Once the molten steel is produced it is shaped for use in one of three ways. It may be poured directly into sand moulds to make steel castings.

It may be cast into ingots and allowed to solidify. The red-hot ingots are then passed between rollers to make square blooms or flat slabs, billets and heavy girder sections, or forged into shape by hammering or pressing. Standard forms are produced by passing the reheated large billets through finishing rolling mills to form flat bars, strips, tubes, rods, wire and also sections (angles, tees and channels). The result of rolling steel when hot, is a black oxide finish. Black mild steel as it is called, is generally used for forging.

To produce a bright finish and make accurate sizes, the steel is cleaned, oiled and re-rolled cold. The bright steel is then drawn through graded dies to make the accurately shaped, bright drawn mild steel used in the workshop.

It may be poured directly into a continuous casting machine to produce billets, blooms and slabs then water cooled and cut to length.