Shaping guide

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Shaping is one of the disciplines in the Engineering craft that consists of two basic parts. The first is gathering wood and refining the wood into lumber. Once you have the lumber you can make things from it. In addition clay items will be possible at some future point in time.

This guide covers the lumberjacking process and tools as well as the tools to make all the items from wood that are currently present. To better understand shaping its necessary to break it down in to 4 or 5 basic areas. These five areas are as follows:

First – Lumberjacking where you find wood and refine it.
Second – Fletching arrows, making arrowheads and shafts.
Third – Making bows and melee weapons and items from wood.
Fourth – Making enhancements to bows.
Fifth – Making beads and totems.

Of these five areas the fifth one which is chapter 8 of the shaping book is not currently complete. Chapter 8 will probably require a second book called a codex, which basic observation tells me will be where clerics will make prayer beads and perhaps items for enchanting.

Lumberjacking

This covers the process of shaping lumber once you have chopped down some trees and chopped it up to use in making lumber for the shaping part of engineering.

There are some basic things that need to be known to deal with lumberjacking and lumber in general. The first is what tools you will need to cut trees and process the wood you get. The second is the location of the trees and what types of trees you might find. The third is what each type of lumber can be used for. Fourth the dangers you face. Last the actual process to turn a wood item into a stack of lumber. So lets start you off with the basic tools and some explanation on what to expect with tools

Lumberjacking Tools

Lumberjacking really only requires 3 tools. These tools are as follows:

Tool 1 – Wood Saw
Tool 2 – Drawknife
Tool 3 – Axe

To gather up wood all you need is these three tools (oh and a strong back and lots of space to hold deeds if you don't just hold the sticks, branches, limbs and logs). The axe is actually a weapon and from what we can tell at this point it takes an axe with a good slice component on the axe to do the best work. If you cant afford some kind of forged axe, the double-bit greataxe from the Crossing weapons shop is a cheap store-bought axe. It would work just fine till you can afford a better one.

The two tools are best if they are forged. You do not need the top of the line tools to do a really good job gathering lumber. So the easiest set of tools that can be forged would work fine. Just find a person who can forge the basic stuff and get a cheap steel version of the saw and drawknife it will improve your efforts dramatically.

Tree Locations

Well its hard to be a lumberjack if you can't find any trees to chop down and hug after you chopped them down. So this section will show you the locations of the various forests currently known, and what types of trees you can expect to find in each area.

Forest Types

There are 4 types of forest found, with the following wood types included in each. As per GM Kodius, the materials that can be found are entirely dependent on the climate of the area. So while a wood may be included in a grouping, the province & the terrain will influence actual availability. The rarity of the woods are given as per GM Kodius in the lists of what you can find in each forest area. Additionally, rare-spawn wood sticks that are produced during the felling of a common or uncommon forest room can drop independent of the forest type group currently being harvested. Please note some tree types are found in more than one type of forest.

There are three skills that play an important part in finding wood types. These are Outdoorsmanship, Perception and Appraisal. The types of trees you find when you start out are based on these skills. The more skill you have the more types of trees you can start finding up front. It would appear having at least 180 in each of these three skills allows you to see more of the rare wood types than is normal.

Boreal Forests

Boreal forests tend to be found in the coldest of climates where snowfall can be substantial. Only the heartiest of trees can survive there. Larch and Tamarak are two species of tree found there. Trees known to be found in many Boreal forests are as follows:

  • Alder tree - Uncommon
  • Apple tree - Uncommon
  • Ash tree - Common
  • Aspen tree - Common
  • Azurelle tree – Very Rare
  • Fir tree - Common
  • Ironwood tree – Rare
  • Larch tree - Uncommon
  • Lelori tree – Rare
  • Oak tree - Common
  • Pine tree - Common
  • Rockwood tree – Very Rare
  • Spruce tree - Common
  • Tamarak tree – Rare
  • Willow tree – Uncommon
  • Gloomwood – Ultra Rare (festival/auctions)
  • Diamondwood – Ultra Rare (festival/auctions)
  • Alerce – Ultra Rare (festival/auctions)
Coniferous Forests

Coniferous forests tend to exist nearer areas with warm summer and cold winters. This includes drier inland areas and coastal areas seeing heavy rainfall. Many coniferous trees feature needle-like leaves that provide greater protection from the varied climate. Trees known to be found in many Coniferous forests are as follows:

