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Luckbringer
 
PostPosted: Tue, Apr 12 2016, 16:13 PM 

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Joined: 02 Mar 2011
Location: The frozen north

[The following 'book' is written in dethek runes carved into many thin stone slates. These slates are currently only held in the runeary of Barak Runedar.]




~Treating Your Metals Right: a guide to metal care and treatments~





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By Aaegus Battlehammer.

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aaegus battlehammer
cloak rockhewer
murtaugh gunn


 
      
Luckbringer
 
PostPosted: Tue, Apr 12 2016, 16:15 PM 

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Joined: 02 Mar 2011
Location: The frozen north

~Forewords~


A smith’s work is never done with the birth of a new creation. The metal item still requires care and maintenance over time whether it be for protection from the elements, dents from battle or improvements to its use. So here be a reminder and a guide for ye young smiths and warriors of how to take care of ye creations and tools of war. It be nay good learning the hard way when ye plate armour rusts off ye during the heat of battle and ye get an orc blade in ye gut for it.

The common metal used for most arms be hardened iron or as some also call steel. While hard and versatile, iron’s bane be water; the one element that our kin loath for its destructive abilities to corrode the metal and stone which be at a dwarf’s core. All it takes is a wee drop of sweat after a hard fight falling on your steel chest plate and ye get the beginnings of a rust spot. Forget it if ye be fighting in a rain storm. Salt water be even worse. Out of me one hundred and one reasons nay to get on a boat, is that salt water will rust your axe faster than a hin can pick your coin pouch. Over time unattended rust will eat away at ye metal and weaken it. First ye blade will lose its edge and cutting ability, then it will crack or break after a hard impact. Ye’ll be left with a shattered sword or a cracked helm, and ye’ll most likely be on your way to Moradin’s halls looking like a dolt.

So here for ye skull orbs be a bit of wisdom from a smith.

Aaegus of clan Battlehammer
Barak Runedar
DR 1384

_________________
aaegus battlehammer
cloak rockhewer
murtaugh gunn


 
      
Luckbringer
 
PostPosted: Tue, Apr 12 2016, 16:22 PM 

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Joined: 02 Mar 2011
Location: The frozen north

~Basic Care~


Forging

Start with the steel. There be additives used during the steel refining process which will make it longer lasting against corrosion. Adding a touch of nickel or chromium to steel will make it more resistant to rust. More expensive processes can be found to add gold or mithral if ye be good to pay for it.

Cleaning and polishing

Clean your weapons and armour after every fight. Blood and sweat will eat ye metal. Some blood be worse than others. Orc blood, your axe will nay forgive ye for letting it stay soaked in the foul grime for long. Dragon’s blood be sometimes worse, sometimes better, depending on the colour of wyrm ye just felled. Green dragons are known to have corrosive blood that can eat away at ye weapons over time if nay cleaned. Wipe it all off as soon as ye get a chance. Even ye own blood from your plate mail. Fall off a boat or into a river. Dry ye metal gear, dinnae let it stay wet for long or ye will be a pile of rust in nay time.

After ye clean that dirt off, polish ye metal each day while ye be on the road. Not only will a shining suit of plate mail show ye beard off better but it will remove any layers of rust from forming in the metal grain.

Oiling

Ye heard that oil and water dinnae mix. Well it be a good thing because oil be ye metal’s best friend. Keep ye weapons and armour well oiled. A layer of oil will keep water from getting to the metal and make it immune to rust. The oil will wear off over time and during combat, so when ye polish ye sword every day, make sure ye give it a good rub of oil afterwards. Same goes for ye armour. Make sure ye get it in the joints as this will also avoid ye plates getting jammed with rust when ye be swinging away in battle. Nobody appreciates a squeaky warrior. Ye want to hear that well-oiled clean clink of metal on metal as ye march.

Now the type of oil be important as ye cannae use just any oil. Lamp oil is nay advised unless ye want to become a ball of fire. Most vegetable oil ye should avoid as it will turn rancid and make a stink ye allies will nay like much. The oil from the spice called cloves be good, but sometimes hard to find in large amounts. The best be what be called axe oil, which be from a common tunnel root which be found underground. It will nay stink and lasts longest after each application for up to a ten day.

Fighting Rust

If your arms do get the curse of rust then ye must act with tenacity to kill the corrosion were it starts. For small surface patches of rust, nay bigger then ye thumb, ye can buff this off with a rough piece of lint soaked in pickling vinegar and a wire brush.

For larger and deeper amounts of rust, it depends on how bad it be. A badly rusted sword blade may perhaps never be saved and become nay more useful then scrap metal. Some armour plates can be repaired with a day bathing in vinegar and a harsh wire brushing and even stone grinding to get the worst of it off. Then any holes and gaps can have fresh metal wielded into them. Take care in this work as armour can be weakened in this process.

Other metals to care for

If ye be one of the privileged few who bear arms of a magical sort then ye may have to concern yeself less with corrosion depending on the strength of the enchantments. Most magics will hold rust at bay but ye should still take into account the aforementioned precautions on weapon and armour care. A weakly enchanted axe may still decay over time if left unloved in a dungeon for a century if the magics fade. Those with powerful enchantments can last a millennia and nay have a spot of tarnish on them. On creation of such items, long-term resistance to the elements should be considered by the crafter. Ye should wish ye creations to outlive ye, should ye nay.

Mithral

Oh the true metal holds up against rust for decades. A pure mithral chain shirt looks as shiny as the day it was made in years to come. After a decade or so a layer of green tarnish may form much the same as silver. This can be polished off with a cloth and oil. If ye be planning to leave mithral lying about for a few hundred years, at least give it a good dab of oil now and again for good measure as even mithral will eventually start to rust away.

