Opening the Prehistoric Iron Smelting Furnace www.thijsvandemanakker.com

When the pit is full, the furnace is destroyed, in order to be able to grab the iron bloom. Part 3 of 5
Next Part: • Forging the iron bloom...
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[@tropifiori]

I could watch this all day.

[@rocketsocks]

That's the genius of this method, the iron isn't molten but the slag is. The iron ore is reduced via carbon monoxide and then essentially welds itself into a big spongy blob in a puddle of molten slag and glass. You pull out the bloom, beat out the still liquid slag and you have the iron left.

[@sutrar]

Are you sure the Celts did not have a removable panel with the tap arch in it (sort of a round A letter shape without the middle hole) fixed by clay to the main shaft and removable to open up a big hole to remove the bloom? That's what all furnaces, shaft or in-built in a clay step, always have in our archaeological finds. This allows to preserve the shaft for more consecutive smelts without wasting time to re-build it entirely, simply replacing the panel. Saves much time and work...

[@MekazaBitrusty]

Very good video. I do wonder if all the poking and taping was necessary or just used to avoid having to pump the air. :-)

[@JackRobin86]

Does he speak any English? I'd LOVE to talk with him! From looking at the English version of his website (I'll admit that I did some browsing on the original language version first before I discovered the English version), I found that he also makes SWORDS!!! That's just sheer awesomeness.

[@pawelwis7215]

As it turn out I live just 40km from there. I need to visit this place!

[@MrThijzer]

The ore we use is very poor and has a lot SiO2. Most important to keep molten SiO2 (slag) away from blowholes. Slag should stream down into pit. When slag is blocking the air inlets, temperature of furnace goes down, slag solidifies and process will stop.

[@apinakapinastorba]

3:00 he protects himself in case a wild Predator appears.

[@AsadFarooq1999]

apinakapinastorba its to protecting from skin burn dude

[@DarrenC_1024]

Okay let's see how many advanced (relatively) metal tools they've used: Iron axe (and probably iron/steel saw off screen to cut the wood), iron pick axe, iron rod, iron pipes, iron tongs, iron buckets, iron chisel... it's amazing this is an attempt in "prehistoric iron smelting simulation". And in the end, they are hammering the iron bloom on a rock, with rock hammers, while clamping the iron with iron tong..... Hilarious!

[@thedruidherbalist]

if you made it bigger hole at the bottom you would not have to destroy it but i see wat ur doing very interesting i love it

[@sutrar]

How do you manage to to weld the smaller lumps of bloom together into a larger piece before proceeding to beating out the slag? Thanks sutrar

[@MrThijzer]

@sutrar It takes about 16 hours to make 10 kg of iron out of 100 kg of bog ore.

[@Breathor]

I LOVE the stuff you guys do! this is amazing!

[@gravytrain8041]

This is an awesome set of vids y'all. It's crazy to think. All this work, for a little iron. No wonder they used axes so much. You guys did a great job. How would someone go about this, if they had no clamps or rods? Just curious. I understand, this is a normal operation for the time period. I just wonder how they built their tools, to do this .

[@MrThijzer]

Thank you Brent. The first iron might be handled with stone and bronze tools.

[@aVampireTear]

@Sauron012 Only the slag is liquid. he iron contains a lot of slag but very less carbon

[@arewecrazyyet]

Why are they using metal tongs and stone hammers?

[@Gunslinger18]

One wonders how the first furnace was operated without all these iron tools about...

[@MrThijzer]

Maybe the wolf was grabbed with fresh branches and then stoned . . . .

[@samvanlaun6218]

It would have been operated with copper or bronze tools, which can be smelted at much lower temperatures. Copper was the first to be smelted, since it can be smelted using only wooden and leather or antler and leather tools. Then tin, which needs about the same tools. Alloying the two in a clay furnace would give bronze, which could be casted to make tools for iron manufacture.

[@Gunslinger18]

***** Thank you for the clarification.

[@lankey6969]

Many hard sticks

[@GoodandBasic]

Gunslinger18 we're actually going to try that on our channel.

[@Verradonairun]

are you not using metal pipes for the air-blowing-device?

[@arewecrazyyet]

I am questioning the apparent IRONY of using skillfully crafted steel tongs and cumbersome stone age boulders to pound on the bloom. Using wet sticks and then using the stones might improve the continuity of what I am seeing.

[@MrThijzer]

This bogore iron contains a lot of slag (SiO2). At the first hammering it loses this slags, wich are harder then steel and ruin anvil and hammer face.

