I built a manor in the Middle Ages

Chapter 46 Paper Making
After eating the bread, Luc immediately set about planning to enter Cooper Castle again.

He also needed a crop of grain for spring planting.

But before that, Luc had something more important to do.

We came to the gurgling stream, looked for a mark and stopped beside a wooden stake. The stake was wrapped with a tough vine. Looking along the vine, the other end was soaked in water, as if something was tied there.

Luke grasped the vine rope tightly and pulled it hard. With the sound of splashing water, a large bundle of bark that had been soaked in the river for ten days was instantly dragged ashore.

The bark is cut into thin strips. In addition to the bark, there is also a large amount of straw mixed in, which is soaked together to become soft and tender.

He dragged the bundle of wet materials into a simple earthen pot, poured in a large amount of wood ash and began to steam it. The wood ash would make the bark and other materials softer. After about ten hours, the boiled bark and straw were dried, placed in a huge wooden basin and immersed in the river water again. Luc took out a stick and began to beat it continuously.

That’s right, he’s going to start making paper!
Of course, Luc did not make paper to wipe his butt. The process of making paper is very difficult, and it is a waste to use precious paper as toilet paper.

At this time, all the surrounding countries were still using parchment or kraft paper, and paper from the ancient East was still circulating in the Saracen area. Luc's current papermaking was definitely a first in the entire Frankish and even Western Europe.

In fact, whether it is steaming or drying, it takes an extremely long time to get very good quality paper, even several months is not enough.

But Luc didn't think so.

The main purpose of his wanting paper was to exchange it for valuable supplies, such as spring wheat, after going to Cooper Castle. Naturally, the sooner it was produced, the better.

Secondly, even if the process is shortened, the paper produced is better than sheepskin and cowhide. At least it saves more production costs. If the paper is in perfect condition from the beginning, it will not only cost a lot, but also be unfavorable to make money from a business perspective.

First throw out the bad ones, then slowly throw out the good ones, so that you can get enough gold coins.

Ryan was using the riverbed mud to clean the sheep pen. There were two lambs, one male and one female. Sooner or later, they would mate successfully and bring them more domestic sheep.

Luc beat it for a long time, then picked up the brush and started rubbing it. The brush was made of pig hair, which was moderately soft and hard and very oily, making it very suitable for making brushes.

When hunting wild boars, Luc specially collected the pig hair. After cleaning it, he selected the ones of similar length and thickness and bundled them together in the winter, and glued them to the wooden handle with resin.

After cleaning the bark and straw inside and out for half a day, they were taken out one by one and placed on a wooden block and chopped with an axe.

The axe blade was still sharp even after being worn out, and it chopped the bark and straw into small pieces in a short while.

These will be the main materials for papermaking.

Pick up the chopped bark and put it between several stones. There is a big difference between stonemasons and carpenters. Ryan can provide a lot of help to Luke in the field of wood, but it is very difficult to make a stone groove. Luke dug a small pit and covered it with stone slabs to replace the groove.

Put the bark into the groove, hold a strong piece of thick wood and keep pounding it until it becomes fibrous.

There is a very important step in papermaking, called beating, and another important tool in beating is the paper mold - its main material is bamboo.

Luc didn't have bamboo, although it was possible without it, but he wanted a material that could be used to spread the bark flat on the surface and soak the bark after the mold was placed in water. Luc looked around but couldn't find any substitute.

After much deliberation, Luc finally took off his deerskin and prepared to use the leather to make a paper model. This would certainly be a luxury, but winter was over, and Luc was confident that he could get a new deerskin before the next cold winter came. Moreover, once the paper was made, its value would far exceed that of the deerskin.

After first determining the appropriate size, Luc began to cut and thin the deerskin. When it was almost done, in order to make the deerskin softer, he kept beating and rolling it, and his arms became sore from pulling the wooden stick before he could barely use it.

Ryan was very surprised when he saw this scene: "Master, don't you want this deerskin anymore?"

He had no idea what Luc was doing, but he felt bad for Deerskin.

"Of course I do. I'll just let it exist in a different way. Don't feel bad about a deerskin, Ryan. Once I make something, it'll be worth ten deerskins!"

Ryan blinked and said no more.

After laying the leather flat to soften further, Luc broke off a piece of charcoal, drew on the leather, and then used a dagger to repeatedly punch holes along the grain.

This step is very demanding on knife skills, as it not only ensures that the leather is not damaged, but also punches out the holes in the paper model. Fortunately, Luc has good knife skills, and after great effort, he finally finished carving.

After trimming the edges of the leather and using a pig-bristle brush cleaned with wood ash to remove impurities on the leather, it is evenly coated with resin, and a paper model is finally completed!
The completion of the paper mold means that the paper making has also come to an end. The previously crushed bark is spread flat on the paper mold and slowly seeps into a water trough specially cut off by bricks and stones. A thin wooden stick is used to push it back and forth to make the pulp, that is, the crushed bark, more evenly distributed in the paper mold.

After soaking for a long time, Luke called Ryan over, and the two of them carefully carried the paper model to the fireplace. They asked Ryan to light the fire and bake the paper that had already taken shape in the blazing fire.

Luc stayed by the side, and after the paper was hardened by the fire, he used tools to continuously polish the surface of the paper, trying to make it smooth.

People say paper is expensive. Judging from all the complicated steps Luc goes through, it would be strange if it wasn't expensive.

After baking for about a day, Luc took off the paper mold and scooped out the paper with a wooden spatula. Then, as expected, Luc failed.

Call ~
He slowly exhaled a breath of mixed air and forced himself to suppress the urge to curse. It didn't matter. At least he understood the steps of papermaking and would definitely be able to make it next time!
Luc, who had to chop and peel the tree again, suppressed his irritation and walked out of the house with an axe.

The mountain wind was very strong today, making it difficult for Luc to open his eyes. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly saw Ryan crawling out of the forest in the distance and running towards him.

Ryan looked extremely panicked, and he almost fell down every few steps. The cold sweat on his head could be seen from a distance. When he saw Luke's figure, he seemed to have found his backbone, and he ran while waving his arms and shouting something.

Luc frowned immediately.

Something is wrong!
"What happened?"

Luke stopped and asked loudly. The two were getting closer and closer. Accompanied by the fierce mountain wind, Ryan shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Master! It's bad! Someone has entered the valley!"

"It's a cavalryman! He has a warhorse!!"

"No, it's a knight! A knight with a coat of arms!!"

(End of this chapter)