In regards to the "tools" mentioned by Nephi (1 Nephi 17:9), the Hiltons give an account of when they were taken to an ancient shipyard at Jiddah, by the Red Sea:
"We saw men carving planks by hand, shaping the keel, bow and ribs with adzes and hand-operated drills in the same fashion as their fathers and grandfathers had done. There was no electrical power nor any modern tools; . . . all we saw were hand-operated woodworking and ironworking tools, and they all looked handmade as well. We saw an adze, which is a sharpened iron blade used to hew lumber to specific shapes. We observed local shippers using this tool to carve huge logs to the desired shape for keels and ribs. We noted wooden and iron hammers and chisels used to skin bark off tree limbs and notch the ends so the ribs would fit perpendicular to the keel. We observed axes used to rough out basic shapes from tree trunks and limbs before the adze finished each job to the exact shape desired . . ."
"All these tools described, plus others we saw (except the adze), are mentioned in the Old Testament long before Lehi's day and were probably known by him before he left Jerusalem. (ax, Deuteronomy 19:5 and 21:19; boring tool or awl, Exodus 21:6 and Deuteronomy 15:17; saw, Isaiah 10:15 and 1 Kings 7:9; plane, Isaiah 44:13; wedge, Isaiah 13;12; knives, Genesis 22:6-10; measuring line, 1 Kings 7:23; plummet, Amos 7:8; stylus, Isaiah 44:13; hammer, Psalms 74:6; chisel, Exodus 20:25)." [Lynn M. and Hope A. Hilton, Discovering Lehi, pp. 119-120]
“Ore to Molten That I May Make Tools to Construct the Ship”
When required to make shipbuilding tools, Nephi asks for divine help in finding ore but seems to know how to proceed from there: "Wither should I go that I may find ore to molten that I may make tools to construct the ship" (1 Nephi 17:9).
According to Revel Phillips, in the context of Nephi's day, there were only two reasonable options for a metal to make tools: bronze and iron. Nephi lived at a time when iron and simple steel had become commonplace in Jerusalem, yet bronze was retained for special purposes like casting. Bronze was softer and generally inferior to steel for toolmaking, and producing it required a source for its components, copper and tin. Only minor traces of copper minerals have been reported in the Dhofar, and tin is unknown there. Of course, tin and copper might possibly have been trade items on the India-Africa trade route.
Nephi may have learned metallurgy skills from the smiths in Jerusalem or from his multiple journeys between Jerusalem and the Red Sea, which required him to pass repeatedly through southern Wadi Arabah, the principal site for mining and smelting of both copper and iron in ancient Israel. He may have learned from the local smiths of the Dhofar or from the Indian traders that passed through nearby trading ports, and he would not have been the first prophet to be instructed by divine beings. Nephi struck stones together to make fire, built a presumably simple pit furnace, and constructed a bellows of animal sins to blow air into the glowing mass of charcoal and ore (see 1 Nephi 17:11). Bellows of skins are depicted in ancient Egyptian tomb paintings and were in common use in Palestine and throughout the Near East from the second millennium B.C. Nephi's smelting furnace almost certainly never reached the melting point of iron (1535o C or 2795o F), but it didn't need to.
When air is introduced into a hot mixture of iron oxides and charcoal, carbon from the charcoal combines with oxygen form the air to form carbon monoxide, which is a reducing gas. This gas filters upward through the charcoal-ore mixture, removing oxygen from the iron oxides to form carbon dioxide; and tiny crystals of iron, freed of its oxygen, filter downward to accumulate at the base of the fire pit as a gray, spongy mass called a "bloom" or "sponge iron." This form of iron reduction, called the "direct process," beings at about 1200o C (2195o F), which is possible in a simple charcoal furnace. Although the bloom is not molten, silicate impurities in the ore from a molten slag (see 1 Nephi 17:16) that floats to the top to shield the hot bloom from the oxygen and cooling effect of the air above. The white hot bloom can be withdrawn from the furnace and hammered ("forged") to squeeze out remaining slag and to weld, or compress, the iron crystals into a solid mass called "wrought iron." Iron produced by this direct process is quite pure (99.5 percent). It is softer and more malleable than good bronze and cannot be hardened by any amount of additional forging.
Wrought Iron is not suitable for tools or weapons, and added forging drives more slag from the iron, making it even more malleable. Long heating of the wrought iron in direct contact with glowing charcoal, however, causes carbon atoms to diffuse into the outer layers of the iron, creating a simple form of steel (martensite). This process is called "carburizing," and repeated carburizing and forging produce an outer layer of steel that can be very hard and sharpened to a fine edge. The iron is said to be "case hardened." In antiquity, common soldiers fought with inferior weapons that might dent and ben, but kings welded swords of special steel, each created by a skilled smith after days or months of hard, hot work at his forge (e.g., Excalibur). The sword of Laban, said to be of "most precious steel" (1 Nephi 4:9), was perhaps one of those special swords.
Today we know that the smiths of Damascus fused together thin layers of carburized steel to form a single blade. Repeated forging produced a visible wavy pattern ("watering") of carbon-rich and carbon-poor layers visible in the famous Damascus steel.
In a different process, plunging hot steel into water ("quenching") increases its hardness, but the metal becomes brittle and tools and weapons made from it may break. Reheating to moderate ("red") temperature and slow cooling ("tempering") relieves stress in the quenched steel, making it less brittle with little loss of hardness.
It is important to note that the direct process of iron reduction, forging, carburizing, quenching, and tempering were technologies known throughout the Near East of Nephi's day. All were possible for a learned or inspired man using a simple pit furnace with bellows and a simple forge. These techniques changed little for the arms makers of the Christian crusades or, indeed, for the blacksmiths of the pioneer communities of the American West. Nephi evidently knew all that he needed to know about smelting ore and producing metal tools. What he needed was to learn where he could find a deposit of iron ore. [Wm. Revell Phillips, "Metals of the Book of Mormon," in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Vol. 9, Num. 2, 2000, FARMS, pp. 37, 41]
1 Nephi 17:9 Ore to molten that I may make tools to construct the ship ([Illustration]): This map of southern Oman shows the locations of the two iron ore deposits, indicated by the scientific abbreviation for iron (Fe). [Wm. Revell Phillips, "Metals of the Book of Mormon," in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Vol. 9, Num. 2, 2000, FARMS, p. 40]