![]() Iron viking KNIFE / Ancient US $15.00
|
![]() Ancient Viking Iron Battle Spearhead US $15.00
|
![]() lot Ancient Viking Iron Battle harpoon / Spearhead US $20.00
|
![]() LOT 3 Antiquities Iron viking KNIFE / Ancient US $10.00
|
![]() Ancient Iron Viking Battle AXE.(A1) US $29.99
|
![]() Ancient Iron Viking Battle AXE.(A2) US $29.99
|
![]() Ancient Iron Viking Battle AXE.(A3) US $39.99
|
![]() Ancient Artifact VIKING Iron Axehead US $29.99
|
![]() Authentic Ancient Iron Age Spear Point..Free USA &Canada Shipping US $9.99
|
![]() Ancient Viking Iron Battleaxe US $50.00
|
| Powered by phpBay Pro |

how did the ancient Japanese smelt iron and made steel?
Japan was never endowed with any great quantity of high quality ores so was obliged to use sand ores (very low percentage iron) a process generally avoided, due to its inefficency, in China, Europe, India etc.
Both a.)reduction & b.) blast (melting) processes were known. b.) involved the production of ingots of pig iron which could be further heated and worked to form low grade steel. It is unclear whether the Japanese ever used the Chinese "puddling" method which greatly speeded the process & improved the end product. Likewise the fining process was inefficient compared to European processes, so high quality products were only produced by method a.)
a.) tended to untilise the best iron sands which would be heated to below melting point when the slag would run off leaving the steel in-situ with a whole lot of glass & some pig iron mixed in. The resultant bloom (a steel & glass "sponge") would need hammered & folded until it had reached the desired carbon content.
Iron poverty & the inefficency of extracting the type they had ensured that the Japanese refined their method rather than innovating new methods as occured in China & later Europe (hence pattern welded swords disapearing from Europe). The end product both high & low quality was a luxury good; hence the good stuff became really very good.
Items Recently Purchased From This Site:
| Powered by phpBay Pro |







































































Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.