Smelting Iron from ROCKS (Primitive Iron Age Extraction)

Thanks to Keeps for sponsoring this video!

Need some iron? I've recreated the primitive method of turning iron ore into iron by using a bellow to use the process of smelting iron from small rocks I found in nature.

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[hhdhpublic]

So, were here at this railroad and we found that these rails are made completely out of iron so were just gonna pop off few bars.

[Chaindustries]

Finally. Tongs. No more messing around with chopsticks.

[xXDannySilvaXx]

Watching this makes you appreciate how far weve come as a society in terms of these metallic alloys and elements, and also, this also gives me some kind of excitement as to what is to come in the future in terms of material science. We are still a young species technologically-wise, and Im sure that there will be some some great breaktroughs in the next 500 to 1000 years, as long as we can get along with each other, geopolitcally wise.

[justinstrickland]

the amount of decated time, effort, research and will to make these videos is honestly incredible.

[MisterTalkingMachine]

Ah yes, very clever to use the residue of the still free ranging wild freight trains.

[aka_pcfx]

"I made this"
4 people working the bellows: "I'm sorry what?"

[Moto_Medics]

Idk how I’ve never seen this channel before, I’m goin through my own similar journey and having the hard work laid before me is really helping so thank you this is right down my alley!

[durgeshpagar]

What I liked about all of your Videos the most is 'you show how you failed during the experimentation' this is where I learn about it a lot and get my doubts clear as the video goes on. Thank you for putting so much effort into video editing and everything, we as viewers are learning a lot from you. :)

[hogfry]

I've done a few smelts using a similar design to your combined cob stack and bowl bellows. I added ONE extra feature tho. And its made a HUGE difference to the process. I used a thin piece of bark (set low on the inside of the bowl and worked into a recess) to create a one way valve.

The difference it made in air flow. AND in shoulder pain was... Tremendous.

Basically you take a strip of bark. or anything thin and flexible and bury the top half into the cob wall as you lift the leather the pressure difference lets the valve flex and let air in. But when you push down the valve is forced close and all the air goes out thru the stack. It makes the bellows so much more efficient.

[resurection]

Achievement reached: “Acquire Hardware”

[GamingHelp]

This reminds me of my youth at our placer gold mines in B.C. You wouldn't believe the minerals you can find within a 20 minute drive of the hamlet of Wells. The beach sand of Jack-o-clubs lack is literally made of iron ore (iron sulphide to be specific, aka, fools gold or pyrite). It's incredibly heavy and very beautiful. Our mines were only a few miles from the townsite and in that small area you could find shales of all sorts, pyrites, the biggest chunks of quartz you've ever seen (I still have a piece that's probably a couple thousand pounds in front of my house from there), etc. In retrospect, it was a good place to spend the summers as a kid, despite hating it at the time.

[johnmcclain]

I've been using coal that is found by train tracks here in north Carolina, so I was not surprised at your finding iron ore pellets there. Thanks for showing this!

[johnpatterson]

10:30 Who else thought he was about to start tearing up abandoned railroad tracks?

[mancavescience]

So we found this natural source of high grade iron *proceeds to pull out an angle grinder and cut up the train tracks*

[ewdyxss]

Achievement unlocked: Acquire Hardware

[mackenzielamb]

Working at a foundry, I learned a little about copper, carbon, manganese, zinc added to the furnaces. High side iron. loved it. Slagging furnaces at 2800 is like breaking through the surface of the sun. It does trip me out though when some say we had to use electricity to get it started. Lol no electricity. Good stuff. I like it.

[jasepoag]

And lo, on the end of the 6th day, God created tongs. He click-clacked them together twice, and it was good.

[Gabfigueiredo]

Everybody gansta till htme starts surpassing modern technology.

[fiddleriddlediddlediddle]

There's a method of making bellows that doesn't utilize leather and is essentially just a piston. I bring this up because you said leather is a requirement when it's more of a strong suggestion.

You have a hollow cylinder with a hole at the bottom for air. You put a disc with a long handle inside it with a trapdoor on the inside so when you're pushing it pushes air through the tube and when pulling it pulls air from the top of the cylinder instead.

That's basically it.

[Neotenico]

18:24 100% accurate. I work in the semiconductor industry where we create organo-metallic compounds out of rare-earth metals to supply some of the world's largest electronics manufacturers. In my first two months alone, I worked with at least a dozen different metals: Zinc, Titanium, Zirconium, Palladium, Hafnium, Tungsten, Osmium, the list goes on. Most eventually end up in the processor chips for your phones and computers in conduits 1000x thinner than a hair on your head. Truly crazy stuff.