Solo [ED]A Return a Repair Part II

[Crylon Stonecraft]

10 Fall 520 Welding was not something Crylon was overly skilled at. He vaguely understood what it was, how it worked, but beyond seeing others doing it in the past had not been called upon to do it much. He preferred, or he supposed was more commonly called upon, to work a single item into a shape without any connections. That or he was making a single fixed thing, or repairing something that was as such. Not connecting two items, or fixing a break from where one thing was once one but had a crack or gap. Holding up a metal ring, one he believed was for some kind of puller on a... Drawer? Door? Something? He was unsure, as someone had dropped it off to be fixed but had not said what it had been for. Crylon examined the item and considered how to fix it. The first thing he noticed was the splintering where it broke. The jagged bits where metal broke open and left behind an odd toothy surface. He had seen burs from metal not cleaned properly, but this seemed worse. First things first, Crylon nodded to himself, he needed to address the rough ends. To begin with he used a wire brush, something that looked to some degree like a normal brush but that would likely leave someones scalp bleeding if they tried to use it as such. Instead of finer and move forgiving material for the tines this one had tines of metal wire type material, jagged and harsh to flesh but good for cleaning metal and removing burs. Rubbing it over the metal Crylon watched as bits flaked off and burs were worked out. Tiny bits of metal jabbing out that would catch an exposed fleshy hand and stab or cut them when gripped. Particularly bad when on an item was meant to be pulled by a hand... Not rushing or hurrying in any way, instead diligently working to complete his task with exactitude, Crylon worked his way over the head of each end of the item, using his impervious left hand to move and touch and hold things that might harm his right. Scraping here... And then there... Pulling that part back, and then brushing here... And there... And over and back, from one side to the other. By the end he was left with a well buffed material, no more in danger of cutting anyone by touch. Still broken, but safer to work with and clean and flat for that working. Taking up the ring Crylon headed over to the forge, checking its level. He could tell from experience the heat was off, it was - or so he felt - one of his better more refined skills as a smith. Being able to tell temperature by color of the flames. And, he felt, an important one for any proper smith. Knowing the flames. The shape of the heat, the living thing that basked over a material and imparted its hot fury which in turn allowed it to be reshaped.... Crylon smiled at his "colorful" language, thinking of it in such terms, and then chuckling to himself at his pun on several levels. Setting his smile aside and taking on a more neutral demeanor Crylon began working the forge, adding wood and pumping in air to bring up the heat and prepare it for use as he needed. WC: 562

[Crylon Stonecraft]

After spending some time getting the forge up to heat, something Crylon felt he had done so many times he could perform the steps blindfolded and while asleep, he turned back to the ring. Eyeing it he reconsidered the shape and color of the heat, where it was hotter, where it was colder, and where the ring needed to be placed. Where the heat needed to be applied was simple, the hottest parts were on each end where the metal had broken. There, and there. The metal ring was small enough that the entire thing would be in the flame, but as he did not need to reheat all of it... He could make sure to place the parts to weld together in the hottest bit of the flame. As usual he did not bother with tongs or grips, simply using his left hand and arm to place it properly. An Isur's special arm the limb was flexible and dexterous where a pair of tongs was not, and allowed much more finesse than a more crude implement. Grabbing up the metal he placed it within, being careful to place it just so. Once he had sorted it he pulled back his hand from the flames. While the arm might be impervious to harm it did not technically seem to be impervious to heat. The distinction being that if he left his arm in too long it would, while not being harmed, accumulate heat. And eventually that might carry down and burn him where his limb met his more mundane Isurian flesh. If, Crylon smiled to himself, an Isur even in his other parts could be called mundane. He had after all seen a human bruised by a touch that would not have even fazed him. Humans and non-Isur were certainly more fragile even discounting an Isur's special arm. But then, Crylon thought to himself as he watched the metal heat, they had been crafted by Izurdin himself. And the power that imbued upon them, the skill of a fine artisan working his craft and shaping material into something, could always be seen. Even if he had started with the same meat and muscle and bone as humans were made of, or something similar, he had by his skill shaped them into something much finer. And in such a shape that he hit his head on fewer things than a human did while walking about, with their oddly stretched out form. Watching the metal color and heat Crylon waited until the hue was right, occasionally reaching in to touch the metal quickly to check its consistency. This took several tries, but after awhile when he touched the metal he felt it give just right, and knew it was heated well. Then he quickly pulled the metal out. Leaving no time for the metal to cool he squeezed with his left hand and pulled the bits of metal ends together, shaping them slightly with his special Isurian arm but not really in the magical sense. More so it was just that the metal was hot enough and his grip strong enough that it could easily shape the hot metal. He then grabbed up a hammer and began with some light taps, pressing the end of the metal together and enforcing the weld, tapping here and there to settle things and make the metal regain its original shape. Within a few chimes he felt this was well accomplished, and he then dropped the metal ring in some water to cool and solidify its final shape. WC: 592

