[Job Threadl]Forest Times III: Everchanging Leaves(Solo)

by **Antar** on November 24th, 2011, 10:52 am

7th day of Fall, 511 av.

Another day in Sunberth, another trek out to the Cutters and Carver Brothers.

Today, he figured it would be a rather pleasant day inside the shop; he was consigned to making an order of nightables which had come in to the Carver Brothers from Brega's. All to replace a few which had been broken by a set of 'unruly' guests before they had been put down by a pair Daggerhands who had 'happened' to be in the area. Antar snorted at that flimsy charade; brega was probably paying 'protection' money just like any other business owner in Sunberth. Paying out their nose for someone to protect their ass- ets.

But that was the nroaml scheme of things going beyond the public eye. It wasn't any of Noth's business though; his whole philosophy was to keep his head down as much as possible if he or his associates weren't in any particular immediate danger. He aimed to keep it that way too.

In sunberth; the best thing to do was to keep yourself out of as much trouble as possible unless trouble came looking for you. That was why these days at work were a small bastion of piece amidst the chaos. Sure there were bits of trouble one had to consider keeping an eye out for... wolves , bears, bandits, but all in all the good days seemed to outnumber the bad; and with a healthy dose of paranoia one could actually begin to appreciate the turbulence of a city with no ruling leadership or structure; even if a colder bloodier truth of vengeance sometimes acted in lieau of any singular armed force.

But not here, at least not in the cutter's and carver brothers. The pair of business owners possessed an essential business and few rarely would cross them. They paid their workers on time, and even ensured they weren't despotic in their teachings, though many of the temporary workers didn't get much more then how to hold an axe, more permanent workers like Noth whohad been present for three seasons was given ample support to hone his skills in carving , and other related endeavors.

He knew the use of tools, the variations materials and changes certain wood types would bring to a project. All it would take was practice and he was sure that eventually; eventually. He would begin to make things better for himself so long as no one from his past found him.

For now though he would sit and begin to lay out his tools for which to begin his work... on nighttables of all things.

by **Antar** on January 14th, 2012, 11:18 pm

'So how does one begin to make a nightable?' Noth reflected as he glanced around the shop; he knew in theory but in practice was a slightly different manner. This wasn't the first bit of furniture he'd ever made, but usually the Carver brothers left a bit of directions around. Roaming his eyes over the shelves of boards, tools and equipment he looked back at the worktable to note a small rolled up letter there.

A letter with a small placard reading his name, "Antar."

Good. They had left instructions like usual.

Reaching towards the scroll of parchment he unwound it to find a note.

The Note :

Antar inhaled sharply and looked towards the instrument that keith had talked about. The bandsaw was just that, a teethed band set up to a pedal similar to a forge billows or spinning wheel. It was edged and sharpened just like a whipsaw, save looped around the spinning wheel and a second wheel mounted above and anchored together at the end of the band by a large metal latching.

It was also something he never had touched before due to the fact that it was expensive to replace the bands. Only the smith at the Knight's Armory could really sharpen and set the blade, due to the fact that when hammering a deformed saw with a hammer and anvil to counteract the forces of heat and cutting. Not to mention if sawdust built up it could spark a fire, though water was not the best thing to use.

Oiling the blade was also very tricky because the foot pedal would have to be taken off and manually cranked by hand. Not to mention a downright pain in the arse to do as it required two people. In a pinch it could use a single operator, but normally, when it was used at all, two would work together; one on the pedal and the one feeding the cut board.

Sighing loudly and looking at the tool with a bit of trepidation , Antar would turn and walk back towards the storeroom to find the right templates and set of directions upon the myriad number of shelves.

by **Antar** on January 16th, 2012, 12:20 am

When he returned with the directions and a series of large wooden cut-outs, Antar would take the time to read things carefully before beginning. These were to be a basic set of nighttables, two drawers, about 3 feet high so the tops would rest flat at the side of the mattress. Not to mention the ladies were always using them to support themselves... at least that was what he imagined. Or rather chose, not to imagine.

Taking out a piece of chalk, Antar would begin to use the templates to draw out the cuts he would need to make on some of the many pressed boards, a few as wides as three feet for planking, and a good half inch thick. This was important to make these as sturdy a construction as possible and soon enough the pieces of wood were eked out. As the directions said he would start with panels to form the basic structure. A simple box with four side, and then a fifth to create the backing and the sixth to provide the center shelf for the wooden drawers.

The drawers would be made separately, combining a base panel with three sturdy sides, just a quarter inch under the width of the innernal edges of the table, then the oversized front panels would be constructed carefully to overhang and sit together, the top designed to be a third of an inch shorter in height then the others. Then there would be the bracing of the metal threaders from the parts in stock, a bit of folded over metal; designed to sit upon the wooden guide rails he would need to fashion

To set them together would take a mixture of glued wooden pegs, glued notch bracings and then several small nails and tacks. But the finished product would be a thing of beauty, and similar enough to the others after varnishing with tallow or linseed oil to be considered a matched pair.

