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Ironsmithing in the 8th Century b.C. - W/PICS! (Read 21352 times)
Mauro Fiorentini
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Ironsmithing in the 8th Century b.C. - W/PICS!
May 8th, 2011 at 10:56am
 
Hallo everyone!
It was May, last year, when I begun working on my project: the reconstruction of an Iron Age's forge.
I've been studying documents and archaeological findings for the past 3 years, and the moment had come to take the showel and begin to build the replica.
The context I focused on was the Early Iron Age, the end of the VIIIth Century b.C., and the area was my Region, which was then inhabited by a population called the Piceni. We've digged more than 5'000 tombs of that population, but a mere village, or two, so we just don't have many informations about their everyday life. Anyway, it must have been a warlike population, because every male's grave had one or more weapons in it, and the only two sculptures of them depicts warriors. A stone inscription (there're 8 of them, and only 2 are decipherable) shows a Picenian mounted warrior, with a helmet and a spear, and another shows a Picenian warship that, escorting a Greek merchant one, engages a pirate vessel.
So, why the end of the VIIIth Century? Because it was the time when iron replaced bronze in weapons, but the Piceni were still not influenced by the Greeks. From the beginning of the VIth Century on, we found more and more Greek wares, swords, even shields and helmets. By the beginning of the Vth Century, the Piceni had even adopted the Hoplite panoply, even if they did not adopt their warmaking techniques. During the IIIrd Century, the Region was conquered by the Roman Empire, except for my town, Ancona, which was considered a Greek ally.

But I'm running too much, I've got to go back in time, when the Piceni were pastors, farmers and fishermen, and practiced a kind of war based on ambushes and sabotages. Simple weapons they had: a spear, a long dagger, knives, and a curios type of axe, imported from the Balkans.
How did they made them?
How did a forge worked?
How did the tools strain?
How much coal did they need to cast a knife?

Here's the reconstruction I've done; in this picture, the only 2 things that are not 100% historical are the metal bowl for the temper's water, and the tuff brick, that holds the bellows, because tuff is not found in my Region.
...

Many things I've understood by using this forge, many suppositions have found an answer; I've written an article on it, that you can freely download (and share!) from this site: http://unimc.academia.edu/MauroFiorentini - it is in Italian, but I can translate it, if you want!
Greetings,
Mauro.
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Bill Skinner
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Re: Ironsmithing in the VIIIth Century b.C....
Reply #1 - May 8th, 2011 at 3:17pm
 
Did they actually cast the knife or did they cast a blob of iron and then hammer it into shape?  And most important, when are you going to make the ax and show pictures?  Bill
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Re: Ironsmithing in the VIIIth Century b.C....
Reply #2 - May 8th, 2011 at 6:22pm
 
they prolly bog-smelted n then hammer to shape idk,  prolly a lot of ways to work iron or procure it
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Mauro Fiorentini
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Re: Ironsmithing in the VIIIth Century b.C....
Reply #3 - May 8th, 2011 at 6:25pm
 
Hallo Bill! A very interesting question about ironsmithing!
I'll explain how was the situation in the VIIIth Century...

There're very few iron mines here in Italy. They're located in the Western coast, mostly in Northern Tuscany and the Isola d'Elba, on the Tyrrhenian Sea. During the VIIIth Century, this territory was held by the Etruscan. They mined the iron, and casted it near the mines. A lot of forges, built for this purpose, have been excavated near the mines. This is logical, for it is easier to trade a raw iron ingot than a heavy stone with iron inside.
Known this, remember that we don't have any archaeological evidence about ironsmithing within the Piceni. So, there're two ways: they received the raw ingots by the Etruscan, and then forged it to make weapons, or the Etruscan themselves did this job, and sold the Piceni their weapons.

But I believe to the first supposition, for two reasons: the first, is that the Picenian weapons of that age were different to the Etruscan ones (the Balkanic axe, a short curved sword that appear to have been used only by the Piceni, and so on), and the second, is that raw iron ingots have been found in an Etruscan site in Southern Emilia Romagna, a few kilometers North from the ancient Piceni's border.

This situation was going to change during the middle VIIth Century: after the Etrurian, even the Piceni got influenced by the Greeks, and adopted their weapons: mostly the machaira, a long curved sword mostly used by mounted units. Daggers got a more elaborated design, and the Balkanic axe was used no more - at last, not as a weapon.
Anyway, some of the archaic panoply did cohesist with Greek stuff, and even with the first Celtic items appearing in the territory: this is perfectly shown by the so-called "warrior-fisherman's grave", a tomb excaved in my town, which dates to the mid-VIIth Century:

...

