Iron
Iron is a common metal that is widely used throughout the peoples of Tuono's Corpse, primarily due to its physical qualities, abundance in the earth and the comparative ease at which it may be purified from its ore form. Iron may be found in mines in more mountainous locations, just as it may be found in the small rolling hills of the valleys. Its abundance is to such a degree that many settlements have grown around its extraction and refinements such as Vilhma in the Grand Duchy of Canyndor, Gostile in the Mandate of Balomir and Korrig in the Kingdom of Durabryn.
Iron as an intermediate product generally comes in three forms: Wrought Iron, Cast Iron and Steel. Wrought Iron is a fairly pure form of iron and is very malleable, Cast Iron is strong under compression and can be cast into complex shapes, Steel is graded based on its carbon content (higher than wrought but lower than cast) which determines the workability of the material and its ability to be hardened and tempered to retain a cutting edge. The furnaces used to smelt the iron ore down come in two primary designs, the shaft and bowl types, both of which aim to heat a charcoal/ore mixture to roughly 1200*C (not enough to truly melt the iron but enough so that the impurities are separated) which allows the slag to be tapped off and a "bloom" left. The bloom would then be extracted from the furnace using tongs and then hammered to remove the remaining impurities. At some particularly large furnaces, the bloom may be anywhere from 200-300lbs which require more advanced equipment to work.
With regards to costs, charcoal is one of the greatest expenses required to run a furnace, with approximately 12 pounds of charcoal required for each pound of Iron produced. With tools, perhaps unexpectedly, the Bellows constitute one of the largest costs. At larger furnaces producing bloom sizes as previously mentioned, water-power is often harnessed in the form of water-powered bellows or even water-powered hammers.
Iron as an intermediate product generally comes in three forms: Wrought Iron, Cast Iron and Steel. Wrought Iron is a fairly pure form of iron and is very malleable, Cast Iron is strong under compression and can be cast into complex shapes, Steel is graded based on its carbon content (higher than wrought but lower than cast) which determines the workability of the material and its ability to be hardened and tempered to retain a cutting edge. The furnaces used to smelt the iron ore down come in two primary designs, the shaft and bowl types, both of which aim to heat a charcoal/ore mixture to roughly 1200*C (not enough to truly melt the iron but enough so that the impurities are separated) which allows the slag to be tapped off and a "bloom" left. The bloom would then be extracted from the furnace using tongs and then hammered to remove the remaining impurities. At some particularly large furnaces, the bloom may be anywhere from 200-300lbs which require more advanced equipment to work.
With regards to costs, charcoal is one of the greatest expenses required to run a furnace, with approximately 12 pounds of charcoal required for each pound of Iron produced. With tools, perhaps unexpectedly, the Bellows constitute one of the largest costs. At larger furnaces producing bloom sizes as previously mentioned, water-power is often harnessed in the form of water-powered bellows or even water-powered hammers.
Type
Metal
Value
2 Pips per kg (Ore) or 3 Penny per kg (Refined)
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