Arda: A World of Dreams - Free RP

The fair valley of Rivendell, upon whose house the stars of heaven most brightly shone.
High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
Fuin
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Third Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom


Fuin smirked as Cala asked if she thought the Coal dealer would charge him extra. "Likely. He knows I like to keep my word." Fuin said with a shrug, "It'll likely only be a few coppers more but it'll still hurt especially when he starts losing contracts. Which given where he's situated, he absolutely will be losing as he's probably got a lot of basic military contracts." She said calmly as they headed through the second circle until they made it to the third gate Fuin gave Cala the password so that she could give it when they got there as they were waiting for their turn to pass through the gates.

Once they were in the Third level Fuin lead Cala through to where the smelter, they weren't far from the gates. "The man that runs this is not as nice as the coal vendor I must admit but he does have the best metal." Fuin said calmly. "He has little use for apprentices no matter their gender so we won't be having any lessons at his shop, I will be getting metal and we'll do the lesson at the forge. Pay attention to what I ask for, as he is not as friendly, nor does he care about anything outside of his own business which is fine." She said calmly as she came up to a door of a massive stone building that stood apart from all the other buildings. and turned and looked at Cala. "Here we go." As she pushed in a bell on the door jingled.

The metal shop was hot, hotter than the forge ever got and dirty from the amount of metal and ore that was proccessed there. Fuin stood patiently in the front room near a desk that was currently not occupied. She would be patient, mostly because impatience at this shop was not helpful for them. After a few minutes a large man with a leather apron and heavy leather jacket came out and scowled at the people in front of him and Fuin gave him a small smile.

He narrowed his brown eyes and his beard bristled everywhere, there were few people that made Fuin look small even in Gondor which had many tall men and women of Numenorean decent... This man though made her look small. He was easily twice as wide as her and had a few inches on her and looked as if he could snap her in half if he decided to do so. "What do you want?"

"I am wanting low carbon iron, mid carbon iron, and low carbon steel, copper, bronze, silver, and gold" The man nodded glad that she seemed to know what she wanted

"How much?"

"The iron and steel I would like five of your large ingots each, and then a single ingot of the others." She said calmly and the man narrowed his eyes and looked her over and then Cala.

"That's worth a lot." The man said leaning forwards on the desk. "You don't have the coin for that on you and I know it."

"You're right I don't." Fuin said calmly and pulled a piece of paper from her coin purse and set it on the desk and slid it towards him. The man snapped it up and read it, his eyes went wide and he looked at Fuin and then the paper. "That will be my account payment for the time being, as I will be wanting regular deliveries of iron and steel, that should manage it for a year if I remember your prices for such accounts properly."

The man nodded and tucked the note away. "Delivery today then?"

"We'll take one of each of the iron and steel ingots now but the rest can be delivered." The man nodded and headed to the back to get the ingots that Fuin had requested for immediate pick up.

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@Raisins
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - First Circle


Cala nodded in reply to Fuin, wondering what she meant by 'not as friendly'. She hoped the man wouldn't be mean or rude like that one smith was. She would rather not have to deal with people like that, and kept quiet as they entered the shop. The place was very hot, and she thought how nice a place it would be for someone who had no home in the winter, to sleep there. But of course, she had never had access to that place. Waiting was a bit hard, as she anticipated whatever was to come. Would the man be grouchy? Would he try to refuse them service? She wondered what Fuin would do if the man did that.

When at last he did come out, Cala had to tell herself not to be intimidated. He looked big and scary, and she hoped even more that he wasn't mean or grouchy. The interaction between him and Fuin was brief, and Cala tried to make notes in her head about what Fuin had asked for. She'd have a few questions for later, and didn't want to forget any of them. She wondered what was on that paper that Fuin gave him, and why it had changed his attitude so swiftly.

And besides that, she could hardly wait to see Radaron's reaction to when the metals were delivered. In fact, she could hardly wait to see them herself. To think of having silver! She had never worked with anything like that, ever. She guessed that she'd only really worked with low-quality steel or iron, maybe copper, and some tin. Never anything as expensive as silver, and she wondered also what the better quality steel and iron would be like. And would it look any different? She couldn't wait to ask Fuin all of her questions, once they got back home!
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
Fuin
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Third Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

The man came back with the three ingots in his hands and set them on the table looking at Fuin and the other girl that was there, "I've gotten the rest of your ingots as well so they will be able to delivered soon." He said with a nod. Fuin thanked him and motioned for Cala to pick up one of the ingots, despite its small size it was surprisingly heavy, Fuin picked up the other two and the large man gave a nod and disappeared back to work in the back working with hot molten metals.

Stepping outside day felt chilly comparatively after having been inside the smelting shop for as long as they had been, as the door shut Fuin smiles and they headed back to their forge. Fuin could tell which ingot was which though the mild and high quality iron was harder to tell the difference between if one didn't know exactly what to look for and the high quality iron and the steel also looked similar but once they were at the forge and they were not having to carry the heavy things then Fuin would go over all the differences between them. She looked at Cala as they came back to the gate that would get them back down to the second circle letting her know that she would be giving the password once more.

If they had to go any further Fuin wasn't sure how well Cala would be doing in terms of carrying the heavy ingot. She found the two she was carrying heavy and clumsy, but with it being well before noon still the two of them would be able to get a good amount of work finished before Rada returned from running wild in the Second Circle.

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@Raisins
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - First Circle


It was a relief to come back out onto the street. It was quite hot, and though Cala didn't mind the heat from the forge, that was different somehow. Maybe it was the intimidating presence of that man, she didn't know, but she was glad to be heading back home with Fuin, and with the metal. Ingots, Fuin had called them. "What does ingot mean, exactly? Why are they called that?" She wondered, looking down at the chunk of metal in her arms. "And oughtn't it be a bit bigger?" She wondered how much they'd be able to make with this little chunk of metal. It was quite heavy, regardless, and she was looking forward to being able to set it down. "And, also, which one do I have?" She asked, looking down at it again.

They arrived at the gate, and Cala forgot for a second that she was supposed to tell the password this time. She remembered after a brief pause. "Oh!" She stepped forward and gave the password, and onward they went toward home. "How can we tell which one's which? I mean, I suppose the silver will be obvious, but the other ones.." She frowned, wondering about that. "You asked for more than one kind of iron.. how will we know which one's which? And, would you be able to tell if they try to cheat and send the wrong kind?" She frowned, wondering about all of those things. "We probably should also teach Radaron about how to tell the difference," She added as an afterthought. "If he's to be taking the deliveries, that way, if something looks off, he can spot it, once he's learned how."
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
Fuin
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

@Purrmonster of Doom

It took Cala a moment but then they were on their way once more. Fuin glanced at the two ingots in her hands reading the marks on them "You have the mild iron." She said calmly, the ingots have markings on them for one, and if we look at the bottoms of them their sheen will be a little different than each other but it takes a while to know the difference without heating them. Once you heat them though you'll know right away." Fuin said calmly. "The difference in time and temperature is the surest way to tell if you have nothing else."

"And Rada will not be receiving metal shipments for a while." Fuin said with a chuckle as they returned to the forge. "They will not put them away for him, and I do not know if he has the strength yet to put that many ingots away on his own. He might help us so he'll have plenty of time to learn, but you and I will be taking the metal shipments as well as the coal." She said calmly. "I think the coal will weigh about half as much as he does in the sacks we're going to be getting." With that they pushed their way into the forge and Fuin set the ingots on the front table with a thud.

"And why it's called an ingot." She paused. She wasn't entirely sure WHY an ingot was called an ingot she knew what it was but not why. "Ingot means that it's a bar of of metal that is pure. So the Silver will not have anything else in it... It'll be silver, the iron will just be that grade of iron and so forth, and each of these is almost 10lbs of metal how much bigger do you really want them? - a single ingot is enough to make a sword with ease, or a breast plate for armor.?" She asked with a laugh. "This will be enough that we will be able to make almost all of the supplies we need and then we have two more of each of these ingots coming so that we can make items to sell. She motioned to the markings that were stamped on the top of the bar. There was a word , a makers mark and then some numbers the numbers were only really important for the iron but the steel could have similar numbers as well though they didn't have more than one option for that right now.

