Chris the Chicken Smith

To read through, you mean, JLP? Probably was. I should get a mark by the end of next week. Stay tuned! Chris

It does sound like a drinking song, now that you mention it... Thanks, Thomas. Chris

Cold Iron is my favourite poem! It’s beautiful. I was just on my way back to listen to “our” song. I’ve added “by hammer and hand all arts do stand” to the end of my paper, then passed it in... fingers crossed! Thanks again for all of your knowledge and experience! I’ll use this as my question asking thread until it becomes obsolete and I need to make a new one... and I’ll be sure to post my mark back here. I’ll be back in a few minutes with my opinion of the song. Chris That song isn’t bad, but not George’s version... the lyrics sound so majestic... “To the mem’ry of Vulcan our voices we’ll raise, May he and his sons be revered thro’ the land; May they thrive root and branch, and enjoy happy days For by Hammer and Hand all arts do stand.” it’s from Worshipful Blacksmiths’ Company, as I’m sure you know. https://blacksmithscompany.co.uk/history/the-blacksmiths-song/ It also says this... I thought there would be a recording somewhere... ”The Blacksmiths' Song was composed by a Past Prime Warden, Moses Kipling, in 1828; it is sung every year at the Company Banquet in Mansion House” I’ve listened to some others, as well... they’re all pretty good, just not talking about Vulcan and such... -Chris

I had searched for it, but I didn't find anything... Maybe I'm just bad at searching for things... Thanks!

Is there anywhere to hear the Blacksmiths' song, George? From the lyrics it seems like it would sound amazing. Chris

Thank you so much, everyone! Wikipedia can be accurate for some things and inaccurate for others. My teachers argue about it all the time at school. Thank you Mr. Monsson, I'll be sure to include you in my sources. I'll be back soon with my mark; I'll be passing my paper in momentarily. Wish me luck! -Chris Sorry I missed you, Thomas. I'll have to do some more reading on Japanese swordsmiths, they definitely knew their stuff.

(That was supposed to be humorous, please don't yell at me.) No, Mr. SLAG, it does not affect iron, it affects steel. Steel's granular structure will change t\to become harder and more brittle; iron's remains mostly the same. (Right, Steve..?) And while we're arguing, there's an unspoken rule that you don't tag people. -CCS (PS. I'm sure you knew that rule, just reminding you.) Also, he had said it was as strong as iron, not steel.

It turns it pretty colours... I was going to point out SLAG's mistake, but I decided it wasn't my place. Thanks, Steve. Chris

I forgot to send the edited paper... Here it is... Final Project SS.docx

May I quote a couple of things from you, George? And may I have a last name to site you properly? I'm not quite finished reading through the edits; I'll thank everyone on them and upload the edited version in a few moments. Thanks for the info, SLAG. I'd add some in, but the project is due today, and you have no sources; although I'm sure it's accurate, I do need to site any info I add. I've added your edits, George. When I wrote "ferrous steel" I was thinking "ferrous alloy." I just took out ferrous. Thank you, you've been extremely helpful.

Thank you George, Steve, Thomas, I'll have some last minute editing to do in the morning, but that's not an issue. I do recall you saying that now, Thomas, and I think I'll add that it would have been done more economically in the past than it would be done now. I was unaware iron was about as soft as work hardened bronze, thank you for teaching me. I'll have to fix that too. Now for the hard part... feel free to pick apart my paper... realize I only will have an hour or two to fix it, so don't be too picky, as my teacher won't know the difference and it won't be published, at least not for many years until I can reliably say I know what I'm doing. Now for a 30 second rant... I have a friend who was doing her project on how dinosaurs affect us, for some reason, and she had me edit it for her. It took me a little over an hour, and I still have a few other projects for other classes I have to finish by tomorrow night as well, one of which is to write a cookbook. I asked her to get a recipe for muffins for me that I could copy and paste in, ("just get me the link, that'll be fine.") since I was approaching an hour of doing work for her, and she says "no, I think I'll go to bed. E-mail me my edited project and I'll pass it in in the morning." Kids these days, I tell you. Thanks, Chris PS. Should I also think of a fancy ending to my posts here, like George has? "By hammer and hand all arts do stand" sounds awesome, and I think I should think of something similar. Final Project SS.docx

