magnitite dirt/dust

[RobtheSmith]

I was doing some research and i found out that magnitite is made up of 65% iron and I was courious what the process would be to make the dirt/dust into a bloomery. Could anyone point me to somewhere to see what raw iron ore looks like?

[BobL]

Put "hematite" and "magnetite" into google images and you will get heaps of images.

 

As for the bloomery do a You Tube search for "iron bloomery"

[ThomasPowers]

magnetite is considered a high grade bloomery ore and is the "iron sand" of the japanese tatara.  It is also the black sand of gold panners.  It is a common component in *many* igneous rocks even if in such small amounts that it is not visible to the naked eye.

[Nobody Special]

Look for limonite and ochre too. Ochre's basically iron oxide, and limonite is a common ore, often yellow, or sometimes a brownish color.

 

http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/37236-ore/

 

I put a pic of some hematite I pulled out of the ground near cartersville, ga, but iron ore comes in a lot of varieties and appearances. Mine varied from reddish brown to almost a brownish black, and was very mildly reactive to a magnet. It may not be very magnetic until you roast it.

[RobtheSmith]

Any reconendation on what amprage or voltage to run through an electromagnet to detect the iron?I've yet to find a bloomery video that uses the magnetite dirt/dust

[Frosty]

The Home Depot here carries floor cleaners that are a long magnet on wheels you roll around the floor to pick up nails, etc. If you wrap it in plastic or put it in a large baggie you can swep the ground and just take the bag off to recover the magnetite without having to hand pick it off the magnet.

 

As kids we either just separated it with magnets from the gold pan or put a bar magnet in a plastic bag and dropped it in a creek. We weren't doing anything with it but it was fun putting a magnet under a sheet of paper the filings on top and playing with the mag lines.

 

Winding an electro magnet is a PITA and it's the number of winds that's the main factor in how powerful one is. Voltage/amps make a difference but not the main one, it's not like you're going to be packing a car battery with you is it?

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Nobody Special]

I seem to remember cheating when we made electromagnets for the kids. You can use prewound stuff like a transformer coil or the guts of a old school (car) starter solenoids they used to mount on the firewalls instead of on the starters themselves. The solenoids are pretty much already an electromagnet anyways.

 

Or, you could.......pick up a rare earth magnet, very strong, and not THAT expensive,

 

or, stack together a bunch of normal ceramic type magnets. Not uber strong, but stronger than one or two by themselves, and fairly cheap.

[Frosty]

I seem to remember cheating when we made electromagnets for the kids. You can use prewound stuff like a transformer coil or the guts of a old school (car) starter solenoids they used to mount on the firewalls instead of on the starters themselves. The solenoids are pretty much already an electromagnet anyways.

 

Or, you could.......pick up a rare earth magnet, very strong, and not THAT expensive,

 

or, stack together a bunch of normal ceramic type magnets. Not uber strong, but stronger than one or two by themselves, and fairly cheap.

 

 

That'll work but is the "cheat" saying you MADE the electromagnets when you pulled electromagents out of something else?

 

The only drawback I see using really strong magnets is they'll attract ore with less iron content. Personally I'd rather use wimpy weak magnets and a little more time to collect higher % iron ore and maybe not work so hard on the bloom.

 

But that's just me, I'm notoriously lazy. <grin>

 

Oh heck, better yet. Use a magnet in a plastic bag as a sinker and go fishing. Collect ore and lunch at the same time. WIN WIN! <grin>

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Metalsmith21]

fishing eh? I don't know if the sand fish are biting this time of the year, with all the (dry) river beds and washes...might have to wait till it rains real hard.