MJ Multiple Posts
I would need to shave. I assume that a blacksmith who works with steel could make a straight razor to shave with. I'd like to add a straight razor to my equipment sheet, with MJ's permission, of course. I would have made the straight razor during the year we skipped ahead, if it makes any difference.
Two posts, don't forget to go up one more.
The blacksmith would explain that a forge is firepit with a forced draft, usually a bellows, and that it is necessary to use this to get heat high enough to soften hard metals such as iron sufficiently to reshape them. The heat of a campfire is sufficient for soft metals like copper or tin or lead or gold, but you won't get iron or steel hot enough with that.
As for using rocks, it's a crap shoot. First, the hammer and anvil have flat and smooth shaped surfaces, so that when you hammer heated metals on their surfaces you get smooth results; you'll get rough faces from rocks, as unless you find someone who can smooth and polish them, they're going to be uneven. Even then, rocks chip and crack when hammered, so they're not going to last long--and if you get chips or even dust into the work, which is pretty likely, it will weaken the work and be impossible to remove. You could do it in an emergency, like in the middle of nowhere needing to fix a thrown horseshoe, but you'll have to toss out the ruined piece once you had a decent replacement.
If you want to try this anyway, you can certainly try.
The smith does not object to you carrying your things with you.
Your best bet on a straight razor is the dry goods dealer. The blacksmith says he could make one, maybe, but could never put that kind of edge on it. If you want to attempt to make your own, I'll roll for it.
--M. J. Young
Buy a straight razor from the dry goods vendor. I just figured a blacksmith would be able to make one.
If blacksmithing with rocks gets me a new use, let's do it. That's what I wanted it for, emergency situations. Better to know how.
"Mr. Smith, something you never told me is Why didn't YOU try to fix the problem with the princesses? Some people would argue that God put me here to fix it. However, I'm no more qualified to fix it than William over there. Why didn't you try for the gold and half the kingdom?"
I got your email today. Something about "It will become everybody's problem" Let's do it. As soon as I have my straight razor and a new use for blacksmithing, let's do it. Make it everybody's problem. I'm looking forward to it.
"Me? I'm an old man and a peasant, and not a man for solving connundrums. Something unnatural is happening to those girls. They need a hero--a priest, maybe, or a warrior. If I thought I'd a chance of figuring out what happens to them every night, I'd be there like a shot--half the kingdom and the hand of a princess? Absolutely. But I'm sure I'd just be another executed at daybreak for presuming to try what I can't do."
Tell me what you plan to make with the rocks and the campfire--in detail, what metal, what design or function. I'll have to roll it according to the difficulty.
--M. J. Young
"Well, maybe now you know how I feel. Like you, I'm just a man and a peasant. That and I really don't give rip. Who wants to be king? Not me, that's for sure. I can't have sex, or the lady will get a nasty "scriff" infection. (Don't worry, I can't give it to you.) Why worry about it? I'm learning and growing right here where I am."
I know for a fact that you can melt pennies over a campfire. I'd melt down a handful of pence and see if I could make a blade with it. Single edged, just a 3 inch blade. Prison shank kind of thing. That's kind of why I wanted to do this. Making weapons might be a good thing to know.
How much did the straight razor cost?
A good straight razor costs half a crown. A cheap straight razor costs two shillings. You probably don't want a cheap one.
You'll need a container, probably pottery, in which to contain your pence to melt them. How many will you be using for the metal? Once they're molten, presumably you'll pour them into some sort of mold; of what is it made, and what is its shape?
The edge has to be created, first by hammering it thin, later by honing.
--M. J. Young
Good straight razor for half a crown. I marked it down.
I would assume that Mr. Smith has a crucible of sorts that I could use to melt down the pence. I have 105 pence. 5 should make a decent blade. Then work with rocks to shape it. I just want to new use for blacksmithing. If this isn't a new use, then scrap the whole thing and just get on with the game. A new use brings me to 2@1 blacksmithing right?
