Quote:
Originally Posted by lwcamp
Or you could develop a metal reducing technology based around Shewanella bacteria and their relatives. These microbes are able to biologically reduce metal ions, which might allow for producing metal from its ores with just some cultured glop and a food source. No fire or heat source needed.
Luke
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While "forging" might be a bit difficult that way, I wonder if it could be possible (particularly with the assistance of a wee bit of magic) to use a sheath that contains a culture of
Shewanella or similar bacteria to keep iron/steel tools from rusting. That is, you draw the item, use it for a bit, then resheathe it. Any rust that tries to form is reduced back to elemental iron rapidly enough to avoid much degradation. You'd probably still eventually see degradation, requiring the items be replaced (or shipped back to the surface to be reworked), but it sounds like an interesting paradigm.
Quote:
Originally Posted by acrosome
Aluminum bronze is a very corrosion-resistant marine bronze, too.
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If exotic metals - mithril, adamantine, etc - are available, it might be possible to manage an incredibly corrosion-resistant form of bronze by tossing in a bit of said material. Sure, mithril is too uncommon - and too expensive - to sell whole to some primitive underwater civilization, but using a tiny flake of mithril in a large bronze item might be acceptable.