Peter-
A few responses to your more specific points below.
1) Re: modern refractrories. Professor Tylecote et al used firebrick
(and mullite tuyeres and compressed air blast) and I've never heard
anyone dismiss that work.
2) Re: slagging of the lining. To view this as a problem, rather than a
potential benefit, is merely an assumption.
3) Re:preheated air. Good point. As we fund all this work ourselves, we
were merely trying to save money on charcoal. My feeling is that it has
no huge further significance- we'll try to get around to a comparative
smelt to find out.
4)Re: lime flux. We have experimented with the use of lime but have
abandoned it. We noticed no great increase in yield, and it tended to
mess up our slags, the observation and manipulation of which is probably
the most crucial aspect of our method. We also noticed that excessive
limestone additions seemed to have a deleterious effect on the
weldability of the bloom.
I think Ingo addressed the other issues.
Lee Sauder
>>> [log in to unmask] 09/28/00 03:22PM >>>
Dear Michael
I have been to the site and read most of it. I agree with Chris that
this
has little to do with archaeology. The use of a highly refractory
castable
for the furnace lining removes one of the problems faced by our
predecessors
who were very unlikely to come across even a material as refractory as
Stourbridge clay. Slagging of the lining must have been a constant
problem.
We have no evidence of insulation of any sort either. At the lining
thicknesses that were used in antiquity the outside of the furnace is
not
very warm anyway.
Preheated air is a modern idea and we have no evidence that lime flux
was
used. Again to a large extent a modern idea born of the blast furnace.
I am sure the authors had a great time finding out how to do it. They
don't
seem to have expected to find out anything about how it was done in
the
past, and I don't think they have.
Peter
Peter Hutchison
Hon. Gen. Secretary
The Historical Metallurgy Society Ltd.
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