I had a thought last night about how to build a more efficient furnace in a fairly low tech society. (I build Games, so this is part of my world mechanics)
My question is: How feasible is this idea - could it actually be done?
So I had a thought, "Lodestone" or more precisely "Magnetic Lodestone" has been around for a long time (people have known about it for a long time, and magnetism was understood~ish).
If you could get hold of enough Magnetic Lodestone, and you attached all the pieces to the inside of a barrel. If you were to spin that barrel around a metal object would you induce enough heat to forge that metal object?
Lets say I want to make axe-heads, so 2kg? (that's a big axe) And I have iron in the form of bog-iron (pretty pure I believe, but not exactly sure)
Could I do this? How much lode stone would I need? Would the lode stone wear out (lose magnetism?) Would I have to spin the barrel at an accomplish-able speed? Or would I have to spin the ore instead?
I've done some research, but my understanding of inductance and the finery of the field means I'm struggling to understand or search the right things.
Thanks for any help :)