Shaping Steel (Solo)

by **Xalet** on November 17th, 2012, 12:56 am

65th day of Spring, 510AV

Having done 'well' in his previous armoring endeavors, Xalet's Patron felt it necessary for a well-rounded Squire to have knowledge in some tradeskill that could be of use to the Knights. For practicalities sake, should Xalet be injured or unable to continue his Knightly duties, the ability to perform a skill such as blacksmithing or armorsmithing would allow him to continue to contribute to the Order, as well as enable him to pull a wage if he had to fully retire and lead a more peaceful life within the stone walls of Syliras. As such, the Akalak was instructed to meet up with Ser Hallock once again in order to learn some of the important smithing techniques that were utilized for many of the starting pieces of armorsmithing.

It was the evening, just as the sun had set below the mountainsides to the north. Hallock had planned it this way, as sitting near the forge with the sun at its highest angle was ill suited for the pounding of metal that the two would be doing. Instead, working in the evening when the ambient temperature had cooled down was the clear choice, and Xalet couldn't help but agree. It also allowed both men to get through their day as normal, training in Xalet's case, and patrolling in Ser Hallock's case. The gritty Knight arrived shortly after the Squire, bringing with him several pieces of sheet like metal.

"Evenin' Squire, seems your Sergeant thinks you've got a knack for takin' a hammer to steel. I say it's a bit too early to tell, but better now than later to find out if ye got the gift. We're gonna be working with the swage block today..." as the man dumped the planks of metal upon the ground, he could easily tell Xalet had never before heard of this alien smithing term. "What? Never heard of a swage block? It's fancy language for a tree stumps whats had a shape carved inta the top. C'mere. See this swage block here has a bowl like shape carved into it. That's the most common type, the bowled swage. Just like when we did planishing, the swage block allows us to pound a shape into otherwise flat or misshapen metal. Yur wondering what the difference between planishing and using a swage block is, I can tell. Planishing is meant for hammering out irregularities, not true shaping. Since ye gotta hold yur piece, you can't get the same precision in the depth and uniformity of the dishing as you can with a bowled swage. Look here..."

Pulling out what slab of metal in particular, Xalet could see it had been chiseled away from the rest of the sheet in a shape similar to an oval. "I done cut this with a pattern, and this will make a cop. Ye might call um knee or elbow protection, but it all starts from the same basic thing, the cop. Learning how to cut all clear and precise from a pattern is something for a different day, for right now I just wants to make sure ye can handle yurself when shaping steel. Gotta start simple see, most beginners are just apprentices to a real smith, hammerin' where he tells um to, maybe learning a bit'o smithing here and there."

by **Xalet** on November 17th, 2012, 2:11 am

"Alright then Squire, on to our cop..." slipping the plate of metal onto the wooden cylinder, the Knight brought forth a pair of tongs and gripped the side tightly, attempting to keep the area that would be struck centered upon the bowl. Directing Xalet to grab a nearby hammer with a rounded head, the Knight then rummaged around in his pocket until he managed to produce a chunk of black charcoal. With one edge of the inky black stone he drew an 'X' upon the plate, indicating exactly where Xalet would be striking, "Ah'm making it easy for you, first timer. See the X? It don't stand for Xalet, that's the middle m'boy. That's where you want the center of the bowl to be. You're going to start striking there lightly so's the metal starts to dish. Then you'll keep striking until the bowl is filled completely with the shape of the metal. Well? Don't just stare at it, swing away, that's how ye learn."

Clearing his throat slightly, Xalet bent down to center the striking portion fo the hammer head upon the X, only to be reminded by his current instructor, "Gah, not too close now Squire. All ye need is a sliver of that there metal coming back an' gettin' ye in the eye. Aim by feel m'boy, let yur eyes be secondary. It's all about gettin' to know the hammer, the metal, and the bowl. Watch, after a few dozen swings you'll know just where the middle o'that there bowl is."

Deciding the Knight knew best, considering his lengthy experience in the field of metalworking, Xalet cocked his elbow and let out a stiff thwack upon the metal. "Izurdin's tears boy, where's the steady, loose strikes from days past? Follow through, hit firm but not like you're trying to crack a man's head." The Squire's brow furrowed as he attempted to absorb this constructive criticism and continued, this time with a slightly smoother motion, each pull and push of the hammer more interconnected. "That does it, now we're workin'. Looks less like a golem an' more like a man, that swing."

