WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: Swords - The Real Cutting Edge Technology 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.720 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:17.880 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:20.959 and how the tech are you? It's time for a 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:26.239 classic episode. This episode originally published on July eight, two fifteen. 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:31.200 It is called Swords the Real Cutting Edge Technology, and 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:35.240 my good friend Ariel Casting joined me as co host 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.560 on this episode. You can hear me and Ariel talk 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:43.400 about geeky stuff on a podcast called Large Nerd Drown Collider. 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:46.040 If you have not checked it out, you definitely should 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:48.479 because we have a lot to say about geek culture 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:53.280 and nerd news and we always take two geeky properties 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:56.040 and then say what would happen if you mash these 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:59.480 up together? Well, in this we're not mashing things up together. 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:02.440 We're sly sing him apart with swords. Hope you enjoy 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:06.759 this classic episode of tech stuff. For people like myself 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:10.000 and an aerial, this is beyond something that we're just 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:13.960 interested in. The both of us have done stage combat, 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:17.959 some extensive stage combat. Ariel, I think you prefer the 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:20.679 broad sword to the rapier. I do. Yeah, the bigger 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:24.720 the better. You're crazy. I'm more okay, fine, I'm more 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:27.880 of a rapier person because I think finesse is sometimes 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:30.800 called for uh. And also I have a body type 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:34.360 where rapier works better than a big old sword. But 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:37.360 we both are interested in this source stuff. Actually, Ariel 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:41.520 and I first met working for the Georgia Renaissance Festival 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:46.400 back in two thousand and one. I believe that's correct. Yeah, 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:49.440 so long time ago two thousand one we started working 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:51.000 there to I had been there a couple of years 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:54.240 an Ariel joined the cast and she jumped right into 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:57.080 doing combat as soon as possible, whereas I was, I 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:00.680 decided that was not for me. And it was one 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:03.080 of those things where both of us have this interest 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:06.600 in the topic. Uh. And you know, we both like 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:09.800 the whole swords and sorcery stuff too. So when I 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:13.119 said let's let's cover something and we started talking about 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:16.200 the possible topics, swords was one of those things that 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:21.680 it's a technology that's been around for longer than longer 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:25.720 than written history. In some cases, possibly that's debatable, but 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:29.200 we'll get to that. So to start us off, aerial, 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:32.160 can you walk us through Let's say you're looking at 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:37.280 your typical sword like a Viking sword. Let's say, what 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:39.959 are the parts of a sword? All right, so there 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:43.639 are lots of different kinds of swords, but um, they 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:47.440 all basically are made the same way with the same pieces. Uh. 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:52.120 So you've got the blade, you know, the part that 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:55.080 you've hurt people with, and then you've got the hilt, 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:58.000 which I guess you can hurt somebody with a help, 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:00.760 but it's not as fun. Um. And a lot of 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:04.360 hilts also have a guard which protects your hand uh 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:08.400 from other people's swords, um, which I personally know is 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:10.560 a good thing because I've been cut open on the 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:12.920 hand by a sword before. So there was actually a 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:15.520 day where Ariel was doing stage combat, got hit in 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:19.959 the hand, had to go and get stitches or staples, stitches, stitches, 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:23.560 and then came back and finished the day. Yep, yep, 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:27.079 worth it, so worth it. But so yeah, so a 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:30.800 guard is really important. Um. And then you've got a 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:33.040 pommel which is at the very base of the sword, 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:35.840 and that helps keep the sword from slipping out of 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:37.640 your hand because when you're gripping on a sword and 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:40.760 you're swinging it around, your hand gets really sweaty. Yeah. Um. 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:43.280 And it also acts as a counterweight which balances the sword. 