I may have missed something - My one curiosity would be if his decision to not fold, but just straight mash the bits of steel together was not skipping a crucial step - folding to ensuring uniformity. Would that not make the sword have weak spots here and there?
Guy makes a knife from scratch. He has to make a smelter first.
131–139 of 139 posts
Re: Guy makes a knife from scratch. He has to make a smelter first.
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
Be careful - some knives, such as switchblades and dirks/double-edged knives, are illegal/restricted in a lot of places.
I think it's funny that in most of America, someone with a permit can carry a brace of automatic pistols and enough extra magazines to mow through a dozen preschool classes; but brass knuckles and spring-opening knives are still off-limits.
spring OR gravity-assisted knives.
Yup. That's a silly law. Really, really silly.
Re: Guy makes a knife from scratch. He has to make a smelter first.
#133It's reasons like this, that I really wonder if someone from today were to time travel into the past if anything they know would be useful at all. Medieval people would probably think we're all idiots.
That would very much depend on the situation and the people involved of course.
Someone with a deep and practical (practical being the important part here) knowledge of chemistry at the right place and right time? Could be extremely useful - he should have a leg up on the local alchemist.
A doctor, again with a good practical edge. Just being aware of bacteria and it's dangers, and using cleaner techniques would have changed everything. Discover antibiotics? Pure magic.
Joe average? Computer programmer? Probably fall into the "idiot" category unless you're good at killing people or politics.
Re: Guy makes a knife from scratch. He has to make a smelter first.
#134I may have missed something - My one curiosity would be if his decision to not fold, but just straight mash the bits of steel together was not skipping a crucial step - folding to ensuring uniformity. Would that not make the sword have weak spots here and there?
He folded five times.
Re: Guy makes a knife from scratch. He has to make a smelter first.
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
Be careful - some knives, such as switchblades and dirks/double-edged knives, are illegal/restricted in a lot of places.
I think it's funny that in most of America, someone with a permit can carry a brace of automatic pistols and enough extra magazines to mow through a dozen preschool classes; but brass knuckles and spring-opening knives are still off-limits.
Many laws in the US regarding weapons were motivated by racial and economics tensions, as in people were worried about disenfranchised groups acquiring weapons and revolting. Maybe that has something to do with it?
> automatic pistols
Automatic guns are extremely expensive and hard to get because none manufactured after 1986 can be sold to civilians. They are rarely used in crimes. Automatic weapons are not magic killing machines. They are excellent ways to turn money into noise but have limited tactical use, suppression fire, etc.
Re: Guy makes a knife from scratch. He has to make a smelter first.
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's funny that in most of America, someone with a permit can carry a brace of automatic pistols and enough extra magazines to mow through a dozen preschool classes; but brass knuckles and spring-opening knives are still off-limits.
Many laws in the US regarding weapons were motivated by racial and economics tensions, as in people were worried about disenfranchised groups acquiring weapons and revolting. Maybe that has something to do with it? > automatic pistols Automatic guns are extremely expensive and hard to get because none manufactured after 1986 can be sold to civilians. They are rarely used in crimes. Automatic weapons are not magic kil…
I think your first guess is correct. Machine guns are owned by rich enthusiasts, brass knuckles are owned by poor thugs. It's implicitly discriminatory, although any rich switchblade enthusiasts are simply out of luck.
Re: Guy makes a knife from scratch. He has to make a smelter first.
#137I remember a cooperative online game, with a mostly text-only interface, in which you could build smelters and tools and climb gradually the tech tree. It was very detailed and interesting but I lost track of its name and URL. Does it ring a bell for anybody?
Dwarf Fortress, perhaps?
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Re: Guy makes a knife from scratch. He has to make a smelter first.
#138I remember a cooperative online game, with a mostly text-only interface, in which you could build smelters and tools and climb gradually the tech tree. It was very detailed and interesting but I lost track of its name and URL. Does it ring a bell for anybody?
Sounds like my own game, Shintolin ( http://www.shintolin.co.uk ). It was a mostly text-based multiplayer game set in the stone age, where players started from scratch but could gradually develop the tools to build a village and farm. I planned to have a whole technology progression through bronze and iron age technology, but I stopped working on it a while ago (it still has a few players though). Don't know if it's…
That's not it, but thanks for the input. It's interesting that you've released the source.
Re: Guy makes a knife from scratch. He has to make a smelter first.
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is finding a way to turn dross into gold or purchase eternal life really science? Taoist alchemy may have been more philosophical in nature, but western alchemy was pretty goal oriented without much mindfulness about science as a higher level process. They weren't trying to understand how nature works, they were trying to enrich themselves. Very different.
You have a "Hollywood" view of alchemy. Most of the people who did it did not realistically expect to succeed. But they continued anyway. History is full of people who did all sorts of experiments to try to understand how the world works. It is not necessary to have a goal "understand this" in order to do science, it's enough to have a goal "what happens if I do this". If I do an experiment and find an interesting re…
I'll ignore your undignified cheap shot. Without understanding this as a conscious goal then a directed systematic inquiry that becomes highly integrated into culture and the economic system will not develop. Inventing the printing press, for example, without a sufficiently rich ecosystem in which it can nurture and grow prevented any catalytic effects that might have otherwise formed.