  • Alder tree - Uncommon
  • Cedar tree - Common
  • Cypress tree - Uncommon
  • Ebony tree – Rare
  • Fir tree - Common
  • Goldwood tree – Very Rare
  • Hemlock tree - Uncommon
  • Maple tree - Common
  • Mistwood tree – Very Rare
  • Pine tree - Common
  • Redwood tree – Rare
  • Spruce tree - Common
  • Yew tree – Rare
  • Glitvire – Ultra Rare (festival/auction)
  • Adderwood – Ultra Rare (festival/auctions)
  • Iroko – Ultra rare (festival/auctions)
Deciduous Forests

Deciduous forests are often centrally located, between the frigid boreal forests and the sweltering tropics. These forests are distinct due to the trees' leaves exhibiting a renewal cycle in time with the four seasons. Trees known to be found in many Deciduous forests are as follows:

  • Apple tree - Uncommon
  • Ash tree - Common
  • Aspen tree - Common
  • Birch tree - Common
  • Cherry tree – Rare
  • Darkspine tree – Very Rare
  • Elm tree - Uncommon
  • Hickory tree – Rare
  • Maple tree - Common
  • Oak tree - Common
  • Osage tree – Rare
  • Silverwood tree – Very Rare
  • Walnut tree - Uncommon
  • Willow tree – Uncommon
  • Pozumshi tree – Ultra Rare (festival/auction
  • Smokewood tree – Ultra Rare (festival/auctions)
  • Tamboti tree – Ultra Rare (festival/auctions)


Tropical Forests

Tropical forests that reside in areas of high heat and rainfall. Some of these trees even live partially or completely submerged in water. Often rarer and somewhat exotic, the wood from these trees can be quite beautiful. Trees known to be found in many Tropical forests are as follows:

  • Balsa tree - Common
  • Bamboo tree - Uncommon
  • Bloodwood tree – Very Rare
  • Bocote tree – Rare
  • Cedar tree - Common
  • Copperwood tree – Very Rare
  • Durian tree - Uncommon
  • Kapok tree – Rare
  • Mahogany tree - Uncommon
  • Mangrove tree - Common
  • Moabi tree - Common
  • Rosewood tree – Rare
  • Sandalwood tree – Rare
  • Teak tree – Uncommon
  • Dragonwood tree – Ultra Rare (festival/auction)
  • E'erdream tree – Ultra Rare (festival/auctions)
  • Zingana tree – Ultra Rare (festival/auctions)

Grove locations

A few abbreviations used here are NTR – Northern Trade Route - this is the road out the northeast gate of crossing heading to Riverhaven.

