Midwinter calling, day 7

Teething issues

Too early in the morning for me, but I'm very awake. Kari have made sure of that. I would still like to go to bed again, but after a shower it just feels wrong to return to bed. So I just stand there outside my workshop, listening to the kitchen preparing breakfast and looking at the main panel - the battery bank seems to charge well - and contemplate whether I should go into the workshop or up to the office. Stairs. Far away. There is a couch in my workshop. The door to Jane's room opens and Caecilia comes out and quickly looks around. Lightly dressed and with tousled hair. She just smiles at me as she quietly closes the door. I smile back, and she tiptoes towards me, increase speed and jumps up in my arms, gives me a hug and a kiss I answer, which makes her smile more and kiss me again. Caecilia like that I actually let her kiss and hug me in everyday life when it's private, and that we don't just have sex. Caecilia whispers that she wish she could stay in my bed every night so we could have sex every night and morning, but whispers that Jane was nice too, but she prefers me and Iselin. Jane mostly needed someone to hold, and she will probably have a headache when she wakes up. I give my jumpy sexbunny a hug and whisper that it's good that she and Jane help each other when they feel like it, but keep it discreet for Jane's sake, and I know it's been a few days since she shared my bed. Caecilia corrects me with exactly how many. Caecilia's breath can kill, so I send her on.

Dental care and brushing teeth is something they do here, but not in the same way I'm used to. Well, not everyone does, and some people's teeth and breath are horrible, especially some slaves, but thankfully I move in the upper social classes and there are more options here, and the women around me have always needed and wanted to give a good impression. That is partly why Iselin was a servant at the feast, because she looks good and has good teeth, and thus suitable to be shown as a visible servant for the most honored guests. Still, Iselin and Ciara teeth isn't the best, but they are not as bad as they could be. A little uneven but not particularly yellow and they all have teeth. But the diet here also doesn't have much sugar. Not surprisingly, Jane has a beautiful white smile worthy of a movie star, and they have all given Jane praise for her teeth.

The food is so different here, coarser and more fibrous, lacks a lot of sugar and acids and so on which is such a big part of modern and pre-processed food. So we guess it helps teeth. Most of the diet is from rye or wheat, and the bad part is that when it is ground, cheaper flour has some stone or sand in it, and it acts as an abrasive and you can feel it when you eat it. Many older people have large gaps between the upper and lower teeth, and soups are common. Both because it can be made from most things and bad ingredients, and soup doesn't require chewing, and just a pot to cook in. Since it became my choice, we have only bought good food, and that include fine flour. When it comes to teeth, I don't know if it is an advantage that many people drink mead or beer with a fairly high alcohol and calorie content for most meals.

But dental care is primarily a piece of stick with a spread out brush like end and with a pointed end, to pick and scrub your teeth with, plus maybe something to rinse with. The next common step up in dental care is pine resin that is chewed, and both is something I try to get everyone on the islands to do often, because we have plenty of pines here. For richer people like us, there are also oils and a form of alcohol for use as mouthwash. Many people reuse the same liquid for a couple of weeks or more, but I have forced a higher standard, so my sambos use new liquid every day, or every other day because they still think it is unnecessarily wasteful, which it probably is. Jane have also introduced tongue scrapers and together with Unn we're trying to find a good dental floss.

I myself have been careful with my toothpaste and brushed with toothpaste every other night but combine with picking and scrubbing my teeth and chewing pine resin and alcohol mouthwash. Jane has adopted a similar solution, but ran out of toothpaste a month ago and use some soap on her toothbrush, followed by the mouthwash. We don't know if it is a good idea, but it makes Jane feel better and I havn't really come up with a better solution. She have quickly adopted the stick to pick and pine resin to chew because that is in my survival manual which makes those modern military approved methods to keep soldiers in fighting shape. My toothpaste should last to January, but eventually I will have to adapt, and will probably use some soap like Jane. We have not prioritized trying to make toothbrushes, and toothpaste with fluorine? It won't happen. Fluorine is basically so dangerous by nature, that I don't really want to try to make it. Fluorocarbons are very bad for the environment. Hydrogen fluorine would be very bad to make by mistake in pretty much any concentration, and just reading John Clark 'Ignition' about chlorine trifluoride makes that a hard nope. When 'extremely toxic' is the least problem, and it burns sand, glass, ash and react explosively with water?

Nope. Nopetiy-nope.

When people have problems with their teeth, a lot of it is magic, prayer and superstition, although there are some herbs or remedies. Kari, Iselin, Ciara, Alith, Bodil, Liv and Unn have all told us what they know and can. The British Isles mostly seem to be prayers, pilgrimages and superstition. Like having a special golden earring so the pain moves there, engraving things on nails, pressing it down under a tooth and then hammering the nail into a tree, or luring the 'worm' out with smoke and other things. Ciara's descriptions gave Jane a cold shiver, and she quickly left the room until Ciara stopped explaining and it was 'safe to return'. Iselin's universal solution is pine resin to rub or press against the tooth, plus mead, which was what Alith and Bodil also knew, along with that earring.

Liv basically said prayer, herbs, and try to wiggle a bad tooth loose. Unn gave much more details about herbs, but many things you simply cannot do anything about. So she go for extraction, both with thread and tools, followed by herbs and extracts for healing and preventing what I guess is inflammation. Unn excitedly talked about it and proudly showed a small leather case with a thin pointed small knife that can be used to carve and dig out the tooth, a small hammer and chisel to crush the tooth and remove the parts with a tweezer like tool, or use the big pliers to pull the tooth. Unn is really proud to know this and of her small toolkit. I understand that it is advanced dental care and Unn is rightly proud of it, but I really don't want to have those problems here. I've had enough trouble visiting the dentist, and with Unn's options and description, I don't think Jane will let her come near her mouth. On the other hand the people here on my islands are very happy for Unn's skill, and that I brought her here and pay for their health and dental care. She's already had very grateful patients, especially among the workers as they are of course included, and her apprentice will get plenty of practise and her own dental tools.

In the future I hope to be able to do a dental drill, but then something is needed to fill the tooth, and it will not be pleasant to do that experimentation. Filling with gold is so far the only thing I know can be used, because amalgam contains mercury and other metals. I guess it's some combination of the usual silver, tin, zinc and copper. At the same time, amalgam may be better than the alternatives, and cheaper. If a tooth can be kept it's obviously an advantage compared to loosing it, especially in the long run as there is a fixed amount of teeth, and there will be many volunteers for her to practise on.

According to Kari and Unn, there is a skilled woman named Glöa in Borgarsandr who specialize in what I would say is dental care, and large parts of the richer people and nobility travel there to get her help, often in connection with the Northmen Ting, and she is expensive. I hope she might know more than Unn and should be more skilled, and I would like to talk to her in the future. It can be difficult to persuade her to spread her secrets and information, but I may be able to entice her with the amenities, which honestly can be a great advantage for the future. Luxury, more respect and reputation should help to attract skilled craftsmen here. At the same time, I don't want the nobility to come here for dental care, because then they would probably want to visit me and be social. Which is contrary to my wishes. Maybe I should do a hospital in Borgarsandr, which also do dental care?

During breakfast, I pretend that I don't know where Caecilia spent the night.

As usual I have help in finishing a new and improved electromagnetic magnetization rig with a flexible length iron core. It is a practical thing to have, to make it easier to create better compass needles and stronger magnets for swivel coils, speakers, generators, small electric motors, etc. Everyone agree that magnets are so very magical little toys, and that include Jane. Magnetic force work through paper and fabric, and hanging a magnet on a string and approaching it with different metals is 'interesting'. I am thinking about making a display of magnetic fields by hanging up a powerful magnet that can attract strings with small iron needles, without them actually touching.

However, the work on magnets has led me to remember induction damped compasses, so I will try to make it in a couple of compasses and compare how much it does. If what I build makes a noticeable difference, it will be in all future compasses. Induction damping should be very simple, and just a wide copper ring around the compass needle. When the slightly magnetic needle moves, a weak current is induced in the copper ring, which creates a magnetic field that counteracts the compass needle. So it dampens oscillation faster than without. And copper is not magnetic, so it does not affect the function of the compass. Induction damping won't be as effective as fluid dampening, but has no problematic fluid. Especially here that is a huge problem. I have more than one fluid-filled compass that has had a large air bubble due to airplane flights or just from being at higher altitudes or in the sun.

The magnetization rig is followed by the next small and frankly ugly construction, which is a simple hand-cranked machine for winding coils, as there will be ridiculously many coils made in the future, with thousands of turns. This winding machine is guaranteed to be upgraded in the future, but only something to crank around with a wire holder that keeps the wire stretched is worth so much, and a modified odometer acts as a turn counter. If I really start to build spark transmitters for long range use, the secondary coil will probably need hundreds of thousands of turns. Which is many kilometers of fine thread. But coils for transformers and electromagnets are bad enough to turn by hand.

While Ciara enjoys making accurate electromagnets, and Kari annoyingly magnetizes everything made of iron in my workshop, I continue to build the prototype of the receiver part of the servant system, and the bell is the easiest part. The step mechanism is a bit hard to get right so it ticks flawlessly. The mass in the wooden cylinder contributes, but Bodil don't mind putting her work on nicer lamp housings aside and helps to lighten the cylinder. Eventually it works well and fast, and with four buttons connected to the contact plates, we can test that the stepping works as it should. Some form of automatic reset would be nice, but right now I have no good idea how I can solve it other than making an electromechanical timer. And I prefer to focus on pendulum clocks before that. The simplest pendulum clock with just an hour hand shouldn't be that hard to do.

When it comes to the servant system, Bodil will build a simple case for the receiver unit when she has finished marking the runes and room symbols, and they will also be filled in with color to become more visible. Or just burned in. Yeah, I should improvise that wood-burning tool instead of making Bodil spend time engraving it. And the case is actually not needed to try it out.

