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as I was poking around the internet I found this study that was done in 1912 on the iron ore of Lake Superior and more specifically Wisconsin. My only point is that we all know the old straights made in the USA were made from very high quality of steel. For those who love the American blades this just seems to support that it was indeed a high quality steel. Of course we knew that already. :)
http://books.google.com/books?id=Wik...ed=0CCAQ6AEwAQ
There was once a thriving iron industry in the Mesabi range in Minnesota. Hematite, and then when that played out the industry died until they found a way to process the tailings from the hematite, producing taconite pellets. I worked up there in the '70s.
Taconite - Digging into MN Minerals: Minnesota DNR
The type of iron ore found in the Mesabi Range in Minnesota was also discovered on the Canadian side of the border at Steep Rock Lake. WWII and the desperate need for iron ore really pushed the development of the mine and the ore was moved by train to an ore dock built in Thunder bay. The mine is long gone and only the unused ore dock remains. In this link Discovery and Development of the Mines if you scroll down the time line to 1938 this line says it all "The ore was very high-grade, of the type that could be fed directly into a blast furnace without any preparation or concentration, apart from screening.". I imagine the Minnesota and Wisconsin ore were of the same high quality.
Bob
The Sudan Mine in Minnesota is the only deep shaft iron mine in the US. The concentration of ore is such that you can weld directly to the walls of the mine.
I believe one custom razor maker uses ore he collects on the shore of one of the Great Lakes to make his steel. I don't know who right off hand. I'm sure someone here knows so maybe he will chime in sometime. Later when I have time I will look for it.:)
Mike
I believe that is Tim Zowada, working in Michigan IIRC.Quote:
Originally Posted by mglindo
I told ya we have some very knowledgeable people here! :rock:Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmyHAD
Mike
My Boy Scout group took the elevator down into the Soudan mine back in the 90s. I brought a rock back up and. It was red tinted, from oxidation I guess.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Blue
I can look at piles of iron about 30ft high all day almost everyday near me. I'm not sure if the iron is from the US judging from the names on the ships that haul it in and the fact that a few ships that come in the workers carry Russian vodka and cigarettes that they sell to the dock workers. We also got a dock yard that makes ships for the US Navy. Not sure if they are using the iron for the ships, but the yard that houses the iron has Homeland Security signs all over the place.
Wow! What a great response of solid information. I might just have to look into Tim Z.'s razors. I had no idea he collected the iron ore himself!!
A couple of interesting related links.
Hematite: A primary ore of iron and a pigment mineral
Minnesota-MInes
I don't think they changed the tailings into Taconite. Hematite is iron oxide Fe2O3 and Taconite is iron silicate. They are two totally different minerals and not associated with each other. When they first started mining ore in that area they got the easy stuff first and when that played out they went after the Taconite which is a low content iron ore probably less than 30% while hematite is around 60%. The shaft mine was for Magnetite which can be up to 90% iron and is Fe3O4.Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmyHAD
Usually when they reprocess the tailings it's because they have a newer process which can reclaim what they couldn't originally get or they discover the tailings contain something they didn't realize. A classic example of that was up in Alaska when they discovered gold they couldn't process it because the mercury process wouldn't work because of some black sand that fouled up the works. They had to come up with another process to separate it it from the gold. Once they did they threw it away. They later realized the "junk" was platinum. Then they went back to extract the platinum from the dumps. They do that a lot with precious metal ores.
High quality iron ore is found throughout the U.S. Just north of New York City are a bunch of old abandoned iron mines that date back to the 1700s and produced Magnetite (the purest ore there is). The iron that clad "old ironsides" came from the Tilly Foster Mine which was an open pit. Also in Franklin N.J the mineral Franklinite which is a high Iron content ore with Manganese was mined in the early 1800s. Steel made from that ore was superior because of the Manganese content.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steel
You can find iron producing areas all over the country. The U.S was famous for iron production. it's what fueled the steel mills. Historically the U.S never imported iron we always exported it.
Unfortunately and as usual there is an environmental downside to this mining activity. If you scroll down to the "Taconite and Human Health" section here Taconite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia you can see there was an expensive clean up effort.
Bob
Just to be clear, Tim has done that with a few special project razors, not his usual production stuff AFAIK. Matter of fact he has made at least two razors partially, if not completely, out of steel accessed from meteorites. I wanted one but the price was ....... out of this world ! ........ :rofl2:Quote:
Originally Posted by Steel
Thanks for clarifying that. :tuQuote:
Originally Posted by JimmyHAD
There's a thread on here somewhere with his process for turning black lake Superior beach sand into steel, super interesting read and if I remember right, quite a few pictures.