[@whowantsabighug]

@twobluehorses I think everybody was too busy farming, fighting or hunting (mostly farming) to have the time to watch this long proccess.

[@radioguy1620]

you guys could invent scizzors lol, must have been a pain back then to get enough charcoal. seriously good job there.

[@andrewlast1535]

Good to see the use of safety mud in this process. Lol

[@nickulvatten1039]

Thijs van de Mannaker! This is a really good video! I'm really interested in Celtic/Viking age blacksmithing and I recently forged myself a wrought iron Thor's hammer pendant and a viking rune fire steel out of an old file. My forge is powered by and old pair of double-lunged bellows and I use a cylindrical piece of steel mounted on a stump as my anvil. I would love if I could get in touch with you somehow you're a master blacksmith and you know the ancient ways of forging iron. Maybe you can teach me give me advice ?

[@MrThijzer]

facebook.com/thijsvandeman/

[@Tastypuffs]

I'm confused. How do you prevent the molten iron mixing in with the slag or the burnt wood? If it's just pooling at the bottom, wouldn't there be impurities mixed in with it?

[@bigoldgrizzly]

Only the slag actually melts. The iron is like a thick toffee texture and when the bloom [a spongy mixture of slag and iron] is withdrawn from the fire and hammering starts, it squeezes the liquid slag out, leaving the iron metal behind.

[@thedruidherbalist]

@MrThahey thanks for telling me i would have never thought of that

[@debater96]

What exactly did you get out of doing this? What was the product?

[@primitivepyromaniac5037]

Great video! It must have been a well designed crucible furnace in order to smelt iron (around 1500 Celsius at melting point). Shame it had to be destroyed though. Were the iron ingots remelted and cast, or were they just heated and hammered into shape?

[@MrThijzer]

www.thijsvandemanakker.com/OerIjzerEnglish.htm

[@MrThijzer]

@sutrar This process is written in "Early Iron" on my website.

[@aVampireTear]

@korgho5757 When you hit the bloom, the slags, you squeeze out, will ruin hammer and anvil. And ofcourse: the first hammer on earth was a stone! Thijs.

[@sutrar]

How much time does the smelting process take?

[@israelsantos8211]

genial e dai que surgiu as grandes siderurgicas esse e o principio basico show de bola

[@1947chevypickup]

thats what i use but you have to be carful with it you dont want to crack the iron

[@johnh4651]

David I am almost 100% sure that the "chunks they are pounding" are iron ore, what I want to know is "Do these people really live like that, or are they reenactors?

[@TheMistermountain]

reenactors. Place in the Netherlands where they do a lot of this stuff.

[@MrThijzer]

@ohvnaq Only slagpit furnaces were destroyed.

[@MrThijzer]

That slag affects only hammer and anvil.

[@LUCKYB.]

I find this very interesting going back better than a 1000 years but watching this Burn I am not understanding as to why you folks didn't Burn out all the Fuel and ore , would have made for a bigger bloom .... Good Videos . 10 thumbs up

[@MrThijzer]

A charge takes about 1,5 hour to reach bloom level, so 1,5 hours after the last charge we open the furnace . . .

[@LUCKYB.]

I see .. there are many people going back to this kind of Iron making a man named Ric Furrer makes his own Iron and also carbon steel for tools and edge tools as well . with prices climbing and inflation way out of hand this seams to be the answer . it as interesting to learn that asia was 500 years agead of the British in making Crucible thank you for putting this Video together and answering my question be safe aand be blessed ..

[@FalltoAbism]

Can you tell me hte name of this entire movie( documentary)? Please? Thanks;)

[@user-ik3qh4ve5b]

И клещи есть и ломы железные.А простых молотков нет.

[@ontariobuds]

Where was this filmed?

[@bluecapone]

excuse my ignorance but why do you guys pound the iron when it comes out of the furnace? My guess it to knock contaminants off?

[@MrThijzer]

+bluecapone That's a good guess Al, knock off slags and compress a bit as long as the heat lasts . . .

[@dylanfontaine591]

+bluecapone to compress and compact the iron and yes to knock off impurities and other materials

[@twobluehorses]

I wonder if the old smiths allowed people to watch the process or if they kept it all a secret? This part was tremendously dramatic!

[@d_no_allyn_86]

So they're making what? What will come from those chunks they were flattening with the rocks?

[@MrThijzer]

David Norris They will be welded together .

[@d_no_allyn_86]

oh ok cool

[@pop9095]

+David Norris Whatever their skill and imagination will allow, given that quantity of iron.

