Chapter 46 Sand Casting thod!
This month, only a little over ten days remain.
In just over ten days, relying on these ten or so blacksmiths, let alone forging five hundred sets of breastplates and helts, even forging fifty sets seems impossible!
Isn’t this a death sentence for them?
Despair appeared on everyone’s faces, and they all knelt down, kowtowing:
“Lord, please forgive us. We simply cannot complete this task!”
“Yes, Lord! Our skills are not enough to reach this speed. We beg you to see clearly that while it’s a small matter for us to fail, if we don’t manage to complete it and delay your important affairs, that’s a cri worthy of death!”
“Lord, you might as well just kill us now!”
Everyone began to complain.
Since failing to complete the task ant certain death, at this mont, they dared to say anything.
Rather than working themselves to death only to be executed anyway, they preferred to have it done quickly now.
Seeing their reactions, Richard couldn’t help but laugh.
“You think I’m deliberately making things difficult for you, giving you an impossible task?” Richard asked.
“We wouldn’t dare, Lord! We definitely wouldn’t dare think that!” Even though that’s exactly what they thought, so grumbled inwardly.
Richard could see through their thoughts but didn’t bother to argue further. He simply said,
“I’ll demonstrate it once for you. Pay close attention.”
Everyone perked up and stood, looking excited.
After all, they had just witnessed Richard’s extraordinary craftsmanship, a true master of forging!
Was he now about to teach them so secret, powerful techniques?
However, they were also a bit nervous, unsure if they could learn the lord’s skills with their current abilities.
Richard started preparing the tools.
He didn’t ask them to help since teaching them to make the tools would be a waste of ti.
That said, he did have tasks for them to do.
“Go and stoke the furnace, get it burning hotter, and prepare so molten iron for !”
anwhile, Richard began preparing casting tools.
He made an iron bucket and attached two long iron rods to either side of it.
After finishing the casting tools, Richard called over two blacksmiths:
“When the iron lts and I instruct you to fetch it, the two of you will lift this bucket and get the molten iron. Understood?”
“Understood, Lord!”
The two of them were thrilled to participate in the lesson personally.
Little did they know that this was just the simplest step, a tedious task with no real technical content.
Of course, this didn’t stop them from learning on the side.
After preparing the tool for holding the molten iron, Richard began making the frawork for the sand casting.
After so quick forging, he had made three square iron fras, each about a hand’s width thick.
Richard planned to teach them the sand casting thod.
“Go get so li powder and clay!”
He casually pointed to a few people, who imdiately set off to carry out the orders.
Even in the modern world, sand casting was still widely used and showed no signs of being phased out.
Even with technological advancents, adjustnts were made to the iron used for casting rather than the casting process itself.
It’s like eating — whether you use chopsticks, a spoon, a ladle, or a fork, the tools may change, but the process of eating with your mouth remains the sa.
Thus, sand casting was a highly valuable, versatile craft with endless potential for exploration.
Richard was teaching them this technique not only to help them complete this current task but also to allow them to grasp the thod early on so they could further develop and refine it.
After all, teaching soone to fish is better than giving them fish; by empowering them, they could serve Richard even better, benefiting him in the long run.
At this mont, Richard began using so scrap materials to quickly fashion models for the breastplates and helts. Since they were only for the sand casting, they didn’t need to be perfect, and he finished them quickly.
Soon, everything was ready, and the molten iron was prepared.
Richard had the molten iron poured out, and he stirred it with a long rod, checking its flow:
“Rember, if the flow isn’t smooth enough, you need to add so carbon powder!”
As he spoke, he sprinkled a precise amount of carbon powder and stirred it in.
“Rember this flow — keep the carbon powder ratio according to this.”
Then, he added so silica powder:
“Adding silica powder lowers surface tension, increases corrosion resistance, and improves water and fire resistance, as well as oxidation resistance!”
Although silica was a chemical substance, it was also one of the easiest materials for Richard to obtain.
It was abundant in rocks, sand, and dirt — over 90% of the earth’s crust was made up of silicate minerals.
Silicon was the second most common elent in the Earth’s crust, after oxygen, so it was virtually everywhere.
After finishing, Richard had the two blacksmiths pour the molten iron into the prepared molds.
As the white smoke rose, the molds quickly filled up.
Next ca the waiting period for the iron to cool.
Once it had fully cooled, Richard removed the fras, and everyone was stunned by what they saw.
“My god, it actually worked!”
“With this, making 500 sets of breastplates and helts in eighteen days is no problem at all!”
Everyone was overjoyed.
Richard then instructed the head blacksmith to record the casting process in detail.
The blacksmiths treated this knowledge like a precious treasure.
Afterward, Richard left them to their work and walked out of the smithy:
“Send word to Sinton to gather those kids who don’t like studying but know at least three hundred characters. Have them co here to learn blacksmithing and forging!”
Richard needed more literate blacksmiths; it would make things much easier in the future.
Those with no interest in learning were a perfect fit for this job.
As for those who hadn’t even learned three hundred characters, they didn’t deserve to learn the forging trade at all.
Once the Eagle’s Domain prospers, having a skill will be a huge advantage.
But for those who don’t study or acquire any skills, they’ll be left with only the hardest, most basic jobs.
If they want to enjoy the benefits of the domain’s developnt, they’d better not even think about it; they’ll just have to envy others!
As for the campaign against the Swamp Witch, Richard had officially moved it up on the agenda.
He planned to carry out the attack at the beginning of next month, not wanting to wait any longer.
There could only be one master in his territory!
Moreover, from the more detailed information gathered over ti, it seed the Swamp Witch possessed a considerable amount of wealth and food.
And Richard certainly needed to reclaim this wealth and food, which were rightfully part of his territory but currently beyond his control, to fill his own treasury.
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