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:46.880 Otherwise you're using far too much muscle and strength to 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:50.520 try to finesse the sword around. Um. Yeah, and that 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:54.680 speaking from experience, that can get very tiring, even with 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:57.680 the pommel. But if you didn't have that counterweight helping 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:00.640 you with those uh those moves, then just the your 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:03.120 wrist would get exhausted and your forearm in order to 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:06.560 control the sword while making those swings, you'd be very 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:10.640 quickly become an ineffective swordsman. Now, the hilt in the pommel, 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:14.200 the back end of the sword, the decorative part um 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:18.760 is called furniture because it's furnishing the sword um and 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:22.640 really interesting. In ancient Europe, the hilt of the sword 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:26.280 was the entire back end from the guard to the pommel, 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:30.680 and in uh Norse and Viking culture it just meant 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:32.599 the lower hilt in the upper hilt, which was like 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:36.440 the pommel and cross guard, but not the actual grip. Now, 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:39.360 so so the parts that were on either side of 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:43.680 the actual grib interesting, and when we talk about blades 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.599 blades also we can break that down a little bit more. 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:53.480 Blades typically have six and sometimes seven different areas to them. Uh. First, 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:56.640 you have the edge. This is the important part of 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:01.039 the sword. This is the actual cutting side of the blade. Now, 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:04.440 some swords are single edged, like the katana is a 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:08.400 single edged sword. A lot of different um uh swords 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:11.000 and throughout the ages have been single edged. But others 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:13.760 are double edged swords like long swords and a lot 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:19.760 of short swords, and even some swords like pas or Yeah, 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:22.320 that's true, they technically have three, although those tend to 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:25.560 be used more for stabby stabby than cutty cutty. And 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:27.560 then you've got the tip that would be the stabby 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:31.000 stabby part. You've got the back of the sword. Now, 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:35.919 the back only exists if you have a single edged blade. 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:40.080 The back refers to the non sharpened edge of the sword. 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:44.240 So if you had a h you know, a scimitar, 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.840 for example, is sharpened along the front side, but not 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:50.360 the back side, so the back you don't since you 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:51.919 don't have two edges, you do have a back on 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.240 that one, whereas with a long sword. You know, your 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:57.800 typical long sword had an edge on either side, so 0:05:57.839 --> 0:05:59.799 you don't have a back on that type of sword. 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:03.799 There's the flat of the blade that refers to the sides, 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:06.480 not the edges. So if you were to slap someone 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:07.960 with the flat of the blade, it would sting, but 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:10.000 it wouldn't cut them, right, You just do that to 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:12.760 be a jerk. Yeah, And actually that's a go to 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:17.040 move from stage combat because you usually there's a Usually 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:22.760 it's the cocky hero who, uh, while dodging a villain's attack, 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:25.400 will slap them on the rear end with the flat 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:27.599 of the blade. And and by the way, that does sting. 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:31.080 Then you have the fuller. Now, the fuller is a 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:34.000 narrow groove that runs down the blade of lots of 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:36.360 different sorts. Not all sorts have these, but a lot do. 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:41.560 Sometimes they call it the blood groove or blood gutter. Uh. 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:43.880 And it's not what a lot of people think it 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:46.800 is there. I have heard folks say, oh, well, it's 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:50.000 it's a channel for blood to flow through so that 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:52.920 when you stab someone, the blood has a place to go, 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:56.560 so you know, as you're stabbing them over and over 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:00.200 they continue to bleed out. That's not what that for. 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:02.760 In fact, it has nothing to do with blood. It 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:06.120 has everything to do to making a strong sword without 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:09.440 having to use as much material to make that sword. 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:16.160 So the the gutter that that channel actually adds structural 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:20.040 integrity to a blade, so it is able to maintain 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:23.640 its shape while still being a little flexible UM and 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:26.520 is able to cut through stuff without breaking. And I 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:28.520 guess that would mean it would also be lighter weight. Yeah, 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:30.440 because you don't have to use as much material. Instead 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:33.920 of a solid steel sword, where you know, you have 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:37.400 the whole mass made up like that, you have that channel. 