Rogerrr

well this is music to my ears! I live close by -- just across the river in Maryland I don't know if I have the type of ore you're looking for...but you're welcome to it...I have 1 or 2 five gallon buckets of magnetite sand, a bucket or two of magnetite chunks from the Mineral Hill area near Baltimore, and bog iron from the Calvert Cliffs area

those bellows were interesting....very clever

has anyone else made one of these?? I just inherited a 4" belt sander that might be perfect for a project like this

does anyone know much about the process for making electrolytic iron? I did some googling and haven't learned anything useful yet I know some electrolytic processes are pretty simple...and others are complex....I recently did some anodizing of titanium which was very easy

wonder if this will work... https://picasaweb.google.com/106800196895572422821/BloomPorn2013#5964712375813830914

IMHO separating the copper & nickel would be an interesting chemistry experiment, but probably not real practical I was thinking....if you find people who use nickel welding rods...they might have little leftover scraps that are useless to them but might work just fine for tossing into a crucible

will the crucible be on a plinth of some kind -- or rest on the floor of the furnace?

US nickel coins are 75% copper 25% nickel

is this magnetite from river/stream sands? do you ever grind/crush the ore? I've been experimenting with running magnetite sand through old kitchen blenders.....it separates a lot of stuff from the magnetite...the black sand starts to turn red from a lot of fine dust that I assume is hematite the resulting fine material doesn't separate well with a magnet...I wash it with water and pour off the cloudy red liquid .after the magnetite settles to the bottom ...after washing multiple times I dry it & do more magnetic separations... of course blenders are too small to do much vo

where on long Island?

I think you should interpret all these resources as a sign that god/thor/nature wants you to smelt iron and is giving you as many hints as possible

has anyone done any more experimenting with smelting in small furnaces like this? I'm finishing up a small furnace to experiment with:....5" bore, 17" tall... haven't made the hole for the tuyere yet....I'm considering making two holes at different heights & plugging the one I'm not using with something temporary probably gonna give it a week or more to air dry before I start using it

maybe this will help http://www.brightok.net/~rockman/Images/OkIndex.htm

what about kiln furniture...like those ceramic posts..I think they're mullite...any idea if they would take the heat w/o melting?

was the crucible sitting on a firebrick, or something to elevate it?