[Crylon Stonecraft]

After waiting a bit for the metal to cool, Crylon returned to the ring. As usual while cooling more imperfections had been made, causing more work to be needed. Drying off the ring he began with the wire brush once more, working over the outside of the ring with a particular focus on the spot he had attached together. Here, and there, and along in a circle till he had gotten most if not all of the odd burs and scales of surface metal from how it had cooled. The odd little flakes of metal did not scratch or cut like the burs, but were still unpleasant to look at and were not good for a clean surface. Once that was done he took out a file and began to work on the last little bits that needed a bit more work. An odd bulge there needing flattening, requiring scraping the file back and force until it was clean and flat. Another spot there requiring more of the same. There was a human who Crylon sometimes saw in the smithy, who was not there then. Between the two of them working on it the fire was kept well fed and maintained, the forge usually ready for use. Crylon himself preferred working earlier in the day before many had risen, and so often began and finished before the human came in. Crylon assumed the man preferred working later, perhaps as it was cooler once the sun went down, but Crylon himself never had an issue with working in the heat. Or perhaps the man simply had another reason for not working in the morning. As he was finishing this up another human entered the forge, this one female. He often had trouble telling with humans, but he was fairly certain this one was on the young side. With their fast aging though it was often tricky for Crylon to work out. A similar, Isur though obviously differently looking due to their race, would be twice as old. He took this one for late thirties or perhaps early forties... Which meant she was in human years perhaps half that, fifteen to twenty. A tricky thing all told. A smile on her face the female human nodded at Crylon, before motioning with the box held in her hands. Crylon nodded back and pointed at a place she could drop it. "Good morning. Your the Isur then? I don't think I've seen you around much, or at least not one on one. I'm Keesha." Nodding back Crylon did not quite smile, keeping his more neutral expression but doing his best to soften it. “I'm Crylon. Yes, Isur. You have thing needing fix?” At the mention of the things needing fixing Keesha began taking out a few things, Crylon soon realizing they were knives. "For the kitchen, they need sharpening. You need a good sharp knife for the kitchen, a dull one is as much a liability as an unskilled cook. I think Jackson usually keeps them sharp, so I was coming to drop them off." Jackson, Crylon assumed the human smith, perhaps knew more about weapons and such than Crylon did. As it was he knew little about making or maintaining blades, so would likely need to leave it to the human. “Ah, I not much with weapons. Maybe leave Jackson fix.” As he said this Crylon realized that when it came to weapons the man might be more knowledgeable, which would mean learning something from him about it. Perhaps he could get some instruction from the human on the task and his aid in doing it? WC: 603

[Crylon Stonecraft]

