To Build a Smithy Part I

by **Crylon Stonecraft** on May 5th, 2019, 10:06 pm

34 Spring 519

Time to begin work on the forge having begun, Crylon started by drawing out a plan. This was a culmination of quite a bit of research. Of reading on masonry, practice making and using mortar, inspecting previously made forges, and many other things.

Now, he was to actually begin it. But first, as a sign of devotion to Izurdin and to further honor him in this act of industry and creation, sitting in his room he made a brief prayer to Izurdin in the tongue of the Isur.

“Izurdin. I praise you, and honor you today. As so many Isur before me, I shall build a forge. Let it further honor you in its creation, and by each thing made upon it. I do not have the skill of some Isur, I am still learning. But let my effort show my diligence, and my adding to your domain.”

His prayer complete, Crylon sat and taking out his journal book where he kept his other such notes, began to draw out the plans for the smithy. First and foremost was the forge itself. Note as precise as some, he still felt the general gist was clear from his illustrations.

Drawing them out, he added them bit by bit in simple detail, and from several angles. First from the top. A chimney of brick upward. In front and partly below a lowered recessed area where the heated material would go. Wood. Coal. The like. With the smoke rising upward into the chimney. But the actual part where the coal, fire, and metal would be placed, was below the chimney.

In front was the bellows, being pumped to add in air to allow the smith to get the temperature just right. More air being forced in to allow it to get hotter. Less for less heat. From that viewpoint little else was visible. Above the belows within the recessed bit was a metal grill. Wide enough to let ash down and air up, but not wide enough so that heated materials like wood and coal would fall through.

From the front, a bit more could be seen. An opening for the forge, with the chimney above and a brick base below. The bellows at the front with their mechanism, a simple drawn out representation consiting of a few open lines. It did not after all have to be realistic, besides the main structure, as the main bit was the idea and intent more than the exact nature.

The idea was somewhat straightforward, which he drew out in more detail from the third view from the side. A metal part at the base, a tube or other shape, with a grill at the top. The bottom emptied out where it could be cleaned and the excess removed. The top came up inside the recessed area were the heating elements were held. The bellows met in the middle of the tube, such that it forced air in and upward into the heated area. The hearth above, the dump below.

Around that, with the metal tube, part of the bellows inside of it, and the grill, was bricks holding it together. Keeping the heat in, and travel ling upward giving a direction for the smoke to go out of the smithy.

Along with the forge would be the anvil. A trough or barrel for quenching hot metal. Various hammers and tools for working the metal. A floor of packed dirt, added in another layer of detail. Brick walls on the sides, and a wooden roof with the chimney of the forge poking through.

His designs done, Crylon put away his writing materials and let the ink dry, before heading to his meeting with the contractor Kelski had advised him of.

WC: 624

by **Crylon Stonecraft** on May 8th, 2019, 10:52 pm

As Crylon entered the Drunken Fish, he could not help thinking back to his meeting Kelski there. It had not been that long ago, and he had met the kelvic as she was having a business meeting in regards to the new property and what she was building upon it.

Now Crylon was having his own meeting there, for a similar purpose. Likely, he realized then, with the same or similar people to before.

Of course Crylon had been more listening then than looking, only having met and interacted with Kelski herself. Due to this, he was unsure who he was looking for exactly or what they looked like.

This problem was solved though by his own nature, an Isur. As he walked about looking for the correct table a human put up his hand, eying Crylon and his arm and waving him over. He was rather recognizable being an Isur, and how many Isur looking for someone would be within the same bar.

Standing as Crylon joined them, the pair sat down as he did.

“You must be Crylon yes?” At Crylon's nod the man continued, motioning around the table at the two other men. One of which looked very similar to the first man. Perhaps related? “Kelski told us of you, that your handling the site prep, and to be working on a smithy. Which is where we would come in. Do you have any idea what you are looking for?”

With a nod Crylon went into his pack, focusing on his book before pulling it out. Opening to the correct page he put his simple diagrams out on the table, paging a few times to show them that he had made more than one page.

The human nodded, paging about as his partner beside him looked through it.

“Is to make smithy, have simple design plan. Furnace. Forge. Anvil, tools. And building around. Simple, but is do.”

