From Rock to Iron to KNIFE (Handmade Knife Forged from Rock)

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Can I achieve one of the most substantial accomplishments in human history? I attempt to take a rock from nature, turning it into a raw metal and forging it into a useful knife!
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[@htme]

Get 20% off your first monthly Bespoke Post box when you sign up at bspk.me/howto and use promo code EVERYTHING20 at checkout!

[@dabramantya]

I love you, keep the good work 👍🏼👍🏼❤️❤️

[@jackcassidy7317]

A collaboration with Alex Steele could be interesting, an experience blacksmith with modern tools trying to refine a unpure piece of iron. Not really sure how to work it into the reset but maybe after you've advanced to a certain technology

[@nelle8348]

When you work with wrought iron and are attempting a forge weld or to consolidate the bloom, you should have it much hotter than you had when working in Minnesota. It should be white hot with small blebs of molten material beginning to form on the surface. This will lead to a stronger forge weld, for you to loose less material while consolidating the bloom, and to an overall stronger product (as in perhaps not having a crack like your final knife did). I noticed that while you were with Joseph, they had the correct color/temperature, and they even commented that they had reached the perfect color. With your previous failed iron making attempt, the reason your bloom cracked when you attempted to consolidated it may not have been that your smelting didn't work, but that when you attempted to work the bloom you were several hundred degrees short of the correct temperature so instead of welding together it just cracked.

[@philipmoore9098]

Keep doing what you are doing and don’t be discouraged. I think your main problem is that you are hitting the bloom too long. You should only strike while the bloom is white, yellow or a bright orange, if any part of the work piece is red or grey then the iron has cooled too much and will become more brittle than you would expect.

[@cavv0667]

Hey, could you try making Kvass as well?

[@nelle8348]

When you work with wrought iron and are attempting a forge weld or to consolidate the bloom, you should have it much hotter than you had when working in Minnesota. It should be yellow white hot when consolidating the bloom and white hot with small blebs of molten material beginning to form on the surface when you are forge welding. This will lead to a stronger forge weld, for you to loose less material while consolidating the bloom, and to an overall stronger product (as in perhaps not having a crack like your final knife did). I noticed that while you were with Joseph, they had the correct color/temperature, and they even commented that they had reached the perfect color. With your previous failed iron making attempt, the reason your bloom cracked when you attempted to consolidated it may not have been that your smelting didn't work, but that when you attempted to work the bloom you were several hundred degrees short of the correct temperature so instead of welding together it just cracked.

[@TheJesster257]

My thoughts exactly. Definitely didn't seem hot enough (hard to tell on camera) when he was in Minnesota. The edges (most of what fell off) where still reasonably dark when he tried forging. So either the temp wasn't high enough, or their blooms still had a significant amount of very impure slag on the outside.

[@saudade7842]

Yeah, i'm pretty sure he's just not getting it hot enough.

[@lufmesquita]

The darkness was fooling him into thinking the iron was brighter than it was I guess

[@nelle8348]

@@TheJesster257, exactly. But even if there was extra slag, if he had heated it up to the correct temperature the iron and slag alike would glow with the same white color, but since he did not do that we can’t tell what degree the breaking was due to impurities or just improper technique. Now all of that said I do love the all of his videos, and I watch them as soon as they come out. I also have a huge interest in starting from the Stone Age and trying to make bronze and iron tools. It just makes me sad that Andy goes through so much research and effort to ultimately miss one or two key details that messes up his final project. In his linothorax video he used unprocessed fat instead of using a natural glue to individual laminate the layers together into a ridged armor. The Linothorax are set apart from other cloth armors because its rigidity and stiffness provide more protection, but his product ended up being more saggy and lacking a lot of protective value against penetration. His bronze casting videos he did alone often would mess up or miss key bronze casting techniques that would have greatly improved his chances of success, and greatly improved the quality of his tools (all without using modern tools). I really love these videos and I am sure that he is under a time crunch to get these videos out on time. Like making a glue and individually laminating the linothorax one layer at the time and letting it dry before starting the next layer is key to producing a functional armor, but would have added potentially a hundred hours or more to its production time. I get that this is his and his crews livelihood as well and that time is money, so cutting some corners, even if it affects the end result, is probably necessary. I only want to see him succeed because this sort of thing is so cool to me and I feel like no one has really done this sort of thing before with this big of audience and production value.

