Axes, the art of creating and engraving [Marcus Braeden]

[Boindil Armorcaster]

28th Day of Winter 511 AV It was a rather busy day at the Ironworks as usual, but at that moment there were few easy projects to do. Most of them required elaborate designs which were hard to craft, much to Boïndil's dismay. She knew that the designs of the weapons were far out of her league, though the ones that required engraving were worth looking at and in the end she went with an axe that had a single blade, but ended in a sharp point sticking over the handle. Taking a deep breath, the isurian weaponsmith went to work. First up was the heating of the metal and pounding it into the general shape of what it had to become. This was going alright so far and soon after she had a more triangular piece of steel. Then it was time to do the more detailed forming. So now it would get trickier as she had only once before done axes. Getting the curve of the blade's sharp, top and bottom right was a hard and tricky task to perform. It required an experienced eye to have it form properly and evenly. Of course the young Isurian lacked this and thus it was easy to see that it wasn't forming properly. Even though it was going off the wrong end, Boïndil didn't stop. She had to learn how to craft these things as well if she was to become a proper weaponsmith. Her annoyance wasn't easily seen and could actually only be noticed by those that saw her working quite often. Her hammerstrokes went faster and harder then usual, which was actually causing the opposite effect of what she was hoping for. The piece of metal was getting more and more out of the shape intended and if she wasn't careful, it had to be remelted into a metal bar. As Armorcaster noticed that it was going completely wrong, she put down her hammer and wiped off the sweat from her rather gentle forehead. "Darnit, why won't it form to the shape I want it to?", she wondered in her own thoughts.

[Marcus Braeden]

Marcus hung his cloak in exchange for a leather apron as he rushed into the forge from the cold air outside. He wasn't quite sure of what project he would be undertaking. Perhaps it would be a sword, or maybe an axe, or even a hammer or mace. Whatever it may be, he resolved that it be of better quality than the last one he made, and the project after this would be even better. Constant improvement, that's what he wanted.

Once his tools were placed in the appropriate places, somewhere he could easily access them, he decided to take a moment and observe the Ironworks. Today was a good day, and Marcus could definitely feel it as he looked around. He sighted two smiths, laughing and conversing with one another as they tempered the weapons. A spotted a decorative sword being hung on the rack, and a large smile had crawled across the smiths face as he turned his back towards his creation. But then Marcus sighted something out of place. It was that female Isur. Marcus didn't know her, but he had seen her on occasion but never introduced himself. Marcus was quite reserved when he was working the forge. While Marcus may have known nothing about auristics, even he could see that she frustrated. Her blows were sloppy and wild. Other smiths seemed to be ignoring her, focused too much on there own projects. It was obvious that she needed some guidance, but it seemed that no smith was going to volunteer. Marcus had managed to teach Hadrian a thing or two, maybe he could do the same in this instance.

Marcus approached and soon got a better look at her. The frustration could easily be seen in her eyes. She gave off a very cold presence, as if she did not want to deal with anyone at the moment. But Marcus carried on with his approach, not sure what was really driving him beyond this point. He looked at the weapon that she was attempting to create. What she did have was a triangular piece of metal. Judging from that, Marcus made the assumption she was creating an axe, single bladed most likely. However, out of the Isur's frustration, the Metal was bent more out of shape. However, it was still recoverable. With proper guidance this axe could be turned into a useable weapon.

"Okay, pause, and take a deep breath!" Marcus stated loudly. A few smiths turned to see what was happening, and then quickly went back to there own work. With a calmer tone, Marcus spoke once more, "Now, go and reheat what you have. I am going to help you salvage this axe." Marcus didn't really care if he had no place dishing out orders like he did, but someone had to do something and no one else was acting, so he did.

[Boindil Armorcaster]

The weaponsmith was about to pick the piece of metal up to reheat it as she heard someone call out to her. Her face, still emotionless, turned to the stranger. It was a human male that looked like he was around 17-18 years old in her eyes. But of course, since she rarely asked people for their age, nor socialized with them, she had her guess completely wrong. "May I know your name first, sir....?", she asked politely, though the tone in her voice was rather cold. The first step to a proper relation with anyone, was proper manners. That was the least she knew. Even though she wanted to ignore him, he spoke as if he knew more of crafting an axe then she did and for this project, she could use experienced help. Until now she had always chosen swords to make, since those were simplistic and those were easy to engrave eventually. Boïndil glanced over the guy in front of her again and wondered if he actually had the skills, since he looked so young. But as he was a fellow smith, she just asked him: "May I know your age as well? I'm not too familiar with humans, even though I've lived amongst you for a while now.", she said a bit too rude. Though maybe her gentle features might weaken that rudeness a little. The female Isur then turned to the forge again not waiting for an answer. He could do it as she would continue anyway. Picking up the piece of metal with her right hand and then holding it into the fire, she said as if she almost forgot: "Oh, by the way, my name is Boïndil Armorcaster."