"So The name is what sort of metal it is obviously, the makers mark tells you where it came from it's the smelting mark. And the numbers tell you how pure of an ingot it is. The highgrade steels will be 95 to 97 or 98 for iron and 99 for steel. Gold will be 99, silver will generally be 95, copper brass and everything else we got will be 99."

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@Raisins
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - First Circle


Cala listened as Fuin explained about all her questions, nodding slightly as things began to make sense. She looked at the marks, paying attention to all of the information, trying to file it away for later. Over time, she figured she'd come to know all of this without having to think about it, but right now it seemed like a lot of information to take in. Yet it was nice to have things like this explained at last. "So do they all come in the same size ingots?" She wondered, studying the marks curiously. "I can't wait to see what this will be." She said, setting her ingot down beside the other two.

"Now that we're back here, what are we going to make first? A hammer?" She guessed, recalling that Fuin had mentioned making a hammer, possibly two, today. She was eager to have one.. a real one.. at last. She was also very excited at the thought that they might make swords and armor and things, having always wondered how to do that. "Will I get to make a sword anytime soon?" She wondered, hoping. "Or maybe armor?"
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
Fuin
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Fuin smiled. "We need to make a hammer for certain, and we are going to do that out of the high grade iron. It will have enough strength to not deform when you hit it, but will have less of a risk of breaking due to brittleness than the steel." She said and picked up the Ingot. "We are going to need to heat this and then punch through it with a chisel, to make seperate portions that will be easier to work with than this giant block. There are smaller ingots, that are half of this size, and then some that are about a tenth of this size, but getting them in this size is far more cost effective." Fuin of course stopped remembering that the chisel Cala had wasn't hardened properly and was a bit damaged.

"Hmmm maybe we should fix your chisel punch first. It's not going to do terribly well if we don't." She said calmly. "Start up the forge and lets get the punch in there heating so that we can get started on fixing it up so we can make hammers." Fuin said with a smile.

Once the punch was in it didn't take long for Cala to fix it's shape. Fuin pointed out that they wanted it to be a bit wider than a circular punch that they'd make a new circular punch and for now to make a flat head one that was about an inch in width. Once it was fixed it was time to start teaching Cala what hardening and tempering meant for the punch they would be hardening it with the shape and the fact that it was going to be going into soft hot metal it wouldn't have issues.

"Alright so hardening means we need to get it up to critical temperature, for this it will mean the metal is going to be a bright yellow orange, almost hot enough to burn apart." Fuin said calmly certain that Cala had accidentally burned through metal before in her experiments. "and then we leave it there for as long as we can without it getting hotter or colder so we have to pay a lot of attention before we dip it into the water. If it doesn't get hot enough it won't harden and it'll still be the same old sort of punch it was before... If it gets too hot it will turn in to nothing at all and burn up." Fuin said calmly.

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@Raisins
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - First Circle


Listening about the hardening process, Cala first wondered what she meant by critical temperature. Then, as she explained it, Cala nodded, quite familiar with that particular stage of metal hotness. The bright Yellowy orange hot, that was one which she'd thought was very pretty. As Fuin went on, she began to feel a bit nervous about it, realizing how easy it might be to burn it up. She frowned a little, trying to think back about her experiments. She had no idea what sort of metal grades she'd played with before, knowing nothing at all about them. But she knew what to watch for, and so she nodded and put the fixed chisel back on the coals. "How long does it need to stay at critical temperature?" She wondered, watching carefully. "And, how do we keep it from getting hotter or colder?" She was a bit puzzled on that account.

It was rather exciting to think that she was getting to learn how to do things, new things that she'd never done before, as well as learning what things were called and everything. She carefully watched the chisel until it finally reached the correct color glow, feeling nervous about the thought of it burning up and being ruined. It had been strange to take her tool and reshape it into a slightly different tool, but she was eager to make it into whatever would be most useful for them. Soon, she would make her first hammer, and at the same time, get to use metal from an ingot for the first time. That was even more exciting!
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
Fuin
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom


Fuin watched with Cala, this process was not something that most apprentices did on their own so she was happy to sit and watch closely with her. "The longer the better, it's hard to do and this is a chisel not a sword so if we can do it for a few minutes we will be in good shape." Fuin explained her hand going to the bellows and watching the metal. "And we keep it at temperature by using the bellows." She said giving a single pump and then holding for a few moments. "Constant pumping of the bellows keeps the coals going hotter than needed so we just need to keep them hot enough that it stay where it is temperature wise" She glanced at Cala, "The temperature isn't a specific single temperature but a range of about 100 degrees either way from the perfect mid point. Do you see the colour it is now?" Fuin said motioning to the chisel that was sitting on top of the glowing bed of white hot coals. "That's the shade we want to keep it if at all possible" Several moments passed and Fuin pumped the bellows once more and held them shut watching her eyes intent on the chisel itself.

"I want you to tell me when you think I should pump the bellows next." She said, she wouldn't pump them if she was too early or if she was far too late Fuin would pump them on her own and they'd try again, but it was a case of learning and practicing what you needed to do without ruining the item that Cala would need to do in order to learn how to harden and temper metal.

Image

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@Raisins
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Cala listened, nodding as Fuin explained about the pumping and temperature. That made sense. She felt a bit nervous when she said she wanted Cala to tell her when to do it again, but took a careful look at how the coals and the metal looked, hoping to have that help her somehow. She tried to estimate about how long Fuin had waited before pumping it this last time, and tried to use that as a gauge. Watching the metal, she thought it could be easy to get a little mesmerized by the pretty glow. But she was careful to pay attention, watching it carefully and glanced from the tool to the coals frequently. After a time she decided it looked as if it needed pumping. "I think.. now?" She hoped she was right, because it would be nice to be right about it on the first time.

"Why exactly does it harden just because it stays at the one temperature for a long time?" She wondered, thinking on that with curiosity. "What happens to the metal, when we do this?" She watched the chisel in the coals, worried that it might burn up or something, hoping that it would turn out right. She'd have to do this next with the hammer, she realized, and hoped that this first attempt at hardening would be successful.
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
Fuin
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Fuin watched Cala for a few moments before turning her attention to the coals and the metal needing to keep an eye on it even more. The temperature was dropping slowly it needed to be pumped but it had a few seconds left when Cala started to say I think now. She had not even gotten I out when Fuin pumped the bellows once. "Close you were a little bit slow, but not outside of the realm or what it needs to be - but if you're constantly slow the heat will dissipate too much by the end.." Fuin said with a smile, and nodded that she would be doing it again.

"Hardening burns the carbon out of the iron, making it so that it doesn't have any flex. The longer you can keep it heated the less carbon the metal retains, and when you dip a low carbon iron in water it makes the metal brittle, but brittle is what is needed to keep an edge and keep things strong." Fuin said calmly the good news was that with how large the forge was and how good the coal was each bellow pump they got closer and closer to the time needed in order to properly harden the chisel.

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@Raisins
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Cala was a bit disappointed that she'd spoken just a bit too late. She was so close though! As Fuin explained about the carbon, she nodded thoughtfully, wondering how long it took to get rid of it all. "What exactly is carbon?" She wondered, watching again, this time trying to make sure she didn't wait too long. After a couple of minutes, she guessed, "Is it time now?" But was too early, so she waited another couple of minutes before guessing again, trying to figure out exactly how to tell when to do the bellows.

After a few more pumps, she finally was just right on the last one, which made her feel very pleased. Once it was time to do so, she pulled the chisel out using her tongs, and after a quick confirmation from Fuin, she put the chisel into the water, tip first just like she was told. She stepped back slightly as the water hissed and steamed, and watched the bucket curiously as she held onto the tongs, then let go. "Won't the water get hot?" She wondered. "If it's too hot, it won't cool the metal will it?" She frowned, not sure about this. She'd never gotten anything quite that hot before, and wasn't sure about the water.
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
Fuin
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Time seemed to be flying and more than once she had to pump the bellows or not pump them when Cala had spoken. "Carbon is an impurity in the metal often from the smelting process or the rocks themselves, especially if it's not properly added it can be too much in one area." Finally Cala got the last one absolutely spot on and Fuin congratulated her on that and then let her put the chisel in the water.

"Yes the water will get hot however it can't get nearly as hot as the metal, it can only get to as hot as what makes it steam," Fuin said with a smile. "That temperature is far colder than critical and is fine even if the water is boiling it just means we will need to pull it from the quench bucket with the tongs as we can't do it with our bare hands, and we won't be grabbing it from the water with our gloves on." Fuin said motioning to the bucket that was steaming currently, so it was near boiling but it wasn't even that hot. "As you can see the chisel is no longer hot, it looks like cold metal now which means it's in good shape."

