Pig-iron contains silicon, sulphur and phosphorus, and these impurities make it brittle so that a cast iron teakettle will break at a blow, like a china cup.

Armor of this kind would have been no good for our iron-clad ancestors.

When a knight in iron clothes tried to whip a leather-clad peasant, the peasant could have cracked him with a stone and his clothes would have fallen off like plaster from the ceiling.

So those early iron workers learned to puddle forge iron and make it into wrought iron which is tough and leathery and can not be broken by a blow.

This process was handed down from father to son, and in the course of time came to my father and so to me.