Working the Home Made Iron

[Jan Ysselstein]

In an attempt to make some cast iron for wootz production, I thought I would just smelt some bits and pieces (gromps) and cast iron would come running to the bottom of the furnace (wrong).

 

The bad news is I only got a little over two pounds of cast iron, the other bad news is I have a bunch more bits and pieces.

The good news is I have a small high carbon/cast iron bloom of about 6 lbs (cleaned)..not really bad for a 1.5hrs run.

 

The really interesting part of the smelt is the discovery of a new building material (see photos attached). In order to allow the bloom to sink and make room for more iron on top of the bloom, I normally place a layer of rice straw in the bottom of the furnace and cover it with a thin layer of VERY VERY fine charcoal. Having no very fine fines around I thought I would skip that step and just start running after placing the straw. The layer of charred straw next to the heat has turned into a very strong foamed glass (rice straw is about 80% silica and 13% flux.). Not only does it have good compressive strength but it is also very hard to break. The silvery color indicates iron fume in the atmosphere and I am not sure if iron is playing a role here. I have heard the expression " building a straw house" and never knew what it meant. The silvery shiny side was the top layer of the straw at the bottom of the furnace.

I will use this thread to post occasional progress in my attempts at making a wootz blade.

Bloom

Foamed rice straw ash, cross section

Foamed rice straw ash , top surface

Jan

Edited March 2, 2010 by Jan Ysselstein

[Cylvre]

Hmm, interesting development with the rice straw. I wonder what kind of insulation properties it has. Maybe a sacrificial forge liner material, or flux barrier in a kaowool forge?

 

Looking forward to your progress on the blade!

[Jan Ysselstein]

Hmm, interesting development with the rice straw. I wonder what kind of insulation properties it has. Maybe a sacrificial forge liner material, or flux barrier in a kaowool forge?

 

Looking forward to your progress on the blade!

 

Cylvre,

Rice straw ash can be a good insulating material at lower temperatures, it is a very interesting material in general and will come up again later in this thread. Here is how I make the "ash" which is not what was put into the furnace, the straw was heated to ash in the furnace. I do not think it would be a good flux barrier.

Jan

 

 

[Greg Thomas Obach]

Hi Jan

 

the rice foam charcoal/ash kinda reminds be of coal being coked up... it kinda clumps together and forms a solid ball of spongy coke when you sprinkle some water on the top... ( just a thought )

 

I can see that grading this stuff will be a task ... estimate the carb level to get a uhc type wootz.....

 

cool experiment... thanks for showing this

 

Greg

 

ps... you've got that bloom steel down ... no problem

 

 

 

Cylvre,

Rice straw ash can be a good insulating material at lower temperatures, it is a very interesting material in general and will come up again later in this thread. Here is how I make the "ash" which is not what was put into the furnace, the straw was heated to ash in the furnace. I do not think it would be a good flux barrier.

Jan

 

 

[Jan Ysselstein]

Hi Jan

the rice foam charcoal/ash kinda reminds be of coal being coked up... it kinda clumps together and forms a solid ball of spongy coke when you sprinkle some water on the top... ( just a thought )

I can see that grading this stuff will be a task ... estimate the carb level to get a uhc type wootz.....

cool experiment... thanks for showing this

Greg

ps... you've got that bloom steel down ... no problem

 

Greg,

Estimating carbon content ( of cast iron ) is a problem and I think I may have been calling it, too low. The ideal situation is to have a lot of it and to make it into fines, mix those up and the value will remain consistent. I was so surprised (disappointed) by the low yield of cast iron from the bits and pieces, I repeated the run last night using a higher quality bag of bits and pieces ( less slag attached to them)..I ran for about 3.5 hrs and should have stopped at 2 hrs (wind).

Jan

[Jan Ysselstein]

Greg,

Estimating carbon content ( of cast iron ) is a problem and I think I may have been calling it, too low. The ideal situation is to have a lot of it and to make it into fines, mix those up and the value will remain consistent. I was so surprised (disappointed) by the low yield of cast iron from the bits and pieces, I repeated the run last night using a higher quality bag of bits and pieces ( less slag attached to them)..I ran for about 3.5 hrs and should have stopped at 2 hrs (wind).

