Completed [The Ironworks] Hammer Time (Ethan)

[Radiant]

The Ironworks, 14th of Bell, 65th of Summer 513 A.V

"Ha! IS ANYONE HERE?!" The booming voice of Ser Titus Maximum a.k.a "Titus The Hammer" defeated even the clashing hammers and anvils of the Ironworks as he entered. The 6'6" feet-tall knight with ripped muscles stomped to the Ironworks, his proud steps and plate armor clanking, exhuming an aura of authority. He had a excited look in his shaved face, carrying a steel warhammer as big as a short human on his back. He directed his voice to no one in particular, from his experience, someone would bound to notice him.

But today, he found himself intrigued by a particular smith named "Ethan Ironhorse". The tall knight then asked an assistant to point him to this man. Not long after, Ethan could find himself being patted on the shoulder by a gauntleted large hand. "Well! Are you Sir Ironhorse? I've been looking for you! You see! I need 'Hammy' here..." He brandished his oversized hammer and showed it to Ethan, the hammer showed obvious battle-scars, traces of dried blood splattered here and there and the grip was worn from use. "...need some maintenance, see?! But I don't want just ordinary maintenance! I want her to be more... hmmm... elegant! I assume you're the man for the job? I will reward you handsomely, so! Here!" Without even waiting for the man's reply, Titus shoved "Hammy" to Ethan and found a nearby seat to watch the man work.

"I want 'Hammy' to be good as new! Also add some decorations to her, perhaps an ornate hilt? A shiny coating? I dunno! Do your thing!"

[Ethan Ironhorse]

Ethan had been working on the floor candle stick holders that he designed. The first molds had been poured and Ros was finally giving the orders out to the blacksmiths. He had placed flux on the four molds, using a paste made of iron powder and joining compounds. The forge was hot and the flux sputtered and sizzled on the coals as Ethan was forced to put more coals on the fire and stack it up in order to compensate for the large candle tree’s. Two additional apprentices of Ros were with Ethan as they heaved the candle holder out of the fire. One got a hammer and tongs to help place the candle tree on the horn of the anvil. Ethan and the apprentice had used light weight hammers to begin forcing the four pieces together. The flux was heated up to an almost bubbling state as the iron became orange from the flame. Small driving wedges were needed to hit the iron in place and against the other bars. It was between hammer strikes when Ethan heard a load yell across the forge, staying focus on the candle holder he hit a few more strikes before he motioned for the youngest apprentice to place the holder back into the forge. As Ethan looked around for the noise, he noticed a very large armored knight talking with an assistant shop keeper and apprentice to the Ironworks. Ethan reviewed the piece in the forge, he helped the apprentices by telling them about the wielding process. “Well, gentlemen, the lighter components of the flux have burned off now, by heating the area up again and then cooling it, the wielding flux will grow stronger with each tempering. The wield itself with have impurities in the metal and will be a weak point. However, because of how the holder was built, we can…” Ethan noticed the two apprentices staring wide eyed and slack jaw at something behind him, it was then that he felt a heavy and strong metal fist come down on his shoulder. Turning around Ethan saw the knight who had been talking to the assistant and felt a brief edge of fear. He hadn’t done anything wrong, at least nothing that he could think of, so why was he… the man just started to talk in almost a battleground shout. He began peppering Ethan with so many demands and ideas, that Ethan felt like he was in battle in the pit with Kaie. Ethan grunted as the Warhammer was placed in his hands. He had some sledge hammers that weigh less than the hammer that was brought to him. As the knight sat down, Ethan felt… overwhelmed. There was little true demand on his time or his name, for a moment Ethan couldn’t even think. Stopping he took a deep breath, while closing his eyes. Right now you need to put one foot in front of the other, the voice of Liam Skellig told him in his mind. Opening his eye’s he looked over at the apprentices still gaping at Ethan and the Knight. “Get Jaffery to help with the wielding, tell him the base flux for the top has been heated and joined, he will need to temper it and add flux to the bottom. If he wishes to add a corkscrew pattern to the middle he can, but not to lose more than a hands height from the whole holder.” Picking up the hammer and slowly turning it Ethan began to study the weight and abuse it had taken. It was one of Ros’ designs, Ethan could tell by the balance and overall construction. However, because of the demands on Ros’ time he knew that decorations weren’t on his mind when he did his work. The majority of the dents in the head of the hammer could be buff out by the grinding wheel, some of them however he couldn’t get to because of how deep the impact was. Looking at the sides and top of the Warhammer, Ethan saw small scratches that were from battle but if the Knight could wait for an engraving, perhaps there was some possibility there for art work. The wooden shaft of hickory had been deeply pitted but sanded to take out the knick from blades. Ethan could try and create a steel stealth around some hickory or walnut to provide added protection, while either doing design work with it or inlaying a raised metal pattern. The two handed grip was worn, but a simple metal wire design and studs could be added so a leather worker could rethread the grip. It all depended on how much time he had to work with the hammer, and if the rumors were correct then Ser Titus Maximus wasn’t a man to be kept waiting. “Ser Maximus, the standard repair of your hammer will take several bells, but in order for me to give… ‘Hammie’ a bit of grace, it can take me several days to more than thirty depending on detail. How long do I have ‘Hammie’ for?” Ethan had to ask the knight the question, oh, he would have loved to ask the man about designs, patterns, and art for the hammer. Yet the way the knight had delivered the hammer into his hands, Ethan knew it was going to be up to him to engrave or inlay the pattern and Titus would either like it or beat Ethan over the head.