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:39.880 It means that you use less material. It means that 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:43.640 less material means less weight. Very important, as it turns out, 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:47.040 I mean they're not everyone is the mountain in Game 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:50.000 of Thrones. You know, some some of us mirror mortals 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:52.320 need a little bit of a rest. I'm the mountain. 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:55.880 Aerial is the mountain, but I I need more, uh, 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:59.560 you know, a light sword I appreciate. Next we have 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.080 the aang. Now, the tang is the part of the 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:06.080 blade that is actually covered by the hilt. Uh So 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:08.600 a sword. If you were to strip the hilt away 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.280 um and take away the guard, take away the pommel, 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:15.040 you would see a blade that on the base of 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:20.280 it turns into almost like a rectangular solid steel um 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:24.040 usually steel because we're talking about steel today, but solid 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:27.840 steel tab essentially that. If it's a full tang, it's 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:29.960 pretty much the width of the blade and runs all 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:32.839 the way down to where the pommel would attach. If 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:36.559 it's a partial tang, it's maybe about half the width 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:39.040 of the blade. It can even be more narrow than that. 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:42.280 Um And at any rate, this is what the grip 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:45.240 fits on top of. It's what the guard attaches to. 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:50.040 There's actually um a shoulder on some on some blades 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.880 where that's where the guard will attach where it won't 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:55.440 go beyond because your card wouldn't be much use if 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:57.199 it just went right off the end of the blade. 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:00.520 It would be you know, funny that one time I 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:03.560 prefer a full tang. I know that I have thought 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.280 plenty of time with swords where the tang was not 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:08.160 quite big or long enough and it's just kind of 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.160 floppy in the Yeah, yeah, you can actually if it's 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:15.000 not if the if the handle isn't properly fed to 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:17.520 the tang, it's loose, you can feel it rattling, and 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:21.079 that's that means you have less control, and also you're 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:23.960 doing a lot more work. And also it's not it doesn't. 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:27.480 It just feels unsafe. As someone who's fought with these 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:29.719 as well. No, I prefer a full tang sword as well. 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:33.080 Also that affects the handling of the sword. Uh So, 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.040 if you have a full tang sword, it's going to 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:39.480 feel different in your hand, not just because of whether 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:42.800 or not the blade is is um steady inside the 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:45.560 you know when you're holding the handle, but it's also 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:48.040 going to mean that's got to change the balance of 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:52.480 the blade. So that's something else. Um. Also, some swords 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:55.520 have was called a recasso. Is that where there's a 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:58.920 pretty painting on it that's kind of abstracting. No, I 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.880 mean you can do at you ings on swords and stuff, 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:04.040 but that is not what a ricosso is. A ricosso 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:06.800 is an unsharpened portion at the base of a blade, 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:10.360 just above the guard. So if you've ever seen a 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.320 big sword where you've got the big hilt and then 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:16.280 the blade when it first when it comes out past 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:19.400 the guard, you can tell it's not sharp for another 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:22.960 you know, seven or eight inches, that's the ricosso. And 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:28.560 those are often used for really really monstrously big swords 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:31.960 where you're using it against pikeman or you're using it 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:35.640 against mounted cavalry. Uh And you just you you wanted 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:37.760 to have the ability to grip a little higher on 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:41.839 the blade um in certain situations, but then again, you're 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:46.800 risking getting your fingers cut off. Yes. Uh. Interesting. You 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:50.280 saw some of the footage from the E three where 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:54.480 they had the Viking versus Nights game. Uh. The thing 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:57.120 that it bugged me was that in that game, one 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:00.960 of the characters has a finishing move where they flipped 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:04.120 the sword around, so they're holding it by the blade 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:07.400 and they bring bring it down almost like the hilt 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:10.000 is acting like a bludgeon or an ax, but instead 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:12.600 of it being a bludgeon, they hit a person just 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:15.559 at the very base of the blade and cut into 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:19.000 them to to to kill your opponent, and the whole 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:22.040 time I'm thinking your fingers would be gone. So I 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:24.320 have a theory about this, okay, okay, because I've been 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:26.800 thinking about this and it bothered me too. Uh. I 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:29.240 believe that that Viking fought so long and hard that 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:32.559 his blade was so dull that it was safe to handle. 