hcclibrarylove:

harharhar:

My go-to excuse is now “secret reasons.” Thanks E. B. White!

Oh, this is just too good.

oldtimeyads:

I suppose this article’s doomsaying proved correct. Who puddles anymore? NOBODY, that’s who.

Puddling was an Industrial Revolution means of making iron and steel. In the original puddling technique, molten iron in a reverberatory furnace was stirred with rods, which were consumed in the process. It was one of the first processes for making bar iron without charcoal in Europe, although much earlier coal-based process had existed in China.

Later, it was also used to produce a good-quality carbon steel; this was a highly skilled art, but both high-carbon and low-carbon steels were successfully produced on a small scale, particularly for swords, knives and other weapons.

“the days of puddling were numbered”