If anyone is passing by Two Harbors Minnesota stop in and go to the RR museum at the waterfront to take a look at a monster steam locomotive that was used to haul iron ore Lake County Historical Society . Near by are also a lighthouse and massive operating ore docks. It is worth the detour to take it in.
Bob
And be careful if ice fishing around the ore docks! The Taconite pellets dull your auger!Quote:
Originally Posted by BobH
Speaking of ice fishing, did you hear the one about the fella that had a very successful day ice fishin? Apparently his wife drowned trying to cook it. :gaah:Quote:
Originally Posted by 32t
Bob
:gaah:...........
What types of iron ore are in Sweden then? What is the main type? Anyone know?
Here's one of the threads on home smelted steel
http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...ane-razor.html
Swedish iron mining during World War II - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaQuote:
Originally Posted by Steel
Everyone understand the type of ore has nothing to do with the end product. Whether the ore contains 20% iron or 90% iron means nothing to the end user. it's important to the miner and the processor only. The ore is processed and refined so the end result is all the same.
Many years ago and I mean like the 1700s and before they knew squat about the various minerals and the properties and implements made from the steel from certain locales were superior and that was because the ore contained trace amounts of minerals like manganese or nickel or chromium or others that made a better end product by serendipity. These days the steel is fabricated the way they want to make it so the actual ore type or location isn't really important.
Thanks. I must admit that I thought Swedish steel was superior to other because of the purity of the ore. At any rate I find it interest to hear so much knowledge about our local mines and resources.Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigspendur
Ferrum – Swedish Iron and Steel through the Ages - Tekniska museet [NS4 version]
Take a wander through the history of iron in Sweden - from prehistoric iron production to today's high-tech steel making processes.
Iron has been produced in Sweden for at least 2,500 years and down through the ages has had great significance for the country’s economy. Access to a supply of iron has been decisive for the development of technology in many cases – from agriculture to defence. Today, we are surrounded by iron and steel – it is so common that we barely think about it. But in bygone times, iron was both an expensive material and in high demand.
Metals – a Godsend
This gallery deals primarily with iron and steel production but in the first room there is also a presentation of other metals that have had great significance from an historical point of view. For the alchemists, the known metals - copper, gold, silver, iron, lead, mercury and tin – were of divine origin and linked to the seven heavenly bodies and the days of the week. The number seven was magical and full of secret knowledge.
The first Furnaces
The history of the iron industry began in Sweden around 500 BCE. For many centuries, iron was smelted from limonite or bog-iron ore and ferruginous earth in simple blister furnaces. The end product from such a furnace was an iron with a low carbon content, which could be forged and hammered out into, for example, shovel blades, scythe blades or knives. These blister furnaces were used in certain parts of Sweden until as late as the end of the 19th century. By that time they had been replaced by bigger and much more efficient blast furnaces.
Pig Iron and Bar Iron
As furnaces were built larger over time, they came to be called blast furnaces. The gallery displays models of various blast furnaces. The product from a blast furnace is called pig iron - iron with a high carbon content that is not malleable. Pig iron must therefore go through an additional process – refining – to become malleable. Various methods are used for refining pig iron The gallery shows a Walloon forge and a Lancashire forge. In the Lancashire forge from the mid 1800s, you can experience how the work was done at the hearth and see the gigantic dimensions of the tools used. The big hammer forge gets its power from a water wheel that you can just see in the background. The end product from the forge is called bar iron – a semi-manufactured product that can be worked into various kinds of products. Each ironworks had its own stamp hammered into the iron. The stamp allowed the authorities to monitor production throughout the country. It was important to the Swedish iron export industry that the quality was high. A bit further into the gallery, you'll find a large collection of iron stamps from ironworks through Sweden.
A CHANGING WORLD
Quality Swedish steel and special alloy steel have been important exports for Sweden, particularly during the 20th century. Further back in history, steel, which has a higher carbon content than malleable iron, was an expensive product to make. A revolution in steel making resulted in the development of ingot steel processes during the latter part of the 19th century. In the mid 1800s, an Englishman by the name of Henry Bessemer invented a method for the mass production of steel and the process was named after him – the Bessemer process. The gallery displays a Bessemer converter. With the Bessemer process and other methods such as the Martin process and electric steel furnaces, steel production increased rapidly at the end of the 1800s. This new, cheap steel came to be used for railway rails, ships, bridges, prefab building units, and much, much more. The Eiffel Tower, which was erected for the World Expo in Paris in 1889, is a patent example of what the new technology could achieve.
