Posted by David Bamford on May 08, 2004 at 23:16:26 from 203.10.110.133 user David.
In Reply to: Re: Bunloaf recipes posted by Pam Adams on May 08, 2004 at 00:53:52:
When I was a callow student in the first years of my geology course, I had to buy a blowpipe and a block of carbon to reduce ores into the metal. it was considered a normal prospecting method of ensuring which metal's ore you were really looking at. The blowpipe was steel, about 5" long and tapered, with the fine end being at the mouthpiece. A much finer tube stuck out one side of the bottom of the pipe. A cavity was dug into the top of the block of charcoal, and the powdered ore and some sawdust put into the cavity. The sawdust was lit [we may have used some methylated spirits to assist here] and the blowpipe used to raise the temperature of the fire. The carbon would glow, providing the reducing atmosphere required to smelt the ore. In Melbourne, a city of 3 million souls, there was only one place that I knew of where such blowpipes could be bought. However, in a district where metalliferous mines were active, this might be more easily procured.
David.