Primitive Technology: Natural Draft Iron Smelt

This is proof of concept that the natural draft furnace can make iron (the iron prills at the end of the video). I'd made a natural draft furnace before but this is the first time I was able to make any iron. There are many factors to getting a good smelt with this method but it is possible as there are records of natural draft iron smelting furnaces in ancient times. The benefit of such a furnace is the lack of bellows needed and so less labor is used. I've read these furnaces use more charcoal than forced draft furnaces which is understandable as the extra fuel is seemingly used to produce the draft. More experimenting needs to be done to obtain better iron yields but I think it's possible. Any questions about natural draft operation let me know. Thanks.

I'm beginning to appreciate why the iron age was a big step in technology

Here’s a reminder to you all that there’s always captions in these videos that goes into the specifics of what he’s doing.

This dude is one of THE ONLY channels that genuinely do this stuff unstaged. Massive props to you mate!

I'm a carpenter and do high end finish work. This kind of stuff just blows my mind. I feel like a chump watching the simplicity and creativity of these builds. I have thousands of dollars in tools and this guy is making complex things with sticks and stones. Mad respect.

If you placed the air way pipes all in an angle you will get a vortex draft which is much stronger than a normal air draft, as you have unified the air flow, therefore less resistance is needed to get in air. I hope this helps ❤

Honestly what impresses me most about this channel when I think about it isn't just the physical labor. That's obviously impressive. What I'm surprised by when I think about it is the camera work. It's VERY effective use of camera

So much work for so small iron nuggets. Makes me appreciate all the metalwork in the world around me

I grew up in north/western New Jersey where there was about 96% forest and 4% development. Deep in the forest we found an old iron forge or furnace similar in concept to the one shown in this video. It was about 50 feet tall, narrowing towards the top; about 20 feet wide at the base with 4 openings on each side and a wide shaft running up the center. There were numerous rusty slag piles in the surrounding areas and a range of old diggings where iron ore could still be seen on the surface. From the looks of it it was a pre-18th century operation. As a kid I imagined it in operation, then and while watching this video.

It doesn't matter how many times I see you build firplaces/pits, I still enjoy it every time. The rainforest sounds definitely help make it kinda relaxing.

Each time, no matter how impressive the build is, the thing that impresses me the most is how efficiently and quickly you start a fire with sticks

Your videos never fail to immediately grab my attention and full focus on whatever you're doing. The growth of this channel and it's quality while still remaining true to roots has been a wonderful thing to watch. Amazing work, thanks for doing what you do

Those iron prills are GIGANTIC compared to some of the ones I've seen in your other videos! So cool to see progress like this

The amount of time and effort you put into such a small quantity of iron never ceases to blow me away.

This guy's a prime example of why people tend to just like survival games. We love building and creating stuff, moving through stages of progression and improvement. I seriously adore your work, sir.

The optimal design for this type of blast furnace is to have a wider upper and lower part with a narrower middle section. This maybe helps prevent the accumulation of slag in the central area. Additionally, I'm considering tilting the air intake at a 45-degree angle to create a small-scale vortex, aiming to enhance the efficiency of air intake.

I think my favorite little thing this channel does is the complete, uncut segments where he is starting a fire! It really shows just how FAST one can get a fire going with solid technique and it never gets old!

I know it's tedious to record AND explain every single step for a youtube video, but we are extremely grateful that you upload for us to watch AND learn.

A classic Iron Age bloomery :) Such furnaces were very commonly used by Slavs, Celts and Germanic tribes in the antiquity and early middle ages. Excellent work.

You know, for the longest time i thought these videos were a "let me show you what i did", because i never had subtitles on. I figured he did it that way so that his video's were able to be watched by anyone, without a language barrier. Now knowing that subtitles are a thing...I'm still watching without them. Because I think the concept of "no language barrier" is cool.