Hi everybody,

I'm becoming increasingly more interested in attempting to smelt some iron. I have a lot of learning to do, but I think I have a pretty good handle on the general process. I need to build a furnace, get it hot, then spend an entire day with a few friends loading buckets of ore and charcoal into it, then I have to get the bloom out of the furnace and compress it a little bit on a stump with a big wood mallet. Seems like something I could pull off, but I want to know more of the details before I get started. Any advice and any reading material you can recommend is appreciated.

There are lots of good iron ore sources around me. I have some hematite. I also have some strong magnets that I could use to separate black sand. How does the type of ore you start out with affect process and the end product? Would a sluice box be effective for separating iron from sand?

If you've ever had the pleasure of visiting a historic blast furnace like the McIntyre blast furnace at the Tahawus mine in upstate New York, it's a real step back in time. You get a serious sense of what those old timers were doing to make iron. I can almost feel what it would have been like to be there when it was operating back in the day. Very awe inspiring. It's all made of stone. When I watch videos of people doing a smelt, most of them are using furnaces made of clay with some straw mixed in. Why do the small furnaces use clay as opposed to a stone structure lined with the clay mix?

All the videos I've watched just say "clay" and don't specify anything about it. What qualities am I looking for in the clay? Do I want pure kaolinite to start out, or can I just dig up any old clay and make a smelting furnace with it? Some clay I've found has a kind of sulfuric smell to it. Will that clay ruin the iron?

How do you end up with the desired carbon content of the iron or steel?

Once the bloom is all done and you've compressed it and then let it cool, how do you refine it into a usable piece of iron, and how do you check to make sure that the iron is good for whatever purpose you want to use it?

One of the best resources I’ve found on line is Lee Sauder’s website (leesauder.com). I’ve read answers to most of your questions there, but you may have to dig a bit… If I understand right he is in the north east and held classes on smelting. You could reach out and see if he still holds them. I attended a smelt lead by Andrew Welton, who was mentored by Lee, just a few weeks ago and learned more first hand than I’ve ever read anywhere. Andrew also teaches classes at a school near Pittsburgh, PA. If you interested PM me and I’ll get you the contact info. He’s also on facebook if you want to look him up there.

I could answer your questions, but I really don’t have the experience to back them up. Hopefully soon, I’ll gain some!

Keep it fun,

David