Glenn Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 Someone came in and wanted a flintlock, and with a mortar on the end, AND with an axe under the barrel, sort of your all in one weapon. I am fine with all that, but when they showed a 4 inch axe blade and said it had to be made by a blacksmith and from damascus, because "demascus could cut stone and metal" I had to watch the entire show just to be sure. The found a bladesmith in Colorado to make the axe part and it turned out to be 12 inches or so long, not the 4 inches as was shown in the sample piece. He quoted $1000 for the project but settled for $400 and putting some of his knives in the gun store display case for sale. They did not clamp the brass mortar piece down when drilling the hole to fit it on the end of the gun barrel. They hogged the drill and jammed it (locked it and stopped it) in the brass several times, till finally they twisted it out of the vise and the mortar was thrown onto the floor. Next they test fired the flintlock with mortar attached without eye or ear protection and set the manikin holding the gun ablaze when the gun was fired. That was a known problem for that type firearm (flintlocks) and they fabricated a brass shield to fix the problem. Then they tested the axe part on watermelons and rolls of baloney as invading hoards were not available. Oh yes, light tap tap cuts as to not dislodge the gun barrel from the gun stock. More like a slice and dice that actually using it as an axe. During the demonstration to the client, they fired a mortar round at a castle and have a close up of the round hitting the wall, then the castle explodes with much smoke and fire. And all this on the very first shot. it would have changed the course of history if they made these things in the days of old. Or they would have found something that actually worked instead. Ahh, they joys of television, where anything can be made exciting with a little creative editing, an explosion, and lots of smoke and fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K. Bryan Morgan Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 Don't cha just love unreality TV? I've watched the show several times. Its obvioust to me that its staged. Which is fine. Most of these shows are. But the son does a wonderful job engraving things. And they do make firearms from scratch. Which is a dieing art in this country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Weird combination weapons were made. I've seen gun swords and gun axes before; but never one with the mortar as well. In general they are less useful than either of the separate items. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironbudd Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 ya im watching the Episode and it said the damascus was shatter proof and "saw blades made from damascus are used for slicing rocks and metals" and they said o1 is a softer alloy used in making knives Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Sounds as if it was like a noted maker said about the show on making japanese blades---the show was *great* if you watched it with the sound turned off. (With the sound on the hype and misinformation was pretty bad...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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