Solo [Job Thread] Dreaming up Metal

[Daedalus Dagwood]

8th Day of Fall 513 AV.
(Morning/ 10th Bell)

It was the smell of the place, he thought, that reminded him of the days when he was a child watching his parents work metal and craft gadgets. A complex odor mixture of iron dust, molten slag, hot fire brick of a bast furnace, and a whiff of clay. He paced around the small foundry leaving boot prints in the packed dirt that made up the floor. A lot of things had changed in his life in the past three years. The most predominate change that shook him to his core being the death of his parents during the massive Djed storm that ravaged Sunberth during the past spring. Daedalus sighed to himself as he remembered the feeling of his heart sinking to his feet as he stood in front of the rubble of his parents Gadgeteering workshop that had caved in on his mother and father, Vanderlay and Anberlin Dagwood. As the oldest of there five children, he became the patriarch of the family shortly after that.

His thoughts distracted him as he didn't notice his feet had already brought him to a stone wall covered with shelves. It held the small collection of basic molds used to make candle sticks and typical metal items that were regularly bought and sold. On the table below the shelves were all the tools needed for metalworking. Tongs, hammers, and various other tools scattered around and out of place. It was true a lot of things ha changed, but here, in Velanos Foundry, time seemed to run at a different pace. "Petch. Vel. You never keep your shyke clean and organized." He slowly started to put everything away into their proper places. Hammers neatly set with other in a box. Stacking the rectangular wooden frames used to fill and make sand mold under the table and placing carving tools used to create patterns away.

He was currently under the employ of his old friend, a burly Isur with a black arm named Velanos. He was a family friend, and Daedalus first started working for him as a metalsmith during spring of the year five hundred ten. It was a Simple foundry and Blacksmith shop at the edge of the city in close proximity to a road leading to The Slag Heap Fire. A location that he often saw laborers who worked for Velanos lugging slag from the Blast furnace away to dispose of at the slag heap. Once he was done cleaning, he turned to look at the small blast furnace made of brick. His nightmares of the death of his parents, the lingering sense of sadness, had not faded with the year. The past was never the past, old events turning into ancient history were as clear as the present day in his dreams. He had grieved their death, celebrated their life with his siblings, and smiled. Pretended to be strong for the sake of his brothers and sisters.

"Now, time to get to work." Daedalus mused to himself as he looked over a pile of supplies Velanos had left in the foundry for him to work with. There were only a pile of wrought iron bars neatly stacked, ready to be melted down and made into something. It was the simplicity of the supplies that confused him. He stood looking down at the iron wondering what he was suppose to do with it. As if the Isur could read Daedalus's mind, Velanos arrived about half a second after he finished his thought. Following shortly behind the robust black armed Isur was several laborers carting in more supplies. He could see clearly enough what the items were. "So...Coal for choke, gold, and nickel? What the petch am I about to make Boss'man? " Daedalus spoke curiously as he watched the Laborers set the supplies down, stacking the two inches thick and near a foot long rectangular bars, along with crates of coal and lime stone, in the corner of the room before leaving.

The Isur's eyes studied him for a moment, wide with curiosity as he looked over the newly orginized wall of tools. With hardly a moment's hesitation, Velanos eagerly slapped Daedalus sharply on the back. It w was an act of pride in his employees cleanliness. Something the bare chested isur had trouble with. "Good on ya'lad." He froze quickly as he arched his back at the sting of the slap. "WRONG HAND!" Yelling out as the short man used his steel-like isurian arm to slap him. "Oh aye. Sorry'bout that." Jerking at his hips from side to side until the sting went away. The two men shared a small moment of laughs before Velanos nodded his head to give Daedalus his job instructions for the day. "I have to make tool and some items but, I don't have what I need to make them. I need you to make me steel and White Gold."

Daedalus walked back over to the table where the tools were then slipped off the black shirt he was wearing. Matching the Isur in attire as they were both bare chested for the briefest moment. He traded the shirt for an apron and fire gloves as he prepared to get to work. Isur Blacksmith looked curiously at Daedalus before simply chuckling and nodding. He knew this was a task that the young man could preform and trusted the young metalsmith. "No worries Boss'man. Consider it already done." Velanos chuckled in response as the robust Isur started to walk out of the foundry, however he stopped at the door to lean against its frame. Watching his employee start task given to him.