[@nelle8348]

@@lufmesquita , its actually easier to see the various shades of color in the dark. Since all solids glow with the same color when at a certain temperature, and if you have a color-temperature chart with you you can tell what temperature range each color corresponds with. My guess is that he just didnt know what the correct temperature for forge welding wrought iron or he could not reach that temp with his current set up. and was under a time crunch.

[@OrbitalRose_01]

A few things: Forge with less light so you can better judge temperature based on color. I see you forging the iron at what is probably a way too cold temperature and you introduced a ton of cracks into the material because of that

[@elowenminer7748]

I kept seeing him beat it long past working temp and even less so for forge welding

[@simontay4851]

A LOT of cracks. Not ton.

[@RKroese]

@@simontay4851 Nope, metric ton...

[@kayagorzan]

Indeed

[@oldmech619]

I hope this is not in California. I am so fire burn off.

[@g09h]

Can we just appreciate how this man has redone hundreds of years in I don’t know 1-2 years

[@charliep8534]

More than hundreds but I don't know if I should say billions

[@1pcfred]

@@charliep8534 We have not been around for billions of years. Life on this planet was, but we weren't. We don't have much to show for most of the time we've been around either. It is hard to appreciate progress. We're better at making it today than we ever were before. Still not easy.

[@onemangamer587]

The earliest "humans" date back to 2.4 million years ago, the Homo Habilis. And then the humans that are more as they are known now, date back from 300,000 years, 200,000 years and then the more modern human at 100,000 years respectfully. So we have been using "tools" for about 2.4 million years, starting with sticks and stones (quite literally), working our way up to what we have today.

[@ArthurEKing8472]

I'll make a suggestion here, seeing as you already have ceramics, and iron-production, you should try taking as much of the high-iron content slag from the bloom and forging process, crush it into a fine powder (as fine as you can manage) add some of the borax you mined for glass-production, and throw it in a fired, sealed ceramic container... (Literally just a fired clay pot, with a fired clay lid, and some extra fresh clay to block out the air). Then basically put the pot BACK in the furnace, and burn the everliving crud outta it. With any luck, you should be able to get a single, solid block of mostly-iron as a result. And THAT should totally be forge-able with the tools you have at hand.

[@bigmeatswangin5837]

Yes, this is the way to purify the ore. Borax and lime are used even today with high grade metal casting.

[@ArthurEKing8472]

@@bigmeatswangin5837 I mean this is the way they used to make wootz damascus, so it's definitely a way they could make this!

[@dhawthorne1634]

I think your next project should be a millhouse. I don't expect you to get a team of oxen or a stream-front property with a waterwheel, but even with the bronze tools, you have the ability to carve out wooden gearing and start to mechanize a bit. With a gear stack, you can make stone mills for grains, bone meal and ore processing; you can make a saw mill (originally designed with vertical, reciprocating blades); you can make a mechanical bellows that will allow you to reach iron casting temperatures which will help with the purification and billet making; lastly, you will be able to make a water screw.

[@JS-jh4cy]

How to make an ancient sawmill?

[@shellbournian]

I've seen every episode of HTME and this is the first time I actually thought I could do the thing. Looking forward to more iron age stuff!

[@GlorifiedGremlin]

This is like the hardest thing he's done so far lmao

[@RedFlagRevival]

I'm glad there are people like you that help our history stay alive.

[@macieksmolarz5274]

I really love what you are doing now. Since kid i was dreaming and wandering about making metal tools from scratch. I hope you will provide even more quality content like this.

[@Hubris2]

In these 'challenging times' even more than in the past you think about 'what if' everything were to fall apart and you were to be left alone with your wits, trying to make whatever you have to be able to continue living. If you thought of 'large deserted island' where you didn't already have modern sources of steel - you would need to go back to some form of basics. Details like knowing the correct color associated with iron that can be worked would not be in the average person's skillset.

