Medieval Technology and American History - Photos & Videos

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Penn State Experimental Iron Smelt

PSU Smelting This 20-minute video, shows our experimental iron smelting and how a small 2' chimney can replicate a medieval/colonial iron furnace. Hosted by Dr. Steven A. Walton, a professor of the history of science and technology at Penn State, you can see the results of our iron smelting in October 2006. Smelting is surprisingly easy and quite safe (it is no more fiery than a campfire and is quite contained) and if you want to try it yourself, you can find plans and a report on our experiments here.

There are also lots of photos here.

Watch Video:
Scene 1 (2:51): Opening and an introduction to the types of iron furnaces brought from the old world to the new. Steve Walton introduced the viewer to a 19th-century furnace in Howard, PA and explains what goes into and comes out of an iron furnace.	320x240 4.1meg Watch Video

Scene 2 (2:57): Day 1: Preparation of the furnace: digging and re-wetting the clay and straw mixture, coating the furnace liner with this mixture (the 'cobb') and chicken wire, and pre-baking the clay onto the furnace in preparation for the full smelt.	320x240 4.2meg Watch Video

Scene 3 (3:06): Day 2: Getting the furnace started, and a discussion of some of the motivations for the smelt, as well as concerns of pre-modern ironmakers.	320x240 4.4meg Watch Video

Scene 4 (4:31): Smelting: the process of the smelt over the course of about five hours. Lots of tending, but not too strenuous.	320x240 6.5meg Watch Video

Scene 5 (2:51): Finishing the smelt and the cool down - at the end of the day (although as we lost the light), the furnace gets disassembled and our bloom is exposed.	320x240 4.1meg Watch Video

Scene 6 (3:01): Conclusion: a successful iron smelt. 50 pounds of ore and 200 pounds of charcoal made 20 pounds of slag and a 22 pound bloom. (In fact, it turns out we got the furnace hot enough to make cast iron - see our final report for the details.)	320x240 3.1meg Watch Video

All six scenes in one file (19:20) [Warning: large file!]	320x240 27.5meg Watch Video

These files are QuickTime movies. For assistance with QiuckTime visit the Apple site here.

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