Completed [Sultros Blades] Finishing the Blade

[Eanos]

Fall 6, 513 AV

The clay had now dried and the castle had become quieter as the residents made their way to bed. The forge was often dark by human standards, but now it was dark even by Isurian standards. For the process of hardening to be successful the sword had to hit a very specific temperature, and it had to reach that along the entire length of the blade at the same time. For this to happen the sword would turn a very specific colour and it was for this reason that the forge had been darkened. No mistake could be made in this process if the sword was to perform as it should.

This process would also highlight any deficiencies in the forging process. Any mistakes he had made there, any shoddy work and it would show now for the metal would not heat evenly and would twist and warp. Some of that was inevitable, but serious damage could not be corrected and in the worst cases the hard steel shell would crack or deform and that would mean starting again from the very beginning.

If the sword survived but the heat treatment wasn’t quite right then it could be corrected by stripping off all the clay and reheating the sword back to an even temper before starting again with the clay. A good sword would make it through this process a few times, but it was not good to do so at this stage, for those times were for repair to an old sword, for example one where it had been polished too many times and the hamon was no longer visible.

A water bath had been prepared and placed next to the forge and the coals in the forge had been built up in a very specific way. Holding the sword by the tang, he laid it in the fire edge upwards once the fire had reached what he judged to be the right temperature. Now was the critical stage and he watched the sword very closely, pulling the blade through the coals slowly, replacing it and repeating the process. Each pass of the sword was carefully timed so that each part was in the heat for exactly the time it needed. This allowed him control over the heating process which compensated for the fact that the blade narrowed somewhat towards the tip and if the whole blade was left to heat then the tip would become too hot and burn, destroying the swords temper and rendering it useless.

When the blade became orange in colour he turned it over so that it was edge down and repeated the process. This was why the edge was not yet defined and was still thick and blunt. Had it been sharp then again the edge would have quickly heated and the carbon would have been burnt out of it rendering it useless as it would no longer be possible to harden it properly.

He waited until the edge was starting to turn yellow and the spine was still a duller orange. Now the critical point was being reached and he paid closer attention, the prayers to Izrudin now becoming more focussed as he channelled them through his left arm which still held the tang.

Now the blade was almost to the right heat he could see the hamon visible through the clay as it held back the spine to a lower temperature, shielded as it was by also being at the top and furthest away from the heat. He waited a little longer, moving the blade carefully to achieve the same colour along its whole length then withdrew it and plunged it, as straight as he could manage, edge down into the tank of water.

Steam bubbled off the weapon and the surface of the water roiled and spat. This was the point when errors in the forging would show, for this placed the blade under immense stress. Simply entering the water was enough to bend the steel. As the point slipped in, so it cooled faster than the spine, shrinking and bowing the blade into a downward curve. This was where the blade could shatter or warp. Then moments later the spine cooled as well and the curve straightened back up.

Now the prayers were more heartfelt than before.

[Eanos]

The now cooled sword had now the characteristics that he had hoped for, but at the same time the steel was not only hard it was brittle as well. This was part of normal forging that any smith would be aware of and the cure was the same one as it always was, which was to anneal the blade so that it softened just enough to lose the brittleness but not so much that it lost the hardness.

He placed the blade with its clay still intact back in the forge and gently reheated the blade then quenched it once more.

Once the blade was cooled once more it was time for a very careful inspection. Using the wooden block and the smaller hammer once more he carefully adjusted the blade to remove the slight warpages and twisting that the blade had gained in the cooling process. These might have been caused by the forging process not being perfect or simply because the sword had not entered the water perfectly evenly. It mattered little in the greater scheme of things though there was always an element of annoyance that it had happened.

With the blade straight once more there was another adjustment that needed to be made and that was to correct the curvature of the blade. This was almost always necessary to some degree and in large part because of the cooling process had deformed the curvature to some degree.

