Smelting Ore & Metals

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Iron Production - Techniques and History , Bo Justusson. There are many alternate methods that has been used throughout history for those two steps. When charcoal was used, countries with both iron ore and large forests (like Sweden) had an advantage...

ATITD Wiki- Ore Smelting Ore, after being dug up from the ground using mines, must be smelted in one of the various buildings designed for that purpose. Smelting turns ore into metal, including the alloys of brass, bronze, steel, and Metal Blue. Although it is not an ore per se, smelting is also the process whereby red sand is converted to quicksilver.

Metal Recycling Metal scrap, although unfamiliar to most people, is one of the world's larger industries with regard to the number of companies and people employed, weight of material handled and value of equipment used.

Smelting Silver An Excellent article in Adobe Acrobat on the subject.

Smelting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Smelting Experiments I thought it would be interesting to try smelting copper, old school style. I find myself drawn to ancient technologies, and this is one of the oldest. Last year I taught myself some flintknapping, so it only makes sense to move from the neolithic to the chalcolithic. This is a basic overview of what I did, with the help of some friends. Hopefully it might prove useful to someone.

TIN SMELTING AT THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE Tin metal does not quickly spring to mind as being of great archaeological importance, but a moment's thought brings one to the problem of bronze. Bronze is normally taken to be some alloy based on copper, particularly the tin-copper bronzes, and the development of such alloys is of great significance. The use of bronze shows that there was a realization that it had valuable properties, which reveals the possession of considerable metallurgical skills. Tin is the key to a host of important archaeological considerations.

Experimental Iron Smelting at Rievaulx Abbey The experimental furnace is a cylinder built of clay around a structure of willow withies. It has an internal diameter of about 40 cm and the walls are about 20 cm thick. This size is based on previously excavated furnace bases. Although the furnace has been built 1.4 meters high, the original height of furnaces is not known.

Iron Smelting My mission, in simplest terms, is to "Preserve, study, advance and exchange the techniques of the pre-industrial metalworker, In order to help build independence and productivity in those who may benefit from it."

Experimental Iron Smelting at Scatness During the summer 2000 field season new experimental archaeology work was carried out near the excavated Broch at Scatness. The iron smelting was highly successful producing excellent blooms. Some of the highlights of this work are shown

Basement Chemistry for the Prospector - Assaying and Smelting Let’s get on with it. First, what do we mean by the word "assay"? It means determination of what is present in whatever sample you are working on. Doesn’t have to be gold. We can assay for silver, rhodium, sulfur, water, bubble gum, anything. Now you must understand that there are two basic classes of assays. Qualitative and quantitative.

USGS Minerals Information: Copper

Melting and Smelting - for recreational gold prospecting Hey, I never thought I would have to put up a page on this subject but it seems there is a lot of confusion on this point. At least it will be short. Probably a one or two beer page.

tin properties alloys smelting One of the most important properties of tin is the ease with which it alloys or mixes with the majority of other metals, it is this quality together with the low melting point which makes it an essential ingredient of most solders. It is not toxic and it does not corrode all that rapidly making it ideal as a protection for steel for food and drinks 'tin cans' properties which are also important in pewter. The very high boiling point allows it to be used as a smooth molten surface to make 'float' glass.

Ovambo Iron Smelting Pretty cool, but requires Quicktime to watch the film

Charcoal Kilns and Early Smelting in Utah

Smelting in a Microwave - Popular Science A microwave is a powerful induction furnace capable not only of creating high-voltage plasmas from table grapes but of melting the very substance I wasn't supposed to put in there.

Smelting Up to the 17th century, smelting was mainly carried out in structures called 'boles' or 'bales'. Smelting at boles was seasonal as it took advantage of strong prevailing winds. The sitting of boles was a compromise between the availability of fuel and ore, and the need for an exposed, preferably southwest facing site with sufficient draught. See also: Lintzgarth Smelt Mill | Rispey Smelt Mill | Boltsburn Mine and Washing | Fuel for Smelting | Waterpower | Processing the lead ore | Video Clip of Smelt Mill Bellows

Huayrachinas, or wind furnaces, were used by indigenous people to smelt silver immediately after the Spanish conquest and probably during prehispanic times as well. This technology, last recorded by an American engineer in 1893, was thought to have become extinct by the early 20th century. However, in 2001 members of the Porco-Potosí Archaeological Project were introduced to Carlos Cuiza, a retired miner who continues to smelt using this traditional technology

Agglomeration | Coking | Blast Furnace | Direct Reduction | Basic Oxygen Furnace | Electric Arc Furnace | Heat Treating | Ladle Metallurgy | Continuous Casting | Ingot Casting | Ladle Preheating | Secondary Finishing | Surface Coating | Mining/Primary Processing | Recycle/Scrap Melting | Aluminum Casting | Aluminum Smelting | Anode Baking | Bauxite Mining | Bauxite Refining | Extrusion | Forging | Heat Treating | Molten Handling | Rolling

TIN SMELTING AT THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE The experiments aimed at establishing production techniques and were designed to determine the magnitude of tin production at the site of Göltepe. A really neat, informative archeological article.