Dark Steel

A cousin of common steel, but one which has a close affinity to magics. Due to its magic holding properties most dark steel is used for enchanted arms which in itself hold back decay. If your not planning to enchant ye dark steel, it may hold off rust for about twice as long as common steel so take care of it.

Adamantine

The king of metals. This ultra-hard metal will last eons without rusting or corroding. Perhaps no one knows how long it lasts as nay one has been around long enough to find out. Basically it won’t be in ye life time. Keep it clean none the less. Wipe off ye blood stains and bone fragments from ye axe when in public.


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~Treatments~


There is more to protecting your metal from corrosion. There are also ways which ye can enhance its natural beauty through various techniques.

Rubbing, staining, painting

These be very simple ways to add some colour or hue to ye armour, shield or weapon. Nay much to it really. Those with basic skill can produce a desired effect easily. Rubbing be basically rubbing with a cloth or even a hand, coloured powders directly onto the metal to change its colour. Staining be the same but using wet dyes to ‘stain’ the metal though sponging or bathing onto ye chosen metal. Painting, aye be bushing on a wet paint substance. Painting be usually the most challenging and delicate work which involves slight skill if ye have a tricky motif to design.

These ways tend to be the quickest and cheapest. Ye see them used all throughout the realms by pirates, bandits, mercenary companies or armies. Some colours are of course easier to obtain then others. Some made from minerals, spices, or berries found in the wilds or grown in more exotic regions to the south.

Most of these ways though do nay last long. Once put to work ye nicely painted shield will see cracks in the paint, or the layer torn off by an ogre’s club blows. Even sun and rain will eventually fade those dyes or stains. These will take frequent maintenance and redoing each time ye get a knock.

Fire Colouring

When the metal be in the forge it changes colour with the intensity of the flames. Steel will turn from yellow to purple to a deep blue depending on how hot it be. Taking the metal out at certain points, it will keep its colour. With the right skill, a blacksmith can make patterns and designs in this way to weapons and armours. Most popular for steel is the deep blue for most swords and amours called ‘bluing’.

Resins

This be using glass paste of root sap and powered glass which when heated can join to a metal inlay or surface to form a glasslike finish. Various dyes can be mixed with the paste to make the colour ye want. Ye can even mixed powered metals or gems to make it extra fancy. Much longer lasting and finer looking then staining or painting ye family crest onto ye breast plate. Of course with a couple strong sword blows to ye chest, the stuff will chip and crack off ruining ye hard work. At which point ye put down ye foe and get back to ye forge to work it all over again.

Etching and Engraving

This be when your choice armour or weapon be marked with drawn patterns, runes or pictures into the metal itself. Etching be using acids to burn the metal into the desired design. Ye need the right acid for the right metal in this respect. Acids can be found from your local alchemist. But make sure the acid be a weak one as ye don’t want to be burning holes in your plate. The most common way is to first coat the metal in an acid resistant wax and scratch the design into this using a fine etching tool. The acid is then applied over this to mark the exposed metal. Ye then wash the acid off and remove the wax, ye will be left with the acid etched design formed into the metal.

Engraving be from the use of sharp metal hardened tools to cut the patterns into the metal. The metal cutter has to be of course harder than the metal being worked. This leaves adamantine as the trickiest metal to engrave. Smith’s often choose to cast forge the designs into the weapon or amour during forging to save the near impossible work of cutting the metal once hardened. Those more talented smiths have found ways to use diamond edged tools with certain specialized oils to soften the metals surface over time. But this be for the most patient and hardworking of master engravers.

Probably the most expensive and time consuming, but these ones will last the test of battle.

Everbright

A famed process developed by our kin in old Ammarindar which still survives today in most dwarf holds, which is a closely guarded secret of our people. This being so, I will nay divulge the technique in these passages but just explain its use. Everbrighting a weapon or armour takes time and a multitude of rare ingredients but the results are unbeatable at protecting metals from rust and decay. Once a weapon is everbrighted, it will shine like polished steel for eternity. Nay rust, discolouring, tarnishing or corrosion will touch it. Even a full out attack by a rust monster will nay damage it. The only weakness is forge fire, earth fire or dragon fire can break the protection.

Blueshine

A slightly less effective than everbright but a quicker process is blueshine, another dwarven process. A process of timed bathing and slakings of the metal in an arcane mixture. This will double resistance and time it takes for ye metal to rust by coating ye metal in a blue hued glaze. Most recipes make use of powdered electrum, cockatrice feather distillate, drops of blood of certain draconic species and sweet water potions. A standard treatment for the arms of our active combat warriors.

Blood metal

Nay a treatment in itself but a forging technique. The legacy of the Sarphilian dwarves under the Deepking Tuir Stonebeard as tales speak of their victories over the orc hoards of the Vast over ten centuries ago. It was said that there conquest was due to a type of metal that they had produced called Orc-Slayer Steel. This was said to be a forging process which used both rune magic and blood of the chosen race which the metal will become a poisonous bane and harming on touch. Its development spread fear among the civilized races if the technique became known to others and then used against them. The story is much detailed in the warnings of the sage Fairin Icemantle in his Treatises Against Blood-Metals. None of the weapons of Orc-Slayer Steel are said to have survived as the orcs over ran the kingdom some years later destroying all ancient knowledge of the process. Folks have speculated now that claims were exaggerated as to the metal and it was in fact a poison used by the dwarves on their blades rather than the steel itself. Who is to know? Perhaps buy this smith an ale and he may tell.

_________________
aaegus battlehammer
cloak rockhewer
murtaugh gunn


 
      
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