[Ironworks] An Apprentice's Duties [Training]

[Rhuryc]

OOCThis is mainly a training thread, but if someone wants to come in and RP I'm not opposed to interaction!

5th Day of Summer, 510 AV

Clang. He almost hated that sound. Clang. What was he making again? Clang. A horseshoe, right. Clang. Four of them actually. Clang. All the same size. Clang. All for the same horse. Clang. Did he really care? Clink.

What?

Rhuryc blinked as he looked down at the anvil. He stared at his hammer, the edge of which was now resting comfortable on its face. Huh. He missed. With a frown he inspected the heated iron he had clamped with his trusty tongs and found that, in his stupor, he had only been flattening the material. Stupid. A grunt escaped his lips and the apprentice shored up his grasp on his hammers hilt and moved the as of-yet still-straight bar over to the horn. Once it was nestled comfortably enough he brought his arm down with a considerable degree of strength and struck the unfinished product. The edge of the 'shoe' bent only lust. Another strike. Soon, one side began to curl around, aided by the constant pounding of Rhuryc's hammer. The process, as usual, was a boring one, but bending at least had some immediate results. Once he finished with the basic curve, Rhuryc flipped the metal around and started with the other end, paying as much care to the endeavor as he did before. Finishing the shape was simple. Once he had created a "U", the gave the very end of each a few strikes to bend it further outward, the beginnings of a shoe well underway.

He was getting good at this bit. With the basic design finished, Rhuryc transported the shoe over to the face of his anvil and replaced his hammer with a punch. Eight holes. He started with the heel, working on the "under" side of the shoe. Later he would have to go over this piece with chisel, cut down some of the excess metal he had forgot to thin, but that could wait. With the shoe firmly set against the anvil, Rhuryc brought his punch down near the heel of the product, digging it through the thick, hot iron with a semi-practiced expertise. Or lack thereof. There was a reason the competent smiths had the apprentices do this kind of work. The rest of the holes were made in very much the same fashion. Four to each side, large enough to fit a nail through. A few of them might have not lined up perfectly. Or all of them. Whatever.

Rhuryc was quick to rid the anvil of the finished product. He had four more sets of these things to do before the hour was out and he had no apprentices to heat the iron for him while he was busy. No, he had to do it all from start to finish. Perhaps he could pay someone from off the street to hold iron inside the forge. He blinked, placing the punch back on the shelf of tools. That really was not such a bad idea.

[Rhuryc]

Rhuryc grumbled as he wiped the sweat from his brow. Stupid fire. With a shovel in hand, the young man began to ferry coal from the floor to what would be a roaring flame. What moron put it out in the first place? A cold, icy rage sat deep under the surface as he applied an additional layer of the black rock as instructed by his master. No fire, no smithing. No smithing, no money. No money and Rhuryc had to find himself a new job. Pushing that thought out of his mind the apprentice set his shovel back in its rightful place and went about restarting the life blood of the smithy. He grabbed one of the torches from the walls and a nearby poker before his hand was thrust inside, the flame hovering over the center of the coals. With a reckless abandon he began to prod at some of the coals, moving them around as they caught fire and laying the torch all around in an attempt to get a nice, easy flame. At least he was good at this. Somewhat.

With the flame back up Rhuryc found it within his activities to keep it that way. So the apprentice made himself handy while his master tended to real work. At least the man was present. For however long that lasted. Armed with a few stocks of Iron, Rhuryc went about sticking the occasional bar into the furnace, tended to oh-so carefully, and kept a constant supply of metal in the hands of the Smith. The event itself was relatively simple. He started by either fanning or drawing the air out of the fire - depending on the heat his master requested - and spent the better part of his time staring at iron as the flame licked at its heels, slowly but steadily, heating whatever it was he just so happened to be holding. His trusty wire, an item he had procured since his early days as an apprentice, was fished in every now and again and stuck to the edge of the item where itself began to melt. He would occasionally take it out and once the color was the desired hue the rest of the iron followed.

Surprisingly, this had only become easier with time. While the work itself was tedious and boring, Rhuryc found that time was likely to pass all the more quickly when he remained devoted to a singular task. That and he had become over zealous. At once point he was just idly tending to particular pieces, shoving them into the flame and producing them for his master while he was deep in another project. This, of course, ended in a lecture about wasting materials, but that was a speech the young man must have heard a thousand times, if not a thousand and one.

Maybe he was getting better at this whole smith thing.

[Rhuryc]

Or not.

