The sword embryo has been completed, and all that remains is the whetstone to sharpen the edge.
The Klavason family followed the techniques of their ancestors, using a square whetstone finely carved from a large piece of sandstone, and kept sharpening the sword with it.
It was another cold morning. Clavarson placed the whetstone on the platform and the dagger on it.
Now that Rurik is still staying at the blacksmith's house, Klavasen really feels that something is wrong.
"Rurik, you can go back."
"Why?"
"The rest is just sharpening the sword, there is nothing to trouble you anymore."
"No, I will continue to watch you work. I want to see how you sharpen your sword."
"Oh, okay, maybe you will be bored." Klavason shook his head slightly, because sharpening a sword is indeed a boring process.
Is there any truly excellent abrasive? There is nothing better than a grinding stone made of diamond powder.
Rurik noticed that there were only ordinary whetstones here in Klavashen, and after touching them with his hands, they turned out to be ordinary sandstone.
Although there are a huge amount of quartz particles in the sandstone that was deposited, the simple silica particles can be easily ground away. It is not a simple task to simply grind the sword-shaped iron bar by hand and repeatedly grind it lengthwise.
Their work is just like the traditional kitchen knife sharpener in my impression, not even a simple grinder.
Does Clavassen really have no grinders?
Rurik deeply felt that the Roman Empire must have had equipment like grinders. Even if they were manually operated, they would be more efficient than workers grinding swords on flat surfaces by hand.
Could it be that after the empire fell, this technology was never introduced to Northern Europe?
Let's continue to observe first and see what kind of bearded guy Klavason can use the most traditional craftsmanship of the Ross tribe to sharpen the dagger.
Rurik once again acted as a spectator. Even though he had many thoughts in his mind, he said nothing now.
Rurik watched quietly. Although the leader Otto was a little inappropriate for his son's insistence on spending time at the blacksmith's house, when he learned that Klavasen had actually created a unique-colored army at Rurik's request.
When the sword was born, my worries were dispelled.
During the five days of Klavasen's blacksmithing, the priest produced a total of 120 bars of soap. The soaps were very large, and a family could buy one and use it for a long time.
Ever since, each room began to be filled with a special smell. It couldn't be said to be smelly, it even had some fragrance.
As long as it is used for the first time, everyone who has used it will completely fall in love with it.
An action sweeping the entire tribe is quietly taking place, and many families have a new job to do in the boring winter - wash off their own dirt and then clean their clothes.
In just five days, the volume of soap in many households has shrunk a lot, all due to excessive use.
So when Otto was patrolling the winding roads of the tribe, a buyer came to him and asked him the truth about the soap's shrinkage.
His explanation was very simple: "Sopa is made from mortal objects using the knowledge given by Odin. It is not the real inexhaustible sacred object of Valhalla. Sopa will lose some every time it is cleaned. When it is used up,
After that, you can come to me with two more silver coins to buy them. I will also ask the priest to make more."
All 120 pieces of soap were sold without any change in price. As agreed, the priests happily received 24 silver coins. To this day, the "soap workers" led by Bona still feel that they have made a lot of money.
In reality, as a "salesman" of soap, Otto would not earn even a copper coin with his only son. He would try his best to sell soap for the sake of his son's future wealth and status.
Rurik has easily earned more than 200 silver coins here, and the wealth of the tribe is concentrating on the chief family at an unprecedented speed! Before this, there was almost no commercial exchange between the chief family and various families in the tribe.
Although we are just searching for people's ointment here, soap truly brings an unprecedented experience. Once you experience the absolute comfort brought by sopa's cleansing of your body and clothes, the tribesmen are willing to pay the price of two silver coins.
What should I do if my wealth decreases?
Go grab it!
There are a large number of Finnish tribes on the other side of the sea where the wealth lies. In the past, Sorgon voyages may have been harassed by them. Although the Finns are good at guerrillas, they are very backward in terms of weapons.
They are backward people, and their tribes have not even organized tribal alliances.
As long as the powerful Rus people organize their men to cross the sea and find a certain tribe to steal all the fur goods they have hoarded, they may become rich.
However, it has been many years since the tribe organized manpower to take the initiative to attack them. It seems that the last action was ten years ago, because the tribesmen fled without resistance. The warriors found some deerskins and sheepskins at their residence, as well as a small amount.
There is no other valuable product for sheep with big horns.
Maybe plundering them is not as profitable as risking going south to rob the Finns, but the risk is just too great.
Just because of soap, some families in the tribe are ready to take action.
