Quiz.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bodd
  • Start date Start date
I wuz rite? Well, well, it seems my college days in the pub weren't entirely wasted.:mrgreen:
In that case...
...Where in the world would you begin a journey on 'The Iron Road' and where would you be going?
 
Justin Passing said:
I could give it thee. I didn't remember peridot, it's (Mg, Fe)2SiO4
So it qualifies according to my sloppy question.
But I won't, because I didn't see it and there's a better answer.

The one I had in mind is MARCASITE, which is FeS2

I should have said the ONLY metal is iron, then you'd all be wrong except one.


That site includes Minerals and lots with no iron or only a bit.. We can argue the difference... not all minerals are gemstones for sure.
Iron can be in just about anything as an impurity.

But the winner - probably by accident, is:

Fools gold = Iron pyrite is Fe 2s, which comes in two possible crystal structures, one orthorhomic, the other cubic, if you remember your ball and stick models.

The less common orthorhombic one is used as a gem, white iron pyrite, called marcasite. It does sparkle when cut and polished.
View attachment 280323
But does suffer from oxidation...

A more bizarre wrong answer would have been Cut Steel, which used to be used 18th-19th C ish.
They used to take piano wire, grind it to have facets, and case-harden the heck out of it. The lustre changed according to what they put in the case hardening along with the carbon. Then, hard as hell, it would take a very high polish.

View attachment 280324
View attachment 280326
Not too many good examples remain, as they tend to rust away.
If you look at the back of whatever it's on, you can see.

So there you go @OddsBodkin , it's yours.
Click to expand...

A friend and his wife each had stainless wedding bands that he made. He did warn her that if the ring got stuck on her finger, the finger would need to amputated to remove the ring.
 
opps said:
A friend and his wife each had stainless wedding bands that he made. He did warn her that if the ring got stuck on her finger, the finger would need to amputated to remove the ring.
Click to expand...
There's this thing called a file... ?
 
Climbers use "iron ways" which are fixed cables etc.

"Journey" sounds like some old pack animal route for iron ore. If so it would be in China?
 
crystal ball said:

PTL® Prestige Emergency Finger ring cutter Wedding ring Cutter Surgical grade Steel 6.5" HD : Amazon.co.uk: Home & Kitchen

PTL® Prestige Emergency Finger ring cutter Wedding ring Cutter Surgical grade Steel 6.5" HD: PTL® Prestige Emergency Finger ring cutter Wedding ring Cutter Surgical grade Steel 6.5" HD: Amazon.co.uk: Home & Kitchen
www.amazon.co.uk
Click to expand...

I doubt that a stainless steel wheel will cut through stainless steel (unless the wheel was made from a much harder stainless steel.
 
OddsBodkin said:
Cold

Cold

Warmer...
...You're on your way in China but not at the beginning nor the end of your journey.
Click to expand...
Warm I reckon
nister Slate Mine and The Via Ferrata

You can now climb the vertiginous route to the top of Honister Slate Mine, along the only via ferrata ("iron road") in the UK
 
opps said:
I doubt that a stainless steel wheel will cut through stainless steel (unless the wheel was made from a much harder stainless steel.
Click to expand...
Yes I think that's likely. The more corrosion resistant St Sts are b'stards to cut. If they put something exotic in it then probably moreso , I don't know, it's a specialist area and people are always finding new methods. You really want a hardness differential of at least 10 Rc . Steels come up to around 72Rc but most stainlesses are way below in the 40's. But if someone thinks its clever to put a load of tungsten and rhenium diboride in there, dog knows.
The elephant problem is that you can't heat a ring, so grinding or fast cutting would have to be wet. I've never seen a suitable machine but I suppose a dremel type thing would stand a chance under water. Diamond wheels are available.
Hard steel alloy files are made specifically for stainless - Swiss made them for watches.

I used a thing once - special permission, it had its own box, made by "Borazon".
It was boron nitride embedded in a softer matrix, which you ground away ( a little) on a special grind wheel which left the nitride crystals exposed.
Now Swedes and others use 3d printing, with laser fusion bla blah blah.
Materials like that would be daft for a wedding band.
 
crystal ball said:
Warm I reckon
nister Slate Mine and The Via Ferrata

You can now climb the vertiginous route to the top of Honister Slate Mine, along the only via ferrata ("iron road") in the UK
Click to expand...
I've travelled along the Honister Pass and can assure you it's as far from 'the Iron Road' i'm asking about as you can get.;)
 
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