[Radiant]

Titus rubbed his chin and seemed to be thinking. He was weighing the pros and cons of having a quick repair and be with his beloved weapon again or more elaborate customization but having to be separated from it for an extended amount of time. After chimes and chimes of thinking, he finally came to a decision.

"Hmmmm! I want her to be more beautiful! So, I give you however long you need to pamper her up, buuut, I want her to be done before Fall comes around, yes?"

He stood up, patted Ethan's shoulder, and gave acknowledgement "Take care of her..." It was like he was entrusting his very own flesh and blood to the blacksmith. With that, the tall knight gave a casual wave of his hand and walked out of the Ironworks, leaving "Hammy" in Ethan's care.

OOCHe will check on his warhammer almost every day. You can determine on when it would be completed.

[Ethan Ironhorse]

Ethan sighed, handsome reward could mean anything coming from the knights. Still, Ros wasn’t likely to send a knight to him on a whim, and in all truth it was the only way that Ethan could believe that was how Ser Titus Maximus could have ever known his name. The first step was to see how much he could grind out the dents in the double hammer. Ethan went over to the grinding stoned and poured water over the surface. Bringing down the head of the hammer, Ethan began grinding away the raised metal around the dents in the face. The overall head was in fairly good shape as small flecks of gray steel began to swirl in the water of the stone. Ethan was only cleaning up the surface of the head, knowing that trying to repair the dents would require melting down the head and re-pouring everything. If they were going to do that, Ethan might as well pick up a new head. Yet the nice thing about hammers was that dents didn’t matter as long as they were smoothed out. It was the upraised metal that could catch on something. As a hammer blow came down and crumpled the armor around it, if metal in the face of the hammer had been upset or raised, it could create a small hook. Form the lessons on weaponsmithing with Ros, Ethan knew that any additional energy expended on the field to recover ones weapon was less energy they could have swinging it. So Ethan began to grind each face and angle of the weapon. Trace molding lines still could be seen as grinded the sides and top of the hammer heads. Ethan had to admit it was a well-balanced weapon and as he used the hickory shaft to move the hammers side surface back and forth on the grinding wheel, Ethan realized that he couldn’t replace the shaft with a metal one or could he? The hickory was well worn and depending on the amount of practicing and mock fights the Knight did, guessing quite a bit, sword strikes would bite into the wood and preventing the sliding of the sword towards the hand. However, if Ethan choose to remove the wood with a metal shaft, he could do so, but at the cost of adding more weight to the hammer, which would slow Ser Titus down. As he thought about the shaft Ethan realized that metal runners placed at the sides of the wood shaft would give it protection without adding significant weight to the overall weapon. Ethan would have to ask Ros a little more about it, but the idea made sense because the runners could stick out from the shaft by a small amount but still allowing Ser Titus a smooth swing if he decided to use a two hand chop. Ethan flipped the head of the hammer and went to examining the grip. The grip had a small disk of a hilt for protection. Ethan wanted to expand the hilt, but knew that by doing so it would limit Ser Titus moves in combat and would likely have to have the hilt removed and redone. So Ethan bag to look at the pommel and decided that having to had extra weight to compensate for the added weight of metal he would add to the shaft. In doing so, Ethan felt that he could add a double headed pommel to the weapon that would give it a bit more character. Smiling Ethan felt like he had a plan and so after four bells of grinding the hammer heads smooth to a rough polish, Ethan went back to his bench to disassemble the hammer. The first thing he needed to do was remove the nails from the shaft the held the hammer head on. Each nail came off after Ethan had to wedge a thin edge of a chisel below it. Pulling the nail free, Ethan gasped with a sense of accomplishment. The weaponsmith who had replaced the shaft last had done his work well. After driving in the nails the weapon had been placed in a steamer box and had reabsorbed water swelling against nail and head to create a death grip hold. Ethan could have put the weapon next to the forge and dried it, but that he would also have lost the weight in the shaft. Once done, Ethan disassembled the grip, having to pry the pommel off, but resting each piece next to the head. Carefully Ethan picked up the wooden shaft and weighed it on a scale. He placed weights on and off till the scale balanced. Noting the numbers of the weights Ethan went over to the slate and wrought down the weight of the shaft. Marking his numbers so that someone won’t erase it, Ethan would need it later to know how to balance the weapon properly. Looking up at the grey slate, Ethan began to draw a rough engraving sketch for the metal braces down the side of the head. Ethan stayed well into the night getting the rough sketch to balance right. It took him another five bells before he finished with a balance and flowing engraving. Each side would take Ethan probably four days of hard labor with metal chisels but the design was solid and gave a small pious homage to Syliras.

