Solo [ED]To Rebuild and Repair Part II

[Crylon Stonecraft]

10 Winter 519 Continued Having finished his work repairing the roof of the sawmill, Crylon headed to his next task across the Demesne. For now he left his case of tools at the sawmill, since he would likely need to return there later for supplies, taking only a few tools with him to inspect the next work site. A fence had been damaged at some point, and needing some repair and replacement. He took similar tools to what he had used before. A nail hammer, a pry, a small saw, and some rulers. He knew the general location of the damaged fence, and so headed off in that direction. Once he ran into the fence in question it was simple enough to walk along it until he came upon the damaged section. Here it appeared a horse or something had kicked it, or run through it, or something of the sort, leaving a small broken section which had been hastily patched. There were excess bits of wood which had been nailed into place, a patch of sorts which kind of did the job but not in a permanent fashion. It was more relying on the surrounding sections than itself, the bit with the post into the ground snapped off and so not supported by the ground. First things first, Crylon knew he had to undo the patch. This meant getting the nails out, surveying the overall damage, removing the surrounding damaged parts, and then replacing and repairing it. Setting aside all of his tools but the nail hammer, Crylon began to pry and the patched bit of wood that had been nailed in. Using a combination of his left hand and the hammer he pried and pulled at the nails, pulling them out one by one. This was trickier than before, where the nails had been properly applied. Here they had been bent several times in some rush to fix them in place, and so they did not want to come out. This meant bending them back into a somewhat straight surface with his left hand, before yanking and pushing and pulling to get them out with that same hand and his hammers teeth. One thing was for sure, Crylon knew, these nails would all need reforging before they could be used again. Once several nails were out Crylon got a better look at things, and saw that the main post was still intact, still in the ground, simply disconnected from the main support piece of the fencing. It was a few more nails before bits of slapped on wood began to fall off, coming loose from the other bits of wood. He could see the spine of the fence, see it was intact, but could also see that the arms so to speak were being forced to support each other rather than the spine supporting those given arms. Not the intent of such a fence, and meaning that those other bits were more likely to break or fail. He could fix it, though, could see the intent of what was to be done, as clearly as a doctor could see how a bone should be set from knowing how the human body was shaped and meant to be fixed. WC: 536

[Crylon Stonecraft]

As Crylon examined the wood and the fence more closely, he saw that more wood was going to be needed. Not wood slapped on in a rough patch, but proper wood to be used as intended. The longways pieces, or arms as he thought of them, were held up on each end by the posts, or spines. Those arms needed to be replaced, which meant measuring out and replacing them. Checking the bits he had, Crylon took out the ruler and began measuring length of the broken wood. Those cross pieces, while not exact due to their breakage, should give him a rough measure of the piece to be replace. Using his special Isurian arm, he began to mark increments of the wood using the ruler. Digging in with his nail he could make a nice line cut into the surface, which gave him a good stopping point and place to measure the next point. Since the cross pieces were to be replaced, there was no harm in such a method. One, two, three, Crylon measured across counting the inches and feet. Twelve inches to a foot, adding up and dividing into feet with leftover inches, simple but enjoyable math that he could run in his head. He kept at this until he had the entire length measured, sorting and piecing together the broken pieces to find the right measure. Done with that, he took up the next set of pieces and continued onward with his measuring. Measuring once after all was fine, but one needed to check ones measuring. Particularly when dealing with odd measures and broken bits. Sorting through the next set he matched up the pieces, and began measuring them out the same as the first. One. Two. Three, and onward. Inches and feet, coming out to the final number which was... Off by two inches. Close but... Sorting through the pieces he saw a small chunk he had miss-sorted which actually did not fit, and another small chunk which went in between. And so he began that row again. The work was tedious at this phase, but Crylon knew it as important to do such things right to avoid problems down the line. Marking over it again he counted out the length, one, two, three, until he came to the final number. Which was off by less than half an inch. Close. More confident now Crylon measured out the length he would need, added a few inches, and then headed back to the sawmill. The width and depth was fine, being a normal cut of lumber as was commonly made from the sawmill and so not likely to be off. He could tell just by looking that they were the standard width and depth of a plank of wood which had likely been used and cut down to suit the purpose of the fence. He could always cut the length down, but adding length was not so easy. So for the first piece he would go over length, and use that to find the correct length. Once that was done he could then use the correct length for the rest of the cross pieces, with more of a surety of being correct. WC: 536

[Crylon Stonecraft]

Continuing with his work, Crylon began hauling the lumber for cutting. In his mind he focused on the overall process, the steps and processes as he ticked them off one by one as they were done. Now though he was up to something a bit more interesting, cutting. Using his carefully measured out pieces, Crylon carefully considered and measured out his cut before finally beginning to saw. This bit took some time, as he had to cut one, check it against the first, cut another, check it against the others, and continue on in such a fashion until all of the pieces were cut properly. Once he had all of the items he needed, Crylon began work on fixing the fence. He had to get all of the properly cut pieces. Nails to hammer in. And the tools to do so. This part took almost as long as many of the others, since each bit needed to be held in place and weighted in place while being nailed in. What proceeded was a series of hammer blows and strikes which were relatively uniform in their nature. Hold up a piece of wood, wedging it in or placing it in the proper spot. Hold up the nail with his left Isurian arm. Hammer a few times to get the nail started. Then a bit harder to get it all the way through. Check to make sure it was solidly in place. Then to avoid anyone getting stabbed, he pressed down the extending tip of the nail by bending it with his fingers vice like grip. One down. Then the other end with the process repeated, holding, measuring, a few light taps, and then a few harder ones to drive it in. Bending the nail with his fingers. Again, till the entire piece was in place. And so on to the next, and the next. Slowly as Crylon worked the fence began to take proper shape, filling in the mental picture he had plotted and planned out in his head, shaping the materials into the final design for which he intended. It was simply the task of making that image into reality. The soft and smooth grain of the wood on his hand. The feel of iron nails in his hand, hard and stiff. The smell of sawdust from the cut wood, remnants in the air. Replacing the arms of the fence one by one, he progressed methodically through it, until each in turn had been renewed. In Crylon's mind the product, the work, was a song. Each note fitting together in harmony, to bring a greater whole into existence. Once he was done he was left with a good solid fence, discolored due to the newer replaced patched piece but otherwise quite similar to the original fence. It was a series of strong posts, with arms reaching across and between each, supported on each end by said post. These worked in unison so that the force of any strike would be spread across the entire fence, rather than one segment. So long as the blow was not too great in one spot, as had happened here, the fence would remain intact. At that moment Crylon closed his eyes, picturing the fence in his mind and finding himself closer to Izurdin even by that simple act of doing and making. WC: 558

