Hardcast

Hardcast is made from bog iron, unlike star-steel. In working, the metal develops a thick "cast" of scale that is hammered off, and the scale gives the metal its name.

Making hardcast is more like craft alchemy than smithing or metalworking, though it is not literal alchemy. A primitive furnace and charcoal turn bog iron into a porous iron mass. To the Skelds, who typically collect the bog iron, the transformation is notable. The reducing kilns consume a lot of charcoal or peat moss.

In some ways hardcast is a typically dwarven material, and its large-scale works are described under Hardcast Works. Hardcast is really iron, but its silicate inclusions give it useful mechanical properties, and dwarves call it a kind of steel because it is magnetic.

Working hardcast is not really a dwarven blacksmith’s work. Its techniques differ, so there are dedicated hardcast-masters, though some dwarven smiths can both work it and make it.

Hardcast behaves like iron with respect to nwyf. It is a raw material. A dwarf might own an ingot of it out of curiosity, or to show to visitors, but it holds no value to dwarves.

See also: Hardcast Works, Skeldic Trade with the Dwarves, Star-steel