If you follow the leader to participate in the spring tribute, how much can you get from the Novgorod tribute? Organize some people spontaneously to launch an attack on the land across the ocean. Maybe you can plunder a large amount of wealth without risk, and you will be able to gain many benefits in the future.
I have been using soap for years.
Otto didn't feel this trend of thought at all, and he couldn't control the tribesmen's spontaneous looting behavior. He only needed to report the action plan to himself, and after the completion of the incident, he would take out part of the loot and distribute it to the tribesmen.
Otto sensed something else, that was Rurik and the blacksmiths moving.
He had seen the silver-white sword embryo, and it was even brighter than all the blacksmiths in its embryonic stage!
If it was polished very sharp, could it really cut off an iron sword? If it could, wouldn't Blacksmith Clavarson be able to do more?
At that time, Clavason offered 50 silver coins a piece, and many warriors of the tribe also had to use their belongings to buy one, and later passed on this "magic sword" to their descendants.
So, how should we discuss with Klavason about the share of silver coins earned when producing the "Excalibur" in the future?
Maybe Rurik is already thinking about this.
Now, Rurik is just focusing on the blacksmith's sword-sharpening work. Things like making money are not what he needs to consider now.
A sword can only be successful if it can cut through iron as hard as clay. It must be sharp and hard.
It must be hard, because Klavasen spent most of the day smoothing the tiny protrusions on the sword with a small grindstone. The sword was polished, reflecting a charming bright white metallic color in the sunlight.
, the iron swords of the past were not like this at all!
Rurik knew very well that only carbon steel could have such color!
However, it takes a lot of time to just "skin polish" the sword. To sharpen the blade, you can imagine how long it will take.
Although the efficiency of using an emery whetstone is extremely high, the efficiency of an ordinary whetstone is too poor. Moreover, the sword blade to be polished is already high-carbon steel. Excessive hardness will grind the whetstone into powder, which will make the sword's edge dull.
Grind well.
Worse still, maybe Clavarson really doesn't have a human-powered grinder.
On the first day of sharpening his sword, Klavasen's biggest surprise was the shrinkage of his whetstone.
"Hey, what's going on? I'm very tired, and the whetstone I've been using for a long time has a dent. Rurik..." Klavasen asked in confusion.
"Because this sword is very hard, that's why." Rurik said without changing his expression.
"Maybe so." The loss of the whetstone was nothing. Klavason was very happy that it was the result of the hardness of the sword. Although he was tired, his fighting spirit was stronger than in the morning.
"Okay! I'm old. I'll be Kava's main force tomorrow, so I need to rest my shoulders."
Rurik glanced at Kawei who was full of confidence. He still didn't say anything about the grinder and would continue to observe it tomorrow.
Sooner or later, you must have a grinding machine, because this machine was forced out of workers by workers facing a large number of weapons production.
Ancient Greece and pre-Qin China both spontaneously invented the technology of grinders, because only in this way could spearheads and arrowheads be polished efficiently.
Maybe with more time, there will be more orders from Clavarson. Maybe this old guy or Kawei can get inspiration from the wheels of the tribe's small two-wheeled carts and invent a grinder that can sharpen swords.
The first day was a boring day, and the next day was a new boring day. The blacksmith's job was just to sharpen swords. The active worker was replaced by Kawei. This strong young man obviously didn't make sword sharpening any more.
Work with ease.
Kawei and Klawason are like two tool men who have no affection for each other, they just keep repeating mechanical work.
However, this job seems to be just repetitive, and it is also rich in technology.
Rurik couldn't help but think of two poems, which are called: It takes ten years to sharpen a sword, but the frost blade has not been tested.
A good sword naturally takes a long time to polish. Who knows how much effort the craftsman put into it?
Time has become very boring. Since I asked to stay here to wait for the polishing of the sword blade to be completed, I should not leave before it is completed.
Three days had passed, until it was dark, and after wearing out a large whetstone and getting blisters on his fingers, he could finally declare that the work was about to end victoriously.
But now, Klavason was holding back a lot of words because of the strange color of the sword.
Panting, he poured water on the second whetstone, and wiped off the water marks on the sword blade and stone with a linen cloth.
He gently wiped his forehead and shouted, asking Rurik who had been watching: "Your sword is finally finished."
"Oh? After three days, you finally polished the sword blade?" Rurik rushed over excitedly, "Let's try using it now? Go and chop the iron sword?"
"Not yet, the blade needs further polishing. I have a new question now, maybe your wisdom can answer me."
"What is it?"
"Look at the blade." Klavason pointed and asked, "Why, the blade is brighter in color, and it is obviously different in color from the back of the sword."
