fandomhigh | Blacksmithing Basic; Monday, Second Period [05/22].

Considering how few issues the class had experienced so far, Amaya was definitely starting to look forward to getting the forge all nice and toasty and ready for the class to come in on Monday mornings now, even being able to squeeze in a faint bit of her own work in at the start of the day before they did, even with all the prep work of getting everyone's tools and projects laid out and ready.

"Morning, everyone," she greeted with the customary nod once they'd arrived. "By now, for the most part, we should mostly have the basic shape of a sword hammered out from last week. If you still need a little more with the shape of it, that'll be a good warm up for today. And then today's class is going to focus on refining that shape and sharpening it up nicely with the use of files, which is a common practice in refining a sword's shape, since the hammer can only do so much. Now, more often than not, a blacksmith is likely to use something like the grindstone over there," she hitched her thumb toward that trusty piece of equipment in question, "but since we're focusing on the basics, it's good to know how to really get in there and do it more manually. When you're doing the filing itself, you're more likely to learn how the metal responds to different movements and pressure, even different sharpness and grain in the file itself, and you're just not going to get that kind of precision with a grindstone. It'll take more time, but, well, most good things do, don't they?"

There was...the smallest clearing of her throat there (funny how that part of the lecture always seemed to get frogs wedged in there all of a sudden), and then took a moment then to go over a few different kinds of files and made her recommendations for which one they consider using based on what they're trying to do, as well as a little bit about proper storage and maintenance, because taking care of your tools was just as, if not more important, than taking care of your blades. Then, it was on to showing them how best set a clamp on their worktable, which would help them immensely in keeping the sword still and in place. "Sure," she said, "you can try holding it with one hand and file with the other, but you're not going to have a very good time of it. Keeping the piece steady and solid while you work is essential to getting those nice smooth and sharp lines on your blade that you're going to want.

"And now, finally, onto the filing! Come on in a little closer and have a look at how I'm doing it before you start on your own. It's essentially pretty simple, and just requires a lot of attention to detail." And as she went into detail about how and where to start and why, how to clean it up as you move along, showing how different files would yield different results, and just pointing out how the metal changed as she worked.

"It looks simple," she told them, after she figured she'd gone through most of what she could; you could only tell so much before doing became the better teacher, "but I'm sure you'll find, once you get started, that's a bit of a deception. But the only way to know for sure is to get at it, so I'm going to stop talking and let you guys give it a go on your pieces. The forge is ready if you need to do a little more shaping, but if you're satisfied with what you've got, then we'll get to filing. Don't hesitate to ask any questions as you're working through it, either, especially if you feel you may have messed up somewhere along the line; thing with filing is, it's easy to make a mistake, but it's not difficult to set it right again if you know how.

"So," another nod, and Amaya pounded her fist into her palm as her general go-to-and-get-at-'em gesture, "let's get to it. We'll want these all nicely filed up and shaped out for the next step for the next class."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Like you're about to spend your morning listening to a bunch of people filing down metal.

Dwight Hendrickson

Beaker

Stark

Who knew there could even be so many different types of files! Or that they could make such a difference on the finished product! But there are, and they do, and Amaya would be happy to field any questions anyone might have as she walks the class through some of the finer details of the process.

Grab a hold of your sword (not dirty), snag a clamp and some files, and get to work!

Amaya has also provided some earplugs if anyone wants them, too, since a handful of people grinding metal against metal together for the better part of a class period isn't exactly what most people would consider sweet and soothing music.

Amaya did, but Amaya was not most people.

Earplugs might be nice by the time this was done.... but for now Diwght was mostly trying to figure out how he was going to manage this in general. Hammering and beating at metal was easy and even fun. He wasn't so sure the finer methods of filing and such was going to come as easily.

Picking up some of that uncertainty and reluctance from Dwight, Amaya hesitated, a bit, wondering if she should just let him try and work it out all on his own. He was pretty handy, he'd probably get around to it eventually without her interference, but, then again, she was the teacher. She should probably be, you know, teaching in these kinds of moments.

"Alright there, Dwight?" she checked in. "How's it coming along?"

"Yeah just.... trying to figure out how to do this.... filing is a lot different than hammering. Needs a bit more finesse than I usually employ" he said with a small awkward shrug. "I'm sure I will get the hang of it eventually."

"Just sort of think about it like whittling down a block of wood, maybe," Amaya suggested. "Only...well, okay, it's a bit different than that, isn't it? But the same basic idea, just using a tool to sort of whittle...or I suppose maybe shaving would be a better term for it...a material down. Metal's not as forgiving as wood in that respect, but who doesn't love a good challenge?"

Beaker wasn't remoted irritated by the noise because when you listened to all chicken orchestras, sound just stopped registering after a while.

The chances of him catching fire on this exercise were also incredibly low. Never zero, though.

Never, ever zero.

After all, you get to filing fast enough, all that friction is bound to create some sparks, right? Amaya had considered this, and was keeping a close eye on Beaker's progress for the first signs of anything like that.

And also because she was pretty sure whatever shape he did file his blade-to-be into had a lot of potential to be...interesting at the very least.

Stark preferred shaping to filing but he couldn't just hammer forever. Probably.

He didn't mind detail work either though and there were spots he could see needed attention and he was setting to one of them with a coarse file to begin.

Sometimes you just had to set down the hammer on occasion! It was just a sad, sad truth behind all that fancy blacksmithing illusion, really!

Amaya nodded with approval at Stark finding a spot and working on it with intention, letting him get at it a bit before checking in with a, "How's it going, there, Stark?"

But Stark liked the hammer! It was so satisfying!

"Well enough, I think. I don't think I've done anything irreparable to the metal while shaping it. Not that I've noticed. Just trying to smooth out a bit here that's... not right."

You want to talk satisfying, Stark? Just you wait until next week's lesson, oooh baby.

"Mmm." Amaya nodded again, with a thoughtful, considering sort of hum, as she scoped out what Stark was working on a little closer. "And what it is?" she asked. "That you feel's not...right, that you're trying to work out?"

"This bit," Stark said, pointing to a spot sticking out further than it ought to. "Shouldn't be there. I don't think."

She may be wondering how much filed-off bits of felt fingers she was going to find among the metal shavings when she cleaned up the place after class.

Blacksmithing Basic; Monday, Second Period [05/22].

Sign In - Blacksmithing Basics, 05/22.

Re: Sign In - Blacksmithing Basics, 05/22.

Re: Sign In - Blacksmithing Basics, 05/22.

Re: Sign In - Blacksmithing Basics, 05/22.

Listen to the Lecture - Blacksmithing Basics, 05/22.

Class Activity: Filing! - Blacksmithing Basics, 05/22.

Re: Class Activity: Filing! - Blacksmithing Basics, 05/22.

Re: Class Activity: Filing! - Blacksmithing Basics, 05/22.

Re: Class Activity: Filing! - Blacksmithing Basics, 05/22.

Re: Class Activity: Filing! - Blacksmithing Basics, 05/22.

Re: Class Activity: Filing! - Blacksmithing Basics, 05/22.

Re: Class Activity: Filing! - Blacksmithing Basics, 05/22.

Re: Class Activity: Filing! - Blacksmithing Basics, 05/22.

Re: Class Activity: Filing! - Blacksmithing Basics, 05/22.

Re: Class Activity: Filing! - Blacksmithing Basics, 05/22.

Re: Class Activity: Filing! - Blacksmithing Basics, 05/22.

Re: Class Activity: Filing! - Blacksmithing Basics, 05/22.

Talk to the Teacher - Blacksmithing Basic, 045/22.

OOC - Blacksmithing Basic, 05/22.