History of iron and of the ironwork, FFI

    The iron age
    Very officially, the age of iron beginns from 1100 before our era for the Mediterranean areas and 700 before our era for the Central Europe. At that time it is difficult to speak about trades relating to metals and it's also difficult to differentiate the blacksmiths, the founders, the ironworkers or the metallurgists.
    The archaeologists talk in certain cases about a first and a second iron'age, in order to dissociate the evolutions between the areas, while differentiating, for example, the archeological sites of Hallstatt in Austria, from which one can define features of culture.
    Indeed, there are on there is, according to places, the iron'ages at different times. The acquisition of the metallurgy of iron is an important stage in the history of the societies, in particular by its repercussion on the agricultural techniques and military and its role in the authorities'installation. It is certain that the increase of iron production quantities, the specialization which could result from it in the organization from the production could only notably influence the evolution of the professional authorities and politics and their distribution. But the methods of the intervention of iron then metal in time and the political history are difficult to highlight.

    First writings traces.
    The first writings that mention the word iron are shelves cappadocians discovered in the old town of Kanesh, dated from the first half of the second thousand-year-old before our era. The iron ore, the asium, is differentiate there from the iron ingot, the amatum.
    In the XVIII E century before our era, to Alalakh (on the Turco-Syrian border), of the wedge-shaped shelves hittites announce weapons made of iron production. The hittites texts of the XV e and XIV e centuries before our era, mention a wrought iron throne on the site, where as a letter of Amarna (Egypt) mentions, to the XIV e century, a dagger with an iron blade. It is also refers to the Hattousili's letter, in which this hittite king excuses himself not to be able to send more iron from Kizzouwatna.
    This letter goes back to 1275 to 1250 before our era. It is necessary to recall that at this time, firsts weapons (swords and shields) and the arrows spears and the javelins are cast exclusively out of bronze. It goes without saying that anyone controls the iron weapons manufacture has a strategic advantage at the time of wars.
    Among the most quoted sources of Antiquity, Hesiode 800/700 years before our era and Homere make many allusions to the manufacture and the use of metal. We find writings Chinese source relate to iron in 700 before our era.
    Thanks to the Greeks and the Romans, the use of iron will be liberalized. The first corporations of blacksmiths, forge and ironworkers are recognized everywhere in Europe and around the Mediterranean. It is at that time that we note the first annotations concerning the gates, the grids of defense, the ornamental panels, the spears of lance, the trimmings decorative, the posts and other accessories made of wrought iron.
    During the Gallo-Roman time and in the Middle Ages, we find only some few texts treating metallurgical activities directly, but we can see today descriptions of the use of iron, hawever it is need for tools in the construction industry.
    If we often find texts quoting the various corporations and also the names of the principal trades in relation to iron. We have to wait the XV eme century to find the first treaties specialized, bringing precises informations on the development of metal and the manufacture of the objects. Names of the various trades appear officially, and already we find under differences in orthography the traces of the first ironworkers or feronniers, the blacksmiths, the anvils working in forging mills, forgeries and the blacksmiths.

    Technique of transformation
    The metallurgy techniques were imported from areas which had ore, and particularly of Anatolia, Armenie or the Caucasus. It is already known that copper is the first metal used for industrials uses and it is the work of this metal that is at the base of the close-eastern relation metallurgical technique. The ore was crushed, molten in a furnace or a furnace provided with bellows, then hammered and remelted before to be eventually mixed with another metal, as copper and tin to produce bronze.
    Since the 3rd millenium, we know how to purify the noble metals, gold and silver, by cupellation, while dissolving the ore in a porous container, in order to make disappear impurities. The gold deliveries sometimes gave place to complaints has for their quantities when after cupellation, anyone could realized that the weight had decreased because a part of the impurities was eliminated. The noble metal or vulgar could be mould, molten with the wax lost or by hammering.
    We found moulds made in stone or clay presenting the form, hollow, of jewels or tools.

    The use of metals
    However is the metal, they were used to create and manufacture a lot of objects, and in particular of the ornaments, tools and weapons. The archaeological excavations give the opportunity to find pins bronzes some being used to attach the hair and bronze mirrors. The found tools are nails, shovels, scrapers, axes or saws.
    The main weapons, made of bronze or iron, are swords, daggers, lances and arrowheads. The gold, considered in Egypt as the flesh of Gods was only used for the work of jewellery, or to decorate the divine statues. As for the money, also used for the jewellery, it was used as payments ways, in the form of small pieces weighed for each transaction.
    Later, as from the Roman time the usualest objects are used in all the fields and more and more in the construction industry. Thus grids of defense, nails for to reinforce the doors out of wooden, of the harrows to protect the strengthened houses, then castles appear. But also irons to reinforce the horses clogs, the bell towwers tops of the churches of the south of France, of Italy, of Spain and Greece.

    The iron
    Very malleable, iron can be modelled without having to melt it. To be able to obtain good mechanical properties iron must be particularly pure. It can be modified by addition of weak carbon porportions (inter alia), or by various heat treatments.
    In contact with water or acids, iron undergoes an important corrosion. That's why there are only a few of worked old objects made of iron or metal whereas we find a great quantity made of gold, silver or copper.
    Todays, iron and steel industry is a considerable lever for all the economies. The iron professionals, ironworkers, blacksmiths and so much of others, largely improved the ways of work this metal. They made it possible to conceive concepts particularly worked made of work iron and to forge it.
    Thanks to these professionals, thousands of pieces are daily, and in particular manufactured by Eurofer, European leader of the wrought iron.
    At the end of the production lines, Wrought iron Industry has the privilege to sale you all these products and to present thanks to these catalogues and to this Internet site.
    We wish that this rapid presentation interest you and helps you in the choice which is now yours. We wish you a good navigation on our Web site.

HISTORY OF WROUGHT IRON