[@ssadoo_playz997]

Imagine finishing the knife then just a textbox pops up above your head saying Getting An Upgrade

[@jacobocorujo6693]

"Andy has Acquired Hardware"

[@charliep8534]

HAHA

[@phyose4793]

I know this stuff is very difficult and frustrating, and not yielding very spectacular results. However, you guys are very entertaining and informative in of yourselves, and I really appreciate all the hard work you guys put into these videos. Never give up! You're doing exactly what you set out to do with this channel!

[@joejia1410]

Everybody gangsta until andy builds a time machine

[@victorunbea8451]

already did. He hit the reset button on it and started from the stone age

[@joejia1410]

@@victorunbea8451 Shit.

[@Nightstick24]

Thanks for the video. These always make my jaw drop imagining how much trial and error this would take. Like entire generations of people spent their whole lives trying and failing at this stuff. Then someone stumbled onto some level of success and people ran with it, trying and failing countless more times until they started to understand WHY they failed. Slowly but surely improving it piece by piece, struggling through countless designs and changes to try to achieve a hotter temperature or a more consistent temperature, figuring out the ratio of charcoal to ore that changes constantly. Gives you a whole different level of respect for our crazy ancestors who figured this stuff out; and a real appreciation of how lucky we are to have modern technology to help and easily accessible knowledge to learn from. Something that took generations and over a century to stumble through is now something you could realistically work through in your backyard, given you did some research.

[@1pcfred]

Actually success wasn't usually shared. If you knew how to make iron better than your neighbors did that gave you a decided advantage over them. When Italy discovered how to make glass sharing the secret was punishable by death. So yeah not the most generous folks.

[@WilsonsWanderings]

Go and see Alec Steele to improve forging!

[@iwanadiefast]

i second that

[@toxicdemon1071]

He finally did it

[@ryanquinlan178]

I agree

[@christophergallagher609]

Lets admit it... You are no longer an "average person" 😂

[@Sionnach1601]

I used to greatly admire those who could turn an old rusty iron railroad pin into a beautifully fashioned butterfly knife or such; but after seeing this, I have even far greater admiration for the millions of people who modified our systems to turn ROCK into that old rusty iron railroad pin. I really admire yere work lads, great stuff. Sláinte from Éire :)

[@garethbaus5471]

Although it would get less inefficient with a larger scale this was a decent demonstration of how inefficient and labor intensive the production of bloomery iron tends to be.

[@waterunderthebridge7950]

I aspire to experience as much joy as these grown men express over a few pieces of glowing rock

[@dwad228]

This Dr. Stone live action is the besttt

[@JigJagging]

YES! That's a clean and proper Iron Age unlock. Well done!

[@AndresMartinez-xg2up]

I just realized that this is the Netflix adaptation of Dr. Stone

[@dyingofcringe8839]

2060: Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster From Scratch

[@turtle7792]

ok

[@ArthurEKing8472]

Funny thing, there actually IS a real-life example of that... But it was a naturally occurring thing, instead of man-made. They only discovered it because they found a uranium mine, and tried to get it, only to find it was already depleted uranium.... And were annoyed, and confused.

[@Bluboy511]

2100: Corona Virus from scratch

[@joshuabaughn3734]

Please no

[@FBlOfficial]

5000: earth from scratch

[@erikblarg5498]

forge weld after forge weld and I just kept yelling at the screen,"USE FLUX!!"

[@PKMartin]

I miss Good and Basic. Last I knew about it, clean shaven Joseph had moved his family and got a new teaching job, so I figured there wouldn't be too many more collaboration videos, but they were each making videos individually on soap making, farming etc. Where else am I going to get that "we harvested some grains growing at the side of the road and made bread with it" content?

[@GoodandBasic]

We're back. :-) JB

[@PKMartin]

@@GoodandBasic I figured as much when you uploaded a new video just after I commented! Looking forward to more primitive iron and everything else

[@ghostcraft9343]

@@GoodandBasic it is good to see your stuff again

[@WasatchWind]

@@GoodandBasic Are you guys from Utah? (or adjacent states) I'm wondering cause Andy got his iron supply from iron county.