The massive fire brick blast furnace was already burning hot. However, built into the left side of the furnace was a large hearth. It severed two uses fore the metalsmith. For one, the burning flame of the hearth was a perfect place to place use the smelting pot method for melting metal. And secondly, the coal fire flames were used to heat the fire bricks of the blast furnace. The hearth heating the outside of the fire brick so that an intense sweltering temperature would blaze hot enough within the belly of the furnace to melt metal.

Once the blast furnace was appropriately burning he moved to add the necessary components required to make steel alloy. He had made steel enough times to learn that it was made of iron and choke; coke being produced by heating coal in the absence of air within the furnace. There was a large vat attached to heavy chains on a pulley system. He starred to add to shovel several pounds worth of coal into it until it was nearly filled to the brim.

The easy parts were over, now started the back braking work. Daedalus's gloved hand gripped the chain of the pulley as he felt his muscles contract as he started to pull. The vat slowly lifted into the air while a collective of sweat gathered on his brow from the heat of the furnace, aided by lifting the heavy vat, which caused him to grit his teeth. Once it was at the appropriate height over the furnace, he pulled on another chain which tilted the vat forward causing the content of coal to dump into the Blast furnace through the top of it.

[Daedalus Dagwood]

The coal flooded into the furnace filling the room with a sudden blistering heat. Daedalus ignored the rise in temperature as he slowly started to lower the vat back down by releasing the slack of the chain. He started to toss in an appropriate amount of iron bars. Roughly at a ratio of nine bars of iron to ever half bar of coal-coke. This was the tough part as he pulled at the chain again. "Come on baby, lift for daddy." He beckoned to the vat filled with Iron. While the pulley made up for leverage, allowing him to lift it. It was still a task in and of itself to lift the vat. It took him a few chimes of a bell to get the vat into position before smiling at his achievement. "That's how it is done." Boasting to no one, or so he thought. Daedalus pulled a separate chain to cause the iron bars to clank against each other as they fell into the blast furnace.

It was going to take a few bells before the impure iron would be molten enough to absorb the choke into it. Causing oxygen to react with the remaining impurities to form various gases to removed themselves from the iron. A chemical reaction to turn the alloy previously called Iron into steel. The steel molten metal after some time will sink to the bottom of the furnace while the impurities will rise to the top of the liquid and turned into molten slag. It wasn't until he was done that he notice his boss was still watching him at the door. "You treat your metal like a lovely woman." The isur laughed with a hearty tone. Daedalus nodded in response, not looking at the man as he moved to the table with supplies to start working on making Sand cast molds to pour the molten steel into to give it a bar shape. "You have to treat the metal right, show her that proper love and care so she will give you all her good loving." Daedalus smiled as he turned to lean back against the table.

"I am going to smelt pot the White Gold once I am done making the Bar Sand-Casts molds to shape the steel. Not every day you need white gold, what are you going to make with it?" He asked as he pulled off one glove from his right hand to run it along his head massaging his scalp for a moment as he watched the Isur. "Me? Oh'No my boy. You are going to make something from it yourself." Daedalus huffed out a small laugh at the response as he put his glove back on. "Okay? What is so important that it needs to be made out of White Gold?" Velanos shrugged as his smile vanished. "Some crazy old rich koot is having nightmares. He wants a symbol of Nysel, God of Dreams, Nightmares, and Sleep in hopes to worship and pray for sweet dreams."

Daedalus actually found himself quite interested in that explanation. Suffering from his own nightmares, he could understand the need and want for a good nights sleep. "Seems like a good enough plan for the old koot. Do we have a pattern for that symbol? What the petch is the god of dreams symbol anyway? A bed with a pillow?" Velanos walked over to Daedalus to pat him on the shoulder with his normal right arm. "No pattern. You are going to have to make the pattern and mold the symbol yourself." The isur removed he hand from the metalsmiths shoulder as he turned to leave the foundry. Looking over his back to speak his last words towards Daedalus. "His symbol is The Key and Eye. Finish the steel make the white gold. Then work out how your going to make the symbol later boy'oh. I'll be at the smithy if you need me." And with his last words the isur left Daedalus alone.

