Another World Metal Factory

Chapter 59

Oran started to heat the twisted iron in the forge again.

When the twisted iron became red hot, Oran grabbed it with tongs and struck it with the power hammer. This was to reshape the twisted iron back into a square bar.

After making one into a square bar, Oran did the same with the other piece of iron. Soon, two long square bars, each 1 meter long, were created.

Oran clamped the two square bars together and lightly welded them. Instead of fully welding them, she tack welded them in about four places and put the bars back into the forge to heat them.

Watching this, Tehez spoke.

“So you’re making the blade by joining these two together.”

“Yes, that’s right. After doing this and grinding it one last time, the pattern will appear.”

“Wow. It’s a lot of work. You’re saying all swords were made this way in the past?”

Oran nodded.

“You know that in the very distant past, it was difficult to completely remove impurities from iron, right?”

“Yes. Because you need to melt the iron at an extremely high temperature, and that’s not easy.”

While the iron was heating, Oran and Tehez conversed. It was because it would take quite a long time for it to be properly heated.

Oran stepped back slightly and asked.

“What does it take for iron to become strong and good?”

Tehez pondered for a moment before speaking.

“Um… First, it needs to have high purity, and the carbon content needs to be appropriate. High carbon content results in hard steel, and low carbon content results in soft wrought iron. Although the properties change depending on the heat treatment afterward.”

Oran smiled softly.

“You know it well.”

“I learned it from Master. He said that good iron can be obtained by melting it at high temperatures with coal in a huge blast furnace. But he also said that it’s difficult to make something that big, so it’s hard to do in our workshop.”

“Yes. It’s difficult to obtain good iron without doing that. It’s literally difficult to do in our workshop. As such, it was impossible to do that in the past. They had to make a small forge out of clay, put powdered iron ore and charcoal inside, and keep adding fuel and pumping the bellows all night long to raise the temperature. The iron produced that way wasn’t very good.”

Oran took out the partially heated bar and started hammering it with the power hammer again. The power hammer made a clanging sound as it fell, and the heated iron bar sparked.

After shaping the metal bar with the hammer, Oran put the bar back into the forge.

“Anyway, it was difficult to obtain high-quality iron that way. Weak iron with low carbon content and strong iron with high carbon content were mixed together. This method we are doing now is what came about to somehow make a good sword using those. By looking at how it breaks when hammered, you distinguish between wrought iron and steel, combine them, heat them, hammer them, spread them, fold them, hammer them again, then twist them… You repeat that many times. Then, the weak iron and strong iron get mixed together, creating a relatively strong iron.”

Oran took out the heated bar again, hammered it a few times with the power hammer, then moved it to the anvil and hammered it a few more times before placing the bar on the workbench.

The two bars were perfectly combined into one piece.

“Good. The inner core is complete for now.”

Oran took out a huge piece of iron from under the table and lifted it. It was the railroad rail that Channing had cut for her.

Oran placed the rail piece on the workbench with a bang and said.

“Tehez. Heat this up and make two long bars.”

“Uh… Me?”

“Yes. You should be able to do it since you’ve seen it.”

Tehez stared at the rail piece, then picked it up with tongs and put it in the forge.

As she watched the rail piece heat up in the forge, Tehez spoke.

“Is this a special kind of iron?”

“It’s called a railroad rail. It’s extremely strong and tough iron. It’s a special kind of iron if you want to call it that.”

“What is a railroad rail?”

Oran thought for a moment before speaking.

“There’s a really huge carriage. It’s as big as a house and made of iron, and a dozen of these carriages are connected in a row, and it’s called a locomotive, pulled by a huge iron object. Since it’s difficult for it to just run on the ground, they make a long path for the locomotive to run on, also made of iron. That’s the railroad rail. They lay these rails long on the ground and fit the wheels onto these rails.”

“There’s something that pulls a row of carriages made of iron as big as a building?! Wow… That’s amazing? This thing called a rail must be incredibly strong to withstand something so massive.”

Tehez replied in surprise. Oran thought she must be imagining something incredible and smiled slightly.

“That’s why swords made with railroad rails are strong. There was an army that made swords from these rails to fight against enemies invading their country. And they cut down the enemies along with their swords using those swords.”

“Wow. That must have been an amazing sword.”

“Well, the swords made that way were ridiculously heavy and thick, not really like swords. Anyway, try making one well.”

“Ah… Okay.”

Tehez nodded and grabbed the red-hot rail with tongs and struck it with the power hammer. With a clanging sound, the rail began to stretch out.

“Good. Put more strength into your waist. You’re doing much better than before!”

Oran praised Tehez as she watched her turn the tongs and straighten the rail.

Every time the power hammer struck, the railroad rail sparked and slowly stretched.

***

A day passed after Tehez made bars from the railroad rail. Since it was her first time, it took too much time to make just two bars.

First, stretching the railroad rail to an appropriate length, then cutting it in half, and then heating and shaping each piece into a square bar was not an easy task.

Especially for Tehez, who was still a beginner, it took quite a long time even with Oran’s help.

