Smelting

[AtomicForge]

Was just wondering how you can smelt your own ore and make your own iron/steel. Was also wondering if you can melt a metal object down such as a crowbar or some tool to use as metal for a project and seperate the good metal from the bad so you can get high quality metal. And is smelting a practical blacksmithing applaction that can get you the most out of blacksmithing?

[Woody]

The short answer is "yes" but it leads to another question "why bother with it?" Buy what you need. Steel mills already turn out high quality steel in any configuration and alloy you can imagine. Your time would be much better spend working with what is available rather than trying to "re-invent the wheel."

[Frosty]

By time you learn how to pull off smelting and refining steel you could've become a master smith using bought steel.

On the other hand, there's no law against it (here anyway) and if it's what you want to do. Why not.

Just be prepared for a major ordeal, several weeks of hard labor in prep followed by a really long session tending the furnace for a couple lbs. if you're lucky or good enough.

Frosty

Edited August 9, 2008 by Frosty

[Mike BR]

I have seen "No Smelting" signs before. I have a sneaking feeling, though, that they had more to do with little fish than iron ore :)

[Mike BR]

Since no one's answered you're question about melting steel down and separating the good from the bad, I will: No.

Although there are some elements that don't belong in steel at all (plutonium, for example), "bad" steel is generally "bad" because it has either too much or too little of certain components for a specific use. In theory, you can melt steel, add alloys, and remove other elements by burning them out with oxygen, causing them to combine with the slag, or adding other elements that combine with them and render them harmless.

But just melting steel without burning it up entirely is pretty tough on a small scale. And the worst modern steel mill is 1000 times better than the best hobbist when it comes to controlling chemistry. If your goal is quality, find or buy steel with the right properties for whatever it is you're making. If you want really high quality, start by buying the best steel you can find, finish by sending the forged part to the best heat treater you can find, and do your best not to mess up the steel in between.

[Bentiron1946]

If you just want to get the feel for melting iron go to an iron pour and get the thrill of pouring molten iron into a mould. Take a look at Frosty's pictures. Great fun that! Then you also have the option of Goolging "Iron Smelting" and see what pops up. There are some sites that show Africans smelting iron and forging the bloom down to useful objects. There is also a fellow out there that sells bloom iron for smiths and artists if you want the experience of that. Lots of options for not actually doing it.:cool:

[Gobae]

The short answer is "yes" but it leads to another question "why bother with it?" Buy what you need. Steel mills already turn out high quality steel in any configuration and alloy you can imagine. Your time would be much better spend working with what is available rather than trying to "re-invent the wheel."

The configuration that I can imagine they don't make is wrought iron. So that means you either scrounge for it or smelt it yourself.

Besides it completes the: 'raw material -> final use' lineage so you can literally say "I made this (item) from DIRT!". And that feels GREAT!

Metalworking Symposium 2004

Keep in mind learning to smelt isn't "re-inventing the wheel" so much as learning how to building one. Edited August 10, 2008 by Gobae

[ThomasPowers]

Well lets see; given the ore it took about 2 solid days of work by 4 people to produce 15# of bloom using a Y1K based bloomery; so ignoring the cost of materials and fuel we're talking about making a low grade product that costs more than high grade toolsteel per pound. Oh yes, forgot to mention that this was after 10 years of experimenting and learning, some of the early smelts were more like fish hook ammounts

Traditionally---for most of the last 2000 years blacksmiths did not smelt their own metal from ore but bought it from folks who specialized in the smelting. There are a few examples; like some isolated norse farms where the smith did make and smith his own iron---or at l'anse aux meadows. But even in the early iron age iron was a traded item.

Why do we do it? Fun, Bragging Rites, Experimental Archeology, etc.

And remeber "melting" and "smelting" are VERY different things!

"Mastery and Uses of Fire in Antiquity", Rehder, J. E. (ISBN: 9780773530744) has plans for a "fool proof" bloomery in appendix 1 using a more modern approach

Edited August 10, 2008 by ThomasPowers

[Finnr]

Running a smelt for the fun of it , or as an experiment is as far as I would take it. We have had some great times with Stewart ( a friend who studies ancient smelting ) but as far as doing more, nope.
Finnr