smelting my steel/iron

[Scott Roush]

I thought some of you would be interested in some experimenting I'm doing with smelting.  The thought has been lingering for some time and I love the look of the watered steels, true damascus, wootz, shear and all of those old style steels.  I live in an area that has a huge legacy of iron mining so I have a great source of natural and refined ores. I also heat with wood so I have plenty of wood for charcoal AND.. it turns out I have one of the country's most knowledgeable smelters living just a few hours away.  So it's all coming together.

I decided, for the sake of historical reconstruction as well as budget, to do my first smelt in a 'viking style' furnace that can be made from things occurring naturally on my land... rocks, high clay soil, pine needles, hay, etc.  These are designed for a single use and once the smelt is completed, the whole thing is demolished. But all the mortar can be re-used for the next one.   So... here it is.  It is simply a base of rocks and gravel with a layer of sand and charcoal on the bottom. There are two slag vents and two tuyeres that I will use to attach an air source... which will probably be my forge blower.  For this first attempt, I will be happy if I can make a primitive form of wrought iron... but if things go well, and I get the right ratios of air, charcoal and ore... I can make a nicely textured, high carbon steel. Fat chance on the first try! If things go poorly then I get no bloom at all or it comes out cast iron.

This is mostly just for fun....  In January I'm attending a workshop to learn more about the process...

Here it is. Looks like a beaver made it.  It still needs to dry out.

 

Here are some local ores I've been collecting by going to beaches on Lake Superior and locating abandoned iron mines:

Black magnetite sand.. this stuff is pure iron and easy to smelt if you can get enough of it.

 

You can see it stuck to a magnet!

 

What I'm hoping is specular hematite:

 

 

Anyway... If I manage a bloom from this contraption and forge a blade or guard material from it, I will give y'all an update.

[Lin Rhea]

Some rocks explode when they get hot, be careful and have fun. Lin

[Scott Roush]

Lin... those ores will be crushed to small bits before they go into the furnace.  But I will mostly be using the black sand anyway.  It only takes a couple gallons to make a pretty big piece of metal since it's already 100% iron.

[gudspelr]

Now that's just plain cool.  Can't wait to see how this turns out    

Jeremy

[Lin Rhea]

I'm not talking about the ore. I'm talking about those big rocks in your furnace.

[Scott Roush]

ahhh... well, there is almost 2 inches of my clay cob mixture insulating them on the inside.  And that stuff insulates pretty well from what I understand.  What happens is the organic content...straw, pine needles, etc, burn out leaving insulating pockets throughout the clay.  But who knows Lin. Anything could happen.  It might even implode on itself creating a blackhole.

[kbaknife]

Scott, I've been in on the smelting process many times and can think of few things that are really any more fun!
And, those times seem to be better when shared.
Were you referring to Rick Furrer? He's in Sturgeon Bay.
When he talks - listen.

[Lin Rhea]

It would seem that a knife made from the raw materials as you're talking about would be one to hang on to. I hope it works out well. I would like to do that someday too.

Some of the guys make it an all night sit around the fire kind of thing.  Lin

[Scott Roush]

Yeah... Ric is the guy. I'm taking his shear steel course in January and I'm helping him track down a long term source of ore since I live more in iron country than he does.

I just tested some stuff I found laying around a local town for decoration and it's pure iron!

I hope it works too.. but I will be tickled pink if I can just get something that responds to a hammer without shattering.

And yeah I've heard of these smelting gatherings and I'm already talking with a local geology professor about bringing his students out. And when I get things smoothed out you should come up Karl and take a bloom home. You are better equipped to handle it than I am.  I'm gonna have to do a lot of sledge hammering to get something I can forge.

[tippit]

Now that is real raw forging!  Hats off to you Scott  

[Scott Roush]

Thanks Doc... hopefully it will get to that point.  

I just found the mother source of ore yesterday... the remains of an iron smelting operation from the 1800s. All the ore I will ever need for operations like these. And the crushed stuff is still there so all I have to do is pour it into the fire.