Freestyle
 
 
At the end of 5:30 hours of smelting (8:00 from initial warmup), all the charcoal was used up and we could disassemble the furnace (mostly cracked through by this time) and recover our final product:
smelt-web
The bloom immediately after it has been removed from the furnace
Flash photo of it in the dark - it’s still glowing redhot
The bloom once the slag cap was removed
The iron formed in a flat puddle and dripped through the gap betw. the cinder blocks
Clear picture of how the iron flowed around the cinder block
The bloom upside down showing texture
The cinderblock was friable and could be chipped away*
Closeup of the bottom of the dripped bloom
Iridescent surface of the top of the bloom
The slag cap with part of furnace wall still attached on right
The top of the slag cap. The tuyere was blowing in from the right
Side view of the slag cap - note subtle striation
After a week or so a crack developed right through the middle of the slag
The fire was hot enough to melt away about 2-3cm of the cast iron tuyere pipe
Closeup of the cleaved cap
Charcoal embedded in the slag cap
 
* after about a week in the garage, the remaining cinder block that I could not chip away is now flaking apart at the touch of a finger (probably the fluctuating humidity)