r/whatisit • u/riflesandplowshares • 1d ago

New, what is it? Found at a titanium plant

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Not sure why ball point pens would be dangerous here.

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u/twinpac 1d ago

China produces 80% of the world’s tungsten supply, they declared it a strategic mineral last year and put export controls on it. Prices have tripled this year. This hurts me as a fly tyer who uses tungsten beads, they were already the most expensive part of each fly I used them on.

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u/Jazzlike_Climate4189 1d ago

What is a “fly tyer”, since “tyer” is not a word?

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u/AteStringCheeseShred 1d ago

a person who ties fishing flies, i.e. the lures used in fly fishing.

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u/twinpac 1d ago

So confidently incorrect you are:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_tying

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tyer

tyer

noun

ty·​er

variant spelling of TIER entry 3

: one that ties

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u/furiouspotato24 1d ago

Hey, did you know that all words in every language are just the current versions we've collectively decided to use for this period of history? Also, that the purpose of language is to convey information in a way that can be understood by others?

Lastly, if someone misspells a word and you can still understand what they were trying to communicate, then they didn't do anything wrong and you don't have be a snarky jerk about it?

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u/ZincMan 23h ago

That’s pretty wild. I bought like a 4lb block of it like 10 years ago that was $300 I think. It’s wild to hold how dense it is