Rurik never imagined that Klavasen had been using high-quality magnetite.
He immediately asked excitedly: "Could it be that... there are these iron ores in the mountains west of our Roseburg?"
"Of course, is it weird?" Klavasen replied indifferently.
"Isn't it strange? This is the best ore! It is the best iron ore in our world."
When the child said this, he was boasting that the bitter cold place of Roseburg was actually full of treasures. At least for blacksmiths, establishing a blacksmithing workshop near the mines would indeed bring them a steady stream of wealth.
The Ross tribe moved north to the Rossberg Fjord and took over this area from the Sami people. One reason was that the land in the Svealand area became narrower due to the increasing population. Leaving it to a new
Regional expansion is an acceptable option, and in fact quite a few tribes and small families have been doing this.
The second reason is to pursue fur resources in the north.
But the tribesmen didn't know that their pioneering journey north not only expanded their understanding of the world, but the blacksmiths also discovered directly exposed iron ore in the mountains.
The blacksmiths don't know much about the iron content or taste of the ore. The few blacksmiths in their tribe are just very happy that the ore is relatively easy to obtain, so that they can make more axes, iron swords, and iron pots.
, iron fist, and iron nails which are very necessary for ship building.
What's more, there are not only a large amount of iron ore but also a small amount of copper ore in the mountainous area.
It was very easy for the Clavarsons to find iron ore because they had no idea that the fjord where Fort Ross was located was the remnant of a huge iron ore vein. Although it was a remnant vein, the iron content of the ore was not
Over 6o%.
It was in this area that the future Sweden found its main vein and obtained an ore with an iron content of up to 70%. It was almost a pure magnet and contained no impurities.
Because, located in the northernmost mountainous area of the Gulf of Bothnia, this vein originated from the orogeny 1.9 billion years ago. The very ancient Finnish Craton was lifted up, bringing part of the iron from the interior of the earth's crust to the surface.
Due to this geological structure, although the structure of this 300-kilometer-long mineral vein was relatively complex when it was born, it has not experienced more geological structural changes in the next 1.9 billion years, making it very lacking in various types of properties.
impurities, especially that it contains almost no sulfur.
It contains almost no sulfur, and its body is almost a magnet. There is no giant iron ore of higher quality found on the entire earth.
Klavasen didn't understand this at all, and he didn't understand that because of these innate factors, he could smelt more high-quality wrought iron at the same cost than his Frank colleagues. Due to the limitations of geography and vision, he didn't know his smelting at all.
It has always had strong advantages.
The iron content of the ore is extremely high, and it seems that with only a little processing, it can be made into very high-quality stone tools.
Clavassen threw the ore into the furnace again and urgently ordered his son Kawei to adjust the air outlet of the blower.
Then Klavasen used pliers to pick out a piece of hot carbon from another burning stove and threw it into the iron smelting furnace. Soon thick smoke appeared. Due to the heat, almost all the smoke was gathering towards the chimney. This also shows that
The phenomenon of thermal siphon is taking place.
The charcoal burned in the furnace, and Kawei worked hard to drive the blower. He was exhausted and sweating on the cold day. Soon, the young man's hard work paid off.
At first, yellow flames burst out, and thick green and white smoke flew out fiercely.
The color of the flame is changing, and gradually it becomes a bluish flame.
What does this mean? Blue flame, blue flame is produced when charcoal reaches complete combustion. As fuel, charcoal has reached the limit of releasing heat in a small stove.
Rurik understood that if what Klavasen had in his hands was not a small stove, but a rammed earth blast furnace as high as three people stacked on top of each other, and a larger blower supplied air to it, the charcoal in the lowermost combustion chamber would be white flames.
Only in that state does charcoal really reach its heat release limit, and the thick ceramic outer layer of rammed earth can very well suppress heat loss.
Only in that extreme state, the iron ore can be directly cast into pig iron by workers in the state of molten pig iron rich in carbon elements.
Ah, it's just a thick hoe, and it's mass-produced by casting it into pig iron.
If the small furnace was transformed into a larger one, Rurik felt that molten iron from pig iron could be produced since the local magnetite was of very high quality.
Let's see what else Klavason does.
