Chapter 1075 A small step for the Qingque tribe, a giant leap for mankind
The place where the bronze cone pierced was relatively close to the bottom of the furnace.
The second senior brother used a lot of force and stabbed a hole in the furnace wall.
After pricking a hole here, he used a little force on his hand and quickly pulled out the inserted awl.
The whole process is clean and neat, and has some aesthetic feeling.
Laymen may not know what kind of skill and beauty this seemingly ordinary thing possesses.
But those who have personally engaged in such things can understand what it means for the second senior brother to do this.
How long does it take to practice to achieve this level?
This is a real skill and cannot be faked.
"呲呲呲......"
As the second senior brother removed the bronze awl in his hand, a red liquid with extremely high temperature flowed out along the hole pierced by the bronze awl.
Seeing the red liquid flowing out, Han Cheng couldn't help but blush.
It was as if the extremely high temperature and red color carried by the red liquid were transmitted to his face.
There was no way he wouldn't be excited about this.
Because this means that from now on, our own tribe can also smelt iron, officially taking the step of the Iron Age!
Well, to paraphrase the famous saying of the first man to fly to the moon – that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind!
Under Han Cheng's excited gaze, the red liquid that had just flowed down stopped flowing and started dripping.
After a while, even the dripping stopped.
At this time, there was only a small amount of solution that had solidified in the Taoist shovel shoveled out by the second senior brother.
Han Cheng couldn't help but sniffed.
This is indeed a small step.
This small step was really too small, and as soon as I took it, it was already over.
If a normal person's step is fifty centimeters away, this step is not even ten centimeters away!
This is so damn short!
Han Cheng, who had just become excited, looked at the scene in front of him and couldn't help but complain in his heart.
Of course, the current situation is not particularly surprising, because my tribe does not get much iron ore, so it is not bad to be able to get so much melted juice.
Han Cheng said this to himself in his heart, which was regarded as a relief to himself.
However, when the second brother dug a hole in the bottom of the furnace where molten iron was no longer flowing out, Han Cheng's relief was ineffective.
This was certainly not because the stove fell uncontrollably after being manipulated by the second senior brother, and then hit Han Cheng.
It was because the second senior brother dug a hole in one side of the stove and took out some things from it.
These things are just some iron ore placed on top and not melted much.
The appearance of these things proves that the reason why less molten iron was produced before was not only because less iron ore was put in, but also because the iron ore was not completely melted.
"I put in too little charcoal. I'll put more charcoal in next time."
The second senior brother summarized the situation and came up with ways to improve it next time.
Compared with copper and tin, two metals with relatively low melting points, the melting point of iron is much higher.
Therefore, the melting point of iron ore is also higher than the melting point of copper and tin ores.
Regarding these things, the second senior brother knew something about these things through Han Cheng's previous narration and the process of dealing with iron bacteria.
So when he opened the furnace to try to smelt iron ore, he deliberately added more carbon to the furnace.
But now it seems that the charcoal added is still a bit too little.
Han Cheng had nothing to say about such things.
After all, for a new thing, there is always a process from unfamiliarity to familiarity.
In this process, it is inevitable that some misunderstandings will occur and some not-so-good things will happen.
If a mistake occurs, correct it and things will get better gradually...
After squatting here and waiting for a while, the solidified molten iron became cold.
Han Cheng stretched out his hand and took it into his hand.
In fact, it is not accurate to call it molten iron.
Because there are a lot of impurities in these things that are melted and solidified from iron ore.
Compared with the iron blocks or iron products that Han Cheng saw in later generations, they were fundamentally different.
The lump held in Han Cheng's hand was in extremely bad shape.
If it was beautiful, Han Cheng would not describe it as a lump.
It has pimples and peeling off and is not regular at all.
It feels relatively light when picked up.
It is much lighter than an iron block of the same volume.
While Han Cheng was taking this extremely unsightly-looking mixture of iron and impurities and looking at it carefully, the second senior brother had already begun to knead the mud and re-block the hole that had been made in the furnace wall.
After doing these things, take some firewood from the side, put it into the stove, and light it.
This is to dry the newly added wet soil as quickly as possible, and then continue to burn the unmelted iron ore.
While the second senior brother was doing this, there were many people nearby, all staring at the mixture of iron and impurities in Han Cheng's hand.
Many people can't help but scratch their heads with their hands.
Because what they saw in front of them was really different from the several tools made of meteorite iron that they had seen before.
People who have seen meteorite iron tools really can't figure out how to turn iron in its current state into a neat tool that can be used.
"Son of God, why didn't you use a mold to catch it? Will it have to be melted again later?"
After someone stood next to Han Cheng and watched for a long time, he finally couldn't help but asked his doubts.
Many other people nodded along.
This is indeed what puzzles them the most.
Because tribal bronze tools are becoming more and more popular, many people in the tribe have seen how to smelt bronze and how to cast bronze utensils.
They thought that iron tools were made just like bronze. When the iron juice had just flowed out, a mold was placed underneath, allowing it to flow into the mold, and then the tools they wanted to have were cast.
It is not surprising that they have such an idea since they have little knowledge and have some knowledge about casting bronzes.