The sword needed a curvature, in this it was unlike most swords made here in Syliras. That curvature was necessary because it was held at the belt and drawn from the waist. It did not sit in a hanger at the belt and in order to clear the scabbard the blade had to have a curve. This practical element was in some ways a matter of reverse engineering for the actual reason for the curve was to maximise the cutting ability of the sword. This was not a stabbing sword on the whole, though it could be used that way, the curve allowing some ability to reach around a block. The scabbarding was a means to an end, a way of holding the sword which made use of the curved blade and the very act of drawing the sword was in itself an attacking technique in the hands of a professional.

He started the process of altering the curvature by looking for places where there was too much curvature. This was corrected by careful hammering on the flat sides of the back of the blade. Each strike causing the spine to lengthen by a tiny amount and the sword to straighten as a result. He needed to be extremely careful not to hit on the hardened edge for fear of damaging it. Adding curvature was more tricky because he couldn’t repeat the trick by hammering on the edge. Instead he used heat by means of a heated block of metal which was touched to the spine carefully, each touch causing the spine to contract slightly. In this way he controlled exactly the curvature of the sword, adjusting the shape to correct any changes caused by the heat treatment.

[Eanos]

With the now heat treated sword now straightened and the curvature adjusted it was once more time to clean up the blade. This was a process which repeated many times in the creation of the sword, and each time the blade was a little more refined.

Before the heat treating the surface of the sword had been left deliberately coarse with just a rough polish. Now he would start with very coarse stones and gradually work his way down through finer ones. This was not the final polish that the sword would receive for that was reserved until after the making of the additional parts such as the collar and hilt to ensure that any accidental scratching during those phases did not mar the final finish.

Now the sword had entered into the end stages of it’s creation, but it was now also coming into the longest and hardest stages for the steel was now hardened and much harder to work.

There was a defined process to be worked along and it started with the shaping of the spine into its final profile, next he worked on the flat sides of the blade next to the spine ensuring that the line between flat and bevel was precise, sharp and flowed in a smooth curve along the blade. At this stage he was also mindful to ensure that the thickness of the blade was properly balanced and slimmed down evenly towards the point.

This was slow and difficult work that placed great emphasis on the stength of the fingers but Eanos worked methodically and carefully, stroking the stones across the steel, each stroke taking a minute amount of steel from the surface. It was in some ways a practice for the final polishing stage, for there he intended to combine the care and the time with the closing of the gnosis into the blade. Even now he was mindful of Izurdin and of his teachings that had allowed the creation of this sword and others like it. One day Eanos hoped to be able to make swords which were good enough to be truly dedicated to his god.

With the spine and back worked so that they were perfectly flat with no irregularities then he could turn his attention to the creation of the cutting edge. The edge was created in two stages, the first of which was to create a very steep bevel whose purpose was to establish the centre of the blade, that line which would be the swords edge. Only when that was created successfully did he then turn his attention to then thinning down the bevel on each side to meet that new line of the cutting edge.

All work so far had been with rough stones, so with the correct bevel profiles created and an edge created it wast time to go back and with finer grades of stone start to work out the deep scratches left by the previous stones. Grade by grade he worked his way down until the blade glowed softly and all of the visible scratches had been removed.

[Eanos]

With the sword given a rough polish Eanos now needed to decide if he would engrave the blade and how it would be done. He had heard some smiths comment to the effect that engravings and decorations weakened a blade. This was a view that he held some sympathy for but equally he knew that it was mostly an issue with poorly crafted blades. Certainly he would not recommend any such on a cheap sword, but it was ever the way of things that buyers of cheap swords often wanted a sword that looked like an expensive one and that meant engravings which compromised still further a poor sword. He wondered how many owners had been killed or injured by sword failures caused by cosmetic changes.

In the end he decided on just a groove along the top of the blade where the steel was soft and which would not compromise the strength of the blade down near the cutting edge. On the contrary this groove would serve to add some stiffening along the spine.

