Creating something new, day 6
Weapons cane test
Its a productive morning, where start with writing down information from the tablet, but end up working on all the parts for my weapons cane. I take the time to do the job carefully, so it will work as it should and be nice to look at. Most of the time this cane will be a fashion and statement more than its true purpose as a weapon, so it must look nice. But when I need its weapons, they MUST work, as my life will probably depend on it. It also need to be safe so that I don't activate anything by mistake or it fall apart by mistake, while that safety doesn't prevent it working reliably. Most of this are design problems that should be fixed, but there is a lot of fiddling about since its all handcrafted. I do a simple test that the piezo lighter can ignite the blackpowder in a casing now that it has been modified and assembled into the grip. Another test that all detachable barrels and its attachments work correctly, click into place, doesn't rattle or come loose and feels good and crisp.
Bodil returns from leaving the crucible steel lumps at Bladesmith Olafr, and picking up the mold. Apparently Olafr tenderly touched the lumps like newborn babies. Olafr's really looking forward to the coming weeks.
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Cast lead bullets and make crude cartridges, and in the afternoon I bring Alith with me down to the beach to verify that the piezo ignition works. But only from a distance where we stay behind rocks as cover and using a pull string. It works. It really works. The string flexes, but its short and the ignition seems more direct as a primer had triggered the cartridge, instead of a flintlock. Which is what I wanted and hoped for. A flintlock trigger release a mechanical movement that strike sparks down into the pan that ignites the finer blackpowder there, which then burns into the shot. Its fast, but still a delay compared to igniting inside the casing with a high voltage arc. Wonder if its the arc that ignites the particles, or the blackpowder conducts the current through the particles, heat up, and ignite? Regardless, it works, and after a few shot its clear that it works very well.
Alith understands why I swore her to keep this secret, to keep my canes functions secret, and why she's with me every time I try blackpowder. So only she knows. She really appreciates that I trust her, and that I forced her to borrow hearing plugs again. She doesn't really know what to say, when I tell her that in the future I hope to be able to let my guards use a new type of weapons, firearms, which is based on the same sejd. I hope I can give her her own musket eventually, but I say nothing about that. It's not really a good gift unless I teach her about making her own blackpowder at the same time. Without blackpowder a musket is worse weapon than a club, and there doesn't seem to be anyone else producing blackpowder in Alfheimr. Good for me, but that means I'm the only source. Its a bad gift if she has to depend on my goodwill to use it.
I like and trust Alith enough, but we havn't known eachother for a long time and some secrets are too big to just give away like that.
But it is rewarding to see her bounce in place while she eagerly drums on her shield with an expectant smile. She's definitely a weapon fangirl, especially if its shiny or impressive. I wonder what she would say about a cannon, or explosives. She feels more like a person roaring 'Wo-Ho! Fuck Yeah! ' with her hands in the air, than a 'Cool Guy' who just turns around and casually walks away.
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Once back at the house, I'll finish building my cane. Still a bit of fine detail work to make it prettier and overall polishing to do, but it can be used.
It has both a trigger guard to protect the trigger, and a simple mechanical grip lock, and it seem to work just fine as a gun. I can also lift the cane vertically under the handle / shoulder support and spray someone with tear gas via the recessed wooden button for it. I think. I don't really want to test it because of how small the container is. If I grip the handle to use as a stabbing weapon, there is a conveniently placed latch I can push in and then turn the handle clockwise, and the upper tube separates in two about a decimeter below the handle, to give me something resembling a classic medieval stiletto. Its probably quite bad for fencing with, but its 220mm long and 13mm wide diamond cross section blade looks nasty and is probably an effective stabbing weapon, as it will go deep inside the body and I can easily put a lot of force behind it. Since its steel, it should be more durable than many people will believe, and it should penetrate will and deep even through chainmail or leather armor. Its also an emergency weapon, and I can use the rest of the cane for parrying. With the pistol grip in the hand, the tube is quite good along the underside of the arm. Atleast its better than just using my arm to block a blade with. I can also poke enemies with the barrel end. If the ice tip is fastened, it will be a bit unpleasant as well. I will need to practice fighting with this, for it to be useful in an emergency. Its a fairly impractical melee weapons combo, especially against the common sword and shield, so I hope I never have to rely on it.
