@The_RyujinLP Well I think of it like this. Being a true expert doesn't mean you know everything about the topic. A brand new apprentice can come in with information an expert doesn't have. Being an expert means you have the experience and knowledge to distinguish yourself as having more information on the topic than others. But more information does not mean all the information. I find that the the true experts are the ones with all of that knowledge who are humble enough to realize that they don't know everything. Those kinds of people will soak up a lot more knowledge than someone who is more close minded and rigid. This means that those years of experience go further than someone who is set in their ways. Who will know more information. Someone who has spent the last 50 years trying everything just to see what will happen and is open to any idea that is given to them, or someone who was taught how to do it 1 way and they reject all other methods because its "the wrong way".
Bingo. I hate when someone goes, "Oh do you know more then a EXpERt?!" What are his credentials? Who decided he was an expert and can their judgment be trusted (a lot of people are willing to throw that term around is it's convenient or they get the right greasing)? Can I talk to them and ask them some questions that covers if they have the proper mindset to be really be an expert (thinking you can do know wrong and there is no knew way to view a given topic is a quick way to show that you are NOT an expert heh).
@Keter You miss the point harder than any meme example I could think about, mate. But feel free to pontificate how the fact that XXI century steel is better than XI century ones and the fact it sells well among the great market makes unnecesary for scholars to research how it was historically done.
no he isn't, find someone else. This guys words are full of so many mistakes it isn't funny. It is people like him that have stunted the industry and stopped it from moving forward.
I add my Voice to that idea as well, it would be a nice 'niche' for you to go along side your own Videos. PLEASE think about it. You have an excellent mix of Ability, Respect, Humor, and True Love for the CRAFT, that would make you a GREAT 'Keeper of the Flame', so to speak. Finding and working with people who have more experience and skill NEVER diminishes you, it only makes us better ! I'm glad to see you learned that very important lesson so young, many, sadly, never do.
I've always enjoyed learning from people like Steve Schwarzer. I'm a chemist by training so listening to him talking about the properties of Bog Iron and bloom-forging kind of excites me because that's the kind of thing I studied, and I know for a fact that there are upper level chemistry courses just dedicated to those sorts of things, and it just kind of drove home a point I've made many times to people about how everything we know is built on hundreds of lifetimes of hard work and experimentation.
very true as you say everything we know has been built on over millions of lifetimes of experiences and experimentations which paved the way to technological advancements in basically every single way from the stone age all the way to how things are as we see the world today in all ways of life both for the working people and also the younger generation who are yet to get their first job in life after they leave their school years behind then there’s the emergency services and armed forces who have been strengthened over centuries of technological advancements and new knowledge etc. The hospital’s for example after the knowledge of how the human body worked and the creation of the technology to restart the heart came to exist the number of lives saved increased greatly then there’s the armed forces who have over the centuries learned how to use stronger materials for their weapons and armour and eventually created the first guns which eventually paved the way to the present day firearms and combat vehicles eg tanks and armoured personal carriers etc yet most people don’t realise just how many years of trial and error most of the present day is based on from advancements throughout the long history of the world over millions of years of history and yet most take the technology of today for granted but if they really realised how much easier their present day life is due to the technological advancements of the past they would be quite shocked and thankful i think and might appreciate the technology they have available to them more than they do now such as mobile phones 📱 etc
@Raimundo Torres three months of deep depression followed by not shaving for about 3 years. Sadly due to working healthcare I did have to shave it all off
"You can't pour knowledge into a broken cup." Old man's wisdom is still the best. And these days the young guns are willing to learn from the old guys, apply modern material knowledge and share their journey with a broad audience. Like Alec and Will do. And that is very much awesome! 😎👍
As someone who has studied the geology of iron formations and is pretty literate in history, but with only limited blacksmith experience (built a forge when I was a teenager), I appreciate the special quality of this man’s lived experience as a unique window into the past. He has the ability to understand and fill the holes in the history with the combination of his visceral experience and accumulated knowledge.
@Avana Vana Thanks for the very reasonable reply. I couldn't agree more with most of what you're saying. I do think however that there really isn't often a need to make a distinction such as your "visceral experience" thing. But English is a language that is very adaptable, so one can express this concept in many different ways. The lived experience thing was certainly not coined to describe a white guy and his extensive experience with an ancient craft. I would say it was very much meant to exclude people like him. I know exactly what you meant though, and could tell you weren't using it in the way it's used in grievance studies circles. I don't blame anyone but the people trying to corrupt the language.
@Patrick I have a great deal of observational and research experience at blacksmithing & low tech survival, but very little "lived experience" in them. The practical difference is that I know what to do, and how it's done, but I cannot actually do the majority of it.