In this picture, you can see the Balkan's axe (an iron rectangle with a flattened end), a spear head, and the curved short sword I've written about. This is a quite archaic panoply, but the pottery is imported from Etruria, or Greece, and the small bronze pot on the right is Celtic. The fishing stuff was probably casted by a Picenian bronze melter, for that nothing similar has been found yet. This was the grave of a man living in my town about 2600 years ago, and I'm willing to forge his short sword.
Greetings,
Mauro.
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Re: Ironsmithing in the VIIIth Century b.C....
Reply #4 - May 8th, 2011 at 10:08pm
 
The ancients really got around, didn't they.  Thank you for the pictures and the explanations,  Where will you get your raw iron ignots from?  Do you know someone who has a furnace?  When ever you start this project, pleas take plenty of pictures and post them with a running explanation.  I am looking forward to seeing this as it unfolds.  Bill
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Re: Ironsmithing in the VIIIth Century b.C....
Reply #5 - May 9th, 2011 at 1:46am
 
I'll second Bill here. This is fascinating stuff and should be documented as much as possible. Great work Mauro!
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Mauro Fiorentini
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Re: Ironsmithing in the VIIIth Century b.C....
Reply #6 - May 9th, 2011 at 2:44pm
 
Hallo there everyone, thanks for the replies!
Actually, it's a year now since I begun using the forge; unfortunately, I simply haven't enough time to produce as many replicas as I'd like to!
And, since the forge has proven its power (it's capable to melt iron!), I use it even for other works, such as bronze melting or glass working.

But iron smithing took my heart!
About the raw iron I use: I know only another person who has built the replica of a furnace, because it's a very frustrating work.
In fact, these furnaces had to be broken after the iron melted, and that person told me that, to obtain 1 kg of iron, he had to use 90 kilos of coal!
So that's quite an expensive process, and nobody seems to be interested in it.
Howewer, I can't buy my raw iron from him, because he lives in Wien  Shocked , so I use... discarded iron, scraps. This was a common practice among the ancients, as many archaeological findings suggests.
The furnace owner told me about the iron melting process: when he got the bog, he has to heat it and hammer it, to give it a shape suitable for trading, and to begin the refination process of the iron. This process continues in time, and end with the temper of the finished item that I forge.
To refine raw iron means to let the iron moleculas get the carbon ones: iron ingots are always impure, with a carbon percentage that is not suitable for a knife, for example, or any other tool. Here comes the ironsmith, who, more than modeling the ingot, give the iron the right amount of carbon.
I hope I explained myself well: if not, please, ask away, because I really want you to understand what I'm working on  Cheesy

By the way, I prepared a simple chart that will help explain what I wrote in the last reply: it shows the Italian populations during the VIIIth Century b.C., and the position of iron mines.
...

Greetings!
Mauro.
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Re: Ironsmithing in the VIIIth Century b.C....
Reply #7 - May 9th, 2011 at 9:45pm
 
That is a very scarce resource.  Do you know if iron was imported from other areas?  I have a basic understanding of forging and blacksmithing but I welcome anything you would care to share.  There is a large difference between theory and actual experiance, especially with a forge such as yours.  Bill
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Re: Ironsmithing in the VIIIth Century b.C....
Reply #8 - May 10th, 2011 at 2:54pm
 
Your posts are fascinating, Mauro.  Thanks for sharing.
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Mauro Fiorentini
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Re: Ironsmithing in the VIIIth Century b.C....
Reply #9 - May 10th, 2011 at 4:16pm
 
Hallo there!
And many thanks to you, Rat Man; I'm happy that you guys appreciate my efforts, and this motivates me to continue them!
And to share the results with you  Smiley

About this: Bill, which help do you need? What can I tell you?
I'm not a very skilled ironsmith (the total time I've spent forging is about 59 hours), but I'm willing to share anything I can! Metal working is a very fascinating world, my preliminary studies have been hard, because there're very, very few ironsmiths around here to learn from, so I'm more than happy to share them freely!
About your question on resources, I can tell you the following...
There're very few mines of pure iron in the world: they're located in West Greenland (Disko island), in Germany (Buhl, near Kassel) and in Bohemia (Chotzen).
It may sound strange, but there's more iron from meteorites: the mineral is then called siderite, and the biggest one comes from South Africa. It's the "Hoba", a mixture of iron and nickel, measuring 3x3 meters and one meter in thickness (9.6 x 9.6 x 3.2 feet if I'm right). Many more siderites can be found in India and Japan, and this is one of the reasons why these countries gave birth to upper-class weapons such as the kriss and the katana.
We, common mortals, have to content with various iron minerals, which contains different percentages of iron: magnetite (74% iron), hematite (70%, found in Etruria), limonite (59,8% iron, found in Etruria too), pyrite (46,5%) and the goethite (42%).
Mines of such minerals are widely spread across Europe, and in ancient times were wildly exploited.
In Italy, there were mines in the Elba island, and in the Western coast of Tuscany; in the Aegean area there were mines in Greek islands and in Asia Minor (the biggest of which was in Cyprus). In the Pontus lived a population, called the Calibi, which were famous iron melters. In Turkey, there were iron deposits in the Tauro Mountains, and in Amaxia, Cilicia (mines that Anthony gave to Cleopatra as a present). Strabo told us about iron mines in Meroe, among the Ethiopians. Bilbilis, in Central Spain, was an iron mining site, and so was Norico, in Northen Carinthia. In Gaul there was Lugdunum (now Lyon) and in Britannia there was Ariconium, in the Dean forest.