Fuin stood looking at the bucket for a moment longer it could sit and rest for a longer while. "Now why ingots don't get any bigger than this. I want you to lift that ingot up with tongs." She said calmly setting the high grade iron onto the anvil. "I want you to understand how heavy this is and hard it is to maneuver with tongs, before you try to pull it out of the forge when it is hot enough that we can actually punch through it using the chisel." Fuin said calmly. "And then I want you to put it into the forge and run the bellows, we need to get the ingot hot all the way through and it's big enough that that will take a while."

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@Raisins
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Nodding slightly, Cala tried to make sure and remember all of this new information she was getting. Having done similarly at the other blacksmith's forge when she was working there, she had learned to pay close attention and commit things to memory as quickly as possible, so she wouldn't have to ask things again. The same was true here, and she tried her best to make sure she would not forget the things she was learning today, both in verbal answers to her questions, as well as the practical things she was getting to do.

Taking the tongs, it took a bit to get them around the ingot that was lying on the anvil in a grip that wouldn't slip off, but once she had it, she realized what Fuin meant. It was rather awkward trying to lift it with the tongs, as well as heavy. She nodded, acknowledging that it was rather difficult, then carefully moved it onto the coals. "What can we do while we wait? Anything?" She wondered, imagining it might take a very, very long time to get it hot enough to do anything with.
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
Fuin
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Fuin smiled. "You can continue to pump the bellows." Her tone was cheeky. "I am going to go upstairs and get some water, I'll bring you back some as well so that you don't get to dehydrated, just remember to keep pumping steadily." With that Fuin gave her apprentice a wave, and headed up the stairs at a brisk walk. Opening the door let a wafting of cool air down into the forge and a rush of hot air up into their quarters, which honestly meant that the room would be fairly pleasant even without a fire in the main quarters themselves. She stuck her head back in the doorway that she had left open and smiled. "I'll be back right away." With that she disappeared upstairs to leave Cala to her own devices for several moments.

She sat in the coolness and drank a few sips of water from a cup as she poured a second one and cup full. She returned downstairs slower than she had run up them carefully shutting the door once more, happy to see the groceries that she'd ordered were all put away by Rada, and it was getting close to noon which would mean that the coal would be delivered soon, and after that the metal, so hopefully Rada would be returning soon from whatever mischief he was up to.

She held out the cup of water for Cala finishing her own. "You need to drink I'll take over the bellows while you do." She said calmly. "You can overheat and get sick if you don't drink enough water in a forge like this, we've had it going for long enough now that we will start feeling it as it's the heat of the day already, it will be worse in summer, in winter it will be alright the cold from outside will keep the heat in check. Spring and fall, today is a nice day, so it will get warm but it will be easy to cool down as well. You should go and open up the windows at the front as well as a few of the side ones for the time being that way we need fewer water breaks."

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@Raisins
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Cala nodded, realizing she was quite thirsty, and hadn't even realized it until Fuin mentioned water. Now it was all she could think about for the moment, but she kept carefully pumping the bellows, just like she'd done that day in the other smith's shop, when she was trying to be accepted as an apprentice. She smiled a little to herself as she worked steadily, feeling far more satisfied with how things had turned out than what it would have been like, otherwise. She'd have still had to figure out somewhere to live, most likely, and been constantly trying to hide her true identity, and everyday would have risked being discovered and sent away, and had further disappointment and frustration... This was way better.

When Fuin came back and took over the bellows, Cala gladly took the water and drank half the glass down in one continuous gulp. After that she took a few smaller sips as she went around opening the windows like Fuin had suggested. "I hadn't realized how thirsty I was," She laughed, looking at her glass as she went to take another sip and found it empty. "Do you want anymore? I'm going to refill my glass." She absolutely agreed about drinking plenty of water. It was a little hotter than she'd realized in here, now that she thought about it. After refilling the water she returned and found a place to set her cup where it wasn't in the way, but still within reach. "Is it nearly ready?" She wondered, looking at the ingot curiously.
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
Fuin
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

"Yes more water would be nice." She said and she kept pumping the bellows while Cala drank her water. "Don't drink too much too fast though! You can make yourself sick doing that!" Fuin called knowing full well that a second cup wouldn't likely hurt her but if she drank several quickly she could get sick in the heat. Fuin pumped the bellows patiently and glanced in at the ingot which was half buried in the coals that she was pumping and frowned.

"Yes once you're done with that I'll pull it if it slips you might get really hurt with this as it's a very heavy weight to move around with tongs." Fuin said calmly, "You should also take the tongs and get the chisel out of the water so that we have it on hand as you will be the one punching through it as I will hold the ingot in place this time." Fuin motioned towards the quench bucket with her head. The chisel had been in there long enough that with gloves on it would not be an issue at all but Fuin was quite certain that it would still be too hot to hold with bare hands so getting it out of the water with ones barehand was out of the question at the moment.

As soon as Cala had the punch and her hammer at the ready Fuin took the tongs from her and rolled her shoulders locking the bellows and reaching into the forge with the tongs knowing full well the tongs weren't the best which would make this a little more difficult than it would be with her own tools from Imladris. "All right, I"m going to put this on the anvil I want you to punch a third of it off. It will probably take us a few heats to get all the way through you'll need to be careful we are likely going to have one side of it fall to the floor and it will send out a spray of sparks when that happens." With that she lifted the red hot ingot with a small grunt struggling with the tongs and swung it onto the anvil.

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@Raisins
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Finally, the ingot was ready to come out of the fire. Cala was rather excited, especially when she heard that she would be doing the chiseling on it. She quickly got her gloves on and retrieved the chisel from the water, then passed Fuin the tongs as she took it in her gloved hand. The ingot looked so pretty, glowing from the heat of the coals, and she watched as Fuin brought it quickly over to the anvil. Now, she suddenly felt nervous. She quickly eyed the ingot to find the place where a third would be, and placed the chisel carefully. It was a bit awkward, but she hammered with one hand while holding the chisel in place with the other, trying to cut into the ingot as much as she could while it was still hot.

It surprised her how difficult it was to get through it. As Fuin said, it took a few times of heating it before it finally came apart, and she hastily jumped back when the piece finally fell off. She was fairly sure that it would have fallen clear of her feet, but it didn't hurt to be sure. It must be tremendously hot, after all. "Finally!" She grinned, looking down at the third of the ingot. "What do we do now?" She asked, eager to finally make something. A hammer, especially. Maybe next some better tongs? That would be up to Fuin, of course. But at least now they had a chunk of metal to work with. She could hardly wait to get to mold it into something useful!
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
Fuin
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Fuin worked hard to hold onto the ingot with the tongs with each jolt of the chisel and hammer, the reason she had chosen this task was because it was hard and something that took some skill. when the portion of the ingot fell away she couldn't help but smile. She shifted the hot ingot that was still in the tongs back to the side of the forge itself outside of the coals heat bed it was easier to move than it was as a full sized ingot. Before picking up the smaller piece which was much easier to deal with than the bigger piece was as well and set it back onto the anvil.

"We need a better flat head hammer. I want you to smooth out the side where we punched through with the chisel so that the shape is a bit closer to a triangle than a rectangle." She said motioning to the hot iron that was still hot enough thanks to just how large the piece was, she could hold it well enough with one hand on the tongs. "Once we get this side shaped we'll use the punch and put a hole right through it all the way through before we make sure the face is properly flat before we harden it. Once we have it harden we'll reheat the chisel and use it to heat the eye to soften it as we want that area tempered instead of hardened." Fuin said pointing at where she needed to strike with the hammer she had. "This is going to be the mover as I like to call these flat heads, it's going to be heavy enough to move metal fast and reshape it especially the ingots, you'll love it for making new tongs and the file."

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@I Said What I Said
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Cala watched, and listened. There was so many new things she was learning, it was exciting, and she wanted to make sure she remembered it all in case she ever needed to do it again. "Flatten it, right." She wished the hammer she currently had to use had a wider striking surface, but it would have to do. She paused to take a drink of water before starting. It took some effort to get the surface flattened using the ordinary hammer. She was used to this one, but still knew that probably everything would be much easier once she'd made this new one. She wanted to make it just perfect, though. So she focused very hard on trying to make the surface as flat and smooth as possible, until Fuin said it was good enough, then stepped back to the bellows to help with reheating it, assuming Fuin would want her to do that.