OOCSorry for the crappost. >.< My head seems as if it won't cooperate properly.

[Marcus Braeden]

Marcus was surprised with the woman's rather cold response. Rather than following Marcus' commands, or advice, she responded with questions about Marcus. His name, his age. Obviously she was distrusting of Marcus' skill when he was still so young, much younger than many of the other smiths. But Marcus had managed to rise among the ranks of the various smiths working in the Ironworks over the time that he had worked there. His father had been quite the smith himself, and taught Marcus all he knew. Marcus decided to answer her questions. Perhaps a proper introduction.

"I'm Marcus, and I am 23" he stated. He purposefully did not state his experience with the craft, just to see if she would trust him. People often doubted him just because of his age. When he first arrived at the Ironworks they had him working on spearheads even though he was capable of creating a decent sword. But these days it was not uncommon to sight Marcus creating a weapon for a Syliran Knight. Custom orders and standard orders were all within Marcus' capabilities, and he was perfectly capable of helping the Isur, who had introduced herself as Boïndil Armorcaster. The name sounded like the name of an Isur, especially the last name, specifically dealing with some sort of forging process.

"Just trust me" Marcus slightly smiled as he gestured toward the massive forge.

Marcus waited while she heated the metal, keeping an eye on how long the metal was in the furnace. However he assumed that at the very least she knew the proper moment to remove the metal in order to forge. It was much more typical to have troubles in the heat treatment stage, that being hardening and tempering.

[Boindil Armorcaster]

The isurian waited until the metal became white hot before removing it from the forge again. "23? Greatly underestimated that age apparently. Maybe he does have some skill, but I still wonder. Well if he can help me finish this axe, I won't mind and receiving help isn't the worst thing in the world.", she thought to herself as she lay the metal on the anvil again. After picking up the hammer, Boïndil asked: "How long have you been at work as a weaponsmith? I'd like to know, because then I'll decide if I'll let you help me or not." She just stated that, not really trying to sound all mighty over him just because he was much younger then her. It would rather be interpreted that she just wanted to know to see if she would actually be grateful with his help. Then the weaponsmith scratched herself behind her head a little, trying to figure out how to proceed next, because apparently crafting an axe was quite different from forging a blade. Swords weren't a problem to forge anymore, it was just the heat treatment with which she still needed some help from time to time. She still couldn't figure out how long to harden or temper the blade, or how to properly prepare the bath for it.

OOCWith the bath I mean the hardening bath. It's a mixture of coals in a furnace, you know . It needs to have a certain amount of it and a certain mixture for optimal results.

[Marcus Braeden]

Marcus let out a slight sigh and wondered to himself if it was even worth the trouble trying to help the Isur. She just was not trusting of him due to his youth. But he had heaps of experience, that the female Isur did not have. When asked about his experience, he toyed with the idea of saying something rude and sarcastic. More experience than you do, obviously he smirked as the thought danced around in his mind. But he refrained from saying such a thing to someone he had just met, as he had no intentions of making any enemies today, especially with an Isur. Instead he simply obliged and simply answered her questions. He supposed they were sort of logical after all, what with his youth and all. But he had risen from a small forge in Ravok, to someone to be respected in the Ironworks of Syliras, and he intended to show it.

"Since I was a young boy" Marcus answered plainly, hoping it would be enough. If it wasn't, he would simply walk away and do something a little more productive than hopelessly try to vouch for his experience. "Now, do you want my help or not?"