Yes this reasonably qualifies as a new use; no, that would not make your blacksmithing skill 2@1--it would make it 1@10+1 Mark, and you need four Marks to get an intensity at level 2. It goes with the double doubled training program concept--you must do four times as much to advance a level two skill, and that means going from 1@10 to 2@1 requires four times as much as going from 1@9 to 1@10.
Do you still want to do it?
--M. J. Young
Does that +1 count when you roll against my blacksmithing score? If so, how much does it count? I'm still doing it. I am going to get good at blacksmithing. I'm doing it. I'll probably toss the blade once I make it, I'm just doing it to see if I can basically.
If my blacksmithing is 1@10, and Mr. Smith is at 2@5, where is little William? I could see myself learning it faster than him because of my age and tech bias, but he's been doing it longer. What is William up to? Also, what is William's boxing score? I believe you said mid-level amateur, but where? That could be anywhere from 1@4 to 1@6. What is William's boxing score exactly?
How are the crowns measured in silver? Are they 4 ounces, or 4 Troy ounces? My silver blocks would be Troy ounces. A Troy pound is 12 ounces of silver, and I believe a Troy pound is equal to a standard pound. So, 12 Troy ounces in a pound. That would mean that mine are actually 1 1/3 ounces. Are the crowns ounces or Troy ounces? How would I know? Well, I can weigh a crown against 4 of my Troy ounce coins. If they weigh the same, the crown is 4 Troy ounces. If the crown is lighter, then it is 4 standard ounces.
Now, let's get the where this becomes everybody's problem. ALL RIGHT!!! LET'S PARTY!!!!
The +1 has nothing to do with your roll; it's only a measurement of how much more practice you need before you improve again.
Since SALs are a mechanical abstraction of reality, there is no way you could know William's SAL. Since chance of success is the sum of SAL, BRA, and bias--also abstractions you can't know--and depend on a random factor, you can't really tell who is better, only that you are both improving.
I'm also not certain why you need to know William's boxing SAL "exactly". I'm not completely certain I know it "exactly" at the moment--one of my rules for making the game flow well is I don't bother to keep track of information I don't need to know, and unless you're planning on taking William with you into a combat situation, I probably don't need to know his boxing SAL. He can beat anyone in the village; what else do I need to know?
The weights I gave you for the Crowns are ordinary ounces; those weights were used for your convenience, and are not the way they are described by indigs, who would say that there are four crowns to a pound.
You fail to produce a blade of any use, but mostly get a chunk of copper. What do you intend to do with the chunk of copper?
--M. J. Young
Why would I need William's boxing SAL? Well, I'm teaching him. It's just nice to know how well I taught him. Kind of to give myself a pat on the back. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I trained him for 350 days. That's 7 intensities, so he would be 1@7 or 1@8. Damn, he's almost as good as me.
As far as the chunk of copper, melt it down and try again. And before you ask, if I fail, melt it down and try again. And if I fail, I'll melt it down and try again. And if I fail, I'll melt it down and try again. If I fail, melt it down and try again. And if I fail, melt it down and try again. Are you seeing the pattern here? In other words, keep trying until I either have a usable blade, or botch to the point that it is totally unusable. I'm going to wear your stopwatch out with this one, I know, but I need that +1 on the blacksmithing.
If it makes any difference, I would wear those white jumpsuits from Pearl Harbor at work, and the regular this world civilian clothes when I'm off work. I can do laundry in the rivers, I've done it in the sink before.
When does this become everybody's problem????????????? Oh and now that you mention it, I might be taking William into a combat situation with me. "Everybody's Problem" sounds like something I might need some help with. William could help. To quote Han Solo "Short help is better than no help at all."
Yes, William's boxing SAL is 1@8; you taught him well, for someone with no particular skill at teaching and only an amateur level of ability at the skill.
You spent most of a day trying to make this blade, and failed; you slept in the woods and tried again the next day, and again failed. You failed again the next day. On the fourth day, you manage to make something that could be considered a useful blade. The edge needs honing, and copper is not that strong a metal, but it is heavy enough to use as a knife.
Have we finished all the peripheral details?
