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[Skynet 2.0]

The process for creating an anvil would go something like this:
Get 6 iron ore, 8 logs, 6 flux, some stone and some clay.
At the mason's workshop, craft ≡felsite anvil≡ or ☼felsite anvil☼ using stone.
At the wood furnace, make 8 charcoal from 8 logs.
At the pottery workshop, make +anvil mold+ or *anvil mold*, using the stone anvil, the clay and 1 charcoal.
At the smelter, make 3 pig iron, using 3 iron ore, 3 charcoal and 3 flux.
At the smelter, make 3 steel, using 3 iron ore, 3 pig iron bars and 3 flux.
At the casting forge, cast no modifier .rough steel anvil. or -rough steel anvil- using 3 steel and 1 charcoal.
At the casting forge, polish anvil to create a .steel anvil. or -steel anvil- from rough steel anvil.

It seems a bit redundant to have to make a stone anvil to base the mold on. Maybe it would just be all a part of the mason's workshop, and require 2 stone, one for the stone anvil, and one to make the actual mold? Also, I think the actual casting should include smoothing/polishing it, since that's part of the casting process - touching up the almost-finished product. Otherwise, this seems like it would work well.

[Skynet 2.0]

Also, stone casts would solve the whole 'where did the first anvil come from' mystery.

[Mike Mayday]

You guys are forgetting one thing. Cast iron is extremely brittle.
It's good for artwork (like ornamental metal gates or signs) but completely useless for tools and weapons.

[Random832]

You guys are forgetting one thing. Cast iron is extremely brittle.
It's good for artwork (like ornamental metal gates or signs) but completely useless for tools and weapons.

Iron is not the only metal.

[Footkerchief]

Searchable text on usage of iron and steel (including cast iron) in ancient China.  He mentions that crossbow bolts often had cast iron shafts and a bronze head.

http://books.google.com/books?id=mxZsguBzwZMC&pg=PA336&vq=cast&dq=%22cast+iron%22+weapons&source=gbs_search_s&cad=0

[LegoLord]

You guys are forgetting one thing. Cast iron is extremely brittle.
It's good for artwork (like ornamental metal gates or signs) but completely useless for tools and weapons.

Who said the first anvil was iron?  We had copper and bronze long before iron was discovered (in the real world) and those had to be worked into weapons somehow.

[Skynet 2.0]

Alright then, make it so that it's impossible to make cast iron weapons. You could still make weapons and armor out of cast copper, bronze, and steel.

Searchable text on usage of iron and steel (including cast iron) in ancient China.  He mentions that crossbow bolts often had cast iron shafts and a bronze head.

This would work if we could make the head and shaft of different materials, then cast iron would be used for shafts, and steel for the heads. However, it would require making 2 separate parts to be made, and then a new addition to workshops that would combine the two. The arrow/bolt smelting system works fine right now, I don't think it needs to be refined.

[Footkerchief]

This would work if we could make the head and shaft of different materials, then cast iron would be used for shafts, and steel for the heads. However, it would require making 2 separate parts to be made, and then a new addition to workshops that would combine the two. The arrow/bolt smelting system works fine right now, I don't think it needs to be refined.

Yeah, that's a whole other can of worms.  I mainly just brought it up as an illustration of cast iron's non-decorative uses.  The text I linked is pretty interesting, has some cool pictures of bronze swords two thousand years old, etc.

[LegoLord]

Okay, so what do we have?  Cast anvils and tools not made from iron or steel and cast iron being for decoration?

Also, I don't think steel can effectively be cast; it's made from iron.

[Footkerchief]

Also, I don't think steel can effectively be cast; it's made from iron.

Please tell me you're kidding.

I vote for the being able to cast nearly anything and having to deal with the consequences of brittleness (which highly depends on what kind of casting process you use) or rough edges from casting or whatever.  Even weapons.  A cast iron axehead will do in a pinch, and cast iron farming tools were pretty common.

[LegoLord]

Also, I don't think steel can effectively be cast; it's made from iron.

Please tell me you're kidding.

I'm not saying it can't, just that, like iron, it wouldn't be so good as forged steel.

[Footkerchief]

I'm not saying it can't, just that, like iron, it wouldn't be so good as forged steel.

That's nowhere near the same as "can't effectively be cast," and it's also meaningless without saying what it's good for.  The qualities of cast steel make it superior for a good many applications, and not just from a cost standpoint.  The majority of steel components, especially large ones, are cast, not forged.  I don't know where this mindset comes from that casting is a red-headed stepchild.

[TettyNullus]

I'm not saying it can't, just that, like iron, it wouldn't be so good as forged steel.

That's nowhere near the same as "can't effectively be cast," and it's also meaningless without saying what it's good for.  The qualities of cast steel make it superior for a good many applications, and not just from a cost standpoint.  The majority of steel components, especially large ones, are cast, not forged.  I don't know where this mindset comes from that casting is a red-headed stepchild.

I've seen tools being shown off as forged and hinted as being superior to cast tools. But yeah, most mass-manfactured hand-tools are casted, then cleaned up, if my memory serves. Machine tools on other hand are well... machined  But yes, casting's used for various purposes including tool-making. It just happens that forging is simpler to work with than using casting, since forging just need the worked piece to be heated to mallerable, while casting need it to actually be melted, and casting process tend to be somewhat more complicated than simply banging the metal into shape.

[LegoLord]

I'm not saying it can't, just that, like iron, it wouldn't be so good as forged steel.

That's nowhere near the same as "can't effectively be cast," and it's also meaningless without saying what it's good for.  The qualities of cast steel make it superior for a good many applications, and not just from a cost standpoint.  The majority of steel components, especially large ones, are cast, not forged.  I don't know where this mindset comes from that casting is a red-headed stepchild.

Well, this game is in medieval period, you know.  They didn't have fancy smansy science like we do.

[Mike Mayday]

Guys, I think if armour and weapons were possible to create by casting, it would have been done. But it never was. The only think cast were arrow/bolt heads- everything else was welded. (I don't know about anvils, of course).
So I really see no practical use of implementing this into the game.