Talking about some time for himself, he couldn't be sure if he was alone or not. He may feel like he was being watched, but it could be a farce or a mistake on his part. It was a rather frustrating experience, while he should feel his surroundings a bit more.
“Are you sure about that? How marvelous, if that's the case. You talked about the Bamboo of the Red River just now, am I right?”
“Yes,” Allan answered.
“It's stored in some other part of this building. It's outside of this room since they come in longer pieces and took a lot of space. They are stored by the side of the horses, who have only two stables for themselves, while others went for your storage.”
“Oh, there? I forgot about that.”
“That's where I come in! Do you think you can manage everything by yourself?”
“I...”
“Don't even think about saying what I already expect you to say!” Sarey seriously said, while not giving him any room for arguments.
Expecting another apology or pleasant kindness from him was the last thing she wanted at the moment. She felt she wanted to be a bit more helpful today than usual, so she decided to reveal herself since Allan would never do so himself.
“I...”
“Hmph!” She stomped to the ground. Making her stand more serious than ever.
“You don't have to be mad or anything... Can you get me a two-meter piece of that bamboo, or what is it called?”
“You don't know what bamboo is?”
“It doesn't ring a bell to me. No, I never heard of it before. It sounds like a type of tree.”
“ That's not far from the truth, but still quite a bit off. It is a marvelous piece of the natural botanical world of nature. It is known as the fastest-growing tree in the world. Although only for some species of this type of "tree" if you want to call it like that. They aren't, though. It acts quite different from some tree.”
“Fastest? Then how come it is recommended by your father?”
“Because they are quite good for what you want from them. Do you know what shape they have?”
“No clue.”
“They are of a few centimeters radius to almost a meter for the biggest species! Their toughness and flexibility are used for a lot of buildings and their versatility is top-notch. The reason is simple. They are the literal pole, which grows from the ground up. There are hardly any leaner and more straight trees in the world.” Sarey proudly talked about her knowledge. Feeling like she was broadening some peasant's mind, which wasn't far from the truth.
“Sounds quite unbelievable to me. Can I have a closer touch with one, pretty please?” Allan gave up, and since Sarey offered her help, he will use it.
“Sure.” she replied while stomping away in a good mood.
In no time, Sarey came back with a long piece of darker kind of bamboo. It was around the diameter necessary for the human hand. The kind that should be great all around, but it was very tough to touch and felt nothing like wood at all. It almost felt like some kind of vegetation that was especially toughened.
“2 meters long. Hmmm. It is almost dull, what a marvelously made pole. It is almost asking for being used for such weaponry.” Allan wondered as he touched it without any regard. Pinching it, knocking with it, and so on, his interest in this piece of material wasn't small at all.
“Apart from the fact that a meter of this bamboo is 10 golds.”
“This is 20 gold in value? Are you serious?” Allan couldn't help himself, sounding shocked at this revelation.
“What are you so surprised about? They are imported from quite far away places. They have a single location for all species and they can't grow anywhere else but there. Some people tried to farm and regrow them before in other places, but failed throughout the years.”
“I mean... I am not surprised by the price, if that's the case. I guess it just broadened my horizons since I never met a material of this kind. It is rather heavy for such thin and a long piece of wood. This sort of balance is rather strange as well.”
“Bamboo of the Red River is famous, but not necessarily that easy to get. Father used his collection of resources to get you about a dozen of such poles. If you will fancy them, you can use them however you can. If not, you can use them for the bigger pieces such as today.” Sarey explained, feeling right that this kind of material was quite rare.
“You gave me hundreds of gold in a single material like this?”
“Father did. I didn't have any say in this, since it was all his work. Do you understand how profitable the forging is, or have never made an excellent work like this before?”
“Not really. I won't argue about this since it is all meaningless.”
“Less... To some, it has some meaning. Do you have anything else that you need from me?”
“I gave up trying... For now, I wish to work with this and try it out.” Allan argued, while placing much more importance on this piece of bamboo than he ever fished for. 20 gold for a piece of the pole. That was quite a sum of money for his previous works, and here he is, working with something like this because of Zigmund's involvement.
Allan couldn't help but gulp down and caresses the bamboo with his palms. He had no idea why he decided on such expensive materials. As far as he knew, the metals he bought were mostly as normal as they could. Why this expensive bamboo?
“Fine. Do what you want.” Sarey finally said and took a seat in the other corner of the room. Not that far away so she could look as she wished, but enough to go unbothered by Allan.
In Allan's hands was quite a luxurious kind of material for almost all blacksmiths in this region. Its price was always fluctuating depending on demand, and the amount available in the market.
Getting up and tossing it from hand to hand, Allan began evaluating this material with the general technique his father taught him. He was feeling the structure, weight, velocity it took to move with his tossing, and many more. In the end, it almost looked like he was shuffling with it like he used to do with his own staff, but the reasons were different.