[Daedalus Dagwood]

Daedalus canted his head to one side at the realization that his work load would keep him busy for the rest of the day, causing a slight smile to touch his lips. "Well, at least this will be fun." he responded to himself. There were very few things in life that were painless if they were enjoyable at the cost of spending time of your life to do them, so it was perhaps slightly comforting for him to just zone out and work on the project ahead of him. At the moment, he needed to cast the sand molds that he would use to give the steel their bar shape.

He stood up from his position leaning against the table to stand tall on his feet. He turned on his heels to face towards the work table then reached down under the wooden table, waving his hand around, until his gloved fingers caught a hold of a wooden frame and pulled at it to pick it up then set it down onto the table. He grabbed two more after wards to also set them on the table. In total, each of the three frames consisted of a top and bottom half where in the normal casting process each half would make both sides of an object. However, since he only wanted two inch thick bar rather than four inch bars, he would skip placing the frames on top of each other. Essentially, he would end up with six wood frames that would hold six castings that would give him thirty-six steel bar mold sand casts to pour into.

Now that he had his frames, he needed a pattern of an appropriately sized bar to set in sand to make a negative image for the sand to imitate. Daedalus's back pack was resting on the table next to his fathers woodcarving tools. He smiled as he reached into the kit to pull out a Saw. Wax was always the key material used to make pattern to follow when making metal items. He set the saw down then walked out of the foundry, passing a apprentice blacksmith who worked for his boss as he made his way to a storage room to grab a one foot long, one foot tall, block of wax before returning to his work table in the foundry.

Daedalus dropped the wax down with a heavy thud that sounded much worse then the drop it was. The drop not even hard enough to cause a tool to move, shake, or roll along the table. He wasn't the best carver, but knew he could make simple things. Luckily, making a bar out of wax was one of the simplest things a carver could do. He picked up his saw to make a cut into the wax. He began cutting a two inch in width, foot tall potion of the wax block away. Crating the material he was going to use. With the saw in hand, he then laid the wax down onto the table to cut into. Cutting it the mass of wax into six separate foot long bars of wax. Making the the patterns he would use to make the bar molds quickly. The rest of the wax block he would later use to make the The Key and Eye holy symbol.

[Daedalus Dagwood]

Daedalus smiled, glancing back over his shoulder towards the blast furnace. He ignored his current mold crafting to make his way back over to the large hearth built into the side of the furnace. He began to shovel coal into the fire listening to the way the black coal crackled in the heat before glancing to watch the pieces of coal glow a violently placid mix of oranges and red. There was a bellow next to the hearth that he moved too, then slowly started pumping air into the flame causing the hearth to burn hotter which as a result heated the blast furnace. From the smell alone, he could tell that the iron had yet to oxidize. Considering it had only been a few chimes since he started the alloy making process, he knew he still had a bell or three before he would smell the molten steel.

He returned to the table where the frames for the sand molds were, also taking the shovel with him that he used to shovel the coal. He took apart the two halves of the first frame and placed them both onto the table. With in the rectangular frames he started to place six wax bar patterns into the boxes. Once that was done he started to use the shovel a mixture of sand made moist with oil into the frames. Packing the sand around the patterns that will create a replica of the external shape of the wax casting in the sand. He covered the wax bars completely as the sand was forced tightly into the frame until the entire thing was a solid mass of sand. Using a long stick to rake of any excess sand along the top of the frame.

He used a wide headed hammer to literally pound in the thick sand so it wouldn't move. Setting the hammer aside, he gripped the sides of the wood frame to flip it upside down. The wax bars could all be seen now, wedged into the sand. He slowly moved the frame to set it down next to the hearth where the ambient heat would slowly bake the sand to form a negative image of the sand. After about five chimes, Daedalus went to check on the cast as he put his gloves on to pickup the wooden frame and place it on the table. The sand had hardened around the wax, however the wax had heated and melted, then re-solidified into the shape of a bar in the mold after five minutes. He removed the Wax by turning the frame upside down and with a rapt the frame against the table caused the wax bar patterns to fall out.

Once he turned it back over Daedalus now had a true steel ingot bar sand cast. He would repeat the process five more times with the other wooden frames, using the wax pattern for each of them until he had thirty six mold casts to pour molten steel into.

[Daedalus Dagwood]

About fifty chimes of a bell had past as Daedalus kept himself focused on the tasks he needed to complete. Even though he was working hard, he took moment to himself to listen to the sounds of the heath and furnace fires burning. Each of the crackles made by the blazing flames twisting into a soothing melody to the metalsmith's ear. The sounds of fire always brought good memories of family with them considering the sound made up the musical theme of his youth. The relative silence of the foundry was broken when a blacksmith apprentice who was along with a kelvic tiger laborer walked into the foundry.

They spoke to each other casually as Daedalus went on about his business, leaving them to their conversation. Daedalus chuckled to himself as he walked over to the large hearth, eagerly holding open palm to flame and soaking in the warmth of the heat. A few moments later, having taking enough time simply doing nothing, he turned to find a smelting pot; also called a crucible, to prepare the White Gold he would need to make the holy symbol of the dream god. To Daedalus's surprise, the crucible was nowhere near its typical location next to the hearth. "Petch Velanos. Always moving Shyke."

He cocked an eyebrow and looked back over his shoulder in the direction of the other two people in the foundry, finding the crucible near them as they casually spoke to each other. Since Daedalus was the main metalsmith working for Velanos he held seniority over both of the two men. It wasn't something he did often, but if he was to busy to do heavy lifting or needed a blacksmith's striker during the rare times he used the smithy he would used an assistant. After his previous hoisting of the steel components into the furnace he was tired of doing the back breaking work. Shaking his head, he spoke over to them both. However, he didn't outright tell them to do what he wanted. He was simply a metalsmith and not their boss. He decided to take a more personal act to get involved in their conversation.

"Hello fellas, whats the the news of the day?" Daedalus spoke as he walked over to them while slowly while slipping off his gloves. They both gave the metalsmith a nodded as Daedalus reached out a hand to shake both of theirs to give them a proper greeting. The laborer was the first one to speak up as they collectively stood in a circle. "Haven't ya'heard? Them Sahovan'folk are comin to the city." The news was new to him as he lifted a brow in curiosity. Unlike most people in Sunberth, he was neutral in the matters of The Alahean remnant mages since he himself practiced the art of animation. The blacksmith apprentice spoke with a bitter bite laced within the tone of his voice. "Ambassadors? More like conquers. The only gift they want to give are shackles and enslavement."

Daedalus nodded his head in veiled acceptance of what was spoken. Since the curreent majority ruling agreed that it was bad news, he agreed with them to simply stay on their good sides. "Why are they coming? Their has to be a reason behind the visit?" All of the men went silent for a moment as none of them knew the awnser to that question. The silents grew awekward after a chime which caused them to all laugh and shake their heads. "Anyway... I have work to do." He pretended to turn, making it seem as if he was going to walk away before stopping in his track."You guys mind helping me out?" He was standing so that his back was slightly to them which caused him to give them a side glance over his shoulder. The apprintice shrugged, not really wanting to but since Daedalus asked so nicely he agreed. "Uh, sure." The laborer however was much more compliant as he was used to doing odd jobs for the smiths. "What'da'ya'need?" the kelvic spoke with a grin.

He considered both of their positions to give them what would be their proper tasks. "I am making a variation of gold called white gold. To give the gold its pure white color to pale yellow color the alloy components need to be perfect. I need you to move that smelting pot over to the hearth." He spoke to the kelvic. "Once that is done In need you to add the components. This is important so listen closely. Place nine gold bars into the pot and one bar worth of nickel into the pot. Nine gold, one nickle." He said clearly with a raised tone to emphasize the important of the alloy ratio. "The gold and nickle are over there." He pointed towards the neat stack of items.

"I need you to grab those large tongs on the table used for the smelting pot." Daedalus turned his attention to the blacksmith apprentice since he was used to dealing with hot metal and was suitable to task he needed to get done. "Then once he is done loading the components into the pot, I need you to set the smelting pot in the coal fire for melting." Daedalus took a supervisory roll to watch as the two men as they both moved to do what the metalsmith asked them to do. He counted ever piece of gold the kelvic man dropped into the smelting pot. Listening to the metals clanking together once they were dropped.

