Modern Science Meets Historical Arts

UBC Material Engineering’s First Design Team!

Who are we?

UBC Volcan is a student-led blacksmithing team founded in 2020 to create a blade for the TMS Bladesmithing Competition. We design, forge, polish and put together our projects from scratch, and use the very best testing and microscopic imaging technologies UBC has to offer to create truly one-of-a-kind swords and knives. Though the majority of our members are in materials engineering, we are open to all UBC students in good academic standing with a passion for metallurgy, engineering, history, and all things swords! If you’ve got an awesome sword you’ve always fantasized about making, and want to learn more about cutting-edge material engineering techniques then we’re the team for you!

2024-2025 applications are now closed.

Keep an eye on our instagram @ubcvolcan for updates on the team and future recruiting.

  • Meet the Team

    See the dynamic group of students that comprise UBC’s most heavy-metal design team

    Check us out →

  • See What We Do

    Volcan members are working hard on passion projects to prepare for the years to come.

    See what we’re up to →

Check out our latest.

View fullsize The last blade of the week of the year is here. The most voted for blade in the poll… the katana! The katana is a slightly curved Japanese sword designed to be used with two hands. It has been produced since at least the 14th century, with man
View fullsize One of the winners of last week’s poll, the cane sword 🦯! The idea of hiding a sword or dagger in a stick is a seemingly pretty obvious one. People have probably been concealing knives in other things for as long as knives existed. Some histor
View fullsize We had a great time meeting some new engineering students at last week’s materials meet and greet. We hope we get a couple more emails from those interested in joining the team! Only a couple more days of recruitment left 😉
View fullsize The winner of last week’s vote, the endlessly flashy rapier! These swords evolved around the first half of the 16th century as self defence and duelling weapons. Though they became a popular status symbol among the rich and powerful, they never
View fullsize What is a poor medieval foot soldier to do when a lord riding a 1200 kg horse charges at him with a sword? If that foot soldier is lucky (or debatably unlucky) enough to be born between the 14th and 16th centuries, he would probably reach for a halbe
View fullsize Had a great forging session today ⚒🔥TMS expo here we come !
View fullsize Here they are, the winner of last week’s vote AND the funniest named weapon contest, the bollock dagger! These daggers have a typical dagger blade shape; long and tapering to a very sharp point, but their special handles are what earn them thei
View fullsize We had a great time meeting new engineering students yesterday at the open house. Can’t wait to see you all next event!