Apinsig
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Chapter 14 Homesteading in a fantasy world
🕑 Added 2022-08-02 12:07:46 +0000 UTCSome more eggs this morning I would let them try hatching them, but there was no rooster to get fertilised eggs so the current eggs will just go bad.
After my chores, I checked the forge for any damage and, as I suspected, it will only last a few more days of work before it's done. The crucible are completely done, all 10 used up. I will need to make a better clay mix if I want it to last more than once.
I started today's work by breaking up the smaller moulds. I extracted the two metal bricks I was going to forge into the plow, turning plates, then the iron plates to reinforce the plow structure. They all turned out good enough. The material the moulds were made out of is not perfect for the job.
The surfaces are not good, but it will be good enough for the current build. For the anvil the hitting surface that I was going to use is what’s was open to the air in the mould.
When it first started to cool, I brushed awaiting impurity from the surface. While not perfect, it’s a lot smoother than the rest of the surface on the anvil.
Breaking off the mould around the anvil, I found it to be good enough. There was a bigger empty bubble halfway down, but luckily it didn't compromise the structure.
Basically, it was just a long brick like piece of metal that I was going to sink into a big piece of wood. That's what I did next, carving out the hole needed. Inserting the anvil, I secured it by driving in wedges on all sides, so that it wouldn’t come loose or shake under heavy hitting.
Skill increases basic wood carving level 5
I already had a good enough hammer for smithing, meaning I am ready for the next steps. Starting up the forge, but this time there was no crucible in the middle, just more charcoal. But the first job wasn’t actually the shield because I remembered I need tongs to hold hot metal.
I have done many tongs in my life and actually taught a lot of people how to make them. It’s a good way to learn or try smithing. They came together as quickly as usual, even when using lesser equipment than I was used to.
Placing the shield onto the charcoal and just kept cranking in the air until it was hot enough to start bending and shaping. I purposely try to hold it off the charcoal so it would not get too much carbon into it. I had seen the plow head shape so many times during my life, so it was easy to keep that image in mind and start shaping it.
What was difficult was trying to maneuver the shield into the correct placement to shape it. It was too large for precision work. Luckily, my current strength helped overcome that problem. My strength however, brought another problem. I need to control my strikes even more.
On earth I could wail on this piece as strongly as I could and I would never break it in a few strikes, but here that’s an actual possibility. As time passed and the wind picked up, bringing clouds overhead, I was getting close to finishing the main piece. I used a makeshift puncher to make holes where the overturning plates will connect.
When that was done, I placed the plow head into the fires with the tip in the hottest place and cranked until the tip start to heat up. I quickly went and brought some oil to put into the clay container that I made for quenching. I’ve never done quenching with vegetable oil, but I hope that it will still work better than just water.
I continued to heat up the tip until it was hot enough. I almost burned off all my hair when I quenched it. The oil instantly started to burn quite violently. Probably needed a bigger container with more oil, so it wouldn't have that strong of a reaction, but this was the best I could do.
I didn’t have any metal file to try out if the quench worked, but I did the ring test, striking it with other metal and it did sound a bit sharper than the rest of it. Hopefully I did something, only work will tell how good it turned out. I got a new skill out of this.
You have gained a new skill basic smithing level 1
Next, I start to heat up one of the metal bricks to make the overturning blade. I would have wanted to put both of them in so I could rotate and always keep one heating and one working but I’m afraid the forge will not be able to keep up with the heat demand and doing one at a time is a lot more relaxing.
So one at a time, it was. The brakes while watching the metal heats up again were always nice to have. It’s a moment to think about the next move and not just always work. This way is better if you're doing something you haven't done a 1000 times before.
The first one turned out great, but with the second one I run into a problem. One edge started to crack, so i had to refold and stretch it out again and luckily it didn’t crack again. I finished punching the holes into the correct places.
I plan to simply rivet them together and simply remove it afterwards. I would have to use the forge every time I wanted to reattach the blades, but they were going to be used once in a season, if even that, so no need to make it super attachable.
While the forge was hot and so, I could better build out the entire plow. I preceded to attach the overturning blades. With the overturning blades on the plow, it made it easier to build the rest of it out. The head looked like a bird that was bending its wings the wrong way.
I needed to build out the handles I was going to use. That I did with the old wood form the now dismantled plow. I was able to use the same reinforcements that were used with the old plow, making my job easier. The piece that will extend towards the bull, I used leftover oak from the sled build for that.
It was perfect for the job, and I only needed to cut it down a bit. I needed to forge two more pieces. One that was going to be used to attach the bull's pulling rope and the part that will hold the oak beam in place and connect it with the plow head.
I was able to finish everything today and got 2 levels in basic smithing, one in basic wood crafting and one in basic engineering. I only did a quick drop test, and it held up to that excellently.
But the real testing will start tomorrow when the work begins. During the sunset I went and walked between the vegetable garden and checked over all the animals, before making myself some dinner and going to bed.
