Helped my sensei make some steel today. This was his first time with a new smelter so he wasn't sure how well it would turn out. He started at 7AM and went till about 3PM, loading in charcoal and iron oxide every 10 minutes. To get the steel out we had to disassemble the smelter, brick by brick. By the end he was exhausted and I took over and tore the thing apart. 100 degree weather, boots, pants, long sleeves, gloves, hat, pulling molten steel out of a 2000 degree charcoal pit. It was a bit warm.
About 6 lbs. of steel out of 30 lbs. of iron ore and 110 lbs. of charcoal. Not quite as much as he was hoping for, but enough for a sword. Hopefully he'll have pictures and video we took of the whole process up on his website soon.