Iron making the traditional way.

[Skaukraft]

Thought this might be interesting.
Iron making the primitive way. This was done all over Scandinavia, where ore holding marshes were present.
Some still practise this skill. I've been lucky to see this process done twice.
The norwegian word for the process is "blestring".

Here are two pages with some info, the google translation is not very good.
http://www.bjorgvin-handverkslag.net/24936643
http://translate.google.com/transla...landsjern/Jernet-og-smeden/Teknologi/&act=url

 

[Dreadhead]

thanks Odd iv been wondering about this process for a long time. im sure it would have been used alot in Scotland as we had many peat bogs the same as over there. would love to see this done!

 

[Skaukraft]

I belive it has been done all over Europe in one way or another. Were I grew up we can find remains from hundreds of these pits.

During the 'Nordic Hunting and Fishing days' at the Norwegian Forest Museum in the city of Elverum they usualy do this.
This year it is from 9-12 august.
This is one of the biggest arrangements of this kind in Norway and I think in Scandinavia to. You will find anything from modern fly fishing to old craftmanship on this arrangement, and it is worth a visit.

http://www.skogmus.no/innhold/jf/jf_forside.html
For some strange reason they are not able to poste the information in english, and I can only find the program for 2011.

 

[Dreadhead]

awesome will hopefully try and go in 2013 thanks for the tip

 

[Skaukraft]

Sounds good. Just give me a hint if you need some guidance. It is approx 1h 15m drive from Oslo Airport Gardermoen.

 

[Kotteman]

My first contact with this kind of iron making was at "riverdale college that i was attending(Älvdalens gymnasium in swedish). There we had 1.5 day event every year at a national reserve were we made coal, tar and iron, we also had guided tours betwen the diffrent houses and a "resturant". All this was a part to show people how the forrest was used before.
The first time i was there we had some teachers that showed us how to do it and helped us. That year we made 2 tries and maneged to make some iron.
The seccond time, i was in charge over furnece and 4 people with help of a teacher (sometimes). At the time for making iron i let the teacher in charge because i felt that my teaching skills was not enough. That year we made one try because of the weather and made a roughfly 800gram of iron out of 10kg of ore. In the summer betveen the first and the second time I was at a course in hammarede http://translate.google.se/translate?hl=sv&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.hammarede.com/ click on "blästerjärn to see more about iron making.

Ihave been thinking to make a guide in english and post it here but I haven't taken the time, Mayby this fall i will make one

I'm really sorry for my bad english i have no auto spell on this computer.

 

[woodstock]

Thought this might be interesting.
Iron making the primitive way. This was done all over Scandinavia, where ore holding marshes were present.
Some still practise this skill. I've been lucky to see this process done twice.
The norwegian word for the process is "blestring".

Here are two pages with some info, the google translation is not very good.
http://www.bjorgvin-handverkslag.net/24936643
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=no&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=no&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oppland.no%2FOpplandsjern%2FJernet-og-smeden%2FTeknologi%2F&act=url

Thanks for posting we are doing a iron age meet showing primitive skills at the iron age village here http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=5906 there is plans afoot to bring the village back to life so as tourists can have up to a weeks experiance living a iron age lifestyle with people doing day to day chores

 

[boatman]

A book by Dr Doug Gentles "Building a Reconstructed Prehistoric Iron Smelting Furnace" gives full details of how to build a working bloomery furnace. No isbn or publishers address but the front cover says the short work is a Craft from the past guidebook.