[Sultros Blades] Wrapping handles

by **Eanos** on November 2nd, 2013, 11:55 am

8 Fall, 513AV

One of many differences that Eanos found between living and working in the city of Syrilas as opposed to Sultros was the lack of specialists. In Sultros it would be a rare sword that was the product of just one smith and even then it would be a simple and cheap sword, produced for training or sale outside the city. The best swords were the products of an army of smiths and other specialists, each of whom contributed only part of the whole. From those who forged the ore, through those who made the blade, those who polished it, those who made the scabbard, those who made the scabbard fittings, those who made the handle and those who finished the handle were just part of the team.

Here in Syrilas Eanos somehow needed to be all of those and to try and do each task as well as that of someone who had made that speciality their life work. It was inevitable that his efforts would fall short, and while it was true that there were those here in the city who could adapt their skills to produce what he needed, as yet Eanos had not sought them out. It was probably something that he ought to do, but it would mean trusting the other races and Eanos had difficulty in doing that. Few here did he trust to produce a suitable standard of work, and those handful were ones that he had seen produce it consistently under his watchful eye.

With the task ahead of him, Eanos finally accepted that he needed to seek out those to whom he could set tasks. There were even some here in the forge to whom he ought to delegate certain jobs. Hadyn for example had shown a fine hand and whilst he still was of the opinion that heavy smithing was a job for a mans muscles that few women could match, there were some tasks that he could well delgate to her and ones that she would do well.

His eyes narrowed as he realised the extent of his own arrogance and stupidity. This sword needed fittings that she could easily make and make them very well, probably better than him. This day however he was attempting to refresh his memories on particular types of hilt wrapping, a task he could not delegate since there was no one in the city, Ros perhaps aside, who likely had any experience with it. Again, there were some who had the skill, better than his thick and clumsy fingers, and if he were to show them what he wanted then they could make it and better. That was certainly a route he should follow, but first he had to remember what it was that he wanted and since he knew the basic techniques he needed to practice first.

by **Eanos** on November 2nd, 2013, 12:32 pm

As a part of making the scabbard with matching handle, Eanos had also created a second handle so that he could practice, so he sat on the stool at his workbench and gathered to him the various materials that he needed.

The wooden hilt was made to a size which he had calculated from the length of the blade and the width of Aorens hand. This basic wood hilt would then be covered with some pieces of shark skin and then bound with a silk braid. It was something that was very unlike the swords that were to be found around here and that was part of what he wanted to create for Aoren, and indeed it was part of what he understand that his customer had wanted. Certainly it would draw eyes and Eanos could only hope that Aoren proved to have enough skill in using it to live up to the blade and the attention.

In addition to the materials he had some paper and glue which he had made himself from boiling rice. He checked through everything and then set them aside and checked the tools over quickly to make sure that everything was clean and had no rough edges which might damage the work. With the tools laid aside his final check was the wooden stand that would hold the blade at a convenient height for him to work on since the hilt was mounted on the tang while it was being worked on.

With everything checked it was time to start work and he took the roll of braid and laid it on the hilt, marking out the width for this would determine exactly how the pattern would lay. He wrapped it round one a half times to determine the correct length and carefully cut.

He then put the sword into the holder and slipped the hilt onto the tang, carefully gluing on the shark skin whose purpose was in fact largely decorative. Taking the thin paper and glue he started to lay a bed of paper which corrected any faults in the shape of the hilt and built it up to the level of the end cap so that the silk braid would not snag on the rough shark shin.

He was now almost ready to start the wrapping process, but first he needed to make paper wedges and those he made by folding a sheet of the thin paper into widths which were double the width of the silk braid. These cut and folded into shape would provide the shape needed to fold the braid properly.

by **Eanos** on November 2nd, 2013, 12:55 pm

Now was time to take a breath and to take stock of where he stood. If the hilt was good enough it could be used for the sword, or it could be used as a working hilt, leaving a better hilt for more formal and ceremonial wear. Eanos wasn't sure that Aoren would ever do that, but it might be useful to have a spare hilt in any case.

He turned the sword so that the inward face was uppermost. Any sword when carried on the waist had a side that faced into the body and a face that would face outwards. It was important to ensure that the outward face was the best finished and even the way that the braid was started off was dictated by this.

The first two paper wedges were placed on the hilt by the hilt where the collar that protected the hands would sit, carefully aligned with the marks he had made on the paper to show where the widths of the braid would sit. Measuring the half way point in the braid he laid it underneath the hilt where the weight of sword and hilt would hold it in place against the stand and pulled the left hand side of the braid up and across.

The wedges had been folded so that each had a point which faced into the centre of the hilt and dampened so that they would take the shape of the braid. Holding the left wedge in place he brought the braid over it and folded it under the wedge at an angle such that it now ran along the upper edge of the wedge on the opposite side. One more twist so that it was folded upwards and now it ran straight once more towards the right but now it was one width upwards.

The right hand piece of braid was now pulled up and carefully folded to mirror the left hand piece. This was the harder of the two since the left piece of braid was somewhat in the way, but with a little fiddling it lay in place. He reflected on the work. He had been careful but already it did not meet his standards and he knew that he would be spending many long hours in the practice of this.

by **Eanos** on November 2nd, 2013, 1:22 pm

The folded braid left a small half diamond of shark skin visible below the folds, a result of the wedges and folds, a shaping which would leave full diamonds up the length of the handle with the right wrapping. It assumed many things including his ability to keep the right tension and now that he needed to turn the hilt over that became one of the more critical operations.

He pulled the ends into place carefully and held them there while he turned the hilt over and then made sure that they were in place before placing the first of the sets of wedges for this side. The same process was repeated and it came a little easier now, his hands relaxing into a task which had once been familiar though it had been many, many long years since he was shown this. That he had ever been taught was one of the benefits of a proper and rounded education but also it was a result of his own need to be better at smithing than those whose clan skill it was.

He continued, folding and tucking the braid, alternating the folds to maintain an even appearance even whilst at the same time ensuring that the braid laid evenly around the sides of the hilt. He knew that the end result would be almost entirely dependant upon how well he managed that. The folding itself and the wedges were relatively simple, almost the entirety of the end result would depend upon the care and skill that he displayed in this process.

At the top of the hilt the process was repeated but here it was necessary to make a knot with the ends of the braid and by convention this also was done on the outside part of the hilt. This knot he tied carefully and tucked the ends away before sitting back to review his work on this test piece.

by **Perplexity** on November 3rd, 2013, 4:40 pm

Riddled with Rewards!

Eanos

Weaponsmithing	+1 XP
Papermaking	+1 XP
Weaving	+3 XP

Lores :

Notes :

Solo [Sultros Blades] Wrapping handles