After stopping, he sat back in the chair and fell into a deep impression. There was quite nothing like this in his world to his knowledge.
“It is far superior to anything that I've ever seen. Especially the insides that I can feel on each end. It feels quite like a rocky wood from my homeland, but at the same time feels rather easier to work with. I guess that is about the density, but the outside structure feels quite solid. I can insert the spearhead into this and secure it in this way, or even use this for the glaive.” Alan mumbled to himself, in a try to come up with something.
“I would suggest working around the bark of this bamboo. It is quite slippery and doesn't look quite good as a polished one.” Sarey said from afar.
Allan nodded in approval. His mind seemed to be somewhere else altogether as he focused on his work. Possibilities that he thought were out of his reach could have a chance to work. This sort of material was the perfect kind for what he wanted from his spearhead.
He knocked on the bamboo in many positions. Power and rhythm differ from each hit and position. He was trying to understand its density. Considering the weight, he could make some judgments based on his experience. This one was hardly normal, unlike the wood. It may sound dull to him, but there was no empty space inside of this bamboo.
The texture and wood in itself differed from each species, like many kinds of trees did. Nature itself was home to many mutations and uncountable breeds of all kinds. Even humans were not different, with all kinds of specimens.
Allan knew a lot of things, and when he found something abnormally interesting, it was a key to many questions and answers. Topics that could fuel his mind for days were his favorite things to go with, whether he was bored or not.
After a lot of testing and figuring out what he wanted, there was a brand new design in his mind. Allan wouldn't lessen the weight or extension of this bamboo. He would work with this 2-meter-long pole in itself, without lessening it at all. Polishing it by hand into what would look like a sturdy, straight, and smooth pole sounded like a perfect plan.
He also considered the insides, which felt rather interesting. It had both properties of a wooden-like bark on the outside, while the insides of both ends were firm, but unlike any wood. To his inexperience, the potential decline in density towards the very middle could have some advantages. The stress would be lessened, while the flexibility would be great too. There could even be a bigger kind of potential dull space depending on the species of bamboo.
This one in specific didn't have a distinct hole, but the very middle of the white color in one end of the staff could be seen as a softer kind of texture. To his lack of sight, he couldn't notice it, nor feel it with his hands. When this bamboo went with the processing, the workers cut it smoothly. It almost looked like a tree that was cleaved in half, but not like a tree's texture inside.
After all, the trees have distinct rings visible, and they could be sometimes felt, depending on how smooth it was cut. Similar to trees, the Bamboo of the Red River had also visible lines but unlike the trees, they were colorful and fused together. Right around the thickest bark, there was a rock-hard texture which, by all his tires, resembled high-quality wood. The kind which should he was using for regular blades.
There was no time to waste with his wonders, so Allan moved things aside on his worktable and tried to put the bamboo in it. Unfortunately, it was too long, so he ended up satisfied with sitting while it was on his lap and side of the table.
Taking the carving knife into his hands, he will finish the handles for these two pieces before finishing the quickest 3rd piece. This was less of an issue to him since he had his tools right by the side of the table.
Alan began the process of removing the bark of this bamboo, as Sarey's previous comment was quite truthful. The bark still had a slight amount of moisture and wasn't great to hold. It was meant to be removed, since the texture, which was under the bark, was much better.
“I wonder if this type of wood is firm and stable even when it is freshly cut. This one feels a little old, but I have no idea what kind of thing is bamboo anyway... I guess I shouldn't worry about it... once again.” Allan wondered and promised himself to forget it and focus on his work instead.
He could already imagine the removal of the whole bark of this bamboo, could improve the carving and potential handling.
“It seems Sarey was right. This kind of material should indeed be very great. No wonder it costs 20 gold for 2 meters. I wonder if there even exist versions of this, where it has some aspects of energy. Nature is after all, very compatible with energy.” Allan silently wondered and continued removing the bark with a thick and long carving knife.
Making the same movement as if he was the whetstone itself, he moved in a continuous pattern while having the bamboo on his lap. Long strides of bamboo bark were falling beneath his chair and even to his table. It took him around 30 minutes before he felt like there were no differences on the surface. It wasn't that smooth for now, but he could no longer notice any bark surface.
He planned to smooth it out with a technique that was very fun for him. This world had it as well, so that was a piece of good news. It had the appearance of the rough-looking texture of the paper with embodied parts of the grinding stone. That sounded kind of strange but making it was rather simple. Destroyed or old whetstone would get put in the paper or cloth with some high viscosity sap from the trees. Similar to when making wooden handles for swords, the destroyed parts of the grinding whetstone would stick together and stay true for a long period. It was called sanding, but it wasn't all that easy to make it.
