If you like this video please consider checking out my Patreon page, Thanks! www.patreon.com/themetatron

@elizabethdavis1696

2 ай бұрын

Please make a bible videos playlist!

@DIREWOLFx75

2 ай бұрын

"even the Celts" There's some decently fair arguments that Romans actually learned much of their metalworking FROM the Celts... So, "even the Celts", sounds really weird.

@kariannecrysler640

2 ай бұрын

Have you done any videos about the furnace’s & smithing in prehistory?

@Wintermute909

2 ай бұрын

This can be perfectly summarised with a Simpsons quote from Reverend Lovejoy: "short answer yes with an if, long answer no with a but" kzread.info/dash/bejne/aKJsq7ecldi_Y84.htmlsi=HzxfJ1Oef4-xMCgu (Sorry for repeating this)

@skibidi.G

2 ай бұрын

I came here to see why I'm right 😄

I’m glad you did the ‘Am I religious.’ video. It made me respect you more. A believer that believes in science. I relate to that, bro.

@metatronyt

2 ай бұрын

I appreciate that. We seem to be on the same path.

@lawrencefrost9063

8 күн бұрын

That's interesting. It made me respect him less.

I totally like being right. This should be a fun one

@Dowlphin

2 ай бұрын

It's such an easy one. Frickin' power hungry Roman Empire, how could they not have dabbled in all kinds of stuff? They probably, just like we today, had plenty of out-there technology declared "not financially viable to pursue".

Metatron always makes my day better

@metatronyt

2 ай бұрын

Glad to hear that

@mallardtheduck406

2 ай бұрын

I Really enjoy the amount of knowledge and Critical Thinking & Passion that You put into Your Creative Content Metatron...I Apologize for the run on sentences, I Always seem to do that....😁🦆

I'm a Welding Engineering major and I'm taking a metallurgy class right now and when I say I was smiling like a doofus the ENTIRE video This was so cool!!

@aDogNamedHandsome

2 ай бұрын

Glad you’re happy😀

Hello Metatron. As a Smith this subject always catches my attention. Interesting reading comments from smiths, who continue the trade that I am named for. Also interesting the description of crystal structure and analysis that I learned at university. The thing that struck me when studying how hammered steel and folded and sandwiched iron and steel formed crystals was that ancient smiths passed on this knowledge through trial and error via apprenticeship arrangements. The metal workers would not have the chemical awareness of what the crystals were doing, but they had the intelligence to get to amazing results from experience. They had faith in their ability, something that you cannot learn from a book or instruction manual.

It's nice to see a Metatron video where he enjoying himself educating his viewers. It's been awhile.

In general, carbon isn't added to iron to make steel, but is partially removed. The historic method for making iron from its ore was to react the ore at high temperature with charcoal (carbon); this removes the oxygen from the iron ore as CO2 but leaves a certain percentage of carbon in the iron. In order to make this into steel, oxygen was/is then blown through the molten iron in a controlled manner; this burns off some of the excess carbon until the steel contains up to 2% residual carbon.

@bakters

2 ай бұрын

Recently I watched experimental archaeologists showing and discussing historical methods for iron and steel production, and that's not what they said or shown. The bloom they achieved was rather low in carbon, but very high in slag, which necessitated a lot of forging. At the end they had very low carbon product, which then needed to be carburized in a separate process. What you describe seems to fit to pig iron, but that's a later process, I think.

@seamusbyrne7820

2 ай бұрын

@@bakters Apparently the reduction furnace (which uses charcoal) has been around for thousands of years. The bloomery method that you are referring to is a primitive form of that reduction furnace and did involve the reaction of carbon (converted to the monoxide) with iron ore to reduce it to iron. The bloomery method used a relatively low temperature and produced a lot of impurities in the metal. The forging was done subsequently to remove those impurities from the bulk metal.

@bakters

2 ай бұрын

@@seamusbyrne7820 " *The bloomery method* " That's what the Romans used, though. Their furnaces were even smaller than the medieval ones, but because they built a new furnace for every batch, there is a lot of finds that confirms that. " *produced a lot of impurities in the metal* " Nonetheless, that's how humans produced iron and steel until the industrial age. Even then initially they simply scaled up the old process. The Eiffel Tower is built from such an impure iron.