Jan

 

 

The repeated run attempting to make purely white cast iron came closer but I should have left the straw out ( a habit for making blooms ). The bloom is the highest carbon containing bloom I have ever done..this is the first bloom I think I can break cold, with a sledge hammer. Again about two-three pounds of easily processed cast iron ( the bloom cast iron will be a bear to get to ) and lots of bits and pieces. Below are some pictures of the bloom,

 

The plan is to do a couple of melting tries using solid fuel ( coke or charcoal or a mix ). and a ceramic crucible ( optimist ). The target will be 1.5% C and the ingredient composition is a guess. ..The "ideal" ingredients based on what I end up with in the bloomery furnace, regardless of operation 1) bits and pieces by themselves 2) bits and pieces + a little cast.

I do not have a tumbler set up at this time so I cannot process large quantities of bits and pieces to free them from slag. Long tern I will attempt to work with bits and pieces.

 

Rice straw glass at top and bottom, white cast iron at the center of this picture.

The pattern on that large white cast iron mass may be the result of dendritic growth.

Jan

Edited February 21, 2010 by Jan Ysselstein

[Jan Ysselstein]

The repeated run attempting to make purely white cast iron came closer but I should have left the straw out ( a habit for making blooms ). The bloom is the highest carbon containing bloom I have ever done..this is the first bloom I think I can break cold, with a sledge hammer. Again about two-three pounds of easily processed cast iron ( the bloom cast iron will be a bear to get to ) and lots of bits and pieces. Below are some pictures of the bloom,

 

The plan is to do a couple of melting tries using solid fuel ( coke or charcoal or a mix ). and a ceramic crucible ( optimist ). The target will be 1.5% C and the ingredient composition is a guess. ..The "ideal" ingredients based on what I end up with in the bloomery furnace, regardless of operation 1) bits and pieces by themselves 2) bits and pieces + a little cast.

I do not have a tumbler set up at this time so I cannot process large quantities of bits and pieces to free them from slag. Long tern I will attempt to work with bits and pieces.

 

Jan

 

Well here we are 3 attempts later and willing to go back to dealing with "porous" high grog/low silica crucibles. The problem with porous crucibles in a gas furnace is the pressure in the furnace passes through the wall ( they are oxydizing).. We are not demoralized just disappointed and on we go to making "museum quality" wootz steel. I will be making some more white cast iron (next week) at the lowest possible temperature...and use that as an ingredient.

 

But there are lots of remnants around to work with and re-examine, for instance this ingot ( http://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php?showtopic=15673&view=findpost&p=149001 ) has cast iron traits but seems to throw a UHC steel spark when touching an aluminum oxide belt ( it showed very little spark while being cut with a zip blade).

I have used the same carbon diffusion formula as in that post ( only in reverse and adjusting for differences in temperature, etc. )....and if the material had to give up 4-6 points of carbon it would take 30 hrs of furnace time at 950-1000C. I will have to connect a little kiln to do that amount of decarburization. There are some fragments of similar composition which I will forge after a few hours at that temperature.

Here is the structure of that ingot as cooled:

the distance from side to side is 60mm

 

Another bit of metal which I find curious is the broken ingot ( severely cracked inside , but tough) from the post, ( http://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php?showtopic=14726&view=findpost&p=144229 ) . I am not sure if this was a sound or unsound ingot as cooled ( I suspect not), but it was subjected to improper quenching for the material. The inside surface of the barely forged other half indicates the dissolving of carbides into austenite was incomplete (just over 1 hrs. soaking at 950C).

The longer decarburizing heats of the cast/nearcast iron should help in changing the carbide location. Some of this is guessing , I do not have much experience working with steel at the 2% carbon level. Here is a picture of the inside of the broken ingot after trying to dissolve the iron carbides formed on cooling and after a forging heat or two. That dendritic structure should have converted to a granular structure with most of the cementite in the grain boundaries Edit there must have been some conversion during this heating, the cementite under higher magnification forms much tighter lines than as cooled structures I have seen.