The sound of an extra piece of gold caused his face to show his agitation. "Nine gold, one nickle. take out that last bar." The kelvic went wide eyed then slowly looked into the pot as the man started to count his fingers. Daedalus had to hold up nine fingers for the man to know what the number was. The problem was corrected then the nickle bar was added shortly after. It was a mishap that Daedalus would have dreaded to have not caught which would have made the white gold more of a deep dark brown and impure. The blacksmith used a long pair of tongs to move the smelting pot into the coal burning hearth fire then shut the hearths doors.

Daedalus smiled at each of the men as he held out his hand to both of them."Thanks fellas, you really helped me out today." He shook both of their hands as the men nodded and mentioned how they were glad to help before leaving the foundry. Daedalus didn't trust them men to adjust the heat, and pressures needed to make white gold alloy. So he did that himself, opening the hearth as he gauged the heat with his palm. "Too low." he spoke in a whisper to himself. He turned to find a shovel then add more coal to the fire. He moved to the hearths Bellow then began to furiously pump air into the flames. The way the hearth sprang to life magnificent as the flames grew hot enough to eventually make the white gold alloy.

He sighed to himself in relief once the flames were hot enough as he moved to go sit down at the work tables bench. As the steel alloy was being made in the furnace while the white gold was being made on the smelting pot, his only true task now was to make the mold for the white gold to be poured and make the holy symbol of Nysel.

[Daedalus Dagwood]

OOCSubtracted from ledger

• Parchment (Sheet), - 2 sm

Note: "100 lbs Lumber, local" was bought pre-start to the game. I subtracted 10 pounds of lumber used to make the wooden holy symbol for this thread. (See Consumables tab of possessions).

Daedalus sat on the stool eyeing the leftover amount of wax that he figured he would use to make the holy symbol from. The only problem was he had no idea how he was going to make pattern itself that he would use to make the mold. He would have to come up with some type of visual to use as a reference for his carving, so he opened his backpack to pull out his artist tool kit and a single piece of parchment. Now he needed to come up with the look of the symbol. "The key and eye." Daedalus spoke to himself as he picked up a piece of shaped charcoal used for sketching and drawing. "So, for the most part the frame would look like a key. Hmmm... a candle stick base design would work." It was a simple enough look as he started to trace the charcoal along the parchment. Drawing two vertical straight lines next to each other that widened at the base like a candle stick holder.

"Obviously the stem will be a key." At the top of the two vertical lines he drew a simple circle imitating where person would hold a key to turn it. As soon as he was done drawing the circle, he immediately had an idea that the eye would be made at the center of the circle. Along the base of the two lines before it widened into the stand of the base. He drew rectangles protruding from the stem of the key to give it its rivets that a key would have to unlock a locks tumblers. "This will work perfectly." It was a Simple symmetrical Pattern as both sides of the drawing were exactly the same. One he would put it in a sand cast, the negative image would make a two sided symbol that could stand freely on a table.

Daedalus enjoyed the image he had drawn so much that he wanted to make a more permanent pattern of the symbol, so decided to use wood to carve the pattern rather than wax. The lumber was his on personal lumber which meant the pattern would be his. The thought bringing a smile to his lips as he stood up to grab ten pounds of lumber that was next to the table and set it down. He shifted the extra wax on the table over to give himself some space to work before setting the wood down in front of him. The block of wood weight ten pounds, was a foot in height, and five inches wide. A rectangular block free standing block of lumber.

Using his drawing as a reference, Daedalus reached to pickup a used a thicker piece of shaped charcoal to draw the image onto the face of one side of the wood block. Drawing the same outline along the wood that was on the parchment. A circle at the top followed by a slender stem with key two rectangular protrusions on either side followed by a wide base for the stand. The circle was drawn at four inches in circumference, with a two inch stem, two separate four inch long rectangles sticking out of either side of the stem with a three inch base. Once the guiding lines were done, he used a saw to start slowly removing extra wood materials from the carving until nothing was left but whatever was on the inside of his guiding lines. It left Daedalus with a very rough starting point to carve from.

