English crucible steel A new technique was developed in England by Benjamin Huntsman, a clockmaker in search of a better steel for clock springs. It was only in 1740 after he moved to Handsworth near Sheffield, and after years of experimenting in secret he perfected his process. Huntsman's system used a coke-fired furnace capable of reaching 1600 °C, into which ten or twelve clay crucibles, each holding about 15 kg of iron, were placed. When the pots are at a white heat they are charged with blister steel broken into lumps of about ½ kg, and a flux to help remove impurities. The pots are removed after about 3 hours in the furnace, impurities skimmed off, and the molten steel poured into ingots. Sheffield's Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet has preserved a water-wheel powered, scythe-making works dating from Huntsman's times, which is still operated for the public, several times per year using crucible steel made on the Abbeydale site.

Before the introduction of Huntsman's technique, Sheffield produced about 200 tonnes of steel per year based on Swedish wrought iron (see Oregrounds iron). The introduction of Huntsman's technique changed this radically; one hundred years later the amount had risen to over 80,000 tonnes per year - almost half of Europe's total production. This discovery enabled Sheffield to develop from a small township into one of Europe's leading industrial cities.

The steel was cast is a specialised workshop called a 'crucible furnace', which consisted of a workshop at ground level and a subterranean cellar. The furnace buildings varied in size and architectural style, gradually becoming larger towards the latter part of the 19th century as technological developments enabled multiple pots to be fired in one melt and gas was gradually introduced as a means of fuel to heat the crucibles. Each workshop had a series of standard features, such as rows of melting holes, teaming pits, roof vents, rows of shelving for the crucible pots and annealing furnaces to prepare each pot prior to firing. Additional ancillary rooms for the weighing each charge and for the manufacture of the clay crucibles were either attached to the workshop, or located within the cellar complex.