[Radiant]

OOCJust a note, Ethan. Knights carry the title of "Ser" (Male) and "Sera" (Female).

Another day, another visit from Ser Titus to check on his beloved hammer. He entered the Ironworks, loud and dynamic, as usual and immediately went to his (currently) favorite Smith. "Greetings, Sir Ironhorse!" He didn't make any friendly physical contact as he saw Ethan was working hard with his hammer. He simply said his greetings and sat down on a seat.

He noticed Ethan's design and his eyes went wide with... shock. "Ethan!! This... this... is BRILLIANT! I love it! Hahahaha!" His voice boomed "I want those awesome engravings on Hammie!" With that, he would watch Ethan until his free time was up, went back on his duties, and return the next day.

[Ethan Ironhorse]

OOCThanks for the help, I made corrections. Another quick question, would it be ok for me to skip ahead time wise? Or would you like to play each day out? Ethan had gotten up in the morning and felt a bit tired. It was a late night last night, Ethan had setup the work area to start on the initial engravings for the banded sides. As he rubbed sleep from his eyes and took a moment to splash water on his face, Ethan realized something. “Petch! Forgot to take into account the nail heads.” Ethan shook his head in disgust, The banded sides of the hammer had four holes in each side and Ethan went over it in his head. If I use the shield design without the tree in the middle, it would provide a flat surface for the nail head and as smiths have to scrape and scratch the nails out they can always go in and buff the scratches out with a polishing cloth. Ethan nodded at the plan thinking that the shields would still be integrated into the piece and that the nail heads wouldn’t distract the eye. Ethan scooped up his breakfast quickly and hurried to the Ironworks. He was going to have a lot of work to prepare. Enter the Ironworks he saw the metalsmith apprentices leaving for the day after tending the fire’s and molds over the night. The ironworks was one of the large foundries around and even Zeltiva imported the bars that were forged here. Keeping the foundry running at all times of the day, by passing the group of leaving apprentices and some of the senior apprentices, Ethan went to the store room to pick up a set of engraving tools and black paint. Coming to his work area, Ethan checked the warhammer to make sure that all the components were still where he left them. Eyeing the hickory stock, Ethan would have to go to Ros’ carpenter to get another with modifications to put a metal bars in the stock. Looking at the head of the hammer, Ethan still wasn’t sure what to do. Simple engravings like the banner pageantry that Ethan had put on the grey slate, could be done, but it seemed like almost a waste of perfectly good space. Ethan took the black paint and spread it over the banned section connected to the hammer. Taking the head and placing it in a wooden vice, Ethan went over to the bundle of tools from the store room. As the paint was drying, Ethan pulled out a long thin bar that served as a straight edge. Additionally it took a little time for Ethan to search through the chisels and light hammers to find the thin chisel point that had been sharpened with a grind stone to a fine cutting edge. Ethan touched the thin layer of black paint and felt the stickiness of drying paint. Disappointed Ethan applied another thin coat of paint on his finger print. Ethan went over to the grip and began to unravel the leather. By the time he was done the paint had dried and Ethan was ready to make the first scratches of the engravings. Using the straight edge and the chisel point, Ethan lightly scratched the surface of the banding, scoring long straight lines down the banding and then creating a grid like pattern to keep the engraving symmetrical. The scratches weren’t heavy and Ethan knew that half a day with a polishing rag and