Rhuryc glared at his would-be caliper. The blasted metal refused to cooperate. At one point he was required to make a ninety degree angle and the process itself was harrowing. Especially with such little material to work. The bar he started with was still good at least. Already drawn out, Rhuryc had flattened the material where it would serve as both a handle and a rule. The markings could wait until later, for now he was concerned with the top of what would be the jaw. With a sigh he placed the edge of the blank onto the horn and hit the edge with his hammer. A few more strikes started the bend. He followed the action by flipping the item over and sending another pointed hit at the opposing side, upsetting the metal to keep it from becoming too thin. This process repeated for the better part of ten minutes. The difficulty became leaving enough iron at the bend to detail later. Several strikes thinned what was available to what would be too little, so Rhuryc would stop and tend to that issue, whether it be by means of flattening excess fat or just lengthening the bend itself.

When he was finally finished the apprentice beamed with pride. With the basis for his tool, he could move to the construction of the final product. The second, smaller piece had to fit around the width of the measure and still be flexible enough to move up and down the length. He would have to produce the same ninety degree bend and carve out the material in the center. Thankfully he could just go in through the top, maybe even cheat a bit by suppressing the iron. Small, detailed work was not his realm. He had to try sometime.

With a caliper borrowed from the smithy Rhuryc went about the measuring process. He first examined the still-hot handle of his previous craft before he sorted through the various blanks, matching and comparing sizes. The endeavor was a short and, armed with a bar far too long - and just a little larger - for what he required, the apprentice went about his usual process and thrust the iron into the fire. For the sake of ease he kept most of the material to act as a grip and once the metal was heated to satisfaction he went to work with the hammer. He was quick to repeat his earlier discovered, hit on the horn, bend, upset, shorten, then turn, repeat, turn again. The real challenge at this stage remained the shape itself. Once the angle was completely Rhuryc moved the half-shapen item to the face of his anvil and put it over one of the punch holes. The hammer was replaced with a chisel and he began to cut the metal at the base of where his 'part' began, hacking at a singular point until he was able to separate the iron.

What now? He had a small edge, still complete as a bar with an edge at a very strict angle. A punch! Of course! Maybe. Rhuryc grumbled and, switching his tools out once again, he moved the piece to the hardie - the square hole on the face - and stomped his punch into the top of the bar. The resulting indent was satisfying. He repeated the action a few times before he pushed in enough of the metal to return to his chisel, working fast as he could to hallow the few inches of iron. Carefully, he clamped the piece down with a vise and nicked at the swiftly cooling material, one scratch after the next until there was only a thickened exterior. The apprentice sighed, content to see that he had yet to screw up. Yet.

Next was the moment, or hour, of truth. The bend at the top of the bar was both too long with a great deal of excess material. So, without much thought, he returned to his chiseling duties. He left enough of the bend on the left side of his project, enough to make the lower end of the caliper jaw, and otherwise removed the rest of it. Hah! That was surprisingly easy. Really. He had taken far too much thought into the entire design. There was some minor detailing to be done on the jaw, and he would have to mark the measurements, but he was left with a suitable, half-decent tool.

[Rhuryc]

Nothing was worse than welding. For an apprentice, anyway. So it was that Rhuryc was tasked with the preparation work while his master tended to some of the other necessities. Armed with a trusty wire brush Rhuryc was set the task of cleaning off the faces of what appeared to be two halves of some furniture base. The harrowing exercise was a test in patience itself. One scrape after the next, all in a constant, circular pattern designed to shave the iron down to a nice, clean finish. At least what resembled a finish. The effort on his part was only minimal for the time being and so he took his time, determined to get everything right. Once his master found the job to be sufficient, Rhuryc discarded his brush and aided his elder in transporting the metal to the hearth where both sides to were be heated. Funny, he would have done them one at a time, if just not to expose the molten iron to too much air.

Once the halves were poised over the fire Rhuryc took to tending the fire. He prodded the coals until the flame shot up and followed the act by drying the oxygen out, using a nearby fan to draw as much air out as he could. His task was to keep the heat receded in order to prevent any additional foreign materials from sneaking into the iron. His master tended to the product itself and Rhuryc busied himself on the side, keeping both an intent eye on the elder and the care in which he approached the scenario. Every now and again the smith would grunt, mumbling a few words, those of which Rhuryc interpreted as a request for action. Assuming his duties, the apprentice would draw more oxygen out and prod the fire once more, repeating these steps until he was told otherwise.

