#that's around 1540°C and 900°C respectively for those of us who use real units
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Iron farm tools spread, and fifth-century-BCE blacksmiths learned to use bellows to heat iron ore to 2,800°F, at which point it melted and could be cast.*
*By the first century BCE cast iron was common in China; wrought iron, made by heating ore to 1,650°F and repeatedly hammering the soft "bloom" this produces, was the only technique known in the West until the fourteenth century CE.
"Why the West Rules – For Now: The patterns of history and what they reveal about the future" - Ian Morris
#book quotes#why the west rules – for now#ian morris#nonfiction#iron#farm tools#china#blacksmith#bellows#ironwork#iron ore#cast iron#wrought iron#that's around 1540°C and 900°C respectively for those of us who use real units
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