11-25-2014, 04:57 PM
The fuel was charcoal made from the local chestnut which is coppiced in profusion locally. The people involved were rather 'precious' insisting on absolute authenticity in all things, but the result was somewhat disappointing - I don't think it was hot enough really. The bloomery was authenticly built up from local clays and probably hadn't had enough time to fully dry before firing although it was fired for two days and the intervening night. I left when they started arguing whether knocking the bloom out would break the furnace :(
Andrew Mawson, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Oct 2013.