The movie Braveheart is one of my all-time favorites.  It is the story of William Wallace who was a Scotsman that led a crusade to free Scotland from the grasp of English rule.  William Wallace was portrayed by Mel Gibson as a fearless combatant in some of the most brutal warfare ever to occur in history.

The weapon of choice of William Wallace was the Scottish Claymore.  It was the massive sword used to cut down the English with deadly effectiveness.  The Claymore was a fine weapon, and though it appeared ominous and intimidating on the field of battle, it was not always that way.

The Claymore began its life as a hunk of iron ore.  It was mined from the depths of the earth by a hard working dirt covered miner. The ore was washed of dirt and debris then smelted in a furnace to bring forth pure iron.  This iron was then cast into a rough form which was given to a skilled blacksmith to begin the forging process.

At first the blacksmith prepared his furnace and increased the temperature with the use of a bellows and hot coals. The iron was placed into the fire and heated to a malleable, red-hot state.  Then the blacksmith began to pound the metal with a heavy hammer, laying the block of iron over an anvil and using the hammer to carefully mold it.

This process was repeated numerous times, placed in the fire and heated to a moldable form, then carefully, yet slowly formed into the shape of a perfect sword.  In the hands of this artisan, the sword finally took its shape and appeared to be ready for battle.  The blacksmith, however, had not finished.

Even though the sword looked like it should, from all outward appearance, it had yet to be honed and sharpened to a razor edge.  The soldier that would carry this sword would need the strongest, sharpest, most efficient weapon he could find to give him the best odds of success on the battlefield.  The blacksmith then began honing the blade, first on a stone wheel to form an edge, then on to a leather strap to polish off the burs and bring it to a shaving sharp blade.

[click to continue…]

{ 1 comment }