Once it was hot enough to work again, she took the punch, asking where the hole was supposed to go, just to double check. Careful to keep her hand well away from the hot metal, she focused on driving the punch into the chunk of iron, trying very hard not to miss the chisel. "Is that where the handle will go?" She wondered, trying to guess at how this thing would look once it was totally finished. She was eager to have it finished. "Won't it mess up the chisel to reheat it, though?" She was a little puzzled in that regard, trying to get an idea on how to do this. She was delving into new and unexplored territory with forging things, and while it was quite exciting, it was also rather mystifying and easy to feel nervous about the idea of messing up.
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
Fuin
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom


Fuin smiled seeing Cala move to the bellows already starting to anticipate what the next step was going to be. Fuin set the bit of cooling metal into the coal bed and pulled the tongs out. While Cala worked the bellows Fuin went and got a drink of water for herself before returning to work.
Cala was fearless with the chisel. There were a good many apprentices in the elven forges that would have hesitated when told to punch a hole with so short a chisel.

As she hammered Fuin nodded. Yes this would be where the handle would be set once they were done. Cala for her part asked if reheating the chisel would mess it up. Confused and puzzled and Fuin tipped her head. "Yes it will but not horribly, it will just unharden it. Unfortunately we need it and we don't have another piece that will work and it will be faster to reharden it than trying to make a rod the right shape when we made the hole with that chisel. Eventually we will make something that can be used instead but I think making the tools we need is more important right now. After we have this hammer finished we will cheat on making the file by drawing it out of the bigger piece of metal and bend and snap it off once it's thin with the tongs wiggling it back and forth. Once we get it finished being shaped we can harden both the chisel and the file at the same time to save ourselves the effort of hardening two items at separate times." Fuin said with a shrug. There was nothing they could really do about it and it was the most economic way of doing this.

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@I Said What I Said
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Cala nodded, feeling a tiny bit sad that the chisel they'd just made would have to be unhardened, but it sounded like maybe it would be re-hardened afterward. She found the whole thing rather interesting, and wondered how much more she would be learning before the week was over. She wondered how many more days were left until they would be opening shop and having customers. It seemed like ages away, yet at the same time, it was as if time was closing in on them. They needed a better hammer, for sure.

"What's next on the hammer?" She wondered, curious about making a file, but trying to stick to what they were working on right now, so she wouldn't get confused. She tried to go over all the steps Fuin had so far mentioned, and couldn't think of anything else they needed to do. "How do we attach a handle on?" She wondered if they had anything for the handle, and thought about some of the scraps of chair legs from upstairs, wondering if those would work for a handle.
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
Fuin
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

"We need to make sure the face hasn't deformed when we punched the eyehole." Fuin said calmly. "To do that we leave the chisel in the eye hole for the time being and check the face." She turned the hammer so that the face was down and it did have a tiny wobble. "You see that wobble how it goes side to side from the middle? That's because some of the metal displaced to where the face is when we opened that hole up." With that Fuin pulled the chisel and put the metal back into the forge.

"We need to reheat the head, and once it's hot we'll pull it out put the chisel back in so that it doesn't get hot with it that way they don't weld together. and I will flatten the face on this as we don't have a file to do fine work yet and it's got to make a nice flat file. I do want you to watch closely though even though this is something I will be doing rather than you." Fuin said calmly. A few minutes later she pulled the head slipped the chisel back in and quickly went to work with the small nail hammer that Cala had. It was a lot harder to make a perfectly flat surface for the hammer head with it than it looked and it took her a few heatings to get it so that she was happy with it. She did let Cala run the bellows during each heating before she pulled the chisel and put the hammer head into the forge.

"Alright you remember the colour that we needed for the chisel? We need that for the hammer head while we are hardening it as well." Fuin said with a smile so I want you to tell me when to pump the bellows just like we did before, if you get it right consistently enough you'll be in charge of the bellows yourself when we harden the chisel again as well as the file when we get there."

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@I Said What I Said
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Cala watched carefully while Fuin worked on touching up the hammer surface, noticing how many times she reheated it and went back over it, trying to get it perfect. She'd never done it that many times, fearing that if she heated something too much it would ruin, but it seemed to be fine. "How hard is it to ruin a piece of metal by heating it too much? Is that possible?" She wondered, as she watched her work on it. "I thought I remember someone saying something like that once, but I don't remember who it was, or exactly what they said about it..." She frowned, trying to remember. It could have been one of those smiths who was mean to her.

She felt a bit nervous when it came time to tell when to pump the bellows, worried she wouldn't get it right, but she tried to tell herself she'd do fine with it. "It'll be a different amount of time for this, won't it? Because it's thicker and more metal.. right?" She guessed, remembering from her younger experimentation with metal heating. She watched the metal closely as it heated, watching for it to get to the right color, eager to see it looking so pretty and glowing. After a little while, it looked like the same color the chisel had been at this point. "Is that the right color?" She tried to remember what term Fuin had used. "Critical heat, or something, right?"
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
Fuin
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Fuin gave a shrug. "You can but it takes a lot to do that, and it doesn't so much ruin the metal as burns it away. Each heating each strike the slag and sparks that comes out of it whittles away at the amount of metal you have to work with. And if you heat it with too dirty a coal you can degrade the type of metal it is." Fuin said calmly. "So we try not to overwork things when we don't have to." She said as she stood pumping the bellows for a while.

"And yes because what we are working on is so much thicker it will take longer to get to the right heat, but it will also retain the proper heat for longer so it's careful to watch and remember that." She said calmly. as Cala watched the hammer head glowing as closely as Fuin did, and asked as the hammer came just into critical heat if that was the right colour.

"Yes though this is the bottom of the spectrum of that colour we'll heat it a touch more." Fuin said continuing to pump the bellows for a few moments longer until it was just a touch brighter, and then she held the heavy bellows shut and watched Cala as well as the metal. The heating went well, Cala was fast on the first, and with the second pump she was closer, until after that she was on the mark or inside the acceptable limit either way. Fuin was quite impressed with this as it was something that took a good amount of practice, though she supposed the only thing that Cala did have practice with was in fact watching and learning the colour of metals so she should be better at this than most apprentices.

As the last pump of the bellow was finished Fuin smiled looking at Cala. "Right a few seconds and it will be time for you to do the hardening quench. Get the tongs ready." And a few moments later the newest hammer head for the smith was hissing and steaming up the forge as it was dunked in the water bath.

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@I Said What I Said
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Cala was quite pleased she was able to do so well with keeping the hammer at the right temperature. She'd been nervous, but it went quite well actually. All the time spent at nights watching the metals heat and cool and everything had paid off, it seemed. And now the hammer was very close to being done and she couldn't wait to see it finished. She made sure the bellows were locked before she went to grab the tongs, then dropped it into the bucket when Fuin said. She grinned, watching the steam hiss up from the bucket. That reminded her to drink some water, and finished off what was left in her cup. "Do you want some more water?" She asked before going to get more.

Returning, she peeked in at the hammer in the water bucket. "How long does it have to sit in there before we can attach a handle?" She asked, then added, "What'll we use for a handle?" She frowned at that. It surely wouldn't be made of metal, since that might get too heavy, but there must be something Fuin had in mind. And of course, she was curious as to how they would go about attaching the handle. "So this is a flat head hammer?" She asked after a moment, sipping slowly on her water. "Will we be making the other kind next? You mentioned a ball pin hammer, yesterday, right?"
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
Fuin
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Fuin smiled "Yes please" She called as Cala rushed off to get more water. When she came back she peaked in the bucket. "We'll need to let it sit for a little bit, we have a few other things to do soon hopefully in the mean time." She said licking her lips and taking the cup of water from Cala.

"The coal we ordered should be arriving soon, so we will need to store it first, and then we will need to look at the wooden scraps left over upstairs find one that is big enough and in good enough shape to be turned into a handle for this hammer, possibly get two pieces that will work in that manner." She sat debating on how she would create a cut to wedge the handle in the eye. normally they would have a saw and a few other thing, though she did have a small hand saw for making camp in her pack upstairs. It wasn't the best for this and was close to dull from travel but it would work well enough to make one handle. Then she stopped and looked at the hammer they had been using and smiled. Sometimes she was a fool for her age.

