Post by Admin on Nov 20, 2013 9:17:06 GMT -5
(22:00:41 )
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-[within a market shop]-
says to ALL: I look over the equipment in the small smithy that I rented. It would do for now. I unhook my weapons harness and slide it off my massive shoulders, hanging it on a peg on the wall. I then pull the new tunic that I just purchased off and hang that on the same hook. I see that the man I rented the shop from did indeed have a thrall prepared to help me. I growled at him to get the fires stoked as I went about laying out my materials and equipment. The coals were always burning in a forge, but fresh wood was added and the young lad working the billows was pumping them for all he was worth. The additional air forced over the hot coals would cause them to burn much hotter than was normal. I reach into a pouch on my weapons harness and pull out the hilt that I was going to use for this weapon. I then take a leather apron and slide it over my bare torso. Tying it off in the back, the sweat already starting to bead on my scarred body as the heat level in the forge raises.
(22:05:47 )
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-[within a market shop]-
says to ALL: I could hear the roar of the coals as the new hard wood begins to alight, bathing the inside of the forge in an unearthly glow. There are also torches around the room that I light so I can see a bit better. I walk over to the brine bath and dip a finger into the brackish water. Tasting the brine to be sure that it is at the correct concentration. I decide that it needs a bit more salt, so I dump a bit more into the water. Satisfied I then move to the blanks that are lining the wall. They are pieces of steel in the general size of a blade, but not in the shape as of yet. I select one that is about 30 inches long, when I was finished the entire weapon would be between thirty five and thirty six inches. I then inspect the anvil, to be sure that it has no cracks or anything.
(22:11:12 )
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-[within a market shop]-
says to ALL: I select two different pairs of tongs, and then get my brother's old hammer out of the loop on my weapons harness. Looking back towards the thrall stoking the fire, and the other one working the bellows I growl that they need to work faster, I would not sit around all night and wait for them to complete the heating of the forge.
Finally satisfied that all the equipment is set up I pull on the heavy leather gloves that I wore when working in the forge. They are thick and pitted with burn marks. They go all the way up to nearly my elbows. When I was not wearing them it was obvious that the burn marks on my arms started just after the edge of where the gloves come to. I walk around to the front of the forge and take the steel blank, dropping it into the fire. When I was making a sword I could use a blank, but to make things like axes I had to melt the steel and pour it into a mold, since all of the molds I owned were being shipped to Minus I would only be able to work on swords for now.
I set the steel down into the white hot coals, and allow it to sit there for a few minutes, the steel starting to soften so that it would become malleable. The heat baking out of the forge's door feels so good, it had been a long time since I'd felt that dry heat washing over my massive form.
(22:19:30 )
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-[within a market shop]-
says to ALL: I turn the steel blank slowly in the fires of the forge. The thrall furiously working the billows as he tries to keep the heat at just the right temperature for me. The other thrall is continuously loading additional wood into the back of the forge, and then pushing the hot coals forward once they burn down and can put out a sufficient amount of heat. Fortunately the smith that owned this forge had trained his thralls correctly, otherwise this would have been much more difficult. Once the steel itself reaches just the right color, somewhere between orange and yellow I reach into the coals and pull it from the fire, with the tongs of course. Steam rising off the hyperheated steel as I turn back towards the anvil. I hold the hammer in my left hand, and the tongs in my right hand.
I bring the heavy ten pound hammer head in an overhead swing, down onto the molten steel with an astounding amount of force, sparks fly everywhere, showering the leather apron that I wear and the floor at my feet, a few of the sparks hitting my bare chest and sizzling a bit before cooling off. This part of the process was simple, smooth the edges out some, and try to work the end to a point. A steady rhythm of heavy blows are rained down upon the steel blank. At first what I am doing is tapering the end, drawing it to a point. There would be no edge on the blade yet, just the general shape. After I am satisfied with the point of the blade I work along both sides, smoothing the edges down to something that resembled the shape of a sword.
I then turn back to the forge, dropping the other end of the steel into the fire, I would need to mark out the notches and the hole for the rivet on the other end before I move to the next step.
(22:27:45 )
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-[within a market shop]-
says to ALL: I now had to wait again for a few moments, the fire so incredibly hot now that it nearly felt like it was baking my skin. A few of my eyebrows singe off as I lean down to look at the steel, again making sure that I get it to just the right temperature before pulling it from the super heated coals. I could feel the heat coming off of the steel even through my gloves, even holding it some 12 inches from my hand with the tongs that I use. I walk around to the squared end of the anvil, usually all shaping was done on the rounded end of an anvil, or the top. There was one specific process that was done at the squared end though. I set the steel blank up on its side, on the squared end of the anvil and hit it hard once, this actually 'cuts' out a notch at the end on one side, I flip the blade and do the same for the other. This was where the blade, when completed would slot into the pommel. I then turn the blade flat on the anvil and pound out the imperfections caused by the first part of the process. There was also a small hole in the anvil on this end. I set the steel blank down now, and get a steel punch from the workbench next to the anvil, lining it up just right I drive the hammer down into it, punching a perfectly round hole at the notched end of the blade. This was where the rivet would sit.
I pick the piece of steel up again and walk over to the brine bath, quenching the steel, tempering it and making it more durable. Steam billows up everywhere out of the salty water. Causing a sheen of sweat to form on my muscular shoulders and chest.
I wait for a few moments and then take the steel out of the salt water, turning back to the forge again and setting the steel blank, that is starting to look like a weapon back into the hot coals. The salt water burns off in a matter of a few moments, and then the steel begins to heat up again, there was a very specific color to look for, the steel needed to match it perfectly for it to be correct and malleable to work with.
