Jeremy Blohm 506 Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 I may have found a source for iron ore. I will take a magnet to the sand I brought home and see if its magnetic. Link to post Share on other sites
Emiliano Carrillo 233 Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 yeah that should be magnetic! I recognize the look of it, that purplish sort of color. If its dry and ready for sorting, you can magnetically sift it and separate all the excess regular sand, and then once you have a final weight of black sand, add back about 10% regular sand by weight. It can make some nice steel depending on how pure the magnetite is! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Jeremy Blohm 506 Posted April 13, 2020 Author Share Posted April 13, 2020 It is indeed magnetic. This is exciting stuff!!! I've been wanting to build a bloomery furnace. Link to post Share on other sites
Jeremy Blohm 506 Posted April 13, 2020 Author Share Posted April 13, 2020 I have seen a mini bloomery somewhere and a d find it anymore. Anyone have any recollection of where I can find it? Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Longmire 2,633 Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 If you're thinking of the Aristotle furnace, it is in the Pinned section under "A different way to make steel," and it won't work on ore. It has to have actual iron or steel as the feedstock. Your best bet is to follow Lee Sauder's instructions for a 10" bore shaft furnace. Magnetite can be a pain to smelt properly (thus Emiliano's sand suggestion), so give yourself the best chance at success right off the bat. I've frozen more than one furnace with magnetite sand... Link to post Share on other sites
Jeremy Blohm 506 Posted April 13, 2020 Author Share Posted April 13, 2020 How many pounds of ore do I need to start with? Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Longmire 2,633 Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 40 to 50 lbs is good. You'll need about 120-140 pounds of charcoal, and if it works at average efficiency and you're lucky, you may get a bloom of 15-20 lbs. Or you may get a lot of slag... 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Jeremy Blohm 506 Posted April 19, 2020 Author Share Posted April 19, 2020 (edited) Broke quarantine tonight!!! 5 hr round trip for 400(?) Lbs of wet ironsand. I battled lake Michigan for this stuff. The closer to the lak the more concentrated the iron was. Edited April 19, 2020 by Jeremy Blohm Link to post Share on other sites
Jeremy Blohm 506 Posted April 19, 2020 Author Share Posted April 19, 2020 There might be more like 600 lbs. A lot of it is water weight though. I'm goimg to lay out 5 or 10 gallons at a time on a tarp and let it dry little at a time. I have to try and get it out of the truck first though. Link to post Share on other sites
billyO 210 Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 Wow, that's gonna be fun. You're now making me want to move back to the Midwest and see what I can do to help you play...(well, this and your anvil posts.....) 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Alex Middleton 477 Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 Dont worry Jeremy, the steel industry is "essential". You're just a really small scale steel mill! Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Longmire 2,633 Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 1 hour ago, billyO said: Wow, that's gonna be fun. You're now making me want to move back to the Midwest and see what I can do to help you play...(well, this and your anvil posts.....) Depending on where in Oregon you are, you may have iron sand around. Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Myers 121 Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 As a side note, once this is all over you might want to go back for another reason. I became enamored with old-style gold hunting a long time ago. Lake Michigan is renowned for having good gold-bearing quartz deposits. An age old miner's saying, if you've got black sand, you've got gold!! Run that stuff through a pan, I wouldn't be surprised if you have a bit of gold dust in there! Link to post Share on other sites
Jeremy Blohm 506 Posted April 19, 2020 Author Share Posted April 19, 2020 Here is a comparison to the sand I brought home the first time and the sand I got last night. Oh yeah and my mother in law just told me of a source of black sand closer to home. Panning for gold sounds like a lot of fun. Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Longmire 2,633 Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 57 minutes ago, Brian Myers said: As a side note, once this is all over you might want to go back for another reason. I became enamored with old-style gold hunting a long time ago. Lake Michigan is renowned for having good gold-bearing quartz deposits. An age old miner's saying, if you've got black sand, you've got gold!! Run that stuff through a pan, I wouldn't be surprised if you have a bit of gold dust in there! Hush, now, you'll have that boy down at Coker Creek if you're not careful! That aside, he's right. Magnetite and gold-bearing quartz often occur together, especially out west. Just one of those geology things. Did you collect that sand with a magnet? if not, a LOT of magnetic separation is in order. Then pan the rest for gold... 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Myers 121 Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 Quote Hush, now, you'll have that boy down at Coker Creek if you're not careful! Lol. I don't think its fair that such a mountainous state has only two real areas to find gold, Coker and Tellico. But you have to admit, it would be cool if he could put gold accents on a knife made from ironsand that he pulled the gold out of! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Joshua States 1,657 Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 Magnetic black sand is all over Arizona. I have 50 pounds of magnetically screen and sifted sand sitting in my storage container, and 160 pounds of pine/fir charcoal still waiting for me to build my smelting furnace. There are several AZ smiths who make steel from our sand here. Ray Rybar, Clayton Cowart, and Frank Christianson are three I know. Link to post Share on other sites
Jeremy Blohm 506 Posted April 19, 2020 Author Share Posted April 19, 2020 This is all exciting stuff!!! My wife is helping me cut up wood for charcoal. I snuck this shot of her with the axe. She would be pissed if she knew I shared it on an open forum Link to post Share on other sites
Jeremy Blohm 506 Posted April 20, 2020 Author Share Posted April 20, 2020 Link to post Share on other sites
Jeremy Blohm 506 Posted May 3, 2020 Author Share Posted May 3, 2020 Look what my wife found in this sand Link to post Share on other sites
Chris Christenberry 331 Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 Well, I can't tell from the picture.............but if it was black sand, I'd say it might be gold...........or iron pyrite. Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Myers 121 Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 Give it a squish with a pair of pliers. If it crushes its pyrite, if it deforms its gold!! Link to post Share on other sites
DanM 31 Posted May 4, 2020 Share Posted May 4, 2020 A diamond? need better photo. Link to post Share on other sites
Jeremy Blohm 506 Posted May 4, 2020 Author Share Posted May 4, 2020 I'm pretty sure it's gold. It sets off a metal detector as precious metals. Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Longmire 2,633 Posted May 4, 2020 Share Posted May 4, 2020 Did she take the ring off before you ran the detector over it? Link to post Share on other sites
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