Moor Forge Medieval Iron Smelt

[@ScienceViking]

We still have a fragment of the bloom and a lump of slag at Moorforge. I was showing them to a school group from Carlisle on Wednesday. The children were fascinated by them and how they were produced.

[@abcstardust]

Excellent video! Thank you for sharing the procedure!!

[@osricsbruk]

I got 1st view! Excellent site, Dave is a cracking bloke and very knowledgeable. Considering I went there specifically for the smelt I didn't see much of the process. But when Dave invited me to fire up his forge and work on a few projects, I just couldn't refuse! (I won't go into detail about the many mistakes I made!) Best laugh I've had in ages Looking forward to visiting again and help the site grow!

[@daverichardson4593]

So cool.. Crazy effort, for what I take as expected.. The I beam in my basement would have taken 500 years to make..mad respect

[@BlueaxeReproductions]

Aye; even with all the compromises taken here it is still such a small amount for such a lot of effort!

[@joshschneider9766]

Mid 1800s invention i believe

[@nomadichunter2818]

Very nice bloom, just like a flower!

[@privantomas]

A tiny question. Would it had been not more effective to preheat the incoming air by the heat of the tower in some kind of heat exchanger ? By this way I believe plus 2-300 K must had been possible. Sure our ancestors thought about it.... But anyway.....thanks for this demonstration.

[@BlueaxeReproductions]

@@privantomas it's difficult as a basic heat exchange philosophy is in place with ancient Roman bath houses, but in terms of what we think of as heat exchangers, there really isn't much going on until the 18th century. Most the air was pumped in by wood and leather bellows, which were not even double acting to the knowledge we have, just pairs, but evidence for much else than this and some basic lower clay elements of the furnace furniture is just never found!

[@privantomas]

@@BlueaxeReproductions Thank you so much for your detailed answer. However, if you see that at those times the scientific people were such specialists and a technological breakthrough like liquid steel or iron ore smelting was kept secret by supervisors since those days it was much more easy to do so. Examples were greec fire, salpeter bed technology, agriculture, alloys. Sure, if they wanted to keep it secret, you will not find today a trace of preheated air....but those ingenious people who made such swords, do you really believe they didn't realized that heat (and in the new times pure oxygen) as well as size and heat isolation and controlled not too harsh air flow were mandatory for a suffisticated process. Just look at the oleum manufacturing. I believe many things were lost, and that the history was rewritten too since millenia. Now they are trying to lock down old books from public access. We have to share knowledge in order to prevent that only those on top "earn" wealthy with it. But I fear that the time might be too late soon if we don't wake up right now.

[@ricardofrancogerez8396]

Thank you

[@michaelharrison8036]

Very cool! 👍👍👍

[@DERICKBLAIR4]

absolutely love this

[@ValhallaIronworks]

Very cool

[@joshschneider9766]

Fold and hammer a few times and I'm sure it will be a nice chunk of perfectly useful material. Very well done!

[@BlueaxeReproductions]

Thanks 👍

[@joshschneider9766]

@@BlueaxeReproductions thanks to you too. Definitely post up a vid of whatever you do with it please

[@kieranh2005]

0:50 Perfectly intelligible English. Sincerely A kiwi PS I worked with an old Scotsman for a while. You could understand him. Just. But when he got angry the accent became all but unintelligible. After a few years I could decipher it, but watching people who didn't know him was funny.

[@alanpecherer5705]

Isn't it "Moop Forge"?

[@Abdllh-mhamad]

الفرن يشبه البركان قوة العقل تنتج المستحيل

[@DERICKBLAIR4]

1 question isnt it risky to pull the slag out like this, that you might pull out the good molten metal?

[@BlueaxeReproductions]

Hiya; thanks for watching; great question! The slag largely runs out itself, and the bloom is quite tough and stuck together in contrast, so its very unlikely you'd be able to pull it out. At a later stage it is also probably too big to pull through that front vent! Thanks for asking!

[@DERICKBLAIR4]

@@BlueaxeReproductions ahh okay I think I understand, the bloom doesnt get as soft as the slag, sot it will not actually run out like the slag does, rather it stays formed enough to stay in a clump. Is this correct?

[@BlueaxeReproductions]

@@DERICKBLAIR4 Exactly! The slag is mostly like Syrup; so thick and sticky, but runny, whereas the Bloom itself is more like soft flap jack; so squidgy, but much more solid and stuck together!

[@DERICKBLAIR4]

@@BlueaxeReproductions Awesome thank you for clearing that up, I gotta say the building at the beginning looks dope as hell.

[@joshschneider9766]

I was told for that reason the bloom is nicknamed sponge iron prior to being folded and hammered. Crazy informative.

[@asv21]

Palembang hadir mantap bosqu

[@jimbayler4277]

You know they make poker rods longer than knuckle-burning short, right ?! Question number 2: Shirt sleeves, a coffee mug, and a PLASTIC bucket to feed a furnace burning at 1200-1500c ?!! What happened to long cuffed gloves, protective leathers, and a long handled shovel to feed the "Gates of Hell" ?!!

[@BlueaxeReproductions]

It'll be right eh!

[@jimbayler4277]

@@BlueaxeReproductions : I suppose it saves on shaving costs. No arm hair, no eyebrows ...... .