@seamusbyrne7820

2 ай бұрын

@@bakters So, once again, the method fundamentally relied on the reaction between carbon and the iron ore to remove the oxygen and produce iron. The hammers were part of a post-processing 'filtration' process to remove the slag impurities. The number and size of furnaces built, and the degree of acceptance of the quality of steel for different applications does not alter this. Better-quality steel required more processing effort and cost more money. You cannot use hammers to break the oxygen atoms off from the oxide, so far as I'm aware. Of course, people subsequently studied the process and made improvements, but the underlying principle is still the same. Carbon produces carbon monoxide, which reacts with iron oxide to produce iron and carbon dioxide. This has been the essential process since the dawn of the iron age.

@bakters

2 ай бұрын

@@seamusbyrne7820 Man, what are you arguing against? My stance is rather simple. Bloomery iron tends to be low in carbon, especially after it was refined by reforging it multiple times. In order to produce steel, you need to *add* carbon back. Not remove it, as you claimed they did.

Just a tiny correction: it's electroN diffraction and microscopy. I used to do these for my department.

@borjaslamic

2 ай бұрын

That is indeed a tiny correction

@spyrofrost9158

2 ай бұрын

Couldn't be smaller!

@michelleholman4287

2 ай бұрын

@@spyrofrost9158 well, not according to Planck!

@noladavis5085

2 ай бұрын

I have a friend who works on electron microscopy at an American university. He's awesome and I have no idea about what he actually does. Teaching grads about small stuff in a vacuum using electrons or something.

@Noqtis

2 ай бұрын

@@noladavis5085 He pisses in a bottle, puts it in a machine full of science and he gets out crazy science facts. It's basically how all of science works. how do you think was the moon discovered? just a dude, pissing in a bottle... observing the liquid methodically, til he saw the reflection of the moon in the piss bottle. just do some science man. I hope you have some bottles. You'll need them.

Knife makers today will use softer iron cores with very hard steel edges. It makes the blad super sharp but more flexible and less likely to break or shatter. I am always fascinated by how advanced ancient peoples were, without the super fine testing and measuring technology we possess today and without the heating potential we possess today. Isaac Arthur often points out that we possess the same brains our ancient ancestors possessed they were not "primartive" as we often think about it. They did not have access to our level of technology, of course, but they could have given equal technology, figured out, and understood the level of stuff we do these days. Love this sort of video Metatron! Very interesting, I am fascinated by the Roman/etruscan history! Great video sir!

@King.Leonidas

Ай бұрын

we do not possess the same ¨brain¨as our ancient ancestors. intelligence in Rome peaked during the Republic era and declined in the later empire. i'm not going to go into the details why. Same as happened again where Our intelligence peaked during the 1600s and have been in decline ever since. Europe is losing about 1 IQ per decade currently. not owning to the factor of immigration. And Yes i do get your point still.

5:40 This has been evinced in later finds as well, and it became a staple practice; e.g. steel blades were still being forge-welded onto iron tangs, so that the blade would be springy and unyielding, and retaining its edge well, but in case of a hard impact, the blade would not break eventually but instead bend where it met the tang, saving the sword from getting wrecked.

@bobrobinson1576

2 ай бұрын

In fact the technique was used by sword makers right through to the 20th century. Even by the very best makers such as Wilkinson.

That there was steel(wootz/damascene for example) in Roman antiquity is probably undeniable, but I am quite surprised that Romans, Celts and other peoples of the period had begun experimenting with crucible steel. Very interesting.

I had no idea that the Etruscans and Romans made steel weapons, I had always thought the use of carbon with iron had begun in the Middle Ages and was more widespread in Modern times. Thanks, Metatron, for educating me on this subject. Since you hinted at it, I would love to learn more about the Etruscans and the Italic tribes, such as the Oscans, Umbrians, and the Falisci (Faliscan).

I missed the quiz question, but knew the answer was yes, because my father has his MSc in Metallurgy, and working with metal was a father/son activity from my earliest memories. Something I still engage in even though I'm retired now. Neighbor's still bring things to me to weld. Just completely rebult a trailer hitch for one of them a few months back.