@Patrick there is a difference between visceral/embodied experience (i.e. doing with the hands, muscle memory) vs. a purely mental experience. That’s the reason for my using that term and then later using “visceral experience”. I guess one could make an argument that everything is ultimately a mental/subjective experience, if you were a Buddhist, for example, or everything is ultimately an embodied experience, if you were a scientific materialist, but I personally find the dichotomy relatable and useful. I agree that if you break it down “lived experience” is a stupid term. I’m not an academic. What I meant was more of the latter “visceral experience”, ie something you can only learn by doing it over and over, rather than reading from a book or watching a KZclip video, or thinking about it.
I'm loving that you decided to own the whole pallet jack thing, the T-shirts are terrific. What he said about tamahagane is so true. The fact that they got wonderful swords out of it is a testament to the Japanese smiths' dedication and willingness to put in thousands of man-hours into taking what you've got and making it work.
@Gadget yoyo There's maybe three running tamahagane forges left in Japan, with Hitachi being one of them. The Hitachi forge is partially funded by the government as a cultural thing. They run 1-2 batches per year. The sand these forges use is actually naturally high in tungsten carbide, so the steel they were making at the time was much better than most. High carbide steel didn't come into use until at least the 70s in the US, if not a but later in the mid 80s. It's interesting stuff.
@Gadget yoyo Let's not overdo debunking the hype. A well made katana is a well made sword. No, they can't cut atoms in half, no, they can't cut the Earth in half, but they can cut limbs off etc. My real point was that the Japanese smiths took lemons (tamahagane) and made lemonade (swords).
@Mark Fergerson From what I know, only Hitachi makes tamahagane during winter. Any they can only sell the 'nuggets' to 'license' swordsmith. And what makes katana and tamahagane great...Anime and manga. Like if you expose the tamahagane to the sun for it to absorb sunlight, the blade can be use to kill demons. (Demon Slayer reference)😁
@R Allen You probably already know this but there are smiths in Japan keeping the "old way" alive for cultural, artistic and religious reasons, and yes, they harvest the sand and make tamahagane and refine it the old way and all that. There are still registered sword makers in Japan who will only use that steel, others who use modern steels. The traditional ones get higher prices because they do it the traditional way. Which swords are superior is a matter of opinion because they aren't used for fighting any more.
One of the greatest videos yet! I love the fact that the younger guys are willing to pay respect to the guys that have been holding this trade down for years and years and giving them the kudos they deserve for sharing their knowledge and providing inspiration.
I was working with some of the predecessors of the Internet (Usenet and Arpanet) in 1980. So, yes, Steve was doing Damascus before the Internet was invented. I can say from my own experience that the old saying, "If you want to learn a subject really well, teach it." is very true.
It's so refreshing to see something like this where he gets it right. No bad information, no mis-information, actually good quality information and a good presentation. I honestly can't recall a better video of this nature.
im a 22+ year glass artist looking to get into forging. the stuff glass artist do now is amazing. its even more wild when you learn not one of the techniques is newer then the roman era. ive dione glass classes at corning 20yrs ago. they have the best glass collection on display. 5000k-7000k year old egyptian glass ovens. some of the roman caged glass we still are not sure just how they did it back then. what a awesome breakdown for newbies like me lol. thanks
Great, down to earth presentation about the reality not the fantasy of different blade steels. The simple advice about never assuming you know everything and only being able to teach people with open minds was worth it all.
Do more of this Will. It's a good thing you are on you're own and now develop your own style. Alec is good but he's a bit too much of a showman (I'm a Brit BTW). You have a good way about you that people relate to. I've watched you since you started with Alec. You can do well man, keep it going and believe!
Every scrap of Steve's knowledge needs to be recorded in detail and preserved. He has gathered together every tiny little bit he could find, and obviously tested all those nuggets exhaustively to understand what works and what doesn't. So much of the understanding of the smith's craft could have been lost, but his careful examination and experimentation has conserved some very important details of it. I wish there were more people like him who held on to the knowledge of the past and passed it along like he has. I bash metal on an anvil for fun, and I have a decent teacher, but this interview shows that there is grandmaster knowledge out there that should be preserved for future generations of craftsmen. Thank you Steve for sharing, and thank you Will for knowing and caring and sharing this with the rest of us.
Finally doing real wootz damascus. The original mine had a tiny % of vinadium in the steel. Alfred pendray figured out the original recipe verified by a metallurgist and it warms my heart knowing his research isn't lost!
It's nice to see the younger and older generations together. Sharing knowledge, particularly things that are more hands on. It's important. So Thank-you to both of you for what you both do. I've learned from both of you and I'm 40 so the sky's the limit. Thank you!!!
Steve seems amazing and interesting. Can just imagine sitting around at lunch in the summer, you get him going and happily 8 hours later he's finished and you are better for it
What a awesome interview! We gotta learn from our elders, they know things, it’s not always about the future it’s about not forgetting our past, that’s how we do better by not making mistakes and learning from the experience of our elders. This man is awesome.
