Chapter 94： Cravason's Little Stove

Rurik stared with wide eyes and saw that the ten silver coins he saw were placed in a clay cauldron.

The blacksmith has a meter-high stove, which looks like a volcano made of clay, with a red flame at the mouth of the stove.

Clavassen’s son, Kawei, he suppressed the bladder blower and pulled it up. Every time he exercised, the fire at the stove was a violent dance.

"What is this doing? Increase the temperature?" Rurik asked deliberately.

"Yes, the leader of the future."

"Just call me Ric, I am very interested in your work."

"Really?" Cravason muttered in his heart, because so far no leader has been interested in smelting.

Liuli affirmed: "I will continue to watch your work. I want to see how you turn the ore into iron nuggets, and then the iron nuggets into my sword."

"What? You...do you know this?!" Clavasson paused his hand movement, he stopped to look at Liu Rick's delicate little face, "Do you know our work?"

"Huh? Is it strange? Because there is some waste in the ore, you light a carbon torch to take the waste away, and continue to beat the rest to get iron. But if you are grilling copper ore and adding something else, You can get hot water. This water is not ordinary. It can be poured into a special clay mold to make many things, such as the basin in the chief priest's house."

"You...you actually..."

Cravason’s beard was trembling, because Rurik shouldn’t understand the work of artisans, but what he just said was the basic principle of metal smelting. In fact, as long as he masters this principle, any blacksmith can turn ore into a piece of iron.

Those who really understand the whole process will not think it is complicated, but complain about the hardship of the forging process.

Those who do not understand the situation will feel that the blacksmith has used some kind of magic to turn the stone into an axe that can cut wood. Most of them at least understand that if their axe is burned red, it will be deformed when hitting the axe, and their understanding basically stops here.

Take out iron or copper from the ore, this is very technical.

"What's wrong with me? As I said, I am very interested in your work." Rurik emphasized.

"Oh, that's great. My little master, I hope our work will satisfy you."

"Go ahead, I have nothing else to do before the ice and snow melt." It may be that I briefly described the principle of smelting, which made the blacksmith find it too magical. Rurik casually put on a guise: "Don't be surprised, I am the one who got the wisdom of Odin, and I also got some enlightenment in the wooden boards of the priest's long house. Now, please turn the silver into jewelry."

"Yes." Cravason nodded deeply, and urged his son Kawei to continue his efforts to burn the flames.

Liurik, at this moment, he is pulling Lu Mia who doesn't understand at all, and the two witnessed the change of the silver coin.

If just burn a bunch of charcoal fire, its core temperature can hardly reach 800 degrees.

But a stove is made of clay, and an opening is placed under the stove to make charcoal burn inside. The temperature can reach 900 degrees. This temperature can melt pure silver.

If the blowing port of the original bladder blower is connected again, and more oxygen enters the furnace, the temperature can exceed 1100 degrees, which can melt pure copper.

Therefore, this small furnace of Kravasen can smelt pure copper, and it is also capable of smelting bronze casting bronze castings.

Lurik knows without thinking that melting bronze is the limit of this small furnace.

Want to melt iron? impossible!

In the far east, the state-owned iron smelting factory in the Han Dynasty built a very huge blast furnace with clay bricks and rammed earth. A blast furnace is equipped with multiple blowers, and each blower is actually a series connection of more than twenty small blowers. Furthermore, the blower of the Han Dynasty was drawn by animal power winch, and it was a very complete mechanical system, which was far more advanced than the traditional manpower airbag compression type in the West.

The strong cattle were driven to turn the huge winch, and the wooden gears were transformed into the power of the blower. In fact, this system is replaced with an electric drive, and the wooden gears and blades are replaced with metal, which is a standard electric blower.

Therefore, a large amount of gas is blown into the blast furnace by multiple blower matrixes, and a large amount of oxygen and more charcoal are burned.

Although its temperature can reach the extreme high temperature of 1400 degrees in a short time, it still cannot reach the 1500 degrees of pure iron melting.

