Finery forge
A finer heated the pig [produced in a blast furnace
operation] in a charcoal fire blown with a strong air blast. This melted
the pig and oxidized the carbon and silicon it contained. The finer
removed the lump of solid iron and liquid slag that accumulated in the
bottom of the finery hearth (often called a loup) and hammered it in much
the same way a bloom smelter did to make wrought iron.
(from
Robert B. Gordon American Iron 1607-1900
[Johns Hopkins Press 1996, p 14]
TN704 .N5 G67
1996)
A finer using the Walloon process passed a long pig through the opening
at one side of the hearth with a downward inclination so that its end was
in the charcoal fire just above the tuyere, which entered through the
adjacent side. He needed a strong air blast to make his charcoal fire
hot enough to melt the iron... The finer melted the end of the pig in the
oxidizing flame that formed immediately in front of the tuyere, and
lifted the metal that accumulated in the bottom of the hearth into the
air blast repeatedly, until he was convinced that all of the silicon and
carbon were oxidized. He then worked the accumulated metal into a loup,
which he lifted from the hearth and took to a neraby helve hammer...
During the hammering, he reheated the loup from time to time in a
separate chafery fire to keep the slag remaining in the iron
molten...(from Robert B. Gordon American Iron 1607-1900
[Johns Hopkins Press 1996, p 128]
TN704 .N5 G67
1996)