Most likely. I THINK henry Bessemer was the first to convert iron to steel, and I THINK that was in the late 18th century. May be wrong on both though, and of course we're talking industrial quantities, I've no doubt that the theory of turning iron into steel (basically removing as much carp as possible, especially carbon) was well known before, and no doubt local blacksmiths could do it in small quantities and to a certain extent, well before Bessemer (or whoever)