Scwootz Posted May 19, 2023 Posted May 19, 2023 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 Quote
JHCC Posted May 19, 2023 Posted May 19, 2023 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? Quote
Scwootz Posted May 19, 2023 Author Posted May 19, 2023 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: Quote
Stash Posted May 19, 2023 Posted May 19, 2023 You should be good to go at that size. Take pix of the smelt! We love pix. Steve Quote
Scwootz Posted May 19, 2023 Author Posted May 19, 2023 (edited) 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. Quote
Steve Sells Posted May 20, 2023 Posted May 20, 2023 NO different processes just use clean charcoal Quote
Frosty Posted May 20, 2023 Posted May 20, 2023 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. Quote
Frosty Posted May 20, 2023 Posted May 20, 2023 Is there an optimum particle size, say thumb, fist, sand? Frosty The Lucky. Quote
Stash Posted May 20, 2023 Posted May 20, 2023 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 Quote
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