How to Make an Ancient Sword FROM SCRATCH: the Egyptian KHOPESH

[Music] this weapon is closely associated with pharonic power divine power [Music] of all the weapons in history the sword is perhaps one of the most romanticized and iconic becoming a mainstay of history fantasy and sci-fi genres as we progress through the history of humanity it's difficult to not cover the history of the tools of conquest and the weapons by which empires were built and destroyed so as we advance we'll be hitting on a few key points on the evolution of the sword and other common weapons starting today with one of our earliest swords the kopesh everything we use comes from 8 000 generations of collective innovation and discovery but could an average person figure it all out themselves and work their way from the stone age to today that's a question we're exploring each week i try to take the next step forward in human history my name is andy and this is how to make everything be sure to subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss the next step in this journey the evolution of the sword came from the dagger for the discovery of metallurgy initial stone knives could only get to a limited length before becoming too fragile and prone to snapping once metal was mastered the length of blades was able to expand and the dagger started to emerge as the skills improved and the stronger properties of bronze are discovered the size of daggers could get bigger and bigger at what point a dagger becomes a sword is highly contentious and depends on many different definitions the first weapons that could possibly considered swords dates to around 3 300 bce and turkey ranging from 18 to 24 inches long the first weapons that can be unambiguously called swords emerge around 1700 bce in crete with lengths around 27 to 40 inches we'll be covering this era in a video in a few weeks but today we're digging into this earlier bronze age era of short swords and see about making one of the more unique ones became common and symbolic in egypt the kopash which emerged sometime around 2500 bce to learn more about the specific sword and get some help in casting it earlier this year we paid a visit to some experts in austin texas while there we went down to the gulf of mexico to source glasswart for an upcoming endeavor i'm making glass from scratch this guy right here the local variety of glass warts burning these should be usable for making the soda ash for glass chop down some reeds on the banks of the colorado river for our previous papyrus video and then connected with our first expert greg the sword casting guy to cast a wide assortment of bronze age tools for upcoming projects including a pair of kopesh [Music] [Music] [Music] so if you want to learn how to do your own casting drake can help you out that's right contact me at swordcastingguy.com my email address is swordcastingguy swordcastingguygmail.com and if you get 12 or more people who are interested in making a sword i will come to you i am currently traveling all over the us teaching story casting classes and i'm about to start going to europe which i'm super excited about speaking of swords uh the green flames over here mean we are about to pour so it is time to go [Music] in addition to the kopeshes we also cast a bronze anvil to help assist in the work hardening of the edges of the blade [Music] he's a monster at that oh that came out great that even looks like a ship's anchor let's try to take that carry on why don't ya try yep oh look at that that is neil burridge's kopesh now it didn't totally sand cast perfectly which i knew it would not but it is recognizable as king tut's kopesh what didn't cast right uh right up here there's a little void the tip is not perfect though a lot of it did like that's that's actually pretty exciting oh that one looks kind of like a canaanite kopech next to understand a little better the history behind this unique weapon we moved to our second expert who greg put us in touch with damon stiff so i've been training in a martial arts for over 30 years with an emphasis and focus on african middle east for say the last 20 years featured on shows like history's deadliest weapons demand is one of the best experts on these weapons and has spent considerable time in research trying to reconstruct the combat styles of how these weapons were once used pretty much when we look at the shape it's like a klingon weapon it's like it's from outer space it's glory of the klingon spirit so the kopesh in certain circles pronounced as hepesh it's very interesting we don't know much about its origin we do know in western asia and mesopotamia they had sickle swords similar to the kopesh it had more than just a battlefield significance to the egyptians it had like a a spiritual connection to the gods as a sign of favor and a sign of power there are many scenes that depict like the the deities offering the kopesh to the current pharaoh when we do see the compassion action sometimes it's kind of in a more of a passive role traveling with the soldiers to the battlefield but in an active role we see it as a smiter you capture this foe and you're demonstrating your dominance over them and you have it raised over here and you're going to bring it down to question so this weapon is closely associated with pharonic power divine power the term itself refers to the four leg of a cow when egyptians would sacrifice a cow there was this portion of the leg that was very reminiscent to the shape of this blade and so they were referred to the sword as a hepesh based off of that portion that they were offered to the gods the legs symbolize power and strength and stability so when we're talking about this weapon we see the idea of strength and power some uh egyptologists have questioned the narrative of whether the kopesh was like brought into egypt by the hixo's invasion or if it was something that was developed based off of early like alabaster curved knives that the egyptians used but there's a an axe called the epsilon axe so it has like a wooden hat that would travel all the way up and you have this like crescent-shaped blade with these holes or slots cutting it to kind of take some of the weight off of it the problem is when you come across someone that is in armor that is made to withstand edge and impact weapons then it becomes an issue so the epsilon axe stop being used on a battlefield and then people start favoring what they call the duck bill axe or the penetrative axe which was able to like cause cussive damage to the the person by striking the armor if this style of acts had fallen out of favor then why would you create a sword that basically serves the same function as the axe and was probably like more costly to like make it could be at the kopesh also it just had like a strong association with that that kingly power now some people have said because the point here is in line with the wrist it allows the kopesh the thrust and that could be kind of one answer to why this remained functional in new kingdom egypt as a battlefield weapon as opposed to the epsilon axe which if this point could be used for thrusting then you have a function that matches the military advancements that were going on during the bronze age part of the problem of that is that not all kopesh are uniformed in shape sometimes these things are rounded off and they don't have the same kind of accentuated point as this so it's questionable whether or not it could be used for thrusting for me the elegance of it is that it can cut the question is like can you pair it with a bronze sword in the same way you would do with the steel sword would this be used in conjunction with the shield but then how would you use it if it was just just by itself while making the weapon is cool and everything actually knowing how to properly use it seems just as important so while there damon gave me a quick lesson of how to fight with a kopesh sword next week's episode will feature this lesson as i learned to fight like an [Music] egyptian yes there we go there it is [Applause] if you are interested in learning these african martial arts check out damon's gym in austin where he offers a variety of classes on different african weapons and styles now back to finish up my cast co-presses all cleaned up and polished let's have to handle and then use my new anvil to work hard on the edges so hold a strong edge [Music] then using some leftover juice of walnut husk give it a nice stain [Music] all right so back in the studio now and finished up these kopeshas got them half did and polished off this is the first one this is based off of king tut's kopesh that was found in his two and it's more of a ceremonial one um so i didn't actually put an edge on it but did get polished up it's pretty hard with all the little grooves in it it's actually a replica of a nail bridge that greg had yeah this is kind of a display of power to show off a little bit and then did not see that and then this one is more of a traditional one a workhorse used for actual combat so i sharpened it and put a bit of an edge on it and a little bit we can put that to the test and chop some fruit up smite them so thanks again to greg and damon for both helping me cast these and for teaching me a little bit of their history and how they potentially were used in actual combat we're gonna be covering some other bronze age weapons such as a more traditional sword and spear and upcoming videos and both of them also helped me with that so you look for that in a few weeks be where they see people so let's try this out and chop some fruit [Applause] [Music] [Music] if you enjoyed this video be sure to subscribe and check out other content we have covering a wide variety of topics also if you've enjoyed these series consider supporting us on patreon we are largely a fan funded channel and depend on the support of our viewers in order to keep our series going thanks for watching you

Channel: How To Make Everything

Views: 220,060

Keywords: HTME, Smart, Learn, Teach, History, Science, Innovator, Education, Educational, School, Invention, Technology, how to make everything, brow tidy ox, sword, ancient, egyptian, sword casting, forged in fire, khopesh, how to make, from scratch, maker, diy, weapon master, sparring, cast, casting, homemade, craftmanship, history channel, primitive technology, forging, katana, samurai, blacksmith, alec steele, making a sword, sword making, blade, bladesmithing, craft, assasins creed, assasins creed origin, handmade

Id: bcBYDyyg-po

Length: 14min 4sec (844 seconds)

Published: Thu May 14 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Awesome! I think they came out beautifully and was impressed by the fruit chopping. Interviewing and working with subject matter experts really adds value to this episode.

[u/Gigaton-GX]

Dude you should make a video on making clothes or a simple shelter or something because right now your tribe is a bunch of homeless nudists.