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  • NTR Wilderness – This is in Zoluren, NTR near the Viper/Rock Guardian trail entrance has coniferous forest.
  • Dragoon Camp -Zoluren, 2 rooms on the west side of the brook west of Crossing has tropical forest.
  • Cougar Hunting Area - Zoluren, west of the brook out the west gate of Crossing has deciduous forest.
  • Leth Deriel - Zoluren, Forest of Night Blood Nyad / Blood Dryad hunting north of Leth Deriel has boreal, tropical and coniferous forests.
  • Silverclaw Hub - Zoluren, Forest of Night Dryad Priestess / Twisted Dryad outside of the Silverclaw Hub has boreal and tropical forests.
  • Leth Deriel - Zoluren, Grove of the White Laurel estate holder Treehopper Toad hunting area has deciduous forest
  • Seordav Telga - Therengia, Ker'Leor Gypsy Marauder hunting area over the felled tree has coniferous forest.
  • Gallows Woods - Therengia, Ker'Leor estate holder Forest Geni hunting area has boreal forest.
  • North Road, Beech Grove - Therengia, road between El Bain's Stop & Langenfirth, aka Danduwen Forest has boreal forest.
  • Mistwood Forest - Therengia, Mistwood Forest, North Road to the rope bridge has coniferous forest.
  • Mistwood Forest Deer Trail - Therengia, Mistwood Forest, Warcat & Orc Bandit hunting area has coniferous forest.
  • Mistwood Forest - Therengia, Mistwood Forest, north of the river by Rossman's has coniferous forest.
  • Mistwood Forest Road - Therengia, Mistwood Forest, Riverhaven west gate to Nightweaver Unyn's has coniferous forest.
  • Haven Castle - Therengia, Riverhaven, path out the north gate has deciduous forest.
  • Obsidian Pass - Ilithi, Obsidian Pass
  • The Gash - Ilithi, The Gash, snowbeast hunting north of the gondola has coniferous and deciduous forests.
  • Undergondola - Ilithi, Dark Woodlands, Grizzled Red Leucro hunting & Yvhh La'tami has coniferous, tropical and deciduous forests.
  • Dragon's Spine - Ilithi, Dragon's Spine, estate holder Frostweaver hunting area has boreal forest.
  • Dragon's Breath Forest - Ilithi, A Dark Path, Near Jademist River, north of Shard has coniferous forest.
  • Wyvern Forest - Wyvern Forest (know its here but not much else)
  • Whistling Woods - Ilithi, Whistling Woods, Rock Troll hunting south of Shard has deciduous and tropical forests.
  • Whistling Woods - Ilithi, Whistling Woods, adan'f hunting area south of Shard has tropical Forest.
  • Wylder Spring - Ilithi, Wylder Spring, Jackal/Kobold hunting past the east gate gap has deciduous forest.
  • Southern Trade Route - Ilithi, Edge of the Wood & Dragon's Breath Forest, along the road from the gondola to Shard has coniferous forest.
  • Western Road - Ilithi, Wyvern Wood, out the Shard west gate towards Horse Clan has coniferous forest.
  • Darkling Wood - Ilithi, Darkling Wood, Eidolon Steed hunting out the Shard south gate has deciduous and tropical forests.
  • Fang's Shadow - Ilithi, Fang's Shadow, area between serpents and gremlins outside Fang Cove (Estate holder only) has tropical forest.

Lumber Use

Each of the lumber types can be used for multiple items you can make but some are better at specific items. To understand how this works you need to basically know the actual stats the lumber produces. Early when you start out your appraisal skill is quite low which usually results in you getting information from appraise item careful that is not super accurate. So this list is your life line to understanding what lumber to use for what project.

See Category:Woods for a chart of the wood types and their properties. It can help to keep it open in another browser tab to quickly reference.

Now when you look at these wood types you will see that the best shortbow woods tend to have Shortbow Affinity (SA) of 70 and up. Longbow wood has Longbow Affinity (LA) at 70 or up, and comp bow wood has Composite Affinity (CA) at 70 or up. Near as I can tell having a high hardness really helps the wooden weapons like staffs. So for making bows you want high for SA or LA or CA and you also want your Workability to be high if you can. I found when creating bows and then trying to add lamination or increase/decrease draw weight, if the workability of the wood was not high and the quality was not high I could not complete the process successfully. That was with very few techs and no career or hobby and 530+ skill in engineering. And I most certainly could not add lamination or increase/decrease draw weight of bows using society bought lumber. If you get the technique called shaper specialization you can then do the bow enhancements on the store bought lumbers or lower quality lumbers but as near as i can tell even with over 530 skill you can't do the enhancements on lumber that is 70 quality or lower without that technique.

When you cut pieces of wood you get the following:

wood stick - 1 piece
wood branch - 2 pieces
wood limb - 3 pieces
wood log - 4 pieces
thick wood log - 5 pieces

Syntax: COUNT WOOD, COUNT LUMBER when you refine it.

Lumberjacking Dangers

The more activity in a given area, the greater the chance of a mishap. Like mining where the type of danger is practically dependent upon the stone type of the area. The wood type determines the danger type in the area. The dangers have a variety of results, such as either direct damage, outright death, or just destruction of all chop-able materials in the area. Bottom line is that mining and lumberjacking are dangerous. But you can completely avoid the danger 100% of the time if you slow down. The danger messaging occurs a number of seconds after the danger spawns (so far that appears to be 12 seconds). If you immediately chop back-to-back, you may miss it and trigger the disaster (or make it worse).

Explosion Danger

Room Message: You notice an unusual smell drifting through the area.

WATCH FOREST Message: Studying the forest, you are certain that continued lumberjacking will be slightly dangerous because an unusual smell hints at an explosion danger.

Fail message: Chopping towards the tree, your <axe> accidentally collides with nearby stone, setting off a blast that launches debris flying in all directions. The shatterd tree clips your head as it falls, sending the whole world black!

