Meanwhile, manganese steel should still be usable for making weapons.
Joseph vaguely remembered that, in later generations, the material for cannon barrels seemed to be manganese steel.
Before the Bessemer process for steelmaking is mastered, we'll have to rely on crucible steelmaking technology, supplemented with reverberatory furnace refining, to produce a small quantity of alloy steel.
The output will certainly be extremely low, but if it's just to meet the needs of steam engine pipes and gun barrels, it should barely be enough.
At most, the cost will be extremely high—which, when it comes to military products, often isn't something you can consider anyway.
After giving Wandell instructions on the alloy steel experiments, and repeatedly stressing confidentiality, Joseph hurried back to Paris—ten days later, the winners of this year's Supreme Louis Award would be announced, and he had to return for the ceremony.