--M. J. Young
Do I have the +1 in blacksmithing?
Let's Roll!! (To quote Todd Beamer) Let's get to where this is everybody's problem!!
Yes, you have the skill mark on blacksmithing.
After spending several days in seclusion in the woods, you return to find the village abuzz with the news. The princesses have announced their engagements to three mysterious princes. Word is that they've been sneaking out of the castle through some secret passage to meet these foreign nobles, and they've now brought them home to meet their aging father, and to plan their weddings.
There are all kinds of opinions afloat on the subject. Some think that these "foreigners" are suspicious at best; others observe that they're princes, and the princesses deserve the best. Some think it's all quite suspicious, but others point out that their mother has been dead for a decade, so they really had little help in how to meet someone.
It will be a month before Margaret marries, due largely to the Church requirement that the bans be published. Nerene and Olivia will be married in turn after that, each in her own ceremony.
The names of the princes are given as Cathcart, Dicalus, and Echevar; they have also brought with them two servants named Abishaw and Babbareth, not well liked or trusted by the castle staff apparently--"Although you wouldn't expect it, would you now, that the king's loyal servants would be comfortable with the servants of some foreign princes sticking their noses into how everything is done."
--M. J. Young
"Well Mr. Smith, that's very interesting. Sorry I was gone, I had some things to take care of. Well, let's get back to work. I hope the princesses have a happy life with those guys."
What are we doing in the blacksmith shop?
I have 2@ on my TK pulse. That means now I can throw two pulses in a minute right? Try to double down on that. Try to bring something to me. A ball perhaps. Pulse it towards me two pulses a minute. Try to change its direction mid roll. Try to keep things coming towards me. Chain it, I guess is the term here?
Are there things like High Speed TK Pulse? How about Heavy TK pulse? What about rapid fire TK pulse? Throwing them faster than 2 a minute. Could you chain TK pulse into a rapid fire? I would be asking myself these questions, but waiting until I got really good at TK pulse before I tried it. Let's work on the first one. I'm just making notes.
Once again, my on-person equipment is the Kabar knife, Leatherman multitool in the black nylon sheath, the 9mm pistol, belt bag (fanny pack) with 1 pound (weight) bronze, 1 pound (weight) nickel, 4 crowns, gold, and silver bullion, rings and spare magazines for the 9 mm.
If you could rapid fire TK pulse fast enough, it would be almost as good as simple TK.
If that was 4 days out in the woods, is that 4 days practicing wilderness survival? Hunting and trapping.
I'll note that you were practicing your wilderness survival skill for an insignificant length of time.
You've described two things you are attempting to do with the TK pulse now that it's a 2@ skill--one, doubling the pushes on your hammer, the other, trying to move a rolling object and then alter its course. Are these simply things you are doing as practice, or did you want to roll to see what happens?
It's business as usual at the blacksmith shop--shoeing horses, making farm tools, stuff like that.
The month might pass uneventfully, unless you've plans for it.
--M. J. Young
Find a ball of some sort, start it rolling with a TK pulse, and see if I can change its course. Two pulses a minute, is that one every 30 seconds, or can I throw them faster than that? If it's one every 30 seconds, then the ball would stop long before I could throw the second pulse. How far can I roll the ball with one pulse?
Did I ever show Mr. Smith my two Leatherman tools? I bet something like that would be very useful among the many tradesmen and craftsmen in this area. Let's see if we can make something like that. Geeze, I've been meaning to say that for a long time.
It's one every thirty seconds; it takes that long to recover the mental focus to do the next.
How long the ball rolls depends on the surface. If you roll it on the rough wooden floors, it will bounce off walls and floor joints, but go for a while; if you roll it on the dirt of the blacksmith shop (a messy floor in the wet, but one which won't catch fire) or the grassy spots, it stops rather more quickly; on the few cobblestone main streets, it bounces quite a bit, but will veer down the slopes and keep moving until it comes to rest in the gutter.