From the smell in the room, the furnace had started to burn fresh slag which was a clear sign that the steel was beginning to form. It was a smell he was used to that signaled it would be another bell and a few chimes before the steel was finished. The smelting pot on the other hand would be finished an hour after the steel which would give him about two bells to focus all his attention on the carving. Daedalus started to use his saw to cut off the excess long length of the pattern leaving it two inches thick.

Daedalus laid the pattern down flat onto the table as he began to used a gouger to scrape slow deliberate lines across the top circle of the keys face. His own eyes shifting back and forth from his drawing to try and replicate it. Scraping away lines until the oval core of an eyes pupil started to take shape. He needed to make a slight curvature in the eye lid to give it some small amount of realism. Daedalus reached to grab a pick to lace the sharp point along the surface of the wood. Scratching away until the surrounding wood was raised high enough to appeared that eye had an eye lid. Even if the eye lacked any type of emotion, it was clear that it was an eye. However, the key protrusions still needed to be carved to make the carving look like a key.

He slipped on his gloves again now that he was going to be more hands on and wanted to avoid splinters. With the top potion of the pattern carved he set down the pick to use a carving knife to make the rectangular protrusions. Holding the wooden pattern upside down in his left hand he used the knife in his right hand to form a a keys tumbler. Gliding the knife down the length of one rough protrusion, keeping all of the carving strokes downward and away from his body. It allowed the extra wood to be pushed away rather than bunching up along the carving. He felt as if he were making a stew that needed potatoes to be peeled. He repeated the act four times on each of the protrusions until the formed rectangles sprouting from the base with slight squares at the tips.

To make a solid pattern he also turned the pattern over to carve another eye at the center of the circle on the other side. Repeating the process until one side mimicked the other. Once he was done he held out the pattern with an extended arm and felt proud that his idea went from his mind, to paper, to live in his hand. Even tough he called it a 'pattern' any other person might mistake it for a wooden holy symbol since technically it was one now. Daedalus took out a file and started to sand down the rough lines that were made from the saw along the base of the symbol. It took him five chimes to smooth out the kinks as he couldn't really get rid of a few of a few dips along the shaft. He was a better metal smith than carver, but it would do.

[Daedalus Dagwood]

With the pattern complete, he needed to form the sand cast to form the mold of the symbol. Unlike before where he simply used one side of the wooden frames to make the bar molds, this time he would need to use both side, along with make a Gating system in the sand. Just like before Daedalus picked up a wooden frame that was stacked under the table then placed the wooden pattern into the center of the frame to form the mold cavity. He stood up to grab a solid wood cylinder that was an inch in circumference and a foot in length. He placed the wooden peg down an inch away from the pattern that would be used to form the riser of the gating system that the extra white gold poured into the mold would escape from.

Daedalus then began packing sand into the wooden frame around the pattern and riser. Once there was enough sand he placed a smaller solid wooden cylinder for the spruce mold and another wide wooden top to form the pouring cup where he would pour the molten gold. After he was finished he filled the rest of the box with oil laced sand until it was tightly compacted.

With the top half of the sand cast complete Daedalus removed any extra sand with a stick before he flipped the frame over where he could see the top potion of the wooden holy symbol that wasn't trapped in the sand. The second frame was then placed on top of the first where he used wooden pins on the sides of the frames to lock the frames together like a box. He then started to fill the empty frame with oil laced sand around the remaining half of the pattern that would form the external shape of the wood into the sand.

After the bottom half was filled tightly with sand he took the flame over to the base of the furnace to set it down at the base of it with the other frames used for the bar molds. As the blast furnace burned hot air escaped turning the area into a place of high heat where the ambient heat of the blast furnace would after a small amount of time draw all the moisture out of the sand allowing the oil to act as a bonding agent to stick the sand together.

