Experimental IRON SMELTING

How did the Norse during the Viking Age make iron blooms from bog ore?
Experimental Archaeology can give insight into the techniques used in Northern Europe to operate direct reduction iron smelting furnaces.
This is a record of the ongoing series by Darrell Markewitz, assisted by members of the Dark Ages Re-creation Company.
Wareham, Ontario, Canada is this centre for practical research into Norse methods in North America.

Experimental Overview
Available in three forms:


The first is a point form version of the main information, presented with reference images from the individual smelts. 2001 to 2005 2006 ď 2007 2008 ď 2009 2010 ď	The second is a simple table styled version of the main data. Go on HERE.	The third is an expanded data base styled version of all of the recorded experimental variables for each smelt. Go on HERE.

Experimental Iron Smelting - On YouTube:


Stone Slab with Blow Hole Ocotober 2007	Demonstration at Quad State September 2008	Icelandic Work Dynamic Test October 2008

Icelandic 4 November 2008	Vinland 1 June 2009	Cutting a Bloom (Vinland 1)

Vinland 2 Ocotber 2009	Vinland 3 November 2009	CanIRON 8 Preparation November 2010

2001 - 2005

The earlier smelts carried out with members of the Dark Ages Re-creation Company
are documented here: www.darkcompany.ca/iron

In and effort to designate which experiments were carried out with the assistance of DARC,
look for boxes with this colour.

Individual Smelt Reports
These consist of the initial descriptions (usually modified from the original e-mail posting),
plus the bare experiment sequence data in table form.
Experiments listed in bold type are detailed below

Smelt 1 June 2001	Smelt 2 May 2002	Smelt 3 June 2003	Smelt 4 June 2004	Smelt 5 October 2004	Smelt 6 October 2004	Smelt 7 Feburary 2005	Smelt 8 Feburary 2005	Smelt 9 May 2005	Smelt 10 June 2005
Smelt 11 September 2005	Smelt 12 September 2005	Smelt 13 November 2005	Smelt 14 Feburary 2006	Smelt 15 March 2006	Smelt 16 March 2006	Smelt 17 June 2006	Smelt 18 September 2006	Smelt 19 October 2006	Smelt 20 October 2006
Smelt 21 November 2006	Smelt 22 November 2006	Smelt 23 June 2007	Smelt 24 June 2007	Smelt 25 June 2007	Smelt 26 October 2007	Smelt 27 October 2007	Smelt 28 November 2007	Smelt 29 March 2008	Smelt 30 March 2008
Smelt 31 March 2008	Smelt 32 April 2008	Smelt 33 April 2008	Smelt 34 May 2008	Smelt 35 May 2008	Smelt 36 June 2008	Smelt 37 September 2008	Smelt 38 Octoer 2008	Smelt 39 November 2008	Smelt 40 May 2009
Smelt 41 October 2009	Smelt 42 November 2009	Smelt 43 June 2010	Smelt 44 August 2010	Smelt 45 November 2010	Smelt 46 March 2011	Smelt 47 April 2011	Smelt D26 June 2011	Smelt D27 July 2011	Smelt 48 October 2011
Smelt 49 November 2011

Black Rock Forge February 2006	Written Report	Smelt Sequence Experimental Data
Smeltfest 06 March 8, 2006	Written Report	Smelt A Sequence Experimental Data	Smelt B Sequence Experimental Data
	Smelter Layout scaled drawing	Construction Method field drawing	Tuyere Position field drawing
	Wall Erosion field drawing	Second Firing field drawing
Early Iron 3 October 7, 2006		'Loki' Smelt Sequence Experimental Data
	Smelt B Written Report	Smelt B Sequence Experimental Data
DARC Fall Smelt November 5, 2006		Smelt Sequence Experimental Data
'Redemption' Smelt November 6, 2006		Smelt Sequence Experimental Data

'Hot Swap' Double Smelt June 9, 2007	Written Report	Smelt Sequences Experimental Data	Debris Field Plan field drawing
	Smelter Cross Section field drawing	Front Elevation field drawing	Top View - Detail field drawing
'Towards an Icelandic Smelt' An evaluation of the Hals site
Icelandic ONE (Thanksgiving) October 8, 2007	Written Report	Smelt Sequences Experimental Data	Smelt in Progress Quicktime Movie (1.9 Mb)
	Theoretical Set Up field drawing	Front Elevation field drawing	Cross Section field drawing
Icelandic TWO October 27, 2007	Written Report	Smelt Sequences Experimental Data	Base Construction field drawing
	Front Elevation field drawing	Top View field drawing
'Martin Team' (course) November 25, 2007	Written Report	Smelt Sequence Experimental Data