Chaotic Experimentation! What a fantastic concept!

@metatronyt

2 ай бұрын

I know, right?

How about some more stuff about bronze weapons? Always fascinating and the craftsmanship on cast items is amazing.

Metallurgy is such a fascinating subject, even when only looking at alloys of only two or three materials. And the crystal structures that result from the heat and cooling interactions are wild. (The bladesmith Will Stelter has a dog named Marty, aka Martensite)

I love your work sir Metatron 💚💚💚 God bless you 💛❤💛👍👍👍

@metatronyt

2 ай бұрын

Thank you kindly

I have an idea about the unique shape and design of roman helmets. That engineers invented "crumple zones" to protect the head without adding too much material.

This is not really a surprise to me. Most of the time, blacksmiths were heating the iron with things that produce carbon, anyways. Considering that the ancient Romans had better concrete than we do presently and the scientists have only just now figured out their secret, I would say they were pretty advanced. Especially considering that they had concrete that would set underwater. They also had aqueducts that could literally carry water uphill using the head pressure from a higher water source. Roman engineering was the best in the world for a long while.

The introduction of carbon into raw iron forming steel was likely accidental for a long time. The use of various fluxing agents, clay, straw the heating material itself introduces carbon into the iron. Japanese utilized a Tattara to create Tamahagane (steel for swords) by burning iron sand with wood charcoal to both add carbon and create a forgeable material. Since the fire was not enough to melt the steel, the carbon was unevenly distributed in the Tamahagane so the folding process making the sword more evenly distributed it.

Great show. Really liked this one , but I guess it's because I'm a steel worker. It's an amazing metal. So many varieties of it. Really cool!

@j0nnyism

2 ай бұрын

My dad was a boiler maker and sheet metal fabricator. Tremendously skilled job. Always have the greatest respect for people in the steel industry.

Love both history and metallurgy, so this is extra great!

I find your videos with metallurgy and geology some of my favorites. As a lover of history, arts, and sciences, I consider you a true modern renaissance man. As an American who grew up in an Italian household, I appreciate the familiarity in your mannerisms. Just wanted to show you some respect, and commend you for your taste in art, including some of the historical attire.

We always enjoy your videos

@metatronyt

2 ай бұрын

Thank you

Metatron I thoroughly enjoyed your video lecture on the subject of ancient metallurgy. Both the Etruscan and Latin/ Romano people's where gifted craftsmen and artisans. Once again thank you for sharing your expertise in the field!

I was just thinking today about smelting potentially being the beginnings of science. The thought was promoted by some one saying it started with the Greeks writing it down. To me science must have began long before writing.

@michellebyrom6551

2 ай бұрын

I agree about scientific experiments being done long before they were recorded. Smelting though is too advanced. We learned about cooking and fermentation before we ever got near metal. Adding water to anything is basic. Mixing ingredients in various proportions, in the right order, at the right time is complex chemistry and physics. We learned how to process various raw materials to make yarn and then different weaving techniques for a wide variety of fabrics. Chemistry, physics and engineering in that. Ropes and pulleys and levers...smelting is far from the beginning.

could you make an episode about this Roman Smith character? it really resonated with me when you said how the hardness of the sword increases as one gets closer to the edge.

Love your channel learn alot every time

I wonder what would have happened if the romans went through an industrial revolution like we did during the 18th and 19th centuries. That's what steel makes me think about first for some reason. They must have been close from reaching something like that (would you consider trying to do uchronia videos with ideas like that some day? I'm sure they would be interesting).

Thank you! I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

I don't watch a lot of history channels on KZread, but I'm always happy to see someone give spotlight to historical weapons.

I’m watching this right down the road from a 100 year ago blacksmith shop. Props to you, Sir.

Thank you Metatron, in regards to what is steel to a classically trained Blacksmith, me, is any Iron with 0.5% carbon or more is "steeled" because the Alloy will respond to tempering at that point. Below 0.5% you will have a higher tensile strength material for general items that are not expected to spring or hold an edge.

This was the video I didn’t know I needed to see until I saw it. Fascinating! Great work!

Just a minor point. When talking about soldering but showing welding...

