[ED]A Return a Repair Part IV

by **Crylon Stonecraft** on February 28th, 2021, 10:44 pm

5 Winter 520

Crylon let out breath, taking a moment to enjoy the taste of the food in his mouth before swallowing the remains.

As usual Crylon was up early in the morning, sitting in the Meraki's domain and having a small morning meal. Someone had made some stew of some sort and Crylon was glad to partake. He was not overly particular on food, but he could tell this was good fare. Certainly better than anything he could make, being skilled and building a house or such but not a meal.

As he was finishing up he saw a man approaching, one he was not overly familiar with. Not surprising, as he tended to rise early and keep busy and so did not too often meet in depth with the other residents of the domain.

"Your Crylon aren't you?" the seemingly human man queried the Isur. Crylon nodded, meeting the mans gaze as he took another spoonful of his stew. He was in no particular rush, not having anything immediate to work on, and so took his time to finish his last bite before respond.

“Yes, I am. What can I do for you?”

The man nodded, smiling as he gazed at the Isur. "I'm Toni. Nice to meet you. I'm a carpenter mainly, and Sona mentioned to me you were skilled with your hands. Like to build and such. Would you mind helping me today? Someone requested some shelving and a book shelf, and I could do with a second pair of hands. No ones in the smithy today, so we could work there. If you want grab your tools and we can meet there. I'll grab the lumber and nails."

Crylon nodded, excited by the idea of learning from and assisting a more skilled craftsman. He had some skill in working with wood, but could certainly use some additional experience in the craft.

“Sounds good. Will do.”

With that Toni smiled and ran off, leaving Crylon to locate and drag along the chest he had full of tools. The old looking trunk concealed within the finest set of building tools and equipment Crylon had ever seen. He had a simpler set of tools for building as well, but this seemed as good a chance as any to break out his more proper tools.

Luckily it was still stored on the ground floor where he had last used it, and so Crylon only had to pull it across the yard and into the smithy.

There he found Toni smiling at him, arranging several piles of cut lumber and a case full of nails. "Ah, there you are. So how skilled at cutting wood and such are you? I know your a craftsman, but whats your main focus?"

Crylon paused in consideration, once more trying to find the proper common words to express himself.

“I am... Mainly smith. Work metal. But like also learn other, all of build. Wood. Stone. Some know of all, but... Always good learn more.”

Toni smiled once more, rubbing his hands together, eyeing the Isur. "Well then, why don't we start small and work our way up. Shelves are probably easier. Just follow my directions, and we should be fine. And then next time you'll know how to do it yourself if needed."

WC: 546

by **Crylon Stonecraft** on May 16th, 2021, 9:45 pm

Quickly enough Toni was barking orders and moving things about. Shelving was relatively simple, something Toni showed quickly enough.

"Shelves are basically two parts. A long length of wood to set thing on top of. Then some bits below that are attached, through which you can fasten it too the wall. For masonry that means drilling a hole or something, and attaching it. For wood you can simply nail through the attached bits and into the wall. The trickier part is attaching them, since you'll want to aim for a beam or something weight bearing, at least if you want the shelf to hold up."

Crylon nodded at the instruction, taking out some length of wood as directed and beginning to measure them. Using some chalk he made a few quick notations, and recorded the common size of the wood. This was somewhat easier since Sona had cut the wood to a certain specification, and were all roughly the same size. Width, thickness, and length.

"Alternatively you can fasten parts to a wall that stick out, and then just rest the shelf on top of it. Similar to how a bookcase can work. Though you'll probably still want to fasten it so they don't fall or get knocked off. That tends to work better in a small area, say a cabinet, pantry, closet, the like, where you can make rails or slots along the walls to hold it."

Still nodding along Crylon took out the sawhorse from his tools, along with a saw which he set aside for the moment. He was not ready to cut, no where near. Measure in redundancy came first.

