AlexanderBlacksmith

SUCCESS! created lots of little pieces of iron, not a 'bloom' the iron pieces were scattered throughout the slag so i had to crush the slag up, but from about 8-1Okg of iron ore i got around 5-8OOg of ironsteel so roughly a pound and a half. Which, when i looked at the creation and use of the tatara in the making of samurai swords, is about right when they say they use 18 tonnes of iron ore sand to create 1 tonne of ironsteel. Thank you all for your help, now ive just got to fuse the little pieces together.

im going to try again with a bigger 'stack' or chimney and replacing the hair dryer with a leaf blower on idle, which, when i tested it, melted and pooled the iron ore i used. I also collected around another 5kg of iron ore, so i have about 1O-13kg total. I was wondering if using heat beads would work, they are 7O% fixed carbon, 17% ash, 6% water and some other mixed chemicals which they dont state, does anybody know if these will work as well as lump charcoal, they are much cheaper.

thanks again everyone for your help, ive got some pictures that ill upload later but firstly, the results. burned for 6 hours in my mini bloomery, i dont know what i did wrong, it came out in a bloom but as soon as i hit it with a hammer it crumbled instantly, im not sure whether its just that it hasnt been reduced enough or whether my fire wasnt hot enough, i was only using a hairdryer, or whether or not my iron ore just isnt pure enough. Its crumbly almost like cooled magma and looks very similar to the top half of this: http://www.indiana.edu/~margi/photos/zp.jpg only more charcoal colored. Can anyone give me an idea of what im doing wrong, or why its so crumbly and not forming any steeliron hotspots in the bloom.

thank you everyone for your kind and helpful advice, i am going to make a mini bloomery about 3O-4Ocm high considering im only going to be making around 3-4kg of iron instead of, say, 25kg that some people have been making. I have about 2Okg of charcoal for this and only around 5kg of partially refined ore [ore that i crushed up and used a magnet to pick up the iron pieces]. I work for a hardware warehouse so picking up charcoal is quite easy if i need more. I guess im just going to have to do some experimentation, but ill take some photos and upload for you guys if youd like. The only problem i can forsee is trying to tap out the slag... but I'll figure something out. Thanks again

thank you for the suggestions :] yes i had already broken my ore up into pea size or smaller pieces when i added them to the fire, what im mystified about is whether or not i can change my forge [which is quite easy to do] into a side air-fed style bloomery or whether i can keep it as a forge and use a crucible to melt down the iron and scrape the slag off the top. Also I am wondering whether or not the crumbly ore i have now, as a result of simply placing the iron ore onto the top of the charcoal, is worth keeping and can it be refined more. Ive decided to have a go at changing my forge into a rough furnacebloomery and try to use an improvised tuyere for any slag, can someone please explain the process of what happens in the furnace and why a tuyere is needed. I have a had a good look at the rockbridge bloomery website that a number of memebers have recommended.

Hello this is my first post on this forum so thank you for your time and patience. I would like to know how i can refine some iron ore i found. I am a bit of an explorer and while I was out bushwhacking in southern Queensland, Australia i picked up a bunch of iron ore using a magnet, approximately 3-5kg, out of a river bottom and on the side of a mountain. I built my own forge using some very thick concrete tiles, a metal pole, some duct tape and a hair dryer and i have been using charcoal as a fuel source. However i live right next to some bushland and getting wood would not be an issue for me [let me know if this is a viable source of fuel as charcoal can be semi expensive]. I tried to use a terracotta bowl as a crucible but it melted though the bottom :blink: so i simply heaped it straight onto the fire. I know that it is hot enough to melt steel because i melted the end off some scrap steel i had lying around. After cooling down the forge i picked up the metal pieces using a magnet but i found that it was very very crumbly, after looking around the website i heard someone say that because of the sulphur i might have wrecked my iron ore [i only used 14 of the ore i have so its not much of an issue]. I need some advice on how i can refine my iron ore, any advice is greatly appreciated :) Just an update, I've had a look at some bloom forges and am wondering if my conventional pit forge [with airflow through a hole underneath] is still a viable way to refine my ore. I am really in the dark about whether its possible just to heat it up in a crucible and remove the slag from the top. Edit: I am painfully aware of how newbie i sound.