LearningToForge Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Is it possible for a regular person to make steel? Or is it required to have the infrastructure of a steel mill? I am researching for a project and was hoping for answers and comments. I know I can buy steel, but am interested in it's manufacturing by the lay-person. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzonoqua Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 google 'bloomery' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 "Mastery and Uses of Fire in Antiquity", Rehder, has plans for a "fool proof" bloomery in it's appendices. You can make steel by starting with iron ore and smelting it in a bloomery, (note that the tatara is one type of bloomery furnace). You can also start with "mild steel" and make high carbon steel from it using the blister steel process or even a crucible steel process. I was part of a bloomery team for over a decade using early medieval european methods and while it was great fun the amount of work involved makes such wrought iron and steels quite expensive. If we knew where you are we might be able to suggest someone near you who is currently running a smelting operation every now and then---I know a half dozen or so people in the USA for example, PA, MI, NM, OH, ID, MD,...and these are only my friends! I know one fellow in Eastern Canada as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LearningToForge Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 I'm in Georgia, near Atlanta, but any contacts are good. I'm doing research for a fiction book that involves metallurgy. Myself, I'm just a lay blacksmither, trying to make knives out of railroad spikes, but steel has been a mystery to me. Thanks. How do you add carbon to something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 How do you add carbon to something? Heat it up in the presence of carbon...carbon happens to move very quickly through steel and steel alloys. Carburizing is a common specialized industrial process used in heat treating.http://en.wikipedia....iki/Carburizing This can be as simple as packing a "can" with iron and carbon bearing material, say wood chips, charcoal, or leather and animal horn, or it can be complex like in modern industry where sometimes an atmosphere conrolled furnace is used and carbon bearing gas is used. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cementation_process In practice if you took ore and made an iron bloom in a charcoal (carbon) fired furnace you probably have to reduce the carbon content a little. Boiling molten pig iron (cast iron, over 2.5% carbon) in balling or puddling furnace is one way, another is to fold it repeatedly at welding temperatures.http://en.wikipedia....ng_(metallurgy) There is no one simple answer, instead there are many similar, related processes to solve a set of situations : too much carbon, too little carbon, too much impurities, etc. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LearningToForge Posted September 29, 2012 Author Share Posted September 29, 2012 And that would make steel? That is an amazing discovery. Thanks for the information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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