Fun Stuff > MAKE
Gunsmithing (no politics)
Method of Madness:
I'm not going to respond to that, because no politics. Come on, now.
Barmymoo:
I'm not sure why it is that I find guns unsettling and distressing, whereas I find swords interesting and often beautiful, even though both are used to kill. I guess maybe because swords are less often used for murders these days than guns are? Anyway, I know absolutely nothing at all about sword functionality but I am intrigued by the beautiful intricate detail on the swords and ... swordcase thingies. Presumably they have no functional purpose? Why waste time and effort prettifying your weapon?
GarandMarine:
Sheaths, and most often times they don't, usually it was just a way to show status or rank... or whether or not one was a noble. In many cases functional details were made artistic, and that in itself was considered a mark of high quality craftsmanship, it would also cost a small fortune, as it does to this day. Personally May I see firearms and swords in a very similar light. There is a beauty to firearms from about the 1950s back and in modern well made arms that is no less then any other work of craftsmanship.
For example (Spoiler contains an AR-15 with classic style case hardening and wood furniture and a Hartman and Weiss bolt action rifle. Trigger warning: Guns)
(click to show/hide)
These particular examples, like high end officer swords and swords of nobility, are meant to be beautiful as well as functional. Though I see no less beauty in a well functioning M1 Garand myself.
Barmymoo:
I thought that was the word and then second-guessed myself. Thanks!
Those guns are beautiful. They still unsettle me a bit though because I've got a deeply-ingrained association with those shapes and the idea of violence, death and fear (it is probably incredibly relevant that I have only seen guns in real life when they were being carried by armed police in anticipation of a riot). The artistry explanation makes a lot of sense though. Presumably that isn't the case any more and all armed servicepeople have the same style of weapons if they have the same... uh, brand?
[I might move these posts to the gun thread as they are not very pointless - any thoughts, anyone?]
GarandMarine:
--- Quote from: Barmymoo on 23 Oct 2013, 05:14 ---I thought that was the word and then second-guessed myself. Thanks!
Those guns are beautiful. They still unsettle me a bit though because I've got a deeply-ingrained association with those shapes and the idea of violence, death and fear (it is probably incredibly relevant that I have only seen guns in real life when they were being carried by armed police in anticipation of a riot). The artistry explanation makes a lot of sense though. Presumably that isn't the case any more and all armed servicepeople have the same style of weapons if they have the same... uh, brand?
[I might move these posts to the gun thread as they are not very pointless - any thoughts, anyone?]
--- End quote ---
It might be worth moving them.
Type might be the more appropriate term for a lot of firearms. For example the M16A4 service rifle I carried in the Marines is made by a variety of manufacturers, just in my service I carried Colt and Fabrique National (FN), the M16 design itself and it's AR15 counterpart are made by thousands of manufacturers world wide, as is it's East Bloc counterpart, the venerable AK-47. (Poor Mikhail Kalashnikov hasn't seen a penny for the many hundreds of millions of copies made world wide). That's really what killed artistry in firearms, mass production. You can see the same type of thing in that lovely arming sword Snalin shared, while we see it as an almost pretty piece now because of the craftsmanship involved in it's day it was a mass produced bulk weapon, the backswords, arming swords, and etc of nobles other members of the leadership cast, would have been vastly improved on that and other basic, and primarily functional designs, and made to the man instead of produced at large for the common foot soldiery.
The reason I draw the line for "artful" weapons in the military around the M1 Garand is mostly personal taste, CSM's our resident Stoner... heheh... fangirl so she might even take umbrage at that, but I see the following weapons as having lost something to the process of modern mass manufacturing. Obviously an individual smith can still do quite a lot with the modern designs, some very beautiful like above... others... are less so.
Trigger warning: A very, very ugly gun.
(click to show/hide)BEHOLD! El Polo Muerte!
Friends don't let friends become drug lords and have really stupid custom weapons made for them kids.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version