[@GoodandBasic]

@@WasatchWind yes indeed. It's a good place. JB

[@aaronmiller6118]

It's amazing that Andy makes such awesome videos and still makes a video every week.

[@SquishyIsBack]

Borax! When you're smelting and forge welding, use your borax as flux to increase overall bonding and removal of impurities.

[@potatoboy549]

Oh wow, so cavemen just found borax to forge iron?

[@boid9761]

Waiting for him to make a pickaxe.

[@Feyamius]

You know what would be literally the best sponsor for this series? Skillshare.

[@lufmesquita]

At this point in history higher precision tools and bricks were available, I dont understand why these guys keep using crooked wooden tools and clay to make general measurements

[@elliewade295]

Because they personally haven’t made the tools yet

[@lufmesquita]

@@elliewade295 but why not take the time to research and develop infrastructure?

[@mattgolka6266]

@@lufmesquita because they havent bothered because it doesnt matter to much

[@josephgarcia7030]

You also have to keep in mind that those technologies were developed over thousands of years, leading to their precision and mastery. These guys have only been doing this for a few months, so it makes sense that their tools and measurments are a bit more crude.

[@victorunbea8451]

While more precision tools were available, they were prohibitively expensive to make and maintain. Truth is that everyone used basic, easily replaceable tools as much as possible up to the 18th century. Townsends has a superb series of videos describing how they did it in the 'old days' with wood and clay being the mainstay and metal being something only used to make the wooden tools.

[@JessWLStuart]

Well done Andy! You made something useful from what you had to work with. That's a success in itself! Sometimes, success comes from improvement between the steps, not the results of the steps themselves.

[@salifford]

We have finally found a person who speaks in 1.25x speed

[@aaronmiller6118]

Ben Shapiro speaks at 10x speed

[@richardfarrer5616]

2.5x speed for me - I watch KZbin doubletime.

[@cristianvillanueva8782]

You should check out red and and blue from Overly Sarcastic Productions.

[@richardfarrer5616]

@@cristianvillanueva8782 Been there. That's definitely a 1.5x site. Also excellent viewing, even if most of mine has been on the Red side.

[@robsmith2927]

Loved this video. Other videos I've seen were about the size of the iron bloom. But very early metal work in tiny quantities was clearly the initial stages. It's not about making swords or hammers, it's about arrow heads and tools. So cool.

[@Elbrasch]

well, if your furnace wasn't reaching high enough temperatures to liquefy the iron you have to work out the slag. Same reason why they had to fold iron in japan, their iron was such low quality, not because of some mythical qualities of folding steel....

[@WasatchWind]

Really cool to hear about my state in this video, and about something I'm already familiar with in our history! I gotta hand it to my ancestors, they took a desert wasteland and made it into a thriving self sufficient string of settlements.

[@rekales5826]

Now that bloomery is done, its time to make a blast furnace.

[@xynor001]

You should do a second smelt to purify all the stuff and help out to have more massive metal chunk with a higher iron content.

[@AtlasReburdened]

How to not forge weld: Little tappy taps.

[@flatsurfaces1913]

Atlas WalkedAway yeah his hammer had 1” strokes.

[@vao879]

Sooo..hit it like it owes you money ?

[@AtlasReburdened]

@@vao879 Yeah, you want it so hot that it's uncomfortable to look at, and you want to smash the living kadooddle out of it. You'll lose a fair bit around the edges, but the inner bit will have fewer cracks and inclusions. With a rough bloom you lose like 5% to oxidation every time you go through a heat and hammer cycle anyway, so it's better to make what you can of what you have in the center. He could have also benefited from using some of the borax he previously mined as a flux as well.

[@ConfusedRaccoon]

Sometimes a little tippy tap is all it needs. Other times it wants the 7 layers of hell beat out of it. But she always gotta be hotter than the wrath of an angry wife.

[@potatoboy549]

This man did it all wrong. Iron was mostly the color yellow and red, but it has to look so white, it looks like the Brits colonized it. Also, he should’ve beat it harder like Satan himself was about to drive his spear through his heart.

[@DarkestVampire92]

THIS is what i´m here for! Way more interesting to watch than having Andy just go to a proper forge and make a sword with proper tools!

