Studying at Western University starts with a knife-forging competition

Chapter 119

The ship arrived on Saturday morning.

Lin Yuan was preparing materials in the workshop at the time. The square steel for Shen Wei's sewing needle had already been cut into blanks. After rough forging, the basic outline of the blade had emerged, but it still needed to be finely ground a few more times before the twisting pattern could begin.

He placed the rough blank on the workbench, measured the thickness transition with calipers to confirm that the data matched the dimensions in the document sent by Shen Wei, and then walked to the material shelf to begin preparing the materials for Richard's knight's sword.

The silver material was taken out of the materials cabinet, and it had a soft, matte sheen under the light.

He took out a 1085 high-carbon steel plate and a roll of 15N20 nickel steel sheet from the shelf, measured the dimensions with calipers, and cut them into sheets of equal size.

The core material for the silver-iron alloy needs to be prepared separately.

He stacked the silver and 1085 alternately, fixed them with a spot welder, and then fed them into the coke oven to heat. The coke in the furnace was already thoroughly burned, and orange-red flames peeked out from the gaps between the coke blocks.

He adjusted the damper to stabilize the temperature within the window range where silver and iron fuse, then took out the steel billet, placed it on the anvil, and began forging.

The sensation of molten metal spreading along the contact surface of the hammer blows. Under the hammer blows, the silver gradually integrates into the 1085 matrix, transforming from isolated interlayers into a uniformly distributed silver phase.

He repeatedly heated and forged the billet four times until the cross-section of the entire billet was uniformly colored and free of silver segregation, then set it aside to cool.

The roar of a diesel engine could be heard from outside the door.

Lin Yuan put down the hammer, took off his gloves, and pushed open the workshop door.

A flatbed trailer was turning from the road into the parking lot, carrying a dark blue lure boat, bow facing forward, with the outboard engine at the stern covered by a black tarpaulin. The trailer's tires made a soft crunching sound as they rolled over the gravel.

Matt ran out of the workshop, still holding the Sony FX30 in his hand. He clearly knew the ship was arriving today and had set up the camera position in advance.

The trailer came to a stop in the open space in front of the workshop. The driver, a middle-aged man in gray overalls with the distributor's logo embroidered on his chest, jumped out. He took a handover form from his pocket and handed it to Lin Yuan.

"Mr. Lin Yuan? Ranger 188 MS, equipped with a Mercury 115 hp four-stroke outboard motor. Mr. Wayne asked us to deliver it to this address. Please check it over, and sign here if everything is in order."

Lin Yuan took the order and went around to the back of the trailer. The boat was a deep blue color, gleaming with a calm sheen in the sunlight. The Ranger logo was printed on both sides of the bow, the white letters standing out against the blue background.

The hull has smooth lines, with clean and crisp curves from bow to stern. The storage compartment covers and live fish compartment openings on the deck are designed to be compact.

The driver lifted a corner of the tarpaulin covering the outboard engine, revealing the silver-gray fuselage and the Mercury logo.

He tapped the hull with his finger; the fiberglass material produced a dull echo. Then he bent down to inspect the welds at the bottom and...

The rivets were checked and confirmed to be undamaged from transportation. The trailer's tire pressure was normal, and the taillight and turn signal wiring was intact.

"No problem." Lin Yuan signed the handover form.

The driver took back the handover form, took a key and a user manual from the cab, and handed them to Lin Yuan: "The key to the tow hook is here, and the engine manual is in the glove box. Call us anytime if you have any problems."

After he finished speaking, he jumped onto the trailer, started the engine, and left the parking lot.

Matt carried the camera around the boat, filming from bow to stern and back again. After filming, he put the camera on the worktable, walked to the side of the boat, and touched the paint on the hull.

"Over thirty thousand US dollars. He spent over thirty thousand US dollars to buy you a boat as a deposit." Matt shook his head, saying in a tone that was hard to tell whether to laugh or sigh, "I used to think my dad was generous with money, but now I see he's more generous to you than to me."

"You're comparing this to me?" Lin Yuan tucked the user manual under his arm, took out his phone from his pocket, and snapped a few photos of the boat.

"It's not about comparing. It's about feeling that he genuinely values ​​you." Matt leaned against the trailer, hands in his pockets. "He has so many knives, but you're the first person I've ever gotten to willingly give him a boat."

Lin Yuan didn't reply. He put his phone back in his pocket, walked to the workshop entrance, and opened the iron gate. "Give me a hand, push the trailer to the open space to the side. Don't block the entrance."

The two of them worked together to push the trailer to the inside of the workshop, against the wall, and secured it with wheel chocks to prevent it from rolling away.

Lin Yuan put the key and user manual into a drawer in the office area, then returned to his workbench to continue what he hadn't finished.

The silver-iron alloy core has been cooled to room temperature.

He measured the dimensions with calipers to confirm that the thickness and width met the design parameters. Then he stacked it with 1085 and 15N20 alternately in the middle, and stacked 1085 and 15N20 alternately on both sides. The outermost layer was covered with 1085.

There are seven layers in total. Before stacking, the oxide scale of each layer was sanded off with a belt sander and wiped clean with acetone.

The stacked blanks are fixed with a spot welding machine and placed on a worktable for later use.

He took out the enchanted material labeled "Sturdy" from his system storage.

The dark brown scales are about the size of a palm, with a rough surface and a bone-like feel.

He tapped it with his finger, the sound dull and deep, like tapping on a solid iron plate.

The system's prompt message unfolds in the corner of the field of vision: Forging this material into the sword will significantly improve the overall structural strength and impact resistance of the sword, and at the same time, it will display extremely fine scale-like dark patterns on the surface of the sword—a natural reflection of the enchantment effect on the metal, a visual manifestation of the material's own properties being activated.

Lin Yuan placed the scale on the worktable and stared at it for a few seconds.

The forging of enchantment materials doesn't require the same meticulous placement as decorative inlays; it's integrated into the entire forging process of the sword blank.

It is made of metal and its function covers the entire sword, not just a localized treatment.

The system requires that the flakes be forged into the billet during the fusion stage of the silver-iron alloy and the steel layer, allowing them to penetrate into each layer of material from the inside out.

The enchantment effect will be evenly distributed across the entire sword, comprehensively enhancing its sturdiness, while scale-like dark patterns will naturally appear on the sword's surface, subtly appearing and disappearing with the curves of the sword and the angle of light.

He picked up his notebook and wrote a line next to Richard's design sketch: "Use the 'Sturdiness' enchantment to forge the entire blank." Enchantment effect—The sword's surface displays a scaly pattern, increasing its overall sturdiness.

This approach preserves the religious feel of the armor while maintaining the layered texture of the cloud-patterned steel and the cool white base color of the silver-iron alloy.

The rest of the sword retains its original pattern, while the enchanted patterns are merely a subtle visual addition to the metal surface, enhancing the overall texture.

He closed his notebook, walked to the workshop entrance, and saw that the setting sun had already sunk behind the hickory grove, with only a last glimmer of orange-red remaining on the horizon.

The lure boat rested quietly beside the workshop in the twilight, its deep blue hull blending into the darkening sky, with only the Ranger logo on the bow reflecting the last glimmer of light.

He watched for a while, then turned around, locked the gate, and got into Matt's car.