I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. The way you did the questions off camera worked very well and kept me watching until the end for Steve's fun responses.
To be fair It once WAS a super material Back when the most common weapons were made of bronze a well made Damascus steel weapon could likely have cut right through them and would also have held an edge much longer, would have been much less prone to break and would have maintained its strength for both longer and thinner blades for the same weight allowing for either more reach if longer or a lighter more nimble blade if made the same size
OUTSTANDING ! A Subject I have always wondered about, and have read so many contradictory things about. Thanks for setting it all straight, with History, Experience, Science, as well as Art. He reminds me of my Dad (RIP) I LOVE to hear that strong Southern Drawl say all those extremely well educated '10 dollar Words', Hahaha. My Dad, who was a Chemical Engineer, used to get a big kick out of how many people when we lived up North always thought he was stupid because of his accent, and he would always put them to shame just by simply being better and smarter, hahaha, never had to be ugly, just simply DID and let them figure it out lol... Steve and his message reminds me of my Dad. I miss him every day, and at 58 now, myself, there is rarely a day goes by that I don't do SOMETHING that HE Taught me, and often I had no idea I was even being taught. The Best Teachers are like that. ;-) Thanks Will and Steve for more inspiration. I'm a Carpenter by Trade, who worked once for half a dz years as a Steel Fitter, and you reminded me of WHY I loved learning how to work Metal. And WHY I need to set up some Metal working tools in my shop to at least 'hobby' with, maybe make some custom hardware or something, to keep my Mind still Sharp. I can SMELL the Steel in your videos, and it's the only thing I love as much as the smell of Wood. Thanks Guys. ;-)
We need more Steve! He had some tidbit’s of life lessons right there at the end there too! He is truly a national treasure! Thank you for interviewing him!!!!
Will, thank you so much for creating this video so some of Steve’s vast knowledge is captured and shared with us! Looking forward to more videos with Steve!
Usually when it comes to a nice Damascus knife I find myself not wanting to use it because I don't want to mess it up as I would with a regular plain-edge blade knife.
Hi will....... loving your content since you struck out on your own...... lots of praise and encouragement from Ireland 🇮🇪....... keep up the good work
@Conor Lavery As someone from near Toome I always have a laugh to myself when I scroll through comments on videos like this and see someone commenting from home :)
Hey bud. Something that a lot of people would find interesting if you could get him to talk about is Wootz and how it was heat treated. I have heard a bunch of different things including it wasn't hardened. I mostly am interested in high alloy blades and am trying to work into working mostly in the M4 range steels but I am interested in historical knives and would like to make some replicas some day. That stuff is hard to find more than myth especially when it comes to heat treatment treatment.
Wow, just wow. I love learning about all this history and then some around Damascus steel! Love the history of this metal and I could listen to Steve Schwarzer teach just about anything! Great video! You're both awesome!
Wowers that's definitely a very informative and helpful video this week Steve and Will thank you guys so much. Love the videos. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friends forge on. Keep making. God bless.
This was a great vid. Really liked the historical aspects, you can tell he's spent the time to learn, and loves his craft.. thanks for sharing...both of you.👍
"You can't pour knowledge into a broken bucket." a person whom speaks with such words of wisdom should be and surely is by me Respected! Thank you for adding to my lexicon a way to describe something in a way so keen, it surely will not be forgotten.
Honestly that was a great interview. It's hard to encapsulate all of the subject matter in such a brief video but he certainly didn't give any false or misleading information which is wonderful. As a bladesmith, sword seller, and metalworking educator and communicator it is nice to see others in the industry giving down to earth and pragmatic information about their craft. Judging by some of the comments section of this video it seems like we still have a long journey to go to get proper information out to everyone.
I am very surprised to hear him say that he worked with Alfred Pendre, as Pendre created crucible steel that gave a pattern without folding or combining different types of iron. Original Damascus steel was crucible steel made with ore from mines that had around .005% vanadium. When the ore ran out, the secret of Wootz was lost. So Wootz or Damascus steel is completely different from forged or pattern welded metal. Or at least that is what I gathered from watching the Al Pendre documentary.
Great video. Appreciate him confirming that early steel producers weren’t given super powers from aliens. Just the necessity to pound out impurities led to beautiful patterns. Have him again please.
"The riddle of Steel" as it's sometimes called, lies in taking a material... that might not even look like metal, and make a blade from it. Also pattern welding and forge welding are old as ---- Some blades made 1000 years ago in Europe were found to have been forged from two completely different alloys! One alloy is the edge, the other the spine of the blade. It lets you have a super-hard cutting edge... made of a metal that'd shatter if used for the entire blade.
Will, great vid. Excellent content. Known Steve for years…..fortunate to call him a friend. He's a “bladesmithin' wizard” 🧙♂️, and a wealth of information.