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:34.640 It was safe to handle, it was no longer useful 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.120 for the purpose it was made for, and he had 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:39.600 to turn it around. And the only part that's sharp 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:41.640 now is the bit that's right above the guard. So 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:45.319 I'm just gonna flip this around. Yeah. Interesting, I I 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:48.240 like that you're an apologist. I don't know if that's 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:51.760 true or not. It's probably not. Probably, So we wanted 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:54.440 to look a little bit too at the history of 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:58.320 swords because you know, it's they've been around for quite 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:00.360 some time. And actually when you get to a point 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:03.960 of you know, where were the earliest swords made, there 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:08.000 there's a lot of disagreement, and it's largely because swords 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:12.600 are uh there there's not a rough like a very 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:16.280 clear definition of what is the sword versus what is 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:20.640 a dagger. Um. Generally speaking, you would say a sword 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:22.640 is longer than a dagger and a dagger shorter than 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:26.560 a sword. But that's not very satisfying, right, because it's 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:29.520 like saying a mountain is taller than a hill, like 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:32.000 you need it would be great to have some hard 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:36.560 numbers there. Well, there there are some it's kind of 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:44.719 considered that a dagger is between seventy yeah. Yeah, but um, 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:47.520 because there is that controversy, like we don't actually know 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:51.640 when the first swords came about, right the the There 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:53.880 was a cool find in two thousand three where some 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:58.720 archaeologists discovered weapons in Aslan Tepe, Turkey, and I could 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:02.439 be complete com lately, butchering that that place name, and 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:05.080 I apologize, it looks like a lane to me. Yeah, 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:07.960 that's just a total guest on my part. So they 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:10.760 the weapons they found had been forged more than five 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:15.880 thousand years ago. However, this was one of those cases 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:18.280 where some of the other experts were saying, well, these 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:21.920 aren't really swords, they're just long daggers. And again, like 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:25.480 sometimes people argue it's whether or not the uses for 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:28.520 attack or defense because a lot of people think of 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:32.880 a daggers defensive weapon. Um. But but I mean, when 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:35.559 it comes down to it, we at least know which 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:38.000 came first, the dagger of the sword. Yeah, yeah, the 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:40.480 daggers came first, or or even a knife. But if 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:43.680 you would consider a dagger or a knife a sword 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:47.640 of a sort, um, then you can't even go back 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:51.320 to the Stone Age because there were sharpened wood and 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:57.200 bone and clinton stone knives and daggers. Then yeah, and uh, 0:13:57.320 --> 0:13:59.439 I mean when we talk about daggers versus knives, even 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:02.160 daggets can using right because some people will argue that 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:04.400 a knife has a single cutting edge, and a dagger 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:07.640 has two cutting edges, but it all depends upon But 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:11.120 then a sword has a single or double And there's 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:12.920 some people who are like, well, no, this is a knife, 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:14.719 that's a dagger, that's a dagger, that's a knife, and 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:16.760 and it's you know, so I do an'tway. The reason 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:20.160 why we're saying it's hard to nail this down is 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:28.360 because language itself is complicated, so finding the specifics are tricky. 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:31.280 We'll be back with more of this classic episode of 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:41.240 tech stuff after this quick break. Getting back to that 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:45.080 awesome archaeological find over in Turkey, the swords predated the 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:51.040 next oldest find by about a thousand years. Yeah, a 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:57.080 millennia past between these weapons and the next oldest weapons 0:14:57.120 --> 0:14:59.960 that are been found. Um some means the swords woul 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.680 and forged sometime around three thousand, three fifty b C, 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:07.160 which is at the very beginning of the early Bronze Age. 