6 ms·

Iron, How Did They Make It, Part IVb: Work Hardening, or Hardly Working?

107 points by shalmanese 6y ago

plat12 6y ago
Previous Parts: Part 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24517792 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24517792 Part 2: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24591216 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24591216 Part 3: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24668125 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24668125 Part 4a: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24726793 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24726793
djmips 6y ago
Probably a tech we'll need again.
jiggawatts 6y ago
This is one of the best-written blog series I've ever seen. It reminds me of some of my favourite history books, the ones that focused on topics such as the development of chemistry from alchemy instead of which king was stabbed in the back by some long-dead politician.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  Thanks, you just gave me a more charitable observation of Our Ford's observation that "history is more or less bunk" (1916). Assuming Ford was remembering history as taught to him in 1870-1880, it may well have been a New World variation on Alfreds and Edwards and Ælfweards and Æthelstans. Even if he were keeping up on outside reading, the earliest non-exclusively elite history I can think of at the moment wasn't written until the 1920s. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35461/35461-h/35461-h.htm http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35461/35461-h/35461-h.htm Edit: it looks grim. Ford had a point. among the collection in https://digital.library.pitt.edu/collection/19th-century-schoolbooks?islandora_solr_search_navigation=0&f%5B0%5D=mods_subject_topic_ms%3A%22History%22 https://digital.library.pitt.edu/collection/19th-century-sch... the only one which makes claims to cover anything further back than "American History" (all few centuries of it at that point) is the 1857 https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A00z339026m/viewer#page/6/mode/2up https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A00z... which contains the remarkable claim that "It seems far more probable that the first settlers of America were from Egypt." Eat your heart out, Giorgio! https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A00z339026m/viewer#page/16/mode/2up https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A00z...
- brazzy 6y ago
  The blog has multiple such awesome series. So far my favourite is "Bread, How Did They Make It?": https://acoup.blog/2020/07/24/collections-bread-how-did-they-make-it-part-i-farmers/ https://acoup.blog/2020/07/24/collections-bread-how-did-they... Gave me a real epiphany when it explained how subsistence-farming peasants had no incentive to increase productivity because they had no way to realiably store or invest a surplus into productivity enhancements - any material asset they had could be taken away too easily. Instead they would invest a surplus into social capital by "banqueting the neighbours", which could save their lives in case of a bad harvest. And this is exactly what we see in places like Africa today and tend to belittle: people have little incentive to save and invest because there is a strong expectation that they'll share any "riches" with their friends, family and neighbours. But this is entirely rational when you live in a society not far removed from subsistence farming, threatened by civil wars and with relatively weak civic institutions: social capital is simply more reliable than material capital.
  - jiggawatts 6y ago
    That's interesting, and it meshes well with my perspective that before modern "material wealth" really took off, the only real wealth people had was measured in calories.
    - brazzy 6y ago
      It goes beyond that and into risk management, and how "material wealth" requires institutions to protect it.
    - pjc50 6y ago
      "Material wealth" dates to prehistoric times, that's why we keep finding all these shiny objects in graves, including ones shipped remarkable distances. What people did with it, and the relationship between status, wealth, society, and material conditions, is a much wider field. "Banking" is continuous back to 1472: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banca_Monte_dei_Paschi_di_Siena https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banca_Monte_dei_Paschi_di_Sien... but recognisable systems of credit existed in Roman times.
  - 6y ago
imdsm 6y ago
This is the first article: https://acoup.blog/2020/09/18/collections-iron-how-did-they-make-it-part-i-mining/ https://acoup.blog/2020/09/18/collections-iron-how-did-they-... I wish it was easier to read though.
- TheGallopedHigh 6y ago
  Easier in what way? The format or the language?
  - stan_rogers 6y ago
    I'd suggest format. Low-contrast light on dark isn't great at the best of times, and the particular pairing used causes dark persistence-of-vision stripes to appear across the text after a short period of reading. Nothing a reader mode couldn't fix, but a poor choice in any case.
  - imdsm 6y ago
    As the other chap said, in the style. Not to worry, I found Pocket and that made it much easier to read.
alexpetralia 6y ago
I don't think I've ever seen a blog, perhaps besides Dan Luu or Paul Graham's, so regularly hit the front page of HN. And it's not about high tech, but low tech! Kudos to Bret Devereaux.
belval 6y ago
Every time a new post appears on his blog, I drop whatever I am doing and read it. The style is so delightful and the quality is outstanding.
DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
I need one of those color calibration cards from the sword photo. Any chance any of you know where to buy that one? I have found others, but that layout is exactly what I'm looking for.
bwanab 6y ago
An amazingly good series on a topic I’d never thought I’d have any interest in. Highly recommended.

