[TheForge] Sash weight

[Daniel Kretchmar]

Ha - ha Peter....very funny. :)

Okay smart guy! Wootz is older than the bessemer process, so how did
they make it before the bessemer process?

wikipedia says "While other methods may be used today, it is known
that wootz was classically made in crucibles, e.g., crucible steel by
combining a mixture of wrought iron or iron ore and charcoal with
glass, which is then sealed and heated in a furnace."

As an SCA blacksmith, I have been part of several crews that refined
the iron blooms that we made in cupola (sp?) furnaces.   We used
bellows for the air, charcoal for the heat, and a mixture of iron ore,
scale, and steel dust from the floor of my grinding room. (grinders,
chop saws, knife grinders all make alot of dust so I have them in a
separate room in the shop.)
After the furnace was opened to let out the molten slag (kinda like
lava), we removed the iron bloom and heated it again in a forge to
yellow.  A crew of 1 leader, 3 strikers and me holding the tongs and
turning the bloom, pounded it into a block about 4x4x8 inches.  I took
the block home and using charcoal in my forge (and an electric
blower), and my powerhammer, I folded and welded it several times
until it started to look like a regular peice of bar stock.  The more
I folded it, the cleaner it got.....so.....the next step.  making
wootz....anyone ever done it?

Danr

On 3/6/09, Peter Hirst <saltydog335 at aol.com> wrote:
> Damn!  Think of the technology Bessemer wasted melring and blowing air
> through the stuff !!
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Daniel Kretchmar" <dan at irontreeworks.com>
> To: "Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 12:51 PM
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Sash weight
>
>
> > :)
> >
> > The article said that wootz can be made by cooking/baking cast iron
> > for long periods (at very high temps) to burn out some of the carbon.
> >
> > Danr
> >
> > On 3/6/09, Woolley <wjec1 at verizon.net> wrote:
> >>
> >> I recently read an article on making wootz from cast iron.
> >> > Anybody on the list ever try that?
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Wootz?  I think I saw a "Wootz that toots when it doesn't give a hoot"
> >> > in a Dr.Seuss book but I might be wrong.  In that case it would be born
> >> > or, you know, hatched like a Quackathatch right?
> >>
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