@jonathanoriley8260

2 ай бұрын

But are they _reeeeally_ that different tho? 😂

@lellab.8179

2 ай бұрын

Maybe because in Italian the verbs "to solder" and "to weld" are both translated with the same word: "saldare". I was not aware that in English you have different words.

@Grandwigg

2 ай бұрын

​@@lellab.8179that's an interesting tidbit. I love learning things about language interactions.

@andrzejsamorzewski146

2 ай бұрын

In English there are 3 words: 1. soldering (below 450°C) 2.brazing (above 450°C) this two processes use metal of lower melting point to "glued" metals of higher melting point 3. Welding basically melting two piece of metal together often with audition of filler piece of metal in form of wire or rod.

@andrzejsamorzewski146

2 ай бұрын

PS. The "soldering" that Metatron mention and showed is another process called forge welding where matal do not rich melting temperature.

Great video and very informative! Thanks! 😁👍

Quality content! Great stuff!

Love your work

Love your videos as always

Hello, Metatron 👋 I'm one of your oldest noble followers from the Middle East. I'm definitely into a dedicated video about Damascus steel because it has a mythical and, quite honestly, laughable reputation here about being this magical super steel that has no match, yet I wouldn't be able to criticise such a claim as academically and professionally as you would. I'm waiting passionately for this video... And to whoever reads my comment, please don't forget the oppressed Palestinians in your prayers. Thank you 🙏

@gdaytrees4728

2 ай бұрын

Given water and electricity. Yeah, that's oppressive. The unholy korn ann book about mo the pedofile married a 6 year old girl named Aisha told you to hate. You are not oppressed, you bite the hand that feeds you.

@RedLeader327

2 ай бұрын

May Palestine be free!

@bakters

2 ай бұрын

" *magical super steel that has no match* " That's obviously an overstatement, but it was a good steel. It was formed in a crucible, which meant it had no slag inclusions. Even very good steels used in sword production contain a lot of slag, so that was a plus. Usually crucible steel may contains a lot of phosphorus, which makes it brittle. Damascus steel did not have this problem, so it kinda was "magical".

Wootz, Indian crucible steel, would violate some of the definitions as far as carbon content. It is one of the several different forms called “damascus steel”, another being pattern welded steel.

@AutoFirePad

2 ай бұрын

Pattern welded steel is by no means Wootz.

@ForgeDuLys

2 ай бұрын

damascus steel (and other crucible steels like wootz) were called "natural damascus", as they showed patterns naturally present in the steel. Artificial damascus was pattern welded steel, wich somewhat imitated those shapes, but was usually regarded as superior, being closer in performance to a medium carbon steel than a super high carbon steel like some of the crucible steels (too high of a carbon content is detrimental).

@tomhalla426

2 ай бұрын

@@AutoFirePad I meant that pattern welded steel is sometimes called “damascus”, which is quite different from wootz, which is also called damascus.

@sunderark

2 ай бұрын

That was the problem with the nomenclature that metatron mentioned. It's like the whole Panama hat and india ink thing.

@tomhalla426

2 ай бұрын

@@sunderark Or Columbus calling the people in the Bahamas “Indians”.

I've been researching about ancient Rome for 2 years now. C.B.R. Pelling wrote a good comment on Marcus Antonius' biography written by Plutarch. Greetings from Brazil.

I'm very interested in hearing more about the Etruscans, the Minoans and the Hittites and all those ancient civilizations that arent 'cool enough' to be 'mainstream'

Much love to you brother

Well done!

Hey, thats my laptop background in the thumbnail!

Another illuminating video. Thank you. 🖖🏼

@Dowlphin

2 ай бұрын

Illumination confirmed.

That sounds like some pretty advanced metallurgy for the classic period. "the Book of Mormon" makes mention of steel being available in Jeruselam in 600 BC.

Great video

You are absolutely correct about the nomanclature of "Damscus" being incorrect. Everyone knows that Damascus steel was originally created in the Old Valyrian Freehold and known as "Dragon Steel" or later called Valyrian steel. Along with dragonglass, Valyrian steel is one of the few known substances that can kill White Walkers, although this property is not widely known, apparently not even to the White Walkers themselves. (you're welcome!)

