Skyrim turned 1 on Nov 11! Happy Birthday Skyrim!
My name is Ryan, I am a blacksmith at Thak Ironworks, and I have been blacksmithing for almost a decade now. I am also an avid gamer, who tends to gravitate towards games with any level of crafting. I thought it would be fun to make a video comparing some of the forging elements you can use to craft in Skyrim to the forging I do in real life.
Mining
“I try to think of it as coaxing the ore from the rock.” – Sondas Drenim
When you know what to look for, it’s easy to spot mineral veins and deposits. The question becomes; how big are those deposits, or how deep do those veins run? The time, labour and cost involved in setting up a mine are astronomical. In Modern Times there are a lot of sophisticated tests that are performed by different machines or with chemicals to test whether or not the construction of a mine, no matter the shape or size would be profitable. A thousand years ago surface mining made more sense, as you knew what you were getting into. If you happen to find a cave that seemed to be rich in minerals, it became your “mine”. However it may have been rich and pretty on the surface but desolate underneath, or you could find veins that ran deep and could be tapped for years to come. Remember Raven Rock? That was a gamble that paid off.
An easy source of low quality iron is “Bog Iron”. Bog Iron is basically purple rocks rich in Iron that can be found in Marshes and Bogs. Sometimes on the surface, but more often by poking a stick into the soft ground, and digging when you hit something hard.
The surface mining in Skyrim was very well done. I enjoyed that it required some level of skill, in that you needed to learn what to look for to find deposits. I personally passed over a lot of iron deposits my first few levels and early on I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to mine what I thought was a Gold deposit, when it was actually a large stone covered in those tiny yellow flowers.
Smelting
“Can’t talk, Mulush will beat me if I stop working.” - Omluag
Smelting is an art in and of itself. Although it’s hard to track down when and where in history we began to bleed metals out of stones; many believe the Copper Age was started by a potter experimenting with firing his wares. Upon heating a particular chunk of clay or piece of rock, it began to ooze beautiful, bright orange syrup. This was Copper.
Since then mankind has experimented with every type of mineral he can find, and at some point decided to try mixing them as well. We entered the Bronze Age when a keen smelter decided he would mix heavy and malleable Copper with light and brittle Tin. This made the first alloy; medium weight and super strong Bronze.
The smelting process and smelter used in Skyrim are actually based on ancient design. To break it down to the simplest explanation, it’s kind of like a giant cast iron kettle in which a very hot fire is constantly stoked and ore is fed through a hole into a compartment inside and allowed to turn to a liquid. The waste floats to the top of the compartment and can be skimmed off. When the ore is ready, the compartment tips forward and will pour the molten metal out (often into a mould).
The use of Corundum in the game (Corundum [kuh-ruhn-duhm] is a crystalline form of aluminium oxide with traces of iron, titanium and chromium) to create steel may not prove successful in real life. To make Iron into Steel it requires massive amounts of carbon. Many games chose to use coal which they see as the simplest and most readily available form of carbon.
The Romans founded Steel accidentally. They had constructed massive furnaces to smelt vast quantities of Iron, and as the Roman Empire grew they found themselves with a waste disposal problem. The decision to dispose of food waste and animal by-product by casting it into the Iron vats inadvertently supplied the high levels of carbon the Iron required to become Steel.
Modern smelting is done in an Electric Arc Furnace. Iron ore is stilled mined, but when it comes to smelting Steel raw Iron or “Pig Iron” is added to scrap Steel to make new Steel. The blacksmith no longer needs to refine his own metal or track down a competent miner and smelter to team up with. There are many Steel suppliers that sell different grades of Steel in all shapes and sizes.
Forge
“…The secret is my forge, it consumes fire salts…” - Balimund
As discussed in the video, the forges in Skyrim were very well made. The forge pots, which in game looked about 5 feet in diameter, would have been used in large shops with many smiths working on that one forge.
Also as shown in the video air is forced under, up and through the fire, causing an intense oxygen rich burn. The bellows in game, which only seem to function on the closing stroke, would not have functioned well. As the bellows open, it may pull hot air, debris and because of its proximity to the forge possibly even flame into it. A more popular form of forge bellows have 2 compartments, so it blows air as it opens and closes.
Crafting
"Back to making weapons!” – Ghorza gra-Bagol
Iron Armour: 5 Iron Ingots and 3 leather strips
Typically we don’t use the forge while crafting armour. We are able to buy the sheet metal required for armouring, so we no longer need to forge billets into thin plates. The way we manipulate the sheet metal with stakes, punches, chisels and other forms doesn’t demand the Steel be hot. You can dish or raise quite a bit of material before the Steel becomes brittle and breaks. We only heat a piece of sheet metal to anneal (de-stress) it if our work becomes to taxing on it.
Iron Dagger: 1 Iron Ingot and 1 leather strip
The dagger that I made in the video was a pretty pathetic one heat attempt at a quick and dirty blade blank. Blade forging is a challenging and rewarding art form that stands alone outside the realms of the rest of blacksmithing. I did not want to put the time in and deal with the fallout of trying to create a quick knife forging demo.
The crafting in game was fun and a bit challenging. I liked to make a game out of managing my resources to try to gain the most experience and yet turn the most profit. That seems to be where I am in real life now too. But, let’s for a minute stop and think about the games crafting logic.
An Iron ingot weighs 1lb. Helmet: 3 iron ingots, 5lbs. Armour: 5 iron ingots, 58lbs. Gauntlets: 2 iron ingots, 5lbs. Boots: 3 iron ingots, 6lbs.
For a grand total of: 13 iron ingots, and therefore 13lbs of iron for a suit that weighs 74lbs.
None of us would have liked the idea of scrounging for 74 pieces of Iron to make ourselves 1 suit of armour. That would mean finding and harvesting 25 Iron ore veins. I appreciate that the crafting system was fun and challenging without being ridiculous and over the top complex.
I am however very impressed that the full plate suit of armour ends up weighing about 70lbs, as in real life the full plate suits of armour we make are about 70lbs.
This comparison video and write up was a lot of fun and very different than my normal day to day. I can often be heard bitching about how crafting, especially blacksmithing is portrayed in video games and movies. I have had this idea for years and it feels good to finally have done it. I hope anyone who is reading this will gain some level of knowledge and or enjoyment from my ramblings and maybe even catch a cheap laugh or two from the video.
Live by the Hammer,
Wolfkyn – Your 111th Level Blacksmith
