danpat Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 Hey all, I was recently visiting my girlfriends grandparents ranch outside Silver City in NM where I picked up what appear to be some fairly good iron ore chunks out in the forest. I'd like to make a ring or two out of it if possible. I don't have a lot (probably about 15lbs). It breaks apart if I whack it hard with a regular carpentry hammer. It's strongly magnetic and significantly heavier than similar sized "normal" rocks nearby. Cutting it with a metal blade works and an angle grinder reveals a fairly shiny, brown-coloured surface. Is it going to be possible to smelt this small amount of material? If so, can anyone recommend a simple process to follow? From what I've been reading, an outdoor bloomery is too large. I was thinking that roasting, breaking it down and putting it in a smaller crucible along with a CO producer to do a "mini bloom", but I've not been able to find much literature for really small scale production like this. Is it even possible, or is the mass/surface area ratio of such a small amount going to prevent the process from working at all? The key idea is the sentimental value of the materials and as I'm now about 3000 miles from NM, it's hard to get access to any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert MacVeigh Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 danpat, can't advise directly but I do know it can be done (even a caveman can do it???) check out jason@mactallis' topic posted jan12/12 by titled "Ore for smelting" --> http://www.iforgeiro...e-for-smelting/ I definitely see a "common thread" OR google "smelting iron ore" and evolve your search from there much luck, Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojotoo Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 Could this material possibly be meteorites? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 Welcome aboard Dan, glad to have ya. If you put your general location in your header you might be pleasantly surprised at how many of us live within visiting distance. It'll also make it easier for us old farts to remember who's in the area when we're traveling without having to rely on our memories. We may want a snack or beer you know. Brown eh? Does it have smallish voids that look like worm tracks? In what kind of terrain did you find it? It looks a bit and sounds a bit like bog iron but might just be rich ore that's rusting. You can simply make a tall smallish diameter chimney and pack it with charcoal a little limestone and your broken up ore with a little blower near the bottom and light it off. If you want to use coke it's the same basic process. Just don't take my word for it, I've never done any smelting but have read on it a bit. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 http://jhbladesmith.com/en/making-steel/catalan-forge.html Jesus Hernandez does rather small smelts. He has quite a bit of information on his site. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danpat Posted April 30, 2012 Author Share Posted April 30, 2012 Could this material possibly be meteorites? It seems unlikely. I only grabbed a few nice looking pieces, but there was lots of it lying around over a large area (at least half a mile square). It was exposed mostly in washouts, most of the pieces looked just like the photo. Brown, strangely heavy rocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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