Up to 1709, furnaces could only use charcoal to produce iron. However, wood (which is what charcoal is made from) was becoming more expensive, as forests were being cleared for farmland and timber.

Fran Scott describes some of the uses of steel and then finds out how it is made from iron that has been produced in a blast furnace ... AQA, WJEC GCSE in England and Wales, CCEA GCSE in Northern ...