"Yes this is a flat head hammer, we'll not be making the other sort next though it's called a ball peen rather than ball pin, next is a file. I have a small saw for making camp in my pack that we can use until we make a saw for the forge, but it's dull and needs all the help it can get so we can make handles, we're going to be stealing the handle from the hammer you have for the flat head." She said with a smile and then frowned looking outside at the day. "It's very close to noon. How good is Rada at telling time?" She asked realizing she had never really sent the young boy off with a time to be back before. Perhaps he didn't know time as well and she'd set him up to get in trouble?

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@I Said What I Said
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


"Peen.. right. Peen." She tried to get the word committed to memory. She was a little surprised that Fuin had the same idea about finding a handle for the hammer among the bits and pieces of wood. "What about a chair leg?" She suggested, wondering if that would do. If they hadn't already burned all of those, that is. She couldn't remember what all they'd used for the fire so far. She was curious to see the hammer when it was all done, and couldn't wait to finally get a few more tools to work with.

The thought of taking the handle off of the hammer they were currently using was intriguing. She looked at it, wondering how hard it would be to get it off. "That's brilliant." She grinned. "And then, I guess we can use the metal for something else, can't we? Perhaps reshape it into a different sort of hammer? Would that work?" She wondered, looking at it. The head was rather small, so she figured it wouldn't work to use it for much, but maybe something small.

The question about Radaron caught her off guard. She hadn't really thought much about him, having been used to letting him run around all day if he wanted, since it was so difficult to keep him contained for very long. Honestly, up until now, she was amazed that he'd stuck close without much complaint, and figured it had to be merely due to the fact there was an elf around, and they were getting lots of nice treats and he was intrigued about what sort of fun adventure to expect next. Now that things were settling down into a routine, she figured he would revert back to running around playing all day without any care. "Um." She paused to think on that question. "He can tell when it's mealtime, that's for sure." She smiled. "By the fact his stomach will let him know."
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
Fuin
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Fuin smiled. "Peening is what it is called when you make rounded shapes out of metal, like helms or metal chest plates or bracers Or even cups." She said explaining what peen meant so that Cala would have some sort of context for why it was called what it was.

"You know what might be useful from the old hammer head? making a circular metal punch that we don't harden until we finish the ball peen hammer, as if we don't we will end up having to re harden your other chisel a third time and we shouldn't press our luck with it I don't think." Fuin said with a smile.

Cala stopped when she questioned her about Rada and telling time. "Hmmm perhaps we shall have to teach him how to tell at least roughly the time of day. Especially if he doesn't return soon." She was about to suggest they send him to an actual school where he could learn letters and numbers and play with other kids when there was a knock at the door and Fuin smiled. "That will be the coal, Rada would undoubtedly walk in without knocking." She said and headed for the forges front door and swung it open. A young man a bit older than Cala stood there and frowned,

"Uhhh Is the Blacksmith in?" He asked and Fuin laughed.

"I am," The young man blushed clearly not having expected women to be in the smithy taking a glance at Cala with her leather apron and gloves on

"I uh... I"ve got your coal order where are we putting it?"

"We've got a storage area under the stairs it will be kept at the back." Fuin said and waved for Cala to come and help with carrying the heavy 25lb bags

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@I Said What I Said
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


"Ohh, I see." She nodded, sipping some water, and thought about this new word and what it meant. She tilted her head as she listened to Fuin's idea for the old hammer, and smiled. "That's a good idea. I don't even remember what the original one was made from, but it was just some old scrap of something, and it's probably been shaped and reshaped a few times by now."

She smiled a little at the comment Radaron. "I figure he'll be back soon enough, he'll be wanting lunch." She was a bit surprised by the knock on the door, but then Fuin's mention of the coal delivery explained it. And sure enough, that's exactly what it was. She smiled a little at the boy's reaction, and went to grab one of the bags, leaving her gloves on the table since she didn't need them for this. The boy looked surprised, and went to get it before she did. "Miss, these are..pretty heavy, you'll probably want to let me do that." He told her.

Cala frowned, folding her arms as she watched him put the bag up on his shoulder to carry it. She rolled her eyes and grabbed one of the remaining bags without much trouble. The boy glanced back and looked surprised as she carried it over to the area Fuin had spoken of. Having carried heavier things before, like Radaron, Cala hardly thought a thing about it as she went back for another bag, much to the boy's astonishment.
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
Fuin
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Fuin smirked slightly at the young man that was trying to be polite to Cala. "She's black smithing apprentice. She has to be able to carry them." Fuin laughed picking up a sack as well, the poor things eyes were wide and his mouth ended up hanging open by the end.

"But... and." in the end he'd carried two sacks while Fuin and Cala had carried three, Fuin raised an eyebrow waiting for him to make some sort of coherent sentence. "You're an ELF!"

Fuin let out a slow nod. "Yes I am." The young man looked at her and Cala and then the white forge that seemed to gleam compared to every forge he'd seen before.

"This is an ELF FORGE." Again another nod.

"Indeed it is, looking at your cart you have other deliveries to make." Fuin said gently knowing that he was simply excited about what he was seeing rather than actually being rude about it on purpose.

"Oh, yes ma'am. Thanks for your order!" With that he rushed out. Fuin shook her head. "Well Cala, if Rada's talking didn't get peoples attention about the forge that young man is going to be talking about the elf forge with the female apprentice." Fuin chuckled. "If nothing else in a few days we are going to be getting a number of people coming in just to see the that." Fuin shook her head. "I don't think he even registered that I'm also a woman." She picked up the old hammer that they'd been using and looked it over finding the wedge that was keeping it in place. "Lets get this wedge out and get the handle out so we can put it into the flat head hammer and get started on the file."

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@I Said What I Said
Calaerdis and Radaron



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Cala couldn't help giggling at the expression on the boy's face as he tried to process the whole strange scene before him. She grinned, watching the scene between him and Fuin, which was hilarious. The poor guy probably had never seen an elf before and it was rather comical, though she did feel a little sorry for him for being so speechless about the whole thing. She bit her lip, trying her best to hold back her laughter until at least he had left. She leaned back against the edge of the table, laughing for a few minutes once he'd left. "Oh... that was so funny. Poor boy, he looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head!" She giggled for a moment longer before finally calming the giggles.

It was time to return to work now. She was still smiling in amusement about the whole thing as she retrieved her gloves and went to see what she'd be doing now.

At that moment, Radaron burst in, breathless and shouting excitedly about something. Cala turned in bafflement. "What? Little Brother, quiet down.. no need to shout. What's were you saying? I couldn't understand you at all."

"I made some new friends! and they told me about this fun game, and I wanna play, can I? We're going to go play after lunch! Can we eat now?" He asked, bouncing up and down excitedly, eager to get lunch over with so he could go back to playing.

Cala blinked, caught off guard by this. "We..uh." She glanced at Fuin, unsure how to respond here. "We're about to make something. And I don't know, was there something you wanted him for, for after lunch?" She asked Fuin, unsure what all she had in mind. "We'll be having lunch soon, though." She added.
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Fuin smiled at Cala as she let out a laugh, the young woman laughed too rarely and this, this was a good hard laugh at the coal boys behaviour, and it was well worth laughing over as far as Fuin was concerned. "Indeed it was fun-" Rada bursting in cut her short and she turned shocked at the noise from him. Even Cala seemed to be at a loss.

"New friends? That is good to hear." Fuin said with a smile though started talking about this fun game. Fuin for her part raised an eyebrow. "What are your friends names and what is this game that you're going to play with them." Fuin said calmly as she handed the old hammer to Cala in preperation for removing the handle from it. They weren't ready to eat quite yet but once they finished this then they would go and have lunch - something that the children had only gotten use to being a rgular occurance in the past week now if they didn't have all their meals they got a bit moody as even Fuin was wont to do when she hadn't eaten often enough.

"Cala you see how there is that piece of wood in the center of the handle? She pointed at a piece that clearly wasn't a part of the main handle it was a thin wedge and didn't seem like it would do much. "That is what holds the handle in place, it forces the main portion of the handle to be flared out so it can't slid back through the eye of the hammer." Fuin said and glanced at Rada.