(22:42:44 )
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-[within a market shop]-
says to ALL: I allow the steel to sit in the coals for quite some time, enough for it to heat back up again to the correct temperature. The sweat was really running down me now, my beard was slicked down and it was dripping off it down onto the tunic. A beard was not really practical for a blacksmith I remembered at that moment. I reach into the coals with the tongs, turning the steel over now and then and letting it heat on the end that would be nice and pointy when I finished.
I finally fish the steel out of the fire again and turn to the anvil. I set the hammer that was originally owned by my brother down and select a five pound one from the hammers that were in the shop. I start with the point of the sword, now smoothing it down much better, taking out any imperfections in the edge. This process would not put the actual edge on the blade, but it narrowed the steel enough for an edge to take hold on the grinder. The sounds of hammer ringing off steel resound out the doorway of the small shop, and into the streets of the market as I go about working my way along the entire edge of what would end up being a two edged gladius. It was starting to look much more like a sword now, the steel blank disappearing in my mind at least, and being replaced by the weapon that it would be when it was completed.
Using the smaller hammer I was able to get the steel perfect around both sides, and smooth it across the flat of the blade. Any steel burrs or minor dents in the steel itself would disappear under my work at the next step which was the grinder.
Happy with the appearance of the blade and realizing I could not do any more with it in the heat of the fires I order the thralls to stop pumping the bellows and stoking the fire, I told them that they could leave now, as the room was sweltering inside. If one was to look inside of the small building the air would appear to have waves in it the heat was so strong coming from the forge.
(22:53:01 )
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-[within a market shop]-
says to ALL: After dismissing the thralls I drop the blade into the brine again to quench it, and temper the steel. Now that I was done with it, after working the blade as I did, and quenching it twice in the brine, the blade would be flexible enough so as not to shatter, but hard enough to hold a good edge. I wait until the steel has cooled all the way, and then I remove it from the brine and dunk it into cold, well as cold as could be found here in a place like this forge, water. This cleans all of the soot and salt water off of the steel. I pull it from there and set it on the workbench, putting away the remaining tools and looking around for the grinding wheel.
The grinding wheel is really nothing more than a huge round whetstone. Along the bottom of the wheel there was whetstone oils, the wheel itself would pull through a basin full of it, but to start I wanted a dry wheel, this would allow me to take out all the imperfections and steel burrs. Therefore I do not put the basin on the bottom of the wheel just yet. I sit down in a seat, straddling the huge worn round stone. There are foot peddles, by pumping them with my legs I could get the immense and heavy stone spinning on its axis.
I pump hard at the peddles of the whetstone, getting the stone moving at just the right speed before I touch the blade against it. Sparks fly everywhere, noone would want to use this process on a finished blade because it would ruin it, the heavy stone, dry left scratches up and down the length of the roughly hewn blade. But this process also gets rid of any minor imperfections, so that when I was done the blade would look perfect.
(23:05:25 )
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-[within a market shop]-
says to ALL: I continue to press the blade to the grinding wheel, sparks continue to light up the gloomy murk inside of the forge. Even with the smokestack, much of the smoke from the fire came through the open vents in the forge itself. The brick walls kept the place from burning down, but also held in the heat. Now relatively covered in soot from the fires, the runnels of sweat cause streaks, leaving me looking completely filthy again. After several passes over the whetstone wheel I set the blade down and push the oil reservoir up under the wheel. I sit back down and start the wheel in motion again.
This time with the wheel coated in oil, it was not nearly as abrasive on the steel of the blade. This was where I actually started to get an edge on the blade itself. I start with the point, and work my way slowly down the blade, and then I flip it and repeat, before starting with the end of the blade that will go into the pommel and running it back the other way.
Finally feeling satisfied with the edge I hold the blade in one hand, and select a piece of scrap leather provided exactly for this purpose in the other. I drag the blade over the leather and it cuts through it like a knife through hot butter. This meant that the blade was sharp enough.
(23:19:02 )
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-[within a market shop]-
says to ALL: The grinding completed I moved on to the buffing wheel. This wheel was a stone covered in leather, and it worked in the same way that a small buffer would do with a piece of silver. If it was moving fast enough it would buff the blade to an incredible shine. I sat down at this wheel and began pumping the peddles.
The leather on the wheel was flashing by so fast now that it was hard to pick out anything on the leather itself. I take the blade in both hands and start running it against the leather. Because of the way that the leather was wrapped and how I held the blade it would not cut through and down into the stone wheel. The buffer made a bzzzzing sound as the steel of the blade was drawn across it again and again. Finally sure that every scratch was buffed out I look the weapon over again. It looked just right to me.
Now it was time to finish up the blade. It would not truly be complete until the sheath was finished, but that should only be a few more days. I walk back over to the workbench and clamp the blade very carefully in a vice. Picking the pommel up from the table I slide the blade into it. Slotting it in place, as I then push a rivet into the making sure that everything lines up perfectly. When I was done it would be as if the blade and pommel were one contiguous piece. I set the blade and pommel down against the anvil. A much smaller hammer is used this time first to hit the rivet on one side and expand it into the hole, and then to hit the rivet on the other side. The rivet in so tightly that the pieces were forever bonded together.
(23:24:38 )
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-[within a market shop]-
says to ALL: I swing the blade several times through the air, checking to be sure that. It is indeed the perfect blade that I was looking for. I take off the heavy apron and gloves and hang them at the side of the room. I then slide the new white tunic over my filthy and sweaty form. Coating it in a mixture of the two. I pull my weapons harness on over my tunic, having forgone the huge war ax as it was just not going to be practical. I slide this gladius into an extra plain sheath, awaiting its more professionally done (with scripts) one. It is 36" I have realized. I also retrieve my brother's hammer and slip it into the loop on my right hip. I pull the blade from the sheath one more time to look it over before walking out of the forge.