that. If it's a full tang, it's 148 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: pretty much the width of the blade and runs all 149 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,839 Speaker 1: the way down to where the pommel would attach. If 150 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:36,559 Speaker 1: it's a partial tang, it's maybe about half the width 151 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:39,040 Speaker 1: of the blade. It can even be more narrow than that. 152 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:42,280 Speaker 1: Um And at any rate, this is what the grip 153 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:45,240 Speaker 1: fits on top of. It's what the guard attaches to. 154 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 1: There's actually um a shoulder on some on some blades 155 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 1: where that's where the guard will attach where it won't 156 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:55,440 Speaker 1: go beyond because your card wouldn't be much use if 157 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:57,199 Speaker 1: it just went right off the end of the blade. 158 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 1: It would be you know, funny that one time I 159 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:03,560 Speaker 1: prefer a full tang. I know that I have thought 160 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:06,280 Speaker 1: plenty of time with swords where the tang was not 161 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:08,160 Speaker 1: quite big or long enough and it's just kind of 162 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:11,160 Speaker 1: floppy in the Yeah, yeah, you can actually if it's 163 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:15,000 Speaker 1: not if the if the handle isn't properly fed to 164 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: the tang, it's loose, you can feel it rattling, and 165 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:21,079 Speaker 1: that's that means you have less control, and also you're 166 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:23,960 Speaker 1: doing a lot more work. And also it's not it doesn't. 167 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:27,480 Speaker 1: It just feels unsafe. As someone who's fought with these 168 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:29,719 Speaker 1: as well. No, I prefer a full tang sword as well. 169 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:33,080 Speaker 1: Also that affects the handling of the sword. Uh So, 170 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 1: if you have a full tang sword, it's going to 171 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,480 Speaker 1: feel different in your hand, not just because of whether 172 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:42,800 Speaker 1: or not the blade is is um steady inside the 173 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:45,560 Speaker 1: you know when you're holding the handle, but it's also 174 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:48,040 Speaker 1: going to mean that's got to change the balance of 175 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:52,480 Speaker 1: the blade. So that's something else. Um. Also, some swords 176 00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:55,520 Speaker 1: have was called a recasso. Is that where there's a 177 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:58,920 Speaker 1: pretty painting on it that's kind of abstracting. No, I 178 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: mean you can do at you ings on swords and stuff, 179 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: but that is not what a ricosso is. A ricosso 180 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:06,800 Speaker 1: is an unsharpened portion at the base of a blade, 181 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:10,360 Speaker 1: just above the guard. So if you've ever seen a 182 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:13,320 Speaker 1: big sword where you've got the big hilt and then 183 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 1: the blade when it first when it comes out past 184 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:19,400 Speaker 1: the guard, you can tell it's not sharp for another 185 00:10:19,559 --> 00:10:22,960 Speaker 1: you know, seven or eight inches, that's the ricosso. And 186 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:28,560 Speaker 1: those are often used for really really monstrously big swords 187 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:31,960 Speaker 1: where you're using it against pikeman or you're using it 188 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:35,640 Speaker 1: against mounted cavalry. Uh And you just you you wanted 189 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:37,760 Speaker 1: to have the ability to grip a little higher on 190 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:41,839 Speaker 1: the blade um in certain situations, but then again, you're 191 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:46,800 Speaker 1: risking getting your fingers cut off. Yes. Uh. Interesting. You 192 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:50,280 Speaker 1: saw some of the footage from the E three where 193 00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 1: they had the Viking versus Nights game. Uh. The thing 194 00:10:54,559 --> 00:10:57,120 Speaker 1: that it bugged me was that in that game, one 195 00:10:57,120 --> 00:11:00,960 Speaker 1: of the characters has a finishing move where they flipped 196 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:04,120 Speaker 1: the sword around, so they're holding it by the blade 197 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:07,400 Speaker 1: and they bring bring it down almost like the hilt 198 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:10,000 Speaker 1: is acting like a bludgeon or an ax, but instead 199 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,600 Speaker 1: of it being a bludgeon, they hit a person just 200 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:15,559 Speaker 1: at the very base of the blade and cut into 201 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:19,000 Speaker 1: them to to to kill your opponent, and the whole 202 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:22,040 Speaker 1: time I'm thinking your fingers would be gone. So I 203 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:24,320 Speaker 1: have a theory about this, okay, okay, because I've been 204 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:26,800 Speaker 1: thinking about this and it bothered me too. Uh. I 205 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:29,240 Speaker 1: believe that that Viking fought so long and hard that 206 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:32,559 Speaker 1: his blade was so dull that it was safe to handle. 207 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:34,640 Speaker 1: It was safe to handle, it was no longer useful 208 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: for the purpose it was made for, and he had 209 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:39,600 Speaker 1: to turn it around. And the only part that's sharp 210 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:41,640 Speaker 1: now is the bit that's right above the guard. So 211 00:11:41,679 --> 00:11:45,319 Speaker 1: I'm just gonna flip this around. Yeah. Interesting, I I 212 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:48,240 Speaker 1: like that you're an apologist. I don't know if that's 213 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:51,760 Speaker 1: true or not. It's probably not. Probably, So we wanted 214 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:54,440 Speaker 1: to look a little bit too at the history of 215 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:58,320 Speaker 1: swords because you know, it's they've been around for quite 216 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:00,360 Speaker 1: some time. And actually when you get to a point 217 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:03,960 Speaker 1: of you know, where were the earliest swords made, there 218 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:08,000 