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Old 05-26-2020, 11:13 AM   #21
Anthony
 
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Default Re: cold iron

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Originally Posted by The Colonel View Post
As an aside, if you insisted on having metal that have never been heated.
You kind of need a time limit on that, given that iron only forms in stars.
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Old 05-26-2020, 11:25 AM   #22
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Default Re: cold iron

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You kind of need a time limit on that, given that iron only forms in stars.
I don't think that applies. The stuff that forms in stars is atomic nuclei, initially bare nuclei and normally ionized even after that. If you were dealing with iron nuclei with a strong positive charge, you'd find it essentially impossible to get them to clump together in a mass of iron, given electrostatic repulsion, and if somehow you could, their properties would be very different from those of elemental iron with oxidation number 0.
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Old 05-26-2020, 11:38 AM   #23
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Default Re: cold iron

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Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
I don't think that applies. The stuff that forms in stars is atomic nuclei, initially bare nuclei and normally ionized even after that. If you were dealing with iron nuclei with a strong positive charge, you'd find it essentially impossible to get them to clump together in a mass of iron, given electrostatic repulsion, and if somehow you could, their properties would be very different from those of elemental iron with oxidation number 0.
If you limit it to after it's cooled enough to condense, it still got plenty heated up either during planetary formation or when it crashed into the earth.
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Old 05-26-2020, 01:24 PM   #24
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Default Re: cold iron

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If you limit it to after it's cooled enough to condense, it still got plenty heated up either during planetary formation or when it crashed into the earth.
Yes, that's a fair point. I'm just distinguishing Fe (0) from ionized states of Fe; they're different chemical species.
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Old 05-26-2020, 01:45 PM   #25
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Default Re: cold iron

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Originally Posted by Dalillama View Post
True. Technically I should have said "can't make weapons suitable for fighting opponents with steel or even bronze equipment."
If you are looking for a Rare vulnerability for certain supernatural entities, that's fine. Silver is an even worse material to make battlefield weapons from.
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Old 05-26-2020, 03:54 PM   #26
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Default Re: cold iron

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Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
If you are looking for a Rare vulnerability for certain supernatural entities, that's fine. Silver is an even worse material to make battlefield weapons from.
However, silver is generally more limited in what supernatural creatures it is useful against.
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Old 05-26-2020, 05:27 PM   #27
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Default Re: cold iron

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Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
If you are looking for a Rare vulnerability for certain supernatural entities, that's fine. Silver is an even worse material to make battlefield weapons from.
Afaict the idea of silver melee weapons was also invented by D&D. Silver bullets are mentioned in a few cases prior to The Wolf Man, which really popularized the idea, but there doesn't appear to be any kind of folklore involving silver knives for such a purpose, let alone swords or the like. D&D, lacking widespread firearms but wanting to give werewolves a nonmagical vulnerability, put forward the idea of silver or silver-plated swords etc.
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Old 05-26-2020, 07:36 PM   #28
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Default Re: cold iron

From Motif-index of Folk-literature, published 1955-1958:

D1252 Magic metals.
D1252.1 Magic steel.
D1252.1.1 Magic iron.
D1252.1.2 Magic nails.
D1252.2 Magic copper.
D1252.3 Magic gold.
(... but not "magic silver." Is it redundant?)

D1385.4 Silver bullet protects against giants, ghosts, and witches.

F384.2 Steel powerful against fairies.
F384.3 Iron powerful against fairies.

F830.1 Silver weapon.

(This last is from an Icelandic source.)

The index is an awesome source of inspiration for magic items, weird spells, and so on.

Last edited by thrash; 05-26-2020 at 07:39 PM.
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Old 05-26-2020, 09:23 PM   #29
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Default Re: cold iron

This appears to be the source reference:
https://books.google.com/books/about...d=Ow_aAAAAMAAJ

I can't read it, though.
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Old 05-26-2020, 11:08 PM   #30
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Default Re: cold iron

There's also an American folk ballad called "The Silver Dagger," which was published as early as 1849 and first recorded in 1926.
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