Use ore, charcoal and fire to make new iron!

Iron revolutionised our world about 2,500 years ago during the prehistory of the British Isles. This new black metal was harder, sharper and stronger than anything that came before it. Iron workers of the past are figures regarded with respect, power and mystic abilities, probably since a mere rock could become the most powerful material of the time in their hands.

Smelting is the process where metallic metal is produced from metal ores (rocks/ mineral deposits) through heating in a furnace. Bloomery iron smelting was the technique used for the first 2,000 or so years of iron use. It uses a ceramic, cylindrical furnace which gets filled with charcoal and iron ore, super heated with man-powered bellows to about 1300 degrees Celsius, and produces a solid but mega hot lump of iron (known as a bloom) at the end. This iron lump is then hammered into shape to make a wrought iron bar. It’s almost like a miniature volcano with rivulets of waste materials called slag that run out of it like lava! The iron could then be forged by a blacksmith into weapons, tools or other objects (we also run courses on blacksmithing).

Come and learn this all but forgotten traditional method to create iron from rock, which has been revived by archaeologists and crafters. As a team, you’ll use fire, charcoal and ore within the furnace to work towards creating a bloom of iron within the setting of our lochside museum. Refreshments and lunch will be provided and you will go away with new skills from a community-based activity, an information booklet and some pieces from the smelting (slag and possibly a piece of the iron).

Suitable for complete beginners: this is a chance to discover metalworking among fellow enthusiasts and perhaps discover a new passion, all whilst immersed in the stunning setting of our prehistoric museum set in the lochs and hills of Highland Scotland.