EXPERIMENTING WITH DUTCH IRON
Supported by: Stichting Stokroos
December 2025
For the past few months we’ve been working on making iron and steel using a bloomery. Through this process, iron ore is transformed into metallic iron, using charcoal as a fuel and carbon source. The intermediate material, called a bloom, that comes out of the bloomery is very impure, with mixed compositions and slag inclusions.
To be refined, the bloom has to be hammered and pressed into flat pieces that are joined together, then hammered and cut again, over and over, until all the inclusions are gone and the metal becomes more homogenous. The work is hard and slow, but very rewarding.
BUILDING A CHARCOAL FORGE
Supported by: Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie
December 2025
December 2025
The basic charcoal forge is a simple and easy machine to build; however, it cannot fully meet the needs of a bladesmith, as it is nearly impossible to evenly heat an entire piece of steel. To address this limitation, Vasco developed an alternative forge design made exclusively from recycled materials. This project is part of our ongoing research and experimentation into the development of human- and nature-powered machines.
BUILDING A MODULAR SMELTER
Supported by: Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie
December 2025
Traditional bloomeries are typically built from clay and must be broken apart after each smelt to remove the iron bloom. Since constructing a new bloomery every time is both labor-intensive and resource-heavy, we wanted to upgrade to a more efficient, reusable alternative. This design is our approach at making a Japanese Tatara furnace, exclusively from recycled materials. This project is part of our ongoing research and experimentation into the development of human- and nature-powered machines.