Forged like a real sword, this steel replica of the pixelated Minecraft Sword cuts both ways.
Tony Swatton’s been forging weapons and armor for over thirty years. He’s made props for everything from Pirates of the Caribbean to Blade. While admittedly he’s been too busy honing an ancient artform to play games, he has decided that the pixelated artifacts of Minecraft would pose an interesting challenge. It’s forged out to steel with an ebony and cocobolo handle and colored to look like a diamond sword. While the blade is sharp and functional, you’d likely be better off leaving this one on the rack.
The video above shows how Tony went about making the rather unorthodox sword. The process involves a hunk of steel, a 1,500 degree furnace, a power hammer, a belt grinder, and five quarts of elbow grease. The particular challenge here was how to give it that blocky look while still creating a (theoretically) functional sword. While the pixels are etched onto the blade, the handle is made from blocks of ebony and cocobolo wood fused into a nickel frame.
As this sword is close to being an exact replica, it’s not designed for comfort. If the serrated handle looks like it might hurt, that’s because it will. As Tony warns, “it’s going to hurt the person holding the sword almost as much as what you’re whacking with it”.
This isn’t the first time that Tony has made an exotic weapon from interesting source material. On his YouTube channel, he’s created everything from Sora’s Keyblade to Oddjob’s hat. Personally, I’m holding out for an Annelid Crystal.
Source: Youtube
Published: Apr 26, 2013 06:25 am