Finery forge 4649186 221098373 2008-06-23T01:23:49Z Lightbot 7178666 Units/dates/other [[Iron]] tapped from the [[blast furnace]] is [[pig iron]], and contains significant amounts of [[carbon]] and [[silicon]]. To produce malleable [[wrought iron]], it needs to undergo a [[Decarburization|further process]]. In the early modern period, this was carried out in a '''finery forge'''. There were several types of finery forges. The dominant type in [[Sweden]] was the '''German forge''', which had a single [[hearth]] that was used for all processes. In [[Uppland]] north of [[Stockholm]] and certain adjacent provinces, another kind known as the '''Walloon forge''' was used, mainly for the production of a particularly pure kind of iron known as [[oregrounds iron]], which was exported to England to make [[blister steel]]. Its purity depended on the use of ore from the [[Dannemora, Sweden|Dannemora]] mine. The Walloon forge was virtually the only kind used in [[Great Britain]]. This had two kinds of hearth, the '''finery''' and the '''[[chafery]]'''. In the finery, the finer remelted [[pig iron]] so as to oxidise the carbon (and silicon). This produced a lump of iron (with some [[slag]]) known as a [[Bloomery|bloom]]. This was consolidated using a water-powered hammer (see [[trip hammer]]) and returned to the finery. The next stages were undertaken by the hammerman. His work was [[Shingling (metallurgy)|to draw]] the bloom out into a bar to produce what was known as [[bar iron]]. In the course of doing so, he had to reheat the iron, for which he used the chafery. The fuel in the finery had to be [[charcoal]], because impurities in any mineral fuel would affect the quality of the iron. This is an obsolete process of making [[wrought iron|iron]]. The finery forge process began to be replaced from the late 18th century by others, of which [[puddling (metallurgy)|puddling]] was the most successful. These used mineral fuel ([[coal]] or [[coke (fuel)|coke]]), and freed the iron industry from its dependence on the speed of growth of trees. That transition is the [[industrial revolution]] for the [[iron industry]]. ==See also== *[[Puddling furnace]] *[[Shingling (metallurgy)|Shingling]] ==References== *H. Schubert, ''History of British iron and steel industry c.450 BC to AD 1775'' (1957), 272-291 *A. den Ouden, 'The production of wrought iron in finery hearths' ''Historical Metallurgy'' 15(2) (1981), 63-87 and 16(1) (1982), 29-33. *K-G. Hildebrand, ''Swedish iron in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: export industry before industrialization'' (Stockholm 1992). *P. King, 'The cartel in [[oregrounds iron]]: trading in the raw material for steel during the 18th century' ''Journal of Industrial History'' 6 (2003), 25-48. [[Category:Industrial processes]] [[Category:Metallurgy]] [[Category:Steelmaking]] [[sv:Härd]]