 

 

Jan

Edited March 3, 2010 by Jan Ysselstein

[Greg Thomas Obach]

Hi Jan

 

that top picture of the ingot is really cool...wow, it such a neat pattern and etched nicely

 

sometimes the pattern changes much when you get it closer to the final forging... after bevels hammered in ... but not always

 

sigh.. its never easy

 

Greg

 

ps... don't give up on a bar.. sometimes they change their mind

[Jan Ysselstein]

Hi Jan

that top picture of the ingot is really cool...wow, it such a neat pattern and etched nicely

sometimes the pattern changes much when you get it closer to the final forging... after bevels hammered in ... but not always

sigh.. its never easy

Greg

ps... don't give up on a bar.. sometimes they change their mind

 

Greg,

Thank you, that is a neat pattern indeed, and I hope I do not screw it up (again) . The interesting detail about this ingot is the dendrite spacing..it is .5mm to 1.mm appart ... most of my previous ingots were in the .1 mm spacing range (reason, unassigned). The horizontal distance shown on the above photo is 60mm.

Verheoven states the range of spacing between bands of cementite in "Museum Quality" wootz is 30 to 70 micro meters ( 1 micrometer = 1 millionth of a meter ). Lets say the spacing above is:

 

.5mm or 500 micrometers ...if I do a 10 to 1 reduction (10:1) the band spacing should be around 50 micro meters ( this assumes a hypothetical situation where the dendrites are parallel to the the hammer face).

 

So the spacing of the wootz dendrites is doable , the above structure looks very much like the famous ingot at the Royal School of Mines ( http://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php?showtopic=15673&view=findpost&p=146645 ) ( Thanks Jeff) Now if I can only get the decarb and forging done correctly, I should be able to finish the steel part of the puzzle and move on to other parts such as forging technique.

 

By the way that Famous ingot interpretation is a thread by itself.

 

I am about to grind the hell out of the surface of this ingot for the decarb process ( now here I could use one of those injection (venturi) forge burners ) and will recalculate the time needed per point of carbon loss at (950-1000C).

 

Jan

Edited March 3, 2010 by Jan Ysselstein

[Greg Thomas Obach]

Hi Jan

 

yes, i had to look again at that picture... an attractive pattern, forsure. ! ....

-

but becareful with the heating for a decarb surface... i still believe in the " liquation " phoenomena...and i'd worry about some highly segregated areas becoming liquid and juicing out, leading to cracks during forging..... i know the iron carb diagram says you should be safe at 1000 but i'm positive it is a reference for a much more homogenous material and not so much our highly segregated wootzy steel...... myself i'd do a more low temp treatment to get things to even out a little before trying ... just call me paranoid ...

 

just a thought

 

Greg

 

 

 

 

 

Greg,

Thank you, that is a neat pattern indeed, and I hope I do not screw it up (again) . The interesting detail about this ingot is the dendrite spacing..it is .5mm to 1.mm appart ... most of my previous ingots were in the .1 mm spacing range (reason, unassigned). The horizontal distance shown on the above photo is 60mm.

Verheoven states the range of spacing between bands of cementite in "Museum Quality" wootz is 30 to 70 micro meters ( 1 micrometer = 1 millionth of a meter ). Lets say the spacing above is:

 

.5mm or 500 micrometers ...if I do a 10 to 1 reduction (10:1) the band spacing should be around 50 micro meters ( this assumes a hypothetical situation where the dendrites are parallel the the hammer face).

 

So the spacing of the wootz dendrites is doable , the above structure looks very much like the famous ingot at the Royal School of Mines ( http://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php?showtopic=15673&view=findpost&p=146645 ) ( Thanks Jeff) Now if I can only get the decarb and forging done correctly, I should be able to finish the steel part of the puzzle and move on to other parts such as forging technique.

 

By the way that Famous ingot interpretation is a thread by itself.

