Faced with competition from cheaper British iron production, the Swedish iron industry needed to find a new cheaper method of making iron.  In the 1810s, experiments were made with puddling, but this proved unsatisfactory, as it needed coal of which Sweden had none.  After  visited Britain, he published a report of his observations.  He had seen closed finery hearths in south Wales and near Ulverston, then in Lancashire (now Cumbria).  Those in south Wales were similar to puddling furnaces, but in Lancashire, he saw closed furnaces, where the metal was in contact with the fuel.  On his return to Sweden, Ekman experimented and built furnaces similar to what he had seen near Ulverston,  most probably at Newland ironworks. 
In 1829-30, Waern installed a furnace of the south Wales type at Backefors ironworks, while independently Ekman built Lancashire hearths at Dormsjö and Söderfors.  From there the process spread to other forges. Charcoal consumption by the metallurgical industry in Sweden peaked about 1885. In 1887, 406 hearths made 210,500 tons of iron.  The last Lancashire forge in Sweden was at Ramnäs, closed in 1964.  
In Shropshire, charcoal iron production continued on a significant scale, but declined after 1870, rods for wire-drawing being a significant product.  However most charcoal forges were probably closed by 1890.