Is this iron ore? Can I melt it down and cast something with it?

2 months ago by Jerb322 to c/cool_rocks

More job site gravel finds.

HairyHarry 75 points 2 months ago

No. Not with that lighter.

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username_1 35 points 2 months ago

Not with that attitude!

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Warl0k3 29 points 2 months ago

You can potentially extract the iron, though before you toss it in a diy furnace look into how to pre-process the ore - just putting the stones in a furnace will likely cause them to explode most entertainingly (provided you don't catch any shrapnel). Chemically refining them is probably a little more feasible than directly smelting them, as it's far less lossy that way.

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victorz 6 points 2 months ago

I keep running into you and you keep showing sides of you with new skills. 😄👍

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Warl0k3 9 points 2 months ago

You'd be amazed how interdisciplinary you can get with bad audhd and academic access to every large journal database....

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victorz 5 points 2 months ago

Sounds like a great position to be in to me lol. If only we had all such people doing good work and running countries based on knowledge instead of the thirst for power, we'd be gucci.

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givesomefucks 25 points 2 months ago

You'd need to smelt it first...

And gain a tiny amount of crappy iron, if that even is iron ore

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acockworkorange 3 points 2 months ago

Who smelt it, dealt it.

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TragicNotCute 24 points 2 months ago

If you really want to go down this road, you won’t get much usable metal. This YouTube channel has done it multiple times and shows the full process in several of his videos.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primitive_Technology

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pseudo 18 points 2 months ago

First time I see someone sharing a YouTube channel through its wikipedia page.
Thanks for sharing.

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TragicNotCute 12 points 2 months ago

Anything to avoid my fellow lemmings from being tracked ;)

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pseudo 3 points 2 months ago

That's a lovely thought.

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Sewerking 8 points 2 months ago

PT is also using a method that doesn't really get high yields of iron by collecting iron bacteria from a nearby river. You'll probably find a higher concentration of iron in an ore, but this much will still not yield too much if it is iron bearing. It looks kinda like limonite which is iron bearing but I'm no geologist so I can't be the one to verify.

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arin 3 points 2 months ago

TIL iron bacteria can be collected for iron

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Blaster_M 2 points 2 months ago

real life stromatolite farming

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BarneyPiccolo 2 points 2 months ago

My favorite YT channel. This guy is really fascinating. He has no soundtrack, music, narration, anything, other than the natural forest sounds. He never even looks at the camera. He wears a pair of shorts, and nothing else. It is as minimalist as it gets. There are captions that explain what's going on, so make sure to turn those on.

He started by making a stone cutting implement, chipping the edge to make it sharp, then put it on a handle, and started chopping down saplings to build shelters, getting more and more elaborate as time went on. Then he started making pottery, and needed to fire the pots, so he needed to make a kiln, and get it hot enough. That led to making and firing bricks, roofing tiles, and inventing various apparatuses (apparati?) to make the fire hotter, which he starts by spinning a stick between his palms in almost every video.

Eventually he figured out how to make his fire hot enough to smelt the iron bacteria from the stream into tiny iron pellets, then he got the fire even hotter, to melt the pellets, and forge them into a tiny, rough, triangular knife. It wasn't pretty, but it's a lot sharper than a sharp rock.

Incredible channel, and the only one that I drop everything to watch when a new video is released. When the apocalypse comes, I'll be prepared.

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TragicNotCute 1 point 2 months ago

When he disappeared for a while and all the copycats were in full swing, I was worried he’d quit or pivot to something else.

I love that it’s the same channel it was a few years ago. It’s beautiful, educational, and very peaceful. Highly recommend as well.

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Skyrmir 13 points 2 months ago

It's a composite ore containing iron, copper, and probably some zinc. Possibly other metals. It would have to be tested to verify. Most likely the iron content is well below useful grades.

Grind it to a powder, separate with a magnet, mix with aluminum powder and ignite.

I'm assuming you have at least a few hundred pounds of raw ore to be processed. I'd probably go after the copper rather than the iron, but I have no idea the chemistry needed to do so.

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heydo 5 points 2 months ago

Does a magnet stick to it?

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Jerb322 2 points 2 months ago

Haven't tried that yet.

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valar 5 points 2 months ago

Flats > drums