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« on: January 24, 2019, 05:31:11 PM »
Warning... I digress... on why there is no iron crucible
In the size scale of the iron work here it is shaping by hammering rather than pouring into a mold. Iron/steel poured is actually going to be weaker vs the folding/twisting used to create layers of different properties.
In the iron creation a bloomery is used to heat the ore to bring out impurities while the iron is at its welding temperature will bond iron particle to iron particle. It takes additional pounding on the hot iron to drive out random impurities. Optionally then to add a controlled amount of carbon (an impurity) to get a useable large piece of steel.
Some iron work, like some Norse swords, would take two bars of iron (relatively pure iron) and two bars of steel (iron with that controlled carbon) as a starter. Then the bars are heated while they are twisted together. Then fold over. Then twist and fold. Repeat as desired. The result is a very beautiful oscillation of dull and shiny throughout the blade. The dull areas are "soft" iron which has give and bend to absorb energy while the shiny "hard" steel areas keep the shape from deflecting to much.
Axes are typically made of shaping of soft iron head by hammering to shape. A handle hole is made by splitting the hot iron with a cool wedge then expanding and forming by hammering. One method of making the cutting edge is to make a thin narrow bit of steel which, as impurity/alloy control is difficult, is easier to make. The iron head on the cutting side is notched open. The steel is inserted. The iron notch sides are then heated and hammered onto the steel. The iron notch material and the iron in the steel will weld together.
Meanwhile....
Copper and bronze can be decently made by pouring into a mold.
Which compared to the iron methods for a sword or axe head described above is much easier.
Coming out of the mold their might be some follow up work like trimming with a {Knife} <Small knife>. That could be coded into the mold using recipe.
The mold could be considered a "held" or "freeze" item so that it isn't consumed in making the object in the mold. I requested that code option in the suggestion forums for things like this.
Copper and bronze melt, and thus weld, at lower temperatures. That is why mankind discovered them first.
Iron took the technology of charcoal and bellows to work. To process the iron ore you needed to get to super high temperatures which is why you see the bloomery, charcoal and bellows
The copper/bronze work at lower temperatures should mean leaving out charcoal. You could use firewood instead. This means the characters don't put those days into charcoal making.
For a supply of molds I might suggest
Axe head mold
Sword mold
Arrow head mold (makes 5 at a time)
Spear head mold
Decoration mold (makes 2 at a time)
Im not sure about whether the rings even would require a mold as the decoration mold for brooches could easily fit some circles for rings... or you would problaby be better off casting a wire which is then cut and bent into rings.
Note: I think it might be best to limit the bronze axe to just the hand axe type. The more specialized axes benefit from iron's properties to do their task as a heavy hitter or by allowing a carving axe to be thin yet still strong.