[Triarii]

Originally Posted by urbanspaceman

Hi Jim. Somewhere in my hundreds of files of research is a detailed account of all the various impurities in the various iron ores according to region. I will track it down as this sort of detail is meat and drink to me.
However: getting down to the nitty-gritty, the biggest issue is the importation of Swedish "Bar" iron, or "Oregrund" ore, from the Dannemora mines.
The principle additional ingredient in this ore (now please, if anyone knows better, then I would greatly appreciate disabusing as I am no expert) is Manganese. Unsurprisingly it is also found in the ores of the Wupper Valley.
NB: it is possible that the huge influx of Huguenots into Solingen – during the 30 years war - put an additional strain on the output of the local mines and Remscheid iron production facilities, so they may well have been restricted to using Swedish imports. Beyond the Huguenots, of course, the demand for weapons from the Holy Roman Empire during that war will have been monumental. Sweden will have been the first port of call for supplies. Solingen had total religious tolerance despite being a Catholic city.
We have/had iron ore deposits nearby Shotley Bridge, but they are too high in impurities and it was not a practical proposition to remove them on anything but a limited output basis. There are better ores not too far away (the Romans found them) but they were either undiscovered or too distant to transport.
Once serious production was started in the Derwent Valley, then Swedish Bar iron was shipped in to the Tyne as that was relatively easy. Unfortunately, until the harbour facilities at Hull were developed, Sheffield/Scunthorpe had no access to Swedish imports, hence the poor quality blades from John Scunthorpe that were returned with the description "…they stand like lead…".
The Bertram presence in Shotley Bridge, with his multi generational Swedish family and his earlier working tenure in Wira Bruk, did not go unnoticed by either Kalmeter and/or Angerstein who were warmly welcomed during their industrial espionage adventures. Also, Bertram's influence on Ambrose Crowley's "biggest industrial complex in the world" a few miles down-valley also resulted in monumental demand for Swedish ore.
Curiously, the finest 'steel' being produced alongside Germany's was called Newcastle steel, made using the 'German' method, and came from Bertram first. Angerstein was very interested to understand how he was able to outclass Swedish steel and Bertram was happy to explain as by then Crowley's industrial espionage by stealing Bertram's apprentices meant it was no longer a secret in the valley.
"Mr Bertram acknowledged quite openly what he, through much trouble and effort, had learnt, namely that a good Oregrund iron properly converted to steel by cementation can never be further perfected by repeated processes of cementation and shearing. It is likely to lose in quality by such treatment and finally disintegrate like a slag without substance or life." RR Angerstein

That's really interesting. I ws looking into Solingens religious affiliations, who controlled it and its likely customer base during the TYW to see if it gave any clues as to the owner of the blade of a Pappenheimer I have. Definitely Solingen, with various generic Latin phrases and what may be a saint or bishop on it.