I got very tired with the issue of getting ore so I managed to obtain 20 ton or so from a mine in Minnesota.
This arrived last month.
it is 60% iron with the balance being silicon oxide and some trace elements.

70 pounds fills a 5 gallon pail.
I will sell six ton of this, but no more at $15 per pail (pail not included).

Ric

60% iron? Wow. You know, you could mix that with aluminum powder, bulldoze it along your driveway, ignite and run away, and you could be the first guy in America with a thermite driveway! ;)

I demonstrate blacksmithing for school groups and wanted to show the
students a couple of pieces of bog iron. Do you know anybody who
might have some or know where to purchase some. I just need enough to put
into a pill bottle or small plastic case lined with cotton balls to
pass around to the children. If you have any info on how to get some
samples of bog iron I'd really appreciate it. Thank You!

Welcome aboard Stephan, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance.

Have any peat bogs near you? Look for an oily sheen and wade barefooted so you can feel nodules. I'm afraid that's about what I know about finding bog iron nodules. However we have members who refine their own iron from ore and can undoubtedly give you better info.

On the other hand, I'll bet the kids would LOVE a field trip to wade in a bog. Of course it'd be a summer school field trip. You'd be famous!

Frosty The Lucky.

Stefan13  are you in Ireland?  just go out back and grab a piece. If you are in Alaska  you may need a pick axe..  why not list a general location so we can give you usefull information?

Edited March 5, 201511 yr by Steve Sells

Does it have to be bog iron? There's some brown hematite around here. I may still have some, not sure.

Nobody, do you buy yours local or from someone on the web?

Buy? Never!!! I pick mine up.....like Jammer said, there's a lot of places they used to mine it close by. My favorite is around Cartersville, Ga, up near Red Top Mountain. Lake Allatoona absolutely has ore nearby. Often, when the lake is low in the winter you can pick it up where the water has receded.

I tried to reply already a few days ago but it looks like it never went through.  I know of an old iron mine probably 30 minutes away from me. I just can't find out who owns it so I can ask before i trespass. There is a stream near it that I plan to try the magnet on a string trick I keep hearing about and hope to be able to get on the old mine property to see if they might've left a little something when they shut it down from what I hear 50 years ago.

Iron ore is like coal around here, it's everywhere, you just have to find out where you can actually get some.

Depends on the type of mine---magnetite will be magnetic,  hematite, limonite, goethite---most of the "red/yellow/brown" ores will not be magnetic. (until roasted...)

According to minedat.org it's goethite  and limonite. So I guess I have no idea how to find it lol.

http://www.mindat.org/loc-175945.html