You manage to get the ball rolling and change its direction. It doesn't seem that difficult, although it's not easy in this world to do anything psionic. You've definitely improved since you arrived, but it is only just getting back to where it was in the world in which you learned it.
The smith says that it's a very nice tool, and someone must have spent most of half a year on such a complex bit of work. It must have cost a year's wages, at least, and you should be careful not to lose it. He does not seem interested in undertaking any task so complicated or time-consuming.
Anything else you wish to do before Margaret's wedding to Cathcart?
--M. J. Young
Not to sound too accusatory, but I didn't see any roll for Mr. Smith on the Leatherman tool. Is there a reason for that, or did you just decide it?
Is there such a thing as out of sight TK pulse? I'm going to try. I'm going to take my ball out in the woods, and try to TK pulse it with my eyes closed, by the memory of where it is. Out in the woods where no one else can get hurt if I mess up. Before we skip ahead. Is this another new use?
Well, if Mr. Smith doesn't want to try to duplicate the Leatherman tool, then I guess we skip ahead. I made 128 pence for the month whilst the princesses got married. That's 32 pence a week for 4 weeks. Let me know if that's correct and I'll mark it down. If that's all, I'll skip ahead.
You probably have no conversion, but what is a pence, shilling and a crown worth in our money? If two shillings is a day's wages, even at minimum wage would be about $40.00-$60.00, depending on the hours. No overtime, but that's what a minimum wage worker would make a day before taxes.
MJ, I'm not sure why I'm mentioning this, but my handwriting was tested in (I believe) 10th grade. It was tested as being equal to the of a first grader. I don't imagine it has improved much since. I don't know why, I just felt I should mention that. Handwriting like a first grader. Now you know why I learned to type!!!!!
Let's see--we were asking whether a blacksmith with an apprentice who does well enough to keep himself clothed and fed and pay an assistant would be interested in shutting down all his other work to focus for at least half a year on making exactly one copy of a very complicated multi-hinged multi-bladed pocket tool for which he has no known market and for which he would have to charge something on the order of two hundred pounds to break even. I suppose that I could have rolled a general effects roll, and if it happened to be a one in a thousand chance success, that would mean that I could roll a GE roll to see if it was again a one in a thousand chance success. I don't see the blacksmith losing his mind like that. This is a machine the like of which no one makes and no one wants.
Remember, John, it does not always pay to be ahead of everyone. Some time back, a struggling computer company put out the very first multi-media computer. The thing did audio and video in ways no one had ever imagined a personal computer doing. It did all the special effects for a network science fiction show. However, no one really had any idea why anyone would want such a gadget, and Commodore Computers went out of business, unable to sell the Amiga to home users despite its phenomenal abilities. Today, everyone has a multimedia computer; you'd have a hard time selling a computer that didn't handle music and video at least as well as that--but being that far ahead of the market was a death sentence for the original.
Your numbers are fine.
You are right, the conversion would be meaningless. Remember, a Roman denarius was a day's wages, but also the price of a loaf of bread. You're living in one of the most affluent times in history; your character is not. The only "conversion" I can offer you is that you've seen what some things cost. They're not going to convert one-to-one, because some things will be more expensive to make in this world, but it gives you an idea.
Immediately after Margaret's wedding to Cathcart, the announcement is made that in another month Nerene will be marrying Dicalus.
--M. J. Young
Well, remember that I am still learning how to play the game. This is another "To You" and "To Me" issue. To You, asking whether the blacksmith would want to copy my Leatherman was a stupid question. To Me, it was something I didn't know. So, bear with me if I seem stupid sometimes.
Ya know something just occurred to me. If I was reading Mr. Smith's mind constantly, then what would I have picked up? I would have gotten him thinking about how to do things in the blacksmith shop most of all. He would be thinking about exactly how to do that horseshoe, or exactly how that piece should fit into that piece. Isn't that a bonus on learning blacksmithing? I'm not just getting his instructions, I'm getting him thinking about it. His thoughts are probably more explanatory than his words would be. I'd think that would be a bonus on it.