I was under the impression that it was originally developed to make blade edges with an ability to effecti ely resharpen themselves when they were used just like a rodents tooth.
You're a smart guy too Will. Your skill in finishing work will land you in that rare caliber of smith that Steve was talking about if you keep working on it! ;-)
Wootz / crucible steel was of a much higher quality than anything else at its time. The patterns were incidental to production of weapons but became the hallmark of the steel type. Pattern welding was invented very shortly after (maybe 200 BCE) to imitate the patterns seen in blades forged from wootz, but they did not result in equivalent quality blades.
Great video 👍👍 and Merry Christmas to you, Will 😉🎄 It feels like you're sorta serving an apprenticeship under Steve and I think I recall you and Alec talking about reaching out when learning the rope's, but are guys like Steve giving up their decades of secrets to preserve or continue the art?
It might be a good idea to buy some warm LED panels for the indoor bits, and point one up and one down a bit to get some more encompassing lighting going on (thankfully, even fairly powerful ones are pretty cheap these days)? Loving the videos though, thank you for posting quality content!
Interesting comments on the blister steel for watch springs. The steel was actually crucible cast steel produced from blister steel., produced by Benjamin Huntsman, who sold most to France for cutlery production. Thomas Mudge was the watch maker that used it to produce very accurate watches. Actually it's the marine chronometer H4 designed by John Harrison that was the first to successfully demonstrate it's accuracy at sea. This also incorporated a bi-metallic strip to compensate for temperature.
Interesting video this is the first I've heard of bog iron and iron blooms I admit I immediately left and went and found a video about making the bloom out of the bacterial excretion and then I found one on purifying it down and now I am back for the rest. How on earth did they see some rust colored poop out in the bog and say Hmm I wonder what happens if I heat that?
Loved it, Please share more like this.. The history is worth more then anyone can know, unless their knowledge is shared & taught, it will become lost forgotten wisdom... Be Blessed and have Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year..........
"There's a lot of experts out there, and some of them actually are."
Wise words from a man who knows things.
@Keter That is exactly the situation with Wootz today. You know your stuff good sir!
@Keter You mean misused to the point...
@The_RyujinLP Well I think of it like this. Being a true expert doesn't mean you know everything about the topic. A brand new apprentice can come in with information an expert doesn't have. Being an expert means you have the experience and knowledge to distinguish yourself as having more information on the topic than others. But more information does not mean all the information. I find that the the true experts are the ones with all of that knowledge who are humble enough to realize that they don't know everything. Those kinds of people will soak up a lot more knowledge than someone who is more close minded and rigid. This means that those years of experience go further than someone who is set in their ways. Who will know more information. Someone who has spent the last 50 years trying everything just to see what will happen and is open to any idea that is given to them, or someone who was taught how to do it 1 way and they reject all other methods because its "the wrong way".
Bingo. I hate when someone goes, "Oh do you know more then a EXpERt?!"
What are his credentials? Who decided he was an expert and can their judgment be trusted (a lot of people are willing to throw that term around is it's convenient or they get the right greasing)? Can I talk to them and ask them some questions that covers if they have the proper mindset to be really be an expert (thinking you can do know wrong and there is no knew way to view a given topic is a quick way to show that you are NOT an expert heh).
@Keter You miss the point harder than any meme example I could think about, mate. But feel free to pontificate how the fact that XXI century steel is better than XI century ones and the fact it sells well among the great market makes unnecesary for scholars to research how it was historically done.
Steve is exactly the kind of guy I want to be at some point. Man's the definition of cool old dude.
no he isn't, find someone else. This guys words are full of so many mistakes it isn't funny. It is people like him that have stunted the industry and stopped it from moving forward.
@Gene Kunkel I wouldn't exactly call 75 years old, not that old. That's a, "we'll see if I wake up tomorrow" age.
Have to be a cool young guy first then a cool bloke
he's not that old
Are there going to be more interviews like this? Nothing wrong with being a historian of your craft.
I add my Voice to that idea as well, it would be a nice 'niche' for you to go along side your own Videos. PLEASE think about it. You have an excellent mix of Ability, Respect, Humor, and True Love for the CRAFT, that would make you a GREAT 'Keeper of the Flame', so to speak. Finding and working with people who have more experience and skill NEVER diminishes you, it only makes us better ! I'm glad to see you learned that very important lesson so young, many, sadly, never do.
Sounds like it needs to be a series!
“Do the stuff that’s hard, because it makes you grow.” Thanks Steve and Will for this video because I’m living in that difficult season right now.
me too, man. me too...
Hope they made you stronger brother.