107 points by shalmanese 6y ago

Previous Parts: Part 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24517792 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24517792 Part 2: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24591216 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24591216 Part 3: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24668125 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24668125 Part 4a: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24726793 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24726793

djmips 6y ago

Probably a tech we'll need again.

jiggawatts 6y ago

This is one of the best-written blog series I've ever seen. It reminds me of some of my favourite history books, the ones that focused on topics such as the development of chemistry from alchemy instead of which king was stabbed in the back by some long-dead politician.

082349872349872 6y ago
Thanks, you just gave me a more charitable observation of Our Ford's observation that "history is more or less bunk" (1916). Assuming Ford was remembering history as taught to him in 1870-1880, it may well have been a New World variation on Alfreds and Edwards and Ælfweards and Æthelstans. Even if he were keeping up on outside reading, the earliest non-exclusively elite history I can think of at the moment wasn't written until the 1920s. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35461/35461-h/35461-h.htm http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35461/35461-h/35461-h.htm Edit: it looks grim. Ford had a point. among the collection in https://digital.library.pitt.edu/collection/19th-century-schoolbooks?islandora_solr_search_navigation=0&f%5B0%5D=mods_subject_topic_ms%3A%22History%22 https://digital.library.pitt.edu/collection/19th-century-sch... the only one which makes claims to cover anything further back than "American History" (all few centuries of it at that point) is the 1857 https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A00z339026m/viewer#page/6/mode/2up https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A00z... which contains the remarkable claim that "It seems far more probable that the first settlers of America were from Egypt." Eat your heart out, Giorgio! https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A00z339026m/viewer#page/16/mode/2up https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A00z...
brazzy 6y ago
The blog has multiple such awesome series. So far my favourite is "Bread, How Did They Make It?": https://acoup.blog/2020/07/24/collections-bread-how-did-they-make-it-part-i-farmers/ https://acoup.blog/2020/07/24/collections-bread-how-did-they... Gave me a real epiphany when it explained how subsistence-farming peasants had no incentive to increase productivity because they had no way to realiably store or invest a surplus into productivity enhancements - any material asset they had could be taken away too easily. Instead they would invest a surplus into social capital by "banqueting the neighbours", which could save their lives in case of a bad harvest. And this is exactly what we see in places like Africa today and tend to belittle: people have little incentive to save and invest because there is a strong expectation that they'll share any "riches" with their friends, family and neighbours. But this is entirely rational when you live in a society not far removed from subsistence farming, threatened by civil wars and with relatively weak civic institutions: social capital is simply more reliable than material capital.
- jiggawatts 6y ago
  That's interesting, and it meshes well with my perspective that before modern "material wealth" really took off, the only real wealth people had was measured in calories.
  - brazzy 6y ago
    It goes beyond that and into risk management, and how "material wealth" requires institutions to protect it.
  - pjc50 6y ago
    "Material wealth" dates to prehistoric times, that's why we keep finding all these shiny objects in graves, including ones shipped remarkable distances. What people did with it, and the relationship between status, wealth, society, and material conditions, is a much wider field. "Banking" is continuous back to 1472: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banca_Monte_dei_Paschi_di_Siena https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banca_Monte_dei_Paschi_di_Sien... but recognisable systems of credit existed in Roman times.
- 6y ago

imdsm 6y ago

This is the first article: https://acoup.blog/2020/09/18/collections-iron-how-did-they-make-it-part-i-mining/ https://acoup.blog/2020/09/18/collections-iron-how-did-they-... I wish it was easier to read though.

TheGallopedHigh 6y ago
Easier in what way? The format or the language?
- stan_rogers 6y ago
  I'd suggest format. Low-contrast light on dark isn't great at the best of times, and the particular pairing used causes dark persistence-of-vision stripes to appear across the text after a short period of reading. Nothing a reader mode couldn't fix, but a poor choice in any case.
- imdsm 6y ago
  As the other chap said, in the style. Not to worry, I found Pocket and that made it much easier to read.

alexpetralia 6y ago

I don't think I've ever seen a blog, perhaps besides Dan Luu or Paul Graham's, so regularly hit the front page of HN. And it's not about high tech, but low tech! Kudos to Bret Devereaux.

belval 6y ago

Every time a new post appears on his blog, I drop whatever I am doing and read it. The style is so delightful and the quality is outstanding.

DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago

I need one of those color calibration cards from the sword photo. Any chance any of you know where to buy that one? I have found others, but that layout is exactly what I'm looking for.

bwanab 6y ago

An amazingly good series on a topic I’d never thought I’d have any interest in. Highly recommended.