Noah (while we started the woodstove): Can fire do anything to metal?
Dad: It can melt it, if it is hot enough.
Noah (wide-eyed): So, you could melt the metal into a sword?
Noah then relays the conversation to Jonathan, who is taking a bath.
After some discussion about where one might get metal to melt, and Jonathan thinking that maybe the combination of our woodstove and the MAPP gas torch would get the metal hot enough, Noah comes back. After each question below, Noah consulted with Jonathan and then came back with a new question.
Noah: Could you use metal pipe to make a sword?
Dad: I guess so.
Noah: Do we have any silver pipes?
Dad: No.
Noah: How about silver colored?
Dad: Yes, we have some steel pipes.
Noah: How long are the pipes?
Dad: Around 6 feet.
That was enough to get Jonathan out of the bath (where he had the tub completely filled and was "practicing floating").
Jonathan: Can we melt the pipes today?
Dad: I don't think we have a fire hot enough to melt the pipes into liquid.
Jonathan: We don't need to melt them into liquid, just make the soft enough to hammer into the right shape. (*swish* *swish* as the imaginary sword is swung around.) Umm... we wouldn't use the swords to hurt anyone.
5 minutes later:
Jonathan: I wonder why no one has thought of impact exploding arrows. That way, no one can send them back to you... unless the impact isn't hard enough. The way it would work is that there would be some gun powder and then something that moves forward really quickly when the arrow hits its target, since I know that when something hits gunpowder it explodes.
Also, speaking of arrows, I don't understand why flaming arrows don't go out by the wind, even on in the calmest day, just with flying there should be enough wind to make the flame go out. Do you know why?
Posted by
Jon Daley on
April 19, 2011, 10:33 am
| Read 2652 times
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Yellow Pages. "B" for blacksmith.
Just saw a video of a smithy today at work. If Jonathan gets into it, and thinks of how to automate the process, he could be very successful!
Also, isn't Grayson (?) (Uncle Jay's brother-in-law, I think) a blacksmithy kind of dude? Might be worth a visit during the Maggie P. vacation!
Speaking of videos: here's our corporate video with lots of glowing metal.
Nice video! It's great to see what you are up to. :) Plenty of cool (hot) glowing metal, indeed. Is it really made in Switzerland? If so, I am encouraged!
The narration caught my ear, too. Flawless English, and yet at the same time clearly (to me) not written by a native speaker. At least not a native speaker of American English, although I would have called the accent "standard American newscaster." Except for the pronunciation of "laboratory," that is.
Yes, it's made in Switzerland, though by now we belong to a German group that has steel mills in Germany, France, Switzerland, Canada, and the USA. Still, we're Swiss, we're red hot, and we're profitable.
"Except for the pronunciation of 'laboratory,' that is." - and "process."
Maybe he's "standard British newscaster"
Maybe he's "standard British newscaster."
Maybe, but he doesn't sound like the BBC broadcasters I've heard. I'd call it bland American.
I'm very glad to hear that "real stuff" can still be profitably be made somewhere other than China.
Ahh, I remember the pipe sword days! You need to bring Jonathan over here some time so that I can show him how it works!