grit the scratches would be gone. Sighing, Ethan took up the point chisel again and started scratching the pattern into the banding and paint. It was a long and tedious process forcing Ethan to go back to the pattern on the slate every once in a while to make sure that he didn’t miss something. Once in a while he would scratch wrong, or make a bad line, but that was to be expected, and just like the guidelines it would just take time to polish them out. Ethan was little over a quarter done when he heard the voice of Ser Titus. Placing the tools aside Ethan smiled, he needed a few chimes to recover. His back was hurting from bending over. Engraving work required almost constant motion of the smith in either moving the chisel in a constant whirl to provide a graceful curve, or to move the body or piece to get the proper angle on the line. Several soft pops occurred in his back as stretched. “Aye, those will be the base engravings for the banding on the hammer. However, I was hoping to do something else for the side faces. Haven’t come up with anything as of yet. I did need to talk to you about some other changes that will be made. I will be adding thing metal rails to the wood stock.” Ethan picked up the bare wood and drew his fingers down the length of shaft. “The metal rails will stick slightly outward, but should protect the shaft from sword strikes or anything that less than a heavy battle axe or maul. It should stop your need to replace the shaft from heavy combat quite a bit. However, when it needs repair, the smith doing the work will have a lot longer to repair it. However, it will throw off the weight and balance of the hammer. In order to compensate, the pommel piece will have to be enlarge.” Ethan smiled, “Now the reason why I am telling you this is that the pommel can be in the shape of a beasts head. So perhaps tomorrow after I am done with the fine detail work you can tell me about some of your best battles with Hammie, and I will make sample heads for the pommel to choose from.” Ethan smiled. Hoping that talking about battles or beasts would spark some imagination in Ethan as to what type of scene he would put on the face of the hammer. Ethan politely listened to Ser Titus reply and then went back to work. Slowly, Ethan worked the chisel point till close to the end of the normal work day. Stopping to give his eyes a rest and to go drop off the hickory stock at the carpenter’s, Ethan placed the tools in the leather bundle and looked at the almost done first stencil of the bands. Ethan dropped off the stock with directions that the replacement stock of V-channels for a thin bar stock. The carpenter looked at him oddly, but shrugged. As Ethan went out of the shop his thoughts were to go to the Broken Casket and get a plate of spiced potatoes. Instead he headed back to the Ironworks, and continued the first past of stencil work. Once done, Ethan picked up small light hammer that weigh almost nothing compared to the hammers he used in forging. Looking through the rest of the chisel Ethan found a chisel that looked like a square standing on a corner. The chisel itself had been casted from weapon grade steel and had been sharpened to fine points. Ethan picked up a small wood block that would help him keep a steady angle by resting the chisel against its curved channel. Setting the chisel down on one the top most line of the pattern, Ethan began to go to work scrapping a small string of steel from the banding. The chisel help make the lines deeper and the Ethan made sure watch with wary eye how deep of a cut was made. After his fifth yawn, Ethan packed up the tools and went home. He had a fourth of the work done, and if he showed up early tomorrow, he probably could finish the deep cutting before Ser Titus showed. If not Ethan, would have to take a break to listen to the man’s tales of battle and glory.

[Radiant]

OOCOf course, Ethan. You may do so.