[Daedalus Dagwood]

(Mid-day/13th Bell)

It was only a matter of time until the blast furnace started to give off a distinct metallic scent of molten steel. It was a scent that swelled through the foundry that was distinctly noticeable as Daedalus looked over his shoulder to look at the furnace. During the three hours he had waited, the furnace had long since started to emit the smell for the past hour. He only waited on molding the steel because he wanted to finish all of his work at once. Allowing his eyes to shift to the hearth where the smelting pot had burned hot for the past two hours. While the smell of steel was something most blacksmiths and metalsmiths knew, Daedalus had the rare opportunity to small the metallic molten white-gold in the air which was drastically different from steel. He could best describe the white gold scent as a very bland metallic scent slightly less sour in the metallic poignancy then the scent of steel in the smoke rising from the hearth fire.

Daedalus adjusted the fire gloves on his hands now that he was going to be working with the molten metal himself as he stood up from the stool. He walked over to the blast furnace to move around behind it. He never allowed people behind the furnace for one key reason, it was wear the molten slag pot rested in the ground. A pulley system used to lift it and place it on a wagon later to be taken away and poured. Holding all of the molten metal and stone impurities that would be discarded later at the slag heap fire. There was a massive pipe sticking out from the furnace that led to the slag pot in the ground. Along the pipe closest to where it connected to the furnace was a thick metal lever. Daedalus gripped it with both hands to pull it downward as a metal bar within the pipe moved up to open the way for the slag run. Immediately, dark molten waste began to pour into the pit until it was three quarters full.

once the slag run dwindled he closed the run by pushing the level back into its closed position. Now that the waste was delt with he retrieved a crucible-smelting pot to place it at the bottom of a pipe at the front of the blast furnace. Once it was in place he latched long thick tongs to the pot that would be used to move it. Just like the slag run, the alloy run had a lever that he stood next too then pulled. Carefully watching the crucible fill with molten steel and quickly closed it once enough steel had filed the pot. He gripped both handles of the tongs then moved to a wooden frame of the bar mold then began to pour the steel into the casting. He repeated the processes of filling the crucible with steel when he ran low but eventually filled every mold with steel.

He waited fifteen chimes as the steel cooled, the bars themselves were casts in the molds so that that two bars were attached to each other by a thin piece of steel that connected them together. When the bars were hard yet mildly soft enough to hammer. He picked up a hammer and chisel to cold pierce the thin strips of steel between each of the bars so that they were all singular separate steel bars rather than a pair connected together.

Steel Ingots Created :

[Daedalus Dagwood]

With the steel bars poured it would only be a short amount of time until they would harden enough to be removed them from the molds. Since it would require nothing but flipping over the wooden frames he figured he would have a laborer do that later. So he turned his attention to the frame that held the wooden pattern for the holy symbol for Nysel. Picking it up to feel that it was now several pounds heavier from the dried sand.

Daedalus took it to the work table to remove the wooden pin that latched both the top and bottom frames together then opened it up. He slowly lifted one frame off of the other then flipped the frame in his hands upside down to set it down next to its twin on the table. A smile formed on his lips as the bottom portion of the lid now held a mold cavity that held the design of one half of the wooden pattern.

To take the wooden pattern out of the front sand cast frame, Daedalus used a little of the oil that was added to the sand during the creation process along the wood to aid him in slipping the patter out of the mold cast without damaging the mold. He repeated that same process to remove the wooden cylinder that was used to mold a hole into the cast for the riser, the wooden pouring cup pattern, and wooden spruce pattern out of the cast.

Daedalus's hazel eyes shifted from one frame to the other to make sure they matched each other perfectly in the sand. Both of their positions within the sand casts were perfectly aligned and each of the key and eye designs from the pattern exact replica image of the shapes of the pattern in the sand.

Daedalus picked up a wood carving knife to slowly dig a shallow ditch into the bottom frame of the cast. Slowly etching the tip of the blade to form the bottom half of the spruce and then dug another to make the bottom well of the riser. After that was finished he dug a long narrow ditch that would connect the spruce well to the Riser and created the runner; the area that would allow the molten steel to flow from the spruce into riser, and into the mold cavity.

Once he was finished Daedalus placed the top of the frame onto the bottom then slid a wooden peg down into the small hole on the side of the frame that would lock the two frames together for the most part. He then carried the frame over to the hearth were the smelting pot was to set it on top of the hearth until the sand inside heated into a brick like consistency.