Early Smelting and Metallurgy Kind of basic, but well written, good photos of ores and interesting.

Experimental Iron Smelting at Scatness During the summer 2000 field season new experimental archaeology work was carried out near the excavated Broch at Scatness. The iron smelting was highly successful producing excellent blooms. Some of the highlights of this work are shown.

Metals The first metals were found in their elemental or "native" state. Only three metals are found this way, copper, silver, and gold. Evidence for their use goes back at least 8000 years ( approx Dec 26 on our timescale). At first, these fantastic materials would have been used exclusively for ornamental or ritual purposes--they are just too rare for utilitarian purposes. In addition they are too soft for most uses.

Medieval tin smelting at Crift Farm, Cornwall The pre-eminence of Cornwall (and Devon) in the production of tin is well documented (Lewis 1965, Penhallurick 1986). However knowledge of the methods and technology of tin production prior to the 16th century is lacking.

Early iron industry in the North Yorkshire Moors The North Yorkshire Moors have a history of iron working which extends back to the Iron Age. Although modern industry has been studied in detail for Rosedale and the Cleveland area, very little research has been undertaken into the industry's origins. The western side of the North Yorkshire Moors has several important sites linked to the different phases/periods of English iron-smelting technology, focused around Rievaulx Abbey. Experimental Iron Smelting at Rievaulx Abbey

Microwave melting Research is nearing completion on a system that will allow the melting and casting of bronze, silver, gold, and even cast iron, using an unmodified domestic microwave oven as the energy source. A potential foundry in every kitchen !!

Experimental Iron Production at The Rockbridge Bloomery Lee Sauder, Skip Williams. In January of 1998, inspired by accounts of traditional iron smelting in Africa, I decided to see if I could make some iron myself. I enlisted my curious friend Skip, and together we've built two furnaces, and sweated through many trials. Although we've almost always managed to make some iron, it wasn't until the spring of 1999 that we began to smelt wrought iron blooms of reasonable quality and size. In March and April of 1999, in three consecutive smelts, we produced dense, forgeable blooms of 40, 20 and 25 lbs.

The Copper Development Association provides access to its Copper Data Center database free of charge in an effort to increase knowledge and awareness of copper, related technologies, and the role of copper in the environment. Search the Copper Data Center Database

Copper Facts Interesting information and important facts about copper, brass and bronze.

How do they do that? This page explains many of the basic processes and components in the mining and production of copper.

The story of copper and its principal alloys, bronze and brass, is virtually a chronicle of human endeavor since man emerged from the Stone Age. The ubiquity of the copper metals and their contribution to every civilization since Sumeria and Pre-Dynastic Egypt gives them a unique position in the history of technology.

Early American iron smelting Everyone has seen pictures of the noble blacksmith in pictures of Early American life. The smith, a mighty man, pounds away on his iron horseshoes and makes wonderful things out of iron for the kitchen and the farm, but it wasn't until recently that people started to ask where this iron came from that so many smiths worked for so many decades.

A Short History of Metals By Alan W. Cramb. Process Metallurgy is one of the oldest sciences. Its history can be traced back to 6000 BC. Admittedly, its form at that time was rudimentary, but, to gain a perspective in Process Metallurgy, it is worthwhile to spend a little time studying the initiation of mankind's association with metals. This is a great read.

Metalliferous Environments in Nova Scotia - Base Metals Paper by James M. Patterson (1993) describes the geologic occurrence and extraction history of metallic ore deposits in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Hurstwic Bog Iron Production in the Norse Era Although Norse people knew of mining and mined some iron ore in a variety of locations throughout Scandinavia, most Viking era iron was smelted from bog iron. For example, at the Norse settlement in L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, there is clear evidence that Norsemen harvested and smelted bog iron to use as the raw material for the iron rivets they used to repair their ships there 1000 years ago.

Medieval Iron and Steel -- Simplified by Bert Hall Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto. Iron is one of the most useful metals ever discovered, but it is also one of the more difficult metals to understand in history, especially in medieval history. Iron comes in several forms, and the complications involved in producing each of them fosters further confusion. What follows is the layman's guide to medieval iron -- as simple as possible, but not one bit more!

Iron Production - Techniques and History , Bo Justusson

'Ironworking' - Article about Viking and Anglo-Saxon iron production and smithying techniques.

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