Chapter Twenty: Rarity Begets Value (Please Continue Reading)

After Qin Jun had turned the iron pot over and over, examining it thoroughly, Qin Han finally spoke hesitantly.

“It’s done, isn’t it? Didn’t you see it?”

Qin Jun looked at Qin Han, surprised, though he wasn’t quite sure what he was so amazed about.

“Can we keep making more?” Qin Han asked cautiously.

“Why not? These cast iron pots don’t mind being made in multiples,” Qin Jun replied.

By now, Qin Jun was certain this was cast iron, with a relatively high carbon content. The iron in the trough was brittle and prone to breaking.

“Then let’s continue!” Qin Han said with a smile.

Qin Jun smiled even more. It was rare to find such enthusiastic help. With such good employees, why not put them to good use?

He directed Qin Han to operate the bellows while selecting suitable steel slag to continue smelting. Once enough slag was added, they waited for it to melt before removing impurities.

While waiting, Qin Jun took out a file and began refining the iron pot. The cast pot needed the pouring gate smoothed and the rim filed flat.

“Xiao Jun, making these iron pots doesn’t seem that hard, does it?” Qin Han asked between bellows pulls.

“It’s not hard at all. The difficult part is making the mold, and of course, refining the ore is another matter. If you have scrap iron, it’s a lot easier,” Qin Jun explained.

He didn’t mind teaching Qin Han because the young man was earnest and trustworthy—no fear of the apprentice starving the master.

Still, Qin Han wouldn’t master it quickly. Don’t be fooled by how simple it seemed; Qin Jun had decades of experience.

Qin Jun had some skill in alloy refining—at least in judging molten iron temperature and removing bubbles.

This kind of knowledge couldn’t be learned from words alone; one had to get hands-on, experimenting and feeling their way through the process.

It also required talent and dedication; without those, no amount of instruction would suffice.

By the time the second batch of molten iron was ready and the mold prepped again, they were ready to pour.

The advantage of a fixed mold was reusability.

After pouring the molten iron and letting it cool, they returned the crucible to the furnace for reheating. Qin Jun stopped Qin Han from adding more scrap steel this time—he needed pure iron oxide.

Using iron oxide meant Qin Jun intended to smelt steel directly!

Clearly, slag that could produce cast iron directly was unsuitable.

Cast iron and steel are both alloys but differ in mechanical strength and castability.

The key difference lies in carbon content.

Steel contains less than 2.0% carbon, while cast iron’s carbon content is higher, making it hard and brittle with almost no plasticity.

Cast iron usually contains 90%–95% iron, with various impurities.

Besides carbon content ranging from 3% to 4.5%, it also includes small amounts of silicon, manganese, sulfur, and phosphorus.

Steel, on the other hand, is an iron-carbon alloy with carbon content between 0.03% and 2%.

Iron-carbon alloys with 2%–4.3% carbon are classified as cast iron.

Therefore, to smelt steel directly, one needs pure iron ore, which was quite challenging for Qin Jun.

However, the materials Qin Jun had on hand clearly had a high carbon content, making them more suitable for high-carbon steel.

Of course, this also depended on luck, as they couldn’t test the carbon content precisely.

“Hold on, didn’t you say we needed crowbars? Let’s make the molds first, and you can sift the sand!” Qin Jun suggested.

“Huh? Crowbars? We don’t need those. I think we should just keep making iron pots!” Qin Han replied excitedly, glancing at the large fifty-centimeter diameter iron pot before getting back to work.

He had just seen how easy it was to make the pots, and he felt confident he could handle it.

Sure enough, his instincts were right.

They cleaned the molds, firmly secured them, and stoked the fire.

Once the iron melted, they poured it into the molds, and after cooling, opened them to reveal large iron pots.

Such a pot was incredibly useful in rural households.

For instance, having one justified splitting the family household.

Many believed that in families with many sons, even when the grandchildren were already in their late teens, the parents clung to financial control, reluctant to divide the household.

