Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle has about 35 enjoyable pages on this process, if anyone's interested.
As an aside: I really wish someone would produce The Baroque Cycle as a GoT scale epic.
Wootz steel
11–20 of 47 posts
Re: Wootz steel
#12One of the things that threw me off when watching forging YouTube videos like Alec Steele was that he would take on these historical projects like Renaissance weaponry but using super-modern power hammers and such. But they actually had power hammers in the Renaissance, Wikipedia calls them trip hammers. They didn't appear in Europe until the Middle Ages, but similar devices were used in China 2000 (!) years ago. The…
"They" had analogue computers [1] and steam turbines [2] two millenia ago. Power hammers a few centuries ago seem pretty mild by comparison. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolipile
I don't think I'd really call that a computer any more than I'd call an old watch a computer.
Re: Wootz steel
#13One of the things that threw me off when watching forging YouTube videos like Alec Steele was that he would take on these historical projects like Renaissance weaponry but using super-modern power hammers and such. But they actually had power hammers in the Renaissance, Wikipedia calls them trip hammers. They didn't appear in Europe until the Middle Ages, but similar devices were used in China 2000 (!) years ago. The…
"They" had analogue computers [1] and steam turbines [2] two millenia ago. Power hammers a few centuries ago seem pretty mild by comparison. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolipile
The Aeolipile is notoriously inefficient though.
Re: Wootz steel
#14Re: Wootz steel
#15Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle has about 35 enjoyable pages on this process, if anyone's interested.
As an aside: I really wish someone would produce The Baroque Cycle as a GoT scale epic.
Oh, yeah.
As amazing as the Baroque Cycle Movie or series could be, or Cryptonomicon, or Diamond Age, etc... I'd vote for Seveneves over everything else.
Re: Wootz steel
#16There's a highly entertaining account of the uses and properties of Wootz steel in Neal Stephenson's The Confusion, part of his Baroque Cycle.
(edit - beaten to it - see below)
Re: Wootz steel
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
As an aside: I really wish someone would produce The Baroque Cycle as a GoT scale epic.
Oh, yeah. As amazing as the Baroque Cycle Movie or series could be, or Cryptonomicon, or Diamond Age, etc... I'd vote for Seveneves over everything else.
There was supposed to be a Ron Howard directed version of Seveneves but I think it's been on hold for a few years.
Re: Wootz steel
#18Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle has about 35 enjoyable pages on this process, if anyone's interested.
Stephenson's books are funny. They're totally gripping while I'm reading them, but afterwards I'm never sure if I liked them or not.
I plowed through Quicksilver when it came out and loved it. Some time later I picked up The Confusion and was very excited to get on with the story, until I read the first couple of pages and realized I'd forgotten most of the plot and relationships and would have to reread the first...and the thought of that filled me with dread. I put the whole thing aside and have never regretted it.
Re: Wootz steel
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
"They" had analogue computers [1] and steam turbines [2] two millenia ago. Power hammers a few centuries ago seem pretty mild by comparison. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolipile
I don't think I'd really call that a computer any more than I'd call an old watch a computer.
[deleted]
Re: Wootz steel
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
"They" had analogue computers [1] and steam turbines [2] two millenia ago. Power hammers a few centuries ago seem pretty mild by comparison. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolipile
I don't think I'd really call that a computer any more than I'd call an old watch a computer.
The line is pretty blurry. This (relatively) modern device [0] is a computer although it's probably less complex than some of the ancient ones.