"Right, so the wood is this long... And this wide... So I'd say cut it.... Mmmm... This long. Cut three for now of that length, and make sure their all the same."

Crylon nodded, taking out his measuring tool, and marking with chalk the length to cut at. Then he measured again, ensuring he had it correct. With that done he moved on to the next length of wood, measuring twice and ensuring his correct spacing. And finally again on the last piece of wood. With that done Crylon moved on to the cutting, the more active part of the work.

Setting the wood on the sawhorse and fastening it in place so it wouldn't move once he began, Crylon took a deep breath and slowly and steadily began sawing through the wood at the chalk mark. Once he began it was easier, simply following along the cut, the "ER ER" sound of the saw as it moved up and down along the length of the wood. Sawdust was soon coming free, a common enough thing when cutting wood.

With that piece cut Crylon finished and removed the plank, securing the next one. Then it was more of the same, up and down and working his arms as he methodically cut the wood. The second was the same as the first, and then he was on to the third. Remove the second, secure the third, cut up and down till the saw exited the other side cleanly

Removing the last piece Crylon stacked the three together, satisfied when he saw that all three were the same length.

WC: 541

by **Crylon Stonecraft** on May 16th, 2021, 10:49 pm

Toni took some time looking over the cut wood before proceeding. After a chime or so he was satisfied, and directed Crylon on the next part.

"Okay so you've got three shelves. Now we need the parts to fasten underneath. For this you'll want them as long a the plank, but much narrower. Just long enough to nail through and to fasten the plan to the other part, so that you can then put in the part at one end that goes into the wall. I think.... Lets see... Three spaced across the plank of the shelf should be good. One near each end, and then one in the middle. Cut up this plan here into sections about... This wide. Alright?"

Crylon nodded, mentally going through the numbers. Three on each. And three planks. So he'd need to cut the plank into at least.. Nine pieces. Getting out the chalk and measurer Crylon slowly worked along the plank, readjusting after each time, until he had ten spots marked. One for each part, and then for the far side of the last one. Then he went back and double checked his markings, having to remark one but leaving the rest the same.

As before Crylon fed the wood into the sawhorse and fastened it in place. And then began the long and tedious task of cutting the numerous length. This though did not bother the Isur, and he simply worked at a steady pace to complete the task. He had long since understood that building was not a fancy thing, but in truth consisted of many repeated actions of a simpler nature melded together to eventually complete one task.

One, two, three, Crylon worked the saw up and down one by one through the task as he cut off the segments. Cut, work through, unfasten the cut off bit, move over the wood, refasten it, cut again, repeat... Slowly he worked his way through the material until he felt the saw cut through empty air as he sliced off the last bit of wood.

As Crylon moved to pile up the wood Toni moved to the tools, taking out a long sander.

"Alright, now we need to smooth the rough edges from cutting, before we start nailing things together. Hers a sander, work on smoothing all the cut edges. I'll grab one as well."

Crylon waited till Toni had begun, watching to see the motion he used. In truth once he saw it Crylon realized it was simple enough. A smooth back and forth motion, over and again till the surface was smooth and free of imperfections or rough splinters from the cutting. Taking up the implement Crylon fastened a piece with the rough side up, and began slowly sanding away the roughness. Back, forth, back forth, over and again. After a few strokes Crylon checked the texture, before beginning again.

After awhile Toni stopped Crylon showing him one he had finished. Crylon felt the material and understood its smooth texture, better understanding what he was aiming for. With that he nodded and continued his work, the only sound as the two of them sanded was the rasp of the wood on the sander.

WC: 533

by **Crylon Stonecraft** on May 16th, 2021, 11:16 pm

After that Crylon and Toni continued their work, silently but for the rasp of the sanders. After awhile Crylon got into the rhythm of his working, feeling the wood, slowly understanding the change in the feel of the sanding and the sound of the work as he neared smoothing it. A shelf was a place to put things, to work upon and around. Having bristles, splinters, and other such things would not do. No more than leaving rough edges and burs on a piece of worked metal.

