[vbezhenar]

Smelting some iron is not that hard. You just burn special mud using coal and collect iron drops in the ashes afterwards.

Producing cheap iron is hard.

[baq]

Coal is a recent "invention". The Brits were pretty damn lucky they found lots of it under the last tree they chopped down. It was all wood before that.

[vbezhenar]

You can replace it with charcoal.

[baq]

Technically correct but that's what 'wood' meant

[ClumsyPilot]

The job is not done if you produce unaffordable iron. Producing lots of cheap iron is the job for Industrial Revolution