Because many times, people's imagination is based on some things they know and come into contact with.
In the case of pure molten iron, there is certainly no problem in casting many appliances using this method.
Things like plowshares.
But what we are getting now is obviously not pure molten iron.
And the quantity is really too small.
Basically, it is not enough to cast things.
"Wait a minute, there are too many impurities now, the quantity is too small..."
Han Cheng spoke to these people and explained.
While saying this, he began to direct some people in the tribe to raise another stove next to it.
This stove is different from the one being filled with wet mud by the second senior brother. It is much lower.
This furnace is not used for smelting steel, but for making iron.
It is also called a blacksmith furnace.
When the second senior brother over there had finished gluing up the iron-making furnace, the flames over there were also burning.
Driven by the bellows, the charcoal is burning.
Red.
Seeing this, Han Cheng placed the lump of stuff in his hand on the stove and let the charcoal fire grill it.
After doing this for a while, the lump was completely red-hot.
Seeing this, Han Cheng used a prepared bronze pliers to take it out of the furnace and placed it on a prepared bronze ingot.
The other hand, holding a small hammer, was beating the lump.
There was no need to use too much force, because the gap between the lumps was too big at this time.
If you use too much force, it will not be easy to beat them together.
As Han Cheng hammered it with a hammer, the piece began to deform.
The gaps between them began to become smaller, their shapes began to change, and they began to gradually become regular.
Moreover, as he beats it, some things will fall off the main body of the thing and fly to the side.
Someone saw them on the side and waited for a while until the color of these flying things changed from red to black. Then they bent down and reached out to pick them up.
My tribe has only managed to get so few of these things, so it would be a pity if they collapsed.
It would be better to pick it back up and let the Son of God continue to beat it.
He picked it up very carefully, not letting go of the smallest scraps.
Such behavior was quickly noticed by Han Cheng.
Facing such careful actions by the tribesmen, he was a little bit dumbfounded, and at the same time, he was also moved in his heart.
"No need to pick it up, these are impurities, not iron.
Only by knocking out as many impurities as possible can we obtain useful iron."
Han Cheng smiled and stopped the man's actions and gave the reason.
After hearing what Han Cheng said, the man threw away some of the dregs he had picked up in his hands and looked a little embarrassed.
After Han Cheng knocked for a while, the color of the lump was no longer red.
Seeing this, Han Cheng stopped beating, picked it up with pliers, and placed it on the blacksmith stove again for burning.
When the iron block is not burning, the bellows next to the stove does not move.
Only when the iron block is placed on top and burned will the bellows be pushed.
In this way, it can not only reduce the consumption of charcoal, but also allow the person pushing and pulling the bellows to take a rest so that they will not be too tired.
With the push and pull of the bellows, the blacksmith stove, which had seemed a lot darker not long ago, soon became bright red again.
It didn't take long for the lump to burn red again.
Seeing this, Han Cheng used pliers to take it out again, placed it on the copper ingot and beat it...
Blacksmithing is something that requires a lot of repetition.
Constantly repeat the actions and things you have done before.
In fact, many things in this world require constant repetition.
Even people's lives, when they think about it, often feel like they are repetitive day after day.
It is in this continuous repetition that many things are accomplished.
More and more impurities flew out of the lump that was beaten by Han Cheng.
As these impurities flew away and fell off, the thing that Han Cheng beat was becoming more and more stylish, and it was much harder than before.
However, the size of this lump has also shrunk severely.
Now, it has become a cube with a side length of about two centimeters.
I only have so much iron, what would be better to use it for?
After Han Cheng thought for a while, he decided to make a dagger out of it and use it himself.
Things like daggers may seem useless in later generations, but in this era, they are actually a very useful thing.
Whether it is used for self-defense, or for cutting something, or for dismembering some prey for meat, it is inseparable.
Of course, if you want to make a dagger, the current state of the iron block is not enough. You need to beat it repeatedly before you can make a dagger with better performance.
Otherwise, the dagger is just made of pig iron, and its performance is not as good as that of cast bronze.
If this were not the case, iron would not have been called evil gold in the pre-Qin period.
People would rather use bronze than gold.
However, if you want to do the following things, you can't do it with this small hammer. It's too laborious and the efficiency is too low.
So Han Chenggong replaced him with a sledgehammer and beat him...
Blacksmithing is not an easy job.
Otherwise, there would be no such thing as the saying that one has to be hard-working to make iron.
After hammering for a long time, Han Cheng slept very soundly at night.
Not long after lying on the bed, I fell asleep soundly.
When I got up the next morning, I felt pain all over my body.
"Dangdangdang~"
The sound of banging iron was heard again in the stove.
This time, Han Cheng picked up the hammer again.
This is partly because he is tired and his arms still hurt.
On the other hand, it is because now, he should also show the correct postures for making iron tools that he saw in later generations, so as to prevent the tribesmen from taking more detours.
"Dang~"
Han Cheng hit the piece of iron with a small hammer, and then quickly removed the hammer.
"Dang~"
After he removed the small hammer, a sledgehammer hit hard.
The location where the hammer was struck was the place where the small hammer held in Han Cheng's hand was struck just now.
This person holding a sledgehammer and beating him is the second senior brother...
