At Last I Made an Iron Axe.

During this time, Lu Zhe began to prepare other materials for iron smelting.

Naturally, the more charcoal that could be produced, the better. This task was left to Ning Shu and Qian Qian.

Yao Yao and Guo Er were responsible for the three meals.

Lu Zhe and Shen Bing continued to advance the iron smelting process.

Some other tools were still needed for the iron smelting process!

Such as hammers, tongs, bellows and molding sand, etc!

There was no river sand on the beach, so sea sand washed with fresh water and dried had to be used instead!

Hammers were easy to make too, using rocks and wooden handles to make stone hammers.

A ready-made pair of steel tongs was also needed to grip the red-hot iron blocks.

But where do you get steel tongs when there's no iron yet?

After thinking hard for half a day, Lu Zhe and Shen Bing decided to bend the bicycle handlebars into two sections.

They used rocks to bend the fracture point, and then flattened the place 8 cm from the fracture point with rocks.

They pried a nail and bent it, and a rickety makeshift tongs was made.

Lu Zhe tried it and found it very awkward, but it was at least usable, so he gave it a potential point!

Just make do with it for now!

The most critical thing was the bellows.

This was also the most difficult.

Lu Zhe finally decided to still use the bicycle!

His arm strength now was comparable to Mr. Katō's, and he could easily tighten a screw.

He simply upturned the bicycle frame, reinstalled the rear wheel, freewheel, pedals, and reconnected the chain!

The chain, which had been pickled in acid and lubricated with animal oil, was barely usable.

Using the pedals as a crank, rocking it made the rear wheel spin quickly.

Then he cut dried bulrush leaves into blades and carefully tied them to the spokes of the wheel. When he turned it, it did bring strong gusts of wind.

Finally, he used bamboo tubes and clay to shape the air funneling into the furnace 30 cm away. The hand-cranked bellows were also ready, earning him a potential point.

It seemed simple but took a whole day.

July 26, the 47th day stranded on the island.

It rained all day again, but at noon on this day, the first batch of bricks and small amounts of pottery had been successfully fired, two bricks tapped lightly together made a clear and pleasant "dang dang" sound.

Very successful.

Lu Zhe took out a pot-sized clay pot, mixed the dried sand and clay together and put it inside.

Silicon dioxide, kaolin and sea sand had much higher melting points than iron, so they could be used to shape the ax.

Then, Lu Zhe began building the iron furnace, using brick-built kilns that could reach higher temperatures and produce higher quality iron than mud and bamboo ones!

"Can we start now?"

"Before smelting iron, we need to do a sintering first. The purpose is to melt the iron elements in the ore and then condense them into iron blocks!

In addition, carbon and ferric oxide can be reduced to iron and carbon monoxide at high temperatures, and the generated carbon monoxide can also reduce ferric oxide and iron oxide to iron!

In this process, I will keep adding oxygen to the furnace, and you add charcoal and tree oil to continuously increase the temperature inside the furnace."

Shen Bing nodded: "Got it."

"Mm."

Lu Zhe put lots of charcoal and ore into the furnace.

Then lit it.

After the charcoal in the furnace was burning, he covered it with a lid. Lu Zhe started pedaling the bicycle bellows, blowing large amounts of air into the furnace. Through the cracks he could see the blinding glow of the burning charcoal inside.

After two hours of continually adding charcoal and oxygen, the temperature kept rising. In the evening of July 26, the first step was finally completed.

Opening the furnace, there were indeed some metallic clumps among the slag.

Rough estimate, nearly ten catties.

Lu Zhe was very happy to see this first step had been quite successful!

On July 27, they started the second step!

Rebuild the furnace, put these iron blocks in clay pots, add plenty of charcoal for forging.

More air pumping for a considerable time!

When Lu Zhe used the tongs to pull out a lump of iron, it had turned red-hot!

Put it on the rock and hammer it into shape!

After countless hammer strikes, the shape of an ax head gradually emerged. After another hour, an ugly ax head was finished. Quench it in water.

Although the surface was pitted and as ugly as scrap,

Although you couldn't tell it was an ax head at all.

But it was solid and sturdy, unlike any stone tool.

Shen Bing weighed it in his hand: "Good gracious, this thing must be over ten catties heavy!"

Lu Zhe nodded: "No problem, I'm strong!"

Finally, he found a sturdy wooden stick, drilled a hole in it, inserted the iron ax head and nailed in wedges to secure it. The great task was accomplished!

It took Lu Zhe three full days for just this one ax, earning only one potential point.

But from a practical point of view, it was so worth it!

With it, Lu Zhe's logging efficiency increased several fold!

With ample timber, construction became simpler.

In an afternoon's time, Lu Zhe extended the fence, the shelter area expanded to 100 square meters, almost covering the entire banyan tree, and built cattle pens and woodsheds near the camp.

In recent days, in addition to helping out, the girls had also picked up a lot of garbage on the crescent moon bay beach.

It goes without saying that there were broken clothes, bottles, plastic bags, etc.

There were also discarded buoys, broken umbrellas, glass bottles, fenders from fishing boats, nylon ropes, fruit crates, fishing nets and lines, and even fish hooks.

These items were carefully washed and neatly arranged in the camp by the girls, to be used when needed.

They also used collected plastic sheets to build a "swing" not far from the camp, no need to explain what that was for.

Next is land reclamation and farming!

"To improve efficiency, it's best we still work in two groups, I'll go with one partner to reclaim land at the foot of the volcano, the other four stay at the camp and weave protective nets. Remember the mesh has to be tight, or birds may still sneak in and steal our crops."

Tang Xiaoguo volunteered: "I'll go with Zhe Bro this time!"

Lu Zhe nodded: "Let me be clear first! I have a lot to do, so you'll need to help me build fires, cook food..."

"And make babies?"

"No need for that! Also give me massages when I'm tired, don't annoy me, and keep me in a cheerful mood and good working condition at all times."

"That's all trivial, when I'm bored I can even sing for you. You keep working and I'll sing about the power of the working class, you'll work harder the more you go on!"

"Thanks but no need to sing, just be quiet!"

Seeing Xiaoguo so enthusiastic, Lu Zhe didn't want to discourage her: "No singing please, just stay quiet!"

Jiang Yao urged: "Listen to him on the way, don't covet everything you see!"

"I won't!" Tang Xiaoguo said helplessly.

It felt like a dad taking his daughter out to play, with the mom urging her to behave.

"Because the mountain roads are difficult, we may stay at the foot of the volcano for two to three days, don't worry about us."

Shen Bing nodded: "I won't let them hold memorial services for no reason."

Ning Shu sighed: "More than worrying about danger, I feel more worried about Xiaoguo!"

Jiang Yao nodded: "Same feeling!"

On July 28, Lu Zhe took Xiaoguo and some necessary tools and food, and once again entered the jungle, heading straight for the foot of the volcano.