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:10.480 The if you think of the ages, the three big ones, 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:14.040 the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, this 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:16.560 is at the just at the end of the Stone Age, 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:18.240 the beginning of the Bronze Age. Some people call it 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:21.560 the Copper Age because copper was a metal that was 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:25.400 the first metal that humans discovered. Yeah, um so, and 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:28.920 smithing started with copper and then turned into bronze. Yeah. 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:31.680 In fact, the copper that was are the swords that 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:34.600 were found were a copper alloy, right, yeah, yeah, they 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:36.960 were a copper alloy. They had mixed arsenic with it. 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:40.280 Um and not so if you if you cut me 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:43.480 a die from poison. No, no, no, it wasn't. It 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:47.360 wasn't poisoned blades, although they might have poisoned their blades. Um. 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:51.080 They did it to change the metal, to to change 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:53.640 its chemistry, and it made it actually stronger, and it 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.320 made the copper, because copper is pretty soft, it made 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:58.520 it hold its shape and hold its edge. And then 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:02.080 also three of the swords were inlaid with silver. Yeah, 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:05.000 so they're fancy. They were their fancy swords. They weren't 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:10.520 just you know, old like hackneyed kind of gross little things. Right. 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:14.600 So it be technically, if if these swords this amazing find, 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:16.520 if they are, if we got to a point where 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:19.680 we all said, okay, so these are not swords, when 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:24.440 would we say swords really got their start. Well, I 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:27.800 guess most people would say that swords really got their 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:33.560 start closer to seventeen hundred sixteen hundred BC, which is 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:35.800 the middle of the Bronze age. Um, and they were 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:38.600 made of bronze, which is alloy of copper and tin 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:42.000 um and and the argument stems from the fact that 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:44.680 a sword has to be strong in order to be 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:46.520 used the way it's meant to be used, which is, 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:51.760 you know, slicing into people or hacking things apart or whatever. 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:54.880 Um and soft metals just don't work for that. So 0:16:54.960 --> 0:16:58.640 copper wouldn't work so well for that, especially in longer 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:02.480 blades like swords as as opposed to daggers. Yeah, that's 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:07.240 it's absolutely true. Uh that's why, you know, until we 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:10.320 got a better understanding of what alloys were and we'll 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:13.480 talk more about what an alloy is in just a second. Uh, 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:17.879 you know, relying on pure metal was tricky because that 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:20.760 pure metal couldn't stand up to the rigors. I mean, 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:23.280 you get to a point where you're in combat and 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:26.760 you are, uh, fighting with your weapons. If your weapons 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:29.080 are bending or breaking, then obviously you are at a 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:32.360 distinct disadvantage. So let's talk about some of these materials 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:35.159 that we use. All right, So copper and alloys so copper, 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:37.680 as I said, was first metal discovered by humans. It's 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:41.840 very easy to shape, so that makes it incredibly useful 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:43.639 for stuff like if you want to turn it into 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:47.680 cookery or or jewelry, or these days if you want 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:49.720 to turn it into wires so that you can run 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:52.560 electricity through, because it is also a great conductor. But 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:54.800 that's also the Trauback is because it's so easy to 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:56.960 be shaped, it's also easy for it to bend. It 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.000 won't hold onto an edge very well. When we talk 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:01.760 about holding onto an we mean that the metal has 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:04.520 to be a special kind of hardness. It has to 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:06.960 be hard enough so that when you give it an 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:10.040 edge and then you hit something, that edge is maintained, 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:12.359 but soft enough so that you can make it have 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:15.720 an edge in the first place. So it's a delicate balance. 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.040 So you can sharpen a copper blade, but once you 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:21.760 use it it becomes dull. And actually I saw a 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:26.760 really cool demonstration of this. The BBC did a whole 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:31.160 series about ancient Britain and at one point they talked 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:34.680 about the the Bronze Age, and they made two arrow heads, 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:36.399 and one was made out of copper and one was 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:39.080 made out of bronze. They had a little sheet of metal. 