Chapter 180 Copper-Tin Ratio
After making the first bronze hammer, Jiang Xuan first smelted a large amount of copper ore and tin ore twice, and cast them into copper and tin blocks using ceramic molds.
Then he cast a bronze dagger about thirty centimeters long and ground the blade very thin on the stone.
However, when he tried to use the bronze dagger, a serious problem arose: the blade was too soft. After just two cuts on the tree, the blade bent directly.
"how so?"
Jiang Xuan held the bronze dagger and scratched his head, feeling that something must have gone wrong.
The bronze hammer he made before was very easy to use, so why couldn't the same bronze liquid be used to make a bronze knife? Bronze can definitely be used to make weapons, he knew that very well, because he had seen a replica of a bronze knife in his previous life, and it was quite sharp.
"Does bronze also need to be quenched like iron?"
Jiang Xuan frowned and thought for a long time, then decided to give it a try.
He first put the bronze dagger into the furnace and burned it red hot. Then, he took out the knife with a wooden stick and immersed half of the blade in cold water.
“Squeak, squeak, squeak…”
The water surface that came into contact with the bronze dagger instantly boiled and emitted a large amount of steam.
Then, Jiang Xuan put the dagger on the ground and let it cool down slowly.
"Try again."
After the bronze dagger cooled down, Jiang Xuan picked up a thumb-thick branch, placed it on the ground, and then used the bronze dagger to chop it, trying to cut it off.
"Duo!"
The bronze dagger hit the branch and the branch broke, but not cleanly. Instead, it was because Jiang Xuan's strength was too great and the branch could not bear it and broke, so the fracture was irregular.
Jiang Xuan picked up the bronze dagger and took a look. Wow, the blade was bent again.
"It seems that the quenching method is useless for bronze."
Jiang Xuan felt a little frustrated. He sat next to the smelting furnace, looking at the bronze dagger and the bronze hammer beside it, wondering what the key to the problem was.
The two warriors also stood aside, but they had no idea about this new thing called bronze, and they didn't dare to say anything. They could only stare at their leader, hoping that he could come up with a solution.
Jiang Xuan sat for a while, then looked at the smelted copper and tin blocks on the other side of the room. Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind.
"Could it be that there is a problem with the copper-tin ratio?"
He walked over, picked up a piece of copper and a piece of tin and knocked them. Copper is harder than tin, so a small dent appeared on the tin, but there was no change on the copper.
"Try increasing the proportion of copper!"
Jiang Xuan did what he said and immediately started the furnace to smelt the second bronze dagger. This time, he put in three pieces of copper and one piece of tin.
By the evening, the second bronze dagger was cast.
He spent another half the night sharpening the blade of the bronze dagger to make it thinner and look very sharp.
The next day, he tried again with a branch.
"I've put so much effort into this, please don't let me down!"
Jiang Xuan held the bronze dagger and chopped at the thumb-thick branch.
"Gah..."
The branch became shorter again, but the broken end was still not very neat. However, when Jiang Xuan picked up the bronze dagger and observed it, he found that the edge was not as curled as the previous one.
"It seems that my idea is right. The hardness has indeed increased a lot."
“Keep trying!”
Jiang Xuan took the two warriors and spent a long time trying again and again.
When the copper ratio is low, the blade of a bronze knife will become curled when cutting slightly harder objects, and it is obviously unusable.
When the proportion of copper is too high, the bronze knife will not curl, but it will crack or even break, making it useless.
He could only change the ratio of copper to tin little by little, and at the same time, increase the thickness of the blade so that it would not break so easily.
It was not until the tenth day that Jiang Xuan made another bronze knife. This time, he put in five pieces of copper and one piece of tin.
“It must succeed!”
Jiang Xuan held the bronze knife, took a deep breath, and then chopped at the branch decisively.
“Crack!”
This time, the branch was cut directly, and the break was very smooth.
Jiang Xuan looked at the edge of the bronze knife again, only to see that the edge was not curled or broken, and was still intact! "Great, it finally worked!"
