3 ms·
More interesting that they found a way to work with poor quality iron
by flamedoge 3y ago
More interesting that they found a way to work with poor quality iron
- fbdab103 3y agoI have repeatedly read that Japan has poor quality iron, but what exactly does that mean? Iron is an element, so all of the reserves were in an unfortunate oxide requiring sophisticated refining? Just low total abundance?
- cthalupa 3y agoLots of impurities and limited quantity. Most of it was in ironsand, and even then most of it was in fairly low quality ironsand. They had to get pretty creative in their use of ironsand to produce high quality steel.
- jacquesm 3y agoGetting a pure ingot of iron is no simple task if you don't have access to a good furnace. So you'll end up with 'bad' (impure) iron if it doesn't come out of the ground in reasonably pure chunks.
- Theory42 3y agoAll the cool swords seem to come from societies without access to good iron. Ever seen a 'Viking' sword?
- Tuna-Fish 3y agoImpurities. Notably phosphorus is very hard to get rid of when it's in your metal. Before better metallurgy, the best steel worldwide was made out of low-phosphorus ores.