After being busy, another six days passed in the blink of an eye. The furnace of bronze alloy was completely melted, and Xu Chen cast eight sets of axles and matching wheel hub collars.
After cooling, these bronzes were obviously no longer the obvious golden color before, but had a dark golden color, which actually looked more textured than tin bronze.
If the golden color of tin bronze has a luxurious atmosphere, then this lead bronze has a noble atmosphere.
But nobility is nobility, this thing is definitely very toxic, and you will definitely not live long if you are exposed to it frequently.
In order to verify the effect of this alloy with a lead content of 16%, Xu Chen took a golden axe, placed a cooled copper shaft on a copper anvil and blasted the hammer, and found that the strength was actually very good.
It is easy to deform, but has poor toughness and will break if hammered a few times.
The same goes for the collar, which broke into several pieces after being hammered more than ten times.
Although the effect was not satisfactory, it far exceeded Xu Chen's expectations. At least the alloy was still very strong and not as fragile as expected. It was much better than the copper-lead dagger that was randomly smelted the first time.
So Xu Chen took the remaining sets of axles and collars to the carpentry team to install them on the newly built unicycle.
When the second batch of wheelbarrows slowly started to be built and installed, the charcoal kiln in the kiln factory was completely cooled down and the kiln was started.
The effect cannot be said to be good or bad. More than 200 pieces of wood of various sizes were placed in one kiln. They were packed full at first, but not even one-fifth of the charcoal was burned. The wood as thick as a thigh was burned as thick as an arm.
The thickness of the waist was reduced to the thickness of the calf, and the charcoal pulled out from the ashes was only about a thousand kilograms.
Xu Chen couldn't help but sigh as he watched several kiln workers covered in charcoal dust remove all the charcoal and pile it into a pile of black charcoal in the shed.
The price of industrial development is not only the destruction of the environment, but also the consumption of huge manpower and material resources.
Whether it is burning charcoal or smelting and processing, it requires a large number of manpower to be busy for many years. Without sufficient food support, it will not be possible at all.
At present, only the Ba people can barely bear the process of advancing from basic agriculture to basic industry.
Just to burn these more than 1,000 kilograms of charcoal, several kiln workers have been busy for more than a month, and there are more than a dozen men who help cut down oak, chestnut and other hardwoods.
It takes twice as much effort and time.
More than ten men have been busy for more than half a month just chopping more than two hundred pieces of wood.
But if this small amount of charcoal is smelted on a large scale, it probably won't take long.
However, the development and maturity of anything is accumulated slowly. With the experience of charcoal from this kiln, Xu Chen can believe that the next kiln will produce more charcoal.
And now that there are a large number of bronze swords and axes, the speed of cutting wood will increase more than five or six times. After all, with this slow accumulation, the future development speed will be faster and faster.
However, the rainy season is coming soon, and the plants are growing green and green, and the best logging period has passed. Large-scale charcoal burning will have to wait until autumn at least.
With these charcoals, Xu Chen's large-scale weapons-grade bronze can finally begin to be smelted.
The smelting furnace was remodeled to become more refined and compact, suitable for charcoal burning. The blast vent was also remodeled and a hand-cranked fan was installed as a blower.
The structure of the fan is simple. It is a log with four inclined wooden boards installed on it. A hand crank is installed on the back and is mounted on the wooden frame. When it is shaken, it will continuously pour fresh air into the charcoal stove.
.
The appearance of this strange thing caused another stir in the entire tribe.
A large group of men, women, and children who had been staying in the yard all day watching a few carpenters busy making wheelbarrows were attracted to the kiln smelting workshop. They watched this magical thing with great interest, and they were reluctant to let go, especially
A group of children and a group of kiln workers would probably shake the fan apart in two or three days if it weren't for the constant scolding, tugging on the ears, and scolding.
Of course, the same goes for a group of adults. Once they shake, they can't stop. It's so exciting that they can't let go.
Therefore, when Xu Chen was burning charcoal, smelting bronze, casting knives, axes, hammers and hoes, and preparing to issue waist knives to hunters and tribal officers, the two smelters responsible for blowing the air were unable to get in, and the fan was shaken by a group of men watching the fun.
Rotating crazily, blown by the fierce intrusion of fresh air, the inside of the smelting furnace burned red, and the whirring tongues of fire could shoot out for more than a foot long.
The firepower of the charcoal fire is indeed not comparable to that of ordinary wood. Under the vigorous blowing of a group of people, in just two or three hours, the copper and tin in the crucible began to melt.
"So fast quack!"
A group of kiln workers and smelters were completely frightened by the terrifying temperature of the charcoal heating furnace, and everyone was stunned.
At this time, they finally understood why Xu Chen asked to burn charcoal.
Burning charcoal is an incredible act for all primitive people.