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:42.640 They put the copper arrowhead against the sheet of metal 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:46.800 on a and they had a little like arrow extending 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:50.040 behind it. They used a hammer they hit the arrow 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:53.000 so that the head of the tip of the arrow 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:56.320 would press against this metal, and the copper just buckled. 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:58.760 And then they the bronze and they did the same thing, 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:01.359 and the bronze pierced through the metal. So it showed 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:05.560 that bronze is a much stronger material than copper, So 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:10.040 wasn't Copper was mostly used in weaponry as a way 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:14.200 of giving more weight to stuff like maces and clubs, 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:17.800 so for the smashy smashy but not the slicy slice. Yeah, 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:20.080 and you may go, well, but pennies are copper, and 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:23.080 I can't bend a penny, and that's because they're made 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:27.080 from copper alloys. Around three thousand BC, humans figured out 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:30.439 how to make copper stronger by adding other stuff to it, um, 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:32.400 making it an alloy, which we've already kind of talked 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:35.639 about a little bit um. And sometimes the thing they 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:38.880 added is another metal. So in the instance of bronze, 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:42.359 which is kind of what pennies really are, it's uh, 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:46.840 copper and tin um and then sometimes like with iron 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.879 which makes steel, it's a metal and a non metal 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:54.560 like iron and carbon. Right, so when you have an alloy, 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:57.639 you've got two main things you're thinking about. It can 0:19:57.680 --> 0:19:59.800 be more than two, by the way. You can. In fact, 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.919 are some types of bronze where they add magnesium and 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:07.359 some other stuff to it, but the basic ingredients are 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:11.879 are copper in ten. But your primary primary material is 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:14.800 called the main metal. So with bronze that would be copper. 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:19.280 Most of bronze is made up of copper. That so 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:21.399 it's called the main metal or the base metal, or 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:25.480 even the parent metal. So the other stuff is called 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:29.639 the alloying agent, not the annoying agent, which is what 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:32.879 mine is the alloying I don't have an agent, so 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:35.720 I can say that the alloying agent. So the parent 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:40.280 metal can be or more of the overall substance. It 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:43.160 can be less than that to UH, and the alloy 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:46.199 maybe as little as one percent. The alloying agent may 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:48.679 be as little as one percent or even less of 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:51.600 the overall. When we start talking about steel, we'll be 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:55.359 talking about some really amazing like you have to be 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:59.679 super precise with adding the carbon to your iron in 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:05.200 order to get usable steel. So most alloys are solid solutions, 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:08.040 So that means the different atoms of material are just 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:11.760 mixed together, but aren't chemically bonded to each other. The 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:13.960 easiest way to imagine this is, let's say that you 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:16.040 actually let's say you've got a little dish and you 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:19.639 pour pepper and salt into it. Now, the salt and 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:23.560 pepper aren't chemically bonded together. You could, with enough patients 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:26.640 and a fine enough pair of tweezers, pick out all 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:30.040 the grains of salt, so they have not chemically bonded. 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:32.000 And no matter how much you mash the salt and 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:34.480 pepper and make it into finer and finer grounds, it's 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:37.560 still going to be salt, right exactly. You you could 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:42.320 get increasingly smaller tweezers and still separated. Would you'd be 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:45.399 wondering why I'm making you do this? And the answer 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:50.160 is because you know, you know why. But a few 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:53.920 alloys are actually compounds. Now, compounds are different from solutions. 0:21:53.960 --> 0:21:56.480 Compounds mean that the atoms of the parent metal and 0:21:56.520 --> 0:22:00.600 the alloying agent actually do chemically bond. So in this case, 0:22:00.640 --> 0:22:02.879 we would talk about two things that when you mix 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:06.080 it together and make a third thing. So salt itself 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:11.400 is sodium and uh, you know sodium and chloride. You 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:14.320 put those together and that makes salt. You can't separate 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:17.439 that back out again easily. Right, It's not like you 0:22:17.440 --> 0:22:19.399 can take really tiny tweezers and like, okay, now I'm 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:20.720 gonna put all the sodium over here and all the 0:22:20.760 --> 0:22:23.000 chloride over here. Now you would have to use fancy 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:27.159