Harvesting the element

Lorien · Aug 3, 2010

I just got back from a trip with some buddies to a top secret location, where I was able to procure iron from the guts of Mother Earth herself.

I'm tired, so I'll let the pictures do the talking;

Now, what do I do with it?
Guess it's time to start building a forge, I'm all ears!

Emphasiski · Aug 3, 2010

Now that's pretty cool stuff. That looked like it was fun!

reevestx · Aug 3, 2010

That is awesome! Looks like one cool top secret location. what is the 6th picture of?

NickWheeler · Aug 3, 2010

HaHa!!! You're nuts Lorien!!!

Lorien · Aug 3, 2010

reevestx said:
That is awesome! Looks like one cool top secret location. what is the 6th picture of?

a puddle full of minerals I think

lots of copper down there, which may have been oxidizing in that puddle. I'm pretty sure the yellow stuff on the iron is sulfur.

Crazy huh? I can't wait to go back and really spend some time getting the purest iron ore I can find.

Atlas Knife Company · Aug 3, 2010

Well, next you need to mine a little vanadium, some chromium, and make your own alloy. After that, you can claim what very few can, making your own knife from scratch, INCLUDING mining the ore yourself. I can't wait to see the WIP for this one. Even if the final alloy is junk, it would still be one of the neatest knives ever made.

Lorien · Aug 3, 2010

I might just buy that other shit, if I ever get to a point where it's possible for me to make steel out of this stuff. It must be available in powdered form or something. I don't think anyone would begrudge me that

Pretty sure there's already sulphur in that, so that's one down. Be interesting to get it tested and find out what else is in there.
My initial thought is to use whatever steel comes of this as the meat in a steel sandwich, to make it go further, among other things. Still a long ways from that though.

tryppyr · Aug 3, 2010

I like where you're going with this Lorien. If you do come up with a means of smelting this into some form of usable metal, it will be exciting to see it develop. It will really put you in touch with the roots of our craft... putting you in a place not actively occupied by many for several centuries... discovering metallurgy as our ancestors did it.

- Greg

Lorien · Aug 3, 2010

thanks man! Don't know where this is going to go, but since I started researching this stuff this morning, I'm getting a good idea that I don't know what I don't know!
Definitely an exciting project though.
One thing's for certain- I need to build a blast furnace.

sunshadow · Aug 3, 2010

Lorien said:
thanks man! Don't know where this is going to go, but since I started researching this stuff this morning, I'm getting a good idea that I don't know what I don't know!
Definitely an exciting project though.
One thing's for certain- I need to build a blast furnace.

no, you need to build a smelter. Google tylecote smelter, bloom smelting, and home smelting. I have done bloom smelting, as have a few other people in this forum. Getting the iron ore is a great first step, I need to find a good place to mine it, right now I have to order it from a ceramic supply house

-Page

deker · Aug 3, 2010

Yup, what Page said. You can't just forge that into something. Your next step is roasting the ore. After roasting comes smelting. If you get the smelting right you may end up with steel, it's also possible to get cast iron, or nothing useful at all.

If you want to start smelting, you may want to check the "Bloomers & Buttons" section over at Don Fogg's forum.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

-d

Lorien · Aug 3, 2010

thank you

12345678910 · Aug 3, 2010

This fellow in Ontario does a smelter course and posts alot of info as part of a university study

http://www.warehamforge.ca/TRAINING/smeltcourse/index.html

http://www.warehamforge.ca/ironsmelting/index.html

data of several smelts and their results
http://www.warehamforge.ca/ironsmelting/smeltdata.html
http://www.warehamforge.ca/ROMiron/index.html

wintermute · Aug 3, 2010

sunshadow said:
I need to find a good place to mine it, right now I have to order it from a ceramic supply house

-Page

Page,

Since you're in NY, maybe do a little research on the iron mines in Harriman State Park. There's a lot of abandoned iron mines there and some are safe to go into. I'm not sure how much usable ore is still around, but I'm guessing for home use, there might even be enough in the tailings outside the mines. A lot of these mines were used to harvest iron for the Parrot Guns during the Civil War. A lot of the tailings react to magnets.

Lorien · Aug 4, 2010

that's some thorough info in those links, thanks for that.
Been nosin around the Fogg forum, I forgot how awesome that forum is.

Tai Goo · Aug 4, 2010

I'd be checking that secret hole for silver and gold!

Be careful with that puddle of schlock ("puddle full of minerals") at the bottom there bro!

NickWheeler · Aug 4, 2010

Lorien- For real I would try to get a handle on forging plain old carbon steel before you get too deep into this. I think it's a great thing to explore and research...but the guys I know that are messing with this type of stuff have YEARS of forging experience under their belts and well equipped shops.

I REALLY HOPE someday you can make something of it... just don't get super hung up on it right now. You'd be trying to go from crawling to 500 mph in the blink of an eye.