The world slowly comes into focus again, followed swiftly by a throbbing headache.

End up prone with an internal head bleeder/external head cuts & bruises

--- Also ---

Room Message: Unknown

WATCH FOREST Message: Studying the forest, you are certain that continued lumberjacking will be slightly dangerous because an unusual smell hints at an explosion danger.

Fail message: You swing your <axe> towards the tree and and are rewarded with a detonation of sharp wood fragments! Jagged wood lodges into you, leaving bloody gashes and quickly deepening bruises, while the force of the impact knocks you clear off your feet. It would appear you missed some caustic fungus growing around the trunk. Roundtime: 16 sec.

Short stun, External and internal bleeders

Collapse Danger

Room Message: A loud cracking sound resonates from somewhere closeby.

WATCH FOREST Message: Studying the forest, you are certain that continued lumberjacking will be slightly dangerous because the trees look unsound and in danger of collapse.

Fail message: The trunk suddenly snaps and begins to topple towards you. Your footing gives way as you stumble backwards and right into its path. The loud thud of the tree bouncing against your the ground seems other-wordly loud. The peaceful sound of the forest that replaces it would be comforting, if only you were able to move! Although unharmed, the rolling trunk has you pinned solidly in place.

The thick tree trunk shifts, further constraining your movement.
The weight of the trunk pressing in seems to squeeze the air out of your lungs.
The remaining air seems stale and your labored breathing rasps loudly in your own ears.
You can feel your vision narrowing.
Breathing becomes continually more challenging. If someone doesn't help you soon, you may be in serious trouble.
And then death...

Note: you are able to talk when pinned, but not yell or do any actions.

Dangerous Flora & Fauna

Room Message: A monotonous buzzing sound fills the air.

WATCH FOREST Message: Studying the forest, you are certain that continued lumberjacking will be slightly dangerous because odd noises reveal potentially dangerous insects or plants nearby.

Fail message: Your <axe> crashes into the wood and punches through with surprisingly little resistance. A blanket of warmness creeps up your legs and interrupts your inspection of the hollow trunk. You suddenly have trouble standing up, and notice flames teasing your kneecaps. A blanket of fire ants marches steadily higher, consuming more of your body with each step. Frantically you paw at them with now-melting hands. Like an inch-worm, you wiggle your torso away from the log. Exhausted, your prop your back up against a log and find yourself unable to breath. The whole interior of your chest sizzles and pops as though atop a bonfire. A pinprick of light is all that remains of the world before it too extinguishes entirely. And death...

Now there are other dangers. I just have not run into them yet.

Turning Wood into Lumber

The first step to logging is to find an appropriate area and WATCH FOREST to determine what trees can be found there.

WATCH - will also allow seeing how much material is left to be logged in a given room.
WATCH FOREST DANGER - will allow an attempt to make a dangerous situation safer in any single room.
WATCH FOREST CAREFUL - will allow an attempt to locate more material.

The materials that can be found are entirely dependent on the climate of the area.

Once you have located suitable area, hold your axe in either hand (other hand must be empty), simply proceed to CHOP TREE.

Trees take a number of chops to fall, after which they can produce several pieces of wood on subsequent chops.

Remember one thing. If you see a message assume its a danger sign and watch forest danger to make sure it is or isn't a danger.

Once a material is found that is worth keeping, either pick it up by hand, or PUSH it to the side to have a nearby attendant store it for a small fee. If attendants are not available in the logging location, deed packets purchasable from either crafting society allows deeding of materials by PUSHing the material with the packet. Note that deed packets will require ten minutes to pass before the material becomes available for use within any crafting society. Attendants charge 10% of the material's appraised value, while deeds from a packet cost a flat 1 silver lirum per deed. For more valuable materials, it's cheaper to use a packet even if attendants are available. The really rare wood types can cost you an arm and a leg if the attendants pick it up.

Refining Wood

Once you have wood you can turn it into lumber. The process is really simple as follows:

Step 1 – wood in left hand, wood saw in right.
CUT MY STICK/BRANCH/LIMB/LOG WITH MY SAW
Step 2 – Repeat step 1 two more times.
Step 3 – Put the saw up, get out your drawknife
SCRAPE MY STICK/BRANCH/LIMB/LOG WITH MY DRAWKNIFE
Step 4 – Repeat step 3 two more times. That completes making the lumber.

Fletching

Fletching arrows involves making arrowheads from critter parts at present and making shafts and then combining them with flights to create an arrow. At some future point we will be able to possibly use bone, metal, and stone to make arrowheads, which will expand the types of arrows we can make. This area of the guild will explain the only tools needed to make the items for the arrows and the final product.

Tools to use for Arrow making

The tools for making arrows are basically most all of the tools required for shaping. Those are as follows:

Tool 1 – Shaper
Tool 2 – Carving Knife
Tool 3 – Glue
Tool 4 – Feather flights only from the shaping society.
Tool 5 – A part from some critter to make an arrowhead. These can be cougar claws, boar tusk, Sabre tooth, Angiswaerd tooth, Hele'la claw, Elsrael Tooth, Soot stained claw, Ice adder tooth, Jagged horn, and drake fang.

Shaft making

Ok shaft making is really simple. You get some lumber It does not appear to matter what you get wood wise as long as you can make it masterful. Masterful shafts all appear to work the same no matter what wood its made from. So first you get some lumber. If you use 2 pieces of your lumber you can make 2 sets of shafts that will make 5 arrows each. That would be 10 arrows you can make from 2 pieces of your lumber. So if you have a stack of lumber and only want to turn 2 pieces into shafts you do the following:

Step 1 – mark my lumber at 2 pieces
Step 2 – Get your scissors out and cut lumber with scissors. (don't ask)

That should give you in hand 2 pieces of lumber with the rest at your feet or on the ground where it may have been when you started. Now with the 2 pieces of lumber either in hand or on the ground. Here are the manual steps to make the shafts.

Step 1 – Get shaper from your container.
Step 2 – Shape lumber into shaft
Step 3 – Put shaper in your container.

Now you have your shafts.

That's it you now have shafts in hand. Count shafts, analyze shafts, appraise shafts careful, hug your shafts, kiss your shafts, just don't get shafted. Your done making shafts for now. Note in my work with shafts I find they all combine and it does not matter what wood you use. So bottom line here is use the wood you can make the shafts at masterfully done. The type of wood does not matter to the final product only the fact that its masterful.

Arrowhead making

Arrowhead making is pretty simple just like making the shafts. You must have some skinned critter parts though. Early on that means boar tusk or cougar claws. Each tusk or claw will make 5 arrowheads. So if you want to make 20 arrows all you need is 4 of them. As an example lets say you have 4 boar tusks. Put them in your container. So to manually turn 4 boar tusks into arrowheads you do the following steps:

Step 1 – Get tool to shape the arrowhead, can be hammer, knife, shaper, weapons of various types, etc.
Step 2 – Get boar tusk from your container.
Step 3 – Shape the part.
Step 4 – Put arrowhead in container
Step 5 – Go back to step 2 and continue till done.


Arrow making

Arrow making can get fairly complicated. But its also fairly easy if you follow a few simple rules. Once you shape the shafts proceed to the shaping part and stay there till you get a message to do something else. Make sure your shaping book is turned to the right page for the right arrows your going to make. At this point I need to mention the difficulty of making arrows. The first two arrows that can be created are Cougar-claw and boar-tusk arrows. These are considered simple difficulty and that means with no techs, no career and no hobby you need 200 skill in engineering to work them masterfully. With techs and a career or hobby and good tools you can probably bring that down into the 140 range but arrows are up there in difficulty. The steps to make arrows look as follows:

After Step 2 you always get this message - arrowheads to continue crafting some unfinished – which means you now have to assemble the arrowheads to the shafts, which is step 3.

Step 1 - Get shaping book

        study shaping book

Step 2 - put shaping book away

        get shaper
        then get shafts.
        shape shafts with shaper (this will use 1 set of shafts and put the rest of them at your feet slot)

Step 3 - Get arrowheads

        assemble my arrows with my arrowheads
        get glue
        apply glue to my arrows.

