Turf to Tools Two - Project Iron Smelts

This is a fast snapshot of the first of  two iron smelts carried out within the main body of the Turf to Tools Phase 2 Project, September 14 - 26, 2016, at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop:

SMELT ONE = ORE TEST

Initial furnce build (after drying)

Lecht Mine ore (mark for 500 gms)

'Mystery Deposit' - may be vapourized Manganese??

TtT2A bloom / fragments

Furnace : Short Shaft on stone & block plith
Build : standard clay / sand / manure mix (although less clay used than normal)
Size : Tapered 25 to 20 cm ID, 68 cm total with 50 cm stack and 30 cm to hard base
Tuyere : tapered copper, 5 cm proud, 20 degree down angle
Ore : Lecht mine (Limonite ?), total 42.5 kg
Fuel : standard sized hardwood charcoal
Method : total of four heavy volume slag taps

BLOOM : 3.5 kg, crumbly - yield 8 %

Low yield the result of the lower iron content of the local ore used.
Gathering may not have resulted in the best possible selection available, but this is a site originally used, then abandoned, in the mid 1700's.