Pete,
Thanks for those informations! I can, sorta, maybe still read techincal French, if I really gotta. Are there any specifics about where in Sweden the Swedish iron came from? If it was used first for horseshoe nails, it must be from any of many järnbruk that did not use Dannemora iron ore.
Should I understand your second paragraph as meaning that Swedish iron, processed using tree charcoal, even though the iron ore was not from Dannemora, was as good as what they had been using in Liege region? I thought that by 1800s forests in Nederlands had long been so depleated as to no longer be used much for charcoal and that coal coke had been used for decades, or longer.
I shall have to look for good books about Bessemer's work! FYI, one of natural advantages of Dannemora iron ore was its content of Ca minerals, thanks to its interaction geologically with limestone deposits. Will need to reread some stuff to be certain, but, seem to recall that Si and Ca rich slag can be very good at reducing content of P. Think also, if I read again with more focus on chemical properties of slag produced/used in Vallonsk smelting, I will learn that this slag was also important in producing high quality mallable iron from Vallonsk järnbruk.
This has been a broadening thread for me. May have to start askiing some authors what they know of use of Swedish mallable iron to produce materials for Damascus barrels. I do know that Husqvarna got lots (most?) of Damascus barrels they used from Belgium.
Happy to share, especially when it is such a two-way exchange!
Niklas