"Hm hm, I see!" Titus put his right hand to his chin, taking in all the technical information the blacksmith gave him. He might be interested in being the apprentice to this man in terms of weaponsmithing, poor Hammie never got proper attention due to his lack of knowledge in smithy stuffs. "I trust you and your expertise, Sir Ironhorse. Make my hammer all ship and shape, don't forget beautiful" He nodded and just watched the blacksmith until its time for his duties.

"Ah, a beast's head, that's a great idea! Absolutely! I'll share some of experiences with you, that one when I whack a Balicani in the head! But, duty calls! So I'll come back tomorrow! Take care, Sir Ironhorse" With that, he stood up and his giant form left the Ironworks with happy steps.

===================

The Next Day...

Ser Titus came back, as usual, but he got a story with him this time. "Sir Ironhorse! Listen! A few years ago, I and along with my group was patrolling in the Kabrin Road at Dusk, when suddenly... a giant monster with terrible wings attacked from the Sky! It's a Balicani!" He used hand gestures to accentuate his point, fired up. "And then it came, swooooooooooooooping down..." He made an eagle-swooping-down motion with his right hand "And tear off one of my comrades right off his head! Of course, we were all angry! So, fight we shall!" Ser Titus then continued his story, on how the fight goes, the bravery of the Knights, and his own deeds in battle.

..............

.......

...

"...And after that! Ser Wade and I charged together, he sliced the monster's neck while I bashed his skull with my warhammer! 'IT'S HAMMER TIME!!' I shouted to the beast before it went limp, slain... And that's my story, Sir Ironhorse!" He put his hands to his waist, proud. "And duty calls! I see you tomorrow!" As usual, he left. The blacksmith was sure to get some good ideas and inspiration from that storytelling session.

[Ethan Ironhorse]

For Ethan it was a tough several days when he had told Ser Titus that it could take thirty days, it wasn’t a laughing matter. After one day’s time only one side of the banding for the hammer had the barest of sketches scratched in and only a fourth of the banding with heavy lines. Ethan was able to come in early the next morning to start work on the hammer. The highly detail work of the chisel and hammer had Ethan forearms tired, but he knew that Ser Titus wouldn’t stop coming by so that meant no days off for the foreseeable future. Picking up the chisel and light hammer, Ethan felt the soft tapping of the hammer as the chisel began to scrap a small wedge of metal from the steel. By the time Ser Titus came around Ethan was ready for a break and sat to listen to his story about the Balicani and Ser Wade. Ethan laughed at the funny parts and smiled as Ser Titus described the battle, Ethan was certainly glad that he would never have to see or fight a Balicani. However, Ser Titus certainly gave a good description of one, and it spoke to the imagination of Ethan. Ethan was slightly said as Ser Titus left, but he wasn’t being paid to listen to stories, so he got back to work. ========= It had been eight days since Ethan had received Ser Titus hammer, and the banding on both sides was done. After Ethan had made the initial cuts he was able to use the chisel to slice out the excess material, and then used a dulled tool to punch the peaks down. Small dents in the banding could be seen, but as Ethan applied the black paint to the recessed areas it quickly made the dents look almost smooth. During those eight days Ethan had asked question about how Ser Titus fought with the warhammer and sometimes just about common fighter standings and how to gauge a fighters strengths and weakness. Ethan wasn’t much of a betting man, and the spinning coin seemed such a good way to split a fool from his money. There could be fixed fights, granted the Spinning Coin said that every match was fair and no punches were pulled, yet there was always the same talk from the losers of bets that one fight should have gone the other way. Still it was pleasant to hear fighting strategies and Ethan caught up on the latest fighter standings. Ethan sat with a polishing rag buffing the banding to a high sheen. The night before Ethan had set up a drawing of the battle scene that Ser Titus had described. Ethan was going to have to make gold and copper leaving. He wanted the castle and knights to stand out with the shine of gold, while the Balicani would be leafed in copper giving it a red hue. The scene would be repeated on both sides of the hammer and the leafing would be the last thing that Ethan did. As Ethan worked while waiting for Ser Titus to come, he looked at the new shaft that the carpenter delivered. Fear briefly raised his ugly head as Ethan looked. The channels were straight and the little bit of waviness that were in it, Ethan could compensate. Yet was Ethan trying to stretch his arms to far and would end up failing? Then again, it was only the shaft and Ethan could certainly replace it if it didn’t work out. Ser Titus might be a bit disappointed that Ethan couldn’t do anything with the shaft, but such was life, but if the steel inserts worked. Ser Titus would become much more formidable opponent against a blade.