I've always enjoyed learning from people like Steve Schwarzer. I'm a chemist by training so listening to him talking about the properties of Bog Iron and bloom-forging kind of excites me because that's the kind of thing I studied, and I know for a fact that there are upper level chemistry courses just dedicated to those sorts of things, and it just kind of drove home a point I've made many times to people about how everything we know is built on hundreds of lifetimes of hard work and experimentation.
very true as you say everything we know has been built on over millions of lifetimes of experiences and experimentations which paved the way to technological advancements in basically every single way from the stone age all the way to how things are as we see the world today in all ways of life both for the working people and also the younger generation who are yet to get their first job in life after they leave their school years behind then there’s the emergency services and armed forces who have been strengthened over centuries of technological advancements and new knowledge etc. The hospital’s for example after the knowledge of how the human body worked and the creation of the technology to restart the heart came to exist the number of lives saved increased greatly then there’s the armed forces who have over the centuries learned how to use stronger materials for their weapons and armour and eventually created the first guns which eventually paved the way to the present day firearms and combat vehicles eg tanks and armoured personal carriers etc yet most people don’t realise just how many years of trial and error most of the present day is based on from advancements throughout the long history of the world over millions of years of history and yet most take the technology of today for granted but if they really realised how much easier their present day life is due to the technological advancements of the past they would be quite shocked and thankful i think and might appreciate the technology they have available to them more than they do now such as mobile phones 📱 etc
@ZevVeli Hope you are feeling better
@Raimundo Torres three months of deep depression followed by not shaving for about 3 years. Sadly due to working healthcare I did have to shave it all off
So what's the formula for that majestic beard?
"You can't pour knowledge into a broken cup."
Old man's wisdom is still the best. And these days the young guns are willing to learn from the old guys, apply modern material knowledge and share their journey with a broad audience. Like Alec and Will do. And that is very much awesome! 😎👍
As someone who has studied the geology of iron formations and is pretty literate in history, but with only limited blacksmith experience (built a forge when I was a teenager), I appreciate the special quality of this man’s lived experience as a unique window into the past. He has the ability to understand and fill the holes in the history with the combination of his visceral experience and accumulated knowledge.
@Vhargon No, I stand by what I said. OP seems to be a really nice person though.
@Avana Vana Thanks for the very reasonable reply. I couldn't agree more with most of what you're saying. I do think however that there really isn't often a need to make a distinction such as your "visceral experience" thing. But English is a language that is very adaptable, so one can express this concept in many different ways. The lived experience thing was certainly not coined to describe a white guy and his extensive experience with an ancient craft. I would say it was very much meant to exclude people like him. I know exactly what you meant though, and could tell you weren't using it in the way it's used in grievance studies circles. I don't blame anyone but the people trying to corrupt the language.
@Patrick its been 4 months, do you feel cringey at your post yet?
@Patrick I have a great deal of observational and research experience at blacksmithing & low tech survival, but very little "lived experience" in them. The practical difference is that I know what to do, and how it's done, but I cannot actually do the majority of it.
@Patrick there is a difference between visceral/embodied experience (i.e. doing with the hands, muscle memory) vs. a purely mental experience. That’s the reason for my using that term and then later using “visceral experience”. I guess one could make an argument that everything is ultimately a mental/subjective experience, if you were a Buddhist, for example, or everything is ultimately an embodied experience, if you were a scientific materialist, but I personally find the dichotomy relatable and useful.
I agree that if you break it down “lived experience” is a stupid term. I’m not an academic. What I meant was more of the latter “visceral experience”, ie something you can only learn by doing it over and over, rather than reading from a book or watching a KZclip video, or thinking about it.
I'm loving that you decided to own the whole pallet jack thing, the T-shirts are terrific.
What he said about tamahagane is so true. The fact that they got wonderful swords out of it is a testament to the Japanese smiths' dedication and willingness to put in thousands of man-hours into taking what you've got and making it work.
@Gadget yoyo There's maybe three running tamahagane forges left in Japan, with Hitachi being one of them. The Hitachi forge is partially funded by the government as a cultural thing. They run 1-2 batches per year. The sand these forges use is actually naturally high in tungsten carbide, so the steel they were making at the time was much better than most. High carbide steel didn't come into use until at least the 70s in the US, if not a but later in the mid 80s. It's interesting stuff.
@R Allen A lot of them would probably have offered up their firstborn daughter for her weight in a good modern alloy steel.
@Gadget yoyo Let's not overdo debunking the hype. A well made katana is a well made sword. No, they can't cut atoms in half, no, they can't cut the Earth in half, but they can cut limbs off etc.
My real point was that the Japanese smiths took lemons (tamahagane) and made lemonade (swords).
@Mark Fergerson From what I know, only Hitachi makes tamahagane during winter. Any they can only sell the 'nuggets' to 'license' swordsmith. And what makes katana and tamahagane great...Anime and manga. Like if you expose the tamahagane to the sun for it to absorb sunlight, the blade can be use to kill demons. (Demon Slayer reference)😁
@R Allen You probably already know this but there are smiths in Japan keeping the "old way" alive for cultural, artistic and religious reasons, and yes, they harvest the sand and make tamahagane and refine it the old way and all that.