Though the plate moved slightly with each strike, the keen eyes and steady hands of the Knight moved it each time it began to creep away. The result kept the X centered upon the bowl, regardless of whether or not Xalet's strikes were straight. Of course, that didn't keep the man from commenting each time one went astray, "Ye best be bringing that hammer straight down, not at an angle. We need to keep this dish level, lest we be making cops for some Knight with deformed joints. Since ah'be considering no one with deformed joints would make it in the Knights, that would make our cops about as useful as an agoraphobic warhorse." The last comment immediately made Xalet pause in his blows, head turning toward the Knight completely confused at what that word, 'agoraphobic' meant. "What? What ye lookin'...what the word agoraphobic? Sheesh Squire, it means...it means a horse with a limp, that's what she means, now keep hammerin!"

by **Xalet** on November 21st, 2012, 7:13 pm

Xalet worked away with his dishing hammer, the sound of metal on metal ringing through the air and slowly becoming ingrained in his head as a normal ambient sound. All around him cool air moved through the open area of the forge, keeping him relatively perspiration free, although he could easily begin to feel his muscles starting to burn. The hammer itself was only slightly heavier than his short sword, but the constant, repeated motion of bringing it up and down was starting to wear on his shoulder and elbow, something Hallock was quick to call him out on, "Make sure ye be using your shoulder to swing, an not your elbow. Bust your elbow up all good the other way, ye will. Using your shoulder will be the strokes good and straight, just how we want them."

Before too long the piece certainly had a strong dishing to it, and by Xalet's eyes could be dished no further giving the shaping stump provided. Lifting the piece up and out of the stump, he turned it about in the air, looking at the curve along with the Knight. They both examined the rounded piece of metal before Xalet looked to his current mentor, and the man gave him a satisfied nod. "Alrighty m'boy, good enough. Now we'll be working on the next part called flaring. When ye flare, ye stretch the metal so's it fits nice and snug over the joint, as well as move the metal away from the point where the top and bottom of the metal meets the body. Makes it so when ye move, the cop doesn't dig into ya. Sounds good, yes?"

Of course, Xalet wasn't completely comprehending what his teacher was saying. The rogue concept behind all of this was...stretching metal? Could metal be stretched? Wasn't that something saved for clothing and the like, "How can this happen? Metal is the hardest substance, and yet it stretches?"

"Pah, sure it does boy. With a hammer and anvil, we can do anything we want with metal! Bend it, dish it, flare it, and certainly stretch it. When ye hit metal enough what do ye think happens? It flattens. If it gets flatter what happens? It stretches outward, that extra metal don't just disappear into the wind. Now watch close here, flaring is the part ye be bound to make all your mistakes on, but tis the flare that marks a properly crafted piece of armor from the creation of some unrefined savage." pulling out an even larger hammer than Xalet had been utilizing, Hallock described it as a 'four pound rounding hammer'. "Now, see the line I made upon the metal at the edges here? Those will be put on the edge of the anvil. Ye will then LIGHTLY start to hammer, beating the edge outward, thus flaring it. The strikes will be hard enough to leave hammer marks, but no harder or ye'll deform the whole blasted piece. Watch now here, we go over with the first pass..." the man paused in his verbal instruction in order to give Xalet something more concrete to process. Without hesitation he lined the edge up upon the sharp corner of the anvil and began hammering swiftly. Just as he had described the metal began rearing back, slowly and uniformed.

Once the first pass was done, the Knight held the piece up for inspection, "When ye complete the first pass, look at the line an' make sure the flare is exactly upon it. A straight edge is what ye want, Squire. Now we go for a second pass..." his words were followed by that very action, placing the same edge back down in its previous spot, this time hammering harder, "Now the strikes get stronger, we're moving more metal now. Then again, until our flare is just how we want it. See that there? Looks like Izurdin himself done creased it with his own fingers. Now, you try the opposite side, make it just like mine."

by **Xalet** on November 22nd, 2012, 12:38 am

Working the opposite side of the piece, Xalet's eyes watched as the metal reared backward as expected. Small lesions where his hammer impacted the metal could be seen, little imperfections in an otherwise well formed piece. Keeping a perfect line was more difficult than he had previously assumed, the Knight had made it look so easily. Perhaps a trained smith could perform the flaring process easily, but several times Xalet had to retrace his strikes at the order of the Knight in order to reflatten and then reflare the edges properly. "Don't get discouraged now, like I said, everyone makes all the mistakes in the flaring process. I'd say after you do say...twenty or thirty pieces you won't even think twice when the hammer strikes the metal. Shucks Squire, I barely look at the piece anymore. It's all about feel and positioning. I can tell by the feel of the strike and the positioning of my hand whether or not the hit is good. Ye'll get there."

So much effort for so little a piece, Xalet thought. There was more to a piece of armor than the amount of the body it protected however. A well made cop could last for hundreds of years. The metal armor of Syliras was not easily damaged, and if it was shaped by a true professional the legends held that the armor would be harder and lighter than that of a novice, almost impenetrable by normal means. With the final strike onto the edge of the cop, Xalet removed the piece from the anvil and looked over it, comparing his work to his instructor's. The squint eyed man looked toward it, then back to Xalet and simply said with a shrug, "Looks fine to me, right?" Of course they weren't anywhere near similar. The Knights was straighter, more consistent, and had less impact marks off the line, but it was still worthy enough an effort to be considered a piece of armor.

