Building a cylindrical stack to smelt iron.

[DanielC]

Alright folks, here's a few pics of Mark and I teaching a class at the SCA on how to build a European style stack furnace to smelt iron ore into iron. Not going for steel this go around, but to stay more period and make iron to low carbon steely bloom. I forgot to take pics halfway through the build since my hands were a mess. The only difference between this build and our normal at home builds was after the clay mix is made and kneaded into eggs, we used them right away usually we let them sit for a few days in a tote to stiffen up. The use of twine helped keep it in check however, so it wasn't a big deal.

 

Btw, my pics will not orient the right way from phone to forum. Blame the developers of the new message board system. I would edit them later when I got home, but for some reason this forum is against edits.

Edited September 20, 2015 by DanielC

[DanielC]

Yes it is an 8" tube. The diameter only really changes the size of bloom. The height changes the carbon content generally. Though this can also be dictated by ore type. Generally the taller the tube, the more carbon since the reduction zone grows in length. This is 36" high from base.

The tuyure will come in at around 12".

[Nobody Special]

Got to try this again, almost enough charcoal.  This time under a roof, as last time an unpredicted thunderstorm took mine apart by thermal shock. What clay mix do you use?

[DanielC]

Got to try this again, almost enough charcoal.  This time under a roof, as last time an unpredicted thunderstorm took mine apart by thermal shock. What clay mix do you use?

EPK Clay, Ball Clay, Sand, Peat Moss, and Water.