How did the out of sight TK pulse go? Walk out into the woods and try TK pulse on something with my eyes closed, and see if I can hit it by the memory of where it is. That can only be useful. Try to TK pulse something with my eyes closed. Do that before we skip ahead again.
Mr. Young, humor me. Roll for that GE roll on Mr. Smith wanting to try to duplicate the Leatherman. I need a 3 GE roll right? Let's roll for it, please. I have a situation in real life, and I kind of need a 3 GE roll on something in real life. Ben was a good friend of mine. Roll for it.
Actually, what I said was that you need a three on a GE roll to allow you a GE roll on which you need another three-two threes in a row--but since you insist, I'll do the rolls. Done.
The TK pulse did not work. You don't have to be looking directly at an object to pulse it, but it has to be within your field of vision at the moment of the pulse, even if only peripherally.
You undoubtedly learned a lot about John the Smith from reading his mind, but you are already getting the full benefit of his instruction; reading his mind will not add to that in this case.
--M. J. Young
You totally misunderstood me. Understandably, but you did. I wanted to make a copy of the Leatherman as a gift should I meet one of these nobles that are courting the princesses. I've saved over half of my wages for the year, so it's not like I couldn't afford to pay Mr. Smith to do it. As I learned in the first world, money is kind of useless to a verser. Also, I have a situation in real life that would require a 3 GE roll to happen. Something I really want to happen, that would require a 3 GE roll to happen. I figured if I got a 3 here, then maybe my real life 3 GE roll would happen. Too much to explain, except that it involves a very good friend of mine named Ben. Besides, as you're so fond of saying, no matter how unlikely the combination of dice, eventually it WILL come up. It's 1 in a million (literally) on getting a pair of 3 GE rolls, but how do I know you haven't made 999,999 GE rolls, and that was the million?
So if I'm reading Behind the Screens right, there's more than one kind of TK pulse? There's an out of sight TK pulse? Kewl. Next time I'm not in a stinking flatline world, I'll have to try it.
Ya know what? Screw it. I'm going to try to make the Leatherman copy myself. It will be my amateur masterpiece, and should get me another skill mark on the blacksmithing. I'm not making an exact copy with the same tools, that would be useless to a nobleman. I mean they probably haven't invented glass, let alone bottles, so who needs a bottle opener? The new Leatherman will have pliers, knife, file, one flathead screwdriver and a fish scaler. On the other handle, a corkscrew and an awl punch. I figure the corkscrew will take up more room, so I'm only putting 2 instead of 4 tools on that handle. How long do I have to make this myself? Almost forgot, this is with Mr. Smith's permission. If he won't permit me to make it then I won't. (I'm assuming that would be a "normal" GE roll, since I'm doing the work myself) I'll do it on my own time if he prefers. I just have a feeling these new nobles are going to be coming for a visit, and I want to make a good impression.
It's another month before the second princess gets married? How long before all of them are married and this becomes everybody's problem?
What you know is that the princesses will be married a month apart; you don't know what happens after that.
I don't happen to have a Leatherman tool here for examination, and you do, so I'm going to have to rely on you to tell me what has to be done. It seems to me, though, that you have to make each fixed part individually, and then hinge them together so they move relative to each other. Thus you're going to have to list the number of individual pieces you have to make--two for the pliers, for example--plus the number of hinge pins.
Hinges in this world are pins through holes, by the way; they wobble significantly. Your Leatherman pliers have a kind of hinge that has never been seen in this world; you will have to divine how to make that yourself. I'm interested in your results.
--M. J. Young
It's like a pair of pliers with 2 Swiss army knives as the handles. The two handles fold back onto the jaw of the pliers. Closed it's 4 inches long, open probably 6 1/2 or 7 inches long. I would need to make the 6 tools individually, there's 4 pins that hold the tools in place and another pin for the jaw of the pliers. What are Mr. Smith's thoughts? Am I still working and getting paid, or am I working on this with his equipment and not getting paid? I would need to make this out of steel.
On a more personal note. Get a Leatherman. Once you start carrying it, you will use it almost every day.
