Starting Off With A Blacksmith Workshop - Chapter 28

Chapter 28 Stir-Fried Steel

Li Zhenhua was sitting in the pickup, and Liu Xiaodong was driving.

Guo Shugui was holding a portable camera that he had bought previously. The camera was aimed at Li Zhenhua.

What were the three of them doing? Of course, they were going to buy raw materials. This time, Li Zhenhua wanted to use the most basic thing, a relatively effective knife.

The same company that bought the stainless steel, the same warehouse,

However, they did not ask for much this time. They only bought 15 kilograms of pig iron and some other things as additives. This time, Li Zhenhua really started from scratch.

After buying the raw materials, Li Zhenhua went around the market to buy two large crucibles and an electric furnace that could reach 1,800 degrees Celsius.

With this furnace, his family’s electric bill would be much higher than before.

The three of them strolled around the market all morning, buying everything Li Zhenhua saw or thought of that he thought would be useful.

They returned to the smithy at noon and had a quick meal. As soon as they were finished, the furnace delivery man arrived.

After watching the workers install the furnace and wait for the installers to leave, Li Zhenhua eagerly opened the furnace’s electric switch.

The furnace began to heat. The screen outside showed the temperature inside the furnace.

Lee opened the stove door, took out a kiln, and put some pig iron in it. Then he put the pig iron in the stove and began to heat it.

In his eyes, the real-time display showed the state of the pig iron in the crucible and the temperature.

When the temperature reached 1,563 degrees Celsius, the iron in the crucible was still rectangular,

It began to melt slowly downward, until it was half liquid.

Li Zhenhua quickly took a clip from the side and held the pickaxe with it.

The iron in the crucible turned into a semi-liquid state. The red semi-liquid water swayed in the crucible as Li Zhenhua moved.

Beside the crucible, Li looked inside. The heat of the crucible made his face flush as he approached.

Li took a wrought iron bar from the side and inserted it into the crucible. He began to stir the semi-liquid iron in the crucible.

The pig iron was sufficiently stirred. With Li Zhenhua’s stirring, Li Zhenhua used the blower to blow the wind inside.

Under the instructions of his eyes, he precisely sprinkled a certain amount of mineral powder into it. Then, under Li Zhenhua’s operation, iron, manganese, and carbon oxidation.

Slowly, as the temperature dropped, the half-liquid inside gradually become more viscous.

Li Zhenhua saw the Eye hinting that he should pour out the half-liquid.

When the items were poured out, Li Zhenhua waited for a long time before the iron solidified again.

Looking at the font prompt floating beside the solid, Li Zhenhua knew that he had succeeded this time. He had successfully replicated the stir-fried steel method.

All of Li Zhenhua’s actions were faithfully recorded by Guo Shugui.

Li Zhenhua took the iron block that he had just refined and immediately threw it into the blacksmith furnace to calcine.

After half a day of hard work, Li Zhenhua finally obtained the raw materials for the Hundred Tempered Steel.

It was neither pig iron nor wrought iron, but a stir-fried steel with slightly higher carbon content.

Since he had the raw materials, Li Zhenhua did not intend to wait until tomorrow to start the rest of the process.

Impatient, he took the red-hot stir-fried steel out of the furnace and put it on the air hammer.

A modern blacksmith is bliss. With such a sharp weapon to forge,

If not for the air hammers, the process of their folding and forging of wrought iron was excruciatingly painful and interminable.

Red-hot stir-fried steel, changing shape under the hammer of air, not long,

What had been a rectangle of fried steel was now hammered into a rectangle half as thin as before.

Li again hammered out this rectangle, cutting in the middle with a cutter,

superimpose two rectangles of the same length. Weld the middle with a bit of electrode,

Once again, this raw material went into the blacksmith’s forge. A short time later, it was red-hot again.

Li Zhenhua continued to take out the raw material and repeated his previous actions.

Li Zhenhua worked until seven o’clock before he stopped.

Guo Shugui, who had been filming behind Li Zhenhua, was rubbing his tired arm.

“Fatty, Guoba, that’s all for today. You’ve been following me everywhere.

It’s been a long day. Go home and get some rest.

We’ll do the same thing tomorrow and try to get half the number of forges done in a day.”

Guo Shugui put down the camera and moved it around before saying:

“I really didn’t expect to buy materials in the morning and start work in the afternoon.

I thought you were just getting ready for work today and not officially starting until tomorrow!”

Liu Xiaodong also looked at Li Zhenhua, his eyes revealing the same meaning as Guo Shugui.

“Hahaha, isn’t everything ready? I’m a little anxious.

What I was thinking was that this knife had dragged on for so long. I should hurry up if I could.

We still have to deliver the knife to the organizing committee of the forging competition,

It’s now the middle of the month. We agreed it would be delivered before the end of the month.”

When the two of them heard this, they understood why Li Zhenhua was in such a hurry to start work.

“Alright, you’re anxious now. I didn’t see you so anxious when you were working on that batch of knives!”

Liu Xiaodong complained to Li Zhenhua with a teasing expression.

When Guo Shugui heard what Liu Xiaodong said, he looked at him a little disapproving. “If you are talking about Huazi, just bring it out to the open Huazi. Why are you talking about table knives!”

He had told the two of them that he would make arrangements for tomorrow, but at this moment, they were bickering again.

Looking at the two of them fighting at the side, Li Zhenhua didn’t have the energy to persuade them anymore.

He felt drained after a busy day. Nothing physical, but mentally exhausted.

“Alright, you two stay here. When you leave, remember to close the shutters.

I won’t stay with you. I have to get some sleep. It’s been a long day.”

With that, Li Zhenhua went up to the second floor. Not long after, Li Zhenhua fell asleep.

And the two people downstairs, seeing Li Zhenhua so tired,

It did take some getting used to. He usually looked like he was fighting for his life, which wasn’t often.

“Sigh, Fatty, let’s buy Hua Zi something to eat.

He’s gone to bed at this hour. He hasn’t had dinner yet!”

Liu Xiaodong looked at Guo Shugui and replied to him as if they were heroes.

“You’re such a clever boy. How did you manage to agree with me?”

When Guo Shugui heard this, he immediately couldn’t take it anymore.

He was on the same level as Principal Wang, but this fatty actually said that his thoughts were the same as his?

“Hurry up, or I’ll have the construction site stop using your materials tomorrow!”

With that, Guo Shugui’s face seemed to mean ‘c’mon, beg me!’.