SUDRI Dark Iron Bloom Eighth A, Bloom Iron, Viking Iron, Authentic Wrought Iron For Sale

Smelted on site at Dark Iron Forge from our local Iron Ore. This is Eighth A of our iron bloom "SUDRI". We categorize each of our smelted blooms by naming them after a Dwarf from Norse Mythology. We base our furnace design and smelting procedure after what is known about Viking age smelting and Iron production. This bloom eighth weighs 2 pounds 11 ounces. Dimensions are approximately 3.50" deep, 5.75" wide, 2.5" tall. We do not consolidate the blooms when we pull them out of the furnace. Leaving them unconsolidated shows the natural voids and features from the smelting procedure after being cut. Please note that there will be some slag, and charcoal attached to the bloom from the smelting procedure. A bloomery furnace is generally constructed from some combination of clay, sand, earth, and stone. Near the bottom an air pipe called a tuyere is inserted for air injection. Before firing the bloomery the charcoal and iron ore must be prepared and sized. The bloomery is then preheated by burning charcoal, once fully ignited charges of charcoal and iron ore are added to the top of the furnace. The burning charcoal creates carbon monoxide which reacts to the iron oxides in the ore turning it into metallic iron. A glassy molten slag also forms during the smelting process. As the iron particles descend they combine with the molten slag to form a spongy "bloom" mass. Blooms produced this way tend to be porous, and can later be reheated and beaten with a hammer to drive out any remaining slag and consolidate the iron into a bar. Iron treated in this manner is said to be wrought or (worked) out. The resulting iron, with reduced slag content is known to be "wrought iron".
There is a complex relationship between size of the bloomery, angle/position of air system, air volume, size/type of ore and charcoal particles, and charging ratio/sequence. All of these variables affect the nature of the bloom produced. If any of these factors are neglected or calculated incorrectly there may be no iron production at all!A great deal of time, and much skill goes into producing bloom iron!
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