"Grab the file m'boy, we're going to put on what's called a 'satin finish'. A satin finish is the type of finishing most war grade pieces of armor have. When ye knew the armor is gonna be seeing battle, sometimes there's no need to put on what's called a 'mirror finish'. That's what we went into last time we were together. With the file ye scratch and buff the surface of the metal, the countless little scratches actually start to smooth the imperfections out by wearing down the bits that aren't level." the man spoke as Xalet rose up to walk over toward the stand full of tools. He looked past several of them, the various chisels and hammers before finally finding the wide hand file. Raising it up the Knight looked over and gave a nod, "That's the one."

"Take a seat, best to do this in the lap. Ye grab the piece, ye grab the file, and file her down. Quick, steady strokes back and forth here..." the man said as he started raking the abrasive surface over the presented side of the cop. Back and forth, over and over. At first it almost appeared to be marring the steel further, but like magic a faint sheen began to show through. It was almost as if the rounded portion of the cop was being polished right before Xalet's eyes. "Pretty neat eh? Like magic, but without all that wacky voodoo. There's plenty of stuff us folks can do without magic, just gotta know how to work what the Gods gave ye. Give it your best Squire, make sure to file the edges so they're nice and rounded. Wanna make sure there ain't no possibility of takin' some lad's knee out."

by **Xalet** on November 23rd, 2012, 7:17 pm

The Knight could tell by Xalet's intent focus that his arm was starting to wear out. Luckily enough the cop was almost completely finished. The strokes Xalet utilized were much in the same motion as the ones he performed when polishing his boots for the inspection of his Patron, but the results came much slower. Indeed, one had to dig with that file to find the more finished looking shine beneath the 'rough from the hammer' appearance of a recently smithed hunk of metal. "Ain't as easy as it looks, eh? With all them muscles I'll bet you're wondering why lifting that little hammer and sweeping that little file across the metal is so tiring. Simple really, it's just a matter of using different muscles, see? Bet you ain't got no exercises when you're training that work quite like these, the use of the shoulder especially. The repetition just gets to folks. Wears down the endurance. Just like anything though, you smith enough and you'll smith better and longer. Keep at it m'boy."

Luckily for the Squire the moment he finally had to put the file down to shake out his hand, the cops surface was looking good enough for Hallock. "Let me see her..." the Knight spoke, pulling the cop from Xalet's grasp and carefully going up and down the frame. With a little help from the Knight, the pair could actually make some usable equipment. Quite often the first few pieces of any smith trying his luck out on his own were completely unusable, or at the very least reshapen over and over until the overall depth of the dish was right. This one seemed decent enough, "I think we got something here Squire. Last we'll put a simple center flute in, and the piece is done. It can be riveted to an existing piece of armor, or strapped as is. Ye remember how to flute, right? Get that dull chisel, put her on the ball stake and let me see it."

Luckily it hadn't been too long ago since they had last met, and the motions of fluting were still there in Xalet's head. Put the rounded portion of the cop up against the ball-stake, use the dull chisel, line it up at one end and start soft and slow. Almost like the first time they had reformed the fluting in his cuirass, the Knight spoke that familiar phrase, "Soft and slow, get the metal to move, then if we wants it deeper, ye will go across it a second or third time. Armor can't be rushed, we've got all the time in the world." his words could still be heard over the light tinging of the hammer upon the chisel, and the chisel slowly working its way downward into the metal.

"Go over her again, a little deeper, hit a little harder, especially here." the Knight pointed at a spot where Xalet's strikes had begun to wear off of their force, creating one small section of groove that had a much more shallow valley than the rest. Starting back at the beginning, Xalet prepared to go back across before he was stopped, "Get that part level first, Squire, before doing the rest." With a faintly audible 'oh', Xalet placed the chisel in the valley that had received less attention than the other sections and went back and forth over it twice, finally creating a more symmetrical flute. With an extra time over the piece as a whole, the Knight gestured for him to stop and gave the cop a good look over, "Good enough to be proud, I'd say. Cops are easy, just wait until we work on articulated joint protection, now that's the good stuff. Maybe another time though, best be getting in for some chow. You're dismissed Squire."

by **Accolade** on December 6th, 2012, 6:48 am

Xalet

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Armorsmithing	+ 4 XP
Blacksmithing	+ 4 XP

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	How to make a cop
•	Filing metal for a finish
•	Shaping a stump correctly

Notes :

The Sylir has spoken

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

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