Coat of Arms of Bloom Smith

[Prospector]

Metal Artist (goldsmith & smith) Jouni J

[Ed Thomas]

I'm thinking any women on the core team will want somewhat different symbols escaping the fire.

[ThomasPowers]

Prospector I've been a bloomery Thrall for over 15 years now with a group that smelts using short stack scandanavian bloomeries. We used to dig clay from the creek to build them but over the years experimentation has shown us that cob (3 shovelsfull silty dirt : 2 head sized bunches of chopped straw : 1 shovelfull of dried powdered clay with the absolute minimum of water to mix it by hand---looks like muddy straw when you apply it) worked a lot better.

We used hand powered air, sometimes single action bellows, most of the time a large handcrank blacksmith's blower.

And charcoal of course

Our favorite ore is Magneitite of fairly fine size

Last run I participated in before I moved 1500 miles away produced 15# blooms---not bad for Y1K work by amateurs!

I think the coat of arms should have a dirty arm holding a handfull of clay on it!

Thomas

[Prospector]

I'm thinking any women on the core team will want somewhat different symbols escaping the fire.

(iron symbols are falling juts like in the furnace)

I know what you mean. Like I wrote the Coat of Arms of Bloom Smith

[ThomasPowers]

I'm not nearly as knowledgable as our "iron mistress" who bosses the runs.

Yes cob is what we build the furnace from any straw that burns out makes the refractory more insulative. We do smooth a layer of clay over the inside to make it smoother---done by hand so it's not very thick. It's a problem when the charge wants to bridge so smooth and tapered is what we go for.