Having decided on what he wanted he had to spend some time creating blades that were correctly shaped and hardened which he could clamp to a drawknife. With that done he carefully marked the blade with ink where he wanted the groove to be and with the sword clamped into a wooden clamp that secured and supported it he started work. He worked from the centre out towards the ends, the drawknife shaving small amounts from the steel of the blade and gradually widened and deepened the cut to create the groove. The final shaping was performed with a hand chisel as the drawknife could not properly cut the ends of the groove into the shape that Eanos wanted. With it cut it was then refined with a piece of round file of the same profile as the groove and then with grinding stones to create a smooth and even surface. Later when the sword was polished so too would be the surfaces of the grooves.

Now it was merely a matter of refining the tang and for this once more he used the heavy drawknife which he had used on the blade before it was hardened. With it roughly smoothed he then worked on it with files, once more going through the grades and with the same process of working on the spine first and then the sides. For all that it was hidden by the hilt he paid as much attention to this as he did with any other. Traditionally the hilt was left with a pattern of file marks which was often distinctive enough in pattern to tell where the smith had trained. Eanos was no different in this and whilst he could have used any pattern, he chose to honour his teachers by using the pattern that they had taught.

Once he had drilled a hole in the tang for the rivet that would hold the hilt on, it was time for the last stagge. Using a small brush Eanos then carefully wrote his signature in the runes of the Isur on the tang. Using a hammer and chisel he then engraved the signature into the tang and then the blade was ready for the next stages.

[Eanos]

This was to be yet another repeat of the same process which he had already performed several times already, but this would be the last time, at least for now.

Working with the roughest stone he now set to remove all marks of smithing from the blade. With the blade clamped down into a wooden clamp which had been carefully cleaned to remove all metal flakes which might be pressed into and marr the steel he worked across the blade with these stones, moving only to the next when all of the marks had been eliminated.

Now all the lines needed to be made crisper. Each stone leaving the sword with a progressively finer surface, and that being lubricated with water. After the first stones he changed direction to a diagonal stroke and then as he started with the finest of stones he changed direction once more so that he ran them along the length of the sword.

With each he was mindful not just of the work being done but also of the gnosis. With every stroke he willed the power to flow down from his arm and into the sword. With each tiny grain of metal removed so he wished for a tiny grain of gnosis to enter the sword and link with those already there so that the power of the god existed in the blade, linking it into an unbreakable matrix.

The finer stones now served dual purposes for as well as polishing they also had some functionality in changing the appearance of the steel. One which was made from iron oxide and soaked in oil darkened the spine and the back. Another enhanced the milky colour of the heat treated hamon. With these stones he enhanced the colour and the appearance of the blade. Now the corners and lines were crisp and sharp, but also slowly the edge of the blade was being created. Once it had been blunt, then in the previous stage it had been defined, but now it was sharpened.

With these finer stones the process changed in one more detail for now it was the stones which were clamped in place and it was the sword which moved. As he worked Eanos had the sword wrapped in a cloth where he held it, not because of the risk of getting cut but to protect the finish from any acidic marks from sweat and the like. The grip allowed him very precise control over exactly which part of the blade was in contact with the stone and with how much pressure. Still he worried about his skill at this and so he took more time than he might have done with each stage to ensure that each stone left the sword with an even surface in which no marks from the previous stone could be seen.

Soon these first stages of the polishing would be done and he could move on to the final stages. Where he was now was as far as he had seen any smith take their blade here in this city, so he hoped and prayed that the next steps would make a significant difference to the appearance of the sword.

[Eanos]

Before he moved on to the final stage he put the sword aside and slept then came back to it and looked at it with fresh eyes. The sword gleamed softly in the dim light, his eyes attracted to the point which had been polished across the blade as opposed to along it as the rest had been and it was enough to create a contrast.

For the final polishing steps the sword once more would be immobile and the polishing medium moved over it. The final polishes were prepared and used in paste form as they were very much finer and their particles would not gouge the already polished surface, but first he had some specific polishes to apply and for these he needed to use small pieces which were precise in their control. No large stones here where a trailing edge might rub or scratch, instead he would be using small pieces no larger than the end of his thumb and which would be flexible so that they rode over the surface, polishing not gouging.

