Where's the Wootz?

[Interested Party]

Originally Posted by urbanspaceman

Perhaps this was the only source of suitable ore in the wider area.
It would probably not have been accessible to German blacksmiths. I don't know enough history of the Christian Crusades to establish if this was the case.
Incidentally: my uncertainty regarding the inclusion of glass in the crucible is well founded, because, I realise, (better late than never) glass was probably not a readily disposable commodity 400 years bCe. Or was it?

Here is another Al Pendray link https://youtu.be/RDyU-15fzog?t=469 speaking about a carbide former and thermocycling rather than a quench. 7:49-10:25 They say 0.005 Vanadium needs to be present in the ore. So yes, that would reduce the number of iron deposits that were viable for this process. Glass had been around 3000 years by 400 bce. A tradeable commodity. I'm sorry I do not have any more pertinent information to your search.

I have been collecting iron rich sands when I find them at work. Basically they are fist sized chunks of rust. When I get about 90 kilos I would like to build a blast furnace and see what happens.