[@kunaljit6590]

I don't know how u are not the most subscribed channel in the world. . I don't know how to appreciate the content u create... U are amazing

[@TealCheetah]

Poking it with a stick is excellent professional advice, haha.

[@MMikeP]

Awe, the cutest little baby taps with the hammer lol. "Just tap it in, Just Tap It In. Just Give it a little Tappy. Tap, Tap, Tap a-roo."

[@oskarmlakar3804]

It would be awesome to see collab with Alec Steele to teach you forging!

[@godofflames5427]

Look you need to keep your heat up when forging when forge welding keep it almost white

[@definitelynosebreather]

they being so happy at 10min mark was wholesome lol never thought I'd smile seeing some dudes working some iron

[@prestonhwang9412]

This man is gonna have his own empire by the end of this seris

[@turtle7792]

He will conquer the melon army

[@cheesevampire110123]

not with a knife that small he wont

[@zakr1187]

Please learn English

[@pepre7594]

@@zakr1187 there was one misspelt word I am crying so much oh god the world is ending please help oh no

[@staszekr03]

@@pepre7594 What will I ever do without that apostrophe!

[@vampalan]

Much more honest at tool making attempt than Primitive Skills KZbin channel, thank you.

[@Youzack1]

Outstanding job! I’ve been on a similar journey in life. From flint knapping to metallurgy. Foundry work is the one thing I haven’t messed with. It looks like the perfect blend of fun and danger... lol awesome job. If you need an assistant to come follow you around let me know😁

[@squidgypollard1561]

I got the notification for this video while I was watching it

[@mrnice4434]

Welcome to the matrix

[@cheesevampire110123]

WOW

[@JustinTopp]

I was hoping to smelt a bloom this fall but than fall didn’t happen haha. North Dakota / Minnesota winters aren’t great for doing iron smelts in haha

[@timoverschuren2165]

justin youre spotted

[@anonymousbosch9265]

It really brings home how far we’ve come

[@timjohns1155]

Even if it breaks up keep working it Nd folding it together. Eventually you will work out most of the impurities and have some nice iron

[@mateofiz]

teachers drinking kombucha at school to have alcohol. lol

[@shawngriffith6901]

I mean to be fair 16oz of kambucha has about 2oz of beer worth of alcohol in it.

[@alemalvina7624]

AH YES! The great milestone in technology. THE STICK!

[@edwardrichardson8254]

The key to this and the key breakthrough launching the entire Industrial Revolution is to cook the charcoal down into coke (just as charcoal is "cooked" from wood), which is harder and purer and allows for more airflow when burning because it does not smother the fire with collapsed ash. Ergo, you can stack the furnace more and get hotter fires that burn off impurities. Coke-fired blast furnaces made the leap possible from dirty wrought iron to the cast iron we know today, and of course, all the better alloys that come with that. Wildly, the process of making coke was first widely used in brewing because roasting malt with charcoal imparted foul taste and smell. They started using coke for a lighter roast, it created the "pale ale" we know today. About 50 yrs later an Englishman named Abraham Darby who had been apprenticed to a brewer started using coke in his blast furnace, Shortly thereafter he was selling over 80 tons of iron goods a year. Darby was an innovator in sand casting as well.

[@theguywhowrotethis8903]

Flux will be your biggest ally when forge welding. It prevents oxidation between the layers of metal and therefore they stick together better.

[@scottfoster2639]

I'm sure the guys from Forged in Fire would still be impressed. Good effort.

[@3000bonsai]

Awesome, another great Video to watch!

[@andie_pants]

I'm obsessed with damascus steel. That knife was _sweet!_

[@travisbrenneman9262]

Crazy idea. Try taking the bloom pieces and break them into pieces small enough to fit into a crucible. Cover the pieces with charcoal and then cover the charcoal with crushed sand and seashells. Place it back into the furnace and bring it up to heat for a while. This should consolidate the iron while providing an oxygen free atmosphere and a flux to remove impurities.

