01. A sword for you (17)

Making a sword is a series of patience and pain.

You must not take your eyes off of the flames reaching thousands of degrees, and you must swing the hammer enough to tear your shoulder muscles.

Thousands or even 10,000 hammering are required to make a sword, so each time a craftsman strikes iron, he hopes that a good sword will be made.

The soul of the craftsman is in the sword that has been completed in this way.

… Well, there is a story like that kind of mental theory.

Leaving aside the authenticity of the story, I certainly prefer to make it by hand.

This is because there is an overwhelming difference in the amount of time spent on a single weapon.

It would be convenient if you take a steel plate in a press machine, shape it, and sharpen the blade with a grinder. It wouldn’t be a task to make a single sword in an instant.

But even blacksmiths don’t swing their hammers without thinking. While striking the iron thousands of times, the blacksmith continues to ponder, hoping to perfect the sword.

Is the blade bent by hitting it with too much force, whether bubbles are formed during the welding process, whether the steel is evenly impregnated with carbon, and whether it has become sufficiently hard during the heat treatment process.

I keep thinking and thinking again and again. Then, the finished sword contains the craftsman’s thoughts, even if he doesn’t know the soul.

It still is.

‘Iron is too soft.’

Ting- He flicked the steel with his fingers.

A blade that has been shaped over a full day. It was surprisingly fast considering that I only had to work for less than half a day because of my classes.

However, it is impossible to overcome the limits of the material by casting sandcast iron scraped from the Han River. The purity of the magical power must also be set well for a 3.5 Grade. In particular, the hardness is too soft even if it is soft.

No matter how well the heat treatment is done, will this sword be hard enough?

There shouldn’t be any problem in holding it and wielding it right away. However, if you continue to use it, the sword will definitely bend at some point due to the weak tension.

I couldn’t give such a sword to Yoon Seo-hee.

“This is not okay.”

Now that I have decided on my thoughts, I have decided to act. I put the chisel on the forged blade and hit it hard with the hammer.

After striking the iron, which was still soft because it had not been quenched, the long blade split into two pieces.

Then I left the studio for a while to get the things I needed.

“Huh….”

Working in a blacksmith is also a fight against heatstroke. I was able to catch my breath for a while as I moved away from the sweltering heat.

When he came up from the basement to the first floor, his grandfather was drinking tea in the living room.

“Aren’t you asleep yet?”

“Heh heh, it’s because the hammer banging is so noisy.”

“Oh, sorry. I’ll do a little more and I’ll be done.”

“After you say that, it is clear that you will work until morning.”

Um. I have nothing to say. Because everything was true.

When I was working, I didn’t notice the time passing, so it was common for me to check my watch and see that several hours had already passed.

But after entering the academy, things like that would have decreased, but yesterday I ended up staying up all night. My stamina was still strong and I feel like I can work all night today.

“Don’t worry about this grandfather. When you get old, you can’t even sleep at night.”

“Thank you, Grandpa.”

“What? Now that you have that face again, I am more than happy.”

“A face?”

I looked at the mirror in the living room.

The image of myself in the mirror was soggy and dusty, with my overalls burned here and there.

“This is it?”

“Doesn’t that face say that making swords is fun and you don’t know what to do?”

“… ….”

He raised his hand and touched his mouth. The corners of his mouth were definitely raised slightly.

Since when did I start laughing like this?

The beginning must have been the determination to make Yoon Seo-hee’s sword, but at some point, pleasure took precedence over responsibility and duty.

Whether sitting or standing, he constantly thinks about how to make a sword and what to do next. I can’t stop because it’s fun.

“Grandpa.”

“Huh?”

“What is the strongest sword?”

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Grandpa smiled broadly.

“There is nothing like that in the world. There are just good swords.”

“Isn’t that right?”

A smile came from within.

With a much lighter heart, she greeted her grandfather and headed for the warehouse. When I opened the door and entered, the smell of old iron and oil was full.

This is where I keep the swords I made. He strode inside and grabbed a piece of metal that was shaped like a sword that had only been forged.

A grade 2 magical power received from the academy in preparation for this final performance. It was a failure that I didn’t even think about taking out after eating it on the first day and putting it in the warehouse, but now I needed it.