[@rhodie33]

the damn ginger is hitting it with a pointy end. a flat end compacts it more evenly.

[@U1GoN2d1]

3:01 Predator must be coming

[@trexor67]

What is the name of the artefact that you use to introduce air into the furnace? Did you know how to build some one?

[@MrThijzer]

+trexor67 facebook.com/thijs.vandemanakker/media_set?set=a.208436689216996.52229.100001519982564&type=3

[@harryrissik3310]

+trexor67 They are called Bellows

[@MrThijzer]

+trexor67 facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=216595205067811&set=a.208436689216996.52229.100001519982564&type=3&theater

[@MrThijzer]

@debater96 7 kg of bloomery iron. Watch the last shot: 9.16-9.20

[@tonyholder4326]

How long did it take to smelt the iron?

[@MrThijzer]

An hour for a kilo.

[@MrThijzer]

This furnace has a slagpit, like the Scharmbeck type.....

[@WatcherintheDark69]

That was a very good amount of bloom iron.

[@aVampireTear]

@Kingofsomething87 Only farmers do so !

[@toddcameron5593]

Is this a cult? Where do I join at?

[@miles2378]

Does anyone know how many pounds/Kilograms does this operation produces?

[@MrThijzer]

Christopher BloomOne kilo of this ore (bog ore from Stiphout) gives 100 gram of bloomery iron. A furnace can have max 100 kg of ore, so 10 kg of iron. This takes about 16 hours.

[@miles2378]

Thank you.

[@williameddlewis4625]

that fantastic!!

[@MrThijzer]

In Eversham.

[@rafaelmonteirorodrigues6380]

8:50 'Shit'

[@MrThijzer]

+Rafael Monteiro Rodrigues ?

[@shawtyshawts]

+Rafael Monteiro Rodrigues Lol, just got to that part in the video and immediately came to the comments to confirm that it did indeed happen.

[@Jacob-yg7lz]

I'd barely call anything made in the late bronze age early iron age "Prehistoric".

[@MrThijzer]

+Jacob Furrow Yet we do so, Jacob . . .

[@lankey6969]

Should have gotten the woman to swing that rock.

[@MrThijzer]

The ironage settlement of Eindhoven Museum

[@lindalee7322]

I'm not familiar with the history to this channel. What's up with 1 woman to 5 men? Did the other women leave? Is she married to one of these guys?

[@MrThijzer]

She was married to the guy at the other bellow, sitting opposite to her , no other women involved . . .

[@lindalee7322]

Hi, Thijs. Thank you so much for being sweet and answering my question. I dearly appreciate it. That was certainly a wonderful video. Take care. Have a great week ahead. God bless you. Linda Lee

[@wntu4]

What I learned today: "Shit" is pronounced the same way in English and Danish.

[@TheMistermountain]

These guys are dutch.

[@casowling]

What the hell? they're dressed as neanderthals XD I guess it's realistic.

[@samvanlaun6218]

Neanderthals never reached that level of sophistication unfortunately. They either died out, or we drove them to extinction. Which is a shame, because it would be nice to have some non-human sentients to share the planet with :)

[@Jacob-yg7lz]

Fun fact: Iron forging is not a "prehistoric" practice, it's barely 3000 years old. Being dressed like neanderthals would not be realistic.

[@lutze5086]

what an unhappy place

[@MrThijzer]

+Lu Tze .

[@lutze5086]

+Thijs van de Manakker - I may have jumped to conclusions. perhaps its a serious place, another commenter said there must be a lot to concentrate on. why do you think the mood is so solemn?

[@MrThijzer]

+Lu Tze As we don't speak the language of the people we are reconstructing, we keep our mouths shut . . .

[@lutze5086]

+Thijs van de Manakker - that's quite dedicated, I thought it was just the process. are there more videos documenting this reenactment

[@lutze5086]

+Thijs van de Manakker - i just rewatched some of it. everyone does seem pretty grim

[@user-iq6of4ig7t]

Чивенгур.

[@jonatan01i]

5:21 that peace of glowing rock landed right next to the feet, then comes the respond to it: 5:25 he says: "kurva anyád", it is in hungarian.

[@sakenandersson7315]

haha thats soo cool :D

[@jlloyd2004mcs]

Be careful...that shit is hot.

[@MrThijzer]

Go to "Early Iron" on my webside or Facebook......

[@smijman]

7:49 "lol molten metal"

[@sempervivum6422]

hahahaha