27 Mar
2005
27 Mar
'05
2:11 p.m.
der Mouse wrote:
On the basis that posting the recipe would probably make those readers
in the less politically-free parts of the world into terrist suspec's, I
will keep quiet on that one.
>[...], how
many of you have the knowledge of metalurgy to make any
>metal tool from say... the Bronze age, or Iron, or make gun powder,
>sure you know what's in it, but can you obtain the raw materials,
>and build the contraption that they used to make it?
Anyone who's read _Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen_ knows how to make
gunpowder (well, anyone who's bothered to remember the details).
Myself, I'm not sure I can keep it straight which ingredient is which,
but I remember the 75:15:10 ratio, so it's at most six tries. :) As for metallurgy, well, no. But I could probably
reinvent rudimentary
cast iron with at most a few years' work; I expect the hardest part to
redevelop would be extracting iron from ore.
Heat iron ore with charcoal. The carbon reduces the oxygen, leaving you
with fairly poor quality iron. This is called "carburisation". You can
then batter that about until you get wrought iron.
Gordon.