Smeltfest 08 March15 - 21, 2008	An Overview Draft - taken from Blog	Smelt A Sequence 'Front Plate' test Experimental Data	Front Elevation field drawing
		Smelt B Sequence 'DARC Dirt 1' test Experimental Data
		Smelt C Sequence 'Front Plate' test Experimental Data	Front Elevation field drawing
		'Aristotle's Furnace' Field Drawing
'DARC Dirt' - 2nd Test April13, 2008	Written Report Draft - taken from Blog	Smelt Sequence Experimental Data	Front Elevation field drawing
Iron Smelting at Thy (Heltborg Museum - Denmark) April 29 - May 4, 2008	An Overview	Smelt Sequence 'Espelund A' Experimental Data	Front Elevation field drawing
		Smelt Sequence 'Espelund B' Experimental Data	Front Elevation field drawing
		Smelt Sequence Method vs Ore Test Experimental Data	Front Elevation field drawing
'DARC Dirt' - 3nd Test June 14, 2008	Written Report Draft - taken from Blog	Theoretical layout drawing	Front Elevation field drawing
	Smelt Sequence Experimental Data	Slag Balances Experiment Measurements
Quad State Demo September 27, 2008	Written Report short overview	Smelt Sequence Experimetal Data	Revised Technique Handout
Work Dynamic Test October 12, 2008	Written Report detailed overview	Smelt Sequence Experimetal Data	Front / Plan / Section field drawings
Icelandic 4 November 8, 2008	Written Report short overview	Smelt Sequence Experimetal Data	Theoretical work layout drawing

'An Iron Smelt in Vinland' Recreating the clues from L'Anse aux Meadows (drafts - INDEX to Individual Segments)	Working Area blog posting	A Furnace for Vinland blog posting	Construction Possiblities blog posting
Vinland 1 May 30, 2009	Written Report short overview	Smelt Sequence Experimetal Data	Theoretical work layout drawing
	Front Elevation field drawing	YouTube Video General Overview	YouTube Video Cutting the Bloom
Vinland 2 October 11, 2009	Written Report detailed overview	Smelt Sequence Experimetal Data	Theoretical work layout drawing
		Box Bellows Plan working drawing	Front Elevation field drawing
Vinland 3 November 7, 2009	Written Report detailed overview	Smelt Sequence Experimetal Data	Theoretical work layout drawing
Vinland 4 June 12, 2010	Written Report detailed overview	Front Elevation field drawing	Theoretical work layout drawing
Vinland 5 August 23 , 2010	Blog Posting brief report	Smelt Sequence Experimetal Data	Debris Field Comparison with Archaeology

DARC at CanIRON 8 Preparation A
November 6, 2010

Draft Report
photo essay

Smelt Sequence
Experimetal Data

YouTube Video
Extraction Sequence

'Africa' - Smeltfest '11 March 22-23, 2011	Written Report detailed overview	Smelt Sequence experimental data	Front Elevation field drawing
Iron Smelt At Brown (course) April 22 & 23, 2011	Written Report detailed overview	Smelt Sequence experimental data	Front Elevation field drawing
Archaeology & Experiment - Iron Smelting Details of the 4 day program	Furnace Temperatures experimental data	Ores Used experimental data
DARC at CanIRON 8 Preparation B June 11, 2011	Written Report detailed overview	Smelt Sequence experimental data
DARC at CanIRON 8 July 282011	Written Report detailed overview	Smelt Sequence experimental data
Slag Pit Furnace October 9, 2011	Written Report detailed overview	Smelt Sequence experimental data	Slag Pit Plan field drawing
	Furnace Temperatures experimental data	Bellows Test experimental data	Front Elevation field drawing
Slag Pit Furnace 2 October 9, 2011	Written Report detailed overview	Smelt Sequence experimental data	Front Elevation field drawing

Formal Papers
Continuing Adventures in Early Iron Production An overview of experimental iron smelts, 2001 - 2008. An updating and revsion of the paper delivered at the 'Friends of the Medieval Studies Society of the Royal Ontario Museum 1st Annual Symposium' in March of 2006. The Full text of the revised verson can be found at Continuing Adventures in Early Iron. The text of the original paper (35 page version) can be found at ROM - Adventures in Smelting .
Towards an Icelandic Smelt Based on the remains at Hals Prepared with the assistance of Kevin Smith & Neil Peterson This is an 'in house' document outlining the archaeology and thought behind the Icelandic / Sod Smelter series Prepared October, 2008 - Continue to 'An Icelandic Smelt'
Concerning the Shape of Blooms Although originally published on the blog 'Hammered Out Bits' this short article has a more formal structure (footnotes and references). Original date February 9, 2010 The text can be found mirrored here - Shape of Blooms.
Iron Smelting in Vinland Conveting Archaeological Evidence to Practical Method. Presented at 'Forward Into the Past', Wilfred Laurier University, April, 2010 The full text of the revised verson (V3 - June 2010) can be downloaded as a PDF : Iron Smelting in Vinland.

Other Articles, Notes & Reports

Archaeology & Experiment :
Iron Smelting

A hands on experience in Experimental Archaeology

A 4 day hands on program for senior students, combining class room sessions with the direct experience of building and operating a short shaft, slag tapping, direct process iron bloomery furnace.

For more details to to Archaeology & Experiment

Is my BLOG - on it you will find a regular series of short postings on various aspects of Experimental Iron Smelting
Go to 'Hammered Out Bits'

The following articles are from the very start of the Experimental series, and are considerably dated. (Included to document the entire process undertaken.

' Iron in the Viking Age ' A set of point form notes that accompanied a 2002 lecture Go on 'Iron in Viking Age'.	' The Limits of Experiment ' This outline detailing the 'unknowns' was originally prepared in Spring 2004 - with only TWO experimental smelts to draw upon. Go on 'Experiment Limits'.
' Iron Smelting Series - An Experimental Philosophy ' These notes cover discussions and decisions made by the primary smelt team of DARC during the smelter prep on May 15, 2004 Go on Directions of Experiments.	Know Your Source! Darrell Markewitz - an Iron Smelting CV Compiled for my Canada Council Grant, Spring 2008 Go on Iron CV.

Many of the following are more 'internal' documents, but may prove of interest to others involved in Early Iron.

Air Flow Rates
A table of measured rates from our standard equipment (Revised October 2007)
Go on Air Rates.

Bellows Air Test
Measuring Operator rates using a reconstructed Norse blacksmith's bellows
(Report October 2007)
Go on Bellows Test.

Iron Content of Ores
A table of major components in our standard ores (Revised 2009)
Go on Iron Ores.

Blooms On Hand
A table style summary of smelter production up to April 2006
Go on Bloom List.

Charcoal Pit Burn Experiment
Photo Essay - 'a demonstration of an experiment'
(July 2007)
Go on Charcoal.

'Heat by Colour'

A visual reference - Colours

Details on how to build small scale test bed and teaching equipment - made from easily available materials :

the Econo Norse Smelter Developed by the DARC smelt team - using standard fire brick packed with sand Go on Econo Norse Handout.
the Flue Tyle Smelter Developed by Sauder and Williams - using a ceramic chimney liner Go on Flue Tyle Handout.

45 Gallon Drum Charcoal
Developed by Lee Sauder and Williams - a simple method described
Go on to http://iron.wlu.edu/reports/CharcoalBarrel.htm

Adventures in Experimental Smelting--Iron the Old-fashioned Way
Elizabeth G. Hamilton

Originally published in Expedition Magazine :
University of Pennsylvania Museum, Volume 49, Number 3 - Winter 2007

Elizabeth is one of the consistent participants in the EARLY IRON series of symposiums. At Early Iron 3 (2006) she interviewed Lee, Skip, Mike and myself. This article is the result. The link will give you a direct download of the article as a PDF.

I would like to thank ROYAL OAK CHARCOAL who have supported this ongoing series with the kind donation of the fuel used in the majority of these experiments since 2003. Each smelt consumes as much as 100 kg of charcoal, and it is safe to say that the full extent of this research program would have proved impossible without Royal Oak's generous support. Over the years, Royal Oak charcoal has proven consistent and of high quality.

Thanks goes to McDonald's Home Hardware of Dundalk Ontario.
Glen and Brent McDonald have patiently helped with many strange requests for over 20 years.
More importantly, they have provided charcoal at reduced costs for the 'Vinland' series of smelts, plus that used for the CanIRON 8 demonstration.

'Iron Blooms to Working Bars' is a special project from Feburary 15 to May 15, 2012.
It is supported by a Crafts Projects - Creation and Development Grant.
The Ontario Arts Council is an agency of the Government of Ontario.

The purpose of the grant is to cover three months deicated time to allow development of a practical understanding of how to covert raw blooms into working bars, and if time permits, into finished objects. Part of the process will be to document the ongoing project, and publish the results via a dedicated blog, this web site, and possibly through demonstrations, formal papers or jounal articles.

Links to OTHER EXPERIMENTERS

Go on Links

Introduction to Smelting Iron

Normally 1st weekend in June
(Friday evening - all day Saturday)

This HANDS ON course is dependant on registrations
(requires full class of 4 students due to materials cost)

This 14 hour session will involve the student in the construction and operation of the 'EconoNorse' small scale iron smelter. On Friday evening students will first assemble the smelter, then a lecture will cover the theoretical and historical background of smelting iron: ores, furnaces, process, equipment. An early start for a LONG day Saturday will start with the pre-heating the furnace. The actual process of the smelt takes roughly 6 hours. After this, the resulting iron bloom will be extracted from the furnace, and given a primary consolidation. The iron produced will be cut to sections and shared between the participants. This program does not require any previous metalworking experience, and is of interest to students of history as well as blacksmiths.

For more details on this special program - go Smelting Course .
Fees: 'Iron Smelting' - $350 +HST

pull out guide
Main Sections

The experimental work documented here is supported by
the Wareham Forge

OTHER WEB PUBLICATIONS

Who is Darrell Markewitz?

Archaeology & Experiment : Iron Smelting

Archaeology & Experiment :
Iron Smelting