Iron bloom: processing and forging. 

Yeah, much as I like going through the learning process with HtME, as they include the modern science of what's happening and it's easier to tell which mistakes a beginner might make and which parts are harder than they look (something you can't tell as much from an experienced hand), I also like to see people who really know what they're doing go through the same process. Watching both a beginner and an expert try the same thing really gives a much more rounded understanding.

HTME also seems to skip corners to finish projects fast just to give a proof of concept, love the guy and his work but I do feel he should try to sharpen his craftsmanship@@dynamicworlds1

Before I bought a power hammer I did everything I show in the video by hand, sometimes with the support of sledge hammers strikers.

@@officinaferraria Wow! How long is the time difference between power hammer and manual?

If you do it alone there is huge time difference, if you have 2 helpers with sledgehammer is more less the same time.

Wrought iron and bloomery iron are produced in two different processes. Bloomery iron is produced by direct smelting in a bloomery furnace, the product of smelting is soft iron. The wrought iron was produced of cast iron (pig iron) in the finery or puddling process. Usually, bloomery iron is of better quality (after the refining process I show in the video) than wrought iron, it contains less slag inclusions, do not contain sulfur (some of the wrought iron has S in the alloy because in the production process the coke was used). I plan to make a video "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About wrought iron and bloomery iron, But Were Afraid to Ask" :-)

@@officinaferraria is there a further video where you take this high quality soft iron and make it into steel? Also are there any plans on a video for how to improve the quality of your bloomery iron before/during smelting?

Yes, this dark streak is higher carburized, generally, the iron bloom is low carbon content but sometimes the front part of the iron bloom placed just in front of the blowing hole is a high carbon (even more than 2 %). I plan to show it in detail in my next videos.

there are several indicators to check the presence of C. 1. To smelt this iron bloom I used slag-pit furnace, which usually gets low carbon alloy. 2. The presence of the carbon can be detected easily by watching the color and the shape of the sparks when the material starts to burn at a high temperature. 3. If the polish surface after etching in the acid is still bright it is mean that the content of C is low (in case of high C content the surface is getting dark). 4. The low carbon iron (alloy) is soft and easily forgeable.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fQpyZCxPpv8.html

I have a strange attraction to watching videos of this process. Making a plume hammering out steel. Thanks

Yes it is possible you can use blacksmith hearth to carburize the iron, i show it in one of my previous video, but I used small furnace instead.

@@officinaferraria Interesting. It turns out that if the process continues, the mass of finished steel will become even less. Here you can draw a parallel where you received 3 kg of iron, then a kilogram of wrought iron of stable quality, which will be much more expensive. And the final product of which may be less than a kilogram. This explains the high cost of steel in the Middle Ages. The more you go through, the more coal and labor time you spend and you get less mass of finished material.

nvm found the answer further down. great work.

yes it is iron, in modern metallurgy nomenclature it is very low carbon steel

About 1300C

in my opinion, yes

It is necessary to clean forge welds, borax dissolve iron oxides.

spark test

I do not sell my iron.

If you can help, I'm looking for natural iron like that to make Damascus keris. Because in my place that method has become extinct. Can you help me?

1:1

@@officinaferraria merci..

many times.

Puddling or fining is not easier and faster than bloomery process and one process extra is needed (smelting of the cast iron). Bloomery iron is not wrought iron in term of the process of the cast iron refining.

@@officinaferraria Okay, thanks for the info :)

@@officinaferraria By the way, the reason I suggested this is because I know that pig iron has a substantially lower melting temperature than malleable iron or steel, and I thought it might be possible to remelt a bloom that had been exposed to too a large excess of carbon and allow it to melt together and form into a solid piece, while the slag floats to the top, which would normally be impossible with this material. I suppose this is just a case of "easier said than done"? It looks difficult to consolidate those large spongy blooms. Also, of course, I realize you are probably also doing this from an interest in the historical process of producing this material. Honing that art is certainly worth the effort.

@@bilbo_gamers6417 bloomery process needs lower temp. than cast iron smelting, inside the bloomery furnace reduction occurs not melting like in the blast furnace.

To make crucible you still need iron.

The bloomery iron contains a lot of slags, during hammering and forge-welding this slag is removed. Less slag in the iron the better. But the slag is necessary during the smelting process. It is a reductor in the reduction reaction of iron oxide and it prevents the oxidation of the iron. The amount of slag in the iron bloom can be controlled but it is very difficult.