 

I am about to grind the hell out of the surface of this ingot for the decarb process ( now here I could use one of those injection (venturi) forge burners ) and will recalculate the time needed per point of carbon loss at (950-1000C).

 

Jan

[Jan Ysselstein]

Hi Jan

 

yes, i had to look again at that picture... an attractive pattern, forsure. ! ....

-

but becareful with the heating for a decarb surface... i still believe in the " liquation " phoenomena...and i'd worry about some highly segregated areas becoming liquid and juicing out, leading to cracks during forging..... i know the iron carb diagram says you should be safe at 1000 but i'm positive it is a reference for a much more homogenous material and not so much our highly segregated wootzy steel...... myself i'd do a more low temp treatment to get things to even out a little before trying ... just call me paranoid ...

just a thought

Greg

 

Greg,

That is really valuable advice and I will use it...I have had that happen and the juicing out went through the shrinkage cavity...that was interesting ( a combination of decarb and macro segregation?). I do have another fragment which was cooled in water and has a much finer structure..I will prepare it for decarb and hope to get a peak at the surface after a little forging.

Jan

[Jan Ysselstein]

Hi Jan

yes, i had to look again at that picture... an attractive pattern, forsure. ! ....

but becareful with the heating for a decarb surface... i still believe in the " liquation " phoenomena...and i'd worry about some highly segregated areas becoming liquid and juicing out, leading to cracks during forging..... i know the iron carb diagram says you should be safe at 1000 but i'm positive it is a reference for a much more homogenous material and not so much our highly segregated wootzy steel...... myself i'd do a more low temp treatment to get things to even out a little before trying ... just call me paranoid

just a thought

Greg

 

Greg,

If I were to be able decarburize the 600 gram ingot shown in the above top photo ( having a surface area of 11 sq. in. ) at a high temperature I would, but I cannot because the ingot would melt and my carbide formers would move out of location ( is that bad?). I also want to do this slowly because I do not want a huge carbon concentration gradient between the surface and the interior.....so i will target 900 to 950C ( starting at the low end until I am sure my furnace stops creeping up ).

 

Based on Verhoeven's little blue book "Steel Metallurgy for the Non-Metallurgist" the diffusion rate at the lower temperature is about 1/7th the rate it would be at the high temperature (lets say 950c compared to 1150C )

 

Assuming the ingot is 2.2% C and I want it to lose .4%C or ( .004X600) 2.4 grams, I would need about ( 11 sq in X .125gr/sq in/hr=1.4 grams per hour ) 1.7 hrs...let's say 2 hrs ( if I were at 1150C).

 

But I am not at 1150C I am at 950C and it will take 7 times as long...14 hrs.....and though we rounded 1.7 up to 2 hrs. , we did not adjust for the atmosphere difference..the oxidizing atmosphere contains 80% N2 gas while the reducing atmosphere probably contained very little....so lets boost the expected time up to24 hrs and have a peek at about 8 and 16 hrs. to see what is going on. I should have some new cast made just about the time I have photos of the transformed ingot ( and its fragment friends).

Jan

 

PS Greg, if this works I may have to dig into my junk pile and pull out what is truly the worlds largest wootz ingot and give it more thought...maybe I should not have given up so quickly and start cutting it into slabs.

 

Jan

Edited March 4, 2010 by Jan Ysselstein

[Jan Ysselstein]

Greg,

If I were to be able decarburize the 600 gram ingot shown in the above top photo ( having a surface area of 11 sq. in. ) at a high temperature I would, but I cannot because the ingot would melt and my carbide formers would move out of location ( is that bad?). I also want to do this slowly because I do not want a huge carbon concentration gradient between the surface and the interior.....so i will target 900 to 950C ( starting at the low end until I am sure my furnace stops creeping up ).

Based on Verhoeven's little blue book "Steel Metallurgy for the Non-Metallurgist" the diffusion rate at the lower temperature is about 1/7th the rate it would be at the high temperature (lets say 950c compared to 1150C )

Assuming the ingot is 2.2% C and I want it to lose .4%C or ( .004X600) 2.4 grams, I would need about ( 11 sq in X .125gr/sq in/hr=1.4 grams per hour ) 1.7 hrs...let's say 2 hrs ( if I were at 1150C).

