Opening the Prehistoric Iron Smelting Furnace www.thijsvandemanakker.com

[ohvnaq]

shouldn't there be a way to take the bloom out without destroying the furnace?

great videos, thanks so much for uploading!

[MrThijzer]

@ohvnaq Only slagpit furnaces were destroyed.

[sutrar]

How do you manage to to weld the smaller lumps of bloom together into a larger piece before proceeding to beating out the slag? Thanks sutrar

[MrThijzer]

@sutrar This process is written in "Early Iron" on my website.

[debater96]

What exactly did you get out of doing this? What was the product?

[MrThijzer]

@debater96 7 kg of bloomery iron. Watch the last shot: 9.16-9.20

[Breathor]

I LOVE the stuff you guys do! this is amazing!

[Sauron012]

I don't know much about this, so please excuse my ignorance :) :

- Was the liquid the slag?

- Was the glowing material that you lifted out of the liquid pure iron?

Thanks to whoever answers this! Great video, by the way.

[aVampireTear]

@Sauron012

Only the slag is liquid. he iron contains a lot of slag but very less carbon

[bigaxe87]

real men use rocks pussies use hammers :)

[sutrar]

How much time does the smelting process take?

[MrThijzer]

@sutrar  It takes about 16 hours to make 10 kg of iron out of 100 kg of bog ore.

[smijman]

7:49 "lol molten metal"

[twobluehorses]

I wonder if the old smiths allowed people to watch the process or if they kept it all a secret? This part was tremendously dramatic!

[whowantsabighug]

@twobluehorses I think everybody was too busy farming, fighting or hunting (mostly farming) to have the time to watch this long proccess.

[thedruidherbalist]

if you made it bigger hole at the bottom you would not have to destroy it but i see wat ur doing very interesting i love it

[MrThahey]

@thedruidherbalist well the heat from the smelt melts the walls of the bloomery into slag. The furnace is only good for one or two smelts.

[thedruidherbalist]

@MrThahey thanks for telling me i would have never thought of that

[korgho5757]

why not use hammers to beat it . it s kind of rough with these large unshapely stones to pound hot bloom. let me guess, hammers were in the making

[aVampireTear]

@korgho5757

When you hit the bloom, the slags, you squeeze out, will ruin hammer and anvil.

And ofcourse: the first hammer on earth was a stone!

Thijs.

[Kingofsomething87]

@aVampireTear Why not make a wooden sledgehammer?

[aVampireTear]

@Kingofsomething87

Only farmers do so !