Crylon would work the sander for a few moments, back and forth a few times, and then test the edge to see how smooth it was and were to focus his efforts. Then he would sand some more, working on the edge bit by bit, only stopping when it was smooth and fault free.

That one done he would set the finished work aside and pick up the next. Then the next. And the next. All nine of the pieces that had been cut had to be smoothed, along with the three cut planks. Back and forth. Touch. Back, forth, back forth. By the time the two of them were done Crylon had fully fallen into the dance, and only realized they were done when he went to grab another piece and found nothing in his reach.

Toni quickly stacked the wood, and then began to check for spots. Handing the chalk back to Crylon he touched spots for Crylon to mark, six spots on the top of each of the three planks. Two spots for each piece to go under, about one third from each end. Close enough tot he end to give a firm grip, but far enough away so that the end would be free and open for the part inserted on one end and then into the wall.

Crylon followed along closely, Toni using measuring tape after the first set to keep all the X's even. Then he quickly measure them out and motioned for Crylon to mark out the spots as he measured them on the second plank. And then on again to the third.

In all their were quite a few spots, and once they were all marked Crylon was then left to measure them all again to ensure they were all even and accurate. Two on each piece going underneath, three pieces underneath, so six marks per plank. Three planks totaling eighteen spots in total requiring marking.

This took some time and once Crylon had measured them all out and slightly adjusted a few he was left strained. Setting aside the chalk Crylon spent some time stretching, during which Toni sorted and reworked their materials.

That done Toni and Crylon worked together, fastening the first of the underparts into the saw horse, adjusting it so that the dots on the plank were just above the part underneath. Likewise the part underneath had to be flush with the plank above, being the same length it was important that each edge was at the same distance for when they began their nailing.

WC: 514

by **Crylon Stonecraft** on May 16th, 2021, 11:33 pm

All of the measuring and adjusting done, Crylon finally began the part that he had been waiting for. The nails. Hammering them in would be the final part which could not easily be gone back on, which was why all of the prep beforehand had been so important.

Toni watched as Crylon worked, holding the nail with his special Isurian arm and the hammer in the other. Holding the nail in place on the chalk mark, and checking one last time that the plan was in the correct position, he began to hammer. One strike, two, three, several strikes increasing in strength as the nail went into the wood and the direction it was going became more clear. Once he knew it was on track he struck harder, until the top of the nail was flush with the top of the plank. Grabbing up another nail he moved to the spot near the other end, and began hammering there.

Once, twice, adjusting a bit, three times, and then increasing again once he had it in straight. With that done one part was finished, and Crylon began to remove the wood. Toni however stopped him, motioning at the wood again.

"Before you unfasten it you need to flatten the pointed in. Right now its poking out the bottom. You need to strike it from the side and bend it over so its flesh with the base, and so it won't stab anyone. These nails are a bit long for this, so see this end here... It protrudes out a bit. Fix that first."

Crylon nodded, returning to the task and working on the nails underneath. Hitting each from the side he bent the tip, striking a few more times till it was well flattened. Once both were flat he finally removed the wood from the fastener, and moving the wood over slid in the next piece.

After that the process was repeated, slowly working through it piece by piece. Fasten the wood in place. Adjust the plank so the marked spots were in the correct place above it. Work one nail. Strike once, twice, adjust if needed, strike again, and once the angle was set and good give it a few good blows to hammer it in. Then on to the next nail on the other end and a repeat of the process. Once, twice, three times, good and straight, drive it in with some harder blows. Once they were both in return to the base, strike the nails tips from the side to bend them, and then hammer each down flat into place.

Then on to the third, more or less a repeat of the same process. As was usual with such things the work was repetitive and tedious, but needed to be done. Unfasten the finished one. Fasten the third and last one for the plank. Check the positioning of the plank above, with the marked spots just above the piece underneath. Hammer the nail in, strike once, twice, three times, till it was in and flush, repeated with the second nail. Then working again underneath to flatten and bend the nails points from dangerously sticking out.

