Completed [Sultros Blades] A Crescent Moon - Sei Tendo

[Eanos]

15 Fall, 513
Link to Sultros Blades

It was an interesting challenge that had been posed to Eanos. Not so much for making the weapons since there was little technical challenge involved, but rather more it was a question of design. On the one hand the customer had described one shape of blade and then on the other requested a modification which greatly changed the way that it would be used. In many ways Eanos was happy with the suggestion for the greater the specialisation in a weapon, the easier it was to design the weapon to meet those specific requirements.

There was nothing worse to a smith such as Eanos as creating a general purpose weapon for they were all inevitably inferior in each combat situation, made to meet all eventualities and as a result not superior in any.

Setting the forge to heat Eanos made a selection of stock and then setup the working area around his anvil. It was time to move away from the human methods of production of this type of blade, but until this point he’d been lacking in the knowledge necessary to adapt the forge to do so.

He had a small anvil, too small for large objects but sufficient for working on finer objects such as knives and daggers. Now he set it upside down on the main anvil and stood beside it. The job itself would be a straightforward smithing job and he didn’t foresee the need to use his auristic vision, so was prepared to invest some of his personal djed. If this failed because he lacked the skill then he’d simply revert to the main anvil and either way have increased his knowledge.

His breathing stilled, his weight balanced evenly over both feet. Slowly he breathed in and out building his awareness with each breath. When he was prepared he brought his mind to his personal djed and extracted some, then recalling his previous work with Shielding manipulated it and reshaped it. The intention of the shield in this case was to block heat, to keep the heat from the forge getting to the anvil. Using his mind he laid the shield over the smaller anvil which stood base up and shaped it round so that it followed the shape down to where it sat on the main anvil. He looked at it in his mind and worked on the shape, not overly concerned about getting it even, but attempting to fix most of the gaps and the thinnest parts. Small leaks would not matter overly much immediately but over time would matter greatly. Cosmetics were unimportant as it would be buried in coals so it was purely a question of function.

With the shield in place he tasked it to block heat and released it. With his eyes he could see no difference and with the anvil turned back over so that the bare and unshielded face exposed could see no change. With his left hand he cleared a space in the edge of the coals and then carefully lifted the anvil into place at the edge before raking the coals back into place.

[Eanos]

With the designs drawn out to scale on the parchment it was left then to decide on how they would be made. The blades were relatively strong so fragility was not as important a factor as in other blades, but as in any blade the tip required special consideration, especially if it were not directly supported by a strong back. He ran through the options in his mind and then set to work.

Two billets of steel were set to heat, one of high carbon content and the other lower. When they were at working heat he laid them on top of the anvil and hammered the ends together, then set them back to heat which was a very quick process as little heat was lost. Then he took hold of the welded end in his left hand and the cooler ends of the bars in his right and started to twist them together in the heat of the forge. Periodically he hammered the twists tighter together and then carried on.

His purpose was to create and edge to the weapon which would minimise cracks and splits when used in combat. Any nicks from say blocking a sword would not easily spread as a crack into the the surrounding metal. That it also produced an attractive pattern and made the blades unique was an added bonus.

The bars when finished would be long enough to wrap around the edges of both blades so he continued twisting the two together until he was sure he had enough, then worked with the hammer on the forge to consolidate the bars into one and then after lengthening them folded them in half and consolidated it back into one bar.

By now all of the internal structures of the steel were shattered. He could continue but judged it better to allow the crystals to regrow into the new shape and so he set it aside to cool.

With it cooled he set it back to heat and on the side of the forge set a bar of low carbon steel to start the heating process. When the first bar was hot he took it over to the main anvil and cut it in half before taking both halves back to the forge. Starting with one bar he worked it out to ensure that it was long enough before folding it in the centre and inserting the now hot bar of lower carbon steel into the centre as a spine. Putting them back into heat he worked the bars together, welding the two pieces into one.

Welding different steels was always difficult and it was essential to ensure that the surfaces were properly fluxed but Eanos had ensured that there was still more shaping to be done on the blades due to their unusual shape which helped to ensure that the welds were then incorporated into the the metal such that even if there were a flaw it would be trapped into the greater whole of twisted metal.

Leaving a spine of the low carbon steel sticking out for the handle he cut off the bar and then repeated the process with the second blade. As ever with a pair it was important to get them the same and for this reason it was often necessary to alter both in some small way to achieve it. He worked the metal until he was happy with the still relatively rough work was done and then once more set them aside to cool and the grow into their new forms.

[Eanos]

Now was the time to do the finishing work, to transform the roughly shaped surface which bore the marks of the hammer into the smooth and polished finished item. There was still the final tempering of the blades but first they needed to be brought to their final shapes while the metal was still malleable.

He clamped the first blade by the tang into the wooden holder which could itself be clamped down on the workbench and set to work with the sei, which was something of a cross between a chisel and a push knife, so that it was worked with both hands either side and yet had a large flat blade which ran along the top of the steel. It was in effect a plane but for steel not wood, its hardened steel blade shaving off the high points on the still soft steel of the weapon.

He worked with it for a while, it being faster than a file and in his mind a little more predictable, but it needed care in use as did all tools. He turned the blade over and worked the other side, checking frequently to be sure that the two sides remained perfectly parallel. The process was repeated on the other blade, once more there was the necessity to keep both blades the same. This would become less of an issue once the gross removal of metal was done and the final finishing work begun.

Already though the grain in the steel began to be more visible, and he worked from the point to finalise the curve of the edge to give both bevel and the spine with enough support from the latter to keep the point strong.

The abrasives followed the sei, and now he could work with more focus on the finish without having to constantly check that the balance of the pair was being maintained. With the blade and pommel brought to a fine finish he engraved the tangs with the Isurian rune of his name and then carefully worked on the hardening and tempering. Holding the edge into the forge he watched the colours change carefully before quenching them. The thinner edge heated quicker than the thicker spine and so would harden more leaving the spine softer to give flexible strength where it was needed.

The process was repeated with the second blade then he slowly brought them back up to temperature to just soften the brittle steel before setting them aside to cool. As they cooled he worked on the wooden scales which would surround the tang, carving them carefully to fit around the steel. Fitting them would be the last step, so then the blades were cleaned of the fire scale and soot and polished well, etched lightly to bring out the grain and then polished again to a mirror finish that almost but did not quite obscure the grain.

The scales were fitted, pinned and trimmed then bound with leather and the weapons put aside for collection.

[Radiant]

Eanos :

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Shielding	+1 XP
Weaponsmithing	+2 XP
Blacksmithing	+2 XP

Lores

Lore Earned

Shielding: Blocking Heat

Weaponsmithing: Crafting Custom Curved Blades

Loots

Notes :

I'm always amazed on how detailed a smithing thread could be.

My radiance is not bright enough?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, beam me a PM and we can work it out.