How common is this knowledge?

You could pound it with a big hammer for a long, long time. I don't really see anyone making a serious weapon without actually forging (fire, etc.) it, though...if you didn't have a chunk of forged metal to start with, the quality of the iron would be pretty inconsistent.

Or in a fantasy story, I guess you could just say a wizard did it with magic, or a surly dwarf used his teeth to shape it, or something similar.

I don't really see anyone making a serious weapon without actually forging (fire, etc.) it, though...

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'Cold' iron is just an archaic term for iron, it doesn't mean it's forged cold. In much the same way people might refer to the 'touch of cold steel'

The real problem with so-called cold iron is that you can't get iron at all without smelting ore with coke, which requires--you guessed it--fire. If a meteorite falls from the sky, you better believe atmospheric friction has that sucker really hot. So, I'm not sure what all this cold iron crap is about. Disregard it. Plain ol' iron's good enough.

The correct answer to the OP's question is, "If you have to ask, it isn't common knowledge."

SPMiller said:

The real problem with so-called cold iron is that you can't get iron at all without smelting ore with coke, which requires--you guessed it--fire.

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Well, obviously. That's why you let things cool. Who's going to pick up a hot iron nail and start building with it? You'd burn your skin off your hands.

/facepalm

So elfs aren't impervious to hot iron?

MattW said:

So elfs aren't impervious to hot iron?

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Not unless they have asbestos gloves.

Then they have to worry about lung disease.

So, I'm not sure what all this cold iron crap is about. Disregard it. Plain ol' iron's good enough.

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Please refer to the post above yours

ChaosTitan said:

Who's going to pick up a hot iron nail and start building with it? You'd burn your skin off your hands.

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Dang! That explains it.

caw

SPMiller said:

Then they have to worry about lung disease.

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The silent killer that no one in fantasy has the courage to write about.

With the dangers of longbottom leaf being known, it's a real shame.

Thomas_Anderson said:

Thanks for the advice, and yeah, I figured out a way to mention it.

One thing about cold iron though, I never really got it. How can somebody forge iron without using any form of fire or heat?

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All metals are malleable to some extent. Iron is actually fairly soft, it takes carbon to make it hard.

Carbon doesn't react with the iron to form molecules, instead it "takes up space" inside the iron. Think of it like this:

Get a bunch of straws, and tape them together at the corners to form a box. Then extend the box by adding a few more boxes attached to it. The whole structure is bendable at the corners, allowing you to twist it around.

But now, get some balloons, and inflate them inside each box, until they are tight. Now your "boxes" don't bend so easy. This is how carbon turns iron into steel.

Meteoric iron was supposedly once seen as something magical, presumably dating from the time before people really learned how to work iron. At least it was used for ceremonial purposes during the bronze age. Well, it was something very rare and different from what people were familiar with.

As for 'cold iron', blacksmiths do sometimes (ok, English is not my native tongue and right now I'm feeling too lazy to find out the right English terms, so bear with me) beat objects without heating them. I don't think it's possible to make something from iron without heating it at least a couple of times, but supposedly working on an iron object a bit while it's cold will make it harder.

If I remember things correctly, that is. I know a couple of professional blacksmiths casually, but it's been a while since I discussed any of that stuff with either of them.