It was early for her, but well into night fall for others when she's arrived one evening to the forge Kruger used.
They had become friends rather quickly after meeting in the Outback and discovering a share affinity for ore. Weeks later she'd come across him with a new shipment of a curious ore he'd been commissioned to turn into a rather interesting set of weapons.
While she was no stranger to metals, yet the ways being worked them from plane to plane, planet to planet fascinated her and she'd asked to watch the work that could easily eat away few days time. She had no need for time and happily agreed.....
——————————————-
The heat of the forge made breathing difficult for those unused to it. Sulfur seemed to hang in the air with a palpable thickness that coated everything it came into contact with. Kruger was at home with it though, he'd spent more of his life in it than he had out. Whether that was something that could be removed he'd never considered. On a workbench metal fragments were arranged.
Some were pounded thin, he looked over those now, a heavy hammer in his hand. The pieces were darker than what was further down the bench, ingots in equal sizes though the colors of them went from grey to nearly black.
He looked at Val, did his best not to grin and started to lecture as if she were one of the students at the academy.
Valentina didn't mind the lecture at all. She even gave him a near cheesy grin back. She'd asked to learn after all, to watch at least to see how he worked this alloy.
"There is a way to tell, which pieces you fold into the metal that is only realized once you have hammered them all flat. The higher carbon steel shatters on impact." He brought the hammer down on the thinner piece, lifted it to display the jagged fragments.
"This is the key to tamahagane."
Laying the hammer aside he brushed a few of the bits into his palm and handed them over to her for inspection. She'd pulled her eyes away from the hammer that had just struck to her out stretched hand to take the fragments. She was dressed down today, simple black, no frills no lace. She even was able to go without her special contacts, something about fire was just different than daylight. She flipped them over in her fingers trying to read something that may or may not be there. She'd listened, she watched. Each place had it's own way, but this was that metal that had given her issues. Even rolling it before to try and learn it, well it just wasn't near the same.
"You talk well with it." for lack of a better phrase. It was all she could think to call what she did. But that was that It was hard for her sometimes to say what she meant, languages and words were not always universal. But a blind man could see he had a talent that few possessed.
Her statement was odd, the words were as close as any had come to knowing exactly what he did. She looked from the fragments to the ingots and then back to him. He nodded, small but abrupt in confirmation.
"I've listened for a long time." It was all he would offer on the matter for now. He repeated the process several times until he had a pile of the shards of metal. Then he produced some rice paper, spread it out and laid the ingot with the lightest color on top of it. Kruger used his fingers and sorted the shards placing the largest ones on top of the ingot. Then slowly building upwards biggest to smallest. He kept talking as he worked.
"The paper will be wrapped around the entire thing, to keep it together when it goes into the forge." He folded it, and placed a tie around it to keep the paper from opening. Then he added a clay like liquid over the top of it. "This will keep the paper from burning away too quickly."
The smith placed the bundle deep into the flames, his left hand went to the bellows chain, and began to pull it slowly in time with his own breathing. The flames jumped, and the temperature noticeably began to increase in the shop.
"There is no instant gratification using this method, every stage takes time and effort. But the end product will reflect the maker."
cont...
They had become friends rather quickly after meeting in the Outback and discovering a share affinity for ore. Weeks later she'd come across him with a new shipment of a curious ore he'd been commissioned to turn into a rather interesting set of weapons.
While she was no stranger to metals, yet the ways being worked them from plane to plane, planet to planet fascinated her and she'd asked to watch the work that could easily eat away few days time. She had no need for time and happily agreed.....
——————————————-
The heat of the forge made breathing difficult for those unused to it. Sulfur seemed to hang in the air with a palpable thickness that coated everything it came into contact with. Kruger was at home with it though, he'd spent more of his life in it than he had out. Whether that was something that could be removed he'd never considered. On a workbench metal fragments were arranged.
Some were pounded thin, he looked over those now, a heavy hammer in his hand. The pieces were darker than what was further down the bench, ingots in equal sizes though the colors of them went from grey to nearly black.
He looked at Val, did his best not to grin and started to lecture as if she were one of the students at the academy.
Valentina didn't mind the lecture at all. She even gave him a near cheesy grin back. She'd asked to learn after all, to watch at least to see how he worked this alloy.
"There is a way to tell, which pieces you fold into the metal that is only realized once you have hammered them all flat. The higher carbon steel shatters on impact." He brought the hammer down on the thinner piece, lifted it to display the jagged fragments.
"This is the key to tamahagane."
Laying the hammer aside he brushed a few of the bits into his palm and handed them over to her for inspection. She'd pulled her eyes away from the hammer that had just struck to her out stretched hand to take the fragments. She was dressed down today, simple black, no frills no lace. She even was able to go without her special contacts, something about fire was just different than daylight. She flipped them over in her fingers trying to read something that may or may not be there. She'd listened, she watched. Each place had it's own way, but this was that metal that had given her issues. Even rolling it before to try and learn it, well it just wasn't near the same.
"You talk well with it." for lack of a better phrase. It was all she could think to call what she did. But that was that It was hard for her sometimes to say what she meant, languages and words were not always universal. But a blind man could see he had a talent that few possessed.
Her statement was odd, the words were as close as any had come to knowing exactly what he did. She looked from the fragments to the ingots and then back to him. He nodded, small but abrupt in confirmation.
"I've listened for a long time." It was all he would offer on the matter for now. He repeated the process several times until he had a pile of the shards of metal. Then he produced some rice paper, spread it out and laid the ingot with the lightest color on top of it. Kruger used his fingers and sorted the shards placing the largest ones on top of the ingot. Then slowly building upwards biggest to smallest. He kept talking as he worked.
"The paper will be wrapped around the entire thing, to keep it together when it goes into the forge." He folded it, and placed a tie around it to keep the paper from opening. Then he added a clay like liquid over the top of it. "This will keep the paper from burning away too quickly."
The smith placed the bundle deep into the flames, his left hand went to the bellows chain, and began to pull it slowly in time with his own breathing. The flames jumped, and the temperature noticeably began to increase in the shop.
"There is no instant gratification using this method, every stage takes time and effort. But the end product will reflect the maker."
cont...