Primitive Technology

I made a water filter from cane that siphons clean water from a dirty water while simultaneously using the xylem present in the the cane as a filter. MIT engineers had already proved that pine branches can be used as water filters as the thin membranes connecting the straw like xylem filter out 99% of bacteria such as E.coli which make water unsafe to drink. Taking this concept, I used a type of cane in the forest and bent them into hook shapes, tying them in place with vine. Then I put dirty water into a raised pot and siphoned clean water from it into a lower collection pot. Initially some sap comes (which is also harmless to drink) out but then water flows through the stem. It does take a while for it to work but the process can be sped up by adding multiple canes working in parallel. The water that came through is clean and I was able to drink it without ill effect. After a few days the canes clog up and need replacing though one cane laste

I tested 2 ways of improving iron smelts by treating the ore, roasting the ore and using snail shells as a flux. Then finally I recycled old slag to see if it would produce any more iron. The first way was to roast the ore before smelting. This drove off the moisture and volatiles in the ore as well as burning off any sulfur present. The resulting ore produced a higher yield of iron than normal (33g iron as opposed to about 15g iron as usual for the same volume of ore, charcoal and time). Next lime was added to the smelt as a flux in the form of snail shells. The theory was that the lime would lower the melting point of any silica in the ore to make a runnier slag and help the iron come together more. The result was very bad, no iron was produced apart from 1 or 2 prills. I suspect the ore is already basic in chemistry and adding a basic flux in the form of lime made it so basic that the slag was too viscous. The ore probably won't benefit from a basic flux but might benefit from an

I cleared an area as a workspace for making bricks, trialed a new source of clay for brick making and tested a new kiln variant that uses fewer bricks than the previous design. Near the existing brick hut, there is a area on a slight slope near a seasonal creek with a possible source of clay. The area had a large fallen tree in it that I burnt into 3 pieces and rolled out of the way with logs as levers. I may build a hut in this area and so cleared it. Next, I dug a pit to mix clay in and collected the new source of clay. The old brick mold (made in a previous video) was used to make 50 bricks that were then allowed to dry. While this was happening I dismantled the old kiln and used its bricks to make a new one. The new configuration uses only 74 bricks instead of the previous 100, a significantly simpler design. Its firebox is formed by crisscrossing 2 layers of bricks so that air enters in the first layer channels and wood enters the 2nd layer channels at right angles to the first.

I built a thatched shelter to make bricks in so that they are protected from the rain before they are fired. Despite it being the dry season, it still rains unpredictably in this climate. This can undo lots of labor in dissolving bricks. I built a shelter from wood and palm thatch to house the entire brick making process from the rain. This was no easy task with primitive technology. Leveling the ground took a week with digging sticks and clay pots to move the soil down the slope to form a flat floor. Another week was spent cutting the timber with a stone axe and then lashing the frame with lawyer cane to form the 3 x 3 pyramidal hut with a total height of 3.5 m. A final week was spent cutting, splitting and thatching a total of 1850 palm fronds to cover the roof. I then made 50 bricks (enough for one firing) along one side of the huts floor and made a kiln from other bricks right in the center of the hut's floor under the highest point of the hut. A space for firewood was put in the

I made a furnace insulated with wood ash to smelt iron in. Furnace insulation stops heat being lost from the walls of a furnace and so increases the heat within the furnace. Dry wood ash makes an excellent insulator for heat as the fine particles separated by small air gaps don't allow heat to conduct very well. To make the furnace a double layered wall of clay was made and the space between was filled with wood ash from different fires. The clay needed to be completely dry before doing so however as it was important the the ash not get wet, which would cause it to loose its insulating properties.The furnace was tested with an iron smelt and it produced 34g of iron from 10 charges of ore. It was going quickly to start with but then I had issues with the blower towards the end of the smelt (broken housing). The furnace design is promising though as this produced the third best smelt I've done in the wild with natural tools and materials (the best were 39g and 41g over a year ago). I'll

A Phoenix kiln is a type of downdraft kiln where the firebox is below the ware chamber. It was developed in America in the 1970's by George Wright and gets it's name from the Phoenix workshops. It is classified as a downdraft kiln because the flames go up into the ware chamber and then down to the exit flue of the ware chambers before going up a chimney. I built one from mud to learn about how it works and to see how hot it gets. The mud I used for the kiln is white clay from a flood area and it less than ideal for making pottery. I tested it and it worked ok but I knocked out the exit flue wall to make it behave more like a cross draft kiln before firing the pots. The kiln worked well in firing pottery despite the poor quality clay which cracked easily. If run for longer it probably would have reached higher temperatures.

In this video I use the thatched hut to fire bricks and make charcoal in for the first time. To make and fire bricks, a workspace protected from the rain must be made to protect the bricks from dissolving before they are fired. Built in a previous video, the hut was used as a space to fire the bricks. The firing went well with no issues with the thatch catching fire due to the height of the roof above the kiln. In addition to the hut being a place to make bricks, I made a charcoal mound in the space left over to make charcoal, a fuel for smelting iron. I had a previous charcoal mound out in the weather but the rain was an issue keeping the wood damp before getting a chance to fire it. So I made a 75 cm diameter re-useable charcoal mound and it produced 6 and a half pots of charcoal.

I built a natural draft furnace and smelted iron ore in it, producing a small amount of iron. A natural draft furnace is one where the draft is supplied by convection alone. This is opposed to a forced draft where bellows or fan is used to supply air flow instead. Natural draft furnaces are typically taller than forced draft furnaces to make use of the stack effect. They also often have multiple large air entries or tuyeres to help reduce resistance to air flow. Natural draft furnaces where used to smelt iron in ancient times in Europe and up to more recently in Africa where some are still standing. The lack of the need for bellows reduces labor and complexity.