text: An alternative method of decarburising pig iron was the finery forge, which seems to have been devised in the region around Namur in the 15th century.  By the end of that century, this Walloon process spread  to the Pay de Bray on the eastern boundary of Normandy, and then to England, where it became the main method of making wrought iron by 1600.  It was introduced to Sweden by Louis de Geer in the early 17th century and was used to make the oregrounds iron favoured by English steelmakers.
  A variation on this was the German forge.  This became the main method of producing bar iron in Sweden.