Jiang Xuan held the bronze knife, feeling very excited.
“Finally succeeded!”
"The leader is so awesome!"
The two soldiers were also very happy, thinking that their hard work over the past few days had not been in vain.
"I'm going to go back first, you guys continue to practice here."
"Yes, Chief."
Jiang Xuan wrapped the bronze dagger in animal skin, then left the foundry, took a boat across the river, and returned to his house.
He unfolded a scroll of animal skin, which recorded the process and results of his attempts over the past few days.
For example, the first line reads: Two parts copper and one part tin can be used to cast a bronze hammer.
What follows is a series of failed attempts and ratios.
Now, he picked up a hair pen and wrote on the skin scroll: Five parts of copper and one part of tin can be used to cast a bronze dagger.
The reason why it is written as short sword instead of directly writing bronze sword is because the long sword and the short sword are different.
A long knife is wider and longer, and when used, the force applied will be very large, so some hardness must be sacrificed to enhance toughness.
Otherwise, if the knife breaks into two pieces after being chopped, what's the use of being sharp? Thinking of this, Jiang Xuan understood why most bronze artifacts were swords, and knives were relatively rare.
Because bronze is a material that has sufficient hardness and sharpness as long as the proportion of copper is increased, but it is easy to break.
Compared with a single-edged knife, a flat diamond-shaped sword is thick in the middle and thin on both sides, and has a better stress-bearing structure. As long as it is cast a little thicker, it is not so easy to break.
And, there was a question he had never thought about before.
These were the early bronze craftsmen who discovered the shortcomings of bronze knives and, after continuous improvements, eventually evolved them into bronze swords.
Otherwise, why didn’t the sword exist in the Stone Age? Bronze knives are prone to bending or chipping, so they were made into double-edged swords, so that if one side chipped or bent, the other side could still be used.
What if the blades on both sides are curled or broken during a fight? Then grind the ends to a sharp point and you can still use it to stab people.
Later, it was discovered that this weapon was prone to breakage, so the middle part was continuously thickened, eventually becoming a flat diamond shape.
Therefore, later bronze swords, regardless of length, were thick in the middle, thin on both sides, and sharp at the end.
Jiang Xuan figured out this problem only after he cast bronze ware himself. He had never seen it anywhere else before, so it was just his personal speculation.
"It seems that I will have to forge more swords in the future."
Jiang Xuan suddenly felt a little funny. If he had just forged the sword according to the experience of the ancients in his previous life, would he have taken fewer detours? However, if he had forged the sword from the beginning, he would not have discovered the many problems with the bronze knife.
So, after trying for so long, I have gained something.
Thinking of this, Jiang Xuan picked up the animal hair brush again and wrote on the animal skin scroll: Bronze is more suitable for making swords...
After writing, Jiang Xuan looked at the bronze knife carefully again and then put it away.
The bronze weapons cannot be revealed for the time being, otherwise they will surely attract the covetousness of other tribes and even bring disaster to the Teng tribe.
What the Teng tribe needs now are various tools made of bronze.
For example, there are axes for chopping, chisels, saws, shovels and other tools for carpentry, scissors for cutting animal skins, and so on.
With these bronze tools, the productivity of the Teng tribe will be greatly improved, and it will soon be able to leave other tribes far behind.
"Make a pair of scissors first. You must make a pair of scissors!"
Jiang Xuan touched his long hair and the beard that had just begun to grow around his lips, and he felt that scissors were particularly important.
Cutting hair with a stone knife is too painful, and shaving is even more unbearable.
There are many people in the Teng tribe who, when their hair or beards are too long, simply grab them and burn them with fire. They are quite brave.
With scissors, you can use them to cut your hair and beard, which is very convenient.
After the paint on the animal skin scroll dried, Jiang Xuan rolled it up and put it away properly.
He also left the bronze dagger in the room and did not take it out.
Afterwards, in a happy mood, he planned to visit various places in the Teng tribe.
After such a long time, his mind was focused on smelting bronze, and he had not taken care of other matters of the tribe for a long time.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