The processing of iron and steel into other products is also described. It includes a universal rolling mill from the 1880s, for example.
Casting in Iron
Casting in iron is another area treated in this gallery. Cannon were already being cast at gun foundries in Sweden in the 16th century. At the foundries and mechanical workshops that were set up during the 19th century, stoves, agricultural implements, machine parts, garden furniture and many more products were made of cast iron. The gallery includes many examples of cast iron products.
Ferdinand Boberg’s drawings from Bergslagen in the 1920s reflect the decline of the iron and steel industry that occurred during that period. Many of the smaller forges and foundries, which had survived the competition from the big steel mills, were shut down at that time.
Manufacturing Steel today
The final part of the gallery shows how iron and steel are produced today. A century ago, the production from an average blast furnace in Sweden was around 10 tonnes of pig iron per day (24 hrs). At that time, there were around 150 blast furnaces in the country with a combined production of around 400,000 tonnes of pig iron per year. Today, the daily output of a modern blast furnace is around 2,000 tonnes. The four blast furnaces that remain in Sweden today produced (in 1996) around 3.5 million tonnes per year – seven times as much as a century ago.
In modern steel manufacture, the steel can be given a wide variety of characteristics in accordance with what it will be used for. Depending on whether the steel will be used in a bridge structure, for example, or a fire extinguisher or a surgical instrument, different characteristics will be required. The steel gets its characteristics from its chemical composition, but also from how it is processed and heat-treated. Very often, it is desirable to combine several different characteristics such as high strength with high ductility. Developing steel is an ongoing task for researchers.
Senast uppdaterad: 2014-05-22
Yes, the history of mining iron ore around the shores of Lake Superior is interesting specially if you are local to the area. As far as who mines the best iron ore goes I have no clue as iron ore as supplied from the mines/concentrators to the smelters seems about the same.
I have been lucky enough, as have a lot of members, to have shaved with razors made in different countries, 6 in my case. All I can say is that if the steel was of a proper type and made properly before being turned into blanks all should be good. If those blanks then were properly ground and heat treated all should be good. A good blade comes at the end of a long procession of stages. I can't say I have had a bad shave from any of the razors no matter the country of origin if I have been successful in giving them a good edge.
Bob
The core of the earth is basically iron so there is plenty of the stuff.
Actually, the purest form of iron is native iron which is really rare probably 1000 times rarer than gold and when found is just a curiosity piece found now and then here and there in tiny amounts. it's mostly in the hands of collectors like me and museums.
Here is a site with good photos of the open pit mines in the Mesabi Range ;
Mesabi Range
And a video, but you can't really appreciate the scale unless you stand at the edge of that pit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDohyM_VnE8
Iron and nickel are the two heaviest elements generated by the earth's sun, present in the solar wind. The iron that gets past the magnetic fields and radiation belts is falling to earth all the time.Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigspendur
It is correct to say that where the iron comes from does not matter with modern processing techniques. When those processes were less efficient, or metallurgy was less well understood, then the ore source and the smiths who worked it, had a greater effect on the outcome. It still amazes me that by trial and error, the keen human observer figured all this out.
I think the "iron range" is a hidden treasure that not many know about that contributed and still contributes to America in a big way. I found that even though the processes today can get exactly what they want in a finished product that the better the ore the more efficient the whole process is. A piece of history.
I didn't want to say this but the REAL reason American blades are so damn good is because ,as Mike Blue eluded to by talking about the sun, over a hundred years ago steel workers on their way to the mines heard a low rumblin and then a whistling noise over head. As they looked up they saw hurling in their direction an orb of some of the most beautiful blue and red colors. This mass of seemingly light and energy smashed into the ground a hundred yards away with an explosion that trembled the earth beneath heir feet enough for them to go down to one knee. What was it? An angel that brought to them the secrets of success in the form of an ancient recipe. We now know that this recipe consisted of hard work mixed with sweat and a couple of tears (the exact mix I am still trying to figure out). This is the secret and the reason American blades are some of the best in the world. Merry Christmas everyone :)