Chapter 334: Grinding an iron rod into a needle? You'll get beaten for it

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The monotonous sound of wooden hammers striking the heated iron intermittently echoed throughout the Green Sparrow Tribe.

In the vicinity of the furnace, four pieces of iron were placed. This method not only saved time in ironworking but also conserved charcoal.

Although wooden hammers were less efficient than iron axes, they yielded some results.

This was something Han Cheng realized after two days of forging iron axes.

Among the pieces of iron, the iron axe that was forged first had made the most progress and had taken shape by now.

Shaman, who had fed the rabbits, walked over with the shameless rabbit in his arms.

Seeing the drastically transformed piece of iron, his expression became solemn.

In the past few days, he had witnessed the splitting of several stones and the pounding of iron with wooden hammers. Even large stones had cracked open, and the iron being pounded remained intact and became more refined. This sight convinced him and others of Han Cheng's assertion that iron was harder than stone.

Many people gathered around the ironworking furnace, eagerly anticipating another miracle from the deity and the emergence of actual iron products.

The iron products that had been forged for several days began to emerge.

The first to appear were the unsharpened axes. Due to limited tools, the axes were far from what Han Cheng had envisioned.

However, they were still usable.

The axes were unsharpened not because Han Cheng intended them to be "heavy axes without an edge" but because he wanted to quickly produce the other three pieces of iron that had been pounded with wooden hammers for days.

"Clang!"

The sound of metal striking metal suddenly rang out and spread throughout the surroundings.

Holding the axe with a wooden handle, Hei Wa watched as the axe struck the red-hot iron, leaving a shallow mark. His eyes immediately lit up.

This blow was more effective than ten strikes with a wooden hammer!

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The iron blocks, which had been challenging to shape with wooden hammers, quickly began to change shape under the iron axe, significantly increasing efficiency.

After the iron block was returned to the furnace, Eldest Senior Brother, observing for a while, took the axe from Hei Wa's hand.

After carefully examining it and consulting Han Cheng's opinion, he fiercely struck a solid stone weighing at least 3 kg.

With just one blow, the sturdy stone cracked into several pieces!

Eldest Senior Brother stared blankly at the broken stone, unable to believe he had caused it.

He had not exerted much force, but the stone had cracked open unexpectedly.

The people around, who had witnessed iron forging, were shocked. They had already witnessed how iron was harder than stone, but they never expected that directly striking a stone with iron would yield even stronger results!

The stone, which they believed to be the hardest, had no resistance against the iron axe!

Eldest Senior Brother appeared to have used little force, yet the stone had cracked open.

It made people wonder if it was still a stone.

"Quick, take a look at the axe!"

Someone snapped out of their shock and reminded the others.

Everyone turned their gaze to the axe blade facing upward.

The back of the four-sided axe head had some white marks.

Eldest Senior Brother wiped them away with his fingers, and these white marks disappeared.

It was some stone dust stuck to it.

After wiping away the stone dust, the axe head looked as good as new.

"Hiss~!"

Seeing this intact axe head, someone began to gasp.

This tool made of iron was unexpectedly terrifying!

Shaman took the axe from Eldest Senior Brother's hand, and his hands were trembling.

"Divine Child..."

He looked at Han Cheng and then at the broken stones on the ground and raised the axe in his hand, looking very surprised.

"Shaman, smash it."

Han Cheng looked at the amazed crowd and felt quite satisfied. He smiled at Shaman and then pointed to another nearby stone, telling Shaman.

"Smash it?"

Shaman was somewhat tempted but also hesitant.

"Yes, smash it!"

Han Cheng nodded vigorously and smiled at Shaman.

Encouraged by Han Cheng again, Shaman stood up excitedly, held the axe in both hands, showing a somewhat unfamiliar posture, and struck down with force.

Apart from sacrificial rituals and hitting rabbits, the Shaman rarely displayed such vigorous dominance.

"Clang!"

The axe struck the stone, bounced off, and then fell again.

"Clang!"

Another blow fell, and this stone could not withstand the hammering of the axe, cracking into several pieces.

The already shocked people of the Green Sparrow Tribe became even more astonished.

Even Shaman, who was so old and didn't rely on strength, could easily smash stones with this axe. This... was truly unbelievable!

The fire continued to burn, and the sound of ironworking intermittently echoed in the Green Sparrow Tribe. The people working in the tribe appeared somewhat distracted, occasionally glancing at the ironworking furnace.

The iron axe had refreshed everyone's understanding and left them eagerly anticipating the emergence of new iron tools.

"Sizzle~ Sizzle~"

A finely textured and somewhat soft stone was placed on the ground, supported by another three to four centimeters thick stone.

Han Cheng squatted down, holding a piece of iron about ten centimeters long and four centimeters wide, thick on one side and thin on the other. He rubbed it up and down on the stone.

With his movements, black material was left on the smooth stone, which was the iron that had been ground off.

This kind of delicate and soft stone was most suitable for sharpening knives. It was not easy to wear down the blade, and there would be no nicks on the blade.

After grinding for a while, Han Cheng scooped up some water from a clay pot placed on the side, poured it onto the grinding stone, and then continued grinding.

The water washed away the ground stone powder, enhancing the grinding force and making it faster.

After grinding for a while, Han Cheng picked up the long iron piece that could barely be called a knife and used his fingers to test the sharpness of the edge that had been ground.

The shiny blade lightly scraped across his fingers but couldn’t cut it. This iron piece, similar to a kitchen knife, had not been sharpened to the extent where it needed to be. It still needed more grinding.

But it was already sharper than a bone knife.

It was not easy to give an iron knife an edge without grinding machines and other electric devices.

After grinding longer, Han Cheng looked at the still relatively thick blade and suddenly remembered the old woman who had ground an iron rod into a needle and had a profound talk with Li Bai.

In his tribe, if anyone squandered a large iron rod like that, Han Cheng would personally beat her hard.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay