Primitive Technology: Blower and Furnace Experiments Make Bits of Iron

Our man in the jungle has built a simplified furnace and blower and in using it he ended up creating tiny bits of iron. This could lead to something significant.

Our man in the jungle of New Zealand built a simple, hand powered blower and a small clay furnace chimney to prove that primitive people in natural environments could do the same thing.

His skill in making these projects, and in working natural clay especially, is very impressive, as is his understanding of how these furnaces function. He's made several furnaces or kilns and blowers over the course of his time in the forest, and his capacity to learn and improve the systems is enviable.

This one didn't seem to take very long at all to build and the heat it generated was enough to create a semi-metallic slag and even tiny balls of metallic iron.

He made three small clay pots. The first he painted with iron bacteria, the second with wood ash, and the third he placed in the furnace with a small brick made of iron bacteria, charcoal powder and wood ash placed on top of the pot. Each pot showed different characteristic when removed from the kiln.

The third pot with the brick placed atop of it was, in my opinion, the most interesting. The brick melted and formed into a slag blob, but upon inspecting it he saw that there were tiny - approximately 1mm in size - spheres of metallic iron in the slag.

These he chipped off and collected in a small pot.

What these experiments portend he hasn't revealed yet, but it seems like they are worthy of exploring further. He could possible see if he is able to produce iron tools or weapons at some point.

He continues to impress those of us who follow the video documentaries of his primitive skills projects. His videos come out at a rate of around one a month and the following he has garnered is incredible.

He has well over five-million subscribers and his views are justifiably off the charts. I cannot wait for the next video to be released.

Stay tuned.

Like what you see here? You can read more great articles by David Smith at his facebook page, Stumpjack Outdoors.

NEXT: Primitive Technology: Man Builds Tile-Roofed Hut Entirely by Hand, Deep in the Forest

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