So the first thing you have to do is take a steel bar, heat it, and hammer it into the shape of one half of a pair of pliers, and then heat it again and drive a hole through it with an iron spike for the hinge. You will also somehow have to carve out the space for the folding blades, working with hot steel, tongs, hammers, spikes, and chisels, and then will have to drive four properly aligned holes in the edges of this space. This will have to be done one at a time, since by the time you've driven one hole the rest of the object will have cooled beyond anything that can be worked. You also have to handle it delicately enough that it does not warp or reshape while you are working with the hot piece, and avoid losing the temper on the steel in the process. That will get you one half of the primary device; you will have to repeat this to create the other half, then fit them together and pin them. For them to move smoothly, you will have to find a way to make the inner faces perfectly flat, or else create enough space between them that they can move over each other.
This is not the normal work of a blacksmith, but if you're going to go forward with it, Mr. Smith will let you work around him and use his equipment. I suspect that the proper way to make such a tool is to cast the steel parts, but blacksmiths do not have blastfurnaces for heating steel to molten state--they buy steel bars, heat them in forges, and hammer them into the desired shapes. If you are working on this, you won't be paid during that time, as it really will be all you can do for about six months.
--M. J. Young
Staying at the inn is 28 pence a week, so for the month, that would be 112 pence a month, or 1 pound and 12 pence. I'll pay a month in advance. I already marked it on my sheet.
If that's what I have to do, then I'll do it.
Where are you getting that it would take 6 months to do this? I admit I know nothing about blacksmithing, but really, do you know anything either?
Also, how many skill marks am I getting for building this? I'm hoping for quite a few.
Creating a Leatherman Tool by Blacksmithing.
Day 1
You need to take a steel bar--it is square but long, and you need to pick one whose dimensions are as large as the widest point of your project. I think that means you need a one inch square steel bar. This has to be heated, hammered, pried, heated, pried, hammered, and generally shaped into one half of the leatherman handle.
It suddenly occurs to me that I'm envisioning something that is a pair of pliers, fundamentally--like scissors, the handle and the blade are the same piece of metal, with the other handle and blade being a single piece, the two hinged in the middle. What occurs to me is that I've seen a tool, and it might be this one, on which the handles fold over to make the whole more compact. This would mean that the handles must be made separately from the blades, and then hinged to the blades, and then have latches installed to secure them when in use but allow them to fold when not in use. Is that what we're making? Something like this or that?
That's a lot more complex than I initially envisioned. I'm going to need to know if one of these pictures is correct.
--M. J. Young
If I'm reading you right, it's a flat piece of metal folded into a U shape. Holes in each end. One end has the tools on a metal rod that runs through the U, the other end has holes where the pliers attach. Does that answer your question?
If I'm reading you right, you're pretty much on it. Yes, I know it's complex. However, you forget that I only have 2 months until All Hell Breaks Loose and I'd like to get my blacksmithing skills up higher, just in case.
Also, I'm still doing TK pulse practice, and mind reading as well. Also practicing boxing with William. Still practicing all that I was before. I doubt anything will raise in 2 months, but I thought I'd mention it.
Are there any bonuses for having Mr. Smith as a consultant? I know he's never seen this either, but he's more experienced than I am.
MJ, I got that email you sent, I just had some questions about exactly you wanted me to do. Once I have confirmation tomorrow, I'll try to get on it.
O.K., the first thing you have to do is take the steel bar from which you are going to forge one blade of the pliers, heat it, and hammer the end into the desired shape. The flat of the blade can be created against the top of the anvil, but you'll have to use special hammers and cutters to shape the back. The blade then needs to be bent and thickened, but narrowed left/right; this creates the hinge point. After that, you have to drive a spike through the thickened narrow point, quite in the center, and then put a smaller hole through the round end, and finally cut the completed piece off the end of the steel bar.
It takes about three hours to get the first blade the right shape; it takes another four hours to get the handle and hinge sections right.
You heat it up again, and attempt to drive the hinge hole into it--and it breaks off at the hinge point. You'll have to start over, but it's late in the day, so you'll have to do it tomorrow. You will have to toss the broken piece in the scrap steel bin, either to be used for smaller parts or sent back to the forge and remelted.