But often, it wasn’t like that; parents were willing to divide, but splitting required pots and pans—things that cost money.

For example, iron pots weren’t just expensive; they required industrial coupons.

Since the 1960s, many light industrial products required industrial coupons for purchase.

Items like bicycles, sewing machines, watches, antimony pots, iron pots, enamel basins, wool yarn, and mosquito nets.

Due to insufficient production and high demand, rationing was imposed in urban areas from the 1960s.

The government issued daily industrial goods purchase coupons, also called industrial coupons.

At that time, buying a bicycle required 12 coupons, a sewing machine 8, a watch 5, and an enamel basin half a coupon.

On the black market, coupons sold for over 2 yuan each.

So, even without considering industrial coupons, the price in cash was steep.

A simple thin iron basin, structurally simpler, cost two yuan during that period.

Even a 39-centimeter diameter basin for mixing dough cost 2.58 yuan.

Qin Jun recalled that in their area, a common 49-centimeter diameter iron pot required two industrial coupons, due to a local iron pot manufacturer.

Its price was around 3.80 yuan per pot.

Finished steel then cost about 0.30 yuan per jin (half a kilogram), and a 49-centimeter iron pot used only about 3.3 jin of iron.

Scrap iron cost mere pennies per jin in rural areas—three to five cents was common.

Even calculating at steel prices, 3.3 jin at 0.30 yuan per jin meant the iron cost little over one yuan.

Adding labor, coal, and tool wear, the production cost was still minimal.

The more produced, the lower the cost per unit.

By this logic, making a pot by hand wouldn’t cost even one yuan.

With such low costs, selling for four yuan without industrial coupons would be a lucrative business.

Unfortunately, that would be considered profiteering and speculation.

They could establish a collective enterprise to sell openly, but was that necessary?

They would see as things progressed; if needed, it could be done.

Thus, Qin Han’s suggestion wasn’t bad, but scaling up now was impossible.

Making a few for friends and family was feasible.

After producing four solid iron pots, Qin Jun stopped, knowing scarcity increased value.

“It’s enough. It’s getting dark soon,” Qin Jun said, emptying a wooden trough nearby.

Exposed were some iron chunks he had set aside—high carbon cast iron that could be decarburized.

If only he had wrought iron, adding carbon directly could produce high- or medium-carbon steel.

Low-carbon iron is wrought iron; high-carbon iron is cast iron.

Cast iron is hard but brittle, making pots prone to breaking.

Also, cast iron pots conduct heat poorly, requiring high heat.

These were drawbacks, but cast iron’s high carbon content gave food a unique smoky flavor when cooking.

That alone made many choose cast iron pots for frying.

Thus, all the pots Qin Jun made were cast iron.

Cast iron steelmaking was an oxidation process.

The principle was that at high temperatures, oxygen reacted with carbon in molten iron.

This produced carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide gases, reducing carbon content and decarburizing the iron.

But how much carbon was removed and how long it took were tricky questions, relying on experience.

Qin Jun had plenty of experience; he only needed to roughly gauge the carbon content.

This required more trials, just a bit more time wasted.

By the firelight, he added all remaining cast iron to the crucible.

Heating had to be slow and steady.

When ready, he could pour directly.

He had already sketched many strip molds in the sand.

Several sizes—thin ones about a centimeter in diameter, thick ones up to three centimeters—mostly for making chisels, gouges, and chiseling knives.

If hardness was sufficient, Qin Jun even planned to make some qualified drill bits.

This time, the process was faster; after pouring and slight solidification, the pieces could be quenched.

After quenching, they could be tempered by reheating and then forged.

Soon, several pointed chisels and flat gouges were made.

They were simple because a few hammer blows sufficed.

“We still need to make a few hammer heads!” Qin Jun said.

Having finished a gouge with a three-centimeter-wide blade, he glanced at his axe.

The iron was poor quality and heavily worn.

“Hey? Lao San, you made all this at home this afternoon?” Qin Jun’s sister-in-law, Yang Yuanyuan, entered at that moment.