Speaker 1: there's a lot of disagreement, and it's largely because swords 219 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: are uh there there's not a rough like a very 220 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:16,280 Speaker 1: clear definition of what is the sword versus what is 221 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:20,640 Speaker 1: a dagger. Um. Generally speaking, you would say a sword 222 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:22,640 Speaker 1: is longer than a dagger and a dagger shorter than 223 00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:26,560 Speaker 1: a sword. But that's not very satisfying, right, because it's 224 00:12:26,559 --> 00:12:29,520 Speaker 1: like saying a mountain is taller than a hill, like 225 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:32,000 Speaker 1: you need it would be great to have some hard 226 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:36,560 Speaker 1: numbers there. Well, there there are some it's kind of 227 00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:44,719 Speaker 1: considered that a dagger is between seventy yeah. Yeah, but um, 228 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:47,520 Speaker 1: because there is that controversy, like we don't actually know 229 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:51,640 Speaker 1: when the first swords came about, right the the There 230 00:12:51,679 --> 00:12:53,880 Speaker 1: was a cool find in two thousand three where some 231 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:58,720 Speaker 1: archaeologists discovered weapons in Aslan Tepe, Turkey, and I could 232 00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:02,439 Speaker 1: be complete com lately, butchering that that place name, and 233 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:05,080 Speaker 1: I apologize, it looks like a lane to me. Yeah, 234 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:07,960 Speaker 1: that's just a total guest on my part. So they 235 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:10,760 Speaker 1: the weapons they found had been forged more than five 236 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 1: thousand years ago. However, this was one of those cases 237 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:18,280 Speaker 1: where some of the other experts were saying, well, these 238 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 1: aren't really swords, they're just long daggers. And again, like 239 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 1: sometimes people argue it's whether or not the uses for 240 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:28,520 Speaker 1: attack or defense because a lot of people think of 241 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:32,880 Speaker 1: a daggers defensive weapon. Um. But but I mean, when 242 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:35,559 Speaker 1: it comes down to it, we at least know which 243 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:38,000 Speaker 1: came first, the dagger of the sword. Yeah, yeah, the 244 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:40,480 Speaker 1: daggers came first, or or even a knife. But if 245 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,680 Speaker 1: you would consider a dagger or a knife a sword 246 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 1: of a sort, um, then you can't even go back 247 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:51,320 Speaker 1: to the Stone Age because there were sharpened wood and 248 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:57,200 Speaker 1: bone and clinton stone knives and daggers. Then yeah, and uh, 249 00:13:57,320 --> 00:13:59,439 Speaker 1: I mean when we talk about daggers versus knives, even 250 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:02,160 Speaker 1: daggets can using right because some people will argue that 251 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:04,400 Speaker 1: a knife has a single cutting edge, and a dagger 252 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:07,640 Speaker 1: has two cutting edges, but it all depends upon But 253 00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:11,120 Speaker 1: then a sword has a single or double And there's 254 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 1: some people who are like, well, no, this is a knife, 255 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:14,719 Speaker 1: that's a dagger, that's a dagger, that's a knife, and 256 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:16,760 Speaker 1: and it's you know, so I do an'tway. The reason 257 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:20,160 Speaker 1: why we're saying it's hard to nail this down is 258 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:28,360 Speaker 1: because language itself is complicated, so finding the specifics are tricky. 259 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:31,280 Speaker 1: We'll be back with more of this classic episode of 260 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:41,240 Speaker 1: tech stuff after this quick break. Getting back to that 261 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:45,080 Speaker 1: awesome archaeological find over in Turkey, the swords predated the 262 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:51,040 Speaker 1: next oldest find by about a thousand years. Yeah, a 263 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:57,080 Speaker 1: millennia past between these weapons and the next oldest weapons 264 00:14:57,120 --> 00:14:59,960 Speaker 1: that are been found. Um some means the swords woul 265 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:02,680 Speaker 1: and forged sometime around three thousand, three fifty b C, 266 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:07,160 Speaker 1: which is at the very beginning of the early Bronze Age. 267 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:10,480 Speaker 1: The if you think of the ages, the three big ones, 268 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:14,040 Speaker 1: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, this 269 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:16,560 Speaker 1: is at the just at the end of the Stone Age, 270 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:18,240 Speaker 1: the beginning of the Bronze Age. Some people call it 271 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:21,560 Speaker 1: the Copper Age because copper was a metal that was 272 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:25,400 Speaker 1: the first metal that humans discovered. Yeah, um so, and 273 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:28,920 Speaker 1: smithing started with copper and then turned into bronze. Yeah. 274 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:31,680 Speaker 1: In fact, the copper that was are the swords that 275 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:34,600 Speaker 1: were found were a copper alloy, right, yeah, yeah, they 276 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:36,960 Speaker 1: were a copper alloy. They had mixed arsenic with it. 277 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:40,280 Speaker 1: Um and not so if you if you cut me 278 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:43,480 Speaker 1: a die from poison. No, no, no, it wasn't. It 279 00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 1: wasn't poisoned blades, although they might have poisoned their blades. Um. 280 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:51,080 Speaker 1: They did it to change the metal, to to change 281 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:53,640 Speaker 1: its chemistry, and it made it actually stronger, and it 282 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 1: made the copper, because copper is pretty soft, it made 283 00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:58,520 Speaker 1: it hold its shape and hold its edge. And then 284 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:02,080 Speaker 1: also three of the swords were inlaid with silver. Yeah, 285 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:05,000 Speaker 1: so they're fancy. They were their fancy swords. They weren't 286 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:10,520 Speaker 1: just you know, old like hackneyed kind of gross little things. Right. 