[@peteincanada8412]

I can now appreciate why a sword was such a revered item during certain periods .. thanks for a great video

[@OnlyKaerius]

I've got an iron letter opener, with a wavy blade(think flamberge), and snake themed handle and sheath, from Africa. I have an aunt who has done medical work and research in Africa and sent this for me as a gift once(I don't remember if it was christmas or birthday). It's definitely rough, and hammered into shape with primitive tools, but it is sharp.

[@HylanderSB]

Just think how luxurious working with proper steel will feel when you get there.

[@Murat_Ustundag]

With this iron you uncovered, they would throw you out of the iron age. They would undoubtedly call it the disgrace of the family to you. but there is one more fact. You worked so hard. thank you for making such a complex and laborious video.

[@duneydan7993]

How they managed to forge weld 2 iron ingot with only a bunch of sticks and rocks is mindblowing to me!

[@shadow0clone]

Something thing that could help is making coal coke which will provide a good way to increase your smelter's heat. Using one of the early types of flux such as powdered limestone will help remove impurities. The first steps of adding coal and ore in layers is a great start. Its still used in todays metal foundries in the early stages of refining. Once that is done and you have a few blooms of "pig Iron" you should try to break it into pellets. After that step, something that could really help with improving the iron quality would be researching early styles of crucibles and cupolas used to smelt the "pig iron". The lime flux mentioned earlier will help draw out and float the impurities on the top of the liquid metal, from there you can skim and then poor the iron into molds. You should be left with noticeably higher quality iron ingots that should be easier to work with. If your willing to suspend the traditional approach you can also use borax powder.

[@Testacabeza]

The amount of energy invested in such a small knife. But I admire your for trying.

[@Rainalot]

I’m surprised they’re not blurring out that furnace.

[@maximuswood7506]

Iron is the new glass of this channel

[@SapioiT]

1:43 Now that I look at it again, it does look like obscenities. I'm not even mad, that's amazing! At 14:09 you can see the bloom breaking due to being too cold. Anotehr comment mentioned the bloom has to be yellow-white hot, and it makes sense, considering the clips in the video of bloom being worked successfully and unsuccessfully.

[@TheTruePopeFrancis]

The year is 2222 and How To Make Everything just released a video titled “From Rocks and Burning Coal to The INTERNET!”

[@johgranger1304]

Blacksmith here, you need to cook it hotter and faster. The more you heat it in with coal the more you rise the carbon content which makes the iron brittle. Heating it non stop for two days definitely killed your yield and quality. Oxidation from all the air also has an effect. A better bellow system will be needed to fix your problems (faster/hotter). Something like a long stick of wood on a pivot between each bellows. Think of a seesaw attached to bellows on both ends with a longer end to actuate it. Make use of a wheel if you can, or build a wind/water powered system but I hear ̶m̶u̶l̶e̶ ̶s̶l̶a̶v̶e̶ Lauren power is fantastic :P It would make an amazing video to explore how they improved bellows in early iron age history.

[@theblackbaron4119]

So what I've taken away from that episode is that no matter what, come hell or high water, *poke it with a stick*.

[@rusted-iron4360]

i think this improvised forge is the personification of "Fire Fire Fire, Stone Stone Stone"

[@chrisfox961]

From now on Andy shall be known as IRONMAN!!!

[@Brewed.tea.]

You deserve more subs honestly, you’re great

[@dgundeadforge17]

despite not knowing what your doing, great job, it shows tribes would need farming and effective hunting or livestock. spending so much time and energy for something that you can't eat shows that there was more food security than the other nomadic tribes that only focused on hunting and gathering.

[@Maker238DeLoach]

Awesome job guys thoroughly enjoyed this one as well as all your other ones. Long time fan of your stuff Andy keep up the great work!!

[@marcpatzelt2430]

13:17 Primitive tools, right?

[@garethbaus5471]

Cast bronze specifically made for this project, the ball peen in particular is fairly well done.

[@zakr1187]

Yeah they're handmade

@@zakr1187 instead of wasting his time with subpar ore he could have collected some of the best Iron Ore right in Northern Minnesota or at least bring some down with him and do a test of what smelted better the Utah ore or the Minnesota ore

[@zakr1187]

@ idk I'm from England

[@garabahn9265]

Most underrated Chanel everrr

[@jokerblade6719]

is there a reason you didn't use any of that borax/boron rock as flux to help lower the oxidization during the forging process ?

[@Twistedcrescendo]

I'm guessing he either just didn't show putting it on or... he forgot :P

[@atomicpenguin12]

So this is just a thought from someone who knows nothing about metalworking, but would it be at all advantageous to make some sort of mold or containment for when you're consolidating the bloom? Like, some sort of barrier that you place around the pieces of hot metal so that, if it shatters, the pieces remain in place and can be forced with the pressure from the hammer to fuse?

[@kovona]

If it shatters, it's not good iron in the first place. The metal part of a bloom shouldn't shatter when hammered, and anything that flies off is unuseable slag.

[@Spudicus2]

Imagine being the first person to use flux. Looks like the oldest form is fine silica sand. Gotta get those internal cracks out. Looks like a very fun and exhausting process. Awesome stuff!

[@s.q.10-e66]

My wife is a potter, and from my understanding, glass and metal smelting derived from people realizing the waste from their clay firings as actually useful. I think the development went something like this, even unfired clay had uses. Then they realized that clay that had been near fire was stronger, so they start putting their clay items in hotter and hotter flames. Then they start noticing the slag and dross at the bottom of their kilns and start making use of those.

[@sushildhanedhar6842]

Humanity has worked a lot for solving this riddle of making good quality iro n most of this tech is taken for granted now a days now you understand how tough it is

[@Farb_dk]

Andy: smelts Iron on dry mud forge in his backyard Andy’s Next Door Neighbor: *Cannonized by the Pope for not reporting him to the police*

[@Zamolxes77]

So that's why the quality of the ore is so important, now I understand why so many places were abandoned and why an iron trade has been developed in ancient times.

[@matthewszostek1819]

I have a strong feeling that the very first uses of iron was for hammers and chisels for masonry. I feel like every single flake of it was precious and it was all collected and recombined.

[@tuckerstulley1748]

At some point you should consider making a crucible steel or iron. The process is a harder but the quality of the metal produced is a lot better than using the bloomery

[@kovona]

Crucible steel requires smelted iron to make in the first place. With the crucible process, you're just remelting iron to remove slag and add carbon to it. You can't smelt iron ore with it.

[@lukeshaffer3837]

I actually live very close to old iron Town and when seeing your videos on smelting that's all I could think about. Took my parents to see it when they came out from Michigan where we did copper mine tours in the u.p. thansk for bringing back memories friend.

[@lightfiendish]

“you can never have too many knives” my life motto lmao

[@legomaniac632]

IRON AGE BOOM. man this is fun to watch!

[@Odenmeepius]

Good gob. One of the things was the iron was way to cold for forge welding also did you use some form of Flux when welding that would also help in the consolidation of the metal not letting air or water into the metal

[@justicekaton8715]

This would be a great success with a team after all...the indigenous peoples always worked as a team,mining and forging. They where able to get more quantity in less time.

[@Jwhdhjenkdkje]

That Damascus knife in the beginning was either dull or you need to learn to use a knife

[@KainYusanagi]

Most knives need a sharpening out of the box. They're not sharpened to a razor sharpness for safety while shipping, generally, and IIRC there are also some laws that handle how sharp they can be when sold.

[@matthewschelle1829]

I get far too excited for these videos lol. Thank you and keep up the great work!

[@SparkyWrench]

Need to put it all into a clay crucible, then bring it to a molten temp. Skim off impurities, then pour. Do this a couple times too refine it more. Then work on forging.

[@WillB-lv1xg]

You could use magnetic sand in a rectangular furnace or try smelting crushed taconite pellets from the railroads. If you get a large enough bloom should try making an iron khopesh or similar sword.

[@felixmenard8799]

I wish I could have this job so much as it has always been my dream to do this

[@kevingrubb9835]

Hell yeah man, now you can forge all of your other tools, hammers, axes, adzes, draw knives and any other tool you can think of we support you on your journey sir

[@BartJBols]

you can also crush bloom to powder and then re-furnace it into better blooms. That is if its too brittle.