Wootz Ep 1: Experimenting with Crucible Steel
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2013
- We test our iron melting furnace with a charge of wrought iron and charcoal. We aim to reach temperatures around 3000 Fahrenheit. Crucible steel has been available in India since at least 300 BC. Wootz steel used for making swords is one example of such steel.
Watch all the videos in this series:
• Crucible Steel / Wootz... 
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What you do is fascinating, I admire your curiosity and skill!
You can do it too.
My Wife, Daughter and I watched all 4 parts of the serpent sword along with this one and we loved it. My wife is taking up quilting and looked at your videos and said "that's quilting, measure, measure, measure and cut".
I LOVE YOUR VIDS MY LORD HERE GOES ANOTHER 5 HOURS THIS STUFF IS GREAT THANKS FOR YOUR TIME.
I have always wanted to try that. Can't wait to see what becomes of a successful ingot. Keep up the good work.
Great video work!
I’m very much interested in seeing you continue this series once more.
I definitely will. It always takes two people, so I can't usually do it.
That was awesome keep the great videos coming
Great to see these old crafts are still kept alive by modern day craftsman. I would love to see more!
How much carbon did the ingot have overall? Around 0,4%?
Great video!
Watched the series. Well done.
You guys rock!
Im a new sub love ur work.. I come from a long line of smiths from Norway i have tons of tools from the farm!
You videos are fascinating
Thanks. Very interesting
Hi niels im 13 and your videos inspired me and now i want to be a blacksmith when i grow up
9 years later, well Albert did you become a blacksmith? :D
Real Damascus steel! Thanks for sharing this video.
Very good for a first time in my opinion!
what kind of castable refractory was used in the construction of the furnace?
Thanks for the video :)
I'm curious, what is the worst injury you've ever recieved while working as a blacksmith?
you should film how it reacts once you start working it.. would be interesting indeed very nice work btw
Niel, great videos !
what is the name of the songs of the first 3 minutes?.
thanks
haha, looks like fun. i have been wanting to try this for some time now. have you seen the Nova special on viking swords made from crucible steel? if you search for secrets of the viking sword on youtube they have the entire video there. Love watching your videos. Very informative
The trajectory was pretty much right into his face :-)
In an apoclyptic scenario in which you wouldnt normally wouldnt have a steady supply of metal, what would be the best option for making metal? Whats the easiest forge to build out of common matierals that can reach tempteratures higher than a blumery forge?
3 years late but anything you can get your hands on. Nuts, bolts, screws, ball bearings, car doors, saw blades, you name it
Fascinating! :D
I enjoy your vids a lot as well as music taste, I know nothing of blacksmithing, so is the reason for doing this to increase the carbon content, or is there more going on behind the veil as it were?
I thought a crucible process involved sealing the capsule with a lid, reheating it a few times, and I think a trace amount of vanadium is needed to obtain the Damascus grain in the metal.
Keep watching 😎
What are crucibles made from? How did they make them in the past?
Clay, usually.
3:55 the "what the fuck are you doing" face :P
laughed.. what are you doing young man waving that about!
What is your Crucible made of?
Next experiment: Melt a crucible
How could you tell how much carbon was in the steel?
Nice to see men of the caliber of John West involved in this project.
Did I see him flinch when you were rodding the mix?
I look forward to chatting with him about this project soon.
What you ended up with looks like an upgrade of the 'sponge' (low grade iron billet made in a primitive furnace) made by the iron age smiths at Sagnlandet Lejre . dk
Did you try heating up the billet and hammering it? And if so; did it produce usable steel?
Your billet looks to have a hell of a lot of slag in it, but that could be hammered out.
Looking very much forward to see your next try.
wish i could work here
I guess the classic furnace would be charcoal heated and lots of muscle on the bellows?
Metalergy. Defnately something I look forward to studying my self hopefully.
What's stopping you?
Peter4101, I'll show you how. It's easy.
if you cover it with clay to make it airtight, it helps to contain the gaseous reactions and gives you a more solid puck
+IrishMusicLover703 the glass usually does that. In later videos you will see a clay cover.
awesome! if your crucible becomes porous and it hurts your production, you could also try coating the whole crucible in clay
do you sell knifes?
This is very cool! I feel like becoming a blacksmith now.
Do it! I'm
I'm an a apprentice. I've made some good ingots with charcoal.
I believe you are making Cast Iron. From my studies of crucible steel, I've learned that they were trying to reduce the amount of Carbon by melting pig or cast iron with pure or wrought iron. They ended up with a cementation of the two.
what kind and brand of crucible are you using? can it be made at home?
+David Sowell it's a graphite clay crucible from legend. There are people who make their own.
Niels Provos thank you
One of my plans is to forge a Viking sword from crucible steel. It's going to take a while though :-)
Silicon-carbide or clay-graphite.
What is your crucible made of ?
It's made of graphite.
First, great videos, have watched alot of them, true craftsman, thanks for keeping and sharing the tradition. Second, just a thought. I understand that coke and charcoal from whatever source are nearly pure carbon, but from some of my own research in another field there seem to be a wide variety of crystal structures in them. Just a wild guess but that white whale of wootz come maybe from a different source of carbon, maybe dung ? Just a guess from my very limited knowledge of the culture. We know how frugal the ancients had to be, I don't think they would have burnt chaff, if it could feed a horse or camel and still get the same heat from it recycled. Just a nudge brother, you're doin the work.
At those temperatures, the carbon is dissolved in the liquid iron. The segregation around alloys and creation of macroscopic structures happens during cool down.
+Niels Provos artificial diamonds are created at extreme temperatures as well, but they can stuff all the carbon they can into the press but they won't form without a "seed". Shape of the crucible could come into play as well, irregularities could be a pocket for the dendrites to begin to grow ? Maybe even the composition of the crucible could provide the seeds. Brother I like what you're doing, and you're the one doing it, I'm just watching. Carbon crystals are a pretty indestructible, not fully understood animal.
the key ingredient in wootz is the alloying agents i believe vanadium is the best but there are others that work. you have to have that in a certain amount plus roughly 1-1.2 percent carbon and then a specific cooling process. then it requires lots of thermal cycling and slow working.
you are missing the ingredient which orders the molecules
go check out Ric Furrer's channel he's got a recipe for wootz. Just a heads up
It will, but having an open crucible will primarily mean that the carbon burns and produces CO2 to the atmosphere. To avoid this the crucible is to be sealed with an airtight lid, and I'm sure this will be their next step.
Here is a video showing how to do it.
ruclips.net/video/OP8PCkcBZU4/видео.html
Where are you from?
Eric Cartman his accent sounds Dutch
try making Tamahagane
i wanna see them do this next!!
Can anyone make wootz steel in their backyard ?
I can image making an ingot would be possible with the proper experience.
depending where you live there is a guy who offers classes on making wootz, though youd probably want to have some blacksmithing experience first.
You spark test and compare with steel where you know the carbon content.
Fahrenheit? Wtf? Celsius please.
first mistake was they didnt completely seal the crucible so no oxygen could get in. Thats just the first mistake. so this is inferior crucible steel.
you should have added pure molybdenum