| Henry Hamilton |
1e DND described the spears to be made of tungsten. That particular metal is extremely strong and has a melting point of greater than twice carbon steel. Steel and iron have a melting point of approximately 2800F (barring trace contaminants or other variable factors) while tungsten has a melting point of approx 6200F. Molten lava only gets up to 1292F to 2282F depending on the type of melted rock it is mostly comprised of. So although you "could" have an 'iron' spear survive a dip in the lava.,.you would be fighting with a weapon that would be too soft, as forging temperatures for smithing are roughly 1800F up to 2800F. But even 'if' you decided to let the iron spear cool down, you would surely have ruined the temper....so it wouldn't hold an edge longer than a couple good hits. Tungsten OTOH can be fashioned by 'sintering' which allows it to be shaped via a powder like state into a solid shape using forms and lower-than-melting-point heating processes. The tungsten would not be tempered unless you introduced a carbide alloyant (but that's a whole different process), you essentially would just be utilizing that raw toughness and natural properties of tungsten's high-heat melting point to keep its form and strength at high temperatures! I hope this helps.