But what would make the real difference to bring out the true colorings would be the two different sets of wood he would be cutting. Maple for the outer layers and the drawer fronts, and the softer pine for the internal shelf and drawer components.

Worse he'd have to do this for three separate sets of nighttables, which was six total. And the wood difference would complicate things. Maple by definition was a harder set of wood, and as such was more expensive... the pine less so, and softer. But with the maple his cuts he had to make would have to be precise to the best degree possible to avoid excess waste and he would achieve this by marking about a tenth of an inch 'overlay' in the chalk. This would allow him to cut just slightly over what he would need, and he would sand down the excess with his files.

A time consuming task, but not necessarily a tedious one.

Not with the bandsaw. At least if you didn't count the extra razor sharp focused attention Antar would have to tend to the task; making sure he was extremely careful not to injure himself.

Cranking up the machine pedal with his foot, Antar would spend the next bell making his cuts and tending to the blade; oiling it slightly in between each cut as over time; one by one the boards began to be made and set aside, each of the six renditions of a single cut set aside in its own separate pile on the other workbenches yet arranged almost in the exact same manner he would have to fashion them together.

First the harder maple was stacked.

The the inner pine... though the jigging on the guide rails was a nightmare, he had to literally chisel out a small notched section and test them with the metal components; though... with the smithed castors from the knight's armory the job began smoother then he thought. He just would have to make the nightables exterior first to see it all come together.

by **Antar** on January 16th, 2012, 12:57 am

Two and half bells later, the scritching sounds of grating files could be heard echoing from the inside of the workshop as Antar worked. The smell of sawdust was present, pleasing to his senses as he experienced an almost cathartic pleasure during the process as he lost sense of time and place. Only the feeling of working with the wood mattered, bringing to him a sense of peace he only seemed to gain in meditation as he crafted. On a side of the table was a small drill, hammer, and chisel he had been using during the process.

By now the outer structure and the middle shelves of three standing nightables were complete and mock set up to see if they jived right at the notches and edges. The next step would be woodgluing the pegs in the drilled holes, and securing the notched together wood via glue and then carefully set the final nails and screws.

The first one was already drying; he had to work a bit in tandem now to get them set properly, and while he couldn't use lock screws; the normal small screws which were so preciously expensive to have made would be set as the bracings from the bottom of the center shelf upwards to hold the mounting of the guide rails in the center of the wooden plate.

On a different table the first set of drawers was finishing its drying, and Antar felt it was time to test his work. Holding the rail guide to the top of the center plage, he aligned a marking on the two boards where the drill holes were present before taking a screw and placing in underneath, with a screwdriver, and strength of his hands alone he began to secure the mounting in its proper place with the three quarters of an inch screw, twisting it so the threads locked well onto the wood above.

Then on the drawers he mounted the metal track, and the castors, before placing the drawer into the proper slot to check if it was just undersized. You never wanted a wooden bit of furniture to fit too snugly where the parts would gradte together; that would only lead to bad things in the fturure if the wood swelled from being wet or so.

The bottom drawer went in fine, but the top drawer needed a bit of filing at the top so as not to make it snag. After a quick chalking of a line and a bit more filing, Antar was rewarded by his first piece of well made, if simple, furniture. All it took was a bit of mooring nails, and a white gloved coating of linseed oil to remove the chalk; followed by a mounting of a handle on both drawers and then he felt it ready to dry another half bell before he moved it.

So he went onto the next to build the drawers, edging their notches with hammer and chisel, making sure it was well glued and tacked before he felt it was time to return to the first. Seeing it wasn't quite done he'd return to the task, this time brushing off the excess glue with a damp cloth and turning the drawers upside down as he went onto the drilling of the holes for the mounted rails and castors.

Finally, after such tasks were complete, and his arm strained from the effort he would finish the first nighttable by lifting the entire ensemble in his arms. He would take it outside to dry in the sun and the piece would be finished, waiting for Keith's inspection and woodcarving expertise.

Knowing he had done a job well done on the first the rogue would let him congratulate himself. Smiling like a cheshire cat, the rogue would turn to the third nightable and begin the gluing process on the next one's set of drawers once more.

His time for the rest of the day would be spent alternating in the same pattern, until the task was finished completely, and it was time to leave work. He'd stop by the office to tell the carver brothers he would like to fulfill his earlier request to buy his set of tools they had kept set aside for his use, though he'd still like to keep them here, just as an investment for the future.

After handing over the money, Antar would leave to return home... riding Dawnstride all the way as he hummed to himself; still suffused with satisfaction at a good days worth of work.

~Fin.

receipt :

by **Ink** on January 16th, 2012, 6:28 pm

And in the Aftermath . . .

The Rewards are Revealed.

Antar :

Written in the ink :