It would be great to have steel knives.
But at the moment, he doesn't know how to smelt steel.
The temperature of his furnace isn't high enough.
He's not sure how to reach the needed temperature.
Using a blower alone won't do.
He only has charcoal for fuel.
On Blue Star, steel is smelted using electric furnaces, reaching high enough temperatures.
He's burning charcoal, which certainly has a lower temperature than burning coal.
He might have to use the ancient Chinese method of steelmaking, which involves making wrought iron first, then mixing it with pig iron and wrought iron, hammering it repeatedly.
The problem is, he hasn't even found iron ore yet.
He only has clay containing a small amount of iron.
Less than ten percent.
His chemical method can only extract part of it. A basket of clay can yield just a few ounces of iron.
The whole process is extremely labor-intensive.
That's why he's using the world's clumsiest ironmaking method.