"Do you know what your friends parents do for a living?" She asked this because there were very few street urchins on the second level, with no one to teach them the password they almost didn't exist which likely meant that they were children primarily of other merchants who lived on this level. "Which shops they own?" She didn't mind the idea of Radaron having homeless friends, had had a feeling Cala would be asking to let the doors stay open in the cold winter months and Fuin, well. She wasn't sure how she was going to break it to Cala that any children on this level that lost both their parents were more likely to end up in an orphanage with people to feed and care for them then they were to live on the streets, or they'd have family that would take them in. There were few poor merchants on this level.

Once the wedge was pried free the head of the hammer slipped of with shocking ease and it was time to put the handle onto the flat head. It went in with ease, probably because of the wear and tear from being used and then they started to push the wedge in, until they couldn't push with their hands any more and Fuin grabbed the mid grade iron ingot and thumped it down on the top of the wedge driving it firmly into the small gap in the handle flaring it out trapping the handle in place.

"Congratulations Cala, you have your first true blacksmithing hammer." Fuin said with a smile. "Now lets lock the door and go have ourselves some lunch. And we'll figure out what you're going to do Rada as you need to learn and practice your letters and possibly go to school at some point as Cala and I will get too busy to teach you." With that she grabbed the cup she'd been drinking water and started up the stairs.

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@I Said What I Said
Calaerdis and Radaron



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Cala listened curiously to Fuin's question to Rada, things she wouldn't have thought to ask about.
Radaron blinked at Fuin, caught off guard by all these questions. He also never thought to ask his friends about such things. "I dunno." He shrugged. "Didn't ask." He watched as they took apart Cala's hammer, and put the handle on a new one that looked different.

Cala was a bit amazed, watching how easily that was done. She hadn't ever thought much about taking the handle off of a hammer, and was quite impressed at how simple it was. She held up the new hammer, grinning. "Look, Little Brother." She showed him happily. "I have a real smithing hammer!"

"It looks different!" He said, wide-eyed. "Did you make it?"

"I did! Well, with Fuin's help, of course." She grinned. "What about that game your friends want to play?"

"Oh, something with a ball, I don't know exactly how it works but I will once I get to play. They just said it's really fun and I should play with them, and they need another kid to play so they have the right number." He grinned. "I can't wait to find out more!"

Hearing that it was now time to go have lunch, Radaron cheered. Cala smiled a little and went to lock up the shop. "Well, you can find out about your friends' families after lunch."

"Alright! I'll ask them all and find out everything you want to know." He said to Fuin, not sure why it mattered.

Cala smiled a little as she finished locking up and started upstairs.

"Oh! Cala, are you gonna be making horse shoes?" Radaron asked, curious. She paused, glancing from him to Fuin. "I don't know.. why?"

"Cause, we need some for another game." He grinned. "One of my new friends said they throw them at these poles and try to get them as close as you can, and it's lots of fun, he said." He shrugged. "I thought maybe you could make us some."
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Fuin nodded hearing the game involved a ball. She was glad it didn't involve anything like a cart. That was the biggest reason she wanted to know what he was going to play. Knowing kids parents was, well that was something that her parents had always asked her though her playing with children when she had been younger.

Cala was quite proud of her work on the hammer, indeed it was a thing to be proud of soon they would have enough tools that the two of them would be able to work fairly easily, tomorrow would be the last day before they opened Tomorrow she would make small knives and a larger sword as well as some practical items that Cala would be able to practice making on her own like carving knives for meat, or candle holders. She'd talked about pins. Fuin would teach her how to make those as well, good enough the tailors and seamstresses would be clamoring for her to make them pins as often as they could get her to. Cala would undoubtedly hate making pins properly Fuin hated it tedious annoying nonsense.

THey headed upstairs and pulled out a bit of food and were eating, a bit of fruit a bit of meat and some bread, as well as plenty of water.

"Perhaps eventually we will work with horse shoes but that is a very specific type of black smithing and we don't have the equipment or space for it yet. For the most part horse shoes get recycled into a horses new shoes when they get reshod, or made into something else. So I don't think you'll find too many horseshoes to play with. Perhaps the next time I go out to get coal from the cave I'll take you with me while Cala holds down the forge making sure orders are taken and basic items are available and you can look for thrown horseshoes while we are out." Fuin said with a shrug. That of course wouldn't be until late spring at the earliest. "THough Cala might be able to make you horseshoe shaped bits from some of the scrap you brought" She said finishing up her lunch and sitting back.

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@I Said What I Said
Calaerdis and Radaron



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Cala nodded a little at that. "Yes, perhaps eventually. We have more important things to make right now. We're working on making a lot of tools that we can use," She told Radaron. "So we can make nicer things, like swords and stuff." She grinned. "Maybe you ought to show your friends some of the things I made for you back when we lived in the other place?" She suggested.
"Ooh, the twisty nail thing?" He grinned. "I did! They loved that. I think they'll want to get some, will you be making more?"
"I should be able to do that, it was simple enough." She shrugged. "But probably not right away."

Radaron grinned. "Good! Can I go play now?" He asked hopefully, remembering his friends would be waiting. "I won't forget to ask all the stuff, about their parents and everything." He added, bouncing a little in his seat. He also couldn't wait to get to go back to the cave. "When'll we go back to the cave?" He asked Fuin, wondering how long he'd have to play before they would be leaving, or if it was going to be a few days still, or what. "Do you think I'll find a lot of horse shoes?" He wondered, having not seen any the last time, but then he wasn't looking for any, either.
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

"We won't be going back to the cave until spring, I'll need to make sure there is a horse and cart available for that trip, and I'll need Cala well enough versed to be able to stay at the forge and keep running it while we are gone." Fuin said calmly watching Rada bounce a little amused at the sheer amount of energy the child had. "When you ask them questions you know they are going to ask back, you can let them know you're being raised by an elf." Fuin said, "That ought to impress them a bit as well." Fuin nodded, the nail puzzle was something that Cali most certainly could do over the next few weeks in between bigger orders.

"Wash up and then yes you can go play. We're going to have to talk about you going to school sometime, especially if your friends are going to school." Fuin said calmly. Of course she had no doubt that Rada would be a bit behind school wise, but she would be able to help him catch up fairly quickly she figured especially if it meant catching up to new friends, it was never fun to have to try to catch up to people. "Be back before dark."

Fuin looked at Cala, "I suppose we should get back to work, we've got another chisel punch to make, a hammer, and a file and then we'll be fixing your tongs up and hopefully making another set of those as well so we can both work fairly quickly." She stood and began putting things away and cleaning up before heading to the door that lead back down to the forge.

Once they were getting settle back in Fuin unlocked the bellows and gave the coals which were now cooled mostly a few times flaring them back to life before putting another shovelful of coal onto them. Once Rada was gone she looked at Cala. "I know he's not going to find many if any orphans or homeless children here on the second level, after all the two of you couldn't get up here without the password so it will be interesting to see how he adapts once he realizes all of his friends are very likely going to school as well. It might make him far more willing to learn his letters and numbers and practice them." Fuin said with a small shrug and motioned for Cala to put the old hammer head into the forge as well as the remainder of the ingot that they'd started working so they could make a second chisel, this one would be a round punch as well as a file.

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@I Said What I Said
Calaerdis and Radaron



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Once they had finished eating, Cala watched Radaron run off to wash up as Fuin said, smiling a little. "I hadn't thought about that," She mentioned in reply to Fuin commenting that there would be very few orphans around here. "I don't really know much about his friends from the first level. Once he got big enough to run around and play, it was hard to keep up with him.. and trying to keep him close to me while I was trying to work was nearly impossible, so.. it was a lot easier to let him run off and play so I could work and try to get enough money to feed us." She admitted quietly, feeling a little bad for her poor child-raising technique. "I hope he'll adapt well to school... but.." She paused, frowning slightly. "Doesn't that cost something? I always figured that was something we'd never be able to afford, and.. I knew letters and numbers enough to teach him a little."