287 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:14,600 Speaker 1: So it be technically, if if these swords this amazing find, 288 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:16,520 Speaker 1: if they are, if we got to a point where 289 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:19,680 Speaker 1: we all said, okay, so these are not swords, when 290 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: would we say swords really got their start. Well, I 291 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:27,800 Speaker 1: guess most people would say that swords really got their 292 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:33,560 Speaker 1: start closer to seventeen hundred sixteen hundred BC, which is 293 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:35,800 Speaker 1: the middle of the Bronze age. Um, and they were 294 00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:38,600 Speaker 1: made of bronze, which is alloy of copper and tin 295 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:42,000 Speaker 1: um and and the argument stems from the fact that 296 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:44,680 Speaker 1: a sword has to be strong in order to be 297 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:46,520 Speaker 1: used the way it's meant to be used, which is, 298 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:51,760 Speaker 1: you know, slicing into people or hacking things apart or whatever. 299 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:54,880 Speaker 1: Um and soft metals just don't work for that. So 300 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:58,640 Speaker 1: copper wouldn't work so well for that, especially in longer 301 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:02,480 Speaker 1: blades like swords as as opposed to daggers. Yeah, that's 302 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:07,240 Speaker 1: it's absolutely true. Uh that's why, you know, until we 303 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:10,320 Speaker 1: got a better understanding of what alloys were and we'll 304 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:13,480 Speaker 1: talk more about what an alloy is in just a second. Uh, 305 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:17,879 Speaker 1: you know, relying on pure metal was tricky because that 306 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:20,760 Speaker 1: pure metal couldn't stand up to the rigors. I mean, 307 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:23,280 Speaker 1: you get to a point where you're in combat and 308 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:26,760 Speaker 1: you are, uh, fighting with your weapons. If your weapons 309 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:29,080 Speaker 1: are bending or breaking, then obviously you are at a 310 00:17:29,119 --> 00:17:32,360 Speaker 1: distinct disadvantage. So let's talk about some of these materials 311 00:17:32,359 --> 00:17:35,159 Speaker 1: that we use. All right, So copper and alloys so copper, 312 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:37,680 Speaker 1: as I said, was first metal discovered by humans. It's 313 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:41,840 Speaker 1: very easy to shape, so that makes it incredibly useful 314 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:43,639 Speaker 1: for stuff like if you want to turn it into 315 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:47,680 Speaker 1: cookery or or jewelry, or these days if you want 316 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:49,720 Speaker 1: to turn it into wires so that you can run 317 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:52,560 Speaker 1: electricity through, because it is also a great conductor. But 318 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:54,800 Speaker 1: that's also the Trauback is because it's so easy to 319 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:56,960 Speaker 1: be shaped, it's also easy for it to bend. It 320 00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 1: won't hold onto an edge very well. When we talk 321 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:01,760 Speaker 1: about holding onto an we mean that the metal has 322 00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:04,520 Speaker 1: to be a special kind of hardness. It has to 323 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:06,960 Speaker 1: be hard enough so that when you give it an 324 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:10,040 Speaker 1: edge and then you hit something, that edge is maintained, 325 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:12,359 Speaker 1: but soft enough so that you can make it have 326 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:15,720 Speaker 1: an edge in the first place. So it's a delicate balance. 327 00:18:16,359 --> 00:18:19,040 Speaker 1: So you can sharpen a copper blade, but once you 328 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:21,760 Speaker 1: use it it becomes dull. And actually I saw a 329 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:26,760 Speaker 1: really cool demonstration of this. The BBC did a whole 330 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:31,160 Speaker 1: series about ancient Britain and at one point they talked 331 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:34,680 Speaker 1: about the the Bronze Age, and they made two arrow heads, 332 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:36,399 Speaker 1: and one was made out of copper and one was 333 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:39,080 Speaker 1: made out of bronze. They had a little sheet of metal. 334 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:42,640 Speaker 1: They put the copper arrowhead against the sheet of metal 335 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:46,800 Speaker 1: on a and they had a little like arrow extending 336 00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:50,040 Speaker 1: behind it. They used a hammer they hit the arrow 337 00:18:50,119 --> 00:18:53,000 Speaker 1: so that the head of the tip of the arrow 338 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:56,320 Speaker 1: would press against this metal, and the copper just buckled. 339 00:18:56,800 --> 00:18:58,760 Speaker 1: And then they the bronze and they did the same thing, 340 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:01,359 Speaker 1: and the bronze pierced through the metal. So it showed 341 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:05,560 Speaker 1: that bronze is a much stronger material than copper, So 342 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:10,040 Speaker 1: wasn't Copper was mostly used in weaponry as a way 343 00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:14,200 Speaker 1: of giving more weight to stuff like maces and clubs, 344 00:19:14,359 --> 00:19:17,800 Speaker 1: so for the smashy smashy but not the slicy slice. Yeah, 345 00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:20,080 Speaker 1: and you may go, well, but pennies are copper, and 346 00:19:20,119 --> 00:19:23,080 Speaker 1: I can't bend a penny, and that's because they're made 347 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:27,080 Speaker 1: from copper alloys. Around three thousand BC, humans figured out 348 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:30,439 Speaker 1: how to make copper stronger by adding other stuff to it, um, 349 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:32,400 Speaker 1: making it an alloy, which we've already kind of talked 350 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:35,639 Speaker 1: about a little bit um. And sometimes the thing they 351 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:38,880 Speaker 1: added is another metal. So in the instance of bronze, 352 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:42,359 Speaker 1: which is kind of what pennies really are, it's uh, 353 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:46,840 Speaker 1: copper and tin um and then sometimes like with iron 354 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:49,879 Speaker 1: which makes steel, it's a metal and a non metal 355 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:54,560 Speaker 1: like iron and carbon. Right, so when you have an alloy, 356 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:57,639 Speaker 1: you've got two main things you're thinking about. It can 357 00:19:57,680 --> 00:19:59,800 Speaker 1: be more than two, by the way. You can. In fact, 358 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,919 Speaker 1: are some types of bronze where they add magnesium and 359 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:07,359 Speaker 1: some other stuff to it, but the basic ingredients are 360 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:11,879 Speaker 1: are copper in ten. But your primary primary material is 361 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:14,800 Speaker 1: called the main metal. So with bronze that would be copper. 