There are still registered sword makers in Japan who will only use that steel, others who use modern steels. The traditional ones get higher prices because they do it the traditional way. Which swords are superior is a matter of opinion because they aren't used for fighting any more.
One of the greatest videos yet! I love the fact that the younger guys are willing to pay respect to the guys that have been holding this trade down for years and years and giving them the kudos they deserve for sharing their knowledge and providing inspiration.
I was working with some of the predecessors of the Internet (Usenet and Arpanet) in 1980. So, yes, Steve was doing Damascus before the Internet was invented.
I can say from my own experience that the old saying, "If you want to learn a subject really well, teach it." is very true.
Holy shit what hardware were you on?
So true. I've learned so much about my guitar playing by teaching music.
It's so refreshing to see something like this where he gets it right. No bad information, no mis-information, actually good quality information and a good presentation. I honestly can't recall a better video of this nature.
im a 22+ year glass artist looking to get into forging. the stuff glass artist do now is amazing. its even more wild when you learn not one of the techniques is newer then the roman era. ive dione glass classes at corning 20yrs ago. they have the best glass collection on display. 5000k-7000k year old egyptian glass ovens. some of the roman caged glass we still are not sure just how they did it back then. what a awesome breakdown for newbies like me lol. thanks
Great, down to earth presentation about the reality not the fantasy of different blade steels. The simple advice about never assuming you know everything and only being able to teach people with open minds was worth it all.
Do more of this Will. It's a good thing you are on you're own and now develop your own style. Alec is good but he's a bit too much of a showman (I'm a Brit BTW). You have a good way about you that people relate to. I've watched you since you started with Alec. You can do well man, keep it going and believe!
Every scrap of Steve's knowledge needs to be recorded in detail and preserved. He has gathered together every tiny little bit he could find, and obviously tested all those nuggets exhaustively to understand what works and what doesn't. So much of the understanding of the smith's craft could have been lost, but his careful examination and experimentation has conserved some very important details of it. I wish there were more people like him who held on to the knowledge of the past and passed it along like he has. I bash metal on an anvil for fun, and I have a decent teacher, but this interview shows that there is grandmaster knowledge out there that should be preserved for future generations of craftsmen. Thank you Steve for sharing, and thank you Will for knowing and caring and sharing this with the rest of us.
Finally doing real wootz damascus. The original mine had a tiny % of vinadium in the steel. Alfred pendray figured out the original recipe verified by a metallurgist and it warms my heart knowing his research isn't lost!
I've been begging You and Alec to do this since you two started working in the same shop together.
It's nice to see the younger and older generations together. Sharing knowledge, particularly things that are more hands on. It's important. So Thank-you to both of you for what you both do. I've learned from both of you and I'm 40 so the sky's the limit. Thank you!!!
This gentleman is very knowledgeable, and I'd love to hear more from people like him. What a gem!
Awesome. People like him are a wealth of walking knowledge. I can listen to people like him all day
"You can't pour knowledge in an empty bucket" - Wise words you can apply in your life, not just in blade-smithing
Steve seems amazing and interesting. Can just imagine sitting around at lunch in the summer, you get him going and happily 8 hours later he's finished and you are better for it
Super cool to have the old timers pass in their knowledge through to the young bucks 🤙
This man is deeply wise in a way I cannot quite put into words. But I can feel his wisdom resonating
What a awesome interview! We gotta learn from our elders, they know things, it’s not always about the future it’s about not forgetting our past, that’s how we do better by not making mistakes and learning from the experience of our elders. This man is awesome.
I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. The way you did the questions off camera worked very well and kept me watching until the end for Steve's fun responses.
Man 14 min of a master just spreading knowledge out there, this was beautifull. Thank you Will, thank you Mr. Schwarzer
To be fair
It once WAS a super material
Back when the most common weapons were made of bronze a well made Damascus steel weapon could likely have cut right through them and would also have held an edge much longer, would have been much less prone to break and would have maintained its strength for both longer and thinner blades for the same weight allowing for either more reach if longer or a lighter more nimble blade if made the same size
OUTSTANDING ! A Subject I have always wondered about, and have read so many contradictory things about. Thanks for setting it all straight, with History, Experience, Science, as well as Art. He reminds me of my Dad (RIP) I LOVE to hear that strong Southern Drawl say all those extremely well educated '10 dollar Words', Hahaha. My Dad, who was a Chemical Engineer, used to get a big kick out of how many people when we lived up North always thought he was stupid because of his accent, and he would always put them to shame just by simply being better and smarter, hahaha, never had to be ugly, just simply DID and let them figure it out lol... Steve and his message reminds me of my Dad. I miss him every day, and at 58 now, myself, there is rarely a day goes by that I don't do SOMETHING that HE Taught me, and often I had no idea I was even being taught. The Best Teachers are like that. ;-) Thanks Will and Steve for more inspiration. I'm a Carpenter by Trade, who worked once for half a dz years as a Steel Fitter, and you reminded me of WHY I loved learning how to work Metal. And WHY I need to set up some Metal working tools in my shop to at least 'hobby' with, maybe make some custom hardware or something, to keep my Mind still Sharp. I can SMELL the Steel in your videos, and it's the only thing I love as much as the smell of Wood. Thanks Guys. ;-)
We need more Steve! He had some tidbit’s of life lessons right there at the end there too! He is truly a national treasure! Thank you for interviewing him!!!!
