Studying at Western University starts with a knife-forging competition

Chapter 84

The next morning, when Lin Yuan arrived at the forging workshop, Matt was already setting up the equipment.

The camera from yesterday was still in its equipment case. Matt was taking the tripod out of his backpack when he saw Lin Yuan enter. He gestured towards the worktable. "I brought you a cup of coffee. Daniel's is over there."

Lin Yuan put down his backpack, picked up the cup of coffee, and took a sip. Daniel was organizing the tools he had used yesterday next to the materials shelf, arranging the pliers and steel brushes by size, and checking the oil level by lifting the lid of the quenching tank.

Lin Yuan walked to the workbench and lifted the asbestos cloth covering the billet. The 448-layer cloud-patterned steel billet lay there quietly, its surface covered with a thin layer of oxide scale, gleaming with a dark gray luster under the fluorescent light. He ran his fingers along the edge of the billet to confirm that there were no burrs or cracks.

Today's task is to continue forging and push the number of layers to the target value.

He clamped the billet into the coke oven and adjusted the damper to allow the temperature to rise steadily. The coke in the furnace was already thoroughly burned, and orange-red flames peeked out from the gaps in the coke. Matt set up the camera to the side and front, aiming the viewfinder at the area between the furnace door and the anvil.

After the steel billet was heated to a bright orange color, Lin Yuan removed it and placed it on the anvil. He used a chisel to make a slit in the middle of the steel bar, the depth being less than half its thickness. Then, he placed it back in the furnace and briefly heated the slit. After removing it, he gently tapped it on the anvil, and the steel bar folded along the slit with a snap. Borax was sprinkled on the folded joint, melting into a transparent, glassy protective layer. Then, a spoonful of water was poured onto the surface of the anvil, and the forging hammer fell as steam burst forth.

The seventh round of forging. Eight hundred and ninety-six layers.

As the billet stretched under the hammer, the interface between the silver-iron alloy layer and the steel layer became thinner and thinner with repeated forging, but remained clearly discernible. After each round, Lin Yuan used calipers to measure the thickness and width, recording the data in his notebook. He controlled the fluctuation range of the furnace temperature, allowing heat to gradually transfer from the outer layer to the core layer, preventing the silver-iron alloy from diffusing excessively at high temperatures.

The eighth round, 1,792 floors.

The oxide scale on the surface of the billet peeled off in several layers during repeated heating and forging, revealing the fine metallic texture underneath. He brushed away the remaining borax debris with a steel brush, clamped the billet in front of the belt sander for a few seconds of rough grinding, and then immersed it in pickling solution. After several tens of seconds, he took it out and rinsed it clean. The texture was more layered than yesterday, and the pale gold of the silver-iron alloy formed a clear contrast against the dark gray background.

The ninth round, three thousand five hundred and eighty-four floors.

Lin Yuan didn't continue folding it upwards. The blade of the divine leather-stitched sword was slender; too many layers would blur the pattern into a single mass. Three thousand layers were just the threshold at which the naked eye could distinguish a single layer. He placed the blank on the workbench, wiped it clean with a cotton cloth, and then stepped back to examine it. The cool white base color hadn't appeared yet; it was currently the standard dark gray tone of cloud-patterned steel, while the pale gold of the silver-iron alloy would be very noticeable after acid washing.

Forging is complete. Next up is enchanting.

Lin Yuan reheated the billet to a dark red color, took it out and placed it on the anvil, quickly cleaning off the oxide scale on the surface with a steel brush. Then he turned around.

"Matt, turn the device off."

Matt was squatting next to the tripod, adjusting the balance of the gimbal. Hearing this, he looked up and paused in his movements. "What?"

"I won't film the next steps." Lin Yuan's tone was calm, not in a discussion. "It's an exclusive recipe, not to be shared."

Matt didn't ask any questions. He stood up, reached out, and pressed the power button on the camera. The red recording light went out, and the screen went black. He moved the tripod half a meter to the side, then bent down and took the iPhone off the phone holder, placing it face down on the table.

"Okay. Call me when you're ready." He turned and walked to the office area, took a worn-out magazine from Daniel's desk, sat down in the folding chair, crossed his legs, and started flipping through it.

Daniel was squatting in front of the materials rack organizing the sanding tape when he heard Lin Yuan's words, so he stood up. He brushed the dust off his knees and nodded to Lin Yuan. "I'm going outside for a smoke." Then he picked up the cigarette case and lighter from the workbench, pushed open the iron door of the forge, and went out.

Lin Yuan was the only one left in the workshop.

He took out two materials from his system storage. The first was the feather, its texture resembling some kind of extremely thin crystal, with a faint blue shimmer slowly flowing around its edge. The second was the dark gray ore, which he had already ground into an extremely fine powder in a mortar and pestle and placed in a small porcelain dish.

He processed the feather first. Pinching the base of the shaft between his thumb and forefinger, he suspended the entire feather about an inch above the billet, then released his fingers. The feather landed on the scorching steel surface without burning, melting, or even making a sound. It simply adhered quietly to the cleaned metal surface, its pale blue luster beginning to seep into the billet. Lin Yuan used pliers to flip the billet over. The feather had vanished, leaving no residue on the steel surface, only a very faint, almost imperceptible blue sheen.

Then he processed the powder. Holding a porcelain dish in his left hand, he took a small scoop from the tool rack with his right and scooped up the powder, sprinkling it evenly across the surface of the billet. The powder didn't splatter or produce smoke the moment it touched the hot steel; it simply melted quietly into the metal. He sprinkled one layer, flipped it over, and sprinkled another, ensuring the powder evenly covered the entire length of the billet. Then he put the billet back into the furnace to heat it. Once the temperature returned to the forging zone, he took it out and placed it on the anvil. The forging hammer fell, forging the material and the steel billet into one piece.

After several rounds of forging, he stopped to inspect the surface of the billet. The color had changed. Previously, it was the standard dark gray of cloud-patterned steel, with the silver-iron alloy layer showing a pale gold after pickling. Now, the base color of the billet had shifted from dark gray to a cool white, not pale, but a white with a very faint blue tint, like the white after sunlight penetrates thin ice on a river in winter. The pale gold of the silver-iron alloy was still there, and the cloud pattern structure was still there, but the overall tone had shifted a notch towards coolness. The dark gray had become a cool white, and the pale gold had become a more restrained, almost blending into the base color, dark gold. When the blade was turned to a certain angle, that very faint blue layer would peek through the gaps in the patterns.

Lin Yuan flipped the blank over twice in his hands to make sure the color was even and there were no spots or breaks. Then he placed it on the workbench and wiped away any remaining oil stains with a cotton cloth. He took out his phone, snapped two photos, and then sent Matt a message: "All done. Come in."

The sound of the iron gate being pushed open came from the doorway. Matt first put the magazine back on Daniel's desk, then walked to the workbench and looked down at the blank. His gaze lingered on the surface of the blank for about two seconds, then he looked up at Lin Yuan, then looked down again.

"The color is different." Matt picked up the blank and held it up to the light. "Yesterday it was dark gray with gold undertones, today it's white. And look at this blue from this angle, doesn't it have a bluish tint?"

"Yes. It's a family recipe; the color varies depending on the ingredients."