But I am not at 1150C I am at 950C and it will take 7 times as long...14 hrs.....and though we rounded 1.7 up to 2 hrs. , we did not adjust for the atmosphere difference..the oxidizing atmosphere contains 80% N2 gas while the reducing atmosphere probably contained very little....so lets boost the expected time up to24 hrs and have a peek at about 8 and 16 hrs. to see what is going on. I should have some new cast made just about the time I have photos of the transformed ingot ( and its fragment friends).

Jan

 

Greg

Some one might wonder why it is so important to get this decarburization right this time...below are a couple of pictures of a recent disaster where an ingot incompletelty decarburized developed a beautiful skin of decarburized iron. This skin is about 1mm thick and was very strong...but as can be seen the interior was crumbly, and eventually the skin broke . I am going to see if the crumbly part has any more information by cutting and etching.

 

Looking at the picture of the ingot above ( the one not yet decarburized ) and examining the distribution of long straight dendrites, it becomes apparent the ingot cooled from top and sides to the bottom..there are no long straight dendrites at the center/bottom.

I am looking for an alternate method ( not needing a babysitter, like my hair dryer blown forge ) to use to decarburize....Tomorrow I will test a simple rig........the samples will sit on a grate and a steel pipe filled with charcoal will be placed over them...the burning charcoal temperature will be controlled with a piece of sheet metal on top....every hour or so I will tap on the grate to drop the ash. ( I will take some pics if it works.)

Jan

[Jan Ysselstein]

[

Greg,

The fragments have been "forged" into crumbs...but not without learning something. I am still forging the very fine grained cast iron structure of an ingot ( full of holes ) which was water cooled while in the crucible.

All samples were safely brought up to 1000C. The problem seems to be forging in such a manner so no cracks are created. This material hypnotizes the worker and just as he/she believes it is cooperating, things literally fall apart .

I still have the above ingot ( photograped in post above ) and I see cracks already ( future failure is rationalized )....so here we go 1000C for about 5 hrs and a look at what we get.

 

Also making cast iron today with purchased charcoal.and bits and pieces and some pre-reduced ore.... ..my local hardware store will discount charcoal at pallet quantities ( 30, 20 lb. bags per shot )...that is a lot of money and would be better if a group of individuals were pooling.

 

Once the forge has settled near the final 1000C temperature the fine tuning of temperature is done by adjusting the lean/rich mix of the fuel only...it gives me very close control at temperature and will be easily automated.

 

Jan

 

Edit to post, Do not chew gum and walk at the same time...the cast iron making furnace and the forge both needed the only variac (variable transformer) so I scrambled to get a way to control the forge...it did not go over 1000C but got there awfully fast..the ingot structure has changed drastically, and frankly, I am unqualified to interpret what I see ( I do know it does not look good) . The ingot spent 2.5 hrs at 1000C and was furnace cooled.

The cast iron (I hope) is cooling in the furnace.

Edited March 8, 2010 by Jan Ysselstein

[Jan Ysselstein]

 

The ingot looks cracked and I will attempt to post a picture after giving it a better prep for etching. I suspect the shrinkage from top/sides to the bottom has created some internal tearing of the material. I will edit this post later with a picture.

Jan

[Jan Ysselstein]

Here is a picture of the cracked ingot. ( and in its original form)...I now have to decide how to approach the forging. All I want is a peak at what the material looks like forged. I should have listened to Greg,darn.

150 min.,1000C, left, as cooled rt.

 

The cast iron run was a limited success, a little cast iron, a little tamahagane, lots of bits and lots of slag. I only have two more tricks up my sleeve and I will have to go back to my original furnace to make cast iron if they do not work.

This thread will end with a wootz blade of all home made steel,,,however I need to speed up this solidification/forging/heat treating sequence. and I need to try a few things..the only way to do that is to go to commercial crucibles and make some ingots which can be divided into fourths.

