149r - - - - - Softening iron and making it really soft
Take some sublimate, some quicklime, soap from Venice, some horse manure, use less sublimate than the other ingredients. Moisten all of them together, forming a paste and apply this to the iron, and wrap the whole thing in a dirty rag. Then reheat it until it becomes very red. Or leave it overnight in a good fire until the morning. It will be very soft and you will be able to engrave whatever you wish on it.
Gold of lesser quality from Germany, Electre
One calls it gold from the Rhine, which you can find in the rivers, and it comes in gold flakes. German goldsmiths wanted to refine it, thinking that they could separate it from the whitenes, which they thought was silver. But it always stayed white, which proves that this whiteness is fixed and it’s only fault lies in its color. This is electre, from which you can make cups, which will reveal poison.
Various arts from Germany
They make great use of water mills, and most of these artisans working with gold, silver, and any other metal, bring their large works to the mills to be hammered. And to pull iron thread, they heat large amounts of iron, making it into a point, they hang it up still red, and very quickly pull it.
Repairing medals
If you want to mold any medal to use as a model, and at the same time repair it, cast it in a greater quantity of tin, and put in it a good amount of tin alloy to make it harder.