Ore Dog Productions was formed when seasoned blacksmiths Lee Sauder, Stephen Mankowski, Shel Browder, and Ken Koons documented the iron smelting process on video in 2000. Our enjoyment of working together developed into a partnership; Lee’s ore-sniffing dog, Shadow, was the inspiration for the production company name. The partnership's goal is to share our ongoing research and knowledge gained from years of experience.
I would have loved to watch your documentary what are sole looked very interesting and you'll look very professional if it wasn't for that damn harmonic
Watching a lot of videos about bloom iron and steel, I did not find any as informative as this one. Also music, atmosphere, all very enjoyable. In the first method, Theophilus, how much time do you keep the knife with clay cover inside the fire white hot for reaching to adequate carbon?
There's a couple of sources of Iron Ore. Banded Iron Formations or BIF's hold most of the Iron today. They formed during the Oxygen Catastrophe, when the world literally rusted. The ancient seas that were shallow then are now dry land today. Then there's bog iron which is formed when water from some source washes the iron out of rocks, including BIF's to low-lying areas that fill with water. Iron Bacteria precipitate this iron as iron hydroxide. Then Volcanic Iron. A volcanic eruption throws iron rich minerals onto the surface and it's eroded into black sand. This is how the Japanese got the metal for their katanas. Then there are meteorites which have been forged by man even before the Iron Age, when the primary metal was bronze. Iron bearing rocks can also wash out from ore beds upstream during a flood. Some iron bearing rocks can be brought out by glaciers and strewn across the landscape but harvesting them is not practical.
Great "how to video". These guys know what they are doing and do an excellent job explaining the process. Note how they hold the sledge when striking. I was taught this method by Francis Whitaker, who worked in Yelliins shop and rarely see it used. Also look at their shop and how their side draft forge pulls the smoke. No need for a hood.
Great project documentary. I like to think most of us understand the primordial call of attempting to build essential technology from scratch (hence the broad appeal of the Primitive Technology channel)... but... as your film shows, inserting just a few modern upgrades in the process allows for superior and more predictable results, which end up being a bit more satisfying when coming out the other side. With only a few exceptions, modernizing the air blast variable is what most "build it from scratch like our ancestors would have" enthusiasts end up doing.
Like this method, have tried a lot of different ways, pit, retort, sealed cans in stoves, etc. Going to give this a try. I have a lot of branch wood to clean up and this looks like a way I can do it without babysitting it the whole time.
@ore dog productions I wanted to ask you guys about this primitive channels. I’m thinking they’re mostly fake, but, after watching the process by you, I’m almost sure they are. I want to ask you because you know this subject very well and I’m sure you could give a definite answer. I can’t post links here, but, one of the channels that does a lot of iron and tools from it, is called, primitive skills. I’m not sure that you would even see this comment, but, if you do, I’ll be very grateful and honored to know what you think. Thanks in advance if you take the time.
Probably would have been a good call to bring a backpack with you to gather 50 pounds of ore in the woods, rather than just bringing a flour sack with you lol
As a mechanical engineer its fascinating to see all the different process and the understanding of the material that the olf ones already have, thanks for the excellent video
48:52 "We have come full circle this has been a journey to understand the ancient means of making iron to reproduce that method and to generate a material that has not been available to western blacksmiths for nearly 200 years" ?!
Maybe I need to rewatch it But during the reheat process to make it steel, was it the first made bar of iron placed into the pit and then heated with the slag or was this the iron pills potentially in the slag reheated to make a new bar of ore?
I don't get the rationale behind the attempt to infuse carbon into the bloom by heating it a second time. When the ore is being smelted into the bloom, wasn't it already in a high carbon environment with all that charcoal surrounding it? what's the difference between that and the second time? I thought carbon would only dissolve into steel when it was in the liquid form?
I'm usually inclined to try (at least once in my life) the "old way" of doing things. This, not so much! Very cool to see, and I appreciate all the little metal objects a bit more now.
