D&D 3E/3.5 [semi-OT] [semi-3.5] What is "Cold Iron?"

[Pax]

Cold iron is iron which has NEVER felt the heat of a forge-fire. Cold-hammered, and not even SMELTED from ore.

Working the metal with heat, makes it NOT cold iron. It must be refined and shaped completely and utterly without fire or heat of any sort.

Taken cold from the earth, hammered cold into a blade, and thrust still cold into your foe.

Flames or heat having nothing to do with the objects manufacture may or may not ruin it's magical properties. But generally, if it's ever heated up warmer than if it were left in the hot summer sun for a few hours ... it's not Cold Iron, it's just a lump of metal.

 

[Samhain California]

real world vs game world....
there are a few differnt things "cold iron" could be

cold "forged" iron:
iron that is forged cold (with out the use of a forge for heating to "reset" the crystaline structure) such a weapon would be very delicate the more you pod something to to a shap the harder and more brittle it will be

cold "wrought" iron:
iron that is smelted then skimmed (in other words pure ish) and then poured into a casting. they used to make lots of things this way its fairly easy to do and work with my its very soft compared to steel and forged iron.

iron vs steel iron is produced by a few dirrent means most common is the heatign of iron oxide (red rust) to release the oxygen you will have impurities depending on what you use to heat the metal

steel is what you get when you add one or more metals to your iron, vanadium and chromium are fairly common.

most importantly any weapon be it made of iron or steel need to be heat treated or you will have many many issues with dents and bending and shattering due to imperfect crystaline structure.
heat treating will set the crystals so that they are interlocked and provide the best strength.

mind you i dont claim all of this is perfect, this is what i remember off the top of my head from what i learned in college, and what i know now.

--josh who works in a shop every day making knives

 

[Derulbaskul]

I have a vague memory of a 2E Planescape product that included cold forges for making cold iron. Does anyone else recall this?

NB: My own personal view is that it is more likely unforged iron ore simply beat into shape, even though that is quite impractical. I don't like the idea of a "cold forge".

 

[Number47]

From a rules standpoint, I expect you can buy an item made of "cold iron" for X amount more than the base cost. Probably have no inherent bonuses or penalties, other than having the property "cold iron". Most likely not a property that could be added to an existing weapon. Most likely able to be masterwork or silvered like a normal weapon, and enchanted with normal enchantment rules.

 

[CmdrSam]

I was somehow under the impression (possibly from the RPG Castle Falkenstein) that Cold Iron was iron extracted from fallen meteors.

It seems more epic fantasy that way to me, but I might be totally wrong

--Sam L-L

 

[Zhure]

-Meteroric iron is allegedly one of the earliest sources of iron. The fabled kris knifes are purported to be made from nothing but meteroric iron.

-Iron pretty much has to be smelted to be worked. Raw iron ore is usually oxidized and buried in other stuff. Pounding it without refinining it at all will just give you mush, AFAIK. Check with a metallurgist for a more thorough answer.

-wrought iron is iron that's fused with glass powder. It's very soft and makes cruddy weaponry, but is very resistant to rust. These days it's used almost exclusively for decorative purposes (like decorative fencing.)



Greg

 

[MerakSpielman]

I believe meteoritic iron is also the source of the iron in Dragon Spring Steel in China. Back in the old days, the Chinese considered swords made of this metal to be magical, because they seemed unbreakable. They didn't have a way to artificially manufacture spring steel yet.

I agree with the "Iron can't be forged without heat" statements. It's nice poetically to have cold iron never been heated, but it just doesn't work. Do they just find ingots buried in the ground, occuring naturally or something?

If that IS the meaning of the term, cold iron will be very rare indeed, since the chances of finding iron pure enough to work without heat are so incredibly slim.

 

[RigaMortus]

In game terms, I believe the iron from meteors is considered Admantium (or whatever you prefer to call it).

So, is there anything visually different between "cold" iron and normal iron (steel) weapons? Would a person, unskilled in the ways of blacksmithing, be able to pick out a cold iron weapon from a steel one if the weaponshop?

This could put a damper on all those caddy's trying to fill their golfbags up =)

ShopKeeper: Yeah kid, that's a cold iron bastard sword alright.
Adventurer: How can you tell?
ShopKeeper: Ahhh, I am trained at that sort of thing. Trust me, I do this for a living. That is cold iron alright.
Adventurer: Fine, I'll take 5!

<Later that night>

Adventurer (obviously meta-gaming): It says right here in my "Book of Many Monsters" that those fiends over there are susceptible to cold iron. Caddy, fetch me my cold iron bastard sword. Chop, chop.

<Battle ensues>

Adventurer: What the dickens? This weapon isn't penetrating! That shopkeeper swindled me. He'll pay if I survive this ba....

<Roll credits>

 

[Zhure]

Unforged iron will be less pure, and not steel. The difference between steel and iron. Less flexible, probably rougher, denser too, if memory serves. Think of a wrought iron fence vs a stainless steel fork.

 

[jeffwik]

"Cold iron" as a material distinct from "everyday normal iron" does not exist. The source of the phrase is the Kipling poem and story, online at http://www.literatureclassics.com/etexts/554/8283/

Cold iron = iron.