Solo [Sultros Blades] Shaping the Blade

[Eanos]

Fall 5, 513AV

Now that the sword blank had been created such that the overall shape and length were now set it was time to move onwards and to define the details. The process would thin the sword down to its final thickness and in the process it would grow a little longer and wider as the metal that was now in the width was squashed and moved into new places. These changes were all carefully calculated in the mind of a smith and again this was nearly all a question of experience. It meant as an aside that nearly every sword that was made like this was effectively unique and that made things different from the mass production of places like the Ironworks to satisfy armies and to an extent the Knights where straight swords were ground to the same dimensions.

This was a repeat of the process that he had already performed once, starting from the tang and then working along the blade, refining and correcting as he went. This was the second phase of that process and it was not the last. The temperature was a little more critical in this phase for he needed to heat it so that it moved past red and into yellow hot. Any hotter risked the structure of the steel which he had been so careful to create but any cooler and it would not remain workable for long enough. Later corrections would be done with the blade relatively cold, but at this point he was still forging the blade and moving metal around. The latter point was vitally important for any smith to appreciate for when a smith hammmered iron or steel it moved away from the hammer, it did not compress which meant that hammer work was a process of pushing metal around and once this was understood then it changed how a smith understood his work. Over thinned metal could not easily be made thicker again but sometimes if an edge was made too thin, metal from the centre could be moved outwards to thicken it.

It also helped to have definite stages to the working of the sword, each of which had a defined aim, rather than to simple keep working at the blade from first forging to final finishing for it ensured that standards could be set for each stage. Starting with the tang then he defined each part of the blade in turn; tang, spine, edge and point. There were a number of blade shapes that he had been shown in his training in Sultros and he chose the most traditional for this sword, not having a specific reason for changing it. It meant that there was a ridge line which ran down the sword from which marked the point at which the flat and parralel back then became a bevel which ran down to the edge and so he also carefully formed this line.

Unlike the very heavy work of the first welding of the core into the hard shell which required a very heavy hammer, each stage now needed lighter hammers. In place of brute force now came skill and it had taken Eanos years to master this part of the process for each hammer blow needed to be judged in advance so that it moved metal exactly where he wished it to go and nowhere else. No blow could be too hard, no blow could move too much metal or from the wrong place.

[Eanos]

As he worked, Eanos constantly checked how the sword was progressing and to make sure that it was not twisting or warping as well as ensuring that the shape of the whole and of the individual parts was correct. Just as important was that the curvature of the sword remained in broad terms as he needed it to be. All of these things could be corrected in some minor degree later but the whole point of this stage was to get things right, not to hope for the best and then to attempt to correct mistakes later.

Still he kept anvil and hammer wet as he worked. It created clouds of superheated steam that obscured the work for moments and might be dangerous for lesser smiths. Too it cooled the steel a little faster than might otherwise happen but such were minor details in the need to get the work right for with the steam also were blasted off were the slag and debris that had been picked up in the heating in the forge.

When he’d reached the point and made sure that was correctly shaped, then he worked his way back along the sword, sighting along it frequently to check for twisting and warpage. This was inevitable in the shaping process as hammer blows on one side effectively shrank that side of the sword pulling it into a curve. The effect of one light blow was tiny, but repeated blows had a cumulative effect which needed to be checked and corrected, and all while maintaining the same dimensions all the way along the sword. All of this was achieved now with the hammer as it preserved the steel without losing any by removing material with files.

At the end of this stage the sword now looked something closer to how it would look when it was done because now the blank which had merely been sword sized and shaped now had the recognisable features of a sword including a bevel to the edge. An edge it did not yet have for there was more work yet to be done and a sharp edge would be too fragile, but that aside there could be no doubts in anyones mind that this was indeed a sword.

[Eanos]

With the blade being continually heated during the forging process it was almost inevitable that some warps and twists would remain, and in order to surface those last tensions in the blade he heated it and allowed it to cool fully which reset the crystals properly. Then he inspected it carefully in every dimension, holding it up to the light so that he could stare along its length.

Using a hammer with the sword on a wooden block he worked his way along the blade carefully hammering it where it was needed to remove any minor warpage. In this way he made sure that the blade was both flat and straight. In a couple of cases he needed to resort to some careful pressure in the vice to correct some twisting that threatened to create a minor corkscrew effect, but it all worked out neatly with some care and attention.

The blade itself still showed the marks of forging and whilst for some things a hammered finish might be acceptable it most certainly was not so with any sword never mind one intended to be as well crafted as this one.

He locked the blade into a wooden clamp that would support the steel whilst he worked on it without leaving the jaw marks that a metal clamp might do. Slipping a heavy duty drawknife that he’d not seen the like of in Syrilas Eanos settled into a seat with the blade running away from him and with pushing strokes started to take the top surface off the blade with the heavy and hardened steel of the drawknife. Though the sword blade was made of a hard steel it had not as yet been tempered and so was still relatively soft. The drawknife stripped off the high points left by the hammer and then slowly the blackened forge stained steel was taken off to reveal the soft silver of the smooth steel surface underneath.

With the rough marks of forging removed with the drawknife, Eanos switched to a rough file and repeated the process being careful not to alter the carefully forged lines. He worked further on this initial polishing phase with a rough stone, now making sure to carefully refine the sharp edges where the edges met and to create the rounded spine. Until this point the final shape of the sword had been hard to see, but now for the first time it actually looked something like the finished sword, though it still did not have a sharpened edge and would not until the edge had been hardened.

