Solo Fine Threading X

[Willis Efram]

12 Summer 525 Continued

Having done more than enough prep work, Willis finally moved on to actually cutting out pieces. Taking out a blade for cutting leather, a smaller one used for thinner garment leather as was being cut, Willis slowly began the larger cutting work of removing the leather pieces he would need from the surrounding material. Using the chalked marks as a guide Willis worked his blade around the four sided odd shapes, being careful to cut outside the inner most chalk mark. This took awhile, since he was literally cutting through leather albeit of a softer and thinner kind. Once that large work was done Willis repeated this process with the other four sided shape he was cutting out, repeating the almost same motions albeit with a slightly different shape being cut out. Regardless Willis simply had to follow the guide of the chalk marks and make sure to stay outside of the inner most line.

Once that was done Willis took out another blade, a smaller knife he used for pruning back the excess layer of leather. Where before he was basically hacking out a large piece from a larger piece of leather, now he had to trim down the excess material to just at the chalk line or else it would not match the finished piece. This precision work took almost as long as cutting out the larger pieces had, as Willis carefully guided the blade along the edge of the pattern he had cut and slowly brought the shape down to the chalk mark he had left.

Repeating these actions for the two pieces, Willis found his work so far was not too different from other work he had done, only that it was to be used for a piece of armor instead of clothing or bags or the like. Eyeing the cut out piece carefully Willis returned a few times, trimming a bit of leather here and there until he felt he had it as close to the line as he could safely get.

With the pieces cut out Willis picked each up and matched them to the original pieces that had been damaged and hence had been removed, looking for any issues or differences. Not finding any Willis returned to the armor he was repairing, and matched each piece into the place where an open gap fit them. With a nod and a smile Willis confirmed his work, the first stage of it at least. He had cut out nice fitting pieces to replace the underside pieces, which could now be slotted into place. However his work in replacing these was not done, as he had another step before these could be replaced and reattached. Namely, punching out the holes where the smaller threading would be done to tie it back into place. On three of the four sides there was a series of holes punched to allow for this, which had to match up with similar holes on the surrounding two sides and the top half of the piece. With that in mind Willis once more took out his marking chalk and looked over both pieces.

WC: 521

[Willis Efram]

Continuing his work, Willis began measuring and marking. First he would measure out the spacing of the punched holes on the original damaged piece, noting how far from the edge it was and how far from each other it was alongside the edge of the piece. Lastly he marked how far from the edge down the hole was, though this tended to remain relatively consistent. Each piece he had cut out had a series of holes around the three sides, and so by the time he was done there was quite a bit of marking and numbering. However Willis was nothing if not consistent in his planning, and always did his prep work before going beyond that.

With that part done, Willis began marking and chalking out the holes on the newly cut pieces, using the measuring cloth and chalk to mark each spot in turn. This part was a bit harder than marking the edge, since instead of a line Willis was marking a point. A small point or circle which would be punched through, but still a point. Having made his first attempts at marking them out on the newly cut leather Willis matched the pieces old and new together and compared those to his measurements and markings against the original holes. This led to a few updates here and there to the holes, though nothing too major. Then he checked again, measuring out and checking his work and comparing that again to the original to make any final adjustments. With that done Willis let out another sigh, something he found himself increasingly doing today, before preparing for the next step.

Having once more done the prep work, Willis took out another tool. This one was a longer sharp blade, one made for punching a hole through leather. At this point the work was more about precision and brute force, though Willis was careful to take out some scrap would be had for when punching holes to avoid damaging any other surfaces like the wood of the commons. Instead he used this as a surface to work on, as all he needed was a place to hold it on and to punch through rather than a good work surface. When cutting out the leather force was needed but it was easier to aim said force than when punching out holes, something Willis had learned long ago.

Without thinking too much and simply sinking into his work Willis began this part of the process. Find the mark, move the blade, punch a hole. Move the leather piece to the side so the next spot was roughly center over the scrap wood, find the mark, move the blade, and punch a hole. This was repeated up one side of the piece, on to the next, and finally the third over and over again. It was not a complex thing to do, just repetition, as he carried on with this work for crafting the armor repair over and over again. And then, having finished one piece, Willis moved on to the next piece and repeated all of this over again. Moving the leather piece, finding the mark, moving the blade, and punching the hole. And again. Over and over, Willis repeated this process, until finally he was done and had marked out all of the holes. Having finished that Willis once more checked himself, checking the holes against his measures and the original piece, making sure he had not gone off course at any point since beginning his measurements.