"It's very simple, because the blade absorbs more..." Rurik suddenly wanted to say "carbon". At first thought, the tribe had always called charcoal "col", which originally meant "combustible embers".
But what I want to talk about is carbon. There is no concept of "carbon" in Norse.
Rurik paused and continued: "I will tell you the clear reason, but now, you have to continue polishing. I am very happy that the color of the blade has become brighter and whiter, it will be the key to cutting off the iron sword.
"
Klavasen tried hard to keep calm and did not continue to ask the child any more questions.
"That's it for today. I hope I can sharpen the sword within two days. Rurik, I must admit that this sword is definitely the hardest sword I have ever seen. In my opinion, when you get the perfect
When sharpening the sword, I have already lost two or three whetstones." As he spoke, a wry smile broke out from Klavason's big mouth.
But Rurik could tell from his eyes that the old guy was probably admiring himself.
"Well, maybe I'll pay for the whetstone you lost."
"No, this is a necessary expense." He patted Rurik on the shoulder subconsciously: "Good boy, I will definitely succeed before Hanukkah."
Hanukkah is really getting closer...
Four full days had passed since he completed the forging of the sword embryo. On the fifth day, Klavasen had sharpened the sword blade to a very sharp point. As expected, his second whetstone was also scrapped.
Rurik estimated that he might be able to obtain very high-quality corundum, which would eliminate the current embarrassment.
It is just a whetstone, but there is a lot of knowledge in it.
The best whetstone became a synthetic, a disc made of diamond powder bonded with a binder. It was the key to the grinder, capable of sharpening all steel.
There are also high-quality natural abrasives in nature, which is corundum containing aluminum. It is actually a special kind of aluminum ore. Because of its hard texture, it was the best polishing material available to people in ancient times.
Since corundum is not available, we can only make do with sedimentary sandstone.
Thinking about it this way, maybe sandstone is used to make a wheel shape and used to make a grinder. The most important thing that such a manual grinder has to face is self-wear. Using it to directly polish the sword embryo may not be a good choice. Using it to repair the sword edge may be the most effective.
of.
Using a straight sandstone whetstone to sharpen the blade of a sword, Klavasen has always done this. He also has clear skills in his hands. This old guy is really like a robot. His body does not tremble abnormally in all movements. He holds the mat with both hands.
The thick cowhide covering the blade of the sword is polished forward at an acute angle of about 20°, without any backward polishing movement.
Sharpening a sword is a science, and you can only sharpen the edge in one direction, otherwise you will be causing trouble for yourself.
The blade of the sword became sharper and sharper, and the cowhide protecting his hands had been cut with a large number of cracks by the blade on the other side.
The work had to be done more and more carefully, and finally when the cowhide of the guard was cut off, the five days of polishing the sword's blade could be declared over.
"Rurik, it's over! Everything is over!" Klavason put down the sword. He had no more joy of success. After putting down the sword, he quickly wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Finally! I waited until now, can we..."
Rurik ran to the whetstone excitedly. Isn't the dagger he customized at this moment a magical weapon?
"It should be very sharp, right?"
"It should be. Now I..." As he spoke, Klavasen temporarily inserted a simple wooden pancake into the dagger. "Let's try it first to see if we can cut the cowhide."
"Okay! Hurry up!"
Rurik's eyes widened as he watched Klavasen pile up the cowhide mat that had been cut into pieces three times, hold it with his left hand, and accept the cutting with the sharp blade of his right hand.
Everything is as expected, the sword is very sharp.
Looking at this strong and tough cowhide, Klavasen actually used a little strength. After being folded, as many as six pairs of cowhide were perfectly cut by this dagger.
"Oh! It's incredible! This is cowhide."
"Oxhide? What's wrong? It seems that I have achieved my goal, all that's left is to chop the iron sword." Rurik said excitedly.
"Oh my child, you are so cute. You should know that your sword cannot protect against at least six layers of leather armor. Up to now, any iron sword I made can only cut through two layers of leather armor at most.
This short sword, it works wonders."
Klavasen's eyes shone brightly. Looking at the old guy's trembling beard and fiery eyes, Rurik thought carefully and looked at his steel sword through a pair of blue glasses. It was indeed extraordinary.
"Okay, tonight, right now, I want it to hit the iron sword. Hopefully... its blade won't crack."
"Okay!" The excited Klavasen ordered his even more excited son Kawei: "Go to the warehouse and pick up an iron sword. You are the strongest, and I will give you the job of chopping the iron sword."