Day 75 of Banishment: Iron Production (1)
And so, several golems descended into the waterfall basin.
With fine bubbles rising from the clay plates, the golems easily gathered the iron sand from the clear waterbed. The jars, filled with sand rich in iron, were passed from one golem standing waist-deep in the basin to another on dry land, quickly transporting the load out of the water.
"This is really quite a lot of iron sand… How efficient, it's truly helpful."
Marylia, glancing into the jar, smiled broadly. She plunged her hand into the jar, taking a handful of the iron sand and letting it spill back, admiring the high purity. With this, gathering iron sand was now significantly simpler.
"… If we ever need to gather iron sand on a larger scale, I could build a dam upstream to store water, break up plenty of rocks to extract the iron sand, and then release it all at once. It would all flow right down here. Haha…"
Marylia, in an excellent mood, watched as more and more iron sand accumulated.
This iron sand would need one or two passes through a sluice to remove remaining impurities, but that was manageable.
… Charcoal was now ready, and iron sand was nearly there.
Yes. Marylia was already on the cusp of her first attempt at iron production.
With the golems handling the iron sand collection, she returned to her base to start building a furnace for smelting.
… Of course, she would begin with a relatively small furnace. For now, the amounts of charcoal and iron sand collected were still modest, so a small furnace suited the purpose.
"With enough iron sand to fill about three jars, I suppose this furnace size should do."
Marylia marked the ground with a branch, setting out the dimensions of the furnace.
Though not overly large, the furnace would have height, reaching about shoulder height on Marylia. She envisioned a structure where she herself could comfortably fit inside.
"I’ll need an outlet for impurities as they build up, and also a blower… oh, a bellows is essential now. I’ll make one. We have some wooden boards that washed up, so maybe I can combine those with leather… or would all-leather work better…?"
There were various necessary preparations for building the furnace, one of which was crafting the bellows.
Increasing the furnace temperature requires airflow. The method of airflow becomes crucial for iron production.
"One day, I’d love to have a foot-pedal-operated bellows…"
Humming “bellows, bellows…” like a chant, Marylia began kneading the clay to shape the furnace.
Much like a furnace for pottery, the smelting furnace would be built from clay. Layering up the clay, she had to wait for each layer to dry to prevent the weight from causing a collapse, which naturally took time. Especially for a tall furnace, the process was slow.
While the furnace setup took time, she could work on the bellows.
"Bellows, bellows… hmm, how shall I do this… it’s really all about the design…"
Indeed, crafting the bellows was a challenge!
Specifically… the idea alone was already a hurdle!
A bellows is a tool for air supply, essential for iron production.
But making one was no small task!
A bellows must include an "air outlet," a "collapsible structure to compress air," and… a "valve that opens for intake and closes to prevent air leakage except through the outlet."
… To meet these needs with a simple structure, an animal leather bag was likely the best option.
By creating a bag with two open ends, one could serve as the air outlet, while the other could be widened for intake and squeezed shut for airflow. Compressing this air-filled bag to push out air would serve as the most primitive bellows.
But naturally, such a crude tool would hardly suffice for iron production!
To improve the design a bit, she could try a slightly more refined version.
In this next primitive type, a pair of boards could compress a leather bag, streamlining the airflow. By adding holes in the leather and attaching a flap of leather that could open and close as needed, the bag would be able to handle air intake as well.
… So, with that, it’s not bad at all. However, having multiple units will definitely be necessary. Fortunately, there's plenty of leather, and with all the golems, there’s no shortage of labor or materials to operate the bellows.
… Developing this bellows a bit further in another direction brings us to the box bellows.
The box bellows involves a single board tightly sealing the inside of a box. Moving a rod attached to this board compresses the air inside… essentially, it’s a piston.
In the past, Marylia played with a water gun by poking a small hole on one end of a wooden tube, then pushing a piston from the other end to squirt water… and, just like that, air could be directed.
Also, by placing the air outlet not at the board’s end but somewhere around the middle of the box, and adding an intake valve alongside the board’s sealing surface, the bellows would blow air both when pushing and pulling the rod.
… If further developed, it could become a foot-operated version or even a larger model with multiple people stomping on it to blow air. The problem here, however, is the balance between the technology and materials needed to make these bellows.
If it’s a basic bellows made of just a leather pouch, it can be made right away. Poke a hole in the leather, insert an air outlet made from clay or carved wood, and seal the joint with resin adhesive—that should suffice.
However, if attempting the type with boards on either side, then… nails or rivets would almost certainly be required, to secure the leather to the wooden boards.
Alternatively, without joining the leather pouch to the wooden board, it might be better to hinge two short sides of the wooden boards together. But that would also require metalwork!
And needless to say, we lack the materials and tools for making large bellows. Bellows are devices for sending air, so they must be made airtight. Crafting precisely fitting surfaces and edges with a stone ax and wood is extremely difficult!
… So, after much thought…
"Thank goodness these boxes washed up…"
Marylia decided to make a box bellows using the washed-up boxes!
Using a washed-up wooden box, she would drill holes, insert a straight rod, attach a board as a piston… and create both an intake and an outlet.
For the intake valve, she would use leather. The piston board needs to move air, but if it’s too snug in the box, it won’t move. So, she decided to wrap fur around the board, tightly blocking the air path while allowing some movement.
The boxes were s ready. She thought she’d use a previously washed-up oar handle as the rod. The board could be shaved down to size from the newly washed-up material. There was enough fur to make it work.
The air outlet could be made from pottery. Extending it with mortar would allow air to be directed into the furnace.
She’d try it like this, and if it didn’t work…
“… If it fails, I'll stuff it with a slime.”
Recalling the slimes that jiggled around, Marylia smiled.
Packing slimes is a simple yet effective way to prevent leakage of liquids or gases!
… And thus, on the 78th day of her banishment.
“It’s finally done~”
Marylia had managed to complete about three box bellows!
Though she used washed-up wooden boxes, unfortunately, the boxes had some gaps. So, she covered every gap by smearing them with mortar.
She painstakingly carved the intake and outlet holes with an obsidian knife. For the valve, she used the soft, tanned leather she had on hand, attached with resin adhesive, but decided to pack slimes if the leather valve failed!
“Mm-hmm… Yes, it’s sending air just fine.”
The large wooden boxes, originally meant for storing cargo, moved a good amount of air. Marylia felt quite satisfied…
“Oh.”
…ˇBut there were limits.
As expected… after a dozen cycles of blowing and intake, unfortunately, the adhesive gave way, and the valve stopped working!
“Ah, it seems the valve broke. Well, just sticking it on with adhesive… it was bound to come loose…”
Marylia sighed. She’d expected this, so it wasn’t too shocking. Still, it was disappointing.
… Ideally, she would’ve liked to fasten the leather valve with rivets, but there were none to be made. Trying to secure it with wooden screws or pegs was also a challenge. This was inevitable.
…S o.
“Well, that’s fine. Let’s stuff it with slimes.”
*Jiggle*
… Without hesitation, Marylia stuffed in a slime! Though the slime might’ve been irritated, Marylia wasn’t concerned about such things!
When she moved the rod of the box bellows back and forth, during intake, the slime would “pop” out for intake, and for blowing, it would “squish!” as it blocked the air outlet, creating a seal.
Testing it, Marylia smiled, “Oh, this works well!” feeling delighted.
… Meanwhile, the slime inside the box repeated “pop” and “squish” endlessly, neither thinking nor not thinking.
"Well, the bellows are complete! Let’s start smelting iron~!"
Thus, the box bellows, containing two trapped slimes, were connected to the smelting furnace… and so, iron production was about to begin!
What do you think about this chapter?