Shaking his head the two paged through a few more times, before turning to Crylon. One of them, Crylon was not sure which, spoke.

“Maybe its you, or maybe its all Isur, but if you think this is just a simple little thing, you do not have a very good concept of what a simple structure is. Or maybe you just have higher standards, but I would not call this simple.”

For a few moments Crylon pondered his words, before responding. It occurred to him though, from prior experience, that there was the chance the man was simply bluffing in order to jack up the price by making it seem the task was more difficult. With this in mind, Crylon responded.

“If cannot do, then perhaps can find another...”

He was not the quickest study at the art of discourse, but neither was he slow. But then again, neither was he an expert. The human simply snorted, whispering something to his partner, before turning back to Crylon.

“This is Cham. He will go back to the site with you. Show him the site, give him a list of what is needed to do the building, the materials and workers, and I will send Kelski the bill.”

With that the two men left, leaving Crylon alone with the third man. He was somewhat scruffy, but clean enough and in good care. No missing bits anyways, which said something in Sunberth.

Motioning at the door the man stood, waiting for Crylon to rise before heading out and leading Crylon back to his own work site.

WC: 583

by **Crylon Stonecraft** on May 12th, 2019, 10:27 pm

Back at the worksite, Crylon went over things with Cham who was the human who Crylon had newly met. Cham seemed rather nondescript, but was working with the men Kelski had referenced so he assumed he could trust him. At least, for the specific task he had been assigned.

He started by picking a site where the smithy would go. That required a wide enough spot to house the smithy itself and the building to surround it. And also it had to leave room for other buildings to come. Thankfully with the size of the plot, that was not too hard. Crylon put it off to the side but near the front of the plot, that way part of any new structure could go on the other side and further back.

He also purposely picked a spot not above the tunnel he had found, seeing as he had not had a chance to reinforce it yet and would need to do so before any major building took place. This building would not likely be heavy enough to cause issues, but he felt it was better to stay on the safe side.

Cham drew out some parchment, ink, and a quill, and waited for Crylon to dictate the items they would need. First though he made a copy of Crylon's drawings which were rough plans for the forge itself along with the smithy as a hole.

It was quickly clear he was more skilled than Crylon at copying and drawing. Crylon was an Architect by trade, could read and plan out buildings of a simpler sort, but he was not yet too skilled at the task of drawing new ones free hand.

Sketching, careful editing, maybe. But plain drawing, well that was something he needed to work on still clearly. Still, his drawing was good enough to get his intent across, which was the main thing in truth.

Pointing around the land and back to the drawing, Crylon went over what was needed.

“Bricks for fire, to build furnace. Base. Build up. Metal grill for air come up through, see here. And metal tube, for air come up through before meet grill. With hole in side for air come in. Bellows, for force air in, go in hole. More bricks. Mortar, for hold together. More stone, bricks, for walls. And wood, timber, for roof. Planks, for cover, beams for frame. And help to move, lift, build.”

The human man spent another few chimes writing down notes, before nodding and turning away from Crylon before stopping and turning back.

“The men and supplies to start will be here tomorrow in the morning. They will need to be paid their wages at the end of each day. We will have the rest come in another day or two after that, as you get to that part of the work. And we will send Keslki the bill.”

With that the human turned and walked off, barely a glance about as he left with his list and tasks. Crylon on the other hand had nothing to do till the next morning, when he could get going on the work. He could plan before then, think, but until the supplies and men where there he had nothing to build with.

Letting out a sigh Crylon headed back inside the Gem for a meal, before figuring out what to do with the rest of his day.

WC: 569

by **Crylon Stonecraft** on May 13th, 2019, 12:13 am

35 Spring 519

Heading out the next day to the worksite, Crylon found the supplies had indeed arrived. However none of the workers had arrived just yet. So in the meantime Crylon set out on working with preparing mortar. That would after all be the first thing to do, as they could not place the bricks if there was no mortar to lay on them.

There also tools for working the mortar. A long smooth and straight length of wood for mixing. A flat metal object with a handle for flattening and smoothing. There were also quite a few larger barrels for holding ingredients, along with bags of those ingredients, and a bigger barrel for mixing in the other things.