362 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:19,280 Speaker 1: Most of bronze is made up of copper. That so 363 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:21,399 Speaker 1: it's called the main metal or the base metal, or 364 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:25,480 Speaker 1: even the parent metal. So the other stuff is called 365 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:29,639 Speaker 1: the alloying agent, not the annoying agent, which is what 366 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,879 Speaker 1: mine is the alloying I don't have an agent, so 367 00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:35,720 Speaker 1: I can say that the alloying agent. So the parent 368 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:40,280 Speaker 1: metal can be or more of the overall substance. It 369 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:43,160 Speaker 1: can be less than that to UH, and the alloy 370 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:46,199 Speaker 1: maybe as little as one percent. The alloying agent may 371 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:48,679 Speaker 1: be as little as one percent or even less of 372 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:51,600 Speaker 1: the overall. When we start talking about steel, we'll be 373 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:55,359 Speaker 1: talking about some really amazing like you have to be 374 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:59,679 Speaker 1: super precise with adding the carbon to your iron in 375 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:05,200 Speaker 1: order to get usable steel. So most alloys are solid solutions, 376 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:08,040 Speaker 1: So that means the different atoms of material are just 377 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:11,760 Speaker 1: mixed together, but aren't chemically bonded to each other. The 378 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:13,960 Speaker 1: easiest way to imagine this is, let's say that you 379 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 1: actually let's say you've got a little dish and you 380 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:19,639 Speaker 1: pour pepper and salt into it. Now, the salt and 381 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:23,560 Speaker 1: pepper aren't chemically bonded together. You could, with enough patients 382 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:26,640 Speaker 1: and a fine enough pair of tweezers, pick out all 383 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:30,040 Speaker 1: the grains of salt, so they have not chemically bonded. 384 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:32,000 Speaker 1: And no matter how much you mash the salt and 385 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:34,480 Speaker 1: pepper and make it into finer and finer grounds, it's 386 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 1: still going to be salt, right exactly. You you could 387 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: get increasingly smaller tweezers and still separated. Would you'd be 388 00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:45,399 Speaker 1: wondering why I'm making you do this? And the answer 389 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:50,160 Speaker 1: is because you know, you know why. But a few 390 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:53,920 Speaker 1: alloys are actually compounds. Now, compounds are different from solutions. 391 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:56,480 Speaker 1: Compounds mean that the atoms of the parent metal and 392 00:21:56,520 --> 00:22:00,600 Speaker 1: the alloying agent actually do chemically bond. So in this case, 393 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:02,879 Speaker 1: we would talk about two things that when you mix 394 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:06,080 Speaker 1: it together and make a third thing. So salt itself 395 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:11,400 Speaker 1: is sodium and uh, you know sodium and chloride. You 396 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:14,320 Speaker 1: put those together and that makes salt. You can't separate 397 00:22:14,359 --> 00:22:17,439 Speaker 1: that back out again easily. Right, It's not like you 398 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:19,399 Speaker 1: can take really tiny tweezers and like, okay, now I'm 399 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:20,720 Speaker 1: gonna put all the sodium over here and all the 400 00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:23,000 Speaker 1: chloride over here. Now you would have to use fancy 401 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:27,159 Speaker 1: signs as you would. Uh. So the atoms in an 402 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:30,520 Speaker 1: alley are in a structure called a crystalline lattice. So 403 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,400 Speaker 1: if you were to look at these with an electron microscope, 404 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:36,720 Speaker 1: which those are a blast to use, by the way, 405 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:40,119 Speaker 1: you'd see the atoms of both the alloy and the 406 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:42,800 Speaker 1: parent metal, and they'd be arranged in some way. So 407 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:47,000 Speaker 1: some are substitution alloys. These are pretty simple to imagine. 408 00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:50,840 Speaker 1: So let's say that we'll we'll we'll talk about Uh, 409 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:55,200 Speaker 1: let's imagine that you're talking about bronze, and you've got 410 00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:59,080 Speaker 1: copper balls, and you've got ten balls like T I 411 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:03,160 Speaker 1: N T E N, and you lay out the cover 412 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:06,080 Speaker 1: balls in a grid, and then you remove some of 413 00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:08,359 Speaker 1: the cover balls and replace them with the tin balls, 414 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:11,880 Speaker 1: just a few, like maybe of them. If you're Chinese, 415 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,399 Speaker 1: because that's what the Chinese like to do, then you 416 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,720 Speaker 1: would that that would be a substitution alloy. But some 417 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:21,800 Speaker 1: of them are called interstitial alloys, and this is where 418 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:26,959 Speaker 1: the alloying agent fits into the crystalline structure and fills 419 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:29,679 Speaker 1: up gaps that are in that crystalline structure. So for 420 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:32,639 Speaker 1: this example, imagine that you have a net and the 421 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:36,200 Speaker 1: net the the holes in the net are just big 422 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:38,800 Speaker 1: enough so you could wedge a golf ball into them. 423 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:41,440 Speaker 1: And so you choose some of the holes, not every 424 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:43,000 Speaker 1: single one, but some of the holes, and you put 425 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:45,640 Speaker 1: golf balls through it. That's gonna make the net behave 426 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:48,560 Speaker 1: differently than it would if there were nothing in those holes. 