A short, stocky, dark-skinned middle-aged man was working with two teenage apprentices in the shed, and the sledgehammer was tinkling and smashing a piece of copper, and the sparks were flying around, no different from the blacksmiths of later generations.

After two minutes of smashing, the temperature of the copper block dropped, and the middle-aged blacksmith used a plier to put the copper block into the furnace fire and continue to burn, while a tall and thin young man of twenty years old next to him vigorously squeezed an animal skin air bag to blow the stove out.

Chen Xu leaned over to take a look, and there was charcoal instead of coal in the stove, which was similar to what he expected.

According to historical records, the transition from bronze weapons to iron weapons was in the Han Dynasty, and the large-scale replacement of bronze weapons by iron tools was in the late Western Han Dynasty, and one of the most important reasons was craftsmanship.

Because of the presence of lead and tin in bronze, it only takes 800 degrees Celsius to melt, and the completely enclosed hardwood charcoal furnace and blast equipment can reach this temperature by continuously delivering oxygen, and the melting of pure iron needs to reach close to 1500 degrees Celsius, even if it is cast iron with impurities and high carbon ratio, the melting temperature must be above 1000 degrees Celsius, which is simply unattainable in the Qin and Han dynasties, and the most important thing is that the value of coal has not been developed. Therefore, the smelting process and level of iron have never been able to meet the standards of wide application.

"Hey, isn't this Xiao Langjun who killed the big snake?" The middle-aged blacksmith looked at Chen Xu and put down the hammer in surprise.

"Exactly, I'm here to buy some knives, axes and tools!" Chen Xu hurriedly nodded and said.

"Xiao Langjun just picks, the price is guaranteed to be fair!" The middle-aged blacksmith said with a smile as he pointed to the shelves full of knives and axes.

Chen Xu looked at the shelves next to each other, and after choosing an axe and a firewood knife, he asked, "Do you have a saw here?" ”

"It's hard to build a saw, I don't have a new one, but someone used an old saw to exchange an axe from me, if you need it urgently, I can sell it to you, but you have to take it back and polish it yourself, the sawtooth is already very dull!"

"Can you show it to me?" Chen Xu nodded and asked.

The middle-aged blacksmith gave an order to an apprentice, and soon a rusty bronze saw was unearthed from a mess of old bronze objects.

The saw blade is about 40 centimeters long, the saw handle is about 20 centimeters long, and the back of the saw is one centimeter thick, which looks similar to the machetes of later generations, but the blade has been changed to a serration, and the sawtooth is really very dull, and it doesn't feel too piercing to the touch.

Nima used this to saw the tree, and it is estimated that it is not as fast as the axe.

But Chen Xu's purpose in using a saw is not to see trees, but to see planks, but this kind of sawing planks is definitely not good.

"And how much do these three things cost?" Chen Xu asked.

"Ninety dollars for the axe, fifty dollars for the wood knife, and ninety dollars for the saw, a total of two hundred and thirty dollars."

"Okay!" Chen Xu opened the money bag and counted two hundred and thirty copper coins and handed them to the blacksmith, "Uncle, can you process it a little according to my request!" Don't worry, I'll pay the wages! ”

"Say, how to change, if it's not too difficult, I won't charge your money!" The middle-aged blacksmith looked at Chen Xu and said cheerfully.

"It's not difficult, it's not difficult, help me break these saws a little to the left and right at intervals, so that the sawtooth looks staggered......" Chen Xu said while pointing to the sawtooth to explain, although the blacksmith didn't know Chen Bo's intentions, but he still quickly understood what he meant, this processing is indeed not difficult, you only need to heat the copper saw and the sawtooth will be softened and then slightly break it on both sides of the tool, so after nodding and agreeing, he stuffed the copper saw into the furnace and let the apprentice accelerate the blast.

As the hula flame burned, the copper saw quickly turned red inside the furnace, and the surface began to glow with a layer of shining brilliance.

A few minutes later, the blacksmith used a clamp to clamp out the copper saw and began to process, Chen Bo stood next to him and kept pointing, and it was quickly done, and the blacksmith also beat the saw with a small hammer to remove the patina on it, and then quickly put it into the salt water to quench.

With a pop, a puff of steam rose into the air, and when the copper saw was fished out, it had turned into a brand new copper saw that shimmered with blue-gold light.

"Xiao Langjun, the straighter the sawtooth, the better, I don't know what you mean by staggering these sawtooth teeth into two rows?" The blacksmith was very puzzled, and the three apprentices were also confused.

Chen Xu took the saw and looked at it a few times and said with a smile: "Uncle, the saw's saws are not as straight as possible, I'll show you the effect of this staggered sawtooth sawing wood now!" ”

After finishing speaking, Chen Xu walked to a piece of wood supporting the grass shed, and then put the saw on it and pulled it back and forth a few times, accompanied by a fluttering sound, a large amount of sawdust fell down one after another, and soon the saw sawed into more than two inches deep.

This stunned the blacksmith and the three apprentices.

In fact, the saw was invented very early, it is said that it was invented by the craftsman class of the Lu State in the Spring and Autumn Period, and the inspiration came from the jagged edge of the weed.

But from the invention of the saw for hundreds of years, the application in life is very limited, although this thing looks mighty and domineering, in fact, it is very chicken ribs to use, the powerful carpenter is more willing to use the axe than to use the saw, mainly inconvenient to use and it is easy to be stuck in the wood, and when using it must be two to three people together to operate, a saw, one holds the wood, and the other presses the wood hard to open the saw, otherwise the saw will be caught in it and cannot be pulled at all, This greatly reduces the work efficiency of people, and the average person does not use a saw unless it is absolutely necessary.

The sawtooth of this bronze saw is very sparse and rough, because of the processing process, the size of the sawtooth is also very uneven, and the sawtooth is very not sharp, so the position of the wood being sawn is like being gnawed by a dog, and a large gap is exposed by the pits.

Looking at this mouth, Chen Xu was a little speechless.

If the sawing is in this state, it is really not as fine as slowly chopping with an axe, but for now, it can only be used.

"Xiao Xu, why are you still here? If it's any later, you won't be able to go back! ”

Just as Chen Xu and the middle-aged blacksmith continued to communicate, hoping to buy a copper saw with finer and neat serrations next time, and to build a few more chisels, awls and other tools, Uncle Ma and a few villagers hurriedly walked over with baskets full of rattan grain, and saw Chen Xu hurriedly urging loudly.

And Chen Xu was originally going to ask the blacksmith to help him use the sand mold method to pour a cast iron pot for stir-frying and cooking, but after seeing the state of the blacksmith shop, he felt that there was no way to solve this matter at present, at least the temperature of the stove was still too far away, and it seemed that the idea of eating a mouthful of fragrant stir-fry could only be slowly realized after finding coal.