04-08-2007, 04:45 PM
Do a search for "bloomery" and/or "bloomery iron" and you'll probably get a better description. The text is describing, rather convolutedly, the bloomery process for producing iron, the common iron-producing process during the entire iron age and well into the high middle ages and beyond (depending on location). Elsewhere, as in japan, the tatara bloomery has been used until our times.
As far as I know, the romans got hold of steel from the bloom the same way everyone else did - by sorting the bloom by eye after cutting or crushing it into bits (The japanese seperate the bloom by dropping it into water - This might have been the case some places in Europe as well, but it doesn't leave much archaeological tracks). The carburization process described in the article is part of the bloomery process (I think...it is a bit confused). Other methods for carburizing wrought iron into steel available to the romans would be case-hardening or forge-hardening, but the precice appearance of those techniques are a bit uncertain.
Even Wikipedia has a better description than the cited page, though - look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomery .
As far as I know, the romans got hold of steel from the bloom the same way everyone else did - by sorting the bloom by eye after cutting or crushing it into bits (The japanese seperate the bloom by dropping it into water - This might have been the case some places in Europe as well, but it doesn't leave much archaeological tracks). The carburization process described in the article is part of the bloomery process (I think...it is a bit confused). Other methods for carburizing wrought iron into steel available to the romans would be case-hardening or forge-hardening, but the precice appearance of those techniques are a bit uncertain.
Even Wikipedia has a better description than the cited page, though - look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomery .
