[Sca-cooks] Aluminum

[Betsy Marshall]

"I seem to recall"(tm) once hearing of Napoleon at a dinner party giving
the honored guests their place settings of Aluminum, while the regulars
had to make do with the usual gold forks and spoons- something about the
complicated chemical extraction process making it actually more
expensive than the gold set.
Pyro 

-----Original Message-----
From: sca-cooks-bounces+betsy=softwareinnovation.com at ansteorra.org
[mailto:sca-cooks-bounces+betsy=softwareinnovation.com at ansteorra.org] On
Behalf Of Terry Decker
Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2004 10:32 PM
To: Cooks within the SCA
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Aluminum

Cryolite, Greenland spar, is extremely rare outside of Greenland.  It
was
discovered in 1794.  Bauxite, corundum, feldspar and mica are all easier
to
come by and were known in Antiquity.  FWIW, bauxite is the primary
source
for aluminum while cryolite is used as flux in the smelting process.  If
the
reference in Pliny is to aluminum, then its source would probably be
bauxite
(as the metal was produced from clay).

Bear




> > I had remembered (alas, a false memory) that Aluminum had
> > been refined and made into a gift (baby rattle) for a
> > French prince ... 1700's, 1600's ... one of those.
> >
> Truth to tell I thought that it has been purified from cryolite a bit
> earlier and was rather surprised that it was "discovered" so late.
>
> Daniel

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