Chapter 48 [Furnace is busy with shopping]
These copper ingots were smelted yesterday. They were long strips, like firewood, irregular and flat, and piled up in a small pile in the grass shed.
Beside it is a rugged square tripod, the surface is covered with large and small bubble holes, and a few pieces are missing, like a black hard rag after heavy use.
Fang Chang calculated the amount of fuel left in the charcoal pool, and slowly totaled it in his mind. Regarding the idea and plan of casting the tripod first, he was going to let go first.
As the saying goes:
If a worker wants to do a good job, he must first sharpen his tools.
As the saying goes:
Sharpening a knife does not mistake woodcutters.
Fang Chang is going to make some tools first, and then use these tools to improve the quality of labor, so as to ensure the production of this cooker.
He began to list in his mind again, what kind of work he needs to do next, and what tools are needed in these jobs.
First of all, it is the stone ax used to pull the tree, it is best to replace it.
The metal ax is much more efficient, and the shape of the ax is thick and strong, simple in shape, suitable for casting, as long as it is strong enough, it is not easy to make a failed product that is easy to break.
The board has always been the short board in Fang Chang’s work. If you don’t want to use an ax to chop slowly, and a tree can only produce one board, a bronze saw is definitely a necessity.
Because it is necessary to stagger the saw teeth left and right to avoid the phenomenon of sawing, this work is not simple and has a lot of technical content.
Aside from that, a shovel is great.
Always use stone flakes to dig the soil, which is not very efficient. Although Fang Chang doubts that if he uses his ten fingers to dig the soil without tools, the speed will be faster than the excavator, but the posture will be too indecent.
Thinking about it, I bend down on the ground like a cat or a rabbit, planing vigorously with both hands, digging up and throwing a flow of soil like a fountain, pouring into the air behind me, gradually piled up mounds of soil...
That was horrible.
If you have enough time and energy, you can also try a plane and a mine draft. The former can be used to plan and polish the wood boards, and the latter can save the need to use an ax to strike when mining.
Walking into the straw shed, he picked up the failed Fang Ding from yesterday, and Fang Chang hit it with his right palm.
Bang—! Boom!
The proportion of copper and tin in this bronze is very good. It took a little effort to smash the copper tripod into a small pile of bronze blocks. Put them together with the copper ingots. They will all be the raw materials for casting tools.
Fang Chang learns to be good this time, and considers making an ax first.
He is not familiar with this, and he does not know how to prepare molding sand, Fang Chang finally chose a rather old method:
Using loess as a model.
Find the material and take it with a back basket. Fang Chang splits the bamboo into thin bamboo strips, crosses them into a dense grid, and then wraps the top side to weave a round sieve.
Through the excavated pile of loess, use this sieve to filter out the gravel, sticks and other sundries, and the rest is the fine loess as fine as sand.
In this day and age, this is probably a common practice.
Find a piece of wood and chop it into the shape of an axe, leave a hole in the handle of the axe, and beat it in the loess to make the loess firm. The next step is relatively simple. Dry the soil with fire to remove moisture to prevent air bubbles and holes, burn the wooden mold in it, and blow off the ashes.
Start the furnace and light the fire.
Several pieces of bronze are put into the pot and calcined together in the furnace. Since the melting point of bronze is relatively low, a pot of copper juice can be obtained soon.
Fang Chang reached into the furnace and picked up the jar.
Pour the copper juice into the reserved pouring hole, and the air holes in the reserved sheet play a role. Fang Chang took back the jar until the copper juice flowed out of the hole, and put it in the fire to keep warm.
One of the disadvantages of this kind of mold is that they are all disposable items. Once used, you need to smash a carefully crafted outer mold. Fortunately, Fang Chang never lacks time and energy.
...
…
After casting those tools, after trimming, installing accessories, and polishing, they become objects that can be used officially.
The stone ax was thrown into the corner of the bamboo and wood hut, and was no longer cared for. A bronze ax with a wooden handle installed, polished and shining with metallic luster completely replaced its previous function and status.
In addition, Fang Chang simply made a cooking utensil.
Copper grill.
This is very simple, draw a groove on the ground, pour copper juice on it,
Finally, a web-shaped structure is produced, which can be easily installed in the firepit, and can effectively cook food that needs to be grilled by fire. It can bake a variety of foods at one time, which is efficient and convenient.
Because bronze requires a higher temperature and is not afraid of wood fire, the safety performance of this grill is very reliable.
Fang Chang used it that day. He put the barbecue grill in the firepit in the house, and used it to grill meat slices, ribs, vegetables, etc., and he was quite satisfied.
After the meal was full, he went to sleep.
The next day, Fang Chang started to make Fang Ding molds.
In fact, at this time, the proportion of bronze ingredients has been adjusted to an appropriate level. The last furnace in a short period of time is also very good for casting swords, but Fang Chang is not prepared to do so—he is now more interested in tripods than in swords. Much bigger.
After all, swords cannot be eaten.
Tried a new saw and plane, and made a small piece of wood as a template. Fang Chang made an upside-down cast tripod mold in the field next to the new kiln. It has been baked to remove the moisture in the loess, leaving the pouring sprue riser, and the ventilation hole diversion groove, which is much more perfect than the previous one.
Using the last batch of charcoal in the charcoal pool, Fang Chang melted two more copper ingots to carry out the final step of casting in the plan.
This time the finished product is excellent.
After pulling the tripod out of the soil, Fang Chang held it and spun it in his hand, looked it up and down, and was very satisfied with it.
In the sun, although the castings will be a little rough, the bronze still shows a bright color. The rectangular tripod body is equipped with four tripod legs. Although it is small in size, it is very dignified. Add a touch of art.
Flicked it with your fingers, and the sound was clear, which proved that there were no dark lines.
"It's done!"
He is very happy, now finally has a new version of the cooker.
Take it to the stream beside Xianqi Cliff, and use stones to polish it briefly, revealing the golden color of bronze.
If there is a newer generation of cooking tools and this small tripod is eliminated, you can consider building a stone platform and place the bronze tripod on it as a work of art.
Fang Chang was right in front of the new kiln. After cleaning the place, he propped up the Fang Ding and lit a fire underneath.
The tripod with feet is used as a cooking tool, with its own support, which can save the feet, which is quite convenient in some cases.
He filled the tripod with water, boiled it, and reconfirmed that the tripod was intact.
Then stewed a bamboo rat.
This bamboo rat was very lucky to be selected by Fang Chang. As the pot for the tripod, it was very delicious.
Thank you for my helplessness*Create a reward
(end of this chapter)