Closed [The Ironworks] The Foundation (Kai')

Baelin and Kai work to build an anvil's base.

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[The Ironworks] The Foundation (Kai')

Postby Baelin Holt on October 8th, 2015, 5:39 am

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40, Fall of 515 AV

Baelin rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the knot of tension in them as he stared down at the anvil and the collection of wood and tools around it. He wondered again why Ros had given him this assignment. The Eiyon preferred to not ask questions, and when tasked with building a base for a new anvil he had simply nodded his head and accepted. But now that it was actually time to do it he couldn’t help but wonder why.

Chunks of wood lay sprawled in the corner of the Ironworks that Ros had set him up in. Ros had given him a broad axe to cut the wood to size, several chisels of different sizes and shapes, an auger to drill in holes, two mallets surrounded by a pile of wooden pegs, and a few hammers next to a pile of nails.

Which would all be great if he knew anything about carpentry. He wished he had sat in whenever his aunt was teaching his cousin woodworking. Then maybe he wouldn’t feel so out of place right now. He truly did loath not being able to get a job done.

The broad man felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder. Baelin instinctively jerked at the touch and twisted around in time to see his superior’s eyes flash with the hint of amusement.

The amusement at his expense was gone as quickly as it had come and Fredrick’s expression was back to business. “You ready?” The older man’s smirk was part friendly and part challenging.

Baelin had grown to like the more senior armorer’s sense of humor. He still instinctively bristled at Fredrick’s sometimes abrasive personality, his gut telling him he was being teased and should retaliate, but the impulse always faded now as they two slipped into a professional familiarity.

The half-Dhani shot an apprehensive glance at the pile of woodworking tools and pressed his lips grimly together in wordless response. Fredrick barked a laugh. “No worries, lad. Ros hired some laborer to assist, you won’t be going it alone.”

That did indeed make Baelin feel a little better. He felt the slightest amount of that tension in his shoulders ease. Yet the rest of the strain remained as an uncomfortable reminder that he was out of his depth. His superior snorted at the sight of Baelin’s grimace.

“It’ll be fine,” Fredrick assured him again. Baelin nodded tightly, accepting what Fredrick was telling him but not quite believing him. Fredrick huffed, shook his head, and then left the half-Dhani to his own thoughts.

Baelin sucked in a deep breath, held it for a few moments, and then let it hiss through his teeth. Nothing to do but start, he thought uneasily. He didn’t know when the rumored help would arrive and Baelin couldn’t help but feel that standing around doing nothing would be stealing his pay from Ros.

Bending down, Baelin picked up one of the logs. He supposed he would have to shape it. The armorer stared down at the pile of tools and felt panic bubble in him. He had no idea what he was doing.

Reference :
Alasdair, “A Carpenter’s Chest: Tools of the 15th Century,” The Oak, The Arts and Sciences Newsletter for the Kingdom of Atlantia, 12. <http://www.his.com/>
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Baelin Holt
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[The Ironworks] The Foundation (Kai')

Postby Baelin Holt on May 29th, 2017, 11:45 pm

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Baelin glanced at the entrance again on the off chance that the hired help would choose that moment to make his appearance. But the heavy door remained shut, and Baelin was left alone with assorted chunks of wood and tools he was unfamiliar with.

Not one to give up (and arguably stubborn to a fault), Baelin ground his teeth together and snatched the axe. Raising it as he would a sledgehammer for heavy forging, Baelin swung the tool down onto one of the logs. It split where the axe bit into it, bisecting into two lop-sided sections. He set the axe down and snatched one of the logs to compare with a nearby anvil base. The Ironworks, with its sheer abundance of anvils, had a host of different sorts of anvil bases to take reference from. There were bases that were nothing more than broad stumps, ones fashioned painstakingly from steel, boxes filled with sand, and others made of wooden planks bound together. With what he had available to him, trying to recreate the vertical stack of planks was his best bet.

Holding the section of wood up against one such base, Baelin eyeballed about a hand’s width of excess height in his piece. He laid the wood down on the side that was more or less flat after getting cleaved by an axe. Spotting his mark about a hand’s width away from the edge, Baelin grabbed a hatchet and swung it down on the spot.

The edge of the hatchet got stuck and Baelin had to brace a hand against the wood in order to yank it back out. Not at all like steel, he couldn’t help but think. No chisel he had worked with had ever gotten stuck when he bisected red hot metal. And as he swung the hatchet into the cut, attempting to go deeper into the wood, it once again got stuck.

He didn’t know how carpenters put up with this shyke. This was obnoxious. Perhaps they had some kind of vise to hold the wood in place? Baelin didn’t know. Regardless...kneeling next to the wood piece, he braced one hand on it and once again yanked the hatchet out. Keeping his grip on the wood, Baelin swung the hatchet into the fissure he had created. Still maintaining that grip, he yanked it back out and swung it again. After a few more of swings, the hand’s width of excess wood splintered off the log.

Baelin held his now cut wood piece up against his reference anvil base for comparison. It was about the same height...but the top was jagged from his sloppy hacking. And Baelin wasn’t sure how to go about getting a uniform, clean width to turn this chunk into a plank. Maybe he could slice away each fibrous layer with the hatchet? Or...or he could...flatten it against a grinder? Like he would with steel.

Fredrick’s voice broke Baelin out of his poor attempts at planning, “Maybe use the saw next time.”

Jolting, Baelin dropped his piece and spun to face the head armorer. Fredrick was eyeing him curiously, the corner of his mouth lifted in what Baelin had to assume was a smirk at his expense. “That laborer never show up?” he asked, surveying the wood’s jagged edge.

Baelin nodded and chewed on the inside of his lip. He hated failing at a task. But he truly was out of his depth here. And, judging from Fredrick’s raised brow, his boss knew it. Clapping his hand on Baelin’s shoulder, Fredrick said, “Best to leave this for some other time then. Go work on some more buckles, will you?”

Whether it was relief or disappointment Baelin was feeling, he’d be hard pressed to say. Probably both. Either way, he wasn’t about to argue with his superior. Baelin rose from his squat and gave a short nod, moving towards a workstation in back. There were buckles to be made.
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Baelin Holt
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[The Ironworks] The Foundation (Kai')

Postby Karyk on June 19th, 2017, 11:47 pm

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Baelin Holt
Skills
Observation: 1
Carving: 1
Lores
Regret: Not paying attention to carpentry lessons
Carving: Tools get stuck in wood, unlike redhot metal
Carving: A saw usually gets a flatter edge than a hatchet
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Notes and Comments
CS Checkmarked: ✓
CS Reviewed by Me: ✓
Season Request was Submitted for Grade: Spring 517
Season Thread was Started (IC & OOC): Fall 515 & Fall 515
Is that Season's expenses paid?: ✓
Eligible for grade? Yes



Always a shame to see a thread go unfinished.
Follow your heart, and the plot will follow.
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