Forge

[SalsAmorim 1]

Is there any specific reason why the forge cant melt ores it can melt an ingot so why not ores?

[Koljan 1]

Is there any specific reason why the forge cant melt ores it can melt an ingot so why not ores?

the reason is it's not intended to do so, you have bloomery for ore smelting

[mayaknife 82]

Smelting is not the same as melting. The metal in ore is (usually) chemically bound to other elements, in particular oxygen. To get the oxygen out you need provide some other element that it will combine with more readily than the metal that you're trying to extract. Pure carbon fits the bill and charcoal is very close to being pure carbon. That's why you dump charcoal into the bloomery along with the ore rather than just feeding it separately as fuel: the charcoal is both fuel and deoxidizing agent.

That also explains why you cannot use coal in a bloomery: it has too many impurities, some of which will combine the metal you are trying to extract and others of which will combine with the carbon in the coal, thereby preventing it from leeching the oxygen out of the ore.

If TFC wanted to be realistic (as opposed to believable) then it should be possible to extract all of the "native" ores - native copper, native gold, etc - in a forge since "native" means that the metal is already close to being pure, so all that is required is to melt it out of the ore.

[dunkleosteus 2,425]

IRL bloomeries are used exclusively for ferrous ores, because the chemical reaction for iron ore (or at least one of the ores, don't ask which) is

2 Fe2O3 + 3 C --> 4 Fe + 3 CO2

The Iron oxide combines with the carbon to produce pure iron and carbon dioxide.

(This is also why bloomeries IRL require charcoal and not coal from the earth: only charcoal is pure enough. It's a rule we borrowed for gameplay purposes)

Forges can't perform the chemical reaction and are open to the air, so the reaction wouldn't happen properly.

[MagusUnion 12]

For some reason, I never put two and two together in my head as far as how chemical reactions occurred in the smelting process. Course, this also means that metal refining is a prime contributor to global warming, but I doubt it's nearly on the scale of the fossil fuel power plants.

Thanks for that formula post, btw!

[Gwtheyrn 70]

Uh, yeah... Ever been to a town with a steel mill, especially an aged one? They're pretty filthy.

[MagusUnion 12]

Uh, yeah... Ever been to a town with a steel mill, especially an aged one? They're pretty filthy.

The South doesn't have that much Steel. They have cottom mills, racism, and sweet tea... But mostly racism...