The shock was evident when Rhuryc was given a hammer. Although he was quick to regain his poise, the young man could not help but question his master's thought in the matter. Nevertheless he resolved himself to the situation and, initially, he just watched. Rhuryc was careful to examine the actions of the other man and, as he hammered the heated metal, so did the apprentice, careful to repeat what could only be the correct course of the trade. Surprisingly, his master would occasionally toss a small degree of flux onto Rhuryc's half and the return to his own work, adding the sand a few more times before he just set a pile of it down next to the young man, allowing him to take over. Huh. Rhuryc shrugged and in the same intervals he had witnessed he began to apply his own helping of flux in a circular pattern. He would impact the outer ring of the metal and keep it indented just ever-so more than the center, curious as he watched the course sand slowly beaten out of the iron. That made sense, he supposed.

The course of the next half-an-hour was tedious. The two men would transport the halves back to the fire, heat the faces, then remove them, brush the edges, work out any material, and than return to the hearth. After the second dress the elder smith gave his apprentice a curt nod, one that signaled the material was ready to be joined. Removed from the fire once more, the two halves were placed on the anvil and set next to one another, the center of each just meeting in a light, searing touch. In demonstration the Master Smith lightly tapped the back of one side one, twice, and a third time in different spots. He motioned to the apprentice and Rhuryc followed suit, carefully bringing his own hammer about to finish the connection. A repetitive clink echoed across the forge as a whole in a strange, musical chorus, the two men falling into their own symphony of percussion.

Blacksmithing could be fun! At least, Rhuryc tried to make it that way. He regretted how often he failed.

[Rhuryc]

With the day almost out Rhuryc busied himself with his less savory duties, the first of which was to extinguish the fire. Getting rid of the flame was easy. All the apprentice had to do was draw the oxygen out until there was none left to burn and wait. Once the heat had diminished to a reasonable level he, equipped with a well-worn shovel - faired what were to be useless coals into a nearby wheel barrow. Every so often he would have to retrieve some fallen debris or take the brunt of his load outside to be disposed, only to return and repeat the action until the hearth was empty. His master assured him that every apprentice was responsible for such activities, but somehow Rhuryc felt as if he was the only one who ever followed through. The endeavor itself proved to be quick, but still boring. More often than not the young man found himself with a wire brush and tasked with cleaning some of the deeper parts of the hearth, if just to length it's already surprisingly long life.

Next came the tools. Those that were left about were picked up and placed on their assigned stands, but not before they were thoroughly cleaned. The tongs were brushed, chisels sharpened, and even the hammer was swept of foreign iron, each individual item inspected and worn to a comfortable state before they were put to rest. This often lead Rhuryc to anvil itself where he would brush off the remains of any dust or iron onto the floor, just to follow with a good, old fashion broom. Not many were privy to how important it was to keep the remnants of the day's projects away from the next mornings endeavors. The dust and material could ruin something fresh from the forge, or what was worse, a smith could easily trip over the random bars left to lay. Having experienced the latter event himself, Rhuryc was quick to straighten up. He would take any unused material and place it into piles to be inspected later, sorting useless left-overs out from possible patches and still-good blanks.

Once the forge was in order Rhuryc made his way to the day's finishings. His master, gone at this point, left instructions for what items required oiling, waxing, smoothing, polishing, and all such detailing to be finished before the next morning. He started with the brunt of his assignments, smoothing the daily horseshoe quota. Rhuryc would settle in next to the stacks of forged iron with a grinding stone and his favorite wire brush, working at each item as it came. Most of the time it was satisfactory to just work out the bottom of each shoe, but with the horse's comfort in mind - in truth, he had no idea if the horse even cared - he often made his way around the top as well, adding needless detail for his own wellness.

By the time the apprentice was finished the sun, as usual, was at its decline. Dusk already. A final inspection was made around the smithy, checking for forgotten tools, dropped projects, lingering thieves, and any other irregularities before Rhuryc felt he was free to leave. A few, wide strides brought him over to the exit where he paused and turned about, giving the forge one last, satisfied look. Though boring and tedious, at least he felt accomplished. Until his stomach started rumbling. With a blink, the apprentice carefully stepped out, the door closing behind him with a soft thud.

[Leviathan]

Thread Award! Rhuryc Exp +4 Blacksmithing, +2 Cleaning, +1 Observation Lore A Good Day's Work Additional Comments Good thread. Got questions or comments? Feel free to shoot me a PM. And yes, in case you were wondering, I made up that cleaning skill. I doubt it'll ever come in handy, but rather have and not need than need and not have right?