She followed Fuin downstairs, waving to Radaron as he ran back out to play with his friends. "So, this is going to be a new chisel," She looked at the old hammer head, and put it into the coals, along with the rest of the ingot as Fuin had indicated. "I've made those, but never a file. I know I've seen those before, but I'm not sure how to make them. Is it very difficult?" She frowned a bit as she watched the coals grow hotter, wondering how much they'd be getting finished before night forced them to stop. "How long do we have until customers start to come, anyway? I'm sure Radaron has been telling all his friends about it, and they'll tell their families.." She wondered how swarmed they'd be once they officially opened.
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

"Understandable, but at this point it would look poor that he doesn't go to school, you on the other hand, I figure I can teach you well enough how to smith and how to do your letters and numbers and read better than you do at the moment, but first we need you to be able to do the smithing. I won't have time to teach Rada so spending a few silver a month on schooling after everything else I spent is hardly expensive. So it will be easier to pay for him to go and learn and if his friends are with him in school he may take to it a bit better." Fuin said giving Cala a gentle smile. "And don't apologize for how you raised your brother, you were a child raising a child, you're goal was to survive expecting more of you than that with the skills you had would be cruel and a disservice to what you did manage to do."

That said it was time really to start working on the new chisel Fuin pointed out the hammer head was ready while the ingot was still heating. "You've made one of these before let's see you do it again, I'll take care of the forge and bellows for the ingot - just remember the hammer you're using is heavier than the last one you had it's going to take more work to lift it, and it's going to move metal far faster than the old one so keep that in mind." Fuin for her part stood by the bellows where she would be able to watch Cala and step in if she needed help. "And yes files can be difficult to make but I will do the hard part as it has to be done a certain way or it will not work so you'll have to watch on the first file for that part, however you will get to make the blank file shape for me." Fuin said watching the ingot, slowing down her pace a bit in terms of pumping the bellows not wanting to overheat the metal while Cala was working on changing the hammer to a chisel.

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@I Said What I Said
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Thinking on the point Fuin made about the school, Cala nodded thoughtfully. She hoped though, that with them paying however much per month, that Radaron would actually enjoy the school. She had no idea what school was like, and feared that he might resent not being able to play all day. But then, if they were all in school, then it would make sense that he'd want to be with his friends. Otherwise, he'd be bored and have no one to play with until school let out. He might eventually become jealous of the other kids for going to school if he wasn't, so she hoped that would encourage him to pay attention to the lessons and things as well.

"Right, same as I did before." She paused to listen to Fuin's warnings about the hammer, and nodded slightly. She sort of remembered how heavy the smith's hammer had been the very few times she'd used it, but then.. she'd been several years younger then. Hopefully it wouldn't be too difficult. She began to work, and discovered that it was a bit tricky using this hammer. It was indeed a good deal heavier, and harder to control. She frowned, worried she'd smashed the metal out too much with the first blow, and tried to be a lot more careful as she worked on trying to achieve the proper shape. "It is heavier," She commented, a bit nervous about messing up now that she was using an unfamiliar hammer. Strange how something like that could throw a person off so much.

Eventually she held it up with the tongs, frowning a bit critically at the piece. "I think it's alright." She decided, relieved that she hadn't messed it up. Turning it a couple of different angles, she paused and frowned. "Oh.. it's a little crooked." She frowned in disappointment, worried she might smash it or something in trying to fix that. "We'll need to heat it again, won't we?" She guessed, thinking it looked a bit too cool to do anything to it right now. "I hope it won't take too long to get used to this hammer." She glanced at the new hammer. It would definitely be useful with some stuff, but not so much for little taps and things.
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Fuin nodded, indeed she was surprised that Cala had done as well as she had, sometimes it was good to let an apprentice fail at something so that they knew that it did happen and perfection could not always be achieved. "We will I'll straighten it up for you, that way it goes a little bit faster." She said and took over as it were. It was still going to be a teaching moment but Cala wasn't going to get to practice it quite yet, mostly because it did take a lot of strength to keep from over using the weight of this sort of hammer.

Once the now crooked chisel was back to a lovely orange hot glow Fuin pulled it from the forge and set it on the anvil itself, it wanted to lay on its side so that the curve was visible but Fuin held it so that it sat curve would be hammered down into the face of the anvil. "So to make sure you don't go crooked, the best bet is to always make sure it's laying fully on the anvil face and roll it as you go around." Fuin said, hitting the chisel a few times flattening it out quickly, she then rolled it a bit and did a few more strokes and repeated this process all the way around until she'd rolled the chisel fully about once and it rolled nice and smoothly, She checked to make sure the centered punch was equally level and set happy with it she set it aside. "Good that is the one we are going to keep untreated for now in terms of tempering and hardening simply because we will need the other more with its flat cutting edge. Lets get started on the file now, the ingot should be nice and hot already it's been waiting patiently off to the side of the coal bed." Fuin said handing the flat head hammer back to Cala and pulling the metal out with the tongs and setting it onto the anvil as she had with the chisel.

"So this one because we are sort of cheating and not using a chisel to punch through I want you to hammer the edge closest to you down until it is only about the thickness of your thumb. and as long as your arm from wrist to elbow.

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@I Said What I Said
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Cala watched while Fuin fixed the bend in the punch, nodding slightly to herself as she noted how easily it was done. There were many things she had watched the smith in the first circle do, but hadn't really known why or anything, or sometimes, even what he was doing exactly. Now she was getting to learn it for herself, and it was very nice. The finished punch looked very nice, and she was quite glad that it had turned out so well even if she did mess it up a little.

As she took the ingot carefully from the fire, trying not to let it slip from the tongs, she tried to keep in mind how heavy the hammer was. Now that she had used it, she was more prepared for how it worked, and concentrated on trying to do just as Fuin had said. After hammering a few times she paused to check how thick it was, and then continued with her work. It went surprisingly fast, with how much heavier this hammer was, and she paused once she realized she may have got it slightly too thin in a couple of spots. "I think I hit it too hard here.. and here.. is that alright?" She frowned, a bit concerned she may have messed it up.
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom


Fuin looked at the work that Cala had done so far with the file blank and nodded. Indeed there were parts of it that were a bit thinner than she'd said but Fuin could still work with it. "It's alright I'll take over from here though as we're going to be doing something a bit weird compared to what we have been doing." She said and took up the hammer and the tongs from Cala. She put the heavy portion of the ingot so that it was hanging off of the anvil with the files blank safely resting on the anvil itself and looked at Cala. "Watch your feet." She warned and brought the hammer down on the ingot bending it off of the form twisting the metal and pulling it before tipping it the other way and with one extra hard hit once it was starting to cool down it snapped off and went tumbling. Fuin had to lift her foot to avoid the ingot falling and hitting her foot.

"Normally we don't do that but we don't have a chisel right now, so we can't cut it off with that chisel because that sort of thing is dangerous as you can tell from that." Fuin said reaching down with the tongs and picking up the ingot putting it aside once more before picking up the file blank and putting it back in the forge. "So I'm going to refine the shape and then I'm going to make sure it's perfectly flat." She explained as she reheated the blank before pulling it out when it was nice and bright orange once again. It took her several strikes to get the end straightened back out after it had been twisted and warped with how she had broken it off of the ingot itself. and then she began making sure the file was all one thickness and the width was the same as well. It took several more heatings in order to perfect the shape and then it was time to start outing in the strafing so that when she hardened it it would function as a file. She found a nail in the pile of scraps that Rada had brought that was in excellent shape that was properly hardened and not too badly corroded just not useful as a singular nail and began the task of scraping in straight lines into the file. Every once in a while she needed to reheat the blank and continue until the entire length of the one side, and then she flipped it over and did the same thing with even tighter lines closer to each other before putting it and their first chisel into the forge again.

'Alright I put the chisel in closer to the center because it is thicker and the file closer to the edge. Let's see if we can get both of these hardened at the same time and then we will start in on the hammer that I think you will like more." Fuin said with a smile knowing full well that the ball peen hammer was going to be tricky to do with the flat head but with the chisels and the file she was certain that they would be able to do it.

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@I Said What I Said
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Watching curiously at how Fuin got the piece broken off, Cala stepped back a little bit to avoid being too near the hot metal when it fell. "I can definitely say I have never seen anyone do that." She laughed. "It is much harder to do things when you haven't got all the tools you need," She commented, wishing they were further along in making the tools they needed. But they'd get there before long. She was quite intrigued to learn how to make a file.

She moved over to work the bellows as Fuin took over the hammering out the file. Then, seeing her get a nail, she was confused and watched with even more curiosity, until she realized what she was doing with it. "Ohh! That's how they do that!" She had wondered how they got the lines, and grinned as she saw how simple it was, now. "I should've thought of that." She watched her finish up putting the lines in it, then nodded as she was instructed to operate the bellows while they hardened the pieces.

