Chapter 988 The Iron Workshops (Part-4)
With the tour of the iron tools workshop completed, Alexander then moved on to the next section of the manufacturing complex- the household items.
This was where utensils like pots, pans, and cauldrons, cutlery such as knives, forks and spoons, cups and mugs, hinges, locks, keys, and door fittings to name only a few were created.
And many of the operations here were similar to the tools making section.
For instance, the immense variety of knives, spoons, forks, hinges, and locks were all made using forged steel.
But there were exceptions too.
Things like cooking utensils and furnishings like iron frame supports, and decorative elements used in chairs, tables, beds, and chests were made instead by casting- i.e.- pouring liquid iron into silica (sand) molds.
And this was where Alexander got to see many of the casting techniques he had imparted to the blacksmiths being utilized.
The first of which was the simplest of them all- sand casting.
Alexander observed from a distance a group of workers, who were likely slaves judging by their attire, preparing to cast an iron pan.
To do this they were using an iron mold of the pan to make an indentation on a crate filled with slightly wet sand.
And then had various other tools and additional molds to produce further indentation around the main mold structure, attaching various other features to it.
The fineness of these additional features would greatly affect the quality of the product.
But why did they do so do you ask?
Wouldn't simply making a hollow shape of the product and then pouring the liquid metal work?
Well, no.
Because although to a layman casting iron might seem very easy- in reality it was an extremely delicate and even tiresome process.
It was in many's eyes even harder than forging.
And the reasons for this were myriad.
One very common problem with casting was the iron solidifying before it reached all the nooks and crannies of the mold because of how viscous the liquid was.
Another problem was uneven cooling - i.e.- the outer surface cooling much faster than the core of the product, which would cause the entire thing to crack.
Then there were the general problems of defects and impurities seeping into the finished product like air, water, and sand.
And the most glaring of all, the cast product sometimes came out completely warped, not all in the dimensions desired.
And scientists and engineers had worked for centuries to devise many ways to try and mitigate these problems.
For example, regarding the problem of the iron not reaching all the corners, they devised additional structures to be added to the main mold to increase the pressure on the liquid metal, so that it flowed faster, thus letting it cover all the parts of the mold before solidifying.
Towards the problem of uneven cooling, they introduced various concepts, such as the addition of fins to the structure.
These shark like fins would help radiate heat much more evenly and effectively and could be cut off from the finished product once it cooled.
To combat impurities, the addition of things like aluminum, magnesium, and silicon was suggested.
And lastly, for the problem of warping or distortion, which happened due to improper mold design and cooling.
Differently shaped metal- i.e.- spherical, square, triangular, etc. all cooled at different rates so when these parts were all made together, this needed to be accounted for or the end shape would appear bent.
It was all these hurdles that made casting a particularly challenging affair.
And the reason why skilled artisans were valued so much was because they knew how to account for these changes, a knowledge gained through experience over decades of working with the material.
After working with it for so long, they would come to instinctively how much the iron would shrink when made into a particular shape over a particular dimension.
And this was why casting was considered for much of its time to be more of an art form than an exact science, as you needed the talent to be able to 'feel' the workings of the liquid iron.
Alexander of course skipped all of that with math and equations.
Over the centuries, blacksmiths and engineers had managed to come up with a list of extensive and frankly quite complex equations dictating all the 'nook and cranny' of any casting design, managing to take most of the mystic out of casting and turning it into cold hard science based on solid numbers.
Take for example the fact that there were equations not for just the size of the cooling fins, but even the ideal place they should be placed at based on the shape they were being attached to.
All this meant that it no longer took talent to cast things now- only the ability to follow the revealed numbers.
Alexander did feel a tiny bit of shame at all the robotic mechanicalness of it all, since it seemed like all the magic had been taken out of the work.
But for the purposes of his needs now, it was a godsend.
It was due to this that Alexander imparted some of his knowledge to the Galiosian blacksmiths, letting them create products that were not only of great quality but also in great quantity, as ordinary workers could too make them.
And the best evidence of this was perhaps how it was the slaves who were manufacturing that iron pan, whereas it would typically be the blacksmiths.
Or at the very least, there should have been blacksmiths overseeing the process.
Of course, Alexander only revealed some of the simpler equations.
Because for one they were highly prized and he did not want them to fall into Sybarsis's hands, even if Lady Margaret and him were allies right now.
But much more pragmatically, it was because these equations were quite complex with the presence of various constants that changed depending on factors like the shape of the mold, numerical powers, square roots, and even cubic roots.
And then there were even things like the moisture content of the sand and even the temperature of the liquid iron which was impossible to measure for Alexander given the lack of proper tools.
All this made it so that these blacksmiths would not be able to solve them even if Alexander lectured them on it for hours.
Heck, without a calculator, even Alexander could not accurately solve them- but only work out a very rough estimate.
Thus, for the more complex operations, Alexander had them submit their molds to him and he would work out the designs on his own, before giving them the finished diagrams.
And the results must have been immensely satisfying, as Marvin could be heard praising his heart out,
"My lord, I would have never believed if I had not seen it myself. Your talent in iron making is a once in a hundred… no, once in a thousand years talent. Those pictures that you gave us… it all worked! It all worked just as you predicted!I would have never believed it if I had not seen it myself! By the gods!" The man repeated the phrase to emphasize his appreciation, and unlike the other times when he was trying to oil up Alexander, this time he truly meant it.
The man's flushed face was genuinely lit up in excitement.
And it did not take much to understand his perspective.
To be able to predict how molten iron would behave from behind a desk and just scribbling on it was nothing but miraculous in this blacksmiths eyes.
What took him decades to gain mastery over, was fulfilled by Alexander in mere minutes.
Thus in his mind, this kind of prescience ability should only belong to the gods and so Marvin even started to be convinced that Alexander really possessed some of the divine powers he claimed to have.
The man was even of the mind to covert to the Gaia faith, but had not taken the last step yet.
As for Alexander, although he was satisfied with the mass production of the casting product, in his eyes, the goods' quality still left something to be desired.
For example, due to imperfect calculations, there was about an average of 10% failure rate among the cast products, such as warps and cracks.
This was much higher than he would have liked it to be.
There was also the fact that he had few ways of removing the impurities introduced during the process- as many of the methods required the addition of materials and metals that were yet to be discovered.
But for now, compared to the junk the rest of the world produced, this was as good as it was going to get.
And frankly, this was good enough.
It was just that Alexander had his eyes on the top of his head, being slightly snobbish.
But still, for the next good while he paid attention to Marvin going on about how the many things Alexander had introduced were revolutionary for the casting process and how it would change metal working forever.
Which not only included various additions to sand techniques, but also brand new casting technique altogether- such as lost wax casting.
And it was the implementation of that that Alexander was headed to observe next.
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