Editing Wrought iron (section)

===Western world===
[[File:Chinese fining.png|thumb|upright|The puddling process of smelting iron ore to make wrought iron from pig iron, illustrated in the ''Tiangong Kaiwu'' [[encyclopedia]] by [[Song Yingxing]], published in 1637.]]

Wrought iron has been used for many centuries, and is the "iron" that is referred to throughout Western history. The other form of iron, [[cast iron]], was in use in China since ancient times but was not introduced into Western Europe until the 15th century; even then, due to its brittleness, it could be used for only a limited number of purposes. Throughout much of the Middle Ages, iron was produced by the direct reduction of ore in manually operated [[Bloomery|bloomeries]], although [[water power]] had begun to be employed by 1104.<ref>{{cite book |first=A. |last=Lucas |title=Wind, Water, Work: Ancient and Medieval Milling Technology |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden NL and Boston Mass. |date=2006 |pages=251–255, 347}}</ref>

The raw material produced by all indirect processes is pig iron. It has a high carbon content and as a consequence, it is brittle and cannot be used to make hardware. The [[osmond process]] was the first of the indirect processes, developed by 1203, but bloomery production continued in many places. The process depended on the development of the blast furnace, of which medieval examples have been discovered at [[Lapphyttan]], Sweden and in [[Germany]].

The bloomery and osmond processes were gradually replaced from the 15th century by [[finery forge|finery]] processes, of which there were two versions, the German and Walloon. They were in turn replaced from the late 18th century by [[puddling (metallurgy)|puddling]], with certain variants such as the Swedish [[Lancashire process]]. Those, too, are now obsolete, and wrought iron is no longer manufactured commercially.<!-- For references see below in the Aston process section -->