With this success, Ed had more confidence in iron smelting and future steelmaking. Upon returning to the castle, he immediately began to improve upon the shortcomings of the previous attempt.
First, the site should be chosen in a relatively large location, preferably near a water source for easy access to water later. A large rain shelter also needs to be built; otherwise, it will be very inconvenient when it rains.
Next time, the furnace can't be made for one-time use. The furnace needs to be made taller. We need to fire some bricks first to build the blast furnace, and then fill it with high-temperature resistant clay and other materials.
Slopes and platforms should be built around the furnace to facilitate the transportation of ore raw materials, which will greatly reduce the amount of work involved in feeding. The air inlet, slag outlet, and iron tapping outlet at the bottom of the furnace should be designed with reasonable positions, and the exterior should be reinforced and waterproofed.
Regarding the disposal of slag, Ed could only think of paving roads for the time being. Breaking up the slag and then using it for paving should work, right? Ed wasn't really sure.
Regarding the issue of turning pig iron into wrought iron, Ed plans to continue melting the pig iron and adding iron ore powder while stirring. This method is many times faster than iron smelted by constantly hammering.
Once iron becomes readily available, the production of farm tools can be accelerated. Ed's main goal now is to reclaim more wasteland and grow more food.
As for the uses of pig iron, Ed only plans to cast iron pots and kettles for now, anything that's better than the current containers. But these things aren't urgent; he'll finish modifying the farm tools first.
However, Smith alone certainly couldn't build this large blast furnace; Roderick's help would be needed.
"Adelaide, go and call Roderick over. I need to speak with him about something," Ed said to Adelaide, who was boiling water.
"Yes, Master." Adelaide put down the jar and ran outside.
Roderick arrived shortly after. "My lord, you summoned me?"
"Yes, Roderick, I have some questions for you. Sit down," Ed said, gesturing for Roderick to sit.
"You mentioned last time that there's a type of clay that hardens after firing. I wonder how it is now?"
"My lord, yes, I think we can use this as stone, shape it into stone, and then harden it by firing it. That way, we won't have to go through the trouble of collecting stones. However, there is a problem now. Not all the fired stones are hard. Some are very brittle and break easily. Some are also strange and no longer look like stone."
Listening to Roderick's words, Ed knew that the clay was simply dug out and used without undergoing forging, crushing, or other processes, resulting in a high level of impurities and uneven distribution within the clay.
"Well, Roderick, this problem is easy to solve. After you dig out the clay, you need to pound it repeatedly like you are smelting iron, then pick out some impurities, and then leave it outside for a while. Just before you're ready to fire it, add water and shape it as needed."
It's actually just the pottery making technique. The territory may have been quite backward a long time ago, and many things were replaced, so no one knew these making techniques.
However, Ed has no interest in making pottery right now; he'll just make porcelain when he needs it in the future.
"My lord, is this alright?" Roderick asked, somewhat puzzled.
Ed didn't answer. Instead, he took out a parchment, pointed to a pattern on it, and continued speaking to Roderick:
"Yes, make a few more like this, then make the clay as I told you, shape it with this mold, and then fire it. I've named the finished product 'brick'."
"Yes, my lord, I will do as you say."
Ed looked at him and said:
"Yes, we need a lot of these bricks right now, so you need to get them done as soon as possible."