With that one entire shelf was done, and the process continued with the other two.

WC: 543

by **Crylon Stonecraft** on May 16th, 2021, 11:56 pm

As Crylon continued his work, he was soon seeing the meat so to speak of carpentry work. Hammering in nails to fasten bits of wood together. Cutting bits of wood and fitting them together. Making many bits of wood into one thing, a single item for a purpose.

"Well, not bad. Not the finest shelf but not the worst. Your learning. Honestly though, it only goes up from them. I've seen some who work wood so well they don't even need nails. It all just fits so exactly and perfectly it just... Holds. Though mind you, your not anywhere close to that. But something to reach for, eh?"

Crylon nodded, setting aside their first finished product and inspecting it. It was a simple thing, but one that was functional for a purpose.

"Well then, lets go on to the next. Lets try to work a bit faster on the next, but be careful not to lessen the quality."

Crylon nodded silently, his mind focused on the task at hand, picking up the pieces and beginning work on the second shelf. And once it was done on to the third. What followed was a complex weave of motion and action, slowly working through the actions one by one while slowly creeping closer to the end goal.

Fasten the wood. Check its position. Hammer in a nail, then another on the other marked spot. Flatten the nails underneath. Unfasten and move on to the next piece. Repeat. Hammer, once, twice, thrice, then stronger with a slowly repeated action.

By the end his normal arm was tired, sweat on his brow, and his back ached somewhat from the leaning over the wood while hammering.

As they finally finished the third shelf Crylon looked over at the rest of the wood, realizing Toni had mentioned doing a book shelf as well. Toni seemed to realize this, checking the door and then back at the wood.

"Maybe we can rest here a bit, and then tomorrow... Or..."

This was cut off though as the aforementioned Sona burst into the cool forge, waving to get Toni's attention.

Toni smiled and put a hand on Crylon's shoulder, eyeing the Isur. "So, I hear its your birthday later this season. Well Sona found something she thought you'd like, and we pitched in and helped buy it. My job was to keep you busy while they moved it up into the tower and into place. Why don't we go look, eh?"

Tired and sweaty Crylon silently followed along after Toni and Sona, the human woman clearly excited. She had been one of the people Crylon had interacted with the most, being the mill attendant and builder, and the two had found a kindred spirit in their crafting and working and designing. Crylon was mainly used as a smith, but he was also a designer and architect and considered himself that first and foremost at heart.

Once they'd moved up the tower and into a room that had previously been empty Crylon saw it. At the sight he paused, a rare smile breaking out across his lips at it.

"Well, what do you think? Do you like it? Well? Come on Crylon say something!" Sona berated the Isur in a familiar manner, trying to wheedle out of him a response.

The Isur silently moved over to the item, realizing on closer inspection what it was. It was a desk. Or no... A drafting table. A place where one made designs and plans and things, items plotted and buildings drawn out. And it was a fine one at that. It already had paper on it, and a tray for putting supplies in atop it. Absentmindedly he ran his hands over it, feeling its workings. This bit here let the table rise and fall for different heights. This bit here let it bend at and angle the writing surface...

"The guy I bought it from gave me a manual, I'll have to see where it got put. And he said something about it being collapsible, but I'm not quite sure how. Seems pretty solid to me. So! What do you think?"

With a smile breaking his face the Isur placed a hand on the womans shoulder, grinning in a way few humans had seen him do.

“Its perfect. Thank you Sona. And everyone. Thank you. I will cherish it, and use it well.”

Slapping him on the shoulder Sona grinned, before shaking her head. "Alright mister Isur, don't go getting weepy on me. A smile and a thanks! That's downright emotive for you!"

WC: 761

Solo [ED]A Return a Repair Part IV