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Guide to Shovel-Smithing


NotEvilAtAll
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Warning: In no way is this guide supposed to be accurate when it comes to the art of smithing. It is just a silly, dumb, and fun thing for halflings to indulge in from time to time if they wish.
 
GUIDE TO SHOVEL SMITHING
Since the dawn of the halfling race, the halflings have had a natural affinity to the shovel. Perhaps it is due to its small size, or due to its amazing bludgeoning capacity, or maybe due to the halflings' affinity to gardening. Whatever the case may be, we are now left with various halflings seeking out only the finest of shovels for their personal use. This demand in shovels is met by a group of small, specialized halflings known only as THE SHOVEL-SMITHS. Their craft is highly complex and requires an apprenticeship to learn.
APPRENTICESHIP
In order to learn how to smith shovels, you first must become an apprentice to an existing shovel-smith. This is no easy task, for the Shovel-Smith gives lessons only to the most trusted and capable of people. The apprentice helps the Shovel-Smith by providing him with iron, cleaning his abode, and helping out with the smithing. In return, the apprentice learns this valuable trade along with all of its secrets.
THE SMITHING ITSELF
The art of smithing shovels is closely guarded by the few remaining Shovel-Smiths. All we know is that it involves a lot of time, effort, metal, and booze to produce. What little we know is shown below:
1: The Shovel-Smith heats up their furnace with wood from apple trees.
2: The Shovel-Smith relies only on the highest quality iron, throwing all the rest away for lesser-smiths to use
3: Only hammers made out of solid cabarum can be used for Shovel-Smithing.
4: When produced, these shovels are some very fine weapons indeed, as well as excellent gardening tools
THE FIRST SHOVEL-SMITH
It is claimed that the very first Shovel-Smith was taught by none other than Lord Knox himself, with the intent being that this art would serve to protect the halfling-race for the rest of time. It is not known if this story is true or not, but it captures the heart and soul of every Shovel-Smith, every one of them wishing to rival the first Shovel-Smiths mastery of shovels.
 
((The actual process of Smithing Shovels goes as follows:
 
1: Ignite the forges using small kindling and a flint & steel
2: Pile Applewood logs into the furnace until it is hot enough to melt copper
3: Using a simple bellows made from cow hide and Gnomish engineering, the furnace is heated up to an even higher temperature
4: An ingot of iron is placed into the furnace to heat up while the bellows are still used to increase the temperature
5: After the ingot has turned red, add more fuel to the furnace, alternating between Applewood logs and Charcoal
6: Once the ingot has heated up further, keep on applying the bellows until the furnace is unbelievably hot
7: Quickly take out the ingot using a pair of tongs, and quench it in a tub of water, letting it rapidly cool.
8: Put it back into the furnace so it may heat up, putting more Applewood logs and Charcoal/using the bellows as needed
9: Quench it again, and repeat the previous steps, heating it up and quenching it until you are satisfied with the resulting iron
10: Heat up the iron once more, using nothing but Applewood logs in the furnace. Once the iron is red, take it out and lay it upon the anvil
11: Slowly hammer the ingot into a shovel-like shape. You may have to re-heat the metal a few times
12: Return to the furnace and heat up another two ingots of metal(edited)
13: Using two bellows at once, and using nothing but charcoal as fuel, slowly heat up the two ingots until they are white in color
14: Take out the two ingots and violently pound them against the anvil as fast and as hard as possible. You should be able to hammer the iron into a slightly smaller shape.
15: Re-heat and re-pound the two ingots as much as needed until you are left with a slightly denser metal.
16: Combine the two ingots into one blob after having heated them up once again
17: Take the old shovel-shape you made and heat it up again in the furnace. Let the denser metal cool in a tub of water
18: Take out the shovel-shaped iron and the cold denser metal and begin pounding the denser metal into the center of the shovel-shaped metal
19: Eventually, you will have combined the two. Now all you need to do is heat up half of an ingot in the exact same manner as you heated up the very first ingot (Quenching it a few times of course) and merge it into the rest of the shovel so that the interior is made entirely of dense metal and the outside is made entirely of non-brittle metal.
20: You have now made a shovel that is heavy enough to give a good whacking yet resistant to shattering under even the most extreme pressures. It is hard to defeat a halfling wielding such a powerful weapon))
Edited by NotEvilAtAll
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A Graven watches from afar, wondering if he should impart the Ancient Anthosian Shovel Making Techniques upon the new blood.

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13 hours ago, Youngie5500 said:

I tried following your guide. How'd I do?
image.jpeg.d914a8911d1e814a328dcda8a477ae10.jpeg

Perfection.

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