A middle-aged man with a short, strong and dark skin was building things in the shed with two teenage apprentices. The hammer was twitching and smashing a piece of copper, and the sparks were flying around, which was no different from the blacksmith shop in later generations.

After smashing for two minutes, the temperature of the copper block dropped. The middle-aged blacksmith used a tong to put the copper block into the fire and continued to burn it. A 20-year-old tall and thin young man next to him squeezed a skin airbag to blow the furnace.

Chen Xu leaned over and took a look. The stove was filled with charcoal instead of coal, which was almost the same as 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 was in the late Western Han Dynasty. One of the most important reasons was craftsmanship.

Because of the existence of lead and tin in bronze, it only takes 800 degrees Celsius to melt. A completely closed hardwood charcoal stove and continuous oxygen supply of blower equipment can reach this temperature. The melting of pure iron needs to reach close to 1500 degrees Celsius. Even cast iron with relatively high impurities and carbon must have a melting temperature above 1000 degrees Celsius. This temperature could not be achieved at all during the Qin and Han Dynasties, and the most important thing is that the value of coal has not been developed, so the smelting process and level of iron have never reached the standard of wide application.

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

"That's right, I'm here to buy a few knives, axes and tools!" Chen Xu nodded quickly and said.

"Just please just pick it, and the price is fair!" The middle-aged blacksmith pointed to the rack full of swords and axes and said with a smile.

Chen Xu looked at it next to the shelf, chose an axe and a hatchet, and asked, "Do you have a saw here?"

"I don't have a new one, but someone used an old saw to exchange an axe from me. If you use it in a hurry, you can sell it to you, but you have to take it back and polish it yourself, the saw tooth is already very blunt!"

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

The middle-aged blacksmith ordered an apprentice and soon turned out a rusty bronze saw from a pile of old bronze ware.

The saw blade is about forty cm long, the saw handle is about twenty cm long, and the back of the saw is one centimeter thick, which looks similar to the machetes in later generations, except that the blade has been changed to serrated teeth, and the serrated teeth are indeed very blunt, and you can't feel the feeling of being too thorny when you touch it.

Damn it is probably not as fast as the axe when using this to saw a tree.

But Chen Xu's purpose of using a saw is not to saw trees, but to saw wooden boards, but to see wooden boards in this way, it is absolutely impossible to see wooden boards.

"Then how much does these three things cost in total?" Chen Xu asked.

"The axe is ninety coins, the hatchet is fifty coins, and the saw is ninety coins, a total of two hundred and thirty coins."

"Okay!" Chen Xu opened the purse and counted 230 copper coins and handed them to the blacksmith. "Uncle, can you process it a little according to my requirements? Don't worry, I will give you a salary!"

"Tell me, how to change it? If it is not difficult, I won't charge you money!" The middle-aged blacksmith looked at Chen Xu and said readily.

"It's not difficult or not. Please help me break the serrated one apart from each other to make the serrated teeth look staggered..." Chen Xu said while pointing at the serrated teeth to explain. Although the blacksmith was not very clear about Chen Bo's intention, he still quickly understood what he meant. This processing is indeed not difficult. He just needs to heat the serrated saw and then use the tool to break it slightly. Therefore, he nodded and agreed and stuffed the copper saw into the stove to speed up the blowing of the apprentice.

As the whirring flames burned, the copper saw quickly turned red inside the stove, and a layer of shiny light began to appear on the surface.

A few minutes later, the blacksmith clamped the copper saw with a clip and started processing. Chen Xu stood beside him and kept giving instructions. It was done quickly. The blacksmith also beat the saw with a small hammer and removed the copper rust on it before quickly putting it in salt water to quench it.

With a puff, a stream of steam rose into the air. When the copper saw was fished out, it turned into a brand new copper saw with blue gold light.

"Little Langjun, the straighter the serrated, the better. I wonder what the purpose of making these serrated teeth into two rows?" The blacksmith was very puzzled, and the three apprentices were also confused.

Chen Xu looked at the saw several times and smiled and said, "Uncle, the serrations of a saw are not as straight as possible. I will demonstrate the effect of this staggered serration saw wood!"

After saying that, Chen Xu walked to the front of a wood supporting the straw shed, then placed the saw on it and pulled it back and forth a few times. With the sound of puffing, a large amount of sawdust fell down one after another, and soon the saw was more than two inches deep.

This shocked the blacksmith and the three apprentices.

In fact, saws were invented very early. It is said that they were invented by the craftsmen of Lu in the Spring and Autumn Period, and were inspired by the sawtooth edges of weeds.

However, it has been invented for hundreds of years since the invention of saws, but their application in life is very limited. Although this thing looks majestic and domineering, it is actually useless. A powerful carpenter is more willing to use an axe than a saw. The main reason is that it is inconvenient to use and is easily stuck in the wood. Moreover, two or three people must be operated together. One saw, one holds the wood, and the other presses the wood hard to open the saw opening, otherwise the saw will be stuck inside and cannot be pulled at all. This greatly reduces people's work efficiency. Unless it is absolutely necessary, ordinary people do not use a saw.

The saw teeth of this bronze saw are very sparse and rough. Due to the processing technology, the size of the saw teeth is also very uneven, and the saw teeth are very unsharp, so the saws are like being chewed by a dog, with a large gap exposed.

Looking at this mouth, Chen Xu was speechless.

If the sawing is in this state, it is really better to use an axe to cut it slowly, but now you can only use it.

"Xiao Xu, why are you still here? If you are later, you won't be able to get back!"

Just as Chen Xu continued to communicate with the middle-aged blacksmith, hoping to buy a copper saw with finer and neat saws next time, and to create a few more chisels and awls and other tools. Uncle Ma and several villagers hurried over with grain full of vine baskets. When they saw Chen Xu, they quickly urged him loudly.
Chapter completed!