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Why you should watch Big Giant Swords season 1

April 2nd, 2015 by Irwin Fletcher Comments

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Michael Craughwell, from Galway,  has been making giant swords for years, for example  people of a certain vintage may remember a convention called Confess, at one of the early events, (probably the first), Micheal brought along a 7′ 2″ broad sword for display purposes and some lunatic, who now writes for FTN, took it for a couple of test swings in the main hall, people dived under desks, others fled, oh how we laughed, the rest of the convention committee, not so much.

Years later Michael is now, married with children, set up with a workshop in Marthas Vineyard (U.S.) and has achieved a respectable bit of internet fame through filming his various adventures with his big, giant swords. He has been making a bit of money on the side making custom orders for various mad people with money.

The Discovery channel found out about him, somewhere around the 6 millionth youtube view and commissioned a set of 6 episodes documenting his attempt to turn the Big Giant Swords from a side project to making an actual viable business out of it. These aired over the last two months in the states and seem to have been a big hit though no word has been given on a season two as yet. In the meantime they have uploaded the videos to their Youtube channel for all to see.

The shows follow “Mike” as the Americans seem to have taken to calling him as he attempts to fill two orders a week with the assistance of a crew of local crafting talent, the orders are all unique and huge creations for people ranging from storm-chasers to Olympic strong women. While there are some attempts to make interpersonal drama a thing, the real appeal of the show is watching an Irish welder of dubious sanity make a weapon that has no business being real and not get arrested.

Frankly I find it a bit odd to be plugging a reality show at all, particularly one I know the main person in but it is quality nerd viewing. I’m embedding the first episode here but you can click through to see the rest. Give them a thumbs up or something if you like them, it might help convince discovery to fund another series 🙂 You can also like his page on Facebook

I'm an LA journalist who really lives for his profession. I have also published work as Jane Doe in various mags and newspapers across the globe. I normally write articles that can cause trouble but now I write for FTN because Nerds are never angry, so I feel safe.