WC: 588

[Willis Efram]

Done with cutting out the two replacement pieces for the bottom half of the armor piece, and punching out the holes to sow the pieces on, Willis was now ready to actually attach the pieces. Getting out a needle, some durable threading material, and some snips, it was simply a matter of attaching these pieces to the missing places he had removed their originals from. Being softer pieces of leather they were flexible enough that he did not need to fully mold them in advance, and so they could simply be put into place.

Pausing though Willis recalled with a thump to his head he still needed to waterproof them before then as with all of the goods sold in Syka. Having inspected the pieces before Willis knew the other pieces had already been waterproofed and freshly enough that he did not need to do so again, but the newer pieces would need it.

Setting aside the things he had taken out before for the threading, Willis went through his stuff again and took out a brush and some oil based waterproofing material. This would simply have to be applied directly by painting it on, and then waiting for it to dry before using it. In the meantime however he could move on to other steps in the process. Before that though Willis turned back to the piece at hand, and set it out across a waxed cloth to avoid dripping or making a mess of things on the commons. Oiling and waterproofing was a common enough thing in Syka that no one batted an eye at his work, it being a near constant work of maintenance on some piece or other he and others did.

Working simply enough Willis began applying the oil with nice even brushwork, not working too fast nor rushing but just keeping at it methodically and patiently. Once more as with punching the holes Willis let his mind sink into his work and calmly kept at it without focusing overly much. Brushing up and down, working his way along the leather piece by piece and bit by bit. First he worked on the front, then the edges of the piece. With that done he flipped it over and slowly continued there on the back side. Then lastly he made sure to work a bit of oil within each of the holes he had punched one by one. Once this was done he turned to the other piece, repeating the same steps of the process. Working the oil in slowly but surely, along the front on each nook and cranny, along the sides, and then finally turning it over and working across the back side. And then once more he repeated the step of one by one oiling the inside of each of the holes he had punched in the leather so those parts were also water proofed.

This took awhile, but eventually Willis was done, and so he propped them up on the waxed cloth and set them aside, leaving them to dry for a few bells before he would return to those pieces. In the meantime he would turn on to other tasks, namely working on the other damaged armor piece.

WC: 537

[Willis Efram]

Having to take a break from the first piece before he could continue, Willis moved on to the more damaged second piece. Examining it once more, Willis saw it was certainly going to take more work than the simpler repairs on the first piece. However not one to give up because something was difficult, Willis simply took things one at a time and worked out the first step of the process.

As usual this was measuring. Taking out his measuring cloth and chalk he began marking out the points and the shape of the material. This however was a bit trickier than other pieces for numerous reasons. First, as Willis examined the piece and its hardness, he knew he would need to boil it to harden the material. However that process in and of itself could alter the material, usually making it a bit smaller. In simpler pieces like this one this was not a problem, so long as he was not too far off. However in more custom fitted pieces even a small change could be a huge issue. With that in mind Willis planned to make the piece a bit too big, so that when it was boiled it would be big enough or perhaps a hair too big. From his experience it was always easier to work with a bit too much material than not enough.

Another issue was the shape. With the earlier pieces Willis had measured them, flattened them out, and measured them again. However with this piece being hardened into place it would not bend or flex or be flattened. This meant he had to measure it more precisely, and measure it while in shape rather than flat. This was not something Willis had a ton of experience with, which meant it was another thing he would need to practice and learn through trial and error.

Doing his best, Willis began by marking out the piece. Rather than one length he had to mark each part of the curve, along with an attempt at marking the depth of the curve and the overall length. With a flat piece he would be done, but instead Willis thought on things and took out another flat piece of leather. Rather than chalking or cutting it, he next matched it against the hardened leather piece. Draping it over the hard piece, Willis marked off the points on the thinner leather with a small modification for the piece being on top of another. This was perhaps not too accurate, but when combined with the other steps he felt it would work.

With this done Willis flattened out the marked piece, and measured the dimensions of it again as a flat piece. Then, without the thicker piece used the first set of numbers as a guard to mold and hold the piece into shape. Then he once more marked this piece, and compared the dimensions again to those of the marked hard piece.

After doing this several times, Willis felt he had a rough measure of the dimensions of the piece he would cut out of the thicker armor grade leather. Going a bit larger for excess, and then finally beginning to mark out some chalk, Willis began to measure out what he would need for the larger thicker piece before he cut it out. A simple task individually, but taken in concert and in his attempt to compare them all much more complex. But still it was a plan, which Willis felt was better than just going at it blindly without any guide. And, Willis felt, if nothing else depending on how it went it would inform him for his next work and piece and guide him for further improvements.

