[Ansteorra] Pyromaniacs Untie!

[chuck.graves at faa.gov]

Greetings,

Where are you again?

I know someone who would be interested in making charcoal from 
scratch...and probably has sufficient wood...but didn't have a good 
project to justify the work to make it.

Regards,
Tadhg
...brick by brick




Catie Clark <cat at rocks4brains.com> 
Sent by: ansteorra-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org
08/24/2008 10:31 PM
Please respond to
"Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc." <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org>


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Subject
[Ansteorra] Pyromaniacs Untie!







Yo!  Remember back in March, I was trolling the list
looking for folks interested in doing a bloomery with me
to make iron from scratch.  I didn't die and I also didn't
forget.  But the people I work for sent me off to Australia
for 5 weeks in April and May and when I got back, we
finally managed to buy a house and make several trips
back and forth to Idaho to get stuff moved.

But that's all done now.  It's time to start thinking seriously
again about the joys of making metal.  I have not been
sitting on my hands despite all the traveling I've been
doing and I thought I'd mention it here since many folks
expressed their interest back when I did my original post.

There are some essential items you need before you can
do a bloomery run.  The first is fuel.  One of these days I
would love to make my own charcoal in a period manner.
Until then, however, I have to buy it from somewhere else.
I'm not talking about charcoal "briquettes" you buy for
your everyday backyard grill.  I'm talking real charcoal
made in a charcoal stack or in a charcoal oven.  An easy
rule is that you need twice as much charcoal as iron ore.
A hundred pounds of ore means 200 pounds of charcoal.
In the past, I've ordered it over the internet and gotten it
shipped straight to my door.

The next thing you need prior to a bloomery run is the ore
itself. I like doing what period folks did: going out and finding
my own ore source.  It is possible to buy iron ore and it's
not even that expensive.  The Pennsic bloomery operation
has been using processed taconite iron ore for several
years. While I've been one of those folks doing the Pennsic
bloomery thing (when I can make it to Pennsic), my own
inclination is to use  unprocessed ore that I've found myself.
I even have a great place to get iron ore even.  Too bad it's
1600 miles from here...  :-(

So I've been looking for more local iron ore.  You may or
may not know that Texas has really significant iron reserves.
At this point in my research on local sources, I know what
I'm looking for and where to find it.  I'm at the stage of
visiting locations where I might be able to collect some rocks.
This is harder than it sounds.  My experience is that you find
one good collecting location for every 5 you investigate. It's
not a endeavor for those who lack patience.  A lot of that
is because many locations are off limits to rock collectors.
State and national parks are off-limits and so is most private
property.  Some state lands and most national forests are
open for collecting, however, so that's where I'm looking.

Today's investigation was pretty typical.  I skipped fighter
practice because I have a bad case of mouse elbow right
now - and so off I went, looking for a river bank reportedly
hosting pyrite and large concretions of iron carbonate.  It
was a bust. I couldn't get to the outcrop because the public-
access path to the river was washed out.  All I managed to
collect was a lot of mud when I slipped and fell trying to
find another way down.  Very frustrating... 

So that's how the bloomery project is going.  Gotta find
some rocks first.  And after rocks, I need to find some
straw.  Anyone got some straw?  A bushel would do.
Can't be hay - it's gotta be straw.

Watch this space for updates.  One of these day I'll find
a good collecting spot - and after that, it's pyro time!

ttfn
Therasia, pyromaniac
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