Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century: Some Contemporary European Accounts c24.32

c24.32

25. Some native made iron which I have met with was difficult to forge, from its cracking very much under the hammer at the edges of the bar, though not otherwise deficient in tenacity; but as such iron is not common, I have not had opportunities of examining it properly. The native workmen say, that iron of this kind is quite as ductile as any other if it is forged with bamboo charcoal. Should this be a fact, it seems to be well worth the attention of chemists, considering that the coat of the bamboo contains much finely divided silica, and remembering that the English smiths, when welding together steel and iron, use freely large quantities of a white quartzose sand. It is probable that it is this last kind of Indian iron, which has by some been called ‘red short’, which is however a mistake. The English red short iron snapping off like a carrot when bent.