09/23/2026
Before steel was cheap, it cost a forest.
The old way of making iron took roughly 15 kg of charcoal for every 1 kg of iron, and that charcoal took about 105 kg of wood. Steel took even more: it often cost around four times as much as iron to make. That changed in the 1850s, when Bessemer's converter became the first way to mass-produce steel.
Next time you pick up a knife, remember someone used to chop a small forest for it.
Tag someone who'd appreciate that.
