It was just another day for the forge, the shop was open, the walls decorated in a variety of tools and weapons, mannequins wearing various styles of armour, some clearly just decorative in nature, though, for all that, nopony was visible inside. Instead a side door connected to the forge poured in a constant stream of heat and the ringing of metal on metal. The sound only interrupted on occasion by a loud hiss which was followed by steam billowing in through the door.

For Ironfire, this was routine. His ears tuned for the bell above his doorway, but his attention primarily on the work before him. It seemed he always had a few odd jobs in his work book, but even so, this was a skill that could easily be dulled if he became too lax with it.

Ironfire's hammer had a momentary pause in it's rhythmic swing, his ear flicking lightly as it caught the sound of his bell indicating another possible customer. Eyeing his work one more, he placed it on the edge of his forge, to retain it's heat, before stepping through a side door and entering his shop floor proper. Sure enough, a lone stallion was stood, seemingly inspecting his various works.

"Good day to you," he called out in greeting, "to what do I owe this pleasure?"

Ironfire nodded, listening intently as his horn glowed, taking notes with a piece of charcoal and his notebook. He looked over the weapon, noting the wear and tear alongside remedies and protection against further marking.

Ironfire let out a low whistle when he was done taking notes, "impressive. Not many ponies bother with a katana these days, especially not around here. Nopony willing to keep up with all the additional maintenance required to keep them in shape," his voice carried a hint of awe to it, "considering that it's not standard issue with the guard, I'd guess you either get into a lot of trouble or your a private contractor or something of the sort," he eyed the pony a bit more closely, before dismissing it with a shake of his head, "but that's neither here nor there. I'd like to think I'm a fairly good judge of character, so as long as you got the bits, I can do the work," he chuckled with that, "since you say you use the sheathe more than the blade, and since you requested a replacement, I could reinforce one with iron bands and strips," he suggests, "either that, or I guess I could see you again whenever you wear through that one,"

"It's not a normal thing, but it's also not a normal thing to see this much use out of a sheath," Ironfire explained, "with enough polish and design, it would look mostly decorative anyway," he continued to elaborate, "as for pricing..." he trailed off a moment, bringing over his notebook and looking it over, writing a few things here and there, trying to sum up just how much work and material will be needed, "probably looking around 350 bits for the lot. With the type of blade you have, I foresee it taking considerable time to straighten and sharpen without causing unwanted damage or flat out breaking it,"

"A whole week, huh? Whatever will you do with youself," Ironfire's tone carried a hint of sarcasm, no doubt the stallion's own way of saying that trouble will no doubt follow this week, if his weapon was anything to judge by, "I doubt it'll take that long. Three, four days at the most, so feel free to stop by then," looking at the bag of bits, he accepted it with his magic, using it to verify the amount at the same time, "and thanks. Most ponies are just happy to put down a deposit, not many pay up front, but it's appreciated," he smiled there as he placed the bag somewhere behind his desk, "well, Foxtrot, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Ironfire," he offered his hoof in a shake.

"As you said, I've been doing this for years. Learnt all I know from my parents," Ironfire explained, "as for enchantments, I'm afraid that's outside of my league. I wouldn't mind learning, but haven't had ready access to a teacher. Also haven't looked, but I get lost in my work too easily," he shrugged, "guess I'm just content with what I have,"

"Always jobs to be done," as if to emphasize this point, he gestured at his work book, "as for reforging, the blade is metal at the end of the day. I can melt it down and reforge it into anything. The only limitation if the amount of material to work with, but that could be offset easily enough by just using some of the metal I have in store. There a reason you decided to ask?"

"It's not unheard of for something to break and be made into something stronger, but that's probably more to do with the skill of the smith than the materials. Depending on how it breaks, it's usually just easier to reforge the entire thing than it is to repair it," Ironfire elaborated, "and sometimes it can be cheaper to just replace it entirely, which is probably the case with the standard issue stuff, with it being made in large quantities for cheap usually. Prior experience has shown me that katanas are actually pretty durable in comparison to the standard sword, on the other hoof, they're many, many times more difficult to repair should they actually break,"