[Radiant]

Ser Titus arrived as usual, greeting the blacksmith, requesting for progress report on his precious warhammer. What Ethan told brought extreme excitement to the tall knight, he patted the blacksmith's shoulder with force slightly stronger for a friendly pat. "Hahahaha! Amazing!" He examined the drawings, it depicted himself and Ser Wade fighting against the Balicani, the knights were in a shining gold hue and the Balicani in fierce red; it was really beautiful. "Did you draw this yourself? Hoho! Quality craftsmanship right here!" He ogled the drawing until he realized he was disrupting Ethan's work. "Ah! Sorry! Just too excited!" He then took his usual seat.

Like any other day, he would sit there, watching, until it was time for his duties, giving a farewell, Ser Titus stomped out of the Ironworks with lifted heart. He didn't choose wrong when he picked Ethan to be Hammie's caretaker. He trusted that everything would go well, and even if it didn't, he was sure Ethan could handle it.

[Ethan Ironhorse]

It took Ethan the rest of the day to polish the banding on the hammer, and another eight days to finish the engraving on the hammer heads. Since the area that Ethan had to work with was larger, he took his time in adding shading lines and polishing the indentation to create a smooth gradual engraving. The crude drawing that was on the board became better as Ethan took the time to inlay details and shading. Finally came to the time for the leaving, for a solid day Ethan had to set aside the hammer and work the gold and copper into a thin sheet. The hammer was on a constant move and even taking soft metals like gold and copper then work was back breaking. Ethan made sure to capture all the dust and flakes that slowly came off from the hammer. Once done Ethan took a binding agent something that the local philter had come up with, and spread a thin coating over the metal. Softly, he took a bull blade and spread the thin sheet across the engravings. Ethan had to work from the middle of raised surfaces to the edges of the scene. Finally with the piece done, Ethan cleaned out a forge and lit a very low fire. Knowing that he needed a break, Ethan worked throughout the night, placing the hammer head near the low heat fire to allow the binding agent to heat up and harden. Ethan took the change to work on another forge heating steel bars and making them into thin rails. In between working the rails Ethan checked the leafing, seeing some of the leafing smooth out from his rough pressing with the knife. Small air seems bubbled from the engraved cuts me made. Ethan had to smooth some of the bubbling out from the leafing to those air cracks. Back and forth between the forges Ethan went. The rails were forge with small thin spikes cut in a v so that as he hammered them into the wood stock the thin spikes would act as nails and catch and dig into the wood. Additionally, as the stock was hammered again and again, the rails would only dig deeper into the wood. Ethan was exact with his measurements allowing the metal to even cool to make sure the right length. As dawn approached, Ethan tempered the steel by quenching the steel quickly in a bucket and then heating it up to a dark blue before quenching the steel again. Ethan nailed the rails into the stock checking carefully to make sure a crack or slit didn’t occur. After the stock was ready Ethan cooled down the hammer head and then very lightly applied black paint to the deeper recess of the scene, covering the cracking and holes that the binding had used to allow excess liquid and air to escape. Ethan cleaned up the area, and set the frame down for inspection for Ser Titus. Ethan drew the engravings for the pommel and hilt. It would take a few more days to make, and Ethan was getting very close to the end. Ethan reviewed the drawings and hammer. Perhaps, five more days for the engravings and a day for the leatherwork, then Ethan could have Ser Titus lightly practice with the hammer, before making any weight adjustments. As Ser Titus came in for his daily review Ethan smiled, “Ser Titus, I have worked through the night to apply the leafing and work on the stock. Please examine them, once done I will be locking them up and getting some rest. I will still have to balance the stock and make the engravings for the hilt and pommel. He don’t expect it to take longer than eight more days.” Ethan waved his hand at the next set of engravings on the board. “While you are here, I do have a question for you. With your knowledge of weapons and such, I was wondering before the Valterrian who was the elite fighters of the empire and what types of weapons did they have? I ask because I wanted to do some research for my master work piece and thought trying to find a way to recreate their weapons would be interesting.”