At this point you will go to step 5, unless you got the message to use the carving knife of step 4. This message is the only one you get to carve something - A handful of rough edges require carving with a knife to remove. - Any other message you just keep using step 5 with. You will repeatedly do step 5 unless step 4 is needed till you are asked to assemble the flights in step 6. This is done when you see the message - You need another arrow flights to continue crafting some unfinished – which directs you to step 6. At that point you will do steps 6, 7 and 8 in order. If you have a stamp to stamp the arrows, you will not do step 8, but will do steps 9 and 10. You will know you have performed the last step when you see the message - Applying the final touches, you complete working on some – which is the end point in making your arrows.

Step 4 - put tool away

        get carving knife
        carve my arrows with my knife

Step 5 - put tool away

        get shaper
        shape my arrows with my shaper

Step 6 - put tool away

        get flights
        assemble my arrows with my flights.
        get glue
        apply glue to my arrows

Step 7 - put glue away

        get carving knife
        carve my arrows with my knife

Step 8 - If no stamp

        Arrow making is done.

Step 9 - If stamp

        get stamp
        stamp arrows with my stamp

Step 10- Put stamp up

        arrow making is done

This will complete your first set of 5 arrows.

Shaping Bows, Weapons, and Items

This document goes through how to shape items in the shaping craft. At present this can be used to shape all items currently in chapters 1 (short pole), chapter 2 (shortbows), chapter 3 (longbows), chapter 4 (composite bows), chapter 7 (items), chapter 9 (staff weapons), and chapter 10 (tables). Chapter 8 is currently being modified so I might need to do something different for that chapter or might have to add some steps to this section to get it to create the chapter 8 items. At present they are working on chapter 8 (beads and totems), which I think will be set up so clerics use this to create prayer beads, and the totems may be for enchanting. It will require an additional book from the way things appear called a codex. Till its finished we will just have to wait and see how this will work.

Now you have 3 ways to get lumber to do these tasks. You can lumberjack to get it and refine it (high quality lumber), or you can simply forage stick/branch/limb (which is now random on what is obtained) and when you get enough of the type you want process it (low quality lumber), and last you can buy it in the engineering society as already processed lumber (medium quality lumber). I would only use the low quality lumber if your not doing work orders and just making things to learn engineering skill. Work orders can be either the high quality or medium quality lumber though you will get better pay for the work order using the high quality lumber. For items you want to make for yourself or for others use only the high quality lumber.

You will need tools and materials to perform these tasks. These are covered in the rest of this document.

Tools and materials needed

The materials needed for the items in the shaping book can vary but they include bow string, backer, short cord, leather strips, long pole, short pole, and lumber. The lumber can be obtained in 3 ways and the short pole can be made. All the rest of the items must be purchased in the Engineering Society building.

The tools required for shaping are as follows:

Tool 1 – Shaping book (apprentice, journeyman, master)
Tool 2 - Codex (6250 kronars in engineering society)
Tool 3 – Clamps (can only be bought at this point)
Tool 4 – Shaper
Tool 5 – Carving knife
Tool 6 – Rasp
Tool 7 – Glue (can only be bought at this point)
Tool 8 – Wood Stain (can only be bought at this point)
Tool 9 – A personal Stamp if you have one

Right now only the shaper, carving knife, rasp, and stamp can be crafted. It would be a good idea to get a set even if they are not top of the line. A good set of high or medium carbon steel tools works really well to improve the quality of your output item.

About the books. Everything in the apprentice book is in the journeyman and masters books and everything in the journeyman book is in the masters book. So basically it just comes down to what you can afford. The apprentice book is under a gold, and the journeyman is 15 plat and the masters book is 62.5 plat kronars. The apprentice book will teach to around 200 skill if you have no techniques, but get enough techniques and that could drop to around 150 skill. I think the journeyman books will teach to around 425 at the very least and probably higher.

Manual steps to shape an item

To make most of the items in the shaping book, you must have lumber. As mentioned earlier in this document you have 3 ways to get the lumber. You will also need to use lumber that is suitable for the item you are making. All lumber appears to work for items and tables. Staffs require hardness to provide better damage stats for the weapon you make. And of course the bows need wood with a high affinity for that type of bow.

Each of the lumber types can be used for multiple items you can make but some are better at specific items. Section 1.4 of this document gives a good explanation of the wood types and where they are best used.

When you cut pieces of wood you get the following:

wood stick - 1 piece wood branch - 2 pieces wood limb - 3 pieces wood log - 4 pieces thick wood log - 5 pieces

Syntax: COUNT WOOD, COUNT LUMBER when you refine it.

