STEEL 901 



invention which originated with Mr. Heath. This substance is not generally used 

 when the Dannemora irons are melted, as they are very pure, and the addition of an 

 oxide partially destroys the temper of the steel. 



Indian Steel, or Wootz. The wootz ore consists of the magnetic oxide of iron, associ- 

 ated with quartz in proportions which do not seem to differ much, being generally about 

 42 of quartz and 58 of magnetic oxide. Its grains are of various size, down to a sandy 

 texture. The natives prepare it for smelting by pounding the ore, and winnowing away 

 the stony matrix, a task at which the Hindoo females are very dexterous. The manner 

 in which iron ore is smelted and converted into wootz or Indian steel, by the natives at 

 the present day, is probably the very same that was practised by them at the time of 

 the invasion of Alexander ; and it is a uniform process from the Himalaya Mountains 

 to Cape Comorin. The furnace or bloomery in which the ore is smelted is from 4 too 

 feet high ; it is somewhat pear-shaped, being about 2 feet wide at bottom, and 1 foot at 

 top ; it is built entirely of clay, so that a couple of men can finish its erection in a few 

 hours, and have it ready for use the next day. There is an opening in front about a foot 

 or more in height, which is built up with clay at the commencement, and broken down 

 at the end of each smelting operation. The bellows are usually made of a goat's-skin, 

 which has been stripped from the animal without ripping open the part covering the 

 belly. The apertures at the legs are tied up, and a nozzle of bamboo is fastened in 

 the opening formed by the neck. The orifice of the tail is enlarged and distended by 

 two slips of bamboo. These are grasped in the hand, and kept close together in 

 making the stroke for the blast ; in the returning stroke they are separated to admit 

 the air. By working a bellows of this kind with each hand, making alternate strokes, 

 a pretty uniform blast is produced. The bamboo nozzles of the bellows are inserted 

 into tubes of clay, which pass into the furnace at the bottom corners of the temporary 

 wall in front. The furnace is filled with charcoal, and a lighted coal being introduced 

 before the nozzles, the mass in the interior is soon kindled. As soon as this is 

 accomplished, a small portion of the ore, previously moistened with water, to prevent 

 it from running through the charcoal, but without any flux whatever, is laid on the top 

 of the coals, and covered with charcoal to fill up the furnace. 



In this manner ore and fuel are supplied ; and the bellows are urged for 3 or 4 hours, 

 when the process is stopped ; and the temporary wall in front being broken down, the 

 bloom is removed by a pair of tongs from the bottom of the furnace. It is then beaten 

 with a wooden mallet, to separate as much of the scoriae as possible from it, and while 

 still red hot, it is cut through the- middle, but not separated, in order merely to show 

 the quality of the interior of the mass. In this state it is sold to the blacksmiths, 

 who make it into bar iron, The proportion of such iron made by the natives from 100 

 parts of ore is about 15 parts. In converting the iron into steel, the natives cut it into 

 pieces, to enable it to pack better in the crucible, which is formed of refractory clay 

 mixed with a large quantity of charred husk of rice. It is seldom charged with more 

 than a pound of iron, which is put in with a proper weight of dried wood chopped 

 small, and both are covered with one or two green leaves ; the proportions being in 

 general 10 parts or iron to 1 of wood and leaves. The mouth of the crucible is then 

 stopped with a handful of tempered clay, rammed in very closely, to exclude the air. 

 The wood preferred is the Cassia auriculata, and the leaf that of the Asclepias gigantea 

 or the Convolvulus laurifolius. As soon as the clay plugs of the crucibles are dry, 

 from twenty to twenty-four of them are built up in the form of an arch, in a small blast 

 furnace; they are kept covered with charcoal, and subjected to heat urged by a blast 

 for about two hours and a half, when the process is considered to be complete. The 

 crucibles being now taken out of the furnace and allowed to cool, are broken, and the 

 steel is fouud in the form of a cake, rounded by the bottom of a crucible. When the 

 fusion has been perfect, the top of the cake is covered with striae, radiating from the 

 centre, and is free from holes and rough projections ; but if the fusion has been im- 

 perfect, the surface of the cake has a honeycomb appearance, with projecting lumps 

 of malleable iron. On an average, four oxit of five cakes are more or less defective. 

 These imperfections have been tried to be corrected in London by remelting the 

 cakes, and running them into ingots ; but it is obvious that when the cakes consist 

 partially of malleable iron and of unreduced oxide, simple fusion cannot convert them 

 into good steel. When care is taken, however, to select only such cakes as are 

 perfect, to remelt them thoroughly, and tilt them carefully into rods, an article has 

 been produced which possesses all the requisites of fine steel in an eminent degree. 



The natives prepare the cakes for being drawn into bars by annealing them for 

 several hours in a small charcoal furnace, actuated by bellows ; the current of air 

 being made to play upon the cakes while turned over before it ; whereby a portion of 

 the combined carbon is probably dissipated, and the steel is softened ; without which 

 operation, the cakes would break in the attempt to draw them. They are drawn by a 

 hammer of a few pounds weight. 