427 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:53,360 Speaker 1: The same sort of thing, but on atomic scale. For this. Yeah, Now, 428 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 1: even though making an alloy makes the metal stronger, there 429 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:01,399 Speaker 1: there's a disadvantage because it also makes it harder to 430 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:06,639 Speaker 1: work with. Yeah. Generally speaking, you you trade off malleability, 431 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:10,480 Speaker 1: which is the ability to work a metal for a 432 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:14,520 Speaker 1: stronger material. You do um, And so now we're gonna 433 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:18,320 Speaker 1: talk about how you make an alloy. Basic metal metallurgy 434 00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:23,120 Speaker 1: involves melting the components together. So you take your tin 435 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:26,119 Speaker 1: and you take your copper, and you melt them together 436 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:28,879 Speaker 1: and you mix it up so they're all nicely mixed 437 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:31,800 Speaker 1: and thoroughly mixed, and then you come out with bronze. 438 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:35,280 Speaker 1: So it doesn't always involve melting, but for bronze it 439 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:38,840 Speaker 1: certainly did. In fact, I saw a really really in 440 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:42,480 Speaker 1: that same video, the BBC one, they actually demonstrated how 441 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:47,360 Speaker 1: an ancient uh metall ergist would or even a blade 442 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:52,560 Speaker 1: smith would create a bronze blades by melting the copper 443 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:56,600 Speaker 1: and the tin down, pouring it into a mold and 444 00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:00,480 Speaker 1: going from there. So that's pretty cool. We've more to 445 00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:03,160 Speaker 1: say in this classic episode of tech stuff after these 446 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:13,720 Speaker 1: quick messages. So we do have copper alloys like the 447 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:17,960 Speaker 1: copper arsenic alloy we mentioned earlier, and bronze was the 448 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:21,440 Speaker 1: one that really changed things. Uh That, as we've SAIDs 449 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:23,840 Speaker 1: like an alloy of copper and tin, So does you 450 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:26,200 Speaker 1: have other elements in there. It's more flexible than copper, 451 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:29,040 Speaker 1: it's stronger than copper. It's able to hold an edge 452 00:25:29,119 --> 00:25:32,199 Speaker 1: longer than copper. So this was the first time we 453 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:36,159 Speaker 1: actually had a material that had the qualities necessary to 454 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:40,560 Speaker 1: make a sword a practical weapon. Yeah, but bronze, the 455 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:45,960 Speaker 1: ratio of copper to tin varied by region. So in China, uh, 456 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:49,480 Speaker 1: they preferred higher concentrations of tin about twenty or so, 457 00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:54,760 Speaker 1: which made a harder alloy, but it was more brittle. Um. 458 00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:57,520 Speaker 1: And because bronze could still bend, particularly in places that 459 00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:03,119 Speaker 1: favored to mixture of around late and percent tin. Yeah, 460 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:06,680 Speaker 1: sword designs also tended to have our sword designs tended 461 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:09,639 Speaker 1: to have a wide curve shape to them to help 462 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:12,960 Speaker 1: with the bending, to keep from bending too, I see. 463 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:16,600 Speaker 1: So that way, if you encounter a force when the 464 00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:21,680 Speaker 1: sword hits something, it distributes it along greater surface area. Yeah. 465 00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:24,640 Speaker 1: A popular design was called the leaf blade sword, which 466 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:27,040 Speaker 1: had a blade that curved out just a little bit 467 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:30,280 Speaker 1: before the hill. Right. So if you look at ancient grease, uh, 468 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:32,000 Speaker 1: and you look at the swords that were produced in 469 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:36,359 Speaker 1: ancient Greece, you will often see this leaf blade also. Uh, 470 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:38,960 Speaker 1: it's one that was used a lot in uh in 471 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:40,600 Speaker 1: Lord of the Rings, Like there are some of the 472 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:42,480 Speaker 1: Lord of the Rings weapons head sort of this leaf 473 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:44,760 Speaker 1: blade look to it. And so you've got this kind 474 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:48,760 Speaker 1: of um blade. It's a short sword typically, so it's 475 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:51,640 Speaker 1: it's a fairly you know, wide blade that comes out 476 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:55,000 Speaker 1: tapers to a point, but just before you hit the 477 00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:59,600 Speaker 1: handguard it it curves outward a bit, so it's got 478 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:03,000 Speaker 1: this sort of leaf shape to it. The pretty cool. Now, 479 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:06,640 Speaker 1: a sword maker working with this bronze alloy would heat 480 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:10,800 Speaker 1: it in coals until it was molten um, and then 481 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:13,960 Speaker 1: it would he would pour the molten mixture into a 482 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:16,960 Speaker 1: sword mold and then cool it down until the bronze 483 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:19,280 Speaker 1: was hardened, and then the mold would be broken away 484 00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:21,359 Speaker 1: and you'd have your sword, and then you finish it 485 00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:24,240 Speaker 1: and shape it right right, yeah, Because you would essentially 486 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:29,600 Speaker 1: have a sword, a a sword shaped hunk of bronze, 487 00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:31,520 Speaker 1: and you would obviously it wouldn't be ready to go 488 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:34,360 Speaker 1: immediately because you would still need to um. You would 489 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:37,000 Speaker 1: still need to to sharpen it and shape it a 490 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,960 Speaker 1: little bit. Had a hilt very important. The next big 491 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,280 Speaker 1: material humans used to make weapons from was iron. So 492 00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:47,040 Speaker 1: the Bronze Age transitioned into the Iron Age at different 493 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:50,840 Speaker 1: times for various regions, just as the Bronze Age head 494 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,760 Speaker 1: transitioned at different times for different regions from the Stone Age. 495 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:56,360 Speaker 1: So in other words, it wasn't like one day there 496 00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:58,560 Speaker 1: was a Wednesday where everyone woke come and said, welcome 497 00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:01,240 Speaker 1: to the Iron Age. That's not how it work. It 498 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:03,720 Speaker 1: would have been fun, there'd be a great musical involved. 499 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:06,240 Speaker 1: But no, it was not that way. The way it 500 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:11,080 Speaker 1: worked was that certain certain regions began to develop technology 501 00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:15,880 Speaker 1: with iron more early earlier, not more early Jonathan needs 502 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:19,479 Speaker 1: more coffee earlier than other regions. Uh. In fact, India 503 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:22,119 Speaker 1: was a big one. India they started working with iron 504 00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:24,960 Speaker 1: very early, so did uh some other areas of Asia. 505 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:29,280 Speaker 1: But giving a range for the Iron Age is pretty tough. Um. 506 00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:32,000 Speaker 1: In general, you could say it began around four b 507 00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:35,600 Speaker 1: C and Asia Minor, which is now Turkey. Big surprise, 508 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:39,760 Speaker 1: that's actually where we also found the copper alloy swords. Now, 509 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:43,080 Speaker 1: making a sword out of iron isn't as easy as 510 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:47,040 Speaker 1: it sounds. First of all, you have to get iron 511 00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:49,600 Speaker 1: ore and then smelt it so that you can even 512 00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:51,040 Speaker 1: work with it in the first place. So you can't 513 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:53,320 Speaker 1: just be like, oh, here's my here's a big hunk 514 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:55,120 Speaker 1: of iron stickles on the ground. Yeah, I just pulled 515 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:56,680 Speaker 1: it out of the ground. Now I'm good to go. No, 516 00:28:56,920 --> 00:28:59,760 Speaker 1: anyone who's played Minecraft knows you gotta you gotta throw 517 00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:02,520 Speaker 1: that sucker enough furnace first. Yeah. And in the good 518 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:05,760 Speaker 1: old days, this was called bloomery yeah, because it would 519 00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:09,920 Speaker 1: make like a little bubbly bloom of metal. Yeah. Essentially, 520 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:12,520 Speaker 1: a blacksmith would use charcoal and bellows to heat up 521 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:14,880 Speaker 1: the iron ore. Not only would let would this let 522 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:17,440 Speaker 1: the iron like heat up and become melty, but it 523 00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:21,640 Speaker 1: would add carbon from the charcoal and carbon monoxide uh 524 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:25,120 Speaker 1: into it, um into the process, and that would add 525 00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:27,760 Speaker 1: carbon to the metal and what you get is a 526 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:32,320 Speaker 1: spongey pores material called a bloom yep. And so this 527 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:35,560 Speaker 1: this was different from bronze and that they weren't melting it. 528 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:37,640 Speaker 1: You know, you have to you have to go hot, 529 00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:40,600 Speaker 1: much hotter with iron than you do with copper in 530 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:43,280 Speaker 1: order to melt it. So they were not getting it 531 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:47,160 Speaker 1: quite to that temperature. But the blooms, the spongy kind 532 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:50,000 Speaker 1: of looking stuff. Uh, it had holes in it. And 533 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:51,680 Speaker 1: part of the reason that holes in it is that 534 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:53,800 Speaker 1: the iron ore had a lot of oxygen in it 535 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:57,960 Speaker 1: and that carbon, some of it went, would transfer over 536 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: into the iron, some of it would combine, uh, like 537 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:03,840 Speaker 1: the carbon monoxide given off by the the charcoal would 538 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:06,640 Speaker 1: combine with the oxygen that was inside the iron, and 539 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:10,240 Speaker 1: you would get carbon dioxide as a byproduct. So you 540 00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:13,480 Speaker 1: would hammer and shape the bloom, which would help remove 541 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:18,160 Speaker 1: some of the impurities. Uh. But even then, once you 542 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:22,160 Speaker 1: had shaped the iron, iron actually is, in the grand 543 00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:26,200 Speaker 1: scheme of things, a pretty soft metal. So it also 544 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:29,960 Speaker 1: does not hold an edge very well. You have to continuously, 545 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:33,160 Speaker 1: you know, re sharpen your blade because you would dull 546 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:36,320 Speaker 1: it as you would use it. So typically the early 547 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:39,480 Speaker 1: iron swords were made by heating the bloom. You would 548 00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:42,480 Speaker 1: hammer it, you'd let it cool, and then you'd start 549 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,560 Speaker 1: that process all over again. And this was called work 550 00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:49,680 Speaker 1: hardening because you are actually using physical work, the hammering, 551 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:52,960 Speaker 1: to get the iron into a state suitable for use 552 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:55,720 Speaker 1: as a sword. Um. There's a different type of hardening 553 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:59,640 Speaker 1: that's used later, but the early versions were work hardened 554 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:04,880 Speaker 1: sore us um. And so these were kind of marginal 555 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:08,600 Speaker 1: improvements over bronze swords. In fact, you could argue that 556 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:11,480 Speaker 1: a bronze weapon might be superior in some cases to 557 00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:17,400 Speaker 1: an iron one. However, iron ones became incredibly popular, and 558 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:19,800 Speaker 1: it wasn't because they were better. It was because ten 559 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:24,280 Speaker 1: was relatively rare. Copper was everywhere people could find copper. 560 00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:26,920 Speaker 1: What they couldn't find was tin. And since you needed 561 00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:29,120 Speaker 1: to add the tin to the copper to make bronze 562 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:31,560 Speaker 1: and then iron, all you had to do was heat 563 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:33,680 Speaker 1: it up and then smack it around with a hammer, 564 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:37,800 Speaker 1: iron one out. Yeah, and yeah, you'd want iron over 565 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:42,640 Speaker 1: just copper, but you'd want steel over both of those. Uh. 566 00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:45,040 Speaker 1: And that actually brings us to the last huge advance 567 00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:49,760 Speaker 1: and sword making, which came about when they discovered that 568 00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:53,560 Speaker 1: you could add specific amounts of carbon to the iron 569 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:57,400 Speaker 1: to create the alloys steel um, and in the smelting process, 570 00:31:57,400 --> 00:31:59,480 Speaker 1: some carbon would be introduced to the iron um, the 571 00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:02,560 Speaker 1: carbon from the charcoal. Uh. But it's tricky, you know. 572 00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:07,640 Speaker 1: Obviously you're guessing with that. Yeah, it's it's very imprecise. 573 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:10,080 Speaker 1: And in fact, there's a lot of there's a lot 574 00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:15,560 Speaker 1: of scholarships suggesting that early steel swords were created purely 575 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:20,400 Speaker 1: by chance. That it wasn't that someone said, hey, I 576 00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:22,480 Speaker 1: bet if I added some of this stuff to some 577 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:24,880 Speaker 1: of this stuff, it will be way better. It just 578 00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:28,480 Speaker 1: because of the way swords were made. Some swords were 579 00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:33,760 Speaker 1: more iron and some swords were more steel. Uh. In Europe, 580 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:37,160 Speaker 1: they used patterned welding to the early Middle Ages, where 581 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:41,560 Speaker 1: they would take iron and steel rods of different harnesses 582 00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:43,600 Speaker 1: and twist them and fold them together. And that was 583 00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:49,120 Speaker 1: kind of a pre early way of trying to get that. Yeah, 584 00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:52,440 Speaker 1: so when we say the mixture being just right, we 585 00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:56,560 Speaker 1: are talking about tiny amounts of carbon added to the 586 00:32:56,680 --> 00:33:00,520 Speaker 1: iron in order to create steel, typically between point two 587 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:03,840 Speaker 1: and one point five per cent of the overall alloy. 588 00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:08,560 Speaker 1: That's yeah, that's hard, you know, like you know, it's 589 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:10,560 Speaker 1: not not the simplest thing in the world to do. 590 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:12,400 Speaker 1: And it was so tricky that it was pretty latent 591 00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:14,920 Speaker 1: to the medieval era before more than a few swordmakers 592 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:19,320 Speaker 1: outside of India could produce steel reliably. Um So, if 593 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:23,240 Speaker 1: you look at the earliest discoveries of steel. Also, steel 594 00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:26,800 Speaker 1: was resistant to oxidation, which means it would not rust 595 00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:30,240 Speaker 1: the way iron would. It can rust, but it does 596 00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:33,040 Speaker 1: so less readily. Um So, it was it was a 597 00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:37,240 Speaker 1: very valuable metal. But in India people had figured out 598 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:42,200 Speaker 1: how to make it fairly reliably, and outside of India 599 00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:44,320 Speaker 1: it was much more touch and go all the way 600 00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:47,320 Speaker 1: up into the Middle Ages and even into the Middle 601 00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:50,280 Speaker 1: Ages for some areas. So the earliest method of attempting 602 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:55,480 Speaker 1: to produce steel reliably was called sementation. So they would 603 00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:58,400 Speaker 1: take iron and they put that inside a container made 604 00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:00,720 Speaker 1: from something that had a lot of car been in it, 605 00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:04,640 Speaker 1: and that container would be heated in a furnace. And 606 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:08,000 Speaker 1: sometimes this would go on for days, sometimes just for hours, 607 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:09,560 Speaker 1: but sometimes you put it in a furence and leave 608 00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:12,040 Speaker 1: it there for days. During that heating process, some of 609 00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:16,920 Speaker 1: the carbon from the container would migrate and enter the iron, 610 00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:20,000 Speaker 1: and at the end of the process, if everything went well, 611 00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:23,400 Speaker 1: you had steel. Now you see when you said cementation, 612 00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:25,160 Speaker 1: I thought you meant you put the iron into a 613 00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:27,320 Speaker 1: cement block and then you threw it into the ocean. 614 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:29,680 Speaker 1: That's pretty much the way I would have to do it, 615 00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:32,239 Speaker 1: because I know that I would never I mean to me, 616 00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:35,399 Speaker 1: it's amazing that anyone ever figured this stuff out, Like 617 00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:38,400 Speaker 1: it's a you know, we we take it for granted today, 618 00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:42,880 Speaker 1: but somebody, somebody somewhere in the past had to figure 619 00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:45,560 Speaker 1: out that this is how you make it happen. And 620 00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:50,279 Speaker 1: that is phenomenal. So it's steel is way harder than 621 00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:52,839 Speaker 1: iron or bronze. It can keep an edge longer than 622 00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:55,560 Speaker 1: either of those. It's also flexible if you make the 623 00:34:55,560 --> 00:34:58,400 Speaker 1: steel properly. Obviously, if if you put too much carbon 624 00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:00,640 Speaker 1: in it, it can become brittle so that you don't 625 00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:03,960 Speaker 1: want that in either armor or weapons. But with the 626 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:07,280 