Dwarf & Rivia
Dwarf
Rivia, I was rummaging through some ancient dwarven mining records and spotted a lost method for forging blades that might give us a real edge. Got any old tactics or ironworking secrets that could help us craft something unbeatable?
Rivia
That’s the kind of find that makes the battlefield feel like a lab. If those dwarven records mention a “double‑quenched” forge, give me the details and we’ll throw a controlled heat cycle at a steel strip, then cool it in a bath that alternates between cold and slightly heated water. The shock stresses the lattice into micro‑grains that lock the edge tight. Pair that with a thin, hand‑tuned hardening profile on the bevel—so it stays razor sharp but doesn’t snap under a warhammer. We’ll grind the blades in a low‑temperature environment to keep the temper, then treat them in a bath that’s just warm enough to give them a subtle, almost invisible, resistance layer. It’ll give us the edge without the usual fragility. Bring the exact heat chart, the quench bath recipe, and a list of the alloys they used, and we’ll have something that even a dragon will be wary of.
Dwarf
The double‑quenched method uses two heat stages. First, heat the steel to about 1,200 °C (2,192 °F) for hardening, then quench in a bath that alternates between ice‑cold water and a mild 150 °C (302 °F) water bath. Keep the first quench for 15 seconds, let the piece cool for 30 seconds, then dunk in the warm bath for another 10 seconds before finishing with a slow cooling to room temperature. For the alloy mix use 98 % iron, 1 % carbon, 0.4 % manganese, 0.2 % silicon, and a touch of vanadium for extra toughness. The bevel profile should be a 2:1 bevel with a 3° angle, sharpened at 20° and then ground to 10° for a razor edge. Finish with a temper at 200 °C (392 °F) for 2 hours to lock in the micro‑grain structure and a final polish at 120 °C (248 °F) to create that subtle resistance layer. This gives a blade that’s both hard and resilient—good enough to make a dragon pause.