Remember always how the trades support each other and feed into each other’s products. Bookmakers needed parchment makers (tanners) and papermakers. If textile production goes up in a city, its exports of raw wool or other fibers almost certainly goes down. A producer of herring will locate his operation near a salt-making facility, or vice versa.

Salt

Method one: boiling salt brine from salt springs; about a quarter by volume typically would yield consumable salt (so-called table salt).

Method two: shallow pools off a lagoon; sun evaporates the water; rolled cylinders to break up the salt crystals

Method three: mining from mineral formations; many animal trails lead to salt licks because animals need to consume salt, too. Large animals such as cows and horses need several times as much salt as people–hence, the practice of mixing salt into sileage.

Pickling Vegetables–about 1 to 2 percent of the vegetable’s weight in salt into water to create the brine; sealed in jars or submerged underwater to prevent exposure to oxygen; elapsed time=at least 1 to 3 weeks for eggs.

Metals

Tin (blocks)–200-300 pounds

Tin (slabs)–100-150 pounds

Tin (small bars, small shapes)

Bronze= 1 part tin to 9 parts copper

Pewter=4+ parts tin to 1 part lead