Making Bloom Iron

Good article, Mark.

Small, illegal bloomaries flourished in the Pines for years. They were everywhere. Often, these bloomaries were very primitive. A tree stump would often be utilized and the iwalls inside of the stump would be lined with clay. I'd like to make one. :)
 
pinelandpaddler said:
Good article, Mark.

Small, illegal bloomaries flourished in the Pines for years. They were everywhere. Often, these bloomaries were very primitive. A tree stump would often be utilized and the iwalls inside of the stump would be lined with clay. I'd like to make one. :)
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There's one at Martha I believe :)
 

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pinelandpaddler said:
Good article, Mark.

Small, illegal bloomaries flourished in the Pines for years. They were everywhere. Often, these bloomaries were very primitive. A tree stump would often be utilized and the iwalls inside of the stump would be lined with clay. I'd like to make one. :)
Click to expand...
Wow, that's fascinating. Why would this be an illegal activity?

I remember seeing that tree at Martha, Joe and I mused for a while what that was all about.

This is just the best forum. I learn something new every day from you guys. :)
 
Sue Gremlin said:
Wow, that's fascinating. Why would this be an illegal activity?

I remember seeing that tree at Martha, Joe and I mused for a while what that was all about.

This is just the best forum. I learn something new every day from you guys. :)
Click to expand...

The illegality of bloomeries is limited to the colonial era when the Crown required American colonists to buy all of their iron needs from the mother country instead of making their own. However, shipbuilders in the New World could not wait until a shipment of British iron fittings arrived, so they operated bootleg bloomeries, using bog iron ore to produce the iron parts they needed to complete the ships sitting on the stocks.

Best regards,
Jerseyman
 
Jerseyman said:
The illegality of bloomeries is limited to the colonial era when the Crown required American colonists to buy all of their iron needs from the mother country instead of making their own. However, shipbuilders in the New World could not wait until a shipment of British iron fittings arrived, so they operated bootleg bloomeries, using bog iron ore to produce the iron parts they needed to complete the ships sitting on the stocks.

Best regards,
Jerseyman
Click to expand...

Just last night I read something on this in James Moore Swank's History of the Manufacture of Iron in All Ages, published in 1892 on behalf of the American Iron and Steel Association. It has an excellent section on pinelands furnaces and forges, but this episode occured in Boonton around 1770, not far from where I live.

"Mr. Halsey furnishes us with the following episode in the history of the Old Boonton slitting mill: 'A slitting mill was erected at Old Boonton, on the Rockaway river, about a mile below the present town of Boonton, in defiance of the law, by Samuel Ogden, of Newark, with the aid of his father. The entrance was from the hillside, and in the upper room first entered there were stones for grinding grain, the slitting mill being below and out of sight. It is said that Governor William Franklin visited the place suddenly, having heard a rumor of its existence, but was so hospitably entertained by Mr. Ogden, and the iron works were so effectually concealed, that the Governor came away saying he was glad to find that it was a groundless report, as he had always supposed.'"

The main reason for slitting mills was to cut bar iron into rods for use in nail-making, which were critical to shipbuilding at the time.
 
Wow, Mark--you and I are truly kindred spirits that you should be reading Swank's great work!!! I have had that volume in my library for many years and it never fails to provide a piece of information that I might need about a particular ironworks. Having sections devoted to the various states makes for great reading and for anyone out there with an interest in iron production, I (and Mark) would highly recommend this work.

Best regards,
Jerseyman
 
Unlike you, however, I don't actually get out and do the legwork. That has something to do with having two teenagers and an up-n-comer all playing sports. So three cheers for Google Books :).

It certainly is a remarkable work: very readable and chock full of interesting stories.

On an unrelated note, during the same research I ran across an entire chapter on Schooley's Mountain, where I live, in Beck's "The Roads of Home." Apparently he became interested after finding many references to the old resort hotels here in the log books at Martha Furnace. I ordered it and am looking forward to reading the whole thing.

So there's my connection from north to south.
 
I came across an explanation for the tree at Martha today. In the "Journal of Chemical Education" from 1930 was the following"

"...first furnaces were in many cases large gum trees hollowed out and lined with clay. The hearth was of clay a foot thick..."
The furnace had a hearth of clay at the base. Above the hearth were three sets of holes - the first to drain the molten iron into a clay trough construacted around the tree trunk, the second set to draw off slag and the third to provide air from a bellows.

"..to charge the furnace, an inclined plane was built against the tree and a cart filled with ore, flux and charcoal was drawn up it..." (either by horse or human power)

Curious thing about the Martha tree is it only has one visible hole. I'm going to try to get there next weekend to take a closer look.
 
That tree has had fires in it over the years. There was discussion of that on the Ghost Town site of Barry's I believe. I have serious doubts. I actually believe I have photo's of it burned in the 70's, but they are on slides and I don't have the scanner.

Guy
 
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