Coarse Magnetite

[Scwootz]

Hi everyone,

I have about 25lbs of coarse magnetite I was hoping to smelt in a bloomery furnace. 
Do you suggest crushing the material to a more consisten powder or can I run it through the furnace like this? 
I appreciate any the suggestions

[JHCC]

Hard to tell the particle size from that photo. Can you retake it with something added to give a sense of scale, like a quarter?

[Scwootz]

4 hours ago, JHCC said:

Can you retake it with something added to give a sense of scale, like a quarter?

Hey JHCC,

Thanks for the reply.

couldn't find a quarter but I found a ruler.

All 25lbs are pretty consistent like this:

[Stash]

You should be good to go at that size. Take pix of the smelt! We love pix.

Steve

[Scwootz]

Thank you Stash. Will do! I plan on documenting the entire process. 
 

one more question.

should I mix in some clay and wood ash as is done to make tamahagane? 
 

Edited May 19, 2023 by Mod30
Remove excessive quote.

[Steve Sells]

NO different processes just use clean charcoal

[Frosty]

Steve: Do you roast magnetite first or just start with the bloomery?

Welcome aboard Scwootz, glad to have you. I sure wish you'd used a 5mm RPG game character piece for scale, maybe buried up to the waist. Hmmm?

Frosty The Lucky.

[Steve Sells]

Roasting usually helps to clean it up

[Frosty]

Is there an optimum particle size, say thumb, fist, sand?

Frosty The Lucky.

[Stash]

Frosty- I'm not sure what 'should ' be done, but I would probably go ahead and roast it. I did 2 smelts with Lee Sauder, we used limonite (sp?), roasted it and smashed it into roughly 3/8" minus bits.

Steve