Sharpening abilities and sticks

She had heard about his interest in swords? Well, that was great!  Who had she heard about him from and what had they said?  His mind started to ponder this but then went back to the subject that was more important right then.  His next wooden sword had to be better than the first.

She stated what he’d feared of her sword being too large and while it made sense it still killed an idea he had, or would have until she mentioned being able to use a dagger for it!  Thorn skimmed his wood pile, grabbed a couple of his favorite pieces of wood to turn, and follow her back toward the castle.  The boy's tail slashed through the air with good cheer.  If she’d help him with a sharpened object that would open up a whole new set of options in making his weapon.  How would he do it?  Thorn had already imagined how much one hole could make an improvement but what other good ideas did he have?

New weapon and a lesson in using a sword afterward.  This could be the best day ever.  Thorn follows her into the grand foyer and takes no time taking her assistance and hopping up into the chair.  She leaves him for a moment, the boy's front paws coming up to press against the table, neck stretched forward as he eagerly waits for her.

Fern puts a sheathed dagger near him and Thorn looks at it with clear desire but at Fern’s question, he looks back up at her.  “My first sword was one stick used as crossguard, the other both the blade and handle.  I used vines to tie them together.”  Thorn shrugged, glancing at the wood he had with him now.  “But, even though it was a lot of vines it was still real wobbly so wasn’t really any good.”

Thorn put a paw over one of the thicker sticks, pushing it forward.  “Besides, real swords don’t look like one piece of metal sticking out of another, they just fit together.  So, I thought if I could make a hole in one stick, I could slide the other stick through that." Thorn pulled a thinner stick from the pile and lay it horizontally across the thicker stick. "The better the two sticks fit together then the less the shaking.  I haven’t figured out how to keep it still without more vines though.  So, it’d be stronger but not perfect.  I was using a rock to try and sharpen the stick edges like a sword's blade but, it chips on the wood, it doesn’t get smooth as the metal does.” Thorn lowered his muzzle so it was near the stick, placing a paw to mark how far up the stick his muzzle went, then moved his paw a bit farther to allow for a bit of free space on his imagined handle.  "So, a hole about here for the crossguard I think."

“I don’t think sticks can really make a good sword,” this was admitted grudgingly.  “They aren’t even like the more solid wood practice ones their just, uhm, sticks.” A hesitant pause before adding, “but, it's better than nothing to practice with, and I kind of like making them anyway.  Someday I’m gonna make real swords out of steel.  Everyone will want a sword made by Thorn Carpathius.”

"Thorn Carpathius"