WC: 621

[Willis Efram]

After numerous measurements Willis finally felt he was ready to cut out and begin preparing the thicker armor leather. While more steps would be needed, and he was less confident in this part of the job, he still felt he had done all of the preparations he could to make this item well. Or at least, as well as his current skills would allow. If nothing else though he knew he would be better prepared for the next piece he made, and perhaps once he got a bit more training in he could make some items of his own.

For now though he simply planned to focus on fixing some previously made items, and working on understanding those pieces and their nuances compared to normal worn items he had made before. Rather than the normal knife he normally used, Willis took out two different blades for cutting out the thicker armor grade leather. One was a smaller one, simply meant to score the outer layer of leather and serve as a guide before any deeper cuts where made, and another for doing that deeper cutting. This would of course take more muscle than his normal work, but despite being young Willis felt he had the ability to match that need. He did not think he could take on a full grown Akalak in a contest of strength, but then he was not full grown, but he felt he could fare well in that regards to a normal human.

Using the other piece as a guide and all of his measurements and markings Willis began his final inscription on the large piece of tanned hide that had a visible thickness compared to normal leather used in packs or pants. It did not take long to mark that out, and before he began he once more bent the leather into shape and compared it to the boiled and hardened leather from the finished item. While it was not an exact match it seemed close, at least considering Willis expected it to shrink a bit in its processing.

Then with all that work done, Willis began using the smaller knife to score a shallow cut on the leather. This he traced around the chalk marked area, slowly expanding his cut and working it in and along the material. He was not trying to go deep now, just to go deep enough to serve as a foundation for later work. And finally, after much slow labor, that was done. Having set the first mark, Willis set that smaller blade aside and took out the larger blade he used for cutting. This one with some effort, Willis believed, would do the job of cutting the leather even with it being as thick as it was.

Like with the scoring of the first cut Willis bore down with the blade and began to cut along this same line. However it being tough leather, one trip around was not enough. Bearing down and working it around the leather Willis could see the impact, could see the score term into a cut, but still it was not enough. And so, now working from a slightly deeper depth, Willis rounded again, making another cut around the surface cut to get a bit deeper. And when that one also did not do it, he repeated it again, slowly working his way through the leather and closer to cutting through, repeated this motion over and over in a circuit in an attempt to slowly but surely cut through the tough material. However with all of his efforts, Willis wondered what could have slashed through it so easily after it had been hardened...

WC: 611

[Willis Efram]

After a large amount of strenuous and repeated effort Willis finally managed to cut out the piece of leather that he hoped to serve as the replacement for the top half of one of the damaged pieces of armor. However as usual that was not enough, because next on the list was to trim. Never so far in the history of his work had Willis perfectly cut out a piece on the first try, and so he was left to carve off the small excess bits here and there where his initial cut had been off or a bit wide. The cautious and careful craftsman also tended to ere on the side of making things too big to allow for more mistakes and for trimming down as he knew how bad it would be to ere on the side of being too small and not being able to use the piece.

With that in mind he slowly worked to trim a few spots here and there, a bit easier to do now that the piece was removed from the rest of the hide and a cut had already been made. Even then this trimming still took awhile, and by the time he felt he was at a good spot Willis realized how long he had been working. Still, he did not want to stop now, not with knowing that he needed to do more work. Instead he began by try to mold the leather, the first step before he boiled it. That part, while messy, was not that hard, rather it was the prep work leading up to it that was the hardest part. Getting a large pot of oil, getting it boiling, and then dropping the finished leather piece into it to slowly boil it, checking it over time, and taking it out at the right time... That was not the part Willis was worried about, it was the preparing before then.

And so being careful as usual, Willis continued his work, beginning the first step of molding the leather. Using what he had, his hands and some bits of wood, Willis bent and shaped the thickened leather and spread it across it in the shape of the original cut piece. And then, with it in the proper shape, he wet the leather carefully to loosen it up. Careful to mold it just right, and trying to get it as close as possible to the finished but damaged piece he had started with, Willis bent and twisted, felt and moved, and wet and wiped one piece after another.

Only when he felt he had it as close to perfect as possible, did Willis stop and set it out. With it held into place and molded, not as good as a pre made or carved bust but close enough for his level or skill, Willis just had to wait for the leather to dry out. For that he would need to move it, to keep it out of the rain, but once it had dried and fixed into place, he knew it would hold its shape a bit better. And once he had done that several times and gotten the shape just right, he could boil the leather part for the armored section and make that final piece to put the things all together.

WC: 554