Everything about Oregrounds Iron totally explained
The
English term
Oregrounds iron takes its name from the small Swedish city of
Öregrund. In the
18th century oregrounds iron was regarded as the best grade available in England.
Oregrounds iron is the equivalent of the Swedish
vallonjärn, which literally translates as
Walloon iron. The Swedish name derives from the iron being produced by the Walloon version of the
finery forge process, as opposed the the German method, which was more common in Sweden. Actually, the term is more specialised, as all the Swedish Walloon forges made iron from ore ultimately derived from the
Dannemora mine. It was made in about 20 forges mainly in
Uppland.
Many of the ironworks were founded by
Louis de Geer and other Dutch entrepreneurs who set up ironworks in Sweden in the
1610s and
1620s. Most of the early
blacksmiths were also
Walloon immigrants.
Quality, uses and marketing
Swedish law required bars of iron to have the forge's mark stamped into it for quality control reasons. In Britain, the iron was known by these 'marks', and the quality of each brand was well-known to the buyers in
London,
Sheffield,
Birmingham and elsewhere. It was divided into two grades:
Its special property was its purity. The
manganese content of the Dannemora ore caused impurities, which would otherwise have remained in the iron, to react preferentially with the manganese and to be carried off into the
slag. This level of purity meant that the iron was particularly suitable for conversion to
steel by being re-
carburized, using the
cementation process. This made it particularly suitable for making steel, oregrounds iron was an indispensable raw material for metal manufactures, particularly the
Sheffield cutlery industry. Substantial quantities were also (until about
1808) bought for use by the
British Navy.
This and other uses absorbed substantially the whole output of the industry. The trade in oregrounds iron was controlled from the
1730s to the
1850s by a cartel of merchants, of whom the longest enduring members were the
Sykes family of
Hull. Other participants were resident in (or controlling imports through) London and Bristol. These merchants advanced money to Swedish exporting houses, which in turn advanced it to the ironmasters, thus buying up the output of the forges several years in advance.
Further Information
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