Metal Guru it you?
It’s hardly me.
But I’ve picked up a few pieces and found a trend. With me anyway. So I’m calling it. Metals are cool. Also hot.
Incredible reusable materials which live on and on and in many instances improve with age retaining, or even increasing their value.
Find some classic practical shapes and they may outlive you. Gold!
So what is a metal exactly? I know you know. But have you thought about it much? Not me either, until now.
It’s a material an element, compound, or alloy that is typically hard, opaque, shiny, and has good electrical and thermal conductivity.
Wikipedia.
Most pure metals are either too soft, brittle or chemically reactive for practical use. Which is why we produce alloys. And what’s an alloy? Pretty much a blend. A metal merged or melted beyond reformation with another material. Sometimes a pure metal sometimes not. Very common for example: 18-carat gold is 75% gold, with the balance made up of nickel, copper and zinc.
The most common and used are alloys of iron which are steel: stainless steel, cast iron, tool steel, alloy steel etc.
And we use iron which is essentially iron ore, the fourth most common element in the Earth’s crust a lot! Iron ore is the raw material used to make pig iron, which is one of the main raw materials to make steel. 98% of the mined iron ore is used to make steel. That’s a lot of mining and a lot of steel!
It has been argued that iron ore is more integral to the global economy than any other commodity, except perhaps oil. Wikipedia. Again.
The good news about steel is it’s totally recyclable so if the object is no longer functional it can be repurposed. Like Terminator 2. Melted down for the greater good. Hasta la vista baby.
To be continued…
urban rustic 