After waiting till later in the day when he expected the human smith Jackson to be about Crylon made his way back to the smithy. As he entered he could tell the man was there before even seeing him. Rather he could tell by their common marking, the man being marked by Izurdin just as Crylon was. Not a son of Izurdin as was he, but still marked by the divine father and so in some since a kindred person. Perhaps more so as the human had two marks, not so common as those who bore only one such as Crylon himself. All Isur were born with one, and humans without any. That this man held two marks said much about him in and of itself. As Jackson was simply working on heating the forge up to a proper temperature and not something that precluded interruption Crylon greeted the man as he entered. “Hello, I am Crylon. Crylon Stonecraft. Also smith. Keesha say uh.... You fix knives? You know of weapons? I not much of weapons, was hope you show, help learn of.” Pausing in his task the human turned to the Isur. As Crylon was speaking his greeting he stopped, pausing to look at the Isur, seeing his height, checking his left arm, and then returning to his face. "Ah, hello Crylon. I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Jackson. I run the forge most of the time. Though I understand you spend as much time doing repairs and things for buildings as you do pieces of metal. I know smithing as well as weapon making, those are my main skills in the working of metal. Sounds like your more of a smith, and not much of a weaponsmith then?" Crylon nodded, having to run through the common to get the mans full meaning. Though a part of his mind wondered if the man did not have a second name, as many humans did not, or he had simply not given it. Whereas Crylon, out of respect for a fellow craftsman and Izentor had given his first and second. “Yes, not much know on make... Maintain... And other things, do with weapon.” With a smile Jackson returned to his work, pumping for forge again. "Alright then, I can show you. Why don't you fetch the items needing repairs, and we can go through how to fix them." With a nod Crylon agreed, grabbing the open topped box Keesha had brought them in, and setting them atop the anvil for Jackson to peruse. Once he was done with the working the forge he took up the items one by one, inspecting them each in turn. WC: 445

[Crylon Stonecraft]

Crylon watched as Jackson went through the items one by one, considering each in turn. After a few chimes he seemed satisfied with his review and began explaining things to Crylon. "Alright, so most of these just need sharpening. With knives the most common way to sharpen them is to reduce them. You grind down the edge and get a new cut. But like I said that's reductive, so eventually it will end with the blade getting smaller and smaller, till it needs to be replaced That is fine with knives though, they are meant to be used that way." Holding up one of the blades Jackson continued his explanation. Crylon noticed this one was not dull like the others, or not just dull, but also had a chink in the metal. "This one here though has a chip, something solid must have hit it hard on the edge of the blade and left a depression. You could use the first method to fix it, but it would require grinding the entire knife down to that new depth. So if you don't want to do that, you'll need to actually fix the edge and then regrind it make it sharp. Straightening out and fixing the chips and depressions, that's also how you'd fix a sword. Well most, though not all are done exactly the same." Motioning at the grindstone Jackson got Crylon's attention again, handing him one of the dull but otherwise undamaged knives. "Here, why don't you start with one of the easier ones, I'll watch and comment if you need any direction." Crylon nodded, taking the offered blade by the offered handle and looking it over quickly. Then he headed to the grindstone and sat down before it. The grindstone had a simple foot pedal, and with a few pumps it was revolving at speed. Moving up the knife Crylon tried to catch the edge of the blade to sharpen it. Jackson stood behind and gave a few small pointers, such as the proper angle to hold the blade and and how to hold his arms, but otherwise let Crylon work by himself. And then there was the grinding and working of metal on stone, as the surface of the metal was slowly worked on. Mostly it was just noise, but not so loud as he could not hear Jacksons pointers as he worked. Once he got there angling like so... And then turning it this way... Working it along as so, and then this way... Moving the edge of the blade along the stone bit by bit until he had ground out a new cutting edge where there had been a old dull blade from use before. WC: 450

[Alric Lysane]

Your Grades

Crylon Stonecraft

Skills

Blacksmithing – 3
Socialization – 2
Weaponsmithing – 1


Lores

Blacksmithing: Filing Techniques
Blacksmithing: Heated Metal Colourings
Blacksmithing: Wire Brush Uses
Jackson: Knowledgeable About Weaponsmithing
Weaponsmithing: Sharpening Techniques