Hi, everyone! I'm back! In my usual fashion, I waited until about a week before my project was due to start it... It's due Tuesday, but I did just finish it a few minutes ago. I'm planning on uploading it to here so you can pick it apart and tell me everything that's wrong with it, (which is probably most of it,) but for right now I'm focusing on getting it to my teacher before Tuesday. (I'm having an actual blacksmith proof read for me, don't worry.) At the moment I'm just finishing up my bibliography, (including this wonderful forum,) and adding some quotes to elaborate on some points I made... one of which I was going to get from this thread, however I can't seem to find it! I'm almost certain it was from here, although I could be mistaken. I do believe Thomas (Powers) wrote that when iron was first being refined you'd be lucky to get enough to make an arrowhead, let alone a ____. (Whatever we were talking about at the time. I think it was a socket axe.) If someone else knows where something like that was said, please let me know. (I've scoured a few other places as well as here for the past half hour looking for this; I'm not about to give up now.) If it really doesn't exist, would someone mind writing that here so I can quote them, please? I think "when iron was first discovered you'd be lucky to get enough iron for an arrowhead from a single bloom" is a reasonable statement. Does anyone agree? Thanks, Chris

Ha! I will, Thomas.

Thanks Frosty, pnut. I'll see if I can find them and shoot them a message. I'll check out your link, pnut. I've got good news, people! I have everything I need for my retort, I just need to assemble it. But in the meantime, I've found another version from Whitlox, that tilts a barrel at 60°, burns wood into coal, and the flames shelter the coals from oxygen. That'll work in the meantime. Horrible grammar, but I have to get back to paying attention to class. Apparently we're turning an orange into an ancient Egyptian mummy on Wednesday.

Thanks, pnut! I'll see if I can find it.

Joey?! My hero?! Oh my goshhhhhhhhh!!! Hi! Hope you notice me! I'll just consider you a valid source. (I came back a few minutes later.) Sorry about freaking out... I just think Joey is awesome.

So the ground's about to freeze... I won't get an actual bloomery done until the spring probably. I still don't have everything I need for my retort, and I have to admit I was fairly lazy. Written report it is, on the same subject. However I need "valid" sources now. You guys are reluctantly being considered as one source, a local friend of mine as another... I made a youtube playlist of the majority of the videos I've watched of smiths making or refining iron, however I don't think I'm allowed to use that as a source, since they could be invalidating what they're saying... what's your opinion on that? Black Bear forge, Torbjörn Åhman, Joey van der Steeg, as well as a few others, who are well known to be awesome... in your opinion, would they be a trusted source?

I miss the whole conversation when we start a new page... *sigh* I didn't know the conversion there... but I do have a barrel now, so I think it should be fine. I'll work with what I have. I'll post pictures of my progress over the weekend.

I bought the Hookway retort design, and that's just what it said... I don't think it would make that much of a difference I guess.

How hard is it to find a 45 gallon steel barrel?!?! End of rant.

That's a good thing. (I think. )

Sorry Thomas, I was a bit slow... I was also slow about realizing that it was in Michigan... so I think I might stick with the scale. Stay safe up there in Alaska, Frosty. Keep your Dutch ovens under lock and key so the bears don't get them.

I missed the entirety of page 3... Dwarves are very crunchy. Also, was this a hint to me, Thomas? Who do I contact, if so?

Ooh, shallots! Great idea! Is there any way to change the title of this thread to "Iron Bloom for History Class; Blacksmiths' Favorite Herbs and Aliums"?

I do have chives on my list, but I forgot about garlic... but I'll probably plant that in my onion plot after they're harvested in the fall anyway. Thanks for the suggestion!