The charcoal core in the stove was where the heat was. Facing the stove, which was about three meters away, Rurik's little face was illuminated very comfortably.
He paid special attention to the discharge port at the bottom of the small furnace. Although the furnace was simple, the workers could at least understand the state of the ore in the furnace.
Just now it was a pile of magnetic black crystal luster ore, but after a long period of time, it has turned into a red-white hot mass. How high has the temperature of the ore become? At least it must have been over a thousand degrees! Magnetism is due to the
The high temperature has disappeared, and the oxygen in the ore reacts completely with the carbon in the charcoal on a large scale, turning into carbon dioxide and releasing it into the air. The silicide slag has turned into a viscous liquid, which is like molten glass, Rurik
See with your own eyes the slag slowly flowing out of the furnace!
The weather outside was completely dark, and the iron smelting stove indoors was even a bit hot. The open wooden door allowed some cold wind to come in. It was no longer cold, and Rurik actually felt comfortable and refreshing.
He had been sitting for a long time, and his hunger made him and his servant very unhappy.
He suddenly asked loudly: "Klavason, are you still okay?"
"We still need to wait, maybe you are hungry? That's fine." Klavasen immediately ordered Kawei who was adding firewood, "Go and inform your mother and give the best meat to our guests. Go quickly!"
Because of tradition, women are not allowed to participate in smelting and blacksmithing. Maybe this is not a form of discrimination, but simply because of the contradiction between the relative weakness of women and the huge physical consumption of smelting and blacksmithing. A person with an increased IQ will not ask for a wife.
Or the daughter is involved in heavy manual labor.
Klavasen's wife is also very old. She is the logistics housekeeper of the blacksmith's family, and the dried meat Rurik will soon eat is from her hands.
It seems that the jerky made by the entire tribe has the same taste. The blacksmith provides himself and Rumia with jerky and coarse bread cubes. The only thing that adjusts the taste is a little powdered salt and an old onion.
Onions are probably something that can be grown during the short frost-free period in the Ross tribe’s geographical location. Onions have almost no sugar, and people can’t get any good benefits from growing them on a large scale. The only advantage of onions seems to be the other taste of sweet first and then spicy.
This feeling can offset the bitterness of coarse sea salt.
How much time has passed?
In fact, a full three hours had passed since Otto went home first. The blacksmiths had no timers at all and relied entirely on feeling to estimate the temperature of the fire.
"The time has come!" Klavasen, who had already had dinner, ordered, "Kawei, let's go. And Rurik, you will see our beating."
Rurik pulled Rumia to his feet and couldn't help but take a few steps back.
A large lump of molten ore was pulled out by the iron pliers. The young and strong Kawei struggled to move it to the blacksmithing table, and then Klavason smashed it hard with the big hammer held in both hands.
A large number of sparks flew out due to this blow, and Rurik could see it clearly, and the molten ore immediately deflated.
"This! This is hot forged sponge iron?!"
Rurik's eyes widened. He had a lot of knowledge of the era in his mind, but there were very few opportunities to practice it.
The Klavason family’s blacksmithing can be described as a father-son battle. At the beginning, the son held the pliers tightly to fix the sponge iron, and the father swung the hammer to strike.
When the father got tired, he promptly switched to his son to do the beating.
The larger and smaller the sponge iron is, which actually means that the internal loose and porous structure is being smashed into a denser and denser structure.
It was beaten for a while and then thrown into the furnace to continue heating, and then the iron was struck while it was hot.
A long and boring time passed, and the exhausted Rurik finally waited for the birth of an iron weight.
"What do you think now? Rurik? I specially hammered it into this shape." Klavasen looked proud because the father and son hammered a pile of sponge iron into a basically angular cube.
.
To be able to use primitive methods to make ore like this, the blacksmiths' processing technology is already very good, but the current situation of the iron weight is just a large piece of wrought iron that contains almost no carbon.
Klavasen looked flattering: "Now, kid, can you tell me how to turn it into the hardest iron?"
Rurik calmed down and asked: "If no one told you those methods, how would you deal with this piece of iron?"
"I will put it in the stove again, heat it up, take it out and pound it into the shape of an ax head. When it is still very hot, suddenly put it into the cold snow water, and the ax head will become harder. But with your father
The sword is still too soft."