A lot of mines there were, actually.
But think to the costs: trading iron from Tuscany to Marche, meant a travel of about 3 days. It was cheap to trade both raw iron ingots, or finished weapons, or tools.
Trading iron from farther places, meant a higher price - and, in fact, it seems that not even the nobles had any iron tool produced outside of Central Italy.
By the way, this trade became a common practice among the Italic populations, as time passed: by the middle of VIth Century a.C., the panoply is mostly imported from Greece, and, with the arrival of the Celts, spear heads and some swords were imported from them, too.

I hope this was clear enough; I'm at your service if you have any other question!
Even if they're about hammering or tempering techniques, I'm not the kind of smith that jealously keep these secrets  Cheesy
Greetings,
Mauro.
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Re: Ironsmithing in the VIIIth Century b.C....
Reply #10 - May 14th, 2011 at 3:08pm
 
Hey Mauro,i salute your work and have some questions:is commercial grill coal good for ironsmithing,bronze melting,iron melting?What crucible did you use to melt iron in? Clay with sand temper would work,or it doesn't resist such high temperatures?
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Re: Ironsmithing in the VIIIth Century b.C....
Reply #11 - May 22nd, 2011 at 1:46pm
 
Hallo jlasud!
Thanks for your compliments, and sorry for the late reply, I didn't see your post.

One of my experiment's objectives was to understand which coal was the best for ironsmithing. I tried 3 kind of coal:
coke coal, or fossil: hard to inflame, it easily reaches very high temperatures (around 1300° C), and is good for quick ironsmithing. But it lacks carbonium, so it will be impossible to turn iron into steel with it. I quit using fossil coal, because it has been used since late Middle Age, and it wouldn't have been philological.
Grill coal: easy to find, I often use this one. It warms up quickly, and is able to reach iron's melting temperature, but its heat disappears quickly, as I pull iron out of the forge. So you have to be fast in hammering. Grill coal can produce a lot of lapilli, even big ones, therefore you have to pay attention. It's the easier to inflame.
Self-made coal: during my archaeological reconnaissances, I met some old woodcutters, that are now producing their own coal. It's the cheapest coal, and the best. It's made with chestnut and oak, therefore it can reach very high temperatures (well above iron's melting temperature). It is very good for turning iron into steel, but it is a bit hard to ignite. Useless to say, but it's my favorite coal, because it's made with ancient techniques, and reflects perfectly the ancients's way to produce iron stuff. Howewer, since those coal producers are few, and old, this coal is going to be a rare resource, and I use it sparingly.

Any of these coals can be used both for iron melting and bronze melting; I suggest you commercial grill coal, because it is very common and relatively unexpensive.

When I melted iron, I did it unintentionally, so I didn't test any crucible. But no iron melters used any: they had big circular furnaces, with a hole at the top and a "door" at the bottom, and put iron minerals and coal from the top. They then closed the top hole, and used up to 4 bellows to increase the temperature inside. They used a small trick: putting a small bowl full of water at the top of the furnace. When the water begun to boil, it meant that the iron had melt.
So they broke to bottom door, and the liquid iron rolled out, forming shapeless blocks.
This was a very expensive process, because melting 1 kilo of iron required about 90 kilos of wood, and a furnace was destroyed after every use. We could think about these furnaces as big crucibles!
Anyway, once the iron was extracted, it begun to be forged, to purify it and to give it a shape that could be used for trade (e.g. coax hide or bar shapes).

You could make a crucible with clay and sand temper, if you'd like to try melting iron in it: I've been using such crucibles for years, melting bronze in it, and they resisted very well, at least to 1083° C. Iron melts at about 1520, and it should be a tricky, but satisfying, challenge!