As he finished sorting through the supplies, a worker showed up. This man was somewhat haggard looking, scrawny, and dirty, but he supposed if he was willing to put in the work it did not matter.

Crylon began issuing some simple requests, directing him to help haul the supplies around into separate piles for easier use in mixing them into the large barrel. The actual making of the mortar however he did himself. It was too fine a mix to let another do it.

Recalling back to his prior research and tests Crylon went over the ratios and methods and such tips to recall when doing it. Then he began adding sand and lime with the laborer helping to lift and pour, making sure to keep the units in the correct amounts. Lime. Sand. Then mixing.

Taking up the long stick Crylon shoved the wood down into the barrel, and began churning the materials within it. The laborer, seeing what Crylon was doing, grabbed another such stick and began to help in the mixing.

It took a good half bell to get the material mixed at all, by which time another worker had arrived. Grabbing a small shovel Crylon lifted off chunks and redistributed it. Digging down he found large chunks that still had not mixed, and so moved these about before setting the two men to mixing again.

While they did that he found a smaller barrel, which he could add a small bit of the finished mix to. He recalled from his notes the importance of keeping aside some of the final mix, that way more could be added into the mix with water if too much water was added or the mixture required thickening. After all, once the water was added in it could not be taken out, and so a small set of dry mix as backup was needed.

Another quarter bell and he felt the material was as mixed as it would get. Shoveling out some material to add to the smaller barrel, Crylon started on the final process of preparing the mortar of adding the water.

What followed next was a series of slowly adding water. Mixing for awhile. Patting. More water. Mixing, mixing, and mixing. Flattening. Stirring. Shoveling and mixing. Over and over for almost a further bell before Crylon felt the mix was at the right consistency and mix for use as the needed mortar.

WC: 520

by **Crylon Stonecraft** on May 13th, 2019, 1:04 am

The mortar ready, the next step was to begin work on the actual forge itself. Not fluent in common which the workers spoke, he kept the communication simple consisting of pointing and one word orders. Here. Carry. Place. Move. And showing them some simple pictures from his notes, so they could see what aspect of the work they were on.

With several hands helping his hands things worked more quickly even on the larger scale they were working at. Moving to the spot the two humans and Crylon flattened the area, making sure it was ready for the work to come, before beginning to place the bricks.

Then, using a small trowel like shovel with a flat bottom and pointed end, Crylon scooped out a bit of mortar and began applying it to the bricks sides. Then he placed more bricks the others handed him, wedging them up against each other so that the mortar was sandwiched between them.

Once a good layer had been set down Crylon used the trowel to smooth out the excess, scrapping and pushing it and moving the bricks to give it a tight a seal as he could with the drying material. With one layer done Crylon began adding mortar on top in sections, adding the bricks in an offset fashion rather than stacking vertically to let them strengthen each other.

He quickly realized he had to do this carefully and to not add too much mortar at once. While the large batch kept the proper mix more or less, not drying too quickly due to its size, smaller and particularly thinner bits did so much more quickly and needed more attention and remedying. They did not by any means dry immediately, but they did not either keep the right consistency for his needs.

Another lesson he learned which had not come up in his smaller size batch experiments. But then, Crylon thought to himself, that was the nature of such things. He had done tests to prepare himself for the main facets of working with the material, but some issues were bound to be unique to larger scale. Weight, size, surface area, all affecting things differently.

Adding the second layer of stone, Crylon began preparing for the next step. A widening out of the material, to make room for the air feed. And for a spot for the used dust to fall through, which could be accessed from outside and therefore cleaned out. Without that they would be unable to clean it, and it would get backed up over time.

By then the third worker had arrived, pulling a cart with the bits of smithed metal and the bellows which would be needed. Crylon immediately headed over and inspected them, touching and feeling and looking at them. Hefting them, and testing them lightly with his left hand to make sure they were not weak or poorly made. His inspection done Crylon had then men haul the first part over which would be used, the long metal tube up which air would flow. It would need to be held in place while it was bricked in, but with a gap for air to come up and dust to come out at the bottom. And it would need to have rooom for the bellows to feed into it, with enough room for said bellows to expand and contract to feed in air while not sticking too far out. A tricky mix, which Crylon considered while looking over his drawings and notes.

WC: 586