# Iron



## Tom (Jan 13, 2015)

So...I was wondering if anyone was familiar with blacksmithing/smelting and knew this. I'm looking for the proper term for poor-quality iron--whether iron that was poor-quality to begin with, or has been worked and reworked so much it is too brittle or unable to be shaped correctly. I know there's a word for it, but it keeps eluding me.


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## X Equestris (Jan 13, 2015)

Cast iron is typically brittle, though it doesn't start out that way.  I'm not sure if that helps.  If I find out what iron that starts out poor is called, I'll let you know.


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## 2WayParadox (Jan 13, 2015)

This could be wrong, but the term that comes to mind is 'pig iron'.


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## Ireth (Jan 13, 2015)

2WayParadox said:


> This could be wrong, but the term that comes to mind is 'pig iron'.



I was thinking the same thing.


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## Butterfly (Jan 13, 2015)

Might be Pig Iron


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## psychotick (Jan 13, 2015)

Hi,

Also it can be called slag.

Cheers, Greg.


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## Ireth (Jan 13, 2015)

I thought slag was what the impurities taken from smelted metal are called, not the metal itself.


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## X Equestris (Jan 13, 2015)

Pig Iron comes from smelting iron with a high carbon fuel like coke.  Because it has a very high carbon content, it's brittle and isn't directly useful for much.  I guess it's a sort of intermediate stage.  

It's not naturally occurring, of course.  I can't find any sort of special term for a poor quality iron that hasn't been touched by people.


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## skip.knox (Jan 14, 2015)

I'm not even sure what would qualify as "poor" in this context. Maybe with lousy alloys, but some alloys actually make iron stronger.

Let's back up. Why did you ask the question?


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## Tom (Jan 14, 2015)

Um, the answer's kind of stupid, actually. I'm writing a parody fantasy about a rather sadistic talking sword and the hero it forces to go on a quest with it. At one point, the hero insults the sword, and what better way to insult someone than to question the quality of whatever they came from? 

I decided "scrap metal" sounded too modern, as well as a little weak, so I wanted to know the term for poor-quality iron.

By poor-quality, I mean iron that can't be used in a quality product--whether it's too brittle to be heated to the temperature required for forging, or has an uneven texture that makes it difficult to form into the desired shape. I think the term I was looking for is "red-short".


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## 2WayParadox (Jan 14, 2015)

would readers get that? i wouldn't get it, it would break the flow for me


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## Tom (Jan 14, 2015)

2WayParadox said:


> would readers get that? i wouldn't get it, it would break the flow for me



Yeah...probably not. Maybe I should think of something different. I don't like it when writers use words that you would have no way of knowing unless you read the thesaurus for fun, and I wouldn't like to see the same habit popping up in my own work.


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