[Daedalus Dagwood]

After several chimes of a bell had passed Daedalus removed the wooden flask filled with sand from atop of the hearth to set it onto the dirt covered ground. With a gloved right index finger he touched the sand mold to gauge its hardness. The sand had baked until it was nearly as hard as baked clay which meant it was time to finally time to pour the white gold.

There were two key tools needed to handle and manage a smelting pot. The first being tongs used to lift the crucible from the furnace. It was a tool that he first used to set the Smelting pot into the furnace hearth. He opened it up to set the tongs along the top of the crucible to remove it from the intense flames of the hearth, setting it down along the dirt floor. The second tool required for larger smelting pots was a Shank tong. Daedalus set the first tong on the ground then picked up the shank from the shelf it rested on.

He used the shank is by opening it up and clamping its four semi circled grips along the sides of the crucible pot to the hold and lift the pot. The special tongs would give him control of the pot during the pouring process. Before he could actually pour the molten white-gold into the sand casting he needed to get rid of the slag waste that rose to the top of the pot as the metal heated which trapped the gold beneath it.

Daedalus carried the crucible to the slag pot behind the blast furnace. He made sure his grip was tight along the shank tongs before tipping the smelting pot over. He had to watch carefully as the slag poured from the pot and into the slag pot. A small amount of the white gold poured into the pot which was a sign to tilt the pot back up.

The molten white gold would only stay molten for so long as it had already started to lose the brightness to its blazing orange liquid color. He carried the pot over to the Sand casting of the holy symbol where he guided the pot over the wooden sand filled flask. With a tip of the tongs, the molten white gold steadfastly poured into the pouring cup where the molten metal made its way down the spruce and into the riser through the runner. The white gold past through the runner until it began to fill the mold cavity to take the shape of the holy symbol.

Once the mold cavity was filled the excess white gold had no place to go other than up the riser. Once it started to spew out of the riser Daedalus knew the pour was finished. The smelting pot was empty as he moved to set it down onto the ground. With the pour finished he only had to wait for the Metal to harden which would take some time.

Daedalus walked over to the work table where he began to clean up the mess he made. After putting all of his tools and personal items away he took off his gloves to pick up the wooden Holy symbol of Nysel that he had carved. He looked into its wooden eye for a moment before setting it into his backpack then sat onto stool.

14th Bell

A whoosh of air echoed out as Daedalus slashed at an invisible opponent with the blade of his rapier. He had grown bored waiting for the metal to set so he decided to train with his rapier. He had only taken off his right glove which gripped the hilt of his sword. "Strike." Speaking to himself as he pushed his arm which was bent at the elbow forward in a thrust. The tip of his blade thudded as it stabbed lightly against the wooden stool in front of his work station. "Ha! Slash!" He huffed as he drew his arm back in a downward arch that slashed lightly into the top of the stools wooden seat.

Daedalus glanced over to the sand casting for a moment which caused him to sheath his rapier into its scabbard. "It should be done by now." Musing to himself as he picked up his glove from an apron pocket to slip it back on. He went to pick up the wooden frame of the sand cast mold to take it back to the work table.

It was the moment of truth now as he took the wooden pegs that kept the two frames together out. He lifted the top frame off of the bottom then set it down next to its twin on the table. Golden brown eyes began to examine the white gold holy symbol as a smirk grew on his face. Daedalus pulled it from the sand mold which broke the sand in the process making the sand cast useless. Luckily, he had the wooden patter to make more if he wished.

Daedalus set the white gold holy symbol down where he reached for a hammer and chisel. He needed to disconnect the extra chunk of white gold that took the shape of the riser, spruce, and runner during the hardening process. He placed the chicle to the connecting point of the then cold pieced the metal by hammering the chisel into the white gold. It split the chunk of whit gold away. The white gold would be used to create something else that his employer needed later by smelting it into a molten form. He then placed the tools back onto the shelf where he then found a file to smooth out the area he had just chiseled away. Shifting his arm at a rapid place to let friction scrape away the rough edges.

He held it up to examine it while nodding his head. There were slight voids in the metal from air as the white gold hardened, but it was good enough to sell in Daedalus's opinion.

The Key and Eye :