******

Since Tehez had to work overtime with Channing to make bells after the Factory Manager and Oran finished their work at night, she could only go to sleep quite late.

“Haaaawm!”

In the morning, Tehez yawned tiredly.

Oran approached Tehez, who was stretching and yawning, turning her body this way and that, and smiled softly, massaging her shoulders.

“You seem tired.”

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

“No. Then, today, we’ll combine the bars you made yesterday with the inner core.”

Oran took the two square bars she had made and placed them on either side of the pre-made core and welded them in three places with the welder. Then, she put them into the forge and started heating them.

“Why do you think I did this?”

“Are you asking why you put the strong iron on the outside?”

“Yes. Why did I do that?”

Tehez scratched her head and pondered, then cautiously spoke.

“Hmm… Is it because the blade part needs to be harder?”

“Correct! You’re smart. The blade part needs to be harder to make a better sword. It doesn’t matter much for kitchen knives, but it’s a different story for combat swords.”

Oran took out the heated iron bar and hammered it with the power hammer.

As the process of sprinkling borax, heating the iron, and striking it with the power hammer continued, the iron bars began to stick together more firmly. After repeating this several times, the metal was firmly attached.

Oran placed the attached metal on the workbench, measured it with a tape measure, and marked it with chalk.

After marking a V-shape at the very end, Oran shouted to the Factory Manager.

“Hey! Where’s the band saw?”

“Band saw? In the corner over there!”

The Factory Manager shouted, stopping his grinding, and Oran headed to the corner of the factory that the Factory Manager pointed to.

“There it is.”

Oran removed the waterproof cloth covering it and turned on the band saw.

Before placing the material on the band saw and pressing the operation button, Oran looked at Tehez standing next to her.

“Wear your safety glasses.”

Tehez put on the safety glasses she had placed on her head over her regular glasses.

Oran pointed to the part of the sword marked with chalk.

“We’re going to cut out this V-shape.”

“That part will be the tip of the blade.”

“Yes. If we carve a V-shaped groove and heat it, then attach it, it will create a natural blade shape.”

Oran cut the groove with the band saw.

Because the iron was hard, it took quite a long time to cut.

With a sharp sound and sparks flying, the band saw blade slowly cut into the iron, and Tehez helped by applying lubricant next to Oran.

After finally finishing the cut, Oran put the tip of the sword into the forge.

When the tip of the sword became red hot, Oran quickly took it out and started hammering it with the power hammer. As she hammered the front, back, left, and right sides, the groove closed up, creating a pointed blade tip.

“Good. It’s turned out well.”

“Now we need to shape the blade. Will you use the milling machine to cut it?”

“I will use the milling machine, but not now.”

Oran started to heat the iron bar in the forge again.

“Then how will you do it?”

“After heating it, I’ll hammer the part that will be the blade with the power hammer to stretch it. Then, I’ll grind it.”

“Aha! I understand.”

Oran smiled and lifted something. It was a long pair of tongs with diamond-shaped metal frames attached to each end.

“I’ll hold this against the power hammer, so you insert the blade between these and hit it with the power hammer. Then, the blade shape will be formed to some extent.”

“Yes. I understand.”

Oran inserted the tongs between the power hammer, and Tehez took the blade out of the forge with tongs, placed it inside the metal frame of the tongs, and started hammering it with the power hammer.

“Good. Don’t insert it too deeply, just about halfway. Right! That’s how you do it!”

Oran explained the position as she watched the edge of the blade being hammered.

Heating, hammering, and as the edge gradually sloped, Oran held the blade and started to refine it with a small hammer on the anvil.

After a while, something that resembled a sword blade was created.

Oran picked up the blade, examined it, and smiled softly.

“Good. It’s made well and appropriately.”

“That’s a relief. Whew. My hands are shaking.”

“It’s not easy, is it?”

Tehez took off her safety glasses and wiped the sweat with the towel around her neck, nodding.

“Why bother hammering and putting in so much effort? You can just cut it.”

The Factory Manager approached and said, handing her a plastic bottle filled with ice water. Tehez cooled her red face with the plastic bottle and looked at the Factory Manager.

“It’s no fun if you just cut it all with the milling machine. And this way, a better sword is made.”

“Well, I’m just saying that because it looks tough in this summer heat. It’s almost lunchtime, so let’s take a break.”

The Factory Manager said, handing her water at Oran’s words, and Oran drank the water as it was.

“It’s certainly hot. Did you turn on the air conditioner?”

“It’s no use even if you turn on the air conditioner. I turned it on though.”

The Factory Manager replied, picking up the blade on the workbench.

“It’s quite long. It seems to be about a meter (m)?”

“It’ll be a little over 1m.”

The Factory Manager examined the blade and placed it back on the workbench.

“Hello! I brought lunch!”

Meanwhile, the back door opened and Richel entered, greeting them brightly.

“Yay! Food! I was hungry!”

Channing quickly put down the grinder and shouted, and Oran burst into laughter.

“Anyway! Let’s all eat and then get back to work!”

The Factory Manager shouted, and Oran and Tehez also took off their gloves and equipment and left the workbench to eat.