As we all know, charcoal is the ash residue left after the wood is burned out. Although it can burn, it does not have a flame. It can be used for cooking, boiling water and barbecue, but the temperature is not high and it burns out quickly.
In order to keep the fire going, I would go to the fire pit and add some charcoal scraps accumulated during the day, and then cover it with hot ashes. In the morning, I would dig up the ashes and there would still be some red hot coals inside. Just throw them in.
A few dry grass branches will quickly light a fire.
This is the experience of preserving fire that primitive people learned and accumulated through years of survival.
But burning the wood into charcoal first and then using the charcoal to smelt the metal would be unnecessary. Wouldn't it be faster to burn the wood directly for heating?
Not only a group of kiln workers couldn't understand it, but Muba and the men and women in the entire tribe didn't understand it either.
However, it was difficult to understand, but everyone still followed Xu Chen's arrangements like an imperial edict, and that's why the first kiln of charcoal appeared.
But now, the temperature of the charcoal-burning furnace is faster and higher. The copper liquid that used to take at least six days to melt now only takes half a day to melt. This is like a miracle, which completely shocked a group of kiln workers.
My mind is blank.
They have no idea why the flames are all produced by burning wood, and why the charcoal fire is more intense than pure wood.
Of course, Xu Chen had no way to explain the burning principle of charcoal. He could only instruct a group of kiln workers and smelters to quickly prepare molds and start the first bronze casting in the charcoal-burning era.
Most of this batch of utensils are made of pottery molds. If the pottery molds are to be reused, the cast copper liquid cannot be bonded to the pottery molds. Before casting, a layer of plaster needs to be painted on the inside of the pottery molds.
, so that it can be easily removed from the mold.
Therefore, a group of smelters, under the command of Xu Chen, started busy painting plaster and closing the molds. After more than a dozen large and small molds were prepared, the copper juice in the crucible had all melted and turned into a pot of red metal.
juice.
Use a long-handled pottery spoon to scoop out the copper juice, and slowly pour it into the mold one by one. After all the pouring is completed, wait for cooling time, and then continue to add equal proportions of copper, lead, and tin into the crucible.
, continue to smelt the second furnace using the high temperature of the charcoal furnace.
After a period of fuss, Xu Chen directed several smelters to start opening molds.
This process needs to be more careful than before, and the outer pottery mold cannot be broken.
Therefore, everyone moved very carefully and slowly, peeling off the fixed ceramic bricks and sand, slowly inserting a copper knife into the gap of the ceramic mold and shaking it gently. Only after the mold and the casting inside were completely loosened, the exposed parts were exposed.
Take out the casting that is still emitting red light and billowing heat waves.
After these castings are cooled with water, those that are incomplete or have defects that cannot be used normally are picked out and treated as scraps and re-entered into the furnace for smelting, while the good ones are sorted into categories to prepare for installing tool handles and polishing.
The fire in the charcoal furnace is now raging. Under the constant blowing of the hand-cranked fan, flames more than a foot high spurt out from the gaps around the crucible, burning the entire furnace red. The lead and tin just put in are barely enough.
It melted in more than ten minutes, and the copper ingot also began to soften.
The temperature of charcoal fire is much stronger than that of wood fire, which allows the smelting workshop to continuously smelt metal and cast utensils. It no longer takes five, six or even seven or eight days to smelt a furnace as before.
This melting speed and casting speed naturally brings unparalleled pleasure, but of course, it also makes people busier.
Under the fierce fire in the workshop, people were so hot that they could hardly breathe. After casting two furnaces in succession, Xu Chen was soaked in sweat and couldn't bear it anymore. He took off his thick animal clothes.
After putting on a leather and linen smock, I went to the river to enjoy the cool breeze to dissipate the heat.
On the river beach in March, the weeds were more than a foot high, and occasionally a few rabbits and other small animals were running around.
There is a sense of comfort and coolness in the warm river breeze.
The water of the river is clear and clear, and there are many small fish swimming in it.
There are almost no wild ducks, wild geese, white cranes and other water birds that were roaming around here in previous years.
On both sides of the large rolling riverbank mounds are lush farmland that undulates in the wind.
Many women were busy weeding in the fields, and their voices could be heard laughing and talking loudly.
The willow forest on the bank of the river is already covered with green leaves. A group of children are playing near the forest. The sound of willow flutes and laughter are endless.
Herds of horses, sheep, wild donkeys, and a group of half-breasted wild boars mingled together, gnawing on the fresh and tender weeds on the riverbank grassland surrounded by fences.
In front of the courtyard, a group of men, shirtless, wearing shorts and barefoot, in groups of two or three, were pushing wheelbarrows back and forth to fill the courtyard dam, and they were also talking and laughing loudly.
Before I knew it, it was already March!
Feeling the boundless spring scenery and excitement in front of him, Xu Chen couldn't help but sigh.