A fact from Iron in folklore appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 21 March 2007. The text of the entry was as follows:
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I'm not sure that this excerpt from the first section of this article really belongs in an entry on "Iron in Mythology":
This seems more like information that would belong in a more general article on iron rather than an article that is supposed to be focusing on iron in mythology. Nortonew 13:49, 21 March 2007 (UTC)
I recently found an interesting reference in "Pan's Travail" by J. Donald Hughes. On p. 175, "Each year the Avaral Brethren, a Roman priesthood who had care of a large forest dedicated to Dea Dia near the city, 'offered two young pigs in order to expiate theunavoidable desecration of the sacred grove by the use of the axe in pruning and belling it...whenever iron was brought into the grove, as for...the lopping and felling of the trees...there were sacrifices ob ferrum illatum ["for the bringing in of iron'], and, when the work was done, ob ferrum elatum ["for the taking out of iron"].'" (footnoted to "Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities", NY, 1923; pp. 686-88, on 'Fratres Arvales'.) This is the earliest reference to the issue of iron in the cutting of trees and the 'desecration' it produces. Course, we know fairies don't like iron, perhaps the dryads don't like them either. Glenn A. Turner 01:38, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
I fail to recognize the relevance of the section on magnetic fields and wayfinding to mythology. Should we delete or move it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.65.233.238 (talk) 16:30, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
I've heard it claimed that "cold iron" being a distinct form of metal rather than just a poetic flourish in description is a completely modern invention. Newtkeeper (talk) 21:02, 8 March 2010 (UTC)
From my studies a martensite form of iron that mimics the hardness and toughness of steel can be made when quenching pure iron super fast and/or ultra high pressures are applied and/or shock. This might have been discovered by ancient people in the form of Iron meteors that fell into the ocean or swamps. Cold Iron may actually be a real thing.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21663831.2019.1612792
https://mashable.com/article/nasa-meteorite-pacific-ocean-exploration/
https://htracyhall.org/ocr/HTH-Archives/Cabinet%202/G/(Giles,%20P.M.)%20(Gilkerson,%20W.R.)%20(Gill,%20D.H.)/(Giles,%20P.M.)%20(Gilkerson,%20W.R.)%20(Gill,%20D.H.)-7652_OCR.pdf — Preceding unsigned comment added by 104.175.54.158 (talk) 20:29, 24 June 2020 (UTC)
Cold Iron IS a fantasy trope describing iron that is unalloyed and not melted when shaped. It's heated just enough so that hammering doesn't shatter it. Implausibility, in this regard, doesn't matter, since it's almost strictly from fantasy stories and fairy tales. We might as well discuss the chemical properties of mithril. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:2574:D479:6834:B427:31A6:E994 (talk) 20:57, 24 March 2013 (UTC)
When this was done, the following section was gutted. In other words, something is lost when the subject changes from "cold iron in general" to "only as regards folklore". But who decides when "folklore" ends and "modern usages" begin?
I've readded a version of the first paragraph of the archived fantasy fiction section below, to maintain a minimal note of how the concept of "cold" iron is very much alive even in today's storytelling.
===Later usage===
Poetry
Rudyard Kipling's poem "Cold Iron" used the term poetically to mean 'weapon'.
Fantasy fiction
In modern fantasy, cold iron may refer to a special type of metal, such as meteoric iron or unworked metal. Weapons and implements made from cold iron are often granted special efficacy against creatures such as fairies and spirits.
In fantasy roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition, cold iron is a form of iron mined deep underground and forged at a lower temperature to preserve the metal's delicate qualities. Weapons made of cold iron are especially powerful against demons and fey creatures.
In Changeling: The Lost, cold iron refers to relatively pure iron and can actively negate the magical protections of the fae, while wrought iron has additional power to harm and maim the True Fae.
In the Malazan Book of the Fallen high fantasy series by Steven Erikson, Cold Iron is a way of describing how a military general will lead. It is the opposite of Hot Iron, and according to L'oric in House of Chains, Cold Iron will beat Hot Iron four or five times to one.
CapnZapp (talk) 10:58, 11 August 2014 (UTC)
No reference for this, but: the dislike of the fae for iron might be about the invasion of the stone-age tribes of the British Isles by Celts who had discovered iron. 203.13.3.89 (talk) 03:18, 25 August 2020 (UTC)
The article mentions "Cold iron" in quotes but doesn't clarify its meaning. The quotes seem to suggest that there is a specific meaning to that phrase besides the literal interpretation of "low-temperature Fe", or perhaps that the phrase is being quoted from folklore, but this is never clarified. The article should explicitly clarify whether "cold iron" refers to a particular state or composition of iron, some particular natural/supernatural treatment of it, some "magical variety", or if its meaning is unclear or left to interpretation. —Cousteau (talk) 11:52, 20 May 2023 (UTC)