Manual steps to shape

To shape an item you need to have some processed lumber in the left hand, tools and ingredients in your container, and shaping book. The Shaping book must be turned to the right chapter and page for the item you are going to be working. Make sure you have all the ingredients required by the item. For instance all composite bows require backer material and a bow string, while shortbows only need a bow string. So read the page of the item your going to make and make sure you have all the ingredients needed ahead of time. Note also if the item your going to make is from chapter 8 of the shaping book then you have to have the codex as well. Make sure the codex and shaping book are both set to the right page for what you want to make. Then do the following steps.

Step 1 - Get shaping book

        study my book

Step 2 - put shaping book away

        (If chapter 8 items)
        get codex
        study codex
        put codex away
        (the above 3 only needed for chapter 8 items)
        get lumber
        get drawknife
        scrape lumber with drawknife

Step 3 - Use shaper when needed

        Shape item with shaper.

Step 4 - Use rasp when A bulbous knot is present

        Rub item with rasp.

Step 5 - Use carving knife if fine detail is needed

        Carve item with knife.

Step 6 - Use clamps when needed

        push item with clamps

Step 7 - Assemble String with bowtype

        get stain
        apply stain to bowtype

Step 8 - Assemble backing with bowtype

        get glue 
        apply glue to bowtype (Comp Bows)

Step 9 - Assemble strips with item

        analyze item – This tells you what is needed next.

Step 10- Assemble short cord with item

        analyze item – This tells you what is needed next.

Step 11- Assemble pole with item (does 4 poles for tables)

        All tables but one require long poles, one uses short poles
        analyze item – This tells you the next step.

Step 12- put up last tool

        end script with completed item.

Step 13- put up last tool

        get stamp
        stamp item with my stamp.

Step 14- put up stamp

        end script with completed item.

The possible messages produced during this process are as follows:

Shaping with a wood shaper is needed to Shaping with a wood shaper should even out the ready for shaping with a wood shaper ready for continued shaping with a wood shaper A bulbous knot will make continued shaping difficult unless rubbed out with a rasp. A cluster of small knots deforms the wood's structure is ready to have more fine detail carved with a carving knife. grain looks solid and ready for continued knife carving. appears free of defects that would impede further carving with a knife. You do not see anything that would prevent further carving with a knife. The bow now must be pushed with clamps or a The bow's pieces and backing material are now ready to be clamped together. You need another finished bow string to continue crafting You need another bone, wood or horn backing material to continue You need another finished leather strips to continue crafting You need another finished short leather cord to continue crafting You need another finished * wooden pole to continue crafting Applying the final touches, you complete working on

At this point you have completed your project or should have. You can now bundle the item with your logbook and proceed to the next item if you are doing a work order. These are the basic manual steps you can use to finish your item. Remember if you get stuck you can always analyze item and should get information such as the following:

>analyze my shortbow You analyze every aspect of the Nisha shortbow and nod as your understanding grows. When crafting is complete this will be a type of finished shortbow. With all major carving work completed, the wood is ready for the application of stain. From the progress so far, it looks like the shortbow is masterfully-crafted. The shortbow is a somewhat challenging piece to make. You estimate that it is very nearly done. Roundtime: 9 sec.

Notice the line underlined. It tells you the next step you need to take in order to complete this shortbow. So if you get stuck analyze the item and do what it indicates.

Bow Enhancements

This document discusses the process of performing enhancements to bows through lamination or increase/decrease the draw weight of a given bow. At this point I have found that you must have some pretty good quality lumber to be able to do this. If you were to use society bought wood like maple for a shortbow and try to laminate or increase the draw strength of the bow you would fail (with no techs, 530 skill, good quality tools). I found to be able to actually do this I had to have lumber that was much higher quality than that found in the society buildings and you only get that if you lumberjack it yourself or get it from someone who did.

Parts and tools required

To do bow enhancements you need some parts you buy in the society building, such as backer for lamination, and leather strips for cable-backing. Lightening the draw strength usually just involves shaping of the bow to take more material off of the bow.

