[TheForge] Sash weight

[Peter Hirst]

I have heard a number of theories by a lot more authoritative sources than 
"Wikipedia says".  All involve melting and none is anything like 
"baking/cooking" a chink of cast.  .The nearest to your Wikipedia quote 
involves cast or pig iron and wrought combined so that carbon migrates to 
the wrought.

BTW, Wikipedia is not an authoritative source of anything.  Anyone can put 
anything in a Wikipedia article.
----- 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 10:56 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Sash weight


> 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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