After dinner, a man Alith recognise as one of Olafr's apprentices arrives with two large wooden boxes and a small bag, and we can guess there are flintlock stuff in them. The apprentice thankfully introduces himself as Ketill since I've forgotten his name, and Gunhild help him carry the wooden boxes into the meeting room. I'm getting familiar with that staring expression when someone sees and experiences the mansion for the first time. Ketill reacts to the two swords hanging above the stairs. Of course he recognise them - he must have spent days grinding and polishing them.

Ketill talks while showing the craft, but I almost zone out what he says. In addition to my prototype in brass, the first box contains a completed flintlock musket. Olafr has made it completely finished even with carvings on the wooden buttstock, and Olafr has also made them add the cross hatched grooves for the hand grips. Damn. I only sketched it as an example, but he has made them do it. And do it really well. The musket is not as heavy as I feared, and as I look along the barrel to the sight, the reflections make the barrel look impressively straight on the outside. I hope the inside is just as good. It is quite thick steel in the barrel but becomes thicker further back where the explosion will take place. Under the barrel, the ramrod to push the charge down is stored, and it is easy to pull the ramrod out and in, while still spring locking in place. Nice. Even if they don't understand the purpose, everything seems to be done according to specifications. Sure I made plenty of sketches, but Olafr really listened to what I said, and this is damn fine work for someone who has never made firearms before. Well, there was my boomstick, but this is in a completely different situation and league.

Olafr has understood the ergonomics quite well, and the distance to the trigger and the feeling I wanted. The safety feels good, although it is possible to improve. I test the flintlock mechanism, and that too feels quite good and seems to work just as it should. There is a nice shower of sparks down in the pan, which I actually expected. Ketill points out he is really impressed how much spark there is, and it really can light straw for a fire. Although Olafr havn't really done mechanisms like this before, he understood its purpose as well as I could explain it to him, and everyone uses flint and steel to light fires.

Olafr and his apprentices must put their souls into this work. Ketill is rightly proud as he explains and receives praise, and much is surely his craft as well. I have a feeling that Olafr sent Ketill here to deliver, to give me an idea of which apprentice he recommends, and an opportunity to evaluate him.

In the second box are two flintlock mechanisms, two wooden rifle stocks and two rifled barrels with grooves that corkscrew down the barrel until they disappear in the dark. Not much light from the small side hole in the end. These are not assembled yet, although it can be done here on the islands as long as there is a workshop or forge. He has tools with him. Olafr wanted me to check the grooves, mechanisms and barrels if it seems to be good enough, and at 62cm they are shorter than I asked for, but I did say a shorter barrel would be better than a longer but worse one.

Ketill also shows the molds for the lead bullets for the finished weapon and other parts, as well as a wooden stick with a follower to be able to check the rifling in the barrel. There are also 20 finished bullets for each weapon, as well as 40 smaller shotgun pellets. Ketill says that Olafr wants to engrave the outside of the barrel and flintlocks, but wants to be sure that it works as it should and it's okay to do it. This was a lot of work. The musket stock is a demonstration of their skill. Olafr also needs more steel to be able to make more of these, including those with double barrels.

I make sure that Ketill is offered some food and given the opportunity to wash himself and rest a bit in the small guest room after his journey. Hrappr together with a couple of workers will arrange shooting targets and a simple but thick wooden shield to protect the shooter's body and head during the first shots, as well as improvise sandbags. Everything is carried into my workshop after I have cleaned the main bench, and I limit who is inside. Kari and Jane is somewhere on the island, so it's just me, Ciara and Alith.

Alith just stands and looks closely at the flintlock and her fingers twitch. She saw how I held it and she have shoot my Boomstick. She absolutely understands. I let her feel and hold the musket and she just have a wonderful overjoyed and expectant face. Child at Christmas comes to mind. I don't need to ask if she wants to try shooting it.

I inspect the rifle barrels with my flash light, measure and verify the rifling twist, and both seem more than excellent considering this era. A certain length, twist a certain degree, all the way, and seems to be the same on both. This actually feels too exact to be made by hand.

When I ask how they succeeded, Ketill just apologetic shakes his head and says it was difficult, but that he isn't allowed to tell as Olafr wants to tell it himself. But the rifling took more than a week, and many attempts on iron pipes. I accept that answer. Secrets are part of the craft, but I guess he's made some kind of machine with a reamer or self-rotating reamer. We quickly discussed machines for my Boomstick's construction, and there were sketches in the documents. It is absolutely too good to just be shaped around a form of rod, and then adding rifling shouldn't be this good.

Ketill will spend the evening after testing to assemble the two rifles so I can test them tomorrow. I prepare test charges by carefully weighing different amounts of blackpowder and placing it on paper that I wrap together and write the weight of each. I make sure I have enough of each, plenty of rags to clean the barrel with and buckets of water and so on if shit happens. I will need to make more blackpowder in the future but I already have about 300g, which is enough for the planned test shots.