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Typically me, I'm almost done with the cane, when I start to think about modding it or adding something else. Bought that wooden block, and I think it would be nice to add a small flashlight or a tazer as well. I can fit the flashlight without problems, as I have two Nitecore Tube flashlights with me. They give good light and one is modded with a screwed on PETG diffuser which I usually hang in the tent as a unfocused ceiling lamp because its short, lightweight, lo/hi brightness, and hangs higher up compared to the Maglite. Its light output is low 1 lumen lasting a couple of days, or high 45 lumens lasting an hour. Would be nice to have that with me in the cane. Both to see in the dark, signal with and 'sejd'. I can hide the flashlight in a slightly thicker handle, where the button can be pressed with another recessed wooden button piece, a bit like the tear gas canister, and I can make a recessed jack on the underside to access its micro USB charging port, although I will have to use something long and thin to pull out its rubber cover.
I sketch and will start shaping the important inner parts for the flashlight, before I can let a more skilled carver do the outside. It needs to be pretty. I might ask the same craftsman doing the wind turbine parts if they're good, or maybe Bodil who seems skilled enough.
For now, I ignore the Tazer idea, because the problem is generating high voltage when I don't have any suitable electronics. It won't be small. Having to use a crank feels so wrong, and doesn't give the same practical fast effect in use, and high voltage is a big problem with the lack of insulators and possibilities.
I will probably disassemble my dualband walkie-talkie in the future and try to reuse the components, especially simpler semiconductors as diodes and extremely valuable transistors, which I can't build here. That radio has a lot of signal amplifying semiconductors.
Huummm...
That radio has two output stages for radio energy, 4-5W VHF/UHF, and I have the electrical schematic in the radio models folder on the tablet, and probably on my phone, because I have replaced the output mosfet on this model once, and needed to find out its datasheet. I also cut the TX/RX LED traces as they might give away my position in nightgames. I've repaired a couple of other radios too for acquaintances, and made a small volume of mods etc on others. A burned final stage mosfet easily happens if the antenna is damaged or missing, and I know a group where 4 out of 8 radios after a while could no longer transmit due to carelessness, ignorance and burned final stage mosfets. But broken displays, mashed buttons, damaged headset jacks and controls have happened too. And I've been the one to fix it, or just been given a damaged radio when they bought a new one. I have quite a collection, not atleast since the cheap walkie-talkie market have exploded the last 15 years, and its handy to be able to lend out when there's newbies attending.
Anyway, if I simplify and modify then I should be able to build an amplifier and speaker, that can be used with my MP3 player or phone. Music!
... or maybe a two-way radio?
Wouldn't be wrong if I could build a radio link to my future ship. A radio feels much more useful, and in the extremely quiet electromagnetic environment Alfheimr must be, I should be able to reach far on low frequency and power, and maybe I can build more than two practical radios depending on the design. A regen receiver doesn't require many semiconductors. A few radios somewhere within 2-10MHz would be nice, whether it's morse code or voice. Probably morse, since range is more important and morse is much more effective, and requires fewer components.
Building radios will be a really interesting challenge. So much harder to build a radio when you can't just buy ready-made components and order custom circuit boards. I've built a few simple receivers and transmitters before, for different frequencies, but in the last ten years I've mostly used ready-made radio chips or modules of some type. It should be fun and interesting due to the challenge. Not that I need it to build radios, but I have a whole pile of schematics in that same radio catalog, but most of them will have ICs, crystals and ready made filters. But oh so nervous it will be to solder surface mounted components with a heated copper rod or clamp. I will miss my desoldering stations and soldering irons. If I just had my yellow toolbox from my car, but then it wouldn't really be that hard. But I have to prioritise my projects, so radios is for the future.
My work on the flashlight handle comes crashing to a halt, as Iselin hooks her naked leg over my shoulder, and let her hair fall down infront of my face when she kisses me on my head. I decide that thats enough work for today. I kiss her leg when she softly and sensually reminds me of those little T things for women, and she really wants one, and I totally agree.
Playing with my cane, flashlight handle and thinking about radio when there is such an important project for my fiancée.
Bad prioritization.
Bad Robert.