During the cast, eight to twelve men performed various jobs through seven basic steps before, during, and after each cast. Workmen used wooden forms as patterns to make a series of molds in the sand floor of the cast house, with each mold connected by a channel to a main runner ending near the mouth of the furnace. When the furnace hearth filled with molten iron and slag, the air blast was stopped and tapping began by draining off the slag through a clay plug at the top of the dam, allowing it to collect in a large puddle on the left side of the work arch. After the slag was tapped, the clay plug called the iron notch at the bottom of the dam stone was removed, and molten iron flowed into the molds in the cast house floor. As the hot iron cooled, the pattern of molds and channels resembled a sow nursing piglets, giving rise to the name pig iron. Each pig was four feet long, four inches wide, and six inches deep. When the iron had cooled, workmen used sledge hammers to separate each pig from the iron in the connecting channels, then loaded the iron onto wagons and carts for shipment to foundries where it was converted into iron products. As the slag cooled, a heavy chain was attached to it and to a large slag wheel so the mass could be dragged to the front of the casting house, where workmen broke it into small pieces and loaded it onto wagons for transport to a refuse area or for use on roads. After the iron was drawn from the furnace, the dam stone was plugged, the air blast turned on, more iron ore, limestone, and charcoal were added, and the cycle began again.