Cold-forged steel

[Ethilrist]

Bah. All too technological. Cold Iron gets its name in a lot of game systems because it feels cold to the people who are vulnerable to it–it is the metal of cold, final death. It has nothing to do with the chemical or metallurgical makeup of it. In DragonQuest, the abandoned game system, steel and wrought iron were both Cold Iron. They were rendered non-Cold by being alloyed with silver, gold, or mithril (spellcasters who tried to cast spells whilst wearing Cold Iron received a 15% penalty on their cast chance; silvered iron got a 10%, gilded got 5%, and truesilvered had no penalty).

[yabob]

In case somebody wants to pursue the industrial process rather than the mythological / gaming references, here’s some blurbs on cold forging and the benefits thereof, apparently by some British trade association of cold forgers:

http://www.bcfg.co.uk/MainMenu.htm

[zut]

*Originally posted by Wikkit *
Cold forging refers to working the steel stock after it’s been made, rather than the process of making the steel in the first place.

Wikket (among others) got it right here. The term is not made up. I suppose that, if the term is used in D&D, it was chosen simply because it sounds cool, but it’s still a real industrial process. From this site:

Cold Forging is a cold working process where the material is squeezed into a die and the finished parts assume the shape of the die. This process is also known as Cold Heading.

Bar stock or wire stock is fed into a die and is squeezed into the closed die. The resultant part is a nail, a bolt or a screw with the head. A subsequent cold heading operation forms other features on the head such as knurls or slots for screw drivers etc. the shaping rod stock by forming the head as in rivets, bolts, nails and other fasteners. This process can be highly automated and parts can be made economically.

Second cite differentiating types of forging, just if anyone is interested. Or you can Google on “cold forging”. Following, however,

*Originally posted by Wikkit *
A cold forged sword and a hot forged sword could both start out the same, as a rod of steel at room temperature. The hot forged one would be heated before working in, and the cold would be left at room temperature.

Cold forging is not necessarily done at room temperature, it’s just at a temperature cold enough for scale not to form. Cite:

Most forging is done as hot work, at temperatures up to 2300 degrees F, however, a variation of impression die forging is cold forging. Cold forging encompasses many processes – bending, cold drawing, cold heading, coining, extrusions and more, to yield a diverse range of part shapes. The temperature of metals being cold forged may range from room temperature to several hundred degrees.[bolding mine]

[Ben]

Thanks, guys. I suppose question #2 is, is the cold iron thing just from D&D, or is it a traditional bit of fairy lore?

[DocCathode]

*Originally posted by Ben *
**Thanks, guys. I suppose question #2 is, is the cold iron thing just from D&D, or is it a traditional bit of fairy lore? **

Traditional, especially in the lore of the British isles