Sauder on SMELTING

Lee working with an Aristotle Furnace - Smeltfest 09

Lee Sauder, with his smelt partner Skip Williams, are in no doubt largely responsible for the current 'Early Iron Iron' movement in North America. Their quick and open friendship and guidance have been of critical importance to my own development and understanding of the Bloomery process.

Lee has recently re-vamped his own web site : www.leesauder.com

Most importantly, he has made a number of his research articles available as PDF downloads:
(this list copied directly from Lee's site)

Published Articles: A Practical Treatise on the Smelting and Smithing of Bloomery Iron This is the paper I wrote for Historical Metallurgy back in 2000, reporting our early work and challenging some of the prevailing notions about bloomery smelting. Update on "The Practical Treatise" An excerpt from a paper I expect to be published in the proceedinbgs of the 2010 conference. This summarizes some of the changes in my technique since the above paper. The Basics of Bloomery Smelting An introductory paper I wrote for The Anvil’s Ring back in 2000. Practical Bloomery Smelting A paper from 2001 for the Materials Research Society. Similar to the HMS paper, but a lot more concise. Aristotle's Steel Another paper forthcoming in the HMS 2010 Conference proceedings, describing an easy way to convert iron into steel. A Journey Into Medieval Ironmaking Written for the Anvil's Ring in 2010, reporting on my trip to England, and the work inspired by it.

Shop Reports: Bloomery Construction Step by step instructions for building a clay bloomery furnace.