Demesne Snippets 9: Smith Thoughts

Even a small village needed a lot of metalwork done everyday. Not all of it was forging. There was a lot of honing and straightening, because someone was always hold something the wrong way and bending the blade or the edge. Knives and saws, they all needed to be sharpened, and it wasn't the sort of thing anyone could do with a whetstone. Every so often they needed to make a replacement, like new scissors or needles, but mostly it was keeping what tools they had working.

"All right, everyone. We've got two scissors and a saw for sharpening, this pot has a little hole it's leaking from, the carpenters are asking for three new turning tools for their lathe, and Rian is asking if we could make some new thicker mortaring trowels for when the stonemasons need to work on stone for her Bindership," Lanwei said. The scissors, saw, and pot were on the worktable along the wall, as well as the bone tablet where the kind of turning tools and the dimensions of the trowels were written down. "Anyone want 'em?"

"I'll take the pot," Duvar said. He was one of the redsmiths.

"Pot's yours," Lanwei said, handing him one of the very large pots that helped feed everyone in the demesne. They had seven, though only four were in use at any one time, most because of things like this, and because the pots took a while to scrub clean. "Anyone else?" The oldest of the smiths looked around, then shrugged. "Fine, I'll take the mortaring trowels. The rest of you settle who gets what. Scissors, scissors, saw, you know how it goes."

Lanwei glanced at the tablet, just to refresh himself on exactly what kind of turning tool he was going to make. Usually they'd be busy nails and nails and nails, but the demesne's metal had far better uses, and the carpenters knew their trade, so they weren't really needed. Jobs like this, where the carpenters needed new tools for their lathe or new drills for their bound tools, the bastards.

Well, it wasn't like there was much in the way of handheld bound tools for smithing, and they did get Binder Lori here to help keep the work hot when they had a big project like the large saw for the sawmill, but still...

Sometimes Lanwei wished her Bindership would have them make some of the special metal, mixed with the white powder found inside beads—which was a trade secret he'd take to his grave unless her Bindership said otherwise—and her Bindership's own magic, if only for the variety. The part of him who listened to stories in his childhood—although her Bindership would probably tell him magic didn't work the way they did in the stories—felt wonder that he'd been there to see such strange magic being made.

The smith in him couldn't help but think longingly of what he could do with iron that was harder without being brittle, or what it would be like to have tongs that didn't get hot so easily. He could make a stove that let out light without letting out sparks and embers, although the latch of the firebox would probably need to be visible so people could use it…

Sighing, Lanwei picked up his tongs to check on the metal stock he'd set in the forge's coal to get them ready. He really wished her Bindership would ask them to make something with the new metal again…