Taking one of the finer stones he used a blade to make small slices from the end which he then ground down so that they were thinner. A layer of lacquer was applied to the back edge together with paper to keep it together and another layer of laquer. When it was dry he cut it into suitable size pieces and ground it down once more until each piece was very thin. These were steps that he would never have imagined on his own, but given the results that he had seen the experts create he was more than willing to take the time to make an attempt himself.

This polish was just for the hamon and point as it contained no darkening agents. Starting at the cutting edge he held the piece of polishing stone under his thumb and worked in finger length sections moving up to the boundary of the hamon and then back down again to the point. The water he used as a lubricant for this stage contained a smithing salt which helped to avoid the blade rusting as he worked on it. Each section had to be brought to a white, smooth and uniform surface before he moved on to the next section.

The process was repeated with a different polish on the back including the spine. This polish used two stones as a base, the first was softer and was applied first. The application was the process as he had used on the hamon. Once that was applied a final polish was applied and once more this was based on iron oxide to give the back a darker colour which would contrast with the white polish applied to the cutting edge. To avoid any risk of scratching the iron oxide was dissolved in water and filtered through paper before being dabbed on to the blade and then softly polished in with a cotton cloth.

With this applied and cleaned off he took the blade up and admired the changes which had been wrought. That they were subtle it was true but then what made the difference between an average sword and an outstanding one was an accumulation of small and subtle differences.

[Eanos]

The inspection however served to remind him that he had not yet completed this part of the process. The now newly darkened and slightly non reflective layer applied to the back of the sword had also by necessity covered some of the whiter sections of the cutting edge as the boundary of the hamon between hardened steel and softer steel shell was by design irregular.

He prepared the final polish in the way that he had the first though this time he made the sections into ovals so that it would follow the edges of the hamon better. He polished carefully for he didn’t want to remove the darker polished sections except where they overlapped onto the hamon and this polish once more served to whiten the appearance of the hamon to increase the contrast between the two parts of the blade. Of course to see the difference required the right light, but once seen it could not be mistaken.

He was nearly done now and prepared himself for the next to last stage. Because the back of the blade and spine were now slightly dull it was necessary to bring them back up to a glossy finish. The technique he used would also serve to harden the surface of the slightly soft steel and give it added protection either in use or simply when putting it into the scabbard and drawing it back out.

First he needed to make sure that the surfaces were perfectly clean and he did this by washing it the areas to be polished with a mixture of powdered horn and water. With this dried off he dusted it with powder which would lubricate the burnishing tools. Once more working in sections of about a fingers length he first used a burnishing spatula which was made of a very hard steel and then followed that up with a burnishing needle to create the final surface.

The final process was to polish the point, and once more it required some special techniques to do well. The point as it were was to make the point very distinct from the blade and to emphasise the hamon in the point for of course the point was also made of hardened steel. It was a difficult part to polish well as it was made up of complex curves and so required special tools and special care, especially in making sure the transition between blade and point was very sharp and distinct. One of the tools was a wooden block which had vertical cuts made into it on the back side. This made it flexible so that when pushed across the point of the sword it would flex and follow the curves.

The abrasives for this step were the same as for the hamon, the only difference in the process was technique for here more than anywhere it was essential to work as close to perfection as it was possible to do. With paper to act as buffer between wooden polisher and the abrasives Eanos set carefully to work, this time moving blade over the polish, and when it was done, so was all the work on the blade.

[Radiant]

Eanos :

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+1 XP
Weapomsmithing	+4 XP
Blacksmithing	+2 XP
Engraving	+2 XP

Lores

Lore Earned

Weaponsmithing: The Right Temperature

Weaponsmithing: Forging A Sword's Edge

Weaponsmithing: Engraving A Blade

Loots

Notes :

Very detailed weaponsmithing solo, Eanos. Nice one!

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.