Speaker 1: right amount, it was flexible as resistant to corrosion rust 627 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:10,719 Speaker 1: compared to iron, So it's pretty much the better material 628 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:14,239 Speaker 1: to iron in every single important way. And out of 629 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:17,200 Speaker 1: all the types of steel used in all the swords 630 00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:20,319 Speaker 1: in the world, there's probably one steel that is the 631 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:24,840 Speaker 1: most legendary, and that is Damascus steel. Yeah, which was 632 00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:28,520 Speaker 1: it made in Syria? It was made in Surprise, Surprise, India. Yeah, 633 00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:31,319 Speaker 1: the the there's some different scholarship on this. There are 634 00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:33,839 Speaker 1: two different types of steel that are referred to as 635 00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:37,680 Speaker 1: Damascus steel. Some of it is patterned steel, which you 636 00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:39,759 Speaker 1: kind of talked about it a little bit earlier, and 637 00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:44,640 Speaker 1: then the other type is woots steel. Yeah. So it's 638 00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:47,919 Speaker 1: supposed to be really really strong. Um, and I say 639 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:52,960 Speaker 1: supposed to be because we don't know how it's made anymore. Yeah. Yeah, 640 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,040 Speaker 1: they could figure out how to make tiny amounts of 641 00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:57,279 Speaker 1: carbon with iron to make steel, and we can't figure 642 00:35:57,320 --> 00:35:59,400 Speaker 1: out how to make the boots steel. Yeah. No, it's 643 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:03,080 Speaker 1: the the especially Essentially the recipe for woots steel has 644 00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:06,640 Speaker 1: been lost to time. So whatever the methodology was, There's 645 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:09,160 Speaker 1: been a lot of people who have claimed that they 646 00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:13,799 Speaker 1: were able to replicate woots steel, but from everything I 647 00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:18,040 Speaker 1: have read, no one has successfully done so. And so 648 00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:23,759 Speaker 1: it's interesting to me that a methodology that was was 649 00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:28,879 Speaker 1: mastered more than a thousand years ago is totally lost 650 00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:33,040 Speaker 1: to us. Well. I think that's partially because swordmaking fell 651 00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:35,600 Speaker 1: out of practice for a while. Beture, we have guns 652 00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:38,400 Speaker 1: and other things like that, and now with this maker society, 653 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:41,400 Speaker 1: it's coming back into fashion. Yeah. Actually, one of the 654 00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:44,280 Speaker 1: videos I watched in preparation for this had a guy 655 00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:49,799 Speaker 1: uh fashion a sword he found um leaf springs from 656 00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:54,560 Speaker 1: an old uh probably an old trailer like leaf springs, 657 00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:59,400 Speaker 1: probably the the system on a trailer, uh, and use 658 00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:04,360 Speaker 1: that as the means of creating a sword, and even 659 00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:09,240 Speaker 1: then starting from a piece of material that is roughly 660 00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:12,319 Speaker 1: the size of what you wanted to be. Even then, 661 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:14,160 Speaker 1: it was incredible to see what kind of work goes 662 00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:17,480 Speaker 1: into making one of these. Yeah, And I mean I 663 00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:19,840 Speaker 1: watched a video as well, and he was talking a 664 00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:23,160 Speaker 1: lot about Viking swords and how the Vikings forged and 665 00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:26,520 Speaker 1: use their swords, and a lot of that knowledge is 666 00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:28,839 Speaker 1: passed by word of mouth, and if it's written down, 667 00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:31,080 Speaker 1: if someone doesn't use it, that piece of parchment or 668 00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:34,520 Speaker 1: paper whatever is gonna degrade. And yeah, yeah, so mostly 669 00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:37,680 Speaker 1: most time you would look at it from master to apprentice. 670 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:41,080 Speaker 1: But as sword making fell out of failure favor, there 671 00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:45,080 Speaker 1: was no need to have an apprentice. So you then 672 00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:49,440 Speaker 1: get to a point where this art is largely lost, 673 00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:52,040 Speaker 1: and you know, some of it has been written about, 674 00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:54,400 Speaker 1: especially as people were puzzling out how is it that 675 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:57,880 Speaker 1: this one sword is so much more boss than this 676 00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:01,799 Speaker 1: other sword? Uh so this this has been really an 677 00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:06,160 Speaker 1: interesting discussion. Now it's just the first part of our 678 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:10,000 Speaker 1: talk on swords and sword technology. In our next episode, 679 00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:13,520 Speaker 1: we're going to go through the process of actually making 680 00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:16,319 Speaker 1: a sword. So we wanted to really cover things like 681 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:19,239 Speaker 1: the basic parts of a sword and the basic materials 682 00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:22,640 Speaker 1: that swords are made from in this episode because uh, 683 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:25,239 Speaker 1: it's just way too much information to cram into a 684 00:38:25,239 --> 00:38:30,440 Speaker 1: single episode. That was Swords the real cutting edge technology episode. 685 00:38:30,520 --> 00:38:33,240 Speaker 1: Hope you enjoyed it. If you have suggestions for topics 686 00:38:33,239 --> 00:38:36,480 Speaker 1: I should tackle in future episodes of tech stuff, don't 687 00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:39,320 Speaker 1: hesitate let me know about it. The best way to 688 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:42,240 Speaker 1: do that is to reach out on Twitter. The handle 689 00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:44,759 Speaker 1: we use for the show is text stuff H s 690 00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:53,239 Speaker 1: W and I'll talk to you again really soon. Text 691 00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:56,719 Speaker 1: Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts 692 00:38:56,719 --> 00:38:59,479 Speaker 1: from i Heeart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, 693 00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:02,800 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.