Ayreg left the Red Dragon again. Renna of the Dark became preoccupied with that Drakkhen again, so Ayreg took the moment to steal up to his room and retrieve his cloak. Stepping out into the blistering cold air of the rapidly darkening day, Ayreg made his way back to the forges.
At first, he looked over the specific wares available.. and shook his head. Nothing matched up to Jodiah's specific qualifications for a blade. The Death Knight pushed the smith out of the way, and moved into the smithy. Ayreg took hold of a long, thick stock of steel. Without even thinking about it, he stepped over to an anvil on the other side of the forge and tapped the stock against its edge. It made a nice ring. The steel had not been left in the slowfurnace too long. He smiled -- without the build-up of carbon from the slowfurnace, this blade would not be brittle, and not be easily broken. Pushing the stock into the hot coals for almost its entire length, Ayreg glanced only once at the three barrels near the anvil. Two were water, another was oil. He would be using the oil.
He took off his coat and shirt, choosing a leather vest and an apron to match it. When he arrived back at the anvil, he had two hammers and a set of tongs. He also retrieved a hot chisel -- for etching the blade as it made it's final cool. The bar of steel he left in the coals had turned to a dark red, so he worked the bellows, watching the color of the metal lighten, until it reached a yellow just short of white. Pulling the steel out with the tongs, he laid it on the anvil, and picked up the heavier of the two hammers.
He began by rounding the edges of the bar, then hammered the middle out into a broad blade. From time to time he returned the metal to the coals, to keep it at a pale yellow, and after a time he shifted to the lighter hammer for finer strokes.
After the initial shaping, he tossed the glowing metal into the barrel of oil. Unsalted water gave a hard quench, for the hardest metals like studs and files. Salted water gave a moderate quench, usually for tools. Oil gave the softest, for good knives. In this case... a good sword.
When the metal cooled to a dull gray, he removed it from the oil with the tongs and took it to the grinding wheel. A little slow work with the footpedals ground a polish onto the double-edged blade. Carefully, he heated the blade portion again. This time the colors deepened, to straw-colored, then to bronze-colored. When the bronze color began to run up the blade in waves, he set it onto the anvil again. The final edge would be sharpened when this air-cooled -- quenching again would destroy the tempering he had just done.
With the hot chisel, and the light hammer, Ayreg carefully etched the blade with icons of The Nihil, and his dark gods. While he didn't think they'd ever directly intervene on his behalf in a battle, it certainly never hurt to trust to hope. Besides... arcane gods of evil had some pretty cool-looking symbols.
When the icons and dressing was finished, Ayreg set the blade aside to cool. Another piece of stock was taken, wide but much smaller, and he formed a hilt out of it. Wide-hand guard with a thick pommel. Much thicker than most would think a sword requires, but that was thought by those who did not know warfare as the Death Knight did -- both sides of a blade could be deadly, not just the sharp one.
In the end, he dressed the large pommel up, giving it the rough appearance of a skull, attached hilt to blade, paid for the stock, and bought some leather wrap from the tailor. While not having a respectable sheath for it yet, Jodiah did feel a certain sense of satisfaction at, again, having a personally-forged weapon at his hip. This one might not be crafted out of souls, granted, but it's still a fine blade.
He made his way back to the inn to celebrate with some more of that disgusting ale.
((props to Robert Jordan for his description of metal-working I was able to infer from))
At first, he looked over the specific wares available.. and shook his head. Nothing matched up to Jodiah's specific qualifications for a blade. The Death Knight pushed the smith out of the way, and moved into the smithy. Ayreg took hold of a long, thick stock of steel. Without even thinking about it, he stepped over to an anvil on the other side of the forge and tapped the stock against its edge. It made a nice ring. The steel had not been left in the slowfurnace too long. He smiled -- without the build-up of carbon from the slowfurnace, this blade would not be brittle, and not be easily broken. Pushing the stock into the hot coals for almost its entire length, Ayreg glanced only once at the three barrels near the anvil. Two were water, another was oil. He would be using the oil.
He took off his coat and shirt, choosing a leather vest and an apron to match it. When he arrived back at the anvil, he had two hammers and a set of tongs. He also retrieved a hot chisel -- for etching the blade as it made it's final cool. The bar of steel he left in the coals had turned to a dark red, so he worked the bellows, watching the color of the metal lighten, until it reached a yellow just short of white. Pulling the steel out with the tongs, he laid it on the anvil, and picked up the heavier of the two hammers.
He began by rounding the edges of the bar, then hammered the middle out into a broad blade. From time to time he returned the metal to the coals, to keep it at a pale yellow, and after a time he shifted to the lighter hammer for finer strokes.
After the initial shaping, he tossed the glowing metal into the barrel of oil. Unsalted water gave a hard quench, for the hardest metals like studs and files. Salted water gave a moderate quench, usually for tools. Oil gave the softest, for good knives. In this case... a good sword.
When the metal cooled to a dull gray, he removed it from the oil with the tongs and took it to the grinding wheel. A little slow work with the footpedals ground a polish onto the double-edged blade. Carefully, he heated the blade portion again. This time the colors deepened, to straw-colored, then to bronze-colored. When the bronze color began to run up the blade in waves, he set it onto the anvil again. The final edge would be sharpened when this air-cooled -- quenching again would destroy the tempering he had just done.
With the hot chisel, and the light hammer, Ayreg carefully etched the blade with icons of The Nihil, and his dark gods. While he didn't think they'd ever directly intervene on his behalf in a battle, it certainly never hurt to trust to hope. Besides... arcane gods of evil had some pretty cool-looking symbols.
When the icons and dressing was finished, Ayreg set the blade aside to cool. Another piece of stock was taken, wide but much smaller, and he formed a hilt out of it. Wide-hand guard with a thick pommel. Much thicker than most would think a sword requires, but that was thought by those who did not know warfare as the Death Knight did -- both sides of a blade could be deadly, not just the sharp one.
In the end, he dressed the large pommel up, giving it the rough appearance of a skull, attached hilt to blade, paid for the stock, and bought some leather wrap from the tailor. While not having a respectable sheath for it yet, Jodiah did feel a certain sense of satisfaction at, again, having a personally-forged weapon at his hip. This one might not be crafted out of souls, granted, but it's still a fine blade.
He made his way back to the inn to celebrate with some more of that disgusting ale.
((props to Robert Jordan for his description of metal-working I was able to infer from))