I thought I was talented. Only until middle school.

When I hit the hammer, the shape came out as I thought. There was no need for a thermometer to read the optimal firepower for smelting steel. I felt the fire with the heat reaching my eyes and skin. When I touched the sword with my hand, I immediately remembered where the problem was and what to do next.

After mastering the technology to a certain extent, whatever I wanted to make was made as I wanted. Utilizing this talent, he created countless swords that exist in the world.

From western swords such as long swords and claymores to oriental swords such as Joseon swords, Japanese swords, and Chinese swords. From small daggers to double-edged swords, single-edged swords, huge axes and hammers.

No matter what technique is required, any complex shape is created. No drawings were needed. He understood the structure of the sword just by looking at it with his own eyes. Grandpa called me a genius.

I thought there was no weapon in the world that I couldn’t make. After entering the academy with that talent, I tried to create my own original for the first time.

The most powerful sword that has never existed in the world will surely be created.

It was a terrible arrogance.

The moment I was about to strike the hammer on the red-hot steel for the first time, my head turned white.

How should I make it? What length? Form? Strength and thickness?

Each sword has its own characteristics and uses, but which one is the best? Which technique should I use?

I wanted to make the strongest sword. But no matter what I tried to make, only the cry of not doing it, that it was wrong, and doing it again kept circulating in my head.

What the hell did I want to make?

I couldn’t make anything. No matter how much imitation is the mother of creation, imitation alone cannot make a craftsman. I can’t engrave my name on a sword made by copying someone else’s.

Was the dream of making a masterpiece with my name engraved on it with my own hands just an illusion?

Why am I so untalented? Unnecessarily stubborn, he couldn’t even straighten a sword.

‘This isn’t it, it’s wrong, make it again.’

If you ignore the shouts in your head, then anything will be completed. Even if I don’t like it, something plausible will be made. If I had submitted something like that, I wouldn’t have gotten a failing grade yet.

I couldn’t. That was my voice

But now.

Fire-!

I returned to the studio and stood in front of a furnace that emitted heat.

In my hand were two fragments of the second-class magical steel used in the failed work and the iron sword that had been split in two.

‘If I only reuse failed designs, I can’t get the shape I want.’

I was about to submit a dagger to the final performance. That’s why the size of the remaining magic steel was just enough to use on a dagger.

What I’m trying to make now is a double-edged sword with a blade that is over 100cm long. If you include the length of the tang that corresponds to the hilt, it will increase even more. It is not a length that can be made using only one magical steel.

It would have been if I only used one magic steel. That’s why iron sand is mixed.

‘The Sanmai method would be nice.’

This method, also known as the taco technique, is a method of combining two types of iron. Cover the outer surface with soft iron and insert hard iron into the inside that becomes the blade.

The harder iron is used as a core, the better. Then the blade is sharp and hard, but the blade is soft.

“hahahaha.”

I laughed at the irony of making a Western sword with a method often used for Japanese swords.

But technology has no borders. It’s just about how to use it.

A magical steel blade was inserted between the split iron sand. Still, it was fortunate that the forging had been finished and it was flattened in advance.

Now I have to attach the iron that has been divided into these three pieces, but iron doesn’t stick just by heating it up and hitting it.

I put borax powder carefully between the sections. It is also to give adhesion, but if borax is not buried in advance, air bubbles may enter between the end faces during the welding process.

In the worst case, the iron is oxidized. The sword will rust.

‘The temperature is… Okay, it’s suitable.’

I put three overlapping pieces of iron into the heated furnace. Carefully examine the steel, which gradually brightens in color in the fire, and when it becomes orange, take it out of the furnace and place it on the anvil.

Continued to hit the hammer countless times.

Kaang-! Caang-!

The steel, which had been divided into pieces, receives strength and gradually unites into one.

I focused my consciousness and proceeded with the weaving work carefully.

Abandoning the illusion of making the strongest sword that didn’t even exist, and just concentrating on the idea of making a sword, I felt like something that had entangled me had been ripped off.

Kaang-!

The cry in my head was no longer heard.