A lot of people have been wanting to see the shovel blade from Shovel Knight forged in real life, and there’s no one better to do it than Man At Arms. These guys make all of this look so insanely easy but just one look at all the work they’re doing and you can correctly guess that it’s not. Plus, the idea of creating a shovel blade makes it necessary for more work and more specialized techniques in order to get the blade right and create a look that is true enough to the source material that will allow it to not only satisfy fans but also the guys working on it.
The shovel blade itself is three different pieces, as is the handle. The blade is a single piece with an edge piece welded onto the outer edge and the handle piece welded onto the curvature at the bottom. Each time I watch these guys I’m blown away by the craftsmanship that they display and the expertise that they show with each piece they make. It’s reassuring in a way to know that weapon construction such as this is still well and alive and hasn’t gone completely by the wayside. In a world where such old weapons are no longer viable as anything but antiques and conversation pieces these guys are still able to make stuff that is absolutely impressive and unbelievably lethal.
I can well enough imagine that some of these pieces are quite heavy however, so it would take someone with at least some muscle to swing them about. The cheap replicas that are made for display and are sold at cheaper prices are typically just showpieces that would break upon impact with another solid object. These however are expertly forged pieces that could do some major damage. Just watch the part at the end when the guys actually test the shovel out and you’ll see that the shovel can do some serious harm. Anything that can cut a watermelon that easily and smash another melon to pulp is not a cheap replica and has some real integrity.
I’d hate to see how much it would be to commission a weapon made by these guys but if it was ever in my budget to afford something like this I don’t think I could pass on it. The thought of having something that they’d made would be awesome, but having something that came out of their forge that you actually asked for would be even better. Having been a gamer for at least a few years I don’t know if I could possibly come up with a single weapon that I would want them to fashion, as there are a lot that come to mind that were insanely awesome and are obviously possible for these guys to make. I mean if they can make a shovel blade there doesn’t seem like a lot that they can’t or wouldn’t do. Just watching is a fun prospect, but to own one of their blades would be a dream come true.
