Surviving With Joe by Paul Andrulis & Windy Hills Editing

Author:Paul Andrulis & Windy Hills Editing
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, Post-Apocalyptic, Literature & Fiction, Dystopian, Science Fiction & Fantasy
ISBN: 1493585347
Published: 2013-10-26T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26 (New Family)

Richard had enjoyed the gift immensely. Joe had demonstrated making a fire with the kit. He lit some char, and then carefully folded the coal into soft cotton balls for tinder, blowing gently until smoke started to rise from the cotton. He then blew more forcefully with as constant a stream of air as is lungs could provide, until smoke poured out, followed quickly by the mass erupting into flame. Joe then stuck this in the wood stove into a hollow under a pile of twigs and branches. In short time, the stove was crackling gently with the sound of burning wood.

The next morning found Joe back at the forge. Richard had to do some fieldwork and had left for the day, which Joe found perfect. He did not want Richard around while he made his current project, as he wanted it to be a total surprise. He found the steel he had set aside the day before, a section of flat leaf spring from some small implement, and then fired up the forge. Shaping the blade, the intense heat from the red-hot steel an old and familiar friend on his rugged face, he carefully hammered the steel. The metallic ring of the anvil making a steady, slow, and regular beat in his ears that seemed to resonate with the beating of his own heart.

Sparks flew with every blow of the hammer, bouncing off the leather apron Joe had donned before starting. Joe paused, and examined his work. He had cut and shaped three blades, two massive hunters eighteen inches long and almost two inches wide on the blade, and one long butcher knife twelve inches long and an inch and a quarter wide. He examined the bevels, noting with pleasure that they were straight and centered, though he also noted that the hammer needed refaced as it was leaving some marks in the steel.

The blade section was finished, so Joe heated the hilt section of each back to red, and then used some sharp round punches and the pritchel hole of the anvil to punch holes for mounting a handle. He added a large hole towards the very back to hold a metal tube for mounting a lanyard. Using a half inch round file, he shaped the choils on the two hunters. Instead of just a half circle notch, as is usually found on a knife, Joe angled the cut towards the rear to resemble a gut hook, thus incorporating a large rope or line cutting feature into the blade as well. The two hunters were swaged clipped point, and in the spine right before it was swaged to a point, he used a quarter inch round file to grind a gut hook as well.

Joe deemed them ready for hardening, so he stuck each into the fire, carefully checking the steel occasionally, as he wanted a precise hardening on the blades. When the glow of each was precisely the color of red he desired, he quenched it into the transmission oil bath.

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