Let me know about your progresses!
By the way, I'm pleased to inform you all that in June, the 2nd, I'm going to smith some iron during a cultural day, in a place near to my town. I will make a lot of arrowheads, some knives and a Baltic axe, and make a lot of pictures too, so stay tuned for fresh informations  Smiley
Greetings,
Mauro.
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Re: Ironsmithing in the VIIIth Century b.C....
Reply #12 - May 22nd, 2011 at 3:19pm
 
Thanks Mauro for sharing your experience,it's very useful to me! after melting bronze I'll try melting iron,but i'm sceptical about being able to reach such high temperatures in the small pit i made with a few old,broken bricks and clay,that still needs a good clay and sand covering,then FIRE IN THE HOLE..In my county there are coal burners still somewhere,but i'm not so on experimental archeology than casting bronze bronze age style using commercial coal  Smiley About how many kg of commercial grill coal would melt 1kg of bronze? It's also a matter of furnace,pumped air volume etc. but what's your experience? I'm imagining at least 10kg or more? I'm thinking about making covering tops for the crucibles,so ash,coal and other stuff to not fall into it.I'm a bit busy nowadays with gardening but,eventually i'll get to casting.Looking forward to see the pictures at the cultural day.Best wishes!
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Mauro Fiorentini
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Re: Ironsmithing in the VIIIth Century b.C....
Reply #13 - May 22nd, 2011 at 8:46pm
 
Hallo there jlasud!
I'm pleased to reassure you... The forge you see in the first picture of this topic, is a small pit, with a diameter of about 30 centimeters (about 11 inches I think) and a depth of 25-30. I didn't cover it with clay, and this choice is part of the experiment.
When I used to melt bronze, I had a bigger, more elaborated dig - two circular holes, one bigger and the other smaller, the bigger having a diameter of about 50 centimeters, and the smaller 40. The depth was about 30 centimeters, and they were covered with clay. I remember that I made a strong mixture of clay and sand, let it dry for about a (cloudy) day (remember not to expose wet clay to sun rays) and then lighted a fire in it. The fire hardened the clay, but left some cracks in it. I closed them with some more clay, and let them dry again. I then simply begun using that forge, melting bronze and so on. The clay resisted well.
So, why did I not cover the iron forge with clay? For a very simple reason. While melting, as you know, you have to keep impurities away from your crucible. Clay covering helps in this way. But, while forging, you don't care about impurities, because you have no liquid metal, so no need of clay protection.
Another objective that I reached, is that the intense heat in the pit cooked the raw soil. It almost became ceramic; obviously it has many cracks in it, but it could be a good information to take care about, should some archaeologist dig a strange pit with cooked walls and no clay covering.
Anyway, being a melting forge, I strongly recommend you to cover it - but you already knew that, so no new about this  Wink
About crucible's covering tops: that's a very good idea. I quitted melting bronze stuff, but I still enjoy melting lead, tin and brass sometimes. I then made an iron crucible, totally unhistorical, but very useful for my purpose. When I melted bronze, with ancient technologies, my crucibles were open at the top, so a lot of impurities fell in, sometimes undermining the success of the melting. But no top covered crucibles has ever been found by archaeologists (not in my Central Italy at least), so I couldn't cover mines. But I did cover the iron one: a small sheet of iron, centered on a side, was enough to keep impurities away. So, cover your crucibles if you can! It will come in handy!

About coal quantities. Commercial coal is good for melting bronze, use it with confidence. I've never melt 1kg of bronze, but I feel I can suggest you about 10kilos of coal, as you think. I can only say that, melting about 150 gr. of bronze, I used about 4-5 kilos of coal. Obviously, always carry more with you, a good reserve. By the way, how's the bellows you're going to use? I can describe you the ones I used for melting bronze: they had a squared shape, with a side of about 60 centimeters. The pipes were made in ceramic, and had a diameter of about 5 centimeters. The leather was very soft, made from the animal's stomach, which provides a very manegeable skin. I have never calculated the air volume of such a bellows, but I can say to you that it employs about 7-8 seconds to completely scoop out. The bellows I'm using for iron has the very same size, but the skin is a bit more strong (to last longer), and the pipe is made of wood, of about 2 centimeters in diameter, so I can direct the air flux easily to the iron piece.
And always remember to direct the air flux directly on the top of the crucible - cover it with coal and pump the air on it - you'll already know that but, as they said... repetita juvant, it's helpful to repeat things  Smiley

Please, let me know about your coal's expenditure, have a great time and enjoy melting!
Greetings, and good work!
Mauro.
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Re: Ironsmithing in the VIIIth Century b.C....
Reply #14 - May 22nd, 2011 at 10:00pm
 
I am looking forward to reading about both of your experiances in casting and forging.  Bill
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