It would be much more tricky with there being two items, and she was a little nervous. She had done well enough with the hammer, but this time she had to keep an eye on both items and make sure they were both the same color, and that was a little more difficult, but she would definitely try her best not to have to be told when to do the bellows.
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom


Fuin smiled "Yes it's quite tricky without all the proper tools, normally to make files I'd use a finer pick than this nail but this will work perfectly for what we are doing right now. Eventually we will make a pick to make fancier finer files, and more hammers that we need as well as other specialized pieces but we need our basics for the time being." Fuin said with a smile. The two items in the forge at the same time would make it far more difficult to make sure they both stayed at the right temperature but with how they were placed it should make it easier. Fuin would also be keeping and eye and would move the file if it needed to be further away from the center of the coal bed but it was close to where it needed to be, she had enough years of experience doing this sort of thing so she tended to know how her forges heated and with what they'd made yesterday and today already she had a pretty solid idea of how this ones exact performance was working.

It took a bit and Fuin did end up moving the file a few inches further away from the chisel as it was getting too hot too fast and staying hotter than the chisel was they both hadn't gone out of critical heat at any point but they were getting close to going out of sync. Once she moved the file the two items started heating closer to evenly and several minutes later Fuin pulled the file out and quenched it and then the chisel.

"Excellent work Cala, we have the hammer left and then we can fix up the tongs and make another set." Fuin said with a smile. "Once we have those done we might even get some daggers started for display for people that are wanting to purchase things when they come in, we'll have to make some nails and a few things that are small like that for people that they'll want and need."

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@I Said What I Said
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Cala smiled, glad that it had gone well enough. But she was a little more glad that it was over, so she didn't have to worry about messing it up. "Now we have a file," She grinned, looking at it curiously. She'd never had that particular tool to work with. "What do we use it for, exactly? I know there are times I've seen other smiths use them, but.. I never had one before." She could hardly wait to get a shop full of tools and then she'd have exactly what she needed whenever she needed them, and could make all sorts of wonderful things.

Speaking of wonderful things, the mention of daggers was rather exciting. "Daggers? Will I get to make one of those?" She wondered. She'd never made anything like that before, and it was both exciting and a little intimidating, but more exciting than anything. But they couldn't do that until they had all the tools they needed. "So the ball peen hammer is next, right? How do we make that?" She looked at the one they'd made already. "I guess it's similar to that one, right? But smaller and with different shapes for the striking part, right?"
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Fuin pulled the file out after several moments looking at it pleased with how it looked. "We use this for honing blades until we need to use a whetstone, and for making sure surfaces are nice and flat as well as clean off any impurities that might get on the metal while we are heating it." Fuin said calmly. "Also axes are far better sharpened with a file than a whetstone." She said with a shrug, most people had no idea that one could sharpen an ax well enough with a file instead of a whetstone to do things like falling timber. "It's also good to do fine amounts of leveling instead of using a hammer." She said as they put the ingot back into the coal bed.

"I'll make this hammer it's shape takes a good bit of strength and control given we've only got a flat head but you can watch how I work." Fuin said with a smile. "And you can of course run the bellows."

Several minutes later she pulled the remaining portion of the ingot with the tongs and began working. slowly the shape started to form she rounded the piece out into a cylinder making a flat but circular head on one side that was about half the size of the flat head hammer. The other side she hit at an angle making a collar and forcing a portion of the hot metal further before she had to reheat it. The second go she finished making the collar and then started rounding that side of the hammer until it was half of a sphere, as close to perfect and round as she could get it with the massive hammer.

One more heating and she punched the eye for the handle out with the re-hardened chisel they'd just finished and fixed up the flat head which deformed slightly from the movement of the metal, once it was close she took the file they'd just used and used it to fix up the last minor issues before setting the hammer head into the forge to get to temperature. "Time to harden it, I think this hammer will be much easier for you to deal with instead of the flat head, it'll be lighter and a slightly smaller face to it which will be closer to what you were use to."

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@I Said What I Said
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Cala nodded, moving back to the bellows. She was getting a little tired, since everything was so much bigger than what she was used to, and she didn't used to ever work for so long periods at a time, but she knew she could keep going a while longer. It was exciting, making new equipment to make the forge even better. She was both disappointed, and slightly relieved that Fuin would be making the other hammer. Partly disappointed, because she was curious to get to make one herself, but also relieved, because then she didn't have to worry about accidentally messing it up.

As Fuin worked on shaping the new hammer, Cala watched intently, trying to memorize how it was done, in case she ever needed to do this herself, maybe at a time when Fuin wasn't there. She hoped she'd remember how to do all of this, in fact. She'd learned a great deal of things about forging in the last few days, and was afraid she would only remember about half of it, but tried to hold onto it in her head as much as possible.

Finally, the new hammer was shaped, and she was quite impressed with how easy Fuin made that look. "It does look much easier to use," She agreed, grinning as she got ready to run the bellows for the hardening. She was getting a bit more accustomed to doing this, and while each thing was a different thickness and size, she had a bit prior experience in that regard, and so she found it fairly easy to watch for the right color, now that she'd done it a few times now. Once the hardening process was finished, she wondered what they'd use for a handle on it, and was also rather looking forward to testing out this new hammer, and hoped Fuin was right in saying it would be easier for her to use.
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

High Lord of Imladris
Points: 5 208 
Posts: 2755
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:53 am
September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Fuin nodded, indeed the hammer head she just made was easily half of the weight of the first hammer that they had made. After a while of Cala running the bellows getting the hammer head to the right temperature and then keeping it there Fuin pulled it out and set the chisel that they hadn't hardened yet into the coals to heat it up to soften the hardening around the eye so that it would be more malleable than the faces of the hammer would be.

"Keep pumping we need that chisel hot to treat this the same way we did the flat head." With that she pulled the hammer head from the coal bed and dunked it into the quench bucket, with the same angry hiss that had been filling the forge multiple times so far today as the smaller hammer was hardened with the sudden drop in temperature of the metal. She left it in the quench bucket until the chisel was hot and she pulled it out and put it onto the anvil itself before pulling the chisel from the coal bead and slid it into the eye of the hammer and motioned that Cala could lock the bellows and take a break.

"I'm sure you'll be happy for the break for your arms." Fuin said with a small smile, "if you want you can run upstairs and see what sort of wood is up there from the bed frames that we can salvage to turn into the handle of this particular handle. Then perhaps we will take a break so that we can shape the handle as that will take a bit of work before we start in on a set of tongs before we fix the set that you made with the mid grade iron as we don't need the iron to be as hard for tongs as it does for a hammer." As she talked the heat transferred slowly from the chisel to the head of the hammer just enough so that it only affected the eye leaving them with an exceptionally strong and durable hammer once the managed to get the handle into it.

"Perhaps while I work on shaping the handle you can massage your own arms a bit to keep them from hurting too badly." Fuin said as the chisel and the hammer head slowly began to cool down.

Steward of Gondor
Points: 5 578 
Posts: 2648
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:12 pm
@I Said What I Said
Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle


Cala watched the process with intrigue as she continued to pump the bellows, her arms aching, but she would keep on until the task was finished. She vaguely wondered how things would have gone if she had ended up being that other smith's apprentice. Probably not very well, honestly. She smiled a little, thinking about how very lucky she was, that not only did she have a much better smith to teach her things, but Fuin was a much kinder person, and on top of that, she now had her own forge, rather than merely working for someone else's, and she didn't have to worry about Radaron, and just..everything about her life had improved drastically in the last couple of weeks, and despite her arms hurting, she couldn't be happier.

At last Fuin gave the word, and Cala gladly locked the bellows and rubbed her aching arms. "Thanks." She smiled, looking more closely at the hammer they were nearly finished with, before nodding and heading upstairs. "I'll bring more water down, as well." She called back. Upstairs, she searched around the pile of wood, pulling out a few pieces that she thought might work, then at last decided on a chair leg that looked pretty sturdy, and was already shaped fairly close to being comfortable for a hammer grip. She paused to fill up their cups with water, returning with the leg tucked under one arm and a glass in each hand. "At some point, we ought to make a pitcher or something so we can just keep it down here." She mentioned.
Last edited by Rillewen on Tue Mar 19, 2024 6:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

Post Reply