Want to make Iron?

So you're interested in making some Iron? Here's the deal: it's not the easiest thing to do in the world. This is what you'll need to make 1 ton of Pig Iron, which then can be made into wrought iron, cast iron, or steel.

Ingredients:
-2 Tons of Iron Ore
       The price of Iron Ore for 1 ton was about $117 in August - total price: $234
-1 Ton of Coke (which is Charcoal made from coal)
       I could not find a price on Coke but to buy normal charcoal it is $7.48 at Lowe's for an 18 lbs. bag. You would need 112 bags for 1 ton. 18 x 7.48 = $837
-1/2 ton of Limestone
       Using this equation: a cubic yard of gravel is approximately 2700 lbs. 1 ton is 2000 lbs. and since we only need 1/2 ton we only need 1000 lbs. That's approximately 1/2 cubic yard. From the company Dirt Cheap Mulch Co. in Texas, a cubic yard of Limestone is $50. A 1/2 yard would be $25. But then there's shipping it to Michigan... that would cost over $3000. But my mom said you can buy it here for around the same price and ship it for $35!
-5 tons of air for the fire to consume :) free!
-You will need to borrow a blast furnace from someone... got any friends in the Pig Iron industry?
-Heat proof suit (can be purchased online for $3201. Unfortunately, it only works up to about 2000 degrees and we are going to be working with 3000 degree temperatures. Sorry, you might melt)

Total price of materials: $4332 (please note this is an estimate)

Step One:
Preheat oven to about 3,000 degrees (please wear safety goggles and a heat proof suit.)


Step Two
Put the iron ore, charcoal (or Coke), and limestone in the top of the blast furnace.

Step Three
Operate the furnace so that air blasts in through the bottom

Step Four
The Calcium in the Limestone will mix with the Silicates (in the iron ore) to make slag

Step Five
Liquid Iron will collect under slag

Step Six
Every so often you will need to let the iron flow out to cool (time to get the heat suit out again!)

Step Seven
To finish it into Pig Iron, you must let it flow out into a bed of sand. When it is cool, you will have Pig Iron!


Step Eight
Oh wait, you wanted normal Iron. Pig Iron is almost useless, because it is very fragile. Sorry.
Do one of the following three things to the Pig Iron:

TO MAKE WROUGHT IRON:
Melt the Pig Iron and mix it with slag
Hammer it so much you hammer out most of the carbon
You might need a hammer. A Kobalt 4 pound Engineers Hammer is about $15 at our local Lowe's. Plan for this in your budget.

TO MAKE CAST IRON
Melt the Pig Iron and mix it with Scrap Iron (you might be able to get scrap iron at a junkyard)
Purify it
Add alloys

TO MAKE STEEL
Purify it even more and follow these instructions:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/iron4.htm

Well, if you still want to make Iron, you will need a budget of about $5000. Plus a blast furnace. And a really brave person to go near a 3000 degree furnace in a heat suit that works up to 2000 degrees. I am not willing.

Molly

Sources:
http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=iron-ore
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blast_furnace
http://science.howstuffworks.com/iron3.htm
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=purchase+charcoal&safe=active&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=15527376435431277000&sa=X&ei=_S5uTrjbO4SNsQK7kLHaBA&ved=0CDcQ8wIwAg
http://answers.ask.com/Business/Constructions_and_Materials/how_much_does_a_cubic_yard_of_gravel_weigh
http://www.dirtcheapmulch.com/item26423.ctlg
http://www.nwironworks.com/2000_series_suit_detail.htm