The Rockbridge Bloomery
Photo Gallery

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Limonite
Goethite ore from the Dixie Mine near Vesuvius Va. This is the best local ore we've found so far. Dixie was the largest mine in Virginia in 1900.
Miner Babe
A grizzled old miner hauls a sack of ore off of the mountain.
SEM
Lee and Bob Thren of Washington and Lee Univesity examine ore samples in the Scanning Electron Microscope. Historical sources, chemical analysis at VMI, and the SEM indicate that the Dixie ore contains about 50% iron oxide.
First Furnace
Here's the first furnace in blast. It's constructed of a refractory cement shell that was cast in an old water heater. The furnace dimensions are very similar to Tylecote's Roman Shaft Furnace, and many of our trials in this furnace were based on his work.
Glory Hole
The view through the peephole into the hot zone of the furnace.
The tap hole
Playing with the incandescent slag.
Small Blooms
This is a fairly typical bloom from our early experiments. They were never bigger than this, and tended to be of high carbon content, usually too high to forge, despite reduced fuel:ore ratios.
Forming
Troweling the refractory in the tuyere section of the second furnace. Note the inner layer of high temperature castable refractory and the outer layer of refractory insulating board.
Tuyere
Our first tuyere was cast iron, and of course, it melted within minutes. What were we thinking? Refractory tuyeres worked, but were somewhat fragile and only lasted for a smelt or two. We finally ended up with this water cooled tuyere. Note the peephole/cleaning port on the left, the water reservoir in the center, and the tuyere to the right. The air supply attaches to the vertical. We have two of these, one with an interior diameter of 1 1/2", one of 2". Tuyere is 14 degrees from horizontal.
Grant
We're near the end of a smelt. The top section of the furnace has already been removed. Lee and Grant Schuchmann prepare to remove the next shaft section.
Jason
Lee and Jason Breeding are ready to lift the shaft section to reveal the bloom. This is obviously a very tense and serious moment.
Hot Bloom
Here's the bloom, surrounded by slag, in place below the tuyere. This is the 25 pounder from the third smelt in the new furnace.
Skip & 40lb'r
With a happy angler's grin, Skip holds the trophy 40 pounder from the first smelt in the new furnace.
40lb'r
A close-up of the 40 pounder. The bloom size dropped in the subsequent smelts not from procedural changes, but smaller ore charges. Although these haven't been scientifically analyzed, the carbon content seemed to drop through the three trials as we increased our blast, in spite of increased fuel:ore ratios. The highest carbon content is in the center of the bloom in front of the tuyere, and seems to reduce toward the outer edges. We think this is largely due to slag contact. The concave side toward the bottom of the photo faced the tuyere.
Compacted Bloom
This is the 25 pounder from the third smelt. We started forging it down and expelling slag right in the bed of the furnace.
Half Bloom
The 20 pounder (guesstimated weight) from the second smelt, split in two, and one half forged into a bar.
Wrought Bar
A close-up of the bar wrought directly from the bloom.
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