Rurik nodded deeply: "Okay, I'll tell you how to turn it into the hardest iron."
"Ah! I..." The excited Clavarsons hurriedly pulled their son over. The two grown men sat on the leather cushions and listened to the children's teachings.
It would be great if you could learn the skills of steelmaking in just a few words. Klavasen seemed to have achieved what he expected, but he always suspected that Rurik was just amusing himself.
Klavason's face became solemn. He couldn't believe it. For example, to make iron hard, just throw an iron weight into the furnace, heat it red, and beat it into strips. After folding it, continue to beat it into strips. The cooled iron
The strips are not quenched at all, they are thrown back into the furnace for heating, they are taken out after they are hot and continue to be beaten, and then they are folded and beaten further.
He widened his eyes and asked: "How is this possible? It's so ridiculous. Does it mean that as long as it is grilled and beaten repeatedly, the iron will become harder and harder?"
Rurik said without changing his expression: "Yes, it will get harder and harder. This is the only way you can achieve it now."
"No way! What's the point of forging it when it's red-hot? Iron is iron."
"So, do you think the sword my ancestor got on the battlefield was really a gift from Odin? No! It was actually forged by some mysterious blacksmiths using a certain method. Trust me, just follow my method
, grilling and forging are repeated ten or fifty times. Although you will be very tired, after these tasks, the iron is no longer ordinary iron. Its color will change and become whiter, just like during the day.
The color of silver when poured into it.”
Ordinary iron swords are generally gray-white after polishing, which is essentially different from the bright white of silver.
"but……"
"Do you still have doubts? Is it a matter of money?" Rurik estimated that he would be tired of being forged ten times, so he said: "I want a good dagger, and I am willing to work hard. I
Please do it according to my method. No matter you succeed or fail, I will pay you ten silver coins. These ten silver coins are just to buy your strength for blacksmithing. If you still need money, I will invest it again."
If you have money to make, why should you shirk it? What's more, Ling's son is really generous.
Klavasen's fatigue was almost gone. He suppressed the doubts in his mind and followed Rurik's request with all his heart.
In this way, a vigorous work of hammering and refining steel has officially begun!
In the blacksmith's wooden house near the beach, Rurik could not sleep for a long time because of his excitement. He continued to stay in the blacksmith workshop, guiding two equally excited workers to forge iron at any time.
Rumia was temporarily taken away by Klavasen's wife, and they went to the longhouse to rest in order to avoid the place where the blacksmith sweated. However, in the quiet night, they could still hear the incessant hammering from Klavason.
The sound of blacksmithing seemed so strange that nearby residents were curious. The blacksmith must have received a rare and large order today, forcing him to keep blacksmithing.
Yes, it is indeed a big order, and the sponsor has already invested nearly forty silver coins in total.
The value of a silver coin is very high, and Rurik is not really that wealthy, just because the money comes too easily, and it is all the huge profits brought by the short-term soap violence. He and Rumia are in this aspect
They are quite similar. Neither of them is very clear about the true purchasing power of silver in this time and space.
Seven-year-old Rurik is also a tragedy. The farthest place he has been to in so many years is the hillside west of Roseburg. He has never left Roseburg, and he still doesn’t know the true situation of the world outside, and those so-called southern allies
It was limited to rumors. Only the thousands of residents proved that the allies really existed and that they themselves were allies.
The wrought iron was put into the furnace and heated red. It was beaten into strips for the first time and folded and beaten for the first time.
When Klavason was about to obey Rurik's request to see him put back the hot stove, Rurik suddenly stopped him.
"What? You can't put it in?"
"No! Your stove is too hot," Rurik stopped him.
"Wouldn't it be better to burn it red?"
"Of course not. You have to heat it to red first, and then put it outside quietly until it cools down naturally."
"Why?"
"Because this is called tempering!" Rurik directly said the word "tempering" to describe this processing step, but the principle cannot be explained clearly in a few words. He emphasized: "Just do as I say.
After it cools down, you heat it up and then fold and forge it again."
Klavason nodded and followed the donor's instructions without saying anything. He and his son Kawei also memorized the word "tempering".