DanielC Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Well I just wanted to share something with everyone what I found rather interesting. I live in an old house that belongs to my neighbor. This house was his parent's house before he bought it, fixed it up, lived in it, and then built a house next door and moved into it. This house used to have a coal burning stove for heat, which I did not know until last night.... It started off with me forging last night, a now usual occurrence as of late. When I was done, I spread my coal out and waited for it to be safe to pull back into my garage. While I was waiting, I wanted to check on some d-con trays I put in my crawl space. In I went, and somehow I recognized a detail that I missed time and again all previous times going into my crawl space (Its more like a hunch forward and walk-space). My water heater sits in a squared off dug hole, and in that hole was clinker! Chunks of clinker all over. I picked some up, inspected it and knew for sure. After that, I looked up with my flashlight and there sat the source. What appeared to be a pillar previous times was actually the base of the chimney to an old coal burning stove of sorts. In that pillar was the clean-out door. I opened it, and chunks of clinker started rolling out. Interesting indeed. Living in NC, you do not often find anything coal related. My neighbors family is from Kentucky, and they often brought back coal (I found several softball and basketball sized chunks in my yard that they brought here 40 years ago). Inside the house has since been remodeled and all that is left is the brick bottom and on top of that is a big decorative (though working) wood stove. After being surprised enough by this find, I traveled further into my crawl space to inspect the several d-con trays. After seeing they took the bait, my flashlight came across something brilliant. Among the usual browns and grays of a typical crawl space (I plumb so I see lots of them) was something out of place. A brilliant blue caught my eye. Covered in dirt was this brilliant blue rock. Knowing that blue doesn't often just happen in nature, I knew it deff. something out of the ordinary and carried it out. This rock looked like it came off of an arctic glacier. I cleaned it off with soap and water, and here it is. Upon further research I found out it is slag glass, created from the slag of iron smelting at big smelting corps. This chunk is likely from the 60's or 70's in the Kentucky area. I will consult with my neighbor this week to find more information about it, but I thought it was pretty neat and wanted to share it with you guys. Thanks for reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciladog Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Just one problem Daniel. I don't want to burst your bubble but slag glass does not come from the smelting of Iron or steel. It is called slag glass because it is believed that slag from smelting was added to the glass to create the streaks. Slag glass was/is made in a glassworks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielC Posted January 6, 2013 Author Share Posted January 6, 2013 I understand that many pieces of furniture and jewelry are created from glass that have been processed with slag to form types of slag glass. However... If you go here: http://dayoopers.com/glry50b.html These guys are stripping piles of slag build up from the 1800's and find chunks very similar to mine. They don't really look like big piles of trash from a glass creating company... EDIT: I am totally fine with being wrong in this. I just started researching it lastnight, so it's not like I have my credibility on the line. I just found several sources that say and show this stuff coming from foundries and lakes near foundries, and not from companies that turn it into the many products we see on the market today. Another source: http://spheremaker.com/blue-slag-glass-hunting-in-muskegon-michigan/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciladog Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 I wouldn't worry about your credibility on this one. There is no doubt that enormous amounts of slag get dumped at mills and it is, I guess, technically glass. But what you have in your pictures is not slag. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhJF_hTJ2Rw&playnext=1&list=PL4F6DBCC2E335585B&feature=results_video Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielC Posted January 6, 2013 Author Share Posted January 6, 2013 That's some crazy stuff there. Alright fair enough, thanks for the information. At any rate, it still looks neat on the coffee table, and I now have the corrected information. B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robakyo Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 It could be blue or aquamarine quartz. Quartz that contains titanium has a blue hue to it. Also, Blue quartz is and has been mined in Virginia, I think. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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