Questions tagged [metallurgy]
The technical science about theoretical and practical use of metals, their alloys, and preparing them to use.
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How did Roman Britain produce more iron than Song China per capita?
Roman Britain produced 1.4 kg of iron per capita whereas 1000 years later in 1078 Song Dynasty China produced less 1.3 kg of iron per capita. How did Roman Britain produce more Iron than Song China ...
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Why turn brass strips into rolls?
In a manuscript, Mendel I = Amb. 317.2°, from The Virtual Historical Collection of Nuremberg City Library, I found several images of brass strips being beaten into rolls, but no explanation as for why ...
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How much iron ore could a medieval miner extract per day?
I am finding really hard to find an answer to this question. There are some numbers available online, but first of all the numbers range quite a lot from different sources, then they are given for a ...
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How did the Ancient Greeks forge and shape metal gears?
The closest to answer I've gotten is this video:
Wikipedia: Making gears by hand without machines
However, I don't really know if Archimedes and his contemporaries would have the above tools or not. I'...
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Where and when were the earliest bronzes made which intentionally added tin to copper?
I’m trying to update my understanding of the early timeline of bronze use in Eurasia. Much of my knowledge on the subject came from the 1976 edition of Tylecote’s History of Metallurgy, which is now ...
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What is the origin of this medallion?
I want to get information on what looks
like a medallion that my father found at a construction
site (at his home) in 1968 in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada. It was found about 10 feet underground. It ...
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Did the ancient Egyptians really know that meteorite iron came from meteorites? [closed]
A dagger from Tutankhamun's tomb was probably made of meteorite iron.
Quote translated from German from a newspaper article:
"Researchers assume, based on hieroglyphics that apparently described ...
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How did early metalsmiths devise tools?
As I understand it, the refining of ore requires, at at least one point, the direct handling of high-temperature or molten metal. I can see early coppersmiths beating stone hammers on flat rocks, but ...
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Could a Hellenistic era smith discover the composition of an alloy? [closed]
Assuming a smith from the Hellenistic era of ancient Greece was given a lump of metal (specifically a gold alloy) and asked to produce more of the same kind of alloy, what methods would they have ...
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What would one call a skilled metal worker in Jerusalem, circa 600 BC?
I'm doing research for a book of fiction in which the main character is a skilled metalworker in ancient Jerusalem, circa 600 BC. I want to be authentic and historically accurate.
This person is ...
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In the 18th century, who built ships built using two-pointed nails?
On April 20th 1774, near Carmel, California, Juan Bautista de Anza wrote in his diary about finding the mast of a ship of unknown origin (his compatriot Garcés did not record it). Here is his complete ...
user18968
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Did bronze metallurgical development peak by the end of the bronze age?
There is a lot of talk, books, and science about the development of iron into increasing qualities and types of steel, but I do not see the same attention given to bronze. This is not counting the ...
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Did ancient Greeks harden steel weapons?
Let's limit this question to the Classical period (c. 5th-4th centuries BC)
Did Greeks harden their iron swords, spearheads, arrowheads etc. before putting them into use? Was hardening technology ...
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Did any Native Americans make tomahawks from metal?
I'm curious about the evolution of the tomahawk among (North American) Native American peoples like the Algonquin. I assume early versions of the tomahawk had the head made from stone (please correct ...
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Sources of iron in the middle east
In the time around 7th century AD, the use of swords and shields was common in the middle east.
They should've required iron for that.
They didn't know much about smelting. So, how did they get the ...
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