this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2025
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No Stupid Questions

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Its the 14th century and you've had no time to prepare, after you're done reading this post you are snapped. What do you do?

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[–] The_Caretaker@lemm.ee 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I would use the superstitions of the people of the area to scare them away from me and my space. I would build a Catalan forge and a smelter that is powered by falling water. I would make gunpowder but not share the recipe. I would also distill alcohol for sale and for hygiene. I would use Leedskalnins PMH to create permanent magnets and use them to make electricity. Electric fences also help keep the superstitious barbarians away. I would also be a beekeeper.

[–] Kookie215@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Wow you know how to do all that stuff right now off the top of your head without books or instructions? I am impressed. I feel like the best I would be able to do alcohol wise is distilled prison hooch. Like I know the basic priceable but not the recipe.

[–] The_Caretaker@lemm.ee 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

People were mining, smelting, and forging many metals 650 years ago. The forge isn't a complicated device. A coal fire with forced air to raise the temperature. Pressurized air can be taken from falling water. There are always bubbles. Leeskalnin's PMH is really simple. If you have copper, silver or aluminum wire and Iron, you can make a permanent magnet. Moving copper, aluminum or silver through a magnetic field gives you electricity. Bees are not too hard to keep. Make a wood house with a small entrance for them and bait the inside with some beeswax and honeycomb and you can get them to move in. I worked at a fireworks factory a long time ago. Gunpowder is not hard to make. Finding potassium nitrate would be the hard part.

[–] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

People were mining, smelting, and forging many metals 650 years ago.

yep, 3000bc+ going back to copper and bronze.

but there's a tremendous jump from being able to smelt metal in small quantities - obtaining enough ores for each, for example, is probably more than one person work to produce anything usable. smelting, gathering wood or other fuel, building ovens and water wheels etc... and no one to call on for expertise...

hard couple of decades to produce some wire :D

primitive technology youtube channel has him trying to make iron for a few years with everything handmade. watch it to see what you'd be up against.

[–] The_Caretaker@lemm.ee 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

650 years ago steel was pretty common. Copper, silver and gold were used for coins and jewelry. Finding the supplies to make iron rods and copper wire wouldn't bee the hardest part. The hard part would be making a battery. I should look up the Baghdad Battery again to see how it was made. I would probably also have to worry about being burned at the stake for practicing alchemy.

[–] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 1 points 16 hours ago

650 years ago steel was pretty common.

common but still cottage industry forged. a fiefdom would break up tasks to smaller smiths to forge chain for mail, or steel billets for creating axe heads.

Copper, silver and gold were used for coins and jewelry.

in small quantities and with considerable value, yes. you're not going to wander up to some trader and say "gimme 300 furlongs of your shiny copper wire' lol. and how would you buy it if you could? you have no specie, no tender beyond half knowing a bunch of kinda true science factoids.

for example, the baghdad battery is rather contested as to it's actual purpose. Konig hypothesizes that it was a battery due to finding thin layers of gold he assumed were electroplated. Read the wikipedia article, these ideas aren't really supported by a lot of the other evidence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Battery