[Artemisia] bloomery planning

[Cat Clark]

Okay, here's the afore-threatened Uprising Bloomery post, first of likely many.
yes, there will be a bloomery at Uprising...
it's time to get serious about planning

sorry for not getting back to folks earlier here via the Aerie or any
other venue...we were having some unscheduled real life here at the
Clark house and I got a little distracted for a bit.  But life's been
taken care of for now and the next several weeks are going to entail a
very condensed and concentrated bloomery prep schedule

I can take care of most of the upfront details myself

however, there are some thing, as I said a few months back, that I
either must have help with or would really appreciate some hands other
than my own to get stuff done

here's the list:

we need a bale of straw (not hay - it MUST be straw)

we need willow branches for the wicker work
    I lost my last willow tree
    in the big nasty wind storm in SE ID a year ago
    there was a question as to what kind of willow tree works
    well, there's a quick a functional test:
    if you can braid three 1/8 to 1/4 inch dia branches together
    and make take a branch and make a 12" dia hoop with it
    that's what I'm looking for
    if someone wants, I can come
    and visit your willow tree if necessary

we need one to two sledge hammers (full-size)
    they will get very dirty (by way of warning)
    we use them for charcoal and ore crushing

I can not find either of my long-handled metal working tongs so if I
don't find them soon, I will need to borrow one, preferably two, pair
(watch this space please)

last, we also need iron ore
upwards of 80 pounds
100 pounds is even better

now there is a bit left over from the last bloomery
and I am scheduling now to go and collect the ore
on May the weekend of May 8

I estimate that it will take me, by myself, 4 to 6 hours to collect
the ore.  It is actually really easy work.  All you have to do is walk
around with a magnet. It's some of the easiest rock collecting in the
universe.  No nasty underground workings.  Not digging bits. No long
hikes to distant tailings piles on the side of steep mountains so high
you get altitude sickness.  And if you get lucky, you often get
airshows from the jets out of the Naval Air Station.

The only bad part is getting to where the ore is.  It takes 6 to 7
hours to drive from Idaho Falls to the mine (adjust your own driving
time accordingly).  You can drive there in any car with normal
clearance. The mine is the inactive "Nevada Iron Ore mine" in the
Buena Vista mining district, south of Lovelock, NV. It's on BLM land.

My plan for collecting is to leave Friday evening and spend the night
in Elko or Battle Mountain.  Then drive the rest of the way first
thing in the morning; collect until enough ore is collected; and then
drive home.

My original plan was to make a weekend field trip out of collecting
for interested parties;
and take my big RV travel trailer out to the mine so folks could camp
out comfortably; and have some fun in a rather amazing place (there
are several truly amazing local rock collecting spots in the area,
including where I collected several of my pigment starting rocks and
the source of my blue vitriol - and the iron ore site itself is the
single best magnetite collecting spot that I know of, and I've been
doing the rock collecting thing all my life, so that's saying
something)

But that's not going to happen now because my schedule got messed up
over the last 2 months.  I plan to be out at the mine on May 8 (you
really don't want to collect any later than that, because it gets
really hot out there by the time it's memorial day weekend, and
collecting the the heat in the sagebrush desert in Nevada is not a lot
of fun).

If some of you can make it, wonderful!
If you would like to meet up with me in Elko or Battle Mountain (or
meet in Winnemucca for breakfast at the Model-T) and car pool or
follow me to the mine, that would be spiff.  Collecting is always
faster and a lot more fun with company.  It's a lot of driving, but
think about this: you could be collecting the very rocks that you
could help turn into iron using period methods just a few weeks later.
 And that's so cool, I can barely stand it.

More planning details are coming very soon.
I will be up at my house in Artemisia (Blackfoot/1000 i's) next week.

ttfn
Therasia
coming to a bloomery at a neighborhood Uprising event near you soon