Chapter five hundred and forty-eight true and false steel
"Master Wei was recommended by General Craftsman, so I naturally know that he has the best craftsmanship."
While several people were joking, Wang Mi saw Wei Ning'er beating pig iron repeatedly into wrought iron, and then handed it over to the apprentices while the iron was still soft.
The next step is relatively simple to operate. Wei Ning'er doesn't plan to do it himself. There is no problem in leaving it to the apprentices.
Wang Mi came to the forging table and watched the apprentices deftly stretch the pliable and mature iron materials into more pliable iron bars.
When we got here, we were still far away from forging qualified steel plates. Wang Mi watched carefully and asked some questions from time to time.
For example, how many times does it take to make from pig iron to wrought iron? Where are these iron materials mined from?
"I didn't expect that Shilang Wang is really an expert. He actually knows that different steel plates are forged from different iron materials."
"I do know a little bit, but the specific differences are not very good. However, there is no doubt that the iron materials here in the workshop are of the highest quality."
After all, in the palace, even if the Sima family has no say, their status is still there. Leaving aside precious metals like gold and silver, copper and iron-level metals can still be supplied with the best.
Wei Ning'er came down from the blast furnace and said with a smile: "These iron materials are all collected from the Stone City around Jiankang. They are indeed of high quality."
Stone City is indeed rich in minerals.
"I remember that copper was originally abundant in Stone City. Could it be that iron has been discovered recently?"
This Wang Shilang was not an ordinary person. With just a few words, Wang Mi shocked all the apprentices and their master, Old Wei.
"Shilang Wang is indeed a well-known and knowledgeable person. The young ones are really convinced!"
"Master Wei, there is no need to praise me blindly. I only know some hearsay information, and I don't know the specific situation."
"It's just that Stone City is very close to Jiankang. If there are high-quality iron materials there, it will be of great benefit to what we want to do in the future."
Wei Ning'er raised the fire in the blast furnace again. The key point of the steel filling method is the combination of wrought iron and pig iron. The heat must be mastered and the timing must be correct.
The apprentices can already do this step very well, but now that Wang Mi, a senior official, is here, he must do it himself.
"Shilang Wang is right. Since the discovery of iron ore in Stone City, it has become much easier to do errands in the workshop."
Wei Ning'er is an expert in blacksmithing. Before entering the palace, he had been doing this job in Jiankang City for more than ten years. Now he has been in the palace for seven or eight years, and he knows a lot about many things in this industry.
Wang Mi was right, the newly imported iron materials were indeed of high quality and were all newly excavated from Stone City.
It contains more iron and is easier to forge. This can be clearly seen from the number of repeated beatings and the style of the finished product.
The apprentices put the coiled wrought iron bars aside, and then placed the pig iron materials that had not been repeatedly forged into the circles of the wrought iron bars.
At this point, it can be said that we are one step closer to the emergence of steel.
Next, these mixed raw and cooked iron materials will enter the forging blast furnace again, and at this time, the originally open blast furnace needs to be sealed.
The sealing step is also crucial. If the sealing is not complete, not to mention steel, even high-quality wrought iron will not be available, and a furnace of iron will be wasted.
This is absolutely not allowed!
Why did everyone compete for a mature craftsman in ancient times?
It is because only when the technology is proficient to a certain extent can the loss of raw materials be reduced, and this was really important for the ancient courts where raw materials were scarce and transportation was unfavorable!
"Master Wei, what kind of mud is needed to seal the seal?"
“Which type of mud works best?”
Wei Ning'er beat the lump of yellow mud mixed by her apprentice several times, held it in her hand, and began to seal it along the edge of the blast furnace.
"There is nothing particular about this thing. Ever since I started learning from my master, my master taught me to use yellow clay, so I have been using yellow clay."
"But, if the yellow mud is sealed for a long time, won't it crack?"
"Would this be bad for the iron materials in the stove?"
I picked up a piece of yellow mud and weighed it in my hand. It was indeed quite heavy.
"I haven't thought about this, but the problem Wang Shilang mentioned does occur occasionally. However, I don't have any knowledge to see what impact it will have on the iron material."
This was the limitation of ancient craftsmen. Their skills were obviously very good, but when faced with some minor problems, they always lacked the motivation to study further.
Sometimes there is a selfish thought that if the master teaches the apprentice, the master will have nothing to eat. The unique secret skill that he knows does not necessarily want to be taught to the apprentice in exactly the same way.
"Master Wei, listen to me, you might as well try mixing a few strands of hair into the yellow mud, so that it won't crack."
"hair?"
"Shilang Wang is joking, this thing is expensive. The young ladies on the street can't even buy a new bra with a bunch of copper coins!"
Speaking of hair, Lao Wei suddenly felt worried. He is an honest man, and he immediately thought of the expensive bras sold in the street market.
These buns were used by wealthy ladies to create fashionable buns. That is to say, the fluttering and rich buns we see in ancient classics, some are towering into the sky, and some are
Holding up the cheeks, in fact, it is often not the owner's own hair that is tied up, but also a wig.
Of course, there was no technology to make plastic wigs in ancient times. All wigs were actually made of real hair, so they were naturally expensive.
Most of the craftsmen in the inner court are not very wealthy, so how can they dare to use them?
"Master Wei, you misunderstood. You don't need so much hair, and it won't make you bald at all."
In front of Wang Mi's eyes, several young apprentices had opened their hands and started to protect their heads.
In other words, ancient people like them believed in the idea that the body, skin, and skin should be protected by parents. These things were not a big deal when it came to Wang Mi.
"You don't need a lot of hair, just a few."
"Just use mine." As he spoke, Wang Mi pulled out a few hairs from his bun and mixed them into the yellow mud that was about to be put into the blast furnace.
"This...this is impossible!"
"It's okay if you can't, Master Wei, get to work quickly!"
The black hair has fallen and is irreversible.
There was no other way. Lao Wei could only follow Wang Mi's instructions to knead the yellow mud piece again and paste it on the edge of the blast furnace.
In this way, after repeated firing for a period of time, fresh crude steel can be obtained. Of course, from a modern perspective, this thing that the ancients called steel is not real steel, but fake.
The carbon content is still extremely high, and the strength cannot be improved at all.