Bloomery steel (Tamahagane), 1,0-1,5% carbon

From the beginning of the Iron Age until at least the middle of the 13th century, the bloomery furnace was the only method of extracting iron. There were bloomery ovens in different sizes and shapes. All bloomery furnaces have in common that the reduced iron in them, unlike in a modern blast furnace, never became liquid. Rather, a reduction process takes place in which the iron oxide from the iron ore is converted into iron. The iron particles obtained in this way, however, remain in a "dough-like" state and combine in the lower part of the oven to form a sponge iron, the so-called bloom. The other constituents of the iron ore, in particular the silicates, melt completely and form the slag.

The Japanese Tatara furnace, which is used for the extraction of Japanese sword steel (Tamahagane), is also a somewhat larger bloomery furnace.

The purity of the ore and the skill of the manufacturer are decisive for the quality of the bloomery steel. For this bloomery steel I used a high-purity hematite ore, which I also offer here in the webshop.

The pieces offered here are compact with few inclusions and low slag content. The carbon content of the pieces is between 1.0% and 1.5%. This can be used to produce refining steel with a carbon content between 0.7% and 1.0%, ideal for edged weapons and knives (especially kitchen knives). The quality and purity is identical to that of the well-known Japanese Tamahagane.

I am selling the steel at a price of EUR 120.00 net per kg of raw material. The actual price depends on the weight of the respective pieces. If you click on the product variants, photos and weights of the respective available pieces will be displayed.

The carbon content is determined by examining the fracture pattern and flying sparks. For this purpose, the pieces were sanded in places

Warning: Bloomery iron and steel are not directly suitable for the production of tools and blades. Before that, it has to be cleaned and homogenized through a forging process, i.e. refining. This forging process requires some experience in processing bloomery iron and steel. Depending on the degree of refinement, a material loss of 40-70% can be expected.