Each fragment will be treated differently and duplicate samples will be available in case a repeat is needed. The ingredients will be cast iron/ wrought iron and a little hocus pocus .

If I have time I will document the making of a simple crucible furnace...about 1 hour of work. Here are some pictures of yesterday's smelt, the cast iron and the "chain wrought iron" standing in for my "home made wrought iron".

bloom left, cast iron right.

wrought iron chain

Edited March 9, 2010 by Jan Ysselstein

[Jan Ysselstein]

 

The cast iron run was a limited success, a little cast iron, a little tamahagane, lots of bits and lots of slag. I only have two more tricks up my sleeve and I will have to go back to my original furnace to make cast iron if they do not work.

This thread will end with a wootz blade of all home made steel,,,however I need to speed up this solidification/forging/heat treating sequence. and I need to try a few things..the only way to do that is to go to commercial crucibles and make some ingots which can be divided into fourths.

 

 

 

OK...the cracked ingot is history but a lot was learned regarding how an ingot should not be cooled. I have been working with that little cracked ingot shown above ( the one split in half )

 

( http://forums.dfoggk...ndpost&p=144229 ) and am very encouraged.

The cast iron production is a little problem I am going to overcome this week...normally cast iron is made slowly with lots of charcoal..it has been a long time since I have done that, well...i will just have to be patient.

Made some charcoal in the stone lined pit, I hope it is cool by tomorrow afternoon. Charcoal is made by covering the pit of hot coals with sheet metal.

 

 

attachment=24640:P1030449.jpg]

Jan

Edited March 21, 2010 by Jan Ysselstein

[Dmitry.M]

This thread will end with a wootz blade of all home made steelJan

 

 

Wootz like this?

Edited March 22, 2010 by Dmitry.M

[Jan Ysselstein]

Wootz like this?

 

Hello Dmitry,

Though that is a pretty blade, it is not what I am after. I am looking to come reasonably close to the blade shown on page 56 in Figel's book "On Damascus Steel" by Leo S Figel, M.D. . That blade is by Assad Allah, who has kindily allowed me to enter his workshop even with my camera in hand. That blade is my benchmark, I am very close.

 

Jan

Edited March 22, 2010 by Jan Ysselstein

[Jan Ysselstein]

Hello Dmitry,

Though that is a pretty blade, it is not what I am after. I am looking to come reasonably close to the blade shown on page 56 in Figel's book "On Damascus Steel" by Leo S Figel, M.D. . That blade is by Assad Allah, who has kindily allowed me to enter his workshop even with my camera in hand. That blade is my benchmark, I am very close.

 

Jan

 

Dmitry,

While waiting for the silicon carbide crucible to appear, and for the home made cast iron to appear, I play with old samples. The pictures below give a good indication of the look I am after. This piece is a good indicator of what is possible as it was only elongated 3 times the original length. When forging 10 to 20 times the length ,many more carbide forming sites will be exposed due to the change in the angle of intersection with the forging plane. No surface carving has been done to this sample.

 

Charcoal making was a little problematic...the covered pile would not stop smoldering, I put it into metal containers ( which had to be empties first ) yield 250 gallons. This would not be worth the trouble had most of this pile not been debris to be burned regardless.

The lining made of decomposed granite is decomposing very quickly ( I will not need to add flux to my ore ), not the best choice of stone.

Jan

 

 

Edited March 23, 2010 by Jan Ysselstein

[Jan Ysselstein]

Dmitry,

While waiting for the silicon carbide crucible to appear, and for the home made cast iron to appear,

Charcoal making was a little problematic...the covered pile would not stop smoldering, I put it into metal containers ( which had to be empties first ) yield 250 gallons. This would not be worth the trouble had most of this pile not been debris to be burned regardless.

The lining made of decomposed granite is decomposing very quickly ( I will not need to add flux to my ore ), not the best choice of stone.

