[TheForge] question for Bruce F. the Chemist

[Tod Estes]

Albin,
I am not Bruce and am not even a chemist. But I know a bit about Iron in the
body. Yes Iron is needed for normal maintance of red cells. Too little iron you
get iron deficency anemia, too much you have iron poisoning (think kids that eat
a bottle of flintsones chewables with iron), or hemochromotosis (if you are
blessed with the genes that take in too much iron).

You need about 8mg to 11mg of iron per day on average. Most of us get this from
our diet. Foods like good ole red meat! Even water has a trace amount of iron
right from the tap.
The iron in vitamins can be sulfate, gluconate or fumarate
salts.

 Can you increase iron by drinking iron infused water? yup you can but is
it the right type to be absorbed? I bet it tastes yuck. You can also increase it
more pleasurably by eating an extra steak YUM. Incidedently cooking on cast iron
increases trace amounts of iron into foods.

Iron is really toxic to the GI system and liver.
One of the only remaining uses of thereputic phelbotomy (bloodletting)is
treatment of hemochromotosis where the body absorbs too much iron in the
presence of normal intake. In this condition about 500ml of blood is taken from
the patient every week thats about 250mg of iron.

A couple of other strange iron facts: Chronic anemia will cause spooning of
fingernails. People who are anemic also may desire to eat ice.

Ok, enough for lunch back the shop summer cleaning. I have turned the rafters in
the forge shed into a metal storage area. The family that lived in barn moved
out so now I get move all the furniture that was in my shop back to the
bunkhouse. Therefore more room for equipment. I finally have room to work and a
pile of honey-do projects for the forge. First up is window boxes then a pot
rack.

Quoting Albin Drzewianowski <dski1045 at qis.net>:

> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> theforge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoaccess.com
> Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> password:  anvil
> ___________
>
>
>


Tod Estes

People do not care about how much you know
until they know about how much you care.