[TheForge] Fw: Ancient metallurgy - US Bicentennial Bloom

Wed Nov 2 12:01:46 EST 2005

Boy, with that much free time we could have used you in our "worlds 
most expensive ax project". The last I saw of the ax head, it had been 
fitted with a haft and was to be given to the Town of Saugus, MA. Also, 
I misspoke, as I now recall, we also made five or six nails from the 
shards that fell off the bloom. The cost of those nails would be right 
up there. You do need to remember, that all this stuff now available in 
print on blacksmithing was not available at that time. We were indeed 
re-inventing the wheel. The rebirth of smithing started around then, 
and has blossomed in the last 25 to 30 years, including the founding of 
our host ABANA, the sponsor of this list.
Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Viola <stephen.viola at gmail.com>
To: Sponsored by ABANA <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Mon, 31 Oct 2005 23:05:36 +0200
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Fw: Ancient metallurgy - US Bicentennial Bloom

You know I did a quick calculation of the man hours that went into
this project. Having over 100 people working over a period of ten
months collecting the bog iron (not full time of course), plus the 60
odd attmepts of smelting the ore (unknown amount of days / weeks)..
this axe head would have to be the most expensive axe head in the
world!!! Fulltime salary would come to 1.875.00 million Euros (not
including the smelting process).. thats one damned expensive axe
head!!! Who has it by the way?

Stephen (Wombanator)

On 10/31/05, Bruce Freeman <FREEMAB at pt.fdah.com> wrote:
> Let me chime in that there are a lot of people in this neck of the 
woods
convinced that some local brick red sandstone is bog iron. Not at all 
true.
Good bog iron ore is amonst the richest iron ore around. Of course, it 
CAN
easily be diluted with sand, mud, leaves, etc., but the ore itself has 
a high
iron content. Probably depends a lot on the bed it's lifted from.
>
> I wouldn't be surprized if there were a LOT of good bog iron out 
there now.
What with the fact that few people have been interested in it since 
1835, and
the normal "regeneration" time of only 25 years. Acid rain could have 
pushed it
either way. The additional acid would leach the soil of iron faster, 
but too
much acid in the bog may have prevented its precipitation as carbonate.
>
> Bruce
> NJ
>
> >>> mrscherm at aol.com 10/31/2005 2:32:03 PM >>>
> Hi Roland,
> I sent a photo of some bog iron directly to you, as I dont believe 
that
> we can attached photos thru theforge. I looks like thin layers of
> crusty brittle iron amongst muck, leaves and whatall.
> Michael
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rowland Smuck <rsmuck at direcway.com>
> To: Sponsored by ABANA <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Mon, 31 Oct 2005 10:58:57 -0800
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Fw: Ancient metallurgy - US Bicentennial Bloom
>
> Does anybody have a picture of Bog Ore, I don't know what to look for?
> Rowland of Roseburg, OR 97470
> 10 miles to the nearest Red Light
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bruce Freeman" <FREEMAB at pt.fdah.com>
> To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 10:32 AM
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Fw: Ancient metallurgy - US Bicentennial Bloom
>
>
> Just curious - Where was that bog iron stored between mining and
> smelting?
>
> Bruce
> NJ
>
> >>> mrscherm at aol.com 10/25/2005 11:09:57 AM >>>
>
> In 1976 we had over a hundred volunteers gathering "bog iron" from
> swamps and cranberry bogs on the south shore area of Boston and Cape
> Cod. Over the course of about 10 months, we accumulated about a ton of
> bog iron platelets and used the Saugus Iron Work site to re-enact 
early
> American iron smelting. We used sea shells gathered from the beach and
> mixed it with the bog iron in equal amounts and purchased hardwood
> charcoal for fuel. We didnt make this recipe up, we read it in the
> "Iron Master's" log books from the Iron Works library. Of course we
> were sure we'd end up with hundreds of pounds of iron. We had lined up
> blacksmiths and projects ranging from nails to muzzle loaders and
> eagerly awaited the results of our efforts. It was so incredibly
> difficult to get the bloom to stay together (similar to forging a
> meteorite) that after about 60 reheats, we ended up with just about
> enough iron to make one small trade ax. Was fun though. I dont know 
who
> ended up with all the photos and log of the activities, but I think we
> gave it to the Iron Works or the National Park Service.
> Michael
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Phlip <phlip at 99main.com>
> To: EKMetalsmiths at yahoogroups.com; theforge at mailman.qth.net; ArtMetal
> Sandbox <sandbox at artmetal.com>
> Sent: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 20:51:05 -0400
> Subject: [TheForge] Fw: Ancient metallurgy article...
>
> Think you metalheads might find this interesting. Think the guy might
> have
> asked a few SCAdians, though- we've got folks whove been producing
> successful blooms for a while.
>
>
> > http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051011073801.htm
> >
>
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