However, complex alloys with a large amount of sulfur, silicon, manganese, carbon and other impurities have been turned into molten metal under the extreme high temperature of this ancient giant blast furnace.

The huge demand for metals in the far east forced the state-owned iron smelter to manufacture huge equipment.

That is a giant blast furnace that can smelt more than forty tons of ore at a time, and every smelting is a protracted battle. They generally do not pursue the crazy 1400 degrees, and do not risk the life of the blast furnace or even the collapse of the furnace.

When the liquid silicide **** flows out and the ore becomes a large amount of sponge iron, all the hot sponge iron is taken out, beaten by thousands of craftsmen, and then directly quenched into crude pig iron.

As for the refining of pig iron, and even making iron into steel, it is another complete process flow.

The advantage of the East is this. The huge population has a huge metal consumption market. There are nearly tens of millions of self-cultivating families in the prosperous age. They are the foundation to maintain the operation of the country, and their demand for iron farm tools must be met.

The market forces artisans to improve their skills from generation to generation.

The rammed earth blast furnace was invented in the Shang Dynasty. The Chu State realized the high temperature limit of the rammed earth blast furnace. In the Han Dynasty, a giant rammed earth blast furnace was built, and then in the Jin Dynasty, a variety of mass production technologies were invented.

By the ninth century AD, the iron smelting capacity of the East was the same as that of Europe in the Middle Ages. The production capacity was no longer an order of magnitude, and the quality far surpassed Europe.

If there is anything lacking in the East, it is that the stainless steel forging that was born in the Indus Valley has not been fully learned. However, this technical disadvantage will inevitably spread to the east along with the commercial network.

But in Western Europe, their blacksmiths only know how to toss the ore, and finally beat it into pure iron, which is the so-called soft wrought iron with almost no carbon, and use it to make all kinds of weapons and farm tools.

The situation in Northern Europe is exactly the same. Those stainless steel from the Indus Valley that flows into this area because of special channels, the weapons built with it are magic weapons.

Klavasen is the same. His iron-making and sintering techniques are all learned from his father's generation, and his father's generation is also learning from his ancestors. If you follow upwards, the iron-strike technique of the Ross tribe comes from the Roman Empire at least eight hundred years ago.

A blue flame came out from the stove, which indicated that the charcoal fire had begun to burn completely because of the excessive air entering.

Such flame color has shown that the temperature limit of this furnace has reached.

"You are optimistic, silver will soon become water!" Clavasson said this deliberately, in order to attract the attention of the leader and the future leader.

The hard clay crucible was clamped into the furnace by iron tongs. Because of the temperature change, the flame instantly turned yellow.

After a short period of time, the cyan flame completely enveloped the entire crucible.

The silver coin can be completely detected with the naked eye. The portrait of the Roman emperor on it was flattened, and then the silver coin lost its round appearance, like a small tower collapsed. After a while, the hot metal liquid was left in the crucible. .

"Haha, this is the knowledge that Thor bestows on us as a blacksmith." Cravason said proudly, shaking his beard, "Boss, you get Odin's blessing, and we get Thor's blessing. Now the silver coin has melted, Then put it in the mold and cast it."

"It really is Thor's blessing." Otto's eyes widened, because he himself, as the leader, had no idea why metal was burned into water.

Here, everyone does not have the abstract concept of "liquid". All things that flow, except milk and oil, are referred to as water for short. Of course it is not water! Some silver actually possesses the fluidity of water. Isn't this the magic of childcare?

Of course, the most shocking thing was Lumia. Rülik, who stood beside her, felt the tremor of her arm, and heard her mumble—magica with his own ears.

Magica, an ancient Latin vocabulary, has been integrated into the lives of the Gnostic peoples, and it has also infected other peoples.

"It's not magic at all, Lumia, don't be surprised." Rurik said suddenly, "Dad, this is not Thor's blessing."

"Huh? Isn't it a childcare blessing or something?" Cravason was in a good mood. He was upset when he heard the words of the future leader, but he couldn't refute it.

Lurik knew that it was impossible to say how deeply things were, and that he said it in depth, and he knew a lot of metal smelting terminology for later generations, and this Klavasen did not understand at all.

He suddenly thought of a good example. He stood up and said: "For example, iron. There are debris in the ore and necessary iron. We want iron without debris. The priests cut off the white flesh of the seals and slowly separated them in the pot. Use useful oils, not useless scum. Will those oils resemble iron?

Oil is placed outside the house, it solidifies very quickly, at least once it is baked with fire, it becomes hot oil.

also includes water. Ice is placed outside. Ice can kill a deer, but water can only wet its fur.

So everything in the world should be like this, as long as the temperature is high enough, everything will melt.

For example, these silver coins are not a blessing from the childcare, but a rule made by Odin, the creator of the world. The nursery is Odin's son. He can only follow the rules set by his father and will not create a new rule. "

Lurik’s statement is of course nonsense. There is indeed a scientific basis for it. In order to take into account the understanding of the audience, he had to move out of the mythology.

And this is indeed his advantage.

Lurik understood the messages of those wooden boards, which enabled him to have a deeper understanding of the Norse mythology system mastered by the Ross tribe in this time and space than ordinary people. In a sense, as long as they fully understand the mythological system, such people in tribal communities are good materials for heavenly priests.

Kravasson is getting old, he naturally becomes stubborn, he cannot change his belief just because of the words of the future leader Rylik, give up Thor to obey Thor's father Odin.

But Rurik's words do make sense.

This kid is extraordinary! If he is not blessed by Odin, but by Thor. I am afraid that such a child will become the best blacksmith, because at the age of seven, his knowledge of metal smelting is far better than his son Kawei!

Cravason was so excited that his hairy hands trembled uncontrollably, and he was already unable to take out the hot crucible.

He ordered his son, "Kawei, you! Go get the mold, pour the silver water in, and finally put a gem. Go!"

Kawei immediately rushed to the side. Taking advantage of this period of neutrality, Kravasson walked straight to Rurik, trembling and saying, "My boy, maybe you can be the best blacksmith."

"What? Blacksmith?!" Otto was unhappy when he heard it, "He is going to be the next leader."

"Yes! My leader, but Rurik is really a happy man. It is very possible that he has received enlightenment about smelting from God." After all, Kravassen hooked his head and looked humble. "Child, Please tell me truthfully, do you... do you... know better smelting technology? I believe you should understand it."

"Me?" Rurik was a little flustered. Wasn't he being asked by an old guy with a big beard this time?

Hide your ability? Pooh! I have already hidden too much.

Rurik widened his eyes and declared solemnly: "Yes, Blacksmith Clavasson, I have observed your stove, I can say that your stove is very bad. It is like a rusty axe with a hole. Hundreds of ships. Such a furnace can only smelt some of the most ordinary things, and cannot make a good sword at all. If it has anything to be proud of, it can smelt gold and silver and make some jewelry."

Kravasson took a breath. He no longer felt that Rurik's criticism was unacceptable. It was obvious that this kid knew how to change some very difficult problems.

He asked in a low voice: "The leader is your father You know the Destroyer Excalibur. Everyone knows that you have held that sword tightly. I dream of wishing to make one that can be made by myself. A sword comparable to it, but I have no such ability at all. I am just a mortal, humble like a grain of sand on the seashore, and I have not received Thor personal blessing at all. If you..."

"I can! I'm not a blacksmith, but I know some methods. I haven't tried them. I believe these methods can be successful." Rurik said bluntly.

"Really?!"

Just as Kravasson was full of joy, Kawei found the corresponding clay mold for making jewelry that had not been used for a long time from the box, and a ruby ​​the size of a thumb that was tightly preserved.

"Dad, Rurik must be wise, what do you have to say to him later. Now, let's finish the jewelry first."

"Oh! Good!" Kravasson was shocked, happily trying to solve the jewelry issue.

Because as long as this is solved, the next step is for Rurik to teach the skills he knows.