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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cleon" data-source="post: 6064755" data-attributes="member: 57383">First off, from my reading of Howard I doubt Cimmeria has roads, so they'd have trouble getting wagons to this village. I'd think it much more likely they'd use a train of mules or pack horses to carry the ore.Secondly, a single smithy would be far more likely to freight in bars or ingots of iron rather than raw iron ore. If this clan is making a living smelting ore into iron, they'd be more likely to process more than they need and trade the excess, which means they'll likely have more than three people involved in the work. Also, smelting iron ore needs a lot of fuel so the clan needs to live somewhere there's an abundant source of wood (for charcoal).Anyhow, getting back to the original question. A heavy wagon can carry about a ton of ore, a weight that could also be transported by a dozen or so mules.Let's call it 2000 pounds of iron ore.They'll likely pick out the richest source of ore that's within a practical transport distance.  I'd guess it's somewhere between 60% and 70% iron. So you're talking about 1300 pounds of iron.That should be enough to last them years. A sword only requires a few pounds of iron and a spearhead is a pound or so. The heaviest thing they are likely to make a lot of are pot helms (10 pounds or so?).Furthermore, iron would be so valuable they'll be melting down or reforging any iron implements that get worn out or broken. This recycling means they won't need to freight in new iron as often.</blockquote>

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