--M. J. Young
"Gosh darn it all to heck and back!!!!!!!!!!!"
To be honest, if I spent 7 hours on that and botched, I think I might give up. On the other hand, I might not, because I could see myself being determined enough to keep trying. I'm really not sure what I would do in this case.
Well, go back to the inn and relax for the rest of the night, try again tomorrow. I'm going to keep at it. Try again tomorrow.
You spend all morning trying to get the blade right, without success. The Smith insists you break for lunch before you drive yourself crazy on this. You come back to it in the afternoon, but by sunset you still haven't managed to produce the flat blade which will work at the plier end.
You can continue tomorrow to try to get it right.
--M. J. Young
Work on a different part of it, and come back to this later. That way, maybe I can get a skill mark or two before I go ballistic and stick my 9mm in my mouth hahaha.
MJ, is there any way we can skip ahead faster on this? I want to get to where this becomes everybody's problem, because anything I think of for that sounds like fun. I want to get my blacksmithing SAL up as high as I can before that happens, could you perhaps do a week's worth of rolls in a day? I want to see what's going to happen when this becomes everybody's problem.
Ya know, it just occurred to me that I have not prayed once since I became a verser. Pray for a blessing on this blacksmithing project. Is that any kind of bonus?
MJ Two posts.
For some reason, I wanted to mention that I helped my uncle restore a 1979 Corvette one summer, and I also helped him repair my own car more than once. I would say I have 1@2 gasoline engine repair, and 1@3 engine diagnosis. I learned how to diagnose quite a few things. Uncle Bob wouldn't let me do a lot of hands on, but I watched. Just wanted to mention that to you.
We can't accelerate the blacksmithing project; it's already taking a lot of time at my end, and I made several rolls last time.
Tell me more about your intended prayer for blessing--what do you pray, how long do you pray, how do you pray; if we were to say that you had "skill" at your religion, based on a combination of knowledge, faith, and practice, what would your skill ability level be, and what name would you give to your religion?
Which part do you want to attempt next?
Noted on the automotive skills.
--M. J. Young
Skill in religion? Well, I'd like to say that it's 3@10, but that would probably mean that I memorized the entire Bible wouldn't it? I'd probably say 1@10 religion skill. My religion is nondenominational Christian. I need to remember that I would have been going to church every week whilst in this world, so that would help a bit. My prayer would probably be something along the lines of "Please God help me to do this project."
What part would I do next? Well, I was trying the plier jaws right? Well, probably the handles. Why not?
You've suggested 1@10 Non-denominational Christianity, which to me says that you are as close to being a paid minister as anyone can be who isn't quite up to being a paid minister. That surprises me, so I'm hoping you'll tell me why you are that far above average.
The handle would require that you hammer a piece of steel very thin, then bend it into three sides of a box, then drill four holes, one in each folded face at each end, making sure the pairs align directly. Does that sound right to you?
--M. J. Young
OK, what's a slightly above average religion score? I'll go with that. I have been an unpaid minister before, in a manner of speaking. Maybe 1@6 or 1@7.
Yeah, that's about right on how to do the handles.
The prayer does not seem to matter, as far as you can tell.
You spend the next morning attempting to make the handle, but you keep winding up with some badly mishapen bits of metal that need to be reheated and rehammered and rebent, until you break for lunch no further along than you were, really.
--M. J. Young
After lunch, I'm going to do something I don't do very often. I'm going to go back to the inn, and kneel in front of my bed. Since this is the first time I've prayed in a few years, I think I better do it right. Kneel down in front of my bed and pray for several minutes at least. Asking for forgiveness, wisdom, strength, and help with the project. As well as anything else I can think of. Maybe even ask Jesus back in. I've done that before, but since I've been away, I haven't been so good. Need some forgiveness for that. (in real life too!!!) Get a good, soul cleansing prayer. I think I need one.
After that, go back to the blacksmith shop and try the handles again.