The blacksmith shop in Kulun Town was filled with the constant sound of clanging. Seven or eight strong men, shirtless and wearing aprons, swung large hammers in the hot workshop.
With red-hot flames, a blazing anvil, and a pumping bellows, the scene was one of intense heat and activity. However, Norfy couldn't help but feel a sense of disappointment. He had been thinking about high carbon steel and medium carbon steel, but seeing this primitive blacksmith shop made him realize he had been overthinking things. This kind of workshop could only produce knives and farm tools, and large steel castings were out of the question.
The owner of the blacksmith shop quickly wiped his hands on his apron when he saw the two people entering and respectfully said, "Young Master Norfy is here. Hello, Butler William!"
The Scott family was their biggest customer at the small blacksmith shop. They had previously ordered a large batch of strange and unique items, costing over thirty silver coins, which was equivalent to two months' income for the blacksmith shop. But to their surprise, the Scott family had sent a broken iron pillar early in the morning, causing them to agree to recast it for free. For craftsmen like them, having something they made break was the worst thing that could happen.
And now the young master himself had come to supervise the work; it was like they were being questioned for their mistakes!
Norfy inspected the blacksmith shop while the owner followed closely behind, constantly reminding him, "Be careful, Young Master, you might get burned. Be careful, Young Master, you might hit something. Be careful, Young Master, you might get splashed."
But Norfy continued to shake his head as he made his way to the burning furnace. "Is this burning wood or charcoal?" he asked.
The person in charge quickly replied, "It's charcoal fire. The temperature of burning wood is too low, so the iron won't melt. Charcoal fire with a bellows can produce molten iron."
Norfy then looked at the "blast furnace" made of clay and turned around, saying, "This blast furnace is a bit short. Won't the iron smelted from it be brittle?"
Some of the craftsmen in the blacksmith shop put down their tools and looked at him curiously, while the person in charge said awkwardly, "Young Master Norfy is truly the smartest in our Kulun Town. Our furnace is indeed a bit short, and even with a strong bellows, the iron smelted from it is not as good as those from the city of Radleyxian. But after more forging, it can still be used. Making a knife or hoe is sufficient."
Norfy rubbed his temple and finally understood the problem. It wasn't that there were no good iron smelting methods; it was that there were no customers in need. Therefore, there was no need to invest in such good equipment...
He thought for a moment and said, "Never mind, everything can be remade. Let me see how you forge knives."
The owner quickly shouted, "Alright! Stupid one! Demonstrate it for Young Master!"
The burliest man seized his small hammer, picked up a semi-formed steel ingot with a pair of tongs in his left hand, and started hammering and shaping it. As he hammered, the owner explained, "Young Master, it's said that steel is perfected through a hundred reforgings. We keep forging until the feel is right and the weight doesn't decrease anymore, then it becomes steel."
Norfy nodded and whispered, "I know, once the carbon element reaction is complete, the carbon content decreases, and what is produced is still high carbon steel. But large cast iron pieces cannot be forged this way."
The owner seemingly didn't understand what Norfy was saying and hesitantly asked, "Uh... what did Young Master just say?"
Norfy waved his hand. "Never mind. What is this? A quenching barrel?"
The owner excitedly replied, "Yes, this is a quenching barrel. Young Master knows so much. After the knife is finished, we dip it in here, and with a sizzling sound, it's done."
But Norfy asked in surprise, "After quenching, it's done? Don't you need to temper it?"
Now, it was the owner and the other workers who were puzzled. They had never heard of these things before. Generally, once quenched, the knives made would be hard and fast, perhaps even as sharp as military knives if they were lucky!
"Uh... what is tempering?" The owner finally asked, confused.
Norfy sighed helplessly. If they only quenched without tempering, the crystal structure would be unstable and internal stress would not be relieved. The knife would break sooner or later. However, it seemed that the blacksmiths here didn't understand all these principles. Practical experience fell short compared to theoretical knowledge.
"Forget it, forget it. It's fine. At least you have some foundation. We don't need to start all over. Today, let me teach you how to forge iron," Norfy said.After saying that, he unexpectedly picked up a heavy hammer from the side and walked towards the freshly forged kitchen knife.
"Master, what are you doing? Master, be careful! Hey! Master, don't move!"
But Norfy had no hesitation and smashed the hammer down. The newly forged kitchen knife suddenly cracked, although it didn't break completely, it was unusable.
"Uh~ Master, this is..."
Even William was confused, not understanding what had gotten into the usually gentle young master. Norfy also put down the heavy hammer and sighed.
"One hit with a hammer and it breaks. Can it still be used like this?"
The apprentices in the blacksmith shop put down their work, although no one dared to say anything, the look in their eyes clearly showed they thought he was a fool. William also hesitated as he spoke.
"But, Master, this is normal. Our farming tools, if they hit a stone or something hard, they will crack. The hardened steel is hard indeed, but it also becomes brittle. There's nothing we can do about it. Soft iron will curl up in a few days of use, it's simply unusable. We can't expect the iron to be both soft and hard, right? Just make it thicker, don't worry about the cracks."
Norfy shook his head, thinking of a book he had read that analyzed the disadvantages of the war from a technical standpoint, which mentioned the Big Knife Squad. The heavy steel knives were heavier than guns, but the root cause was the poor quality of the steel materials, which had to be thickened to maintain rigidity, something that was no longer a problem for the Japanese army in the later stages of production. This was the difference in craftsmanship and material level. You couldn't expect the village blacksmiths to produce products comparable to those produced by large-scale industries. If they do exist, it's mostly by luck.
Thinking of this, he pointed to the blacksmith shop owner and said.
"You forge another kitchen knife, make it thinner, and after hardening, place the knife on a hanging rack, like the ones used for barbecuing, but lower it a bit, use firewood to heat it for half an hour~"
"Uh, Master, what's half an hour?"
The blacksmith shop owner looked puzzled, which annoyed Norfy.
"Damn it, put it on, put it on. Count to 5000 in your mind, then take it out and let it cool naturally outside. Then we'll see! Remember! It's firewood, not charcoal. Count to 5000, one by one! Otherwise, I'll make you pay me for the broken connecting rod earlier!"
"Hey! Hey! I'll count, I'll count!"
The blacksmith shop owner quickly nodded and agreed, and only then did Norfy turn to William and said.
"Let's go! Let's eat! It'll be about done when we come back!"
After the two left, the blacksmith shop owner breathed a sigh of relief and looked at his stopped apprentices, angrily saying.
"What are you looking at! Get back to work! Simpleton, forge another kitchen knife! Xiao Liu, go gather firewood and make a rack! If you don't do it properly, you'll each pay seven silvers later!"
Just after he finished speaking, the group of apprentices started preparing in a panic, and the owner shook his head.
"What does the young master want to do today? Forging iron is just forging iron. I've been forging iron my whole life, and now I have a little kid who can't even lift a hammer come and teach me? What a joke!!"
But after thinking about it, he smacked his lips.
"The young master is a talented person from Kulun Town. Maybe this forging iron really has some tricks that we don't know. Sigh! Let's be serious later! Especially you, Simpleton! Forge it seriously! I want to see what tricks this young master really has!"