Creating the edge would be the next stage with the sword, but then it would be hardened and changes to the sword would become much harder, so this was the last chance to make simple changes. With the file and stone he worked over the sword one last time, double checking each and every detail to make sure that it was as perfect as he could make it. The notches at the end of the tang where it stepped up in size to the blade were sharpened and neatened. It was on here that the collar would sit and then on that the hilt. He worked some more on the line that defined the flat part of the back from the bevel that would run down to the edge, ensuring that it was a smooth and even curve and then did the same with the point of the blade. Finally he worked some more on the rounded shape of the spine and he was done.

[Eanos]

Now that the sword had been defined it was time to create the blade, that part which so defined a sword. The sword had a soft steel core to absorb shocks and a hard steel shell to give it strength and rigidity. He now needed to harden some of that steel so that it would take a cutting edge. The process was simple in theory and one that he had practiced many times and there even blades in this shop which had been produced by this method. The spine of the blade would be coated in clay and then the sword heated. The uncoated edge would reach the critical temperature first and then immediately the sword would be cooled by quenching to lock that hardness into the steel. Because the spine had not reached that temperature it would not be as hardened as the edge.

But it was not a simple process and there were many details which needed to be considered and which had to be done correctly. It also left distinctive marks because the border where the clay had been and the two differently treated steels met showed as a line with typically the harder steel appearing a slightly milky colour.

This line and its appearance were critical for Eanos for much of what made the sword special revolved around this heat treatment and the line described this. It was not a process which Eanos had seen on any other sword produced in Syliras. The details of this process had taken Eanos years to master as an apprentice back in Sultros for every detail had to be right.

His early attempts at this, as with any apprentice had produced a straight hamon so that there was a straight line of hardened steel. He had however been taught that this was not a good technique as in combat it had been known for the shock of impacts with other blades and objects to create stress lines along the hamon and in some cases for the hardened steel to peel away from the softer backing.

Now Eanos produced a much more complex harmon. There were a number of patterns that he had been taught, but all had the same purpose which was to break up the straight line. Instead the harmon was knitted into the softer backing. This was achieved by creating applying the clay in wavy lines, lines that sometimes even curved back on themselves creating what appeared like a shoreline with bays cutting back into the land. With this design the hardened steel could not peel off as it was interlocked into the softer steel. Of course the price was that it required more skill to get the whole blade heated to the rigt temperature along the whole length of blade so that the edge hardened properly.

There was an additional bonus to this though. The steel itself, sometimes known as water steel because of the grain caused by the folding of different steel layers now had an added effect which in the hands of a master turned each sword into a work of art that did not required decoration in order to elevate it above the ordinary sword. The plain and simple design of the sword was enough in itself and that was something that Eanos found very satisfying.

[Eanos]

For this sword Eanos was going to be using a more complex pattern of clay still. This sword would have fine lines of clay which ran right up to the edge. These would create gaps in the hardening which would act to trap any damage caused to the hard steel cutting edge to just that part of the blade.

The application of clay was a three step process, but now he focused once more on the gnosis of his left arm. It was impossible for him to make a blade like this without being acutely aware of the blessings that his god, the god of the Isur, the god who had created their race and gifted them with skills not gifted to other and thus lesser races. Simply making the blade was an exercise in worship for it celebrated everything that made the Isur who they were.

He was also acutely aware that this stage was where he needed to reinforce the gnosis that was imbued into the blade. It had begun with the raw steels that were now the blade, now it would be modified and enhanced to protect the blade. Soft prayers were on his lips now as he concentrated and mediated to bring his mind into the appropriate frame for the task ahead.

The first clay layer he made from clay, charcoal and a ground bt rough sandstone. This dark layer would be applied along the cutting edge and would ensure that it would both heat and cool just that little bit faster than if he left the blade bare. It also served to protect the carbon in the edge during the high temperatures needed.

The second and thicker clay layer was applied over the spine of the blade and covered all of the remaining steel right up to the wavy line of the black clay. This clay was a redder colour as it contained iron oxide in place of the sandstone. This insulating layer slowed down both heating and cooling to avoid the back of the blade becoming hardened as much as the front. The colour helped to contrast to the first clay and to make it easier to define the shape of the hamon.

If the sword were heat treated as it was then the hamon would be created in a line which closely followed the red and black clays. But since Eanos wanted a more complex structure than that it was necessary to add many more details. Using the red clay he applied lines of it down from the back of the blade to the front. These lines would form the defining boundaries of the hamon and serve to protect the blade from catastrophic damage spreading from just a single point of damage.

”Lord Izurdin, I ask your blessing for this blade. May it serve as an example of your strength in this place of humans. Let it show them of your glory and educate them in your worship.” He paused and held the sword with his left hand on the tang which was the only part currently not covered in clay and concentrated on passing that blessing and prayer into the steel. ”Break not. In this form you are made. Let nothing less than another god unmake you.”

[Taylani]

XP Award!

Eanos:

XP Award:

• +5 weaponsmithing

Lore:

• Weaponsmithing: In essence the process of moving metal around.
• Weaponsmithing: Making the blow just right, not too hard not too soft.

Notes:

Comments :

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TAYLANI