For the tools you need the following:

Tool 1 – Shaping book. (apprentice or journeyman or masters)
Tool 2 – Clamps (can only be bought at this point)
Tool 3 – Shaper
Tool 4 – Carving knife
Tool 5 – Rasp
Tool 6 – Glue (can only be bought at this point)
Tool 7 – Wood Stain (can only be bought at this point)
Tool 8 – A personal Stamp if you have one

Right now only the shaper, carving knife, rasp, and stamp can be crafted. It would be a good idea to get a set even if they are not top of the line. A good set of high or medium carbon steel tools works really well to improve the quality of your output item.

About the books. Everything in the apprentice book is in the journeyman and masters books and everything in the journeyman book is in the masters book. So basically it just comes down to what you can afford. The apprentice book is under a gold, and the journeyman is 15 plat and the masters book is 62.5 plat kronars. The apprentice book will teach to around 200 skill if you have no techniques, but get enough techniques and that could drop to around 150 skill. I think the journeyman books will teach to around 425 at the very least and probably higher.

Manual steps to enhance a bow

When you enhance a bow by lamination or cable-backing you also add some weight to the bow. When you lighten a bow you remove material from the bow and it gets a bit lighter. So you basically laminate a bow to increase its durability. You will find if you used a wood that has poor durability it almost appears like there is very little enhancement made to the bow. There are differences but its really subtle. Keep that in mind when you enhance bows.

The basic steps to doing bow enhancement by hand requires you to have the bow in the left hand, tools and ingredients in your container, the Shaping book must be turned to the right page. The first step is to get the shaping book and study it, Then put it up and get your clamps and clamp the bow. Clamping the bow will generate a message that tells you the next step to take and it will be either step 3 or step 4 or step 5. At that point you will cycle between steps 3, 4, or 5 until you need to clamp the bow one more time. For lamination the end process would be using step 6, then step 7, then step 8, then steps 9 and 11. For Cable-backing the end process would be using step 6, then step 7, then step 10, then steps 9 and 11. To lighten the bow you would simply keep using steps 3, 4 or 5 till you use step 6 and then do steps 9 and 11.

Step 1 - Get shaping book

        study shaping book.

Step 2 - put shaping book away

        get clamps
        push my bow with my clamps

Step 3 - Use shaper when needed.

        Shape item with shaper.

Step 4 - Use rasp when A bulbous knot is present.

        Rub item with rasp.

Step 5 - Use carving knife if fine detail is needed.

        Carve item with knife.

Step 6 - Use clamps when needed.

        push item with clamps

Step 7 - apply glue to item. Step 8 – get backing

        Assemble backing
        analyze.

Step 9 - get stain

        apply stain.

Step 10- get strips

        assemble strips with item
        analyze

Step 11- put up last tool

        end script with completed item.

Step 12- put up last tool

        get stamp
        stamp item.

Step 13- put stamp away

        end script with completed item.

The possible messages during the process are as follows:

Shaping with a wood shaper is needed to A bulbous knot will make continued shaping difficult unless rubbed out with a rasp. The wood is ready to have more fine detail carved with a carving knife. appears free of defects that would impede further carving with a knife. grain looks solid and ready for continued knife carving. materials are ready to be compressed with clamps or Glue should now be applied so assembly can begin. appears ready to be reinforced with some backer material. Some wood stain should be applied to the wood to finish it. appears ready to be strengthened with some leather strips. is ready to be assembled with leather strips construction shows improved signs of durability and wear resistance weight and draw strength appears significantly Close inspection of the completed You study the instructions about bow cable-backing You study the instructions about bow lamination You study the instructions about bow lightening

Note the variation in the messages comes mostly from the Steps 8 and 10. Where you assemble the backer or the strips and then analyze the bowtype. Its entirely possible not all the messages that are possible have been seen yet. In that case you may need to add a few more to this set.

Making Beads and totems from Chapter 8

Beads, totems, figurines, statuette and statues can be made from chapter 8. However, this chapter requires you have a codex. What you do is set yourself to the item in the shaping book you want to create. Then you turn to the chapter and page in the codex for the type of item you want to shape. After study of both books starting with the shaping book, you proceed just like you were making a normal item, bow, or staff weapon. The steps are included in the MANUAL STEPS TO SHAPE section.

Repair of wood based items

To repair any item you make with a bow requires two things. Sandpaper and stain. Having the repair techs helps a great deal as well. The steps to repair wood based items are as follows:

Step 1 – Rub my item with my sandpaper. Step 2 – get Stain

        apply stain to my item.