Cast iron cookware is having a bit of a renaissance. This is likely spurred by its regular use on the Food Network, but cast iron offers several benefits not available with other cookware options. Before we discuss this in more depth, let’s look at what it takes to get that frying pan into your hot little hands.

It’s possible you have heard of Damascus steel, particularly if you are familiar with old swords, knives and guns. A book, The Art and Beauty of Damascus Steel, has been written on the subject. While this treatment of the topic might not do the book justice, Damascus steel is quite beautiful and holds much mystery.

One of the eight types of corrosion is galvanic corrosion. This occurs when two dissimilar metals are in contact, particularly when exposed to a corrosive medium.

Brazing is a metal-joining process. Metal joining is necessary when parts are too complex to be cost-effectively manufactured from a single piece of material. How does brazing differ from soldering or welding? How does brazing make good things? Let’s find out.

Sometimes the most useful ideas are those that are taken for granted. Frequently, those ideas – like the mousetrap – are hard to improve on. Such is the case for the sun visor. Introduced in the 1930s, the visor became an automotive fixture that remains much as it was introduced over 90 years ago.

Today’s blast furnaces are distant cousins to the iron works of the early colonial era. One such operation – possibly the first successful iron works in the colonies – is the Tubal Works in Virginia. Started by Colonel Alexander Spotswood nearly 300 years ago, it later became known as Spotswood Furnace.

Because of its unique properties, aluminum has been of key importance in many of the developments of the past century. Why only a century or so? Because although aluminum is the most abundant metallic element in the earth’s crust (8%), metallic aluminum was produced for the first time just 200 years ago. It was not until 1886 that a commercial process was developed – the Hall-Heroult process – to refine aluminum from alumina.

To fish, you need the right equipment, which definitely includes a hook. Have you noticed there are hooks of various sizes and shapes, some with barbs and some without? Why do the differences exist?

Without heat treatment, many of the products we use daily – and take for granted – would need to be designed differently or would not function as effectively. One of these is the automotive seat-belt clasp. Before getting into some specifics of this part, however, let’s look at the history and benefits of these restraints.

Did you know that Paul Revere was an early metallurgist? Revere’s early education was sufficient to enable him to later read the difficult metallurgical books of his day. His early training was by his father, who was a Boston silversmith. At 19 – upon the death of his father in 1754 – Revere took over the family silver shop. A perfectionist throughout his life, he went on to become one of America’s greatest artists in silver.