Henry Carter had been a person with a wide range of interests in his previous life. In order to explore traditional folk material processing techniques, he had once worked as an apprentice in a blacksmith shop for a few days, so he had some understanding of the tools and rules in a blacksmith shop. He picked up a pair of tongs from the ground, clamped the shovel head that needed repair, and placed it into the fire to begin heating.

“Dude, do you really know how to quench?” The chubby guy had somehow slipped in as well, and quietly asked Henry Carter.

It was the height of summer, and the temperature inside the blacksmith shop was seven or eight degrees higher than outside, practically like a steamer. Henry Carter already found it hard to bear staying in this room, and for the chubby guy, who hated heat the most, to come in as well—completely ignoring the sweat pouring down his body like rain—showed just how seriously he took this matter.

“Do you know how to forge, brother?” Henry Carter didn’t answer the chubby guy’s question, but instead asked one of his own.

“I’m a blacksmith,” the chubby guy replied. “All these farm tools were made by me.”

“That’s great,” said Henry Carter. “The shovel edge is curled and needs to be reforged. I’ll leave this to you.”

“…Alright.” The chubby guy nodded awkwardly. It was already a big favor for someone to help with the quenching; he couldn’t expect them to swing the sledgehammer too, could he?

Henry Carter heated the shovel head to a certain temperature, took it out with the tongs, and placed it on the anvil. The chubby blacksmith was actually quite skilled; he picked up a large sledgehammer with ease and began forging the shovel head. Since it was only to repair the curled edge, the amount of work wasn’t much. After a few strikes, Henry Carter told him to stop.

“Alright, can we quench it now?” The chubby guy pointed to a basin of water nearby and asked Henry Carter.

“No rush.” Henry Carter waved his hand and put the freshly forged shovel head back into the furnace to reheat. His eyes stared intently at the color of the shovel head through the flames, waiting for it to reach the desired temperature.

“What are you waiting for?” The chubby guy saw Henry Carter’s serious expression and couldn’t help but become solemn himself, asking in a low voice.

“Heat treatment isn’t that simple. First, you have to heat the metal to Ac3, which is the temperature where all free ferrite transforms into austenite, producing solid solution strengthening. Then you take it out and let it cool slowly in the air, so the grains become finer and the distribution of carbides becomes more uniform…” Henry Carter quietly explained the basics of heat treatment to the chubby guy.

“This… is too much trouble.” The chubby guy directly rejected the postdoctoral-level lesson from the Academy of Sciences. Things like austenite and grain structure were just too far removed from his world; he only cared about one thing—when he could see the results of the quenching.

Outside the blacksmith shop, Mr. Bolton was chatting with Mang Gu and the others while sneaking glances at what was happening inside. Seeing Henry Carter calmly heating the workpiece, the teasing expression on his face faded a little.

“What’s up, Old Bolton?” Mang Gu noticed the change in Mr. Bolton’s attitude and quietly asked.

Mr. Bolton said, “This young guy actually has some method…”

“Better than you?” Mang Gu laughed. He knew Mr. Bolton always prided himself on his superb skills and liked to brag when he had nothing to do. Now, hearing him say a young guy had some method, he couldn’t help but take the chance to tease him.

Mr. Bolton said insincerely, “Compared to me, he still has to wait another twenty years… But I don’t quite understand what he’s doing right now…”

At that moment, the short young man who had gone to look for chemicals came back, panting, with a cloth bag in his hand containing several bottles of chemicals.

“Hey, where’s that passerby?” The short guy asked the tall guy waiting outside the door. Henry Carter hadn’t told them his name, so he could only refer to Henry Carter as “the passerby.”

The tall guy jerked his mouth toward the room and said, “He’s inside. He already did some forging just now.”

“I’m late?” The short guy sounded a bit frustrated.

“Not late, you’re right on time,” Henry Carter answered from inside. “Did you get the stuff?”

“Got it all!” The short guy replied happily. After running so far in the heat to find the stuff, it would have been a real letdown if it couldn’t be used.

By now, Henry Carter had already taken out the heated shovel head, but instead of putting it directly into the water, he tossed it into a pile of furnace ash nearby to keep it warm. This process is called tempering, one of the main heat treatment techniques. Earlier, when Henry Carter said he was going to quench these farm tools, it was actually just a general term. What he was really doing was a comprehensive heat treatment, combining normalizing, tempering, quenching, and other processes.

While the shovel head was being kept warm, Henry Carter took the chemicals the short guy had brought and began pouring them into the quenching basin. Precise weight control was obviously impossible, so Henry Carter could only rely on experience to estimate the right amount of chemicals, then pour them into the water and stir to mix.

“Young man, what are you doing?” Mr. Bolton had somehow already entered the blacksmith shop. Watching Henry Carter busy at work, his curiosity was piqued.

Henry Carter turned and smiled at Mr. Bolton, saying, “I’m preparing the quenching solution. This No. 65 manganese steel needs to be quenched with a trinitrate solution for the best results.”