Talk:Iron

Is iron actually very expensive? Steel was initially dear due to the difficulty of obtaning good quality versions of it, but iron seemed ubiquitous.--User 144 16:41, 28 Apr 2006 (EST)

But expensively ubiquitous. If you could afford it, you'd use iron for cookware, armour and especially for tools. If you couldn't afford it (and the price did go down as period and mining/smelting technologies progressed) you made due with ceramics, leather, etc. Compare with the modern computer: it's so common in the West as to be ubiquitous, but it's still a major purchase that you hope will last a long time. user:Paul Matisz 28 April 2006 - 11:06 EST