Jan

 

Good news and bad news,

 

The cast iron came, but is way too beautiful as an ingredient so I will have to do another run. Last night I took some very clean bits and made cast iron...it worked quite well but when i saw the "bloom" or mass , I realized this was a keeper and would be nice to have on the table when doing an event. I will run it again. So i got about 4 lbs of usable cast iron bits and this 5 lbs mass shown below, charcoal was made a few days ago.

 

The SiC crucibles # 10, are here...but the wrong size..I will pick up some #6 on Friday and melt soon after that...meanwhile I will make some crucibles for the near future.

Here are a couple of pictures of a cast iron bloom before and after cleaning out most of the charcoal with an ice pick and a wire brush.

Jan

 

Edited March 28, 2010 by Jan Ysselstein

[Greg Thomas Obach]

Hi Jan

 

just saw this... its sort of mesmerizing to look at that bloom... good gravy that is interesting !

 

i'd be so tempted to mount it to a base and display it in the living room...

 

it almost looks like the bloom was made in zero gravity... haha

 

 

good stuff

 

Greg

[Jan Ysselstein]

Hi Jan

just saw this... its sort of mesmerizing to look at that bloom... good gravy that is interesting !

i'd be so tempted to mount it to a base and display it in the living room...

it almost looks like the bloom was made in zero gravity... haha

good stuff

Greg

 

Greg,

I did this again last night (sort of) but have not looked at the bloom yet. I am encountering a strange time restraint...the "burn season " for yard and agricultural waste is ending in 10 days. This is the only period during which I can smelt and make charcoal. So I am going to try to get a few smelts in to accumulate enough cast iron to make a pool from which I can draw my ingredients. Tomorrow I hope to do at least one smelt. The crucible doctor told me to fire the crucibles before I use them...to convert the structure before introducing it to that inevitable flux.

The cast iron is now being made from "washed" iron ( cleaned bits and pieces having much of their slag removed)...quite similar to the Persian method of making cast iron (my furnace has a bottom.. their bottom was somewhat open)...the Persian method of iron making is very similar to the Catalan Forge and is a method I have ( unknowingly it was used in Persia) tested. Basically the iron is reduced in the solid state and consolidated directly.

 

I have seen a quote floating around attributed to Einstein which goes something like ...only a fool would expect different results from duplicated experiments. Last night's run was not exactly a duplicate of the run creating the pretty cast iron but close enough.

I will post some pictures of the results tomorrow. I should be making cakes of wootz in fired ceramic crucibles soon as the burn season ends.

Jan

[Jan Ysselstein]

Greg,

I did this again last night (sort of) but have not looked at the bloom yet.I will post some pictures of the results tomorrow. I should be making cakes of wootz in fired ceramic crucibles soon as the burn season ends.

Jan

 

 

Not a good day..had to put my dog to sleep today, she supervised all the iron runs to date..I am really going to miss that dog,

 

Though not making any iron, I did have a look at Monday's run/// 25 lbs of ore and 10 lbs of "washed iron" went into the furnace.

The total run time from finding the furnace to finishing the cleanup was 2 hrs.

 

This bloom was made under hotter conditions and the cast was not as beautiful as the last run, but quite similar.

 

Output...Cast Iron 6.25 lbs (unwashed)....High Carbon Bloom 3 ,25 lbs.........Rework ( bits , pieces,sponge etc) 14 lbs and about 2 lbs of slag.

 

The total cast iron inventory is high enough to do about 13-15 cakes, but given my past success rate, that may not be enough.

cast iron

rework

small bloom

Jan

Edited April 22, 2010 by Jan Ysselstein

[Greg Thomas Obach]

Hi Jan

 

that is tragic to hear about your dog.. i know what its like to lose a good friend.. very sorry about your loss

 

 

 

the blooms are coming along nicely... your cast iron production is going to be so handy when your back into the crucible steel.. if all your 13 -15 cakes turn out, that could be a nice nest egg, forsure.. ... the forest is dry up here aswell... i can see the fire ban's coming up... all these weird obstacles to making steel... just have to be patient and more determined.. haha

 

cool pictures...

 

Greg