A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
A look at history and popular culture
Hey folks! Fireside this week, but I promise we'll see that promised addendum on pre-modern crucible steel and cast iron next week. In the meantime, as you are no doubt inescapably aware, the United States (where I live) is having an election. I mostly avoid politics itself on this blog and that's something I intend … Continue reading Fireside Friday, October 30, 2020
Hey folks! I am, as I mentioned last week, taking this week off in an effort to catch up on my sanity and also some grading and writing I need to be doing. But I didn't want to leave you with nothing, so I thought I might use this as an opportunity to direct some … Continue reading Things You Might Have Missed, October 21, 2020
This week, we close out our four(and a half)-part (I, II, III, IVa, IVb, addendum) look at pre-modern iron and steel production, although I ought to note that there will be at least one addendum discussing pre-modern cast iron and crucible steel (Wootz) production. Last week, we looked at the processes used to create steel … Continue reading Collections: Iron, How Did They Make It, Part IVb: Work Hardening, or Hardly Working?
This week, we continue our four(and a half)-part (I, II, III, IVa, IVb, addendum) look at pre-modern iron and steel production. Last week, we looked at how a blacksmith reshapes our iron from a spongy mass called a bloom first into a more workable shape and then finally into some final useful object like a … Continue reading Collections: Iron, How Did They Make It, Part IVa: Steel Yourself
This week, we continue our four-part (I, II, III, IVa, IVb, addendum) look at pre-modern iron and steel production. Last week we took our ore and smelted it into a rough, spongy mass of iron called a bloom; this week we're going to go through the processes to reshape that bloom first into a consolidated … Continue reading Collections: Iron, How Did They Make It, Part III: Hammer-time