OOCSorry for the shortish post on this one. More conversation than smithing at the moment haha

[Boindil Armorcaster]

The isurian gave the human another examinating look before she turned her attention to the hot piece of metal in her hand. "Then help me craft this axe. My experience is mostly from swords and stuff and I've tried to apply that experience, but the metal won't allow me to mold it properly.", she replied to his question, "In return for this, I'll show you how one should engrave. It's the least I can do at least." Boindil then took up her smithing hammer and placed the triangular piece of metal on the anvil. She intended to do the work herself, but of course she would follow the advice of this human. Hopefully he had a little more knowledge on crafting a proper axe. Her own widowmaker had been completely ruined, not just because her nephew had interrupted her, but also because of her own inexperience. "It has to be single bladed with a large point of sorts on the other side. It has to be strong enough to withstand the force of being driven through platemail, so I guess I'll have to make it thick.", she explained what the product should be. She had intended to say barb, but because she wasn't fluent with comon she didn't exactly know the word. "Want me to draw a crude sketch?"

[Marcus Braeden]

Knowledge for knowledge, it seemed a fair enough deal. Typically Marcus preferred etching when it came to steel, as it was usually much more visible than if one engraved steel. But if something less hard than steel was used, then engraving would be the method of choice. Of course this was all assuming one even desired to add any sort of decor to the weapon at all. Many people preferred to have a simple weapon, with no need for a lacy pattern on the hilt or an engraving on the blade. Marcus preferred something in between. He desired uniqueness, but also wanted simplicity. Perhaps an etching of ones name at the base of the blade, or a simple floral pattern on the hilt.

Marcus listened to the description of the axe. With each word of the description Marcus pieced together what the axe would look like in his mind. He completed the picture in his head. A single bladed axe, with a point coming off the other side. It seemed a basic enough design for a blade, definitely within Marcus' capabilities. But he would not be crafting the weapon, Boindil would. He was simply going to point where to strike and judge the power and placement of each strike, and make adjustments when necessary. That was really the only way he knew how to teach it. It was how taught Hadrian a thing or two about smithing, it would be how he taught Boindil as well.

"No, I don't need a sketch. Now we had better get started, as the metal has a cooled quite a bit and we should what we can before we need to put it back in the furnace" he calmly explained. With that, Marcus began pointing at various spots on the surface of the metal, indicating where to strike. After each blow Marcus commented. "Too hard....not hard enough....your off a little bit.....ok good hit!" he would bark as each strike was made.

[Boindil Armorcaster]

The Isurian blacksmith made sure to follow the human's indications of where to strike. At first she used the same force she used to form the blade of a sword, but after hearing the comments of the human, she found out that she was hitting it too hard. So she toned down the force she used a bit too much and that caused her to get even more comments. It was getting to her a little, but for now she was simply putting off her annoyance. She had found out that getting riled up only caused her strokes to go offtarget and with a lot more force then required. Boïndil put the metal back in the furnace as it had cooled off too much, still using her bare hand. Perhaps it would seem a little strange in the human's eyes for her to not use a tang to hold the metal. Wouldn't her hands get burns? Didn't it feel painful or hot? But despite that, the woman just continued on heating the metal and hammering it into the desired shape. Her strokes quickly became more and more rhythmical and accurate. The force behind them more consistent as she figured out, using Marcus's comments, where how much force should be applied. Soon the blade of the weapon was starting to take shape. Using the back of her left hand, the woman wiped away the sweat on her forehead. "I guess that the blade should be almost done now. Just have to do the form of the rest of the weapon and the hook.", she stated using her knowledge from her first attempt at ever making an axe. "How am I doing so far, Marcus?", she asked with a monotone voice.

[Marcus Braeden]

Marcus watched carefully as the Isurian smith worked the metal, with his guidance of course. Marcus was quite amazed when the smith used her bare hands to clench the glowing metal. He wasn't sure if she was insane, or it was just a characteristic of the Isur. Marcus didn't say anything either way, rather he just silently watched. Although blade axe was a little out of shape when Marcus intervened, it had slowly come back and eventually morphed into the proper shape.

"Much better work now." Marcus stated. "Now let's get us some more metal to finish up the entire axe head, and then we will use the grinder wheel, just to get any kinks out of the metal, before finally hardening and tempering the blade" Marcus explained to the Isur.

Once the process of bending steel resumed, Marcus resumed his post of pointing where to strike the metal again, yelling his various commands and commentary. As he stood at his post, he began to muse if he got any bonuses to his pay for becoming a tutor of sorts. Or maybe it was the opposite...maybe he got less money for being less productive. He had mine as well finish what he started. Marcus looked around, sighting all the smiths at work and let out a sigh. Silently he wished to be making a sword or something, but he was stuck here teaching this women. But he had made his choice, he had mine as well finish what he started. Besides, the more skilled smiths working, the better.