Arrow heads for Ashley

(21:29:43 )
[PIC]
|..Exavier Exeter..|
|..Minus..|


[ Minus - Shop ]
-At a merchant's or tradesmen shop somewhere in the town of Minus...-

says to ALL: I was in the Exeter Metal Works and had been here most of the day. The previous evening I'd gotten to bed quite early and therefore woke up early this morning ready to get some work done. I'd received a missive from the Administrator and had paid the fee on my way into town. Synneva had not been at the Town Hall but I was quite sure she would be informed of the new rental period when she returned there at some point. I was stripped down to the waist, wearing just a pair of leather pants and my heavy boots so that I would not burn my linen or wool clothing. I was wearing a heavy fireproof apron over my large and heavily scarred form. I had been working with Omega much of the day filling an order for collars made by Aslan of the House of Golden Blossoms. I would need to catch up with him soon to deliver the shipment and see if it was up to his standards. I now turned to another project that I had been putting off for some time. It was for the Panther Girl Ashley, she was interested in some arrow heads that would pierce the steel or wood of a normal Gorean shield. I felt some pity for whoever she came across when she was carrying such arrows but there was little chance that it would be me. Plus it was always good trading with the Panther Girls, they tended to have items that were otherwise inaccessible to me.


(21:37:35 )
.»«feather on the wind»«.
[PIC]
. S y n n e v a .
{I belong to Minus}
-Minus|IC-

[ Minus - Shop ]
-At a merchant's or tradesmen shop somewhere in the town of Minus...-

says to |..Exavier Exeter..||..M: (afk 5 min) It had been late when she had been told to come forth within the hall by one of the Clerks, a pouch of coin had been delivered to pay for an extension on her rental. She was told that you were still within Exeter Metal Works and did she know where it was located? She did. She had thanked him and disappeared into the storage room, returning moments later, her form wrapped snugly and shielded from the cool night air within a cloak. She had hurried through the streets walking swiftly at this late hour, the hood concealing her from prying eyes as she moved through the darkness and saw the glow of the windows ahead. It was the low groan of the door...then a cool draft, that would signal the arrival of someone within these sweltering walls, over the clang of metal and hiss of flames perhps you were not yet aware and would not notice the click as the lock was set in place before the cloaked form would step forth from the shadows, across the room, and the hood would be pushed back to reveal the cherubic features shining beneath the mane of thick flaxen tresses that tumble loosely as she drinks in your form. Lush lips part as if meaning to speak but the sight of your rippling muscles streaked with ash and and sweat gave her pause, instead her tongue would travel her bottom lip, one delicate brow arching sharply as she would wordlessly tug the strings free and see the cloak set aside.

(21:41:55 )
[PIC]
|..Exavier Exeter..|
|..Minus..|


[ Minus - Shop ]
-At a merchant's or tradesmen shop somewhere in the town of Minus...-

says to ALL: I knew what she was looking for and I had some idea of how I wanted to make them. I would create a set of 50 to begin with, this would give her a chance to use them and see if they work and then I could replace them if she needed them. As I was not much of a woodworker I would leave the actual placement of the arrow shafts to her. They would also need to be a very precise length and weight for her purposes. I would just make an arrow head that looked much like the head that was used on a bolt for a crossbow. This should accomplish the punching through power that she was looking for without significantly adding weight to the normal style arrow head. I was looking through some of the materials that I had in the metal works, finding several molds for crossbow bolt heads. This would give me the basic shape, for arrow heads I often used a steel plate and broke off sections to create the arrow head shape but for something more substantial like this, a single forging method would be preferable. It was sweltering in the metal works at this moment as the forges had been going all day. Dirty and sooty, little runnels of sweat dribbled down my flesh, leaving furrows in the soot that was gathered there from an entire day in the forge. My long black hair was pulled into a leather strap at the nape of my neck out of my way and I also had my beard tied off so that it would not catch fire with a stray coal or ember. It was plaited in a long braid down the center of my chest. All of my tools were laid out, I'd already made steel for the forging of the collars earlier and this would require just about the same type of tensile strength so the carbon mixture was correct. I already had a large trough of the molten liquid ready to go, several thralls were furiously working the bellows to keep the furnaces as hot as possible.