[Crylon Stonecraft]

Having finished most of the structural items, Crylon headed to the smithy to do some work. He had messed with quite a few bits of metal during his work, and if nothing else had a small heap of nails to fix from all of the items he had pulled them from. Metal though was not so easily ruined, and though it would need to be heated and reforged the metal at its core was intact and usable. This was a simple bit of salvaging of materials any decent builder knew how to do, and with metal tended to be much easier. Far harder was the odd bits of wood and things cut off and ruined. More often than not that was good for little more than scrap or firewood. But metal... As an Isur, he particularly enjoyed working with metal, and saw in it many immutable features. Even if the physical structure of it changed, or the item it was crafted into like nails or hinges or such, at its core it was the same. Good, strong, durable, metal. Of course, in practice he usually just shaped it back into what it was, particularly with nails. But he knew the possibility was there, that he could make something new if he wanted to. Sometimes, Crylon thought to himself, the possibility was what mattered. Looking about in the forge he was happy to see a fire already going. Someone had clearly been in here recently, and had not put out the flame. A common practice in a forge, seeing as it often took bells to get a proper flame going. Longer if a hotter flame was needed for certain metals. It was far easier to keep a flame going and top it off so to speak like a waterskin being filled up with a bit more water, than it was to build up a fire newly each time it was needed. Doing his duty as one of the users of the forge, Crylon spent some time topping it off. Setting aside the small pile of ruined nails from his earlier work, he saw that there was other bits of scrap metal as well that needed reforging. Then he focused on the flame, feeling its hot touch on his flesh as he hefted up some wood piled nearby the hungry maw of the forge. Then a working of the bellows, forcing in air to intensify the flames and make it burn hotter and harder. This meant more wood had to be added in, perpetuating the cycle. It was still a good fifteen chimes of topping off before he could begin to forge, before the fire was ready. Taking up a handful of nails Crylon set them within reach, and then set one in its entirety within the flames. He let the heat soak in for a bit, softening the metal for his work, while he prepared the other tools. Then hammer in one hand, he grabbed up the hot nail in his Isurian hand, and set it on the forge. A few strikes of the hammer had the rough shape done, before he pinched the tip using his same black hued limb to shape the metal to a point. Then a few more taps, and he dropped the finished nail into a bucket to cool. Turning he continued, grabbing a ruined nails this time and dropping them into the heat of the forge. Now that he was back into the habit, he was confident he could do several and once in quick succession rather than one by one. WC: 596

[Crylon Stonecraft]

What followed was a quick series of motions, repetition and practice of increasing speed as a rhythm was reached. A handful of small iron wrecks dropped into the flames. Then held between his fingers he would grab up the still hot metal and drop them spread out on the anvil. Then one by one he forced them into shape, using a combination of his special arm and hand along with the hammer. Rather than do an entire nail at once he would do the same step on each, and then return to the first to start over on the circuit with the next step. Strike the back to get the excess bits, which kept the entire nail from going in due to the fat end once someone hammered it in. Then round again, this time on the shaft of the nails, lengthening and straightening the softened metal. The plan of action had developed in his mind quick enough,a simple enough tactic to divide the work and do the like steps in order rather than all of one nail. And it did seem to be working, as he was progressing much more quickly than normal if he had been making only a few nails. Round three, he pinched the tip then hammered the metal to get a good point. Then round four, a few taps of the hammer and squeezes of his vice like grip here and there to finish the nails. Then five, drop them into the water to cool like the first one he had done. He repeated these steps by a handful of nails at a time, and in short order found the entire pile of ruined nails was sitting in the bottom of the bucket to cool. These would be taken out later, dried off, and would be ready to be reused about the household. He had done nails before, but never so many at once, and not in such a fashion. It was a new tactic for his work, a new plan of action, and he felt it was a good one. Using a scrap bit of cloth Crylon wiped the soot and sweat from his flesh, and began work on drying the nails and packing them into a nice lot for use by someone else or perhaps himself at a later date. After all, once the metal was first bought that was the simplest way to get more of such simple items, so long as their overall integrity was not ruined. And metal, like Crylon, was a sturdy and immutable thing, even if its shape did change a bit here and there. WC: 438

[Alric Lysane]

Your Grades Crylon Stonecraft Skills Blacksmithing – 2 Carpentry – 3 Construction – 3 Endurance – 1 Observation – 2 Planning – 2 Lores Blacksmithing: Recycling Materials Carpentry: Cutting Wood Carpentry: Longer Better than Shorter Construction: Noticing A ‘Patch’ Job