Pig Iron

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Thanks Zonie- that takes some of the mystery out of it. I always thought that iron ore was a rock with streaks of iron in some other material- like granite. I thought you had to heat the rock hot enough to melt the iron which then seeped out of the rock. In reading Foxfire 5 they kept saying it was not a melting process but rather a reducing process and I really didn't understand what they were talking about. As I now understand it iron ore is rocklike but 40% or more iron with a lot of impurities and the heat and oxygen cause these impurities to be removed (Bloomery)through hammering and wrought iron is the result. On the blast furnace- since the metal is molted are cast into "pigs" I realize it gets hotter.
In any event, with the bloomery process a sole craftsman operating alone could, if he had the time, make his own wrought iron. Pretty incredible.
On this Foxfire 5 I'm now up to the chapter where they take this metal and start making a firearm.
 

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