Salamander (metallurgy)
Appearance
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Ofensau_Hattingen.jpg/220px-Ofensau_Hattingen.jpg)
A salamander (or deadman's foot or furnace bear) in the metallurgy dialect means all liquid and solidified materials in the hearth of a blast furnace below the tap hole.
The target of the salamander tapping is to remove the remaining hot metal and slag from the blast furnace to allow a safe and efficient intermediate repair and blow-in of the blast furnace.
During blowing down of the furnace the salamander is tapped by drilling a hole in the Blast Furnace hearth.