What IS cold iron anyway?

[Yqatuba]

Is it just iron weapons/armor that were forged without heating them up? (not sure how that would even be possible unless the smith had super strength). Or is it a completely different metal? Obviously it's not magic since it still works in an antimagic field.

[GM Rednal]

"This iron, mined deep underground and known for its effectiveness against demons and fey creatures, is forged at a lower temperature to preserve its delicate properties."

...Basically.

[LordKailas]

wikipedia wrote:

Cold iron is a poetic term for iron. Francis Grose's 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue defines cold iron as "A sword, or any other weapon for cutting or stabbing." ... "Cold iron" is historically believed to repel, contain, or harm ghosts, fairies, witches, and other malevolent supernatural creatures.

D&D/pathfinder made it it's own type of special material as Rednal has said. Otherwise any schmuck with a metal weapon could bypass a fey's DR.

[Mysterious Stranger]

Strictly speaking iron is an element and steel is an alloy composed mostly of iron but with other elements (mostly carbon) added in. Cold Iron to me is pure iron not steel.

[Aaron Bitman]

From this page of the Wikipedia:

Wrought iron lacks the carbon content necessary for hardening through heat treatment, but in areas where steel was uncommon or unknown, tools were sometimes cold-worked (hence cold iron) in order to harden them.

From this page of it:

"Cold iron" is historically believed to repel, contain, or harm ghosts, fairies, witches, and other malevolent supernatural creatures.

[Jeven]

Aaron Bitman wrote:

"Cold iron" is historically believed to repel, contain, or harm ghosts, fairies, witches, and other malevolent supernatural creatures.

I wonder if the difference is between "natural" iron and refined iron ore.

Usually iron has to be refined because it is mixed with other substances and the slag has to be sifted out.

But pure iron can be worked immediately without refinement.

And as fairies are creatures of nature they are probably more susceptible to the pure form of iron than the diluted stuff refined from mixed ores and rocks.

[Klorox]

Jeven wrote:

Aaron Bitman wrote:

"Cold iron" is historically believed to repel, contain, or harm ghosts, fairies, witches, and other malevolent supernatural creatures.

I wonder if the difference is between "natural" iron and refined iron ore.

Usually iron has to be refined because it is mixed with other substances and the slag has to be sifted out.

But pure iron can be worked immediately without refinement.

And as fairies are creatures of nature they are probably more susceptible to the pure form of iron than the diluted stuff refined from mixed ores and rocks.

Unlike gold or sulphur, Iron does not exist natively in nature, it is always combined with other elements , this combination can permit refinement of iron , in which case it's called ore.

Iron must be hot extractd from ore, but it can then be cold worked to harden it.

But this is not relevant, since, in D&D and PF lore "cold iron" is a special material close to, but not identical to normal iron... normal iron is unsuitable for making weapons, being too soft, cold iron is.

[blahpers]

Yup, it's "special" iron found at a deeper level than "normal" iron. Attempting to bring chemistry (as opposed to alchemy) into the mix only worries the catgirl population.

[Klorox]

Well said Blahper

[Volkard Abendroth]

Yqatuba wrote:

Is it just iron weapons/armor that were forged without heating them up? (not sure how that would even be possible unless the smith had super strength). Or is it a completely different metal? Obviously it's not magic since it still works in an antimagic field.

Cold-wrought iron was a real thing before people learned how to smelt iron and steel.

The inuit tribes, for example, obtained iron weapons from large fragments of meteorite (Tent, Woman, and Dog).

[Meirril]

Something else to understand about the origin of 'Cold Iron' is that this stems from Irish fokelore where rare and odd items found in nature could be used against the fairy folk who were all but immune to anything a human would try against them.

The fae folk could be warded against by all sorts of rituals and charms. The most well known charm is a river stone that has a natural hole bored through it like a ring. If you wore such a stone a fae could not touch or harm you.

Fighting fae required one of three things. Fire (lights) could dazzle the fae. Silver and Cold Iron burned them. Cold Iron was more effective than silver but harder to find. Cold Iron in this case meant a piece of raw iron that had impurities hammered out and was never smelted. And music could charm fae. Other than these 3 weaknesses humans were pitifully weak compared to the fae who not only had stronger bodies, but also magic powers.

Most fights against fae were to escape. Killing the fae wasn't a goal of these stories. If you could escape the fae kingdom and return to the land of mortals you gained respect from the fae. Also the ire of some fae, but overall escaping by your own power was seen as a proving you were cleaver and to be respected.

[Yqatuba]

Volkard Abendroth wrote:

Yqatuba wrote:

Is it just iron weapons/armor that were forged without heating them up? (not sure how that would even be possible unless the smith had super strength). Or is it a completely different metal? Obviously it's not magic since it still works in an antimagic field.

Cold-wrought iron was a real thing before people learned how to smelt iron and steel.

The inuit tribes, for example, obtained iron weapons from large fragments of meteorite (Tent, Woman, and Dog).

How did they forge it exactly?