Will, thank you so much for creating this video so some of Steve’s vast knowledge is captured and shared with us! Looking forward to more videos with Steve!
Steve is awesome would be a blast to hangout with and learn from someone like him
Usually when it comes to a nice Damascus knife I find myself not wanting to use it because I don't want to mess it up as I would with a regular plain-edge blade knife.
Hi will....... loving your content since you struck out on your own...... lots of praise and encouragement from Ireland 🇮🇪....... keep up the good work
Small world Ryan 😁
@Conor Lavery As someone from near Toome I always have a laugh to myself when I scroll through comments on videos like this and see someone commenting from home :)
Great places both....... from Tyrone myself...... settled with wife and kids in Derry....... Happy Christmas
Work with lads from Tullamore and Westport.
Hey bud. Something that a lot of people would find interesting if you could get him to talk about is Wootz and how it was heat treated. I have heard a bunch of different things including it wasn't hardened. I mostly am interested in high alloy blades and am trying to work into working mostly in the M4 range steels but I am interested in historical knives and would like to make some replicas some day. That stuff is hard to find more than myth especially when it comes to heat treatment treatment.
Awesome vid! Would love to see more "educational" or informational deep dives like this on your channel - bring in all the experts!
What a legend Steve is.
Wow, just wow. I love learning about all this history and then some around Damascus steel!
Love the history of this metal and I could listen to Steve Schwarzer teach just about anything! Great video! You're both awesome!
I appreciate that he noted that Damascus now days is pattern welding and not actually Damascus. So many people don't know this
This was indeed a real treat!
Amazing questions and even better answers. Great stuff Will!
Knowledge from a master. Love this, absolute class.
I’m not even a blacksmith and I think this is fascinating.
This was way more informative than expected. Nice work, guys!
It’s an honor to hear his wisdom.
Will, this was an awesome interview. I look forward to seeing Steve speak again, please!
That was such an incredible history lesson. What a wonderful wealth of information. 👍👍👍
"You can't pour knowledge into a cracked bucket, it won't stay." that's wisdom. Great video
Wowers that's definitely a very informative and helpful video this week Steve and Will thank you guys so much. Love the videos. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friends forge on. Keep making. God bless.
This guy is a treasure. What fun it is to listen to him.
Guys like Steve are a national treasure. Love to meet him some day.
I was very please to find out Steve is only about an hour-and-a-half from me. I will definitely be considering classes from this guy soon.
This was a great vid. Really liked the historical aspects, you can tell he's spent the time to learn, and loves his craft.. thanks for sharing...both of you.👍
"You can't pour knowledge into a cracked bucket, it won't stay."
And I took that to heart.
That was a great, fascinating lecture. Thanks for sharing this.
Thank you for this and a great way to preserve history.
I could listen to Steve for hours, the knowledge he has can only come from passion thank you for sharing 😊
"You can't pour knowledge into a broken bucket." a person whom speaks with such words of wisdom should be and surely is by me Respected! Thank you for adding to my lexicon a way to describe something in a way so keen, it surely will not be forgotten.
I love how down to earth Steve is
Honestly that was a great interview. It's hard to encapsulate all of the subject matter in such a brief video but he certainly didn't give any false or misleading information which is wonderful. As a bladesmith, sword seller, and metalworking educator and communicator it is nice to see others in the industry giving down to earth and pragmatic information about their craft.
Judging by some of the comments section of this video it seems like we still have a long journey to go to get proper information out to everyone.
I am very surprised to hear him say that he worked with Alfred Pendre, as Pendre created crucible steel that gave a pattern without folding or combining different types of iron. Original Damascus steel was crucible steel made with ore from mines that had around .005% vanadium. When the ore ran out, the secret of Wootz was lost. So Wootz or Damascus steel is completely different from forged or pattern welded metal. Or at least that is what I gathered from watching the Al Pendre documentary.
Absolutely amazing Will! This is my favorite episode yet!!!
What an amazing guy. Thanks for sharing him with us Will.