(21:48:47 )
[PIC]
|..Exavier Exeter..|
|..Minus..|


[ Minus - Shop ]
-At a merchant's or tradesmen shop somewhere in the town of Minus...-

says to ALL: I did feel a slight draft as the door was opened, but with such a large metal works with several people working here I did not pay it much notice at the moment. I had thick heavy gloves pulled up over my forearms and they went right to my elbows. This would shield my arms from some of the worst of the heat from the open furnace where the steel within an obsidian trough had liquefied enough that I could work with it. I carefully grasp the end of the steel handle that came off the trough. It looked much like a ladle would I suppose, with a spout at one side and it was somewhat rounded in shape. The stone could take heat that no other material could, making it perfect for such purposes. I already had the molds set out and clamped on the workbench so that I could pour the liquid steel into them easily. The air was hazy above the trough from the extreme heat emminating from within. There was sweat beading on my brow and trickling down my face into my beard, my tongue pokes out of the corner of my mouth just a bit as it always did when I was in deep concentration. Not wanting to waste any of the steel as the smelting process was somewhat complicated I begin to pour the steel into the top of each opening in the molds. One at a time they were filled, then another and another and another. After several minutes I had filled every one of the openings in the top of the various molds with molten steel. This finished off the stock that I had in the obsidian trough so I thrust it into brine, a mixture of salt and water, that was at around room temperature. This would cause the steel still within the trough to cool at an incredibly quick rate, making it brittle enough to be chipped off later. A burst of steam comes from the brine, bathing me in its salty wetness. The brine barrel was large enough that the temperature of the water was not all that much effected by the introduction of the incredibly hot obsidian trough. The heat from the fires was intense but I call to the thralls, letting them know that I do not require their services any longer today. They head off to the cots in the back of the Exeter Metal Works to get some sleep before their shift starts again in the morning.


(21:57:10 )
[PIC]
|..Exavier Exeter..|
|..Minus..|


[ Minus - Shop ]
-At a merchant's or tradesmen shop somewhere in the town of Minus...-

says to ALL: I needed to give the steel time to cool so I went about cleaning up some of the other things I have gotten out throughout the day today. I was meticulous about my tools, they were always put back in the right spot and were taken care of in a way that few would understand nor expect for someone of a low caste such as the metal smiths. A man's tools were what allowed him to earn a living and therefore I treated them with such respect, even though I had no need to earn a living ever again with all of the coin I have earned over all my years looting and pillaging and such. Omega was walking through the forge, checking on a few pieces of equipment and making sure everything was in order. I raise a hand to greet my old friend, he looked the part of a pirate, though he had not lived in Port Kar for many years. He was actually highly educated and an incredibly savvy businessman. When I saved his hide from Nazeer all those years ago he had pledged his life to me and my service, he had yet to let me down. Even then, some were put off by his scrawny appearance, all the gold rings in his ears and his long goatee. He even wore the old garments of a pirate including a nice scimitar at his waist. He was heading out for the evening I knew, I'd set him up with a nice house here in the town so that he would not have to travel far to get to work. I trusted him as much as it was possible to trust someone else on Gor. He handled any important projects or things that needed a significant amount of discretion for me. I look back towards the workbench, the steel would have cooled enough by now and so I start to pop open each of the molds and take a look at the formed arrowheads. They were each a couple of inches in length and made int the same way that a crossbow bolt head would be made but they would also accept the shaft of an arrow. I would supply Ashley with rivets for attachment of the arrowheads to the arrows and a small hammer to complete her work. I would have to show her how to do the first one, but after that I was confident she would be able to handle it. I roll the blackened steel of the arrow heads around on the workbench in front of me, making sure that each was without imperfection. The molds were an easy way to mass produce just about any sort of weapon on Gor. Satisfied that all 50 of them were up to standard I begin to consider what my next step will be.



(22:05:51 )
[PIC]
|..Exavier Exeter..|
|..Minus..|


[ Minus - Shop ]
-At a merchant's or tradesmen shop somewhere in the town of Minus...-

says to ALL: The steel, while not hot any more was not completely solid either. It would be slightly malleable and would need to be for the next step of the process, I needed to punch the holes in each arrow head that the rivet would slide though to attach it to the shaft of the arrow. I was looking down at the work bench, not paying much attention to my surroundings at that particular moment as I set up some tools on the work bench, including a small cylinder that would fit inside of each of the arrow heads, it had a small hole at just the right spot. Once the cylinder was clamped into a vice, each arrow head could be fitted over it and the hole created that the rivet would slide through. This would create a permanent bond between the arrow head itself and the shaft of the arrow, allowing it to penetrate even the most stubborn of materials without snapping off. One at a time the arrow heads were slipped over the metal cylinder and then a small punch and a hammer were used to knock the hole through them where the rivet would sit. This had to be done for every single one of the arrow heads, fifty of them one at a time was laborious work and required extreme concentration so that I did not destroy one of the arrow heads by not placing the hole in the exact right spot. It took me several minutes to do this, and as I finally look up from the work I become aware of someone else in the forge with me, someone that does not smell of soot and sweat.