Ironworking

Ironworking is the extraction, smelting, refining, and shaping of iron into materials and objects. Its methods range from bloomery forging to blast-furnace production and modern steelmaking.

Iron ore: Naturally occurring rock or sediment containing iron compounds in concentrations that can be mined. It supplies the iron-bearing minerals that smelting separates from waste rock.
Copper Age: A prehistoric period in which communities used native copper and copper alloys alongside stone tools. Earlier metalworking supplied furnace skills and craft traditions later adapted to iron.
Iron: A metallic chemical element with symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Ironworking centers on this element and its transformations from ore to metal.
Iron tool: A hand tool whose working edge or body is made primarily from iron or iron alloy. Ironworking made durable implements for farming, craft, and construction.
Direct reduction: A process that removes oxygen from iron ore in the solid state, producing iron without melting it. It contrasts with blast-furnace smelting, which produces molten pig iron.
Bloomery: A furnace that reduces iron ore to a spongy mass of iron and slag without melting the iron. It is the characteristic furnace of early iron production.
Iron Age: A broad archaeological period marked by the widespread use of iron tools and weapons. Ironworking became a defining technology in many societies of this period.
Carbon steel: Steel whose main alloying element is carbon, with properties shaped by its carbon content and heat treatment. Carbon levels distinguish soft iron from many useful, harder steels.
Blacksmith: A metalworker who forges and repairs iron and steel objects, often at a forge and anvil. Blacksmiths turned iron stock into objects fitted to local needs.
Bessemer process: A nineteenth-century steelmaking method that removes carbon and impurities by blowing air through molten pig iron. It sharply increased steel output compared with older refining practices.

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