Are you sure that the stuff flowing out the opening was iron? If it was
indeed a "bloomery", they would tap off the slag from time to time. If
he simply got the stuff out of the furnace and forged it, then that
would have to be the case. But, in that case, he would have to
eventually let the furnace cool, open it up and take out the solid
"bloom" to consolidate (by heating and hammering) the bits of iron or
steel that has formed. This "bloom" often looks like a big black
clinker with tiny bits of charcoal stuck in it.

When you saw the material flowing out of the furnace, was it being
captured in a crucible or directed into a trough for casting into
roughly shaped items? If so, then is WAS cast iron, not wrought iron.
If, however, the material running out of the furnace was simply being
allowed to run out and cool in a puddle, then it probably was a wrought
iron production setup.

Here's my favorite place for small scale wrought iron manhfacture.
Also, google "rockbridge bloomery" for more places to get info about
this group and what they have been doing. We saw them several years ago
at the Flagstaff AZ ABANA conference and I'd say they have a better
understanding of how to ACTUALLY do it than anybody I have ever met.

http://iron.wlu.edu/Bloomery_Iron.htm

Pete Stanaitis
-------------------

oneota wrote:
I recently visited a Korean craftsman who smelts and smiths iron/steel.
He has built what looks like a bloomery, but the iron apparently
actually melts and flows out an opening. According to accounts I've
read, bloomeries always only had/have blooms (German: Lupe), the iron
not reaching melting point. I can't find any-thing about a "bloomery"
with molten metal. Can any-one help?
Oneota