[Alec Steele] filmed iron production from bog ore in a medieval-style blast furnace with the Irish Bloomery Iron team.

[Alec Steele] filmed the Irish Bloomery Iron team producing iron from bog ore in a medieval-style high furnace. This work is being compared with the experiment carried out by Dutch hackers at Hack42 in 2019 using a firebrick furnace, which yielded a small amount of iron. The Irish team removed the iron mass from the top of the furnace and turned it into a usable bar.

Why it matters

The value of the experiment lies in showing that traditional metallurgy is not merely a historical narrative, but a production process that can be examined through stages such as how the furnace operates and how the ore is processed. Its visual documentation makes the process more understandable for those who want to follow such practices and evaluate the method and the outcome together. The comparison with the previous experiment, meanwhile, shows that studies with similar aims can differ in terms of the amount and usability of the iron produced. In this respect, the development may attract the attention of those interested in traditional iron production and experimental archaeology; however, the question of whether the method would produce the same result with different ores and furnace conditions remains open.