Great video. Appreciate him confirming that early steel producers weren’t given super powers from aliens. Just the necessity to pound out impurities led to beautiful patterns. Have him again please.
"The riddle of Steel" as it's sometimes called, lies in taking a material... that might not even look like metal, and make a blade from it.
Also pattern welding and forge welding are old as ---- Some blades made 1000 years ago in Europe were found to have been forged from two completely different alloys! One alloy is the edge, the other the spine of the blade. It lets you have a super-hard cutting edge... made of a metal that'd shatter if used for the entire blade.
Thanks Will for that. Love hearing about the history on all this. Amazing
That was awesome! "You can't pour knowledge into a broken bucket, cause it won't stay" that's my new favorite quote.
the history of damascus steel is really interesting, love the knowledge from Steve
Will, great vid. Excellent content. Known Steve for years…..fortunate to call him a friend. He's a “bladesmithin' wizard” 🧙♂️, and a wealth of information.
What an interesting interview, he really honest and genuine 👏👏👏
I was under the impression that it was originally developed to make blade edges with an ability to effecti ely resharpen themselves when they were used just like a rodents tooth.
You're a smart guy too Will. Your skill in finishing work will land you in that rare caliber of smith that Steve was talking about if you keep working on it! ;-)
That was an absolute 💎, love me some KZclip ⛏ especially when you find this sort of thing. He is a national treasure.
This was incredibly informative, great work!
what a treasure. Thanks Will for sharing his knowledge with the world.
Wootz / crucible steel was of a much higher quality than anything else at its time. The patterns were incidental to production of weapons but became the hallmark of the steel type. Pattern welding was invented very shortly after (maybe 200 BCE) to imitate the patterns seen in blades forged from wootz, but they did not result in equivalent quality blades.
Absolutely brilliant, what an amazing guy. You're very lucky to know him!
Glad to finally have a knowledgable individual differentiating the different types of Damascus steel. Enjoyed this deep dive.
Without a doubt the best oral history I've heard yet . Short concise compacted with a lot of details
Incredible video and always so neat to get any insight into Steve’s mind. Thanks for this Will!
Awesome video. Thanks for this.
This is the most I've learned on the topic from one video in many many years.
Great video 👍👍 and Merry Christmas to you, Will 😉🎄 It feels like you're sorta serving an apprenticeship under Steve and I think I recall you and Alec talking about reaching out when learning the rope's, but are guys like Steve giving up their decades of secrets to preserve or continue the art?
Steve is more than a legend, he's a treasure!
Got the pleasure to chat with steve at blade show, just a great friendly guy, thanks for the video Will 👍🏼
What an absolute lexicon of steel knowledge!
Kyle Royer Does Damascus better than anyone i've seen, a Collab with you two would be legendary.
Thanks ever so much for getting him to share all of that with all of us!
This was an excellent video, fascinating to listen to people with many decades of experience and passion.
Please make sure that you do more interview content, this was amazing!
Wow, Will great amount of information. I could listen to him all day. Thank you
Thanks for this. Steve's insights are top-notch.
The last 10 seconds of the interview ranks among the best advice I have heard! Great video.
You need to have this man Sainted!! You also need to write a book with him!!
Thank you for giving this awesome knowledge!!
Extremely interesting.
He ended (and or you edited) the best lines at the end. Sage wisdom. "You do the stuff that's hard because it makes you grow."
It has been a pleasure to watch you grow and mature on this medium.
It might be a good idea to buy some warm LED panels for the indoor bits, and point one up and one down a bit to get some more encompassing lighting going on (thankfully, even fairly powerful ones are pretty cheap these days)? Loving the videos though, thank you for posting quality content!
We need a full documentary from you and Steve
Interesting comments on the blister steel for watch springs. The steel was actually crucible cast steel produced from blister steel., produced by Benjamin Huntsman, who sold most to France for cutlery production.
Thomas Mudge was the watch maker that used it to produce very accurate watches.
Actually it's the marine chronometer H4 designed by John Harrison that was the first to successfully demonstrate it's accuracy at sea. This also incorporated a bi-metallic strip to compensate for temperature.
What a fantastic video. Thanks for sharing this. I learnt a lot.
Interesting video this is the first I've heard of bog iron and iron blooms I admit I immediately left and went and found a video about making the bloom out of the bacterial excretion and then I found one on purifying it down and now I am back for the rest. How on earth did they see some rust colored poop out in the bog and say Hmm I wonder what happens if I heat that?
Bless you Will for sharing this content!!!! Great seeing you again when you were here! God Speed my friend!
Loved it, Please share more like this.. The history is worth more then anyone can know, unless their knowledge is shared & taught, it will become lost forgotten wisdom... Be Blessed and have Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year..........
That was great knowledge and history. No one can give you this information better than Steve. I need one of those pocket meteorites!