Re: [DL] Ghost Steel Metallurgy 101

["Daniel Gwyn" <dgwyn@colba.net>]

>most of these modern forgings use liquid salt as the 'quencher' (?) in the
>Forging, not sure exactly what this does for the metal, but I know old
>fashioned blacksmiths used water, oil, or saltwater...
The use of liquid sodium as a "quencher" if I remember correctly is done to
keep the steel at a particular high temperature so as to let particular
types of Carbon-Iron bonds form over a long period of time.  It is also used
to allow the metal to cool down very slowly.  Conversely the "classic"
dunking of hot metal into water, was done for the opposite reason:  i.e. to
cool it off very quickly.
    I must confess that I studied Metallurgy in French so I am not
particularly familliar with the exact English terminology.

>Throwing your knowledge, along with some imaginativly magical thinking, and
>adding the 'spirit' factor, what do you think would be something good to
>quench Ghost Steel in? perhaps to increase that spiritual potential...
>Any potential variations you could see, based on the other metals put into
>the process, or the tempering, or the quenching variables?
>
Obviously the Marshal has the supreme authority in such matters, but more
important to my mind is what type of forging is going on?  If you wanted to
make an "evil" ghost rock item, the obvious quencher would be Blood,
preferably from human virgins.  If you're feeling particularly evil you
could throw in powdered ghost rock.
    If a very large item is being made, (say a large cannon), you might have
an evil mad scientist throw in a human sacrifice.  There is a Oriental
legend about a girl who threw herself into molten bronze in order to insure
that it would could be used to make a temple bell.
    Holy water seems like a plausible idea for a "good" item.
    "Neutral" possibilities could be oil rendered from Mojave rattlers or
Maze dragons.  One possibility would be "liquid ghost rock" though I am
really not sure if that is "officially" possible.
    That's all I can think of right now.  Hope it helps.
          Daniel Gwyn

"And as I sit and talk with you I see your face go white.
The shadow hanging over me is no trick of the light.
The specter on my back will soon be free:
The dead have come to claim a debt from thee."

From "The Turkish Song of the Damned"
By the Pogues