[TheForge] question for Bruce F. the Chemist

[Bob Willman]

	My slack tub is a used 1/2 wiskey barrel. Maybe I should change my
opinion. 


Bob Willman
Bowling Green, Ohio
The Eagle's Anvil
WB8NQW

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bruce Freeman
Sent: Wednesday, July 04, 2007 10:08 PM
To: Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] question for Bruce F. the Chemist

Albin,

Albin,

I don't know to what extent the heat of the metal would have an effect, but
I'd be surprized if a slack tub didn't contain considerable iron, in perhaps
both the ferrous (2+) and the ferric (3+) states.

Whether this would have a tonic effect, I don't know. 
Anemia can be treated with iron, but that's by ingestion, and I don't
suggest anyone drink slack tub water.  This is especially true today, when
cadmium and lead could well be present in this water.  (In the old days,
copper, zinc, or lead might be present in a blacksmith shop, but probably
not in great
quantities.)

Furthermore, I'm a subscriber of what might be urban legend that we should
NOT include supplemental iron in our diets.  Rumor has it iron's the
responsible entity for causing cholesterol to form arterial plaque.

Now, it MIGHT be that the water in a slack tub was beneficial when topically
applied specifically because it was mildly toxic.  If it kills disease
organisms or parasites faster than it kills the patient, then it cures the
patient!

"Honey, Mud, and Maggots" is a fascinating book about old-time treatments.
Honey is excellent for open wounds.  Maggots (of the correct species only)
are wondrous for cleaning out dead or gangrenous tissue from a wound.  I
don't recall the benefits of mud.  In wartime, wounds were bound and allowed
to drain, and though they smelled to high heaven, the wounded often
recovered fully due to the power of the white corpuscles in the oozing pus.
Even the notorious bleeding procedure was apperently efficacious in 70% of
the cases - though this would not be true today because the diseases for
which it was efficacious no longer commonly afflict mankind.

Accordingly, I consider the question of the efficacy of an iron tonic water
to be outside the realm of my expertise.

Bruce

--- Albin Drzewianowski <dski1045 at qis.net> wrote:

> Bruce,
> 
> I was demonstrating in the Historic Forge at the local Farm Musuem 
> today.
> 
> Towards the end of the day, as my arm starts giving out, I look for 
> any excuse to talk instead of hammering.  So when someone asked about 
> the slack tub, I gave them the story about how in the "old days" 
> people would come and buy water from the slack tub for medicinal 
> purposes.
>  I thought that was
> just a scam by blacksmiths to make a little money on the side.  But 
> one of the guests asked whether the water in the tub would pick up an 
> iron from having all the hot steel quenched or cooled in the slack 
> tub.  Also, small pieces of hot steel that have been cut off are often 
> just tossed into the slack tub.
> 
> So the question is:   would quenching  or cooling
> hot steel  or the presence
> of small pieces of steel in the bottom of the slack tub increase the 
> iron content of the water such that it would have some medical benefit 
> as some
> kind of tonic???   Today, we have extra iron as a
> supplement in lots of
> things that we eat, but back in the "old days" they did not.
> 
> Inquiring minds want to know.
> Albin
> Westminster, MD

> 
> 
> 



       
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