"Stanley Schaefer" wrote in message
news:acdeaa7e-fb18-410b-aae6-
-IF you could get wrought iron, you could probably do the "crucible
-steel" process with a modern pottery kiln. The old-style
steel-making
-process was to convert iron ore to cast iron in a blast furnace, cast
-iron to wrought iron by burning out the carbon during puddling,
-wrought iron to steel via the blister method or crucible method.
-Stan

A parallel process, if I remember correctly from a school trip to the
Saugus Iron Works, reduces the iron ore to solid-state iron with CO
from the fire, without reaching the ~1600C melting temperature of the
nearly pure iron produced. The product is a dirty glob of sponge or
bloom iron and slag, which they hammer out to compact it and squeeze
out at least some of the slag. This is the classic"wrought iron" which
is easier to forge-weld than the puddled version, they say

Their website currently says they produced wrought iron from cast pig
iron, but I remember the guide talking about a slag-filled bloom that
was displayed near the water-powered hammers.
http://www.nps.gov/sair/index.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomery

jsw