Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: excited
  • Music: Talis Kimberley, "Uffington Hill."

Question time! Because Toby trivia is fun.

It's been a while since we've done this, and with A Red-Rose Chain coming up, I figure it's time to once again offer to answer your questions about the world. So...

I will make ten blog posts detailing aspects of Toby's universe. Ask me anything! I will not answer every question, but will select the questions that I think are the most interesting/fun/relevant, and will detail them to my heart's content. There's a lot to learn and know, and asking loses you nothing. Remember that nothing I answer here is full canon until it appears in a book: I will always reserve the right to change things if the series shifts between now and then.

Leave your questions on this post. I'm declaring comment-reply amnesty for any that I choose not to answer this time, since otherwise, my wee head may explode.

Game on!
Tags: continuity checking, toby daye
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  • 231 comments
...go 1 level up... Expand

bree_ramsey314

August 3 2015, 22:43:13 UTC 1 year ago

This is something I've wondered about too, so much that I did some research. Your typical low grade, plain carbon steel has less than one percent carbon, and high grade, plain carbon steel is still more than ninety-eight percent iron. Now when you get into alloys the iron content drops down considerably, but plain carbon steels account for most of the steel we, and the fae, would encounter day to day.. My take on this would be that even the tiny amount of carbon in, say, a steel sword or dagger, is enough to alter it to the point where it is no longer poison to the fae. I mean look at the difference in appearance; my trusty cast iron skillet is black as can be, but my steel short sword and dagger are both shiny silver.

brooksmoses

August 3 2015, 23:07:24 UTC 1 year ago

Yes, but "cast iron" is also an iron-carbon alloy -- specifically, one with less than ninety-eight percent iron (per Wikipedia).

Now, there are some notable differences in microscopic structure between wrought iron (which is very low carbon) and steel of the same overall composition, and the differences result from whether it's been melted and re-cast or not. Which is rather an interesting observation....

Oh, and the black appearance of well-seasoned cast-iron skillets is a coating that's a combination of polymerized oils, carbon, and magnetite (i.e., "black rust", iron oxide that doesn't have as much oxygen in it as "red rust", and forms a protective coating).