Allan held the stripe of 30-centimeter in length, filled with tiny little particles of grinding stones. While wrapping it around the bamboo, he motioned with his both hands inwards and outwards. With the wrapped stripe around the bamboo, he moved the stripe fast around the surface its surface. Dust was leaving the bamboo, with a smooth surface in a couple of dozen motions. It was highly effective and fast. It usually left no imperfections, depending on the texture of the stripes.
Allan was quite glad that this was also developed here, like his homeland.
This took a couple of minutes for the whole side of the bamboo, and in Allan's hand was a smooth pole that resembled strange parts of the wood. As for the color, there were a few layers into it but they all blended together in the unnoticeable firmness. It was impossible to damage the layers even with Allan's rough tests, but he couldn't see them, nor tell them apart. There was white, red, and a little bit of a mixture of both.
Standing up, Allan made the same movements as before. Testing its weight and texture. Knocking with it to the ground, to test the flow of power within it.
“Pretty much the same as before. Weight isn't all within this bark, as I assumed. It is probably the insides that weigh the most. Right below the bark, which I removed,” Allan muttered in confidence. He was mostly right, but there were blacksmiths in the world who remained working even with the bark itself. Making handles with it, or around it with some leather pieces, could be sufficient as well. It would only look a little worse than the smooth surface that William did.
Making the most out of the materials was a general view for most blacksmiths. Allan was glad to follow the recommendation of Zigmund and Sarey, and this bamboo will be phenomenal. It was kind of thick when he came to know it, but it should be good for the kind of spearhead he had. Perhaps it will be even better than some processed wood, or even the metallic poles he thought about.
In truth, this was almost perfect, but at this point, Allan was looking for excuses to make some errors. It will work more than great with the rather massive spearhead.
With this done, Allan grabbed a different carving knife and dig a small hole in one of the tips. Then he grabbed a piece of ax and shoved it across the tip. It made a crevice where the spearhead would go, but it needed a little more space. There was still some unevenness, but Allan planned to carve the surrounding bamboo away. The finish would be simple. Securing the ending tip with leather stripes, or ropes that would go around the tip for 10 to 20 centimeters downwards.
“Good. The crevice stopped right as I stopped pushing it further. This will remain stable for the spearhead and with no problems.” Allan assured himself and grabbed the spearhead. Inserting it into the tight spot between the crevices, which he secured with a few blocks of wood.
With how flexible the bamboo was, the crevice wanted to shut itself. This crevice was meant for the lower part of the spearhead, where the follow-up securing will be. It went in and right as he pushed it to the end, the wooden blocks shot away and bamboo went around the spearhead. It was still protruding away, as he figured, the carving will happen next. He also assumed that the outside of the bamboo wasn't needed, as the mass of the spearhead was now within the bamboo.
Allan chose a different approach than this since his design was rather specific. So he went with the method he was familiar with and decided to smooth out the protruding bamboo and remove any excess away.
“Great. Good. When I see how firm and tough this is, they would be an excellent material for throwing javelins. Possibly, depending on... Hell no, 10 gold per meter is absurd for throwing weapons. Who am I kidding?” Allan wondered in his passing mind.
“So? Are you accepting our offerings? Heheh.” Sarey chuckled as she asked all of a sudden.
“Of course, I am. This sort of material should be a way out of my league, but if you are giving this to me, I will never refuse it.”
“Good to hear that. It is a business after all, so this bamboo should be plenty nice for you. Though remember, the buyer has the final say when it comes to goods like this.”
“I know how the businesses go. For now, I will finish the handle later. First comes the security of the spearhead.” Allan decided and pulled his carving knife once more. Feeling the edges and additional bamboo that stuck out to the sides, he made sure it was thinner out. The leather and rope had to have a tight and smooth surface so they wouldn't move. This was one of the most basic methods to secure the spear or any kind of piece of metal into a long pole.
It was one of the first, but efficient methods from long ages ago. Another one was even simple, which was more recent inventions. Spearhead's lower end will be dull and should go around the wood. Secured by the tightness of the wood, with nails or something else, it would be robust and secured too.
Allan chose the former since he wanted to.
If it works, why change it? In fact, there were more methods, but Allan used what his father thought is a more secure position. It latter one would hug the pole instead of being inside of it. It all acted the same, while the spear security will be sufficient no matter what. Nothing was wrong with either, since the time good weapon will meet its end in bad hands. Only the good kind will improve the great weapon.
Right not, wasn't the calmest times, so the need for weapons always prevailed. The nations and kingdoms were always in a constant struggle for regions, and resources. Good soldiers were accomplishing the feats of war. Equipment, as well as weapons, were important.
It was always a hectic world, be it in the past or now.