Today should have seen the first smelt of the 2000 season, for a meeting of the South Wales Group of the Geologists Association, but the furnace was not able to be mended in time. A large section of the furnace, above the tap arch and towards the blowhole has collapsed. It is hoped that a mend can be made before Science Week in one month's time.

Repairs to the furnace are progressing well, but bad weather means the clay is very slow to dry. The new bellows (originally intended for late summer '99) are now taking shape - so all looks set for the first Science Week smelt on 19th March (a second smelt for 25th March is also planned).

The new bellows are finally beginning to look like bellows. The woodwork prepared by the estates staff has now been passed on to Peter Mason for the leatherwork, and Aaron Petersen is producing the nails.

Science Week Day 1: The first weekend of Science week is a two-event comprising a day fieldtrip to the iron ores and early smelting sites of the Cardiff area today, and a smelt tomorrow. Localities visited on the fieldtrip include haematite ores in a coastal exposure near Barry, haematite ores in old mines in Fforest Fawr, a medieval bloomery site in North Cardiff, and siderite ores in the Coal Measures near Caerphilly.

Science Week Day 2: Smelt 18 was the first to utilise the new single-action bellows, loosely based on Agricola's illustrations. The technique of keeping the tap arch openas used on other recent experiments was continued, and good flows of slag were obtained. Bloom size and quality were, however, poor.

Science Week Day 8: Smelt 19 built on the lessons of smelt 18 last week, in particular in attempting to keep the blowing rate low during the crucial slag tapping phase. In this respect the experiment was very successful, producing several successive large tap slag cakes. The tapping arch area was still not hot enough for the tap slags to flow from the furnace, and they ponded in the arch. The great disappointment was that there was no bloom. The experiment needs to be followed by a return to our rich haematite/goethite ores, to attempt to recreate the tap slag production with rich ores. To get a flow of slag maintaining a fill of charcoal in the arch, to keep temperatures up, and the slope of the furnace base need to be reinvestigated.