Furnace Build - October 30 Iron Smelt

 

Considerable help from Neil Peterson and Gus Gissing.

 

Build for the October 30 iron smelt :

• 28 cm ID
• 70 cm stack
• on 10 cm stone plinth
• lower walls at 6 cm thick, tapers to 4 cm
• set on an (8 x 8 foot) clean sand pad

 

This furnace will have our 'standard' layout, and will be used for a 'typical' iron smelt sequence / 30 kg analog :

• The main addition will be constant monitoring of input air volumes, via Neil's new (accurate) meter. The M2 smelting bellows will be mounted in tandem, allowing duplicate measurements on an occasional basis.
• The overall debris created through this smelt will be left in place (and recorded)
• The furnace will be allowed to naturally decay over time, as exposed to summer rain and winter snows. This will be documented on a regular time frame, ideally over the next decade.