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.
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!
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.
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.
@@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!
@@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.
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!
@@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?
@@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!
If you are going to do a recreation of an ancient smelt, what is the point in using modern air blowers, especially as I seriously doubt even two medieval bellows would give the same effect? And plastic buckets to stoke the furnace? Seriously?
@@BlueaxeReproductions You consider my question impolite, yet there is nothing inherently impolite there. I was merely giving an on the spot reaction. I was not rude, I did not use insulting language and I did not disparage anyone involved in the project or their motivation. However, my initial point was that you received funding from an archaeological group to recreate an ancient technology, yet used modern technology to do it. Something just doesn't sound right. Furthermore, I was completely incredulous when I saw plastic buckets being used to pour the charcoal in a chimney venting 100's of degrees to charge a smelt.
Comment from Germany: We also use airblowers for our projekts. To gain experience with the process and the different ores it is the most effective. When there is a public demonstration in historic environment we get visitors to work on the bellows, sometimes 10-15 minutes before they are tired and the arms hurt😂. When you work with 2 people there is so much to do.... Beside your comment regarding plastic. In general correct but first you have to build up your stock of equipment. All the teams we know built up their workshop during years. So as a summary from my view: nice furnace, good slack and a bloom that can be used for more. We would be happy if all our results were the same. Just go on. End of May 2025 there is an international Symposium in Ulft/Netherlands. You are invited.
@@HBW1539 Thanks for your well constructed reply,. You raised some very good points. First and foremost to gain experience. to save the arms of people who are definitely not used to operating the bellows (and that would definitely include me). However, your comment set me to pondering. I understand that in the Middle Ages, individual crafts were well defined within guilds who very much wanted to keep their arts secret, but I wonder if it was always that way. In my way of thinking, communities in the Iron Age (and before) were very much dependent upon each other simply to survive and I wonder if the whole community pitched in with a smelt, which would ease the load tremendously or if the smelters were left to their own devices and held in mystical awe, something we just have no way of ever knowing. I very much appreciate your invitation to the Netherlands and would be very pleased to attend and meet like minded people in Europe (I haven't been in the Netherlands since 2007), however, being in Brazil, I'm not sure if it would be possible. Perhaps I misunderstood the purpose of this video, but with the uploader refusing to comment, I guess I will never know. With Medieval Iron Smelt in the title, I clicked expecting to see a Medieval smelt and that is clearly not what it shows. and I found that disappointing as I find the authenticity of any of our past skills being recreated fascinating , but can understand why shortcuts may be taken. As an aside, perhaps my favourite channels on UA-cam is www.youtube.com/@primitivetechnology9550, who does indeed keep it authentic. Again, thank you for your thoughtful comments. May your God (or Gods) go with you!
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" ?!!
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.
Excellent video! Thank you for sharing the procedure!!
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!
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
Aye; even with all the compromises taken here it is still such a small amount for such a lot of effort!
Mid 1800s invention i believe
Very nice bloom, just like a flower!
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.
absolutely love this
Very cool
Very cool!
👍👍👍
Fold and hammer a few times and I'm sure it will be a nice chunk of perfectly useful material. Very well done!
Thanks 👍
@@BlueaxeReproductions thanks to you too. Definitely post up a vid of whatever you do with it please
Thank you
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.
@@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!
@@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.
Where is the limestone?
Palembang hadir mantap bosqu
الفرن يشبه البركان
قوة العقل تنتج المستحيل
Isn't it "Moop Forge"?
1 question isnt it risky to pull the slag out like this, that you might pull out the good molten metal?
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!
@@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?
@@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!
@@BlueaxeReproductions Awesome thank you for clearing that up, I gotta say the building at the beginning looks dope as hell.
I was told for that reason the bloom is nicknamed sponge iron prior to being folded and hammered. Crazy informative.
Oh yes, the rather large percentage of us, who doesn t get umbria or know what it is...
If you are going to do a recreation of an ancient smelt, what is the point in using modern air blowers, especially as I seriously doubt even two medieval bellows would give the same effect? And plastic buckets to stoke the furnace? Seriously?
If you were able to communicate like a polite adult I'd consider answering. Never mind.
@@BlueaxeReproductions You sound very defensive.
@@BlueaxeReproductions You consider my question impolite, yet there is nothing inherently impolite there. I was merely giving an on the spot reaction. I was not rude, I did not use insulting language and I did not disparage anyone involved in the project or their motivation. However, my initial point was that you received funding from an archaeological group to recreate an ancient technology, yet used modern technology to do it. Something just doesn't sound right. Furthermore, I was completely incredulous when I saw plastic buckets being used to pour the charcoal in a chimney venting 100's of degrees to charge a smelt.
Comment from Germany:
We also use airblowers for our projekts. To gain experience with the process and the different ores it is the most effective.
When there is a public demonstration in historic environment we get visitors to work on the bellows, sometimes 10-15 minutes before they are tired and the arms hurt😂.
When you work with 2 people there is so much to do....
Beside your comment regarding plastic. In general correct but first you have to build up your stock of equipment.
All the teams we know built up their workshop during years.
So as a summary from my view: nice furnace, good slack and a bloom that can be used for more.
We would be happy if all our results were the same.
Just go on.
End of May 2025 there is an international Symposium in Ulft/Netherlands. You are invited.
@@HBW1539 Thanks for your well constructed reply,. You raised some very good points. First and foremost to gain experience. to save the arms of people who are definitely not used to operating the bellows (and that would definitely include me). However, your comment set me to pondering. I understand that in the Middle Ages, individual crafts were well defined within guilds who very much wanted to keep their arts secret, but I wonder if it was always that way. In my way of thinking, communities in the Iron Age (and before) were very much dependent upon each other simply to survive and I wonder if the whole community pitched in with a smelt, which would ease the load tremendously or if the smelters were left to their own devices and held in mystical awe, something we just have no way of ever knowing.
I very much appreciate your invitation to the Netherlands and would be very pleased to attend and meet like minded people in Europe (I haven't been in the Netherlands since 2007), however, being in Brazil, I'm not sure if it would be possible.
Perhaps I misunderstood the purpose of this video, but with the uploader refusing to comment, I guess I will never know. With Medieval Iron Smelt in the title, I clicked expecting to see a Medieval smelt and that is clearly not what it shows. and I found that disappointing as I find the authenticity of any of our past skills being recreated fascinating , but can understand why shortcuts may be taken. As an aside, perhaps my favourite channels on UA-cam is www.youtube.com/@primitivetechnology9550, who does indeed keep it authentic.
Again, thank you for your thoughtful comments. May your God (or Gods) go with you!
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" ?!!
It'll be right eh!
@@BlueaxeReproductions : I suppose it saves on shaving costs. No arm hair, no eyebrows ...... .
Too stupid to us a proper tool
If you are going to slang insults about intellect least spell properly.