Learning Wootz, and gave it a try.

#1 · April 16, 2026, 9:57 am

Newer here, been lurking, learning and finally gave it go.

Got two 2300g cakes with sharing the same recipe, 1.6 C for the target.

Not really sure if they are correct or useable but they sure do look cool.

Frist cake looks better than the other, the second had some spots fall off of it. Only known difference was running the furnace slightly cooler.

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#2 · April 17, 2026, 11:58 am

The picture is not blowing up very large but it does look like the bottom one is forgeable.

I cannot tell if there is a hole in the top one or not but that can also be forged into a bar and center cut out of it. Depending on your feed material, powdered steel vs chunks of iron, you should still get an adequate mixing of the molten metals.

#3 · April 18, 2026, 3:32 pm

It has some glass still with a hole but I did see steel under it. But it is showing signs that it may not be solid there?

The feed was iron chicks of iron.

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#4 · April 20, 2026, 7:56 am

Oh yeah, that looks fine to me. Now you should roast them at 1080C for between 1 and 5 hours. The longer, the better as it will break down more primary cementite and resist cracking much more.

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#5 · April 22, 2026, 12:14 pm

Will do man! I shall report back with the results, which most likely will be a glorious failure learning event for this 1st timer!

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#6 · May 23, 2026, 4:44 pm

I have made some process on my attempt.

For starters, I have learned almost all of my feed was a bit too loose to really have a decent guess at my chemistry. Most notably I am much lower carbon than expected. Hopefully still at least 1.2% C. But whom knows!

I proceeded to forge this out today and it went shocking well. It was slowly formed into a large bar and reducing temps during the last cycles.

I’ve had buds insist on etching it now, however I am aware I need to reform my carbides due beginning forging being above Acm.

Here is what is look like now! I’m sure there issues I don’t see or understand yet. But pretty neat and I’ll be forging it out to a blade soon.

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Learning Wootz, and gave it a try.