The smith eyes you up, although under his gaze you feel more like horseflesh than an apprentice smith.
"More 'an a forge you'd need, no? Wood for the shaft, some metal for the head? You carrying all that with you?"
He shakes his head and turns away. "I don't have time for every boy who wanders in here thinking he's a smith."
Roy isn't particularly surprised by the surliness of the smith.
"Metal I have, though it's in smaller pieces suitable for armor repair rather than a single piece. Now, if I wanted to make metal scales it'd be perfect. For a single piece, like the head of a hammer, well, I could heat the pieces 'til they melted into a single mass, but that'd be wasteful of fuel, as ye know, and not so good for the metal either. If I just weld the pieces together, they'd be good enough, but if I'm going to be carrying it and using it, I don't want "good enough", I want good. And that means a single piece.
Now, I have a portable forge of me own, and can do smaller pieces myself, if you have any that need to be done. What I can't do with it is craft a full-size heavy hammer. For that I need a full size forge."
He shrugs.
"I've worked the mines, I've smelted me own iron from ore, and I've done m'time as an apprentice smith, making everything that was needed. Pick heads, axe heads, hammers, nails for boots and mine-shaft supports. Daggers and knives, yes. Never learned swordsmithing, though, 'cause there was no need for swords in the mines. So ye can make yer choice "No", if ye wish, an' do it all yersel'. Or ye can let me do some simple pieces while the forge is hot an' ye'd normally be takin' a break anyway. That way ye save fuel, save effort, and get more done than ye would normally be able to do. And while ye're watching, ye can tell me what I'm doing wrong, if anything, and how I could do it better."
He squares up to the smith.
"I reckon ye've more than enough work to do, what with the tourney coming up, everyone wanting their neglected armor and equipment fixed up, as well as all the day-to-day stuff done. And here I am, offering my services to ye for as long as I'm here, all for the cost of the metal and wood to make a heavy hammer, and the forge time to do it."
"Your choice."