Quote from Erokow32 >>

Sposta: I'm a smith, and I've never heard about that. It's pretty cool, and I'll look into it more. <3

I've always heard that Blacksmiths were black smiths because they got covered in coal dust which would turn them black. Meanwhile, jewelery makers (goldsmiths, silversmiths and the sort) need to reduce contamination and wouldn't have so much debris floating around.

 
As I understand it, that’s the basic difference between “black metals,” and “white metals” as was described to me. That would be why, when I asked about precious metals, he answered “Those are all white metals, you just need separate crucibles to keep everything clean, most of the rest of it is the same.”

I suppose that, since modern jewelry makers are expected to be able to work with silver, gold of varying purifies, platinum, and blends such as white/red gold, that the concept of a silversmith as separate from a goldsmith is not really a thing anymore. 🤷‍♂️ (Again, that’s purely a supposition on my part.) And as such, one would need separate containers for the various substances to maintain the intended purities. Apparently, at least according to what I was told, if one also had vessels for the other non-precious “white metals,” the rest of the equipment would be the about the same. The forge would already be the right size and temperature range, and the equipment would mostly all be the right sizes as well (since it doesn’t take much tin to make a teapot), stuff like that.

By comparison, the temperatures and equipment sizes necessary to make useable items of iron or steel would also be suitable for working with metals like bronze. That is, provided one used different vessels for melting/casting bronze as opposed to the ones used for cast iron, stuff like that  After all, I know for a fact that he uses his equipment to forge weld mokume gane, so clearly his equipment is suitable for more than ferrous metals.

Like the man said when I asked what the difference was, “Mostly the temperatures and the tools.” It all made sense to me logically when he explained it, so I never questioned his answer. I’m no smith, so perhaps he over simplified his answer to match either my practically nonexistent level of foundational information, or else to suite the casual level of the conversation. (In essence, he may have given me the “cliff notes” version of the “smith stuff for dummies” explanation.) As such, it would obviously be lacking in any of the finer points on the subject. (And I wouldn’t blame him for it.)

While fluxes can lower the melting points of materials using their pure melting points can give us a guide to the difficulties or ease of processing so here are some values:
earthenware pottery- fired at @ 760 C
stoneware pottery - fired at 1100-1300 C
porcelin - fired at 1300 - 1350 C
chromite-magnesite firebrick - fired at 1300-1760 C
Bronze: MP - 950 C ( for most types especially ancient types)
Silver: MP - 962 C
Gold: MP - 1064 C
Iron: MP - 1538 C
titanium (Mithril): MP - 1668 C
Platinum: MP - 1768 C
Tungsten: MP - 3422 C

i include the ceramics to give us a sense of the temperatures that can be held in a forge/bloomers/blast furnace/crucible kiln. Chromite -magnesite firebrick is what is used to line modern steel furnaces. From this we can see the jump in temp. Required historically - bronze, silver and gold are low temperature materials, iron/steel, platinum and titanium are high temperature and tungsten is so ultra high that crucibles can’t be made to contain it. I looked up how pure tungsten was made and discovered that 2 processes are available today:
1) tungsten ore can be heated in a hydrogen atmosphere with carbon to about 1050 C where the carbon and gangue materials in the ore react leaving tungsten metal.
2) to actually melt tungsten an special induction furnace made from hollow copper fingers with water running through and a copper winding around them carrying current acts as the furnace. The magnetic induction heats the tungsten to melt it while the molten tungsten against the cooler copper tubes freezes to make the crucible holding the rest of the molten tungsten. 
some how I don’t see the second method being used in dwarven/ elven Admantine smithies. I can see the first being used as an alchemical process to produce Admantine and I can see why lore has it as an asteroidal material.

note the high temperature for platinum - today it is routinely dealt with by goldsmiths/jewelers but historically it wasn’t identified until 1748 although there are some European references to it from the 1500-1600s mostly as a material from the americas that was silver, malleable, as heavy as gold and moderately shiny that was used in native artifacts. It was not until 1786 that malleable platinum free of other platinoid metals was produced (the other platinoids make platinum much less malleable). Further platinum is found in mineable amounts in only a few places typically ultra magic layered complexes (the deep bottom of a lower magma chamber of a mantle plume volcano) on earth placer deposits were found in the Urals of Russia but the single primary source for platinum today is South Africa with 80% of the world’s production. Platinum’s relative abundance in DnD worlds leads me into all sorts of speculations but that is fuel for other posts later. 
The temperatures tell an interesting story - low temperature smiths (white smiths of various sorts) some of whom learn to work large pieces including weapons and armour; then some of them learn to work higher temp iron and become blacksmiths. Then a few learn to work with Mithril and platinum at temperatures running close to the max for their forges. Finally a vet few with alchemical help learn to produce and work tungsten/Admantite.

I can see star smiths for those working admantite, while perhaps the Mithril ( and platinum) smiths are the grandmasters.

I don't really know where this thread is going anymore. It's way too technical for me, now. I will state that watching and listening to fine metalworking is exceedingly relaxing.

So in addition to "talented" from earlier in this thread, I'll add "therapeutic".

A Gray Smith

The first guy that did it successfully was Gary. He was the guy. He was the greatest smith in the land, and everyone knew it. 

Unfortunately, others were able to figure out his process and technique. They moved away from Gary and started their own smithing operation with "True Silver". They all started going by the name Gary. Most did a passable or better job so they were thought to be the true Gary. After a while, the first Gary suddenly died and any apprentices could not capitalize on his name so they went by Gary too. Eventually, customers misheard the name Gary as Gray. The smithing industry was shaken up again by the name change but it stuck this time. 

So, The Graysmith was born and Our guy Gary forgotten. But...

Maybe, the original Gary trained a few folks in secret after he moved or retired. They are the True Graysmiths. They make truly astounding things, Legendary things. If only they could be found...

LOL

and most unwittingly call themselves Greysmiths.

I was not trying to be rude, and I did not mean to come off as offensive.

And by long, I only meant that it was a long answer to a relatively simple question.

once again, I did not mean to be rude. I apologize if my reaction was viewed as such.

A mithsmith, obviously.

Not to be confused with a mythsmith, which is another name for a dungeon master.

Or is a title for the next book in the Myth Inc. series?😜🤪😳