@woodwyrm

2 ай бұрын

lol

Look forward to your Steel video Sir

Amazing, both what they were able to create in the past and that we can now figure out what they did based on the artifacts we find.

We need to look at how which blade is made as a whole. Metal type on every layer, shape of the blade, temperature treatment (hardening processes) and so on. We are looking for the properties of the blades after all is done. To get a hard edge without making the entire blade brittle. And that's just for blades. We know metal quality also makes a world of difference in armor. And we know quality of the materials used have varied over the centuries. Taking a look at metal quality over time would be interesting.

A good teaser of Patreon, nice one

I would love to hear more about the Damascus steel, and Roman metallurgy, sounds brilliant.

You seem like a GREAT person to Go to a Renaissance Faire with Dress to the NINE with authentic era Replicas. The One in Tuxedo, NY I Recommend if you ever Visit the States 👍.

@user-bk3bp5yy7m

2 ай бұрын

He’s living in the US as a duel citizen thru marriage

Steel was difficult to make and expensive, and it was often forge-welded between layers of iron to make swords. Viking axes had steel cutting edges, but the socket was made from iron.

@mihaiilie8808

2 ай бұрын

Vikings are too recent to compare them with the etruscans or romans. Steel was invented 1500 years before the vikings even existed.

@darkaxel1991

2 ай бұрын

@@mihaiilie8808 True, the Vikings are a recent culture, but the focus of my comment was about forge-welding. Forge-welding is older than steel. Vikings used that ancient technique, along with every smith in every Iron Age culture. Steel was time and labor intensive to produce, so it was expensive and only used where it was needed most. One axes, that means just the cutting edge. The Vikings weren't the first to do it. Most early Iron Age culture conserved steel in weapon-making the same way.

Defo looking forward to your "damascus" steel video.

That is quite amazing new knowledge

Nice video!

Always fascinated by smelting and forging techniques. Bloomeries et all is fun. Been collecting higher iron containing natural rocks around the badlands to see if a friend and I can make any steel from it.....

Just adding carbon to steel is just the beginning. You have to get the temperature and ratios exact.

The riddle of steel!

@NikolussTV

2 ай бұрын

The riddle of steel

@Dowlphin

2 ай бұрын

I prefer the bridle of steed.

Thank you, merci, Metatron, for another edifying video, which I especially appreciate since my Balkan ancestors were talented metal workers. You always astound me with the speed of your delivery, in this segment especially-- Holy crap- in English too! Can you speak even faster in Italian or Japanese, I wonder? Impressive as always.xo

We latvieši have 3 words for non rusted iron: Dzelzs (just pure iron) (you can bend it and it stays bent) Tērauds (streel) (you can bend it and it returns to shape) Čuguns (cast iron I believe the english call it) (you cant bend it and then it suddenly breaks)

YES, I'd absolutely be interested in a video about Roman "Damascus" steel!

I love the world of a blacksmith. So much craft and knowledge to forge impressive things.

I have heard that the Romans took the Etruscan alphabet and that the Etruscan language is still a mystery. I would like to hear more on this subject.

@troodon1096

2 ай бұрын

The Estruscan language isn't a complete mystery, we do have some context clues, but our knowledge of it is not complete. Sadly a lot of research into the language, done during Roman times when there were still living people speaking the language, has been lost to history.

Wow, Metatron, this is why your You-tube-channel is one of my favourite ones; one can truly learn all sorts of interesting (and above all factual-proven) historical things which are(to say the least)uncommon to find; about this subject though, I have a question(maybe a subject for another episode on your channel); If the Romans already had acces to steel and the different techniques involved, what made "Gallic forged weaponry" so "popular/renowned", or is this a myth?

I am writing this in anticipation of watching the video. Am looking forward to what the explanation will be. I am reminded of a video specifically on steel I saw some time ago, about the different types of steel, Cast iron, pig iron and the like. If I recall, what most people think of "iron" was actually steel. But when people say "steel" what they tend to think of is "Spring steel" Which has been worked and tempered to the point it regains it's flexibility but will be able to return to it's original shape with little damage. Now let's see what the video says.

You did "steel" my heart with this video.

Sounds like the Etruscans and Romans were a bit like Americans and Canadians but with more malice. (I'm rather fond of Canadians myself as an American.)

That was awesome. I was a metallurgical technician in an aluminum and copper foundry for 11 yrs. I would have loved to look at those samples with the image analysis.

This blew my mind 🤯

Ty

Metatron! This video was a song to my heart as a blacksmith. Do we know what kind of fuel the roman blacksmith used to forge. Forgewelding is not easy task especially in a coal forge, charcoal would be even harder if not impossible. It would be incredible to learn that they figured out these techniques in the harshest condition almost like it was by accident. If there's any information on their heat treatment and quenching, it would be insane too! But I'm just getting excited. Can't wait to see that demascus video and whatever is in between. Keep up the good work! Cheers!

you are right, best thumbnail ever.

I a fan of your channel. If i understand correctly, the carbon content described was below 0.4% which is not enough for hardening. It is currently called mild steel. Perlite is the structure obtained when air cooling steel of any carbon content below roughly 1.7%. This subject would require more discussion.

Hey Metatron, are you planning to make a video covering Byzantine armour/equipment anytime soon? I would love to see you cover things like the Klivanion!

great video Could you do a video about "ferrum noricum" since we are on a steel/metallurgy topic anyway and there are a lot of myths about it out there...

Fascinating (the parts I understood). I'd be very interested in a video on how the Etruscans and the ancient Greeks interacted, say, around the time of the Peloponnesian war.

Good. Thanks.

Mightily interesting!

Great video as always! In regard to the falcata and the kopis, they seem to originate from similar earlier blades, wouldn’t you think? Since the greeks settled in the Iberian Peninsula in the Archaic Age, it could very well be that both blades are developments on the same “ancestor” sword. (Video hint) 😬

Just an fyi from a ferrous metallurgical engineer. We define steel as any iron based alloy, some steel has no carbon (316L, 904L, etc.) In fact, we refer to pure iron in some cases as interstitial free steel.

A video on Damascus steel would be very cool.

Very impressive metallurgic technology!

Wow a fantastic video with such excellent information that I just did not know a lot about. Perhaps you can do a part two in a part three especially about the chemistry of the metal and, and tools. It immediately struck me that yes military stuff is fine but most of life is not military probably then or now. What about metal tools which would've been much more common and have much greater use than swords. Right? Everybody wants a better shovel. Do artifacts like this survive I bet you can tell us all about it!

You are correct, but I think you confused a bit the two. Steel was achieved not by adding carbon, but by controlling the amount of carbon in the alloy. The process of extracting iron from iron ore at the time used to produce iron with high carbon content. The excess carbon was then burned out by blowing oxygen.

@michelleholman4287

2 ай бұрын

I thought that was one of his first statements. Gotta go back now… ⚒️⛓️♨️🤷‍♂️

Hey Metatron, big fan here. How about a video on the Gates of Janus? That would be cool

Takes me bag to my metallurgy and material sciences class at uni (did it for aerospace eng). The teacher wasn't that great but I remember he told us that iron is almost always found as steel in nature.

I see you have Roberto Trizio’s very cool map. Nice.

Can't wait to see the video abouut Damascus Steel. I'm a big Forged in Fire fan 😍

I had to rewind to double check if that specific technique was listed on the screen or not lol. Hope you make thr Damascus Steel video.

Hey Metatron, will you ever make a coop with Schwerpunkt? I can't even imagine how much you guys can pour out historically combined

@Dowlphin

2 ай бұрын

Want him to chicken out?

Steel being harder to make and more expensive, it made sense to just put it on the tool edge or the front of the blade. This practice continued for thousands of years, only really ending in the last hundred.

Thanks for sharing this. It is always good when you do a deep dive etc. However, just one point. It is Nital not Nitol. From the Wikipedia page. > Nital is a solution of nitric acid and alcohol commonly used for etching of metals. It is especially suitable for revealing the microstructure of carbon steels. The alcohol can be methanol or ethanol.

The better question, in my mind, might be how anyone figured out adding carbon to an already molten ore would make it stronger is intriguing. I often consider such a finding may have been a total accident.

Can’t wait for the Etruscan video.