Solo [Sultros Blades] Building the Blade

[Eanos]

Fall 4, 513AV

With the steel prepared it was time to move on with the forging of the blade itself. There were choices in how the blade could be constructed but since he had only prepared two types of steel he intended to continue with his original plan. This was also the moment which was quite unlike any other for the smith and perhaps for most Isurian smiths for it was when steel really changed state from the ore into an object, and that was hard to allow to pass without an appreciation also for the god who had given them the right and the skill to be able to do it.

Dawn had made itself know outside the castle walls but as yet no hints of it had penetrated down into the depths where Eanos lived and worked. What was more he cared little about it for he had been born away from the light of the sun and lived most of his life without it. He kept his own hours, likely enough to the annoyance of those unfortunate enough to live within earshot of the forge and worked when he needed to rather than by being dictated to by a sun that had no inkling of the needs of a smith.

Just now the shop was quiet, and if he judged time at all by normal standards it was in the noticing whether the corridor than ran past his shop was busy or not. He surveyed the shop, everything with a place and everything in that place and he was happy with that. He had a careful plan for the blade and that included exactly when he would focus his gnosis skill upon it, but that would be an enhancement of the metalworking skill that he would employ in its creation.

That gnosis however would start now in effect for he wanted its effects to be built into the very core of the steel. He wanted this blade to survive a lifetime, but not just that, to survive that time as it was now and to then survive lifetimes after that. Nothing could be guaranteed of course because there were always unexpected misfortunes but it was his aim to create something that could and should last that long.

”Izurdin, Lord!” His voice was not loud but it echoed in the forge for he spoke with power and conviction. ”Give your blessing Lord to this blade. Invest your blessing in every crystal, in every weld.” He took up the steel cores that he had made and placed them on the anvil laying his left hand on them and kneeling.

”This steel will form the blade. Give it life Lord, allow your power to flow through me I ask you.” He bit off the word “beg” for it was not fitting for a prayer like this. He was silent now and instead focused upon his left arm and felt the power that lay inherent there. Not the strength of muscle or skin, but instead the strength of the god, the mark of his blessing on his chosen race.

[Eanos]

With the initial prayer completed and with his thoughts now channelled through a reverence for Izurdin it was time to start work. He put aside the softer core steel and took up the harder shell piece which he returned to the forge and brought back up to a high red heat. Both pieces of steel had been produced by the same method and both contained layers of slightly different steels. Both now needed to be welded together to produce the sword, but the technique for doing that was very precise for of course it was not enough just to weld them and then start hammering the blade out as he had done when making the steel, no. The steels that he had made were designed for very specific parts of the blade and therefore everything now was done to ensure that the right steel ended up in the right part of the blade.

With the shell steel now red hot he reshaped it on the anvil until it took the form of a square steel plate. That it was square only had significance because it made things easier to measure, rectangular would work just as well, but any other shape would probably make it very hard to produce the sword that he intended to make.

Once the square plate was made then he brought it back up to heat and started to bend it in the middle so that it folded up into a U shape. Had he used a rectangle then he would have ensured that the channel at the bottom of the U ran along the middle of the long part. It was important that the two pieces of metal fitted together without gaps as sometimes air pockets remained after the welding and forging was complete and of course they weakened the sword. By ensuring that the work was done neatly it made it much easier to make the two pieces of metal lock together as tightly as possible.

With the plate now bent into a U shape he closed one end of it so that the metal met, though it wasn’t necessary to weld it shut, indeed this would likely make the next step a little difficult. That piece where it met would be the point and so needed to be made entirely of the harder shell steel without any of the softer core metal. Now he could put that aside to cool a little whilst he brought the core steel back up to a working temperature.

The core steel was softer and with a lower carbon content which meant that it reached working temperature slighty quicker than the previous steel but Eanos was paying attention so took it out of the forge well in time. This part was somewhat easier as there was only the single forging, but it was harder as it needed to be shaped more accurately. The outer shell had been whatever size it had been, the inner must be made to fit it. He worked with the hammer to bring the width down to the right size and then worked the profile at the bottom to match the rounded bottom of the shell steel and then to have the sides widen out a little. At the same time he matched the shape of the closed front part which clamped down much more sharply.

With the two pieces of steel shaped to fit and a test made with adjustments it was time to bring them back up to heat. He scattered sand into the U shape to act as flux to remove the scale and other contaminants that would prevent the weld from being properly made and also to reduce the amount of contaminants that would be left inside the weld where again they might weaken the blade. With the two parts together it was then time to start the heavy work of making the two one so that the steels were welded effectively. Part of this process included sealing the core into the whole. As he hammered on the sides to get the now very hot steel to weld there was a natural movement of the shell steel up and over the top edge of the core steel which acted to then create the spine of the sword in the harder steel.

[Eanos]

Having started the welding process now came the hard work and Eanos shifted to the use of his heaviest hammer. This was exactly the sort of process that he found it difficult to imagine humans doing well, especially women, but he was ever practical and knew that there were ways around it. The Ironworks with their mechanical hammers could do it and a female smith with assistants who worked as a team could also do it. It amused him sometimes when he drew a conclusion based on the racial prejudices that he had grown up with and then almost immediately his mind found a way around it.

Even an Isur however who was as used to this work as Eanos found it hard and he quickly began to look forward to those periods when the steel was returned to the forge to reheat. As when it had been forged, when it was necessary the steel was coated with the clay slurry and ashes to retain the carbon content. As much as he looked forward to the break, he also hated the necessity as he was always conscious of the damage being done to the steel by too much heat.

As part of the process of welding, there was a direct beneficial effect because as the hammer squashed the steels together, forcing them to weld, so too it lengthened it out so that slowly it came to the correct dimensions for a sword. Initially Eanos did not have to worry too much about shape aside from keeping everything square and of even thickness so that the core remained in the right place and the whole stretched evenly. There came a point however when he started to need to take more care to ensure that he didn’t reduce the size too much for the sword still had much more forging to be done in order to bring it to the right shape and profile. Fortunately as it did reduce so it became easier to work though Eanos didn’t overly appreciate this as much as he might have done as by that point even Isurian muscles were reaching the point of tiredness.

There came a point at which Eanos had to make a judgement as to how much steel there was in the sword blank and to cut off any excess, from the tang end, not the point of course, otherwise the sword would end up longer than he had designed it to be. There was no easy way to make this decision, only experience with steel and swords made this possible, but with the small amount that he judged excess cut off he could start work on the tang and reduce it in width. When he had less experience or was working with a sword that was less familiar Eanos would tend to leave the tang to last as it would then allow last minute decisions regarding dimensions.

With the tang forged roughly Eanos could now turn his attention back to the bar and start to draw it out to the final length and to do the very first shaping work. This was the time for care, to check all of the dimensions and to make any adjustments or corrections that needed to be done for they could be done now in the main forging process whereas later they would take much more effort and care to correct. When he was happy with the dimensions and the shape, including the point then he made sure to carefully work over the sword to improve the finish as best he could as again this would save work in the next phase.

[Taylani]

XP Award!

Eanos:

XP Award:

• +3 weapon smith
• +1 Devotion
• +2 wielding
  
  

Lore:

• Izurdin: Power of the god lay in reach
• Importance of ash slurry
  

Notes:I Feel free to PM me with any concerns about your grade. Don’t forget to edit/delete your grade request. Thanks!

TAYLANI