'20
Years Before the Blast'
Experimental Bloomery Iron Smelting 2001 - 2024
with Neil Peterson
ISBN : 978-1-0691597-5-5
March 2025
Experimental Bloomery Iron Smelting 2001 - 2024
with Neil Peterson
ISBN : 978-1-0691597-5-5
March 2025
This 212 page volume is a survey of 101 iron smelting tests by the author and his working team, presented in a more formal academic style. Includes assessments of furnace builds, air systems, ore types and bloom qualities. There are overviews of four major experimental series; iron smelt in Vinland, Icelandic turf walled furnaces, the Turf to Tools project, and Norse Bellows equipment.
8 1/2 x 11 paperback format, 99 colour colour photographs, 25 illustrations, 48 charts and graphs.
companion to 'Basics of Bloomery Iron
Smelting'
Basics
of Bloomery Iron Smelting
ISBN : 978-1-0691597-2-4
January 2025
ISBN : 978-1-0691597-2-4
January 2025
This 201 page book outlines the history and functioning methods learned from two decades using small scale smelting furnaces. Topics include ores, furnace builds, air systems, tools, record keeping, and the final bloom to bar. Includes operating instructions for three different furnaces, everything you need to understand the theory and practice of bloomery iron smelting. With 115 illustrations and colour images (8.5 x 11", colour)
companion to '20 Years Before the
Blast'
Icelandic
Sod Walled Bloomery Furnaces
based on the remains at Háls
with Neil Peterson
December 2024
Iron Smelting in
Vinland
Converting archaeological evidence to a practical method
ISBN : 978-0-9783284-7-4
November 2024
Converting archaeological evidence to a practical method
ISBN : 978-0-9783284-7-4
November 2024
This 90 page report details 14 experimental bloomery iron smelts, running from 2001 to 2022, all based on aspects of the first iron smelt in North America, at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland about 1000 AD. Includes an analysis of the archaeological evidence and 49 images and figures. (8.5 x 11", colour)
Beginning
Blacksmithing
or
I wish someone had told ME that!
or
I wish someone had told ME that!
ISBN : 979-8882146145
April 2014
This 160 page book is a guide to how to get started right, covering how to pick the correct tools, set them up, and working safely. Not a 'how to make objects' book, but insights from decades as a professional artisan blacksmith and teaching experience. Sure to save you time, money, effort - and avoiding the same mistakes * I * made when starting out! (6 x 9", B&W)
Turf to Tools
A Final Summation
with commentary by
Deirdre O’Mahony
A Final Summation
with commentary by
Deirdre O’Mahony
ISBN : 979-83215146-1-0
April 2024
ISBN : 979-83215146-1-0
April 2024
A richly illustrated 76 page report on the Turf to Tools project, from 2013 - 23 at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop and the Wareham Forge. The project combined archaeology, practical experience, and artistic elements over 8 individual bloomery iron smelts and object creation. (8.5 x 11, colour)
How Dense Are You?
Recording Bloom Density
from experimental iron smelting
with Neil Peterson
Recording Bloom Density
from experimental iron smelting
with Neil Peterson
ISBN : 978-0-9783284-6-7
February 2024
This 46 page report details 30 iron blooms, all made during during investigations into Viking Age